(Yes, I realize that this is a little bit outdated - especially if you've already read the most recent Otaku USA - but please bear with me. I am trying to ease myself back into the blog.)
110 Minutes | PG | 9/10
First, a little bit of a backstory...
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is an anime series about two boys - Edward and Alphonse Elric - who lost their mother. They decided to try and bring her back using alchemy, however this is a forbidden taboo and they ended up creating a nasty monster that did not survive. To pay for breaking this taboo, Alphonse ended up losing his body and Edward lost an arm and a leg to an anonymous god-like creature. Edwards transmuted his brother's soul onto a suit of armor and so their journey begins to get their bodies back by using the "Philosopher's Stone".
***Note Spoilers***
The movie mainly takes place in a town called "Table City" that looks like a layered cement wedding cake. Around the city are large canyons where the people of "Milos" live. The only thing they want is to get their "holy land" back, a.k.a Table City
There is a girl named Julia who, at a very young age, lost her parents and her brother to wolf chimeras. Or so she thought. One day, a man escapes from jail using alchemy and tracks down Julia. It turns out that he is her long lost brother and he has come to help her.
Fast forward...
Table City turns out a be a giant transmutation structure, and using the blood of the citizens, it creates a Philosopher's Stone (called the "Sacred Star" by the people of Milos). Julia uses the stone, despite warnings from Edward, to try and save the canyon people from the magma about to kill them. It turns out that the man who said he was her brother really wasn't and was just trying to get the stone. Now, Julia's real brother shows up, but he has also eaten the stone he found in his parent's studies and gone mad with greed.
Julia must fight her brother to the town and ends up almost killing him. However, once the magma has been stopped, she decides to try and save him. She does and they both puke up the stones.... She loses a leg but her brother is alive and well. She decides to disappear again.
In the end, we find out that Alphonse had developed a fondness towards Julia. Edward leaves them to talk *wink wink* and the movie end with them still determined to get their bodies back...somehow.
***
Okay, so overall a pretty scattered storyline, but a good movie. That is, if you had watched the original anime series. It's not a continuation of that, but something that can stand on it's own and part of the series, but you still need to know a lot of the background information. Even then, I still found myself lost a times.
I am going to do a full review of music and animation and everything when I finish watching the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood series (and maybe I'll watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime), so for now I'll just give you an overview of my thoughts on the movie:
This was my first time seeing any anime on a real theater screen, so I was very excited to watch this. Plus, I am a fan of this series. To start, I'll say that you definitely might want to have some prior knowledge of the show before watching this movie. It doesn't really do a good job of filling in the blanks for you, though it tries. And you can't really blame the movie - it's hard to sum of five seasons of an anime in one 110 minute movie!
Overall, I really liked the movie. It fit in really well with the series, but I wouldn't say that it was anything special. It wasn't all that moving or creative, but nonetheless a good view for any FMA fan with a free afternoon.
Thanks for your patience with me!
Otaku R
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