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- Goof: Too Many Bulletholes:
When Lt. Hawkeye shoots at Black Hayate, she fires six bullets but there are seven holes in the wall.
- Hughes has been promoted to Lt. Colonel in charge of courtmartial investigations.
- Anime Vs. Manga:
This event marked the first appearance Fuhrer Bradley in the manga.
- This episode was based off two side stories in the Manga: "The Military Festival" in Volume 3, and "Dog of the Military?" in Volume 4.
- This is the first appearance of Lt. Riza Hawkeye, Lt. Col. Maes Hughes, Warrant Officer Vato Falman, Lt. Jean Havoc, Fuhrer Bradley and Scar outside of a flashback episode, since episodes 3-9 were of Ed and Al's past.
- This episode is the unofficial finale of the first season. Many characters that will appear in Season 2 are introduced, either directly or appearing in the background.
- Character's Names:
The names "Mustang", "Hawkeye", "Breda", "Havoc", "Hayate", and "Fuery" all are taken from types of war machines used during World War II. The name "Falman" is thought to be derived from "Farman," which is another war machine from the same period.
- Roy Mustang: "If your enemy has a choleric temper, seek to anger him."
This line and a later one ("All warfare is based on deception") are taken from Sun Tzu's famous text, The Art of War.
Sources: TV.com
- In an interview, the voice actor for Ed confessed at how he made Ed sound like he had a swollen jaw: sticking a powder doughnut in the side of his mouth. This wouldn't of been a problem, except at one time he had to keep a single doughnut in his mouth for an hour and the mush started to make him ill.
- Cultural Allusion: Japanese "Honorifics":
The use of honorifics is seen here in full force as Fletcher addresses his older brother simply as "Brother", just as Al does with Ed.
- Anime Vs. Manga:
The storyline portrayed in this episode can be found in novel form in Makoto Inoue's "FullMetal Alchemist: The Land of Sand".
Sources: TV.com, edwardelric.com
- Goof: On one of the walls of the Hospital is a poster that says "Goodbye Tobacco", but 'goodbye' is written as two words instead of one.
- Psiren's use of her deck of cards:
Psiren uses the cards similar to the way that paper is used in the series and the movie Read Or Die (R.O.D.).
- Clara's Teacher Disguise:
The outfit Clara wears as a teacher makes her closely resemble Cher Degere from Wolf's Rain.
- Lupin III: Detective Zenigata
The police detective in this episode (the one in the brown hat and trenchcoat) is a parody of Inspector Zenigata from Lupin III. The first time he's shown, he's even carrying handcuffs the same way Zenigata does.
Sources: TV.com
- Be Thou for the People
The English title to this episode, which you may be more familiar with, is taken from the Old Testament of the Bible, specifically Exodus 18:19-20. "Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God: And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do." The meaning of the title is, as Edward mentions in episode, that an alchemist's duty is to work for the good of the people, rather than use alchemy for personal gain. I think it's a better title than the Japanese title.
- This episode is the first time Ed realizes the law of Equivalent Exchange maybe not be the only truth, when he says "Maybe Equivalent Exchange goes further than we thought."
- First appearance of Lyra
- Anime Vs. Manga:
Lyra does not exist in the Manga.
- Goof:
When Edward is looking at a book, it shows a picture of a man. Edward then turns some pages, but the same picture is still there.
- Name Translation: 'Hagane' (鋼):
In Japanese, Edward's nickname, Fullmetal, is Hagane. Hagane is a type of metal used to make swords. But it can also be used to call someone stubborn. It is for this reason that Roy says that Ed's second name is ironic.
- "Darkly Dreaming Dexter", published by Mass Market Paperback and written by Jeff Lindsay, has an ice truck killer (ITK) similar to the one found in this episode. There is a TV series based upon this book, which is Dexter on Showtime. This book has a copyright of 2004. This episode came out in Japan in 2003.
- Anime vs. Manga:
Barry the Chopper's origin story is similar in the Manga, but Ed and Al meet Barry under different circumstances. - The Closed Caption scripting in this broadcast contains a plot spoiler.
- Alphonse learns about the Philosopher's Stone when he goes over the research left in Tucker's study and from rumors floating around the quad.
Sources: TV.com
- Scar makes his first appearance.
- Special Ending Credits:
The ending credits have pictures of Alexander and Nina instead of the usual pictures. Also, Ed's "smile" is one of sadness.
- On the page that Mustang is reading about Shou Tucker, the word process is spelled 'precess'.
- Ed and Al experience the birth of the Hughes's baby when Gracia Hughes goes into labor earlier then expected.
- Ed celebrates his 12th birthday in this episode.
- The letter that Mustang is reading about Shou Tucker, "The Sewing Life Alchemist", mentions Britain and the "Scientific Revolution".
- This episode marks the first time that Ed uses alchemy without a transmutation circle. (Although he does in the first couple episodes, the events in this episode happen before the ones in those)
- Cultural Allusion: Japanese "honorifics" when dealing with two or more people:
As noted in "To Challenge the Sun", the use of "honorifics" comes again into play when Nina addresses the Elrics.
Normally, the politeness marker attributes to age; however, because Nina can't tell Ed and Al's ages, she simply addresses them using politeness markers attributed to size. Hence, she shows politeness by referring to Ed as "Little Big Brother" (the smaller of the Elrics, but older than her and deserving of respect), and Al as "Bigger Brother" (older than her, much taller than she or Ed, and deserving of respect).
- Ed reading a book: Japanese style of reading
In most Western countries, sentences are read from left to right. In Japan and other Eastern countries, however, sentences are read the opposite way, from right to left. This style of reading from right to left is carried over when Ed is quickly reading a book from the library; his eyes are scanning the page from right to left.
Sources: TV.com
