Kayarath’s Adventures in Makin’ You Jealous

Posted on Aug 11 2011

This article can be summed up in five words: New Full Metal Alchemist Movie. I assume that got your attention? May I also assume you would like to learn more? Very well. I saw the premiere of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos and I will tell you about it.

The premiere took place at Otakon, the largest convention in the east coast. If I’m wrong and you know another east coast convention with over thirty-two thousand attendees, let me know and I’ll correct myself. The movie has been released in Japan just weeks prior to this screening. It should still be in Japanese theaters by the time you are reading this. This means that the movie has never been seen in the U.S. before so a lot people wanted to see it.

After the giant mass of people were seated, a few Funimation employees came out and did the required social promotion plus warning to shut off recording devices. We were told that the translators worked frantically to sub (or add subtitles to) the movie in time for Otakon. It even “came down to the wire.” Then Kazuya Murata came out to thanks us for coming as well as provide exposition for the movie. Then it started.

That's a giant mass of people who wanted to see the movie.

Frankly, I feel the best description of the movie as a whole is solidified human waste making contact with a series of rotating blades designed to circulate air. It was as if they were trying to cram in as many ideas that they could without breaking the movie. There were Werewolfs, natural disasters, people ripping off each other faces, bat men with machine guns, and ship launching. You have no idea what’s going on but it’s all AWESOME!

Not to say the movie doesn’t have quieter moments. Being Fullmetal Alchemist, there are mysteries to solves and questions to ponder. Honestly, it’ll take a few viewings if you want to really get it all. The first time you see it, you’ll miss some of the finer details but get the most important points. One important plot point is how awful the Milosans have it. If you don’t feel sorry for them at some point during the movie, YOU HAVE NO SOUL!

There’s also a few new characters like Julia; the movie’s female lead. She has a few philosophical disagreements with the Elric brothers but is also jealous of their strong brotherly bond because she has a strained relationship with her own brother. There was also this scene where Winry was riding Ed; because he used a glider to transport her to a part shop in order to repair his arm. What, were you thinking of something else?

The movie was designed to be a stand alone project. It takes place in a whole new area of the world called Milos and the events are mainly local in scope. A general knowledge of the Fullmetal franchise would be very helpful in enjoying the film because it uses concepts from the series, which a movie from a series should do. I only watched the first Full Metal Alchemist series and I still totally get the movie even though it takes places during the Brotherhood series.

Here's the movie poster!

I’ll avoid spoiling the plot but I will say that I am horrified to announce that the movie has launched the Al/Julia ship. For those not versed in the lingo, that means the movie has implied that those two characters may have a romantic relationship. Prepare yourselves for the fan fic, deviantART galleries, and forum topics devoted to discussing it. Even Kazua Murata fears for it.

Oh yeah, Kazuya Murata, the movie’s director was there too. You may recognize other series he worked in like Code Geass or Eureka Seven. He attended the premiere and answered questions for a panel afterwords. During all the questions, he revealed that he felt little pressure in making this movie even though it was for such a popular franchise. Hiromu Arakawa, Fullmetal Alchemist’s mangaka didn’t interfere either because she leaves the animation to the animators. Murata felt motivated to make the best movie he could. He’s also pretty sure that another movie will be made. That’s good because he had a lot of ideas that couldn’t get into the first one due to budget and time concerns. He concluded by saying that seeing the audience reaction’s moved him to create more and thanked us for watching it.

Just to make sure that I say it; this movie is great and you should totally be jealous of me for watching it before you can. The crowd loved the movie and cheered regularly. There was plenty of things in the movie worth cheering about. There is one glaring flaw that weakens an otherwise perfect cinema experience: Roy Mustang’s role in the movie was way too small! Even the Japanese audiences complained about it! Well there’s always the sequel.

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Comments
  • nerdwerld August 14, 2011 at 5:40 PM

    That premier was awesome

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