Night of the Chimera's Cry

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Night of the Chimera’s Cry
Nina as a chimera.
Episode Length:	24 minutes
Episode Code:	07
Episode Airdate:	2003-11-15

Night of the Chimera’s Cry (Japanese: 「合成獣(キメラ)が哭く夜」 - Kimera ga Naku Yoru) is episode 7 of the Fullmetal Alchemist TV series originally aired 2003-11-15.

Ed has passed the State Alchemy Exam, and at age 12, is now the youngest person to ever become a Nationally-Certified Alchemist. However, he is also now a "dog of the military," and is required to follow the military's orders. Colonel Mustang gives Edward a silver pocket watch, which is both a symbol of Ed’s new rank and an alchemical amplifier. Edward, in the meantime, writes a letter to Winry, their childhood friend. Nina sets Ed off on a ridiculous hysteria when she asks Ed if Winry is his girlfriend.

Nina also decides to write a letter for her mother, who "went away" two years ago. Nina says that her mother left her father, Shou Tucker, because "he was a good-for-nothing alchemist who couldn't do anything right," and then went to live with her parents. Nina adds " I just hope she'll write back this time". Making it clear that her mom isn't answering her letters.

Later Ed finds Nina's letter to her mother crumpled up and burned..Ed is in complete shock in finding it.

Shou Tucker is under the gun as his annual State Alchemist re-certification has come due, and he must submit new research to retain his position as a state-sponsored alchemist. Two years earlier, the research he presented was a chimera that was able to speak like a human. But the next year, his research was not up to par, so he is determined to pass this assessment. If he does not, the military will stop paying him, and he will not be able to take care of his daughter. In the meantime, Edward finds out from Maes Hughes that the chimera Tucker created two years earlier only said one thing while it was alive: "I want to die." After that, it stopped eating, and died.

Tucker's desperation and determination to pass the current evaluation, and keep his State Alchemist research licence, leads him to do the unthinkable: he alchemically combines his daughter Nina and her dog Alexander to produce his second talking chimera. It is revealed that Tucker's first talking chimera, two years previous, was made from his wife. His explanation for transmuting his own daughter is simple: Either way, his life would be ruined. If he did not transmute his daughter, he would not be able to continue his way of life. So he chose to attempt the transmutation, in the name of science.

Edward is outraged by Tucker's depredations upon his own family and almost kills Tucker. The Nina-Alexander chimera runs off, and is killed by a man with a large, X-shaped scar on his face. Ed finds the dead chimera, blown apart from the inside using alchemy, and he is so devastated he breaks down in tears.

[edit] Trivia

• This episode was given a special ending sequence, with scenes of Nina and her dog replacing part of the regular closing.
• When Ed lies about writing to Winry saying "I was able to pass the State Alchemist exam. How do you like that?" when he was boasting in the letter, his nose grows mirroring Pinochio.
• The minor character Scieszka makes her first debut in this episode

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The Alchemy Exam		The Philosopher’s Stone