Full Metal Alchemist Live Action Movie Trailer – What We Learned

Between Ghost In The Shell and Death Note, 2017 seems to be a year of live action Anime adaptations; Full Metal Alchemist seems to be the next to throw it’s Philosopher’s Stone into the ring as today they released a new Trailer as well as a December release date. Although unlike the other anime adaptations this year, which whitewashed an entirely Japanese cast, Full Metal Alchemist seems to be doing the exact opposite.

One of the amazing things about Full Metal Alchemist was how it weaved together very distinct regions. The main 3 (Amestris, Xing and Ishval) all mirror real world locations (Europe, Asia, Middle East respectively). Now it’s a little weird that an anime with the most diverse cast of any is being portrayed by an entirely Japanese cast, but it does make sense as the film will be in Japanese and then subtitled. Additionally, it could also speak to the scope of the film.

I could go on and on about how well written and representative this series is, but it’d be hard to tell that story over the span of 2 hours. Then again, they could be using the non-canon version of the series, which had a much more limited scope. You see there are actually two anime with the name Full Metal Alchemist. While the Manga was becoming popular, it was adapted into an anime; but since the manga was still ongoing, the anime went its own route. Years later, when the manga was finished, the actual manga->anime adaptation was released and titled Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Whereas the original was good, it vastly pales in comparison to the original manga/ Brotherhood telling.

This trailer doesn’t give us many clues as to which telling the film will use – nor would I expect it to since the first 13 episodes or so of both Full Metal Alchemist series are almost identical. And judging by the proposed cast list thus far, this film will play with that era. For all we know, this film will most likely turn into a mini film series like what happened with the Rurouni Kenshin series. That series needed to hit the mark with action and fight choreography and nailed it! This one has a much loftier goal of special effects and storytelling. We need to FEEL for the characters.

Judging by the trailer, the special effects for the transmutation look great. As for story, I hope they follow the canon/ Brotherhood version. Though this film’s true test will be in how it handles the Shou Tucker Chimera storyline…. I would say more, but half the people reading this already broke out the tissue box. If there was ever a moment to capture audiences and make us FEEL for these characters, that’s it.

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