Fullmetal Alchemist is the best anime of all time. I am not exaggerating. The consensus of its anime IMDb, MyAnimeList, placed it first among all the anime, even above Kimi no Na Wa . Nevertheless, this first live-action film has not included the best anime adaptation ever made. The movie is fun . In some films, this characteristic is sufficient. However, Fullmetal Alchemist needs more than just fun , because the material is not a fun story.
The main problem is probably the film that can not be natural to remove my suspension of disbelief. There was heavy drama and cathartic moments, but he did not feel that way. The characters move around here carrying serious problems, but I do not really believe that. They look like cosplayers who are playing dramas, only with the budget and special effects of Hollywood class. But on the surface, the film is cultivated with competence.
Taken from the popular Hiromu Arakawa manga that expand into both anime versions (you just watch the Brotherhood version only), the live-action film director is Fumihiko Sori , who also debuted on the big screen by adapting the manga (the title is Ping Pong). The movie opens with a prologue loyal to the original material. Told that since childhood, two brothers Ed Elric and Al Elric have studied alchemy. When their mother died suddenly, both tried to revive her.
Regarding alchemy, this film describes it as a branch of science that studies things about transmutation of matter. This is already commonplace in the universe Fullmetal Alchemist , even becoming an official profession. The alchemist can create something suddenly, but alchemy is not magic. There is such a Law of Equivalent Exchange which in short reads: to create something must sacrifice something worth it. Doing something as much as an experiment to recreate life made Ed have to give up one leg and one hand, while Al had to lose his body.
A few years later, we met Ed Young (played by Ryosuke Yamada ). Gaining the nickname as "Fullmetal Alchemist" because of his metal legs and hands, Ed has become an alchemist of civil servants. For one thing or another that will be told later, Al is now the form of a stocky armor. They are fighting with the science of alchemy to fight an evil priest who is said to be holding the Sorcerer's Stone. This magic stone is claimed to be able to restore the hands of Ed and restore the original body of Al.
This fight was cleared by the military alchemist, Colonel Roy Mustang ( Dean Fujioka ) who proved that the priest's stone was not the original Sorcerer's Stone. Of course so, otherwise the film will be finished in 10 minutes. To find information about alchemy involving humans, the superior of Colonel Roy sent Ed and Al to visit Professor Shou Tucker ( Yo Oizumi ) who was researching on chimeras.
From there, they will meet many characters, including Ed's Crush named Winry ( Tsubasa Honda ), Captain Hughes ( Ryuta Sato ), to the "homunculus": Lust ( Yasuko Matsuyuki ), Envy ( Kanata Hongo ), and Gluttony ( Shinji Uchiyama ). As a film whose source material is derived from a long manga and anime series, this film is quite capable in making the story focused. He only takes some important parts and throws out the rest that might incriminate the story. The plot structure fits within the three bundles, and cunningly leaves the potential for sequels. I understand why this film should leave many characters from manga / anime.
I also understand why the actors are Japanese although their stories are set somewhere
in Europe.Obviously this movie is made by people who love the original work. Sori seemed to care to work on it as best he could. The special effects are competent -including Al's armor which he claims to be motion-capture - although in some parts this special effect seems to have no impact in the real world. Some very fantasy key scenes are presented with amazing visuals. See when Ed "visits" in front of the Gate of Truth.
However, Sori is also trying to bring a typical feel of anime / manga into his movie. As the story grew heavier where Ed and Al had to deal with the moral dilemma of human transmutation, its emotional weight was distracted by characters who acted as if they were anime / manga characters.For example, when Ed is angry then Yamada screams as loud as if he is possessed. The film does not know where to leave certain characteristics to make its character realistic.
This again proves that not all materials can work in different media. In one context, literature is a superior medium, because it has a broader spectrum; it does not limit our imagination. I think this movie is just perfect for answering questions for old fans who are curious to just see how the Fullmetal Alchemist live-action is.