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timepiececlockWarning: I haven't read the manga, am not spoiled, but plan to some day when it's completely finished.
I have this really strong desire to talk to someone about FMA anime pairings, specifically Ed/Noa, of which like 7 people in the entire internet ship and I'm one of them. I have other pairings I ship (Roy/Riza, Scar/Lust), but this one hardly anyone ever wants to talk about.
Noa was only in the movie and, if you've seen the movie, you know how she has a complicated relationship with Edward that isn't precisely romantic but certainly has sexual undertones, and you know how it ends.
I am sort of vaguely aware that the entire fandom hates her. I get why... she is a passive character in many ways, and she takes up "valuable screentime" that could have been used on Mustang or Winry, and in the end her role in events is somewhat negative (gray-area at best) and ineffectual.
So why do I like her? Why do I ship her with Edward? Even though the shipping is really just in my head because I've only ever written a drabble for them, and there's like no fanfic whatsoever to read.
I don't know precisely why I like her, instead of being pissed off at her for being a damsel in distress, but I just do. I have, however, figured out why I like her with Edward: she's not perfect, and Edward is drawn to imperfect people. I think this is why it works for me. Not only did I like the vibes in the movie, and what Ed represented to Noa and what Noa represented to Edward, but I can just see it happening, you know? Edward's character throughout the series (and Alphonse's too) has been drawn to imperfect people. A lot of the "good guys" in the show that he allies himself with are morally suspect or outright killers themselves, or are reformed killers, or will be later. Edward manages to be extremely moral while also being intimately familiar with sin, guilt, responsibility, and death. He navigates a world of imperfect people who make mistakes and suffer extreme consequences for those mistakes.
The way the FMA movie ended made perfect sense to me: of course Ed and Al would drive off into the sunset with the gypsies, with Rose and the reincarnated versions of Scar and Lust, to an uncertain future in a war-torn world. They're wanderers, adventurers, and will never be happy if they're not questing. Ed and Al (but Edward especially, because I think Alphonse is more adaptable to domesticity) have been adventurers since they were kids and it only makes sense to me that they would continue that way for the rest of their lives. Of course, they won't spend all that time with the gypsies, but for now I can easily see the gyspies/Ishbalans being exactly what Ed and Al need for adventure. Ed/Noa feels like a natural extension of that to me... they had tension in the movie, and Edward seemed to react to her in a way that was not explicity sexual but also not completely platonic, and she certainly reacted to him.
The fact that she betrayed him (against her will, or not) and that she wanted him to point her to a better place/idealized his origins... none of that actually stops me from shipping them. Not "epic love eternally" kind of shipping, but a "this makes a lot of sense for these characters in the here and now" kind of shipping. Normally I wouldn't be drawn to a character like Noa at all, given that she's weak-minded, and she has this "victim" vibe. But hell, those are the kind of people Edward is always trying to help. Edward Elric makes people better, braver, stronger. He did it with his own brother, with Mustang, with Scar, with Rose, with Winry, with the other two alchemist brothers, with Wrath, with various townsfolk along the way, even with Greed in a twisted and backward way. Noa at the end of the movie is happier and freer for knowing him.
I look at Noa in the anime movie, and I see an imperfect character, yeah, but I also see exactly the kind of person Edward would (and does) go out of his way to attach himself to, help, get involved with, etc. And I still positively adore that shot in the movie's climax, when he's in the airplane and he looks out the cockpit window and, however improbably, locks eyes with Noa. That shot was so intense, and the stuff communicated in that scene so layered and complex, that I loved it. That shot sold me on a pairing when up until that point I didn't ship Edward with ANYONE. I liked their dynamic even if you don't look at with a romantic/sexual angle, but I thought the movie conveyed a definite (if clouded) subtext of sexual tension with them, and to ignore it would be ignoring part of their character dynamic.
All this can be summed up to say the following: When it comes to FMA and Edward Elric, I ship no one at all or the most unpopular, least-discussed pairing out there. Hell, even Ed/Envy has a massive following in comparison. I've even seen more Ed/Riza fic than I've seen Ed/Noa.
Side discussion regarding Ed/Winry: I know a lot of people don't ship Ed with any of the other female characters because they ship him with Winry, but by the end of the tv show (and certainly the end of the movie) I was much more sold on the Eternal Friendship/Family vibe of Winry/Ed/Al than I was on anything romantic. There was potential early on, but it looked to me like by the end Winry knew she would never be That Girl for Edward, and instead would be his friend, and she seemed okay with that. As I hate the idea of a strong-minded character like Winry waiting around to be the Trisha to Ed's Hohenheim, I'd rather she moved on too. I just don't find the "I'll wait for him tragically" thing to be either romantic or in-character for her. I don't have a problem with putting them together *in* the series timeline, but somehow I can't imagine them together by the end of it, or in the future.
I have this really strong desire to talk to someone about FMA anime pairings, specifically Ed/Noa, of which like 7 people in the entire internet ship and I'm one of them. I have other pairings I ship (Roy/Riza, Scar/Lust), but this one hardly anyone ever wants to talk about.
Noa was only in the movie and, if you've seen the movie, you know how she has a complicated relationship with Edward that isn't precisely romantic but certainly has sexual undertones, and you know how it ends.
I am sort of vaguely aware that the entire fandom hates her. I get why... she is a passive character in many ways, and she takes up "valuable screentime" that could have been used on Mustang or Winry, and in the end her role in events is somewhat negative (gray-area at best) and ineffectual.
So why do I like her? Why do I ship her with Edward? Even though the shipping is really just in my head because I've only ever written a drabble for them, and there's like no fanfic whatsoever to read.
I don't know precisely why I like her, instead of being pissed off at her for being a damsel in distress, but I just do. I have, however, figured out why I like her with Edward: she's not perfect, and Edward is drawn to imperfect people. I think this is why it works for me. Not only did I like the vibes in the movie, and what Ed represented to Noa and what Noa represented to Edward, but I can just see it happening, you know? Edward's character throughout the series (and Alphonse's too) has been drawn to imperfect people. A lot of the "good guys" in the show that he allies himself with are morally suspect or outright killers themselves, or are reformed killers, or will be later. Edward manages to be extremely moral while also being intimately familiar with sin, guilt, responsibility, and death. He navigates a world of imperfect people who make mistakes and suffer extreme consequences for those mistakes.
The way the FMA movie ended made perfect sense to me: of course Ed and Al would drive off into the sunset with the gypsies, with Rose and the reincarnated versions of Scar and Lust, to an uncertain future in a war-torn world. They're wanderers, adventurers, and will never be happy if they're not questing. Ed and Al (but Edward especially, because I think Alphonse is more adaptable to domesticity) have been adventurers since they were kids and it only makes sense to me that they would continue that way for the rest of their lives. Of course, they won't spend all that time with the gypsies, but for now I can easily see the gyspies/Ishbalans being exactly what Ed and Al need for adventure. Ed/Noa feels like a natural extension of that to me... they had tension in the movie, and Edward seemed to react to her in a way that was not explicity sexual but also not completely platonic, and she certainly reacted to him.
The fact that she betrayed him (against her will, or not) and that she wanted him to point her to a better place/idealized his origins... none of that actually stops me from shipping them. Not "epic love eternally" kind of shipping, but a "this makes a lot of sense for these characters in the here and now" kind of shipping. Normally I wouldn't be drawn to a character like Noa at all, given that she's weak-minded, and she has this "victim" vibe. But hell, those are the kind of people Edward is always trying to help. Edward Elric makes people better, braver, stronger. He did it with his own brother, with Mustang, with Scar, with Rose, with Winry, with the other two alchemist brothers, with Wrath, with various townsfolk along the way, even with Greed in a twisted and backward way. Noa at the end of the movie is happier and freer for knowing him.
I look at Noa in the anime movie, and I see an imperfect character, yeah, but I also see exactly the kind of person Edward would (and does) go out of his way to attach himself to, help, get involved with, etc. And I still positively adore that shot in the movie's climax, when he's in the airplane and he looks out the cockpit window and, however improbably, locks eyes with Noa. That shot was so intense, and the stuff communicated in that scene so layered and complex, that I loved it. That shot sold me on a pairing when up until that point I didn't ship Edward with ANYONE. I liked their dynamic even if you don't look at with a romantic/sexual angle, but I thought the movie conveyed a definite (if clouded) subtext of sexual tension with them, and to ignore it would be ignoring part of their character dynamic.
All this can be summed up to say the following: When it comes to FMA and Edward Elric, I ship no one at all or the most unpopular, least-discussed pairing out there. Hell, even Ed/Envy has a massive following in comparison. I've even seen more Ed/Riza fic than I've seen Ed/Noa.
Side discussion regarding Ed/Winry: I know a lot of people don't ship Ed with any of the other female characters because they ship him with Winry, but by the end of the tv show (and certainly the end of the movie) I was much more sold on the Eternal Friendship/Family vibe of Winry/Ed/Al than I was on anything romantic. There was potential early on, but it looked to me like by the end Winry knew she would never be That Girl for Edward, and instead would be his friend, and she seemed okay with that. As I hate the idea of a strong-minded character like Winry waiting around to be the Trisha to Ed's Hohenheim, I'd rather she moved on too. I just don't find the "I'll wait for him tragically" thing to be either romantic or in-character for her. I don't have a problem with putting them together *in* the series timeline, but somehow I can't imagine them together by the end of it, or in the future.
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no subject
Date: 2008-05-14 11:48 pm (UTC)He didn't blame Noa for her weakness in trying anything to get what she wanted, its what he did too. Her nomadic lifestyle fits his and I think they make a great pair.
I love Winry but I like her with dark characters like Wrath/Roy/Scar. Her gift has been forgiveness and understanding and she's wasted on Ed who won't see or appreciate that gift in her. A darker kind of guy whose been kicked around would appricate that trait in her more.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-17 01:53 am (UTC)Anyway, I don't think Ed ever viewed alchemy as a sin, to be honest. Episode 1 shows he was most certainly an atheist, and in any case it's actually Scar who regards alchemy of any kind a sin of the highest degree; contrarily, Ed upholds alchemy and science above religion without hesitation. I won't argue, though, if you're referring to his earliest attempt at human transmutation specifically. Now that was probably the closest Ed has ever gone to acknowledging and regretting a sin, bar what happens during and after the search for the Philosopher's Stone; the sin of human transmutation isn't the essence of alchemy, though, so I'm sure Ed has no qualms about using alchemy in almost every other way.
Heh, I think Ed kicks himself around. ^^ Anyway, I also disbelieve Winry's powers of forgiveness and understanding are wasted on Ed; as insensitive as he is to her romantic affection, he still has visible instances of (facially and silently) appreciating her devotion and maybe pitying her for it. Being conscious of her strengths isn't exclusive to being in love with her romantically. If he doesn't express his appreciation of her more frequently, this is probably because it would seem unnecessary in light of their long history of friendship.
But yes, a fellow Ed/Rose shipper! Though less about the dancing and more about the total-shakeup-of-your-lifelong-worldview brand. Did you notice there's hardly any Ed/Rose fic...? I'm surprised there isn't a little more since, as you said, he *did* blush for her (more than he's done for any other female character!) and express a bit of attraction. You'd think fandom would be all over that.
no subject
Date: 2008-05-18 05:34 am (UTC)I wonder too if he might not be considered an agnostic even in the first episodes, and the word "atheist" is used as a slightly warped translation. Close, but not on the mark. I don't even know if the Japanese language makes a distinction between the two. That'd be interesting to find out; it took me a long time to understand the difference just in English.