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Anime Review: Fullmetal Alchemist – The Sacred Star of Milos
It’s not very often that I get the chance to see an anime movie in theatres. Aside from one Pokemon movie when I was 10, the chance really didn’t arise until Funimation started putting the Evangelion movies in theatres. Obviously I jumped at the chance to see them. Unfortunately the theatre in my area clearly didn’t know how to use whatever they had to use to for the projection and the image was faded and dark. But still, seeing them in theatres was a nice experience and I was hoping I’d get to do it again. When Funimation first announced the theatrical dates for Sacred Star of Milos I was disappointed because the “nationwide” Canadian screening only covered half the nation. But then they added more and I got to see it and the projection wasn’t shitty, so might as well review it I guess.
When a prisoner with only a few months left on his sentence breaks out, the Elric brothers set out to track him down. Their search leads them to Table City, a city on the border of Amestris and Creta. When the pair saves a young alchemist named Julia from the escaped prisoner they get caught up in a rebellion to restore the nation of Milos to its former glory.
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos follows in the footsteps of movies like Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door and Trigun: Badlands Rumble. All three are movies for series that had endings that would be hard to follow with a sequel, so they end up being random filler that takes place sometime during the series itself. This means the movie has no bearing, and really no connection at all, to the actual story from the series.
The movie really goes out of its way to hammer this point home by practically taking place in another country and having next to none of the major characters from the series returning. Winry is there, but all she does is worry about Ed, then fixes his arm. Mustang is there, but he just reads documents most of the time and kills a couple chimera’s offscreen. Hawkeye is there, but all she does is shoot a gun out of a guys hand towards the end of the movie. Aside from Ed and Al, no characters from the series really participate in the story.
Stuff I Bought This Week – July 15th
Fruits Basket – Collector’s Edition
Plot Synopsis: “The Sohmas are a family cursed; a curse which has led to their isolation for generations. When a member of the family is embraced by a person of the opposite gender, they transform into an animal from the Chinese Zodiac! The Sohmas have managed to keep this embarrassing little secret hidden for many, many years… until young Tohru Honda stumbles into their life. Inspiring some and infuriating others, Tohru manages to turn life in this most unusual household upside down as Zodiac rivals clash. Above all, she must promise to keep their secret as one of her own – or face the consequences!”
Since Funimation decided to release a decent collection of Fruits Basket with new extras and a nice chipboard box, I figured I might as well buy it. All I had before was the cheap flimsy Viridian Collection, so this is a vast improvement. It includes a neat little booklet with a relationship chart, character bios, information about the Zodiac, and a whole bunch of behind the scenes stuff about the series. I actually ordered this back in June just before it came out. But then the postal strike happened and I just got it this week.
Purchase Fruits Basket Collector’s Edition at RightStuf
Fruits Basket Vol. 23
I also finally got the last volume of the manga, despite Stu Levy’s best attempt to prevent me from doing so by shutting down his company. I’ve actually started reading the series now as well, though I’m only on volume 6 so I’m not even beyond the parts that the anime covered. The best part is that every chapter includes a short bit written by the author, which usually ends up as her rambling about video games. So that’s fun.
Purcahse Fruits Basket Vol. 23 at RightStuf
Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 25
Plot Synopsis: “As Greed and King Bradley continue their battle, the mysterious homunculus “father” makes his move under Central City. In order to achieve his objectives, he will need to force Mustang to make an unthinkable choice. Meanwhile, Alphonse has the chance to regain his own body, but the sacrifice to do so may be too much.”
Viz has been incredibly slow with their Fullmetal Alchemist releases recently. The series finished serialization in Japan over a year ago, and the last volume was released over their in November. But the last couple volumes from Viz have come once every six months, despite them having a pretty good schedule before. The last two volumes will actually be coming out this fall, meaning they’ll manage to finish the series before 2012. Funimation will still finish releasing Brotherhood before Viz finishes the manga though. Anyway, I like Fullmetal Alchemist.
Purchase Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 25 at RightStuf
Inuyasha VIZBIG Edition Vol. 5
Plot Synopsis: “Kagome and Inuyasha have an angry argument that won’t be settled until someone apologizes, but each of them is just as stubborn as the other! While Kagome and Inuyasha work things out, Naraku sends forth one of his own most enigmatic minions, a woman with the power to control the dead. As Naraku’s plans unfold, Sesshomaru finds an unexpected reason to question his demonic nature. Between covetous wolf demons and Naraku’s powerful illusions, Kagome and Inuyasha face even more difficult challenges!”
Don’t tell anyone, but I kinda like Inuyasha. Used to watch it when I was like 12 because it was on TV and I would watch pretty much anything on TV. Decided to read the manga earlier this year since Viz is releasing it in bigger volumes. There will still end up being way too many volumes, since it will take about 18 VIZBIGs altogether. There are a lot more nipples in this than I remember from the TV series.
Funimation licenses Kore wa Zombie desu ka, new Fullmetal Alchemist movie
At their Anime Central panel earlier today, Funimation announced the acquisition of the anime series Kore wa Zombie Desu Ka?, which they will sensibly be calling Is this a Zombie?. Crunchyroll had simulcast the series when it premiered earlier this year.
They also announced that had licensed the latest entry in the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise, the movie Fullmetal Alchemist: The Star of Milos. Though this is not the least bit surprising, and was basically just a matter of when they’d get it. These were the only two license announcements during the panel.
Photo courtesy of the One Piece Podcast, who were live tweeting the panel.
Eric’s 2010 Year in Review: Top 5 Best and Worst Anime
2010 has been one odd year. Despite it being a year that marked the release of a few excellent gems, it has also been a year filled to the brim with an obscene amount of generic titles that should, frankly, be destroyed from existence. For these reasons, I present you with a list of what I perceive to be the best and worst anime of 2010.
Best of 2010
#5: BAKA and TEST- Summon the Beasts (Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu)
Of all the shows to come out this year, Baka to Test was the one that was able to be consistently hilarious for every episode, whether it be the amusing characters, the quick pace of its humor, or the jokes that make fun of many other tropes of the genre. It also helps that the story gets pretty interesting, and even epic, in the final episodes of the series. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking when it comes to the school life genre, but it at least shows that not all shows of the genre have to be the same generic crap every time. With the help of some clever writing, well executed humor, and interesting characters, even a show that strongly resembles others of its genre can be quite amazing.
Currently available at funimation.com
