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Fullmetal Alchemist, The Conqueror of Shamballa
This was actually much better than I had expected, but then, I went in with really, really low expectations, given people's warnings and my general experience with movies made after anime series.
Giant spoilers for all of the FMA anime and the movie!
Things that I didn't like (to get it out of the way:
Ambiguous things:
Thing that I really did like:
Giant spoilers for all of the FMA anime and the movie!
Things that I didn't like (to get it out of the way:
- A lot of things didn't feel earned, even the ending, no matter how happy it made me. Gates opened too easily, villains were defeated too quickly, people came back from despair too quickly. Much of this is because it's a 100-min. movie instead of 51 episodes; I think if it had been 26 episodes, it would have been much better. This was really my biggest problem with the movie, and it was one that I anticipated, given the format.
- I don't actually believe Roy would go off and sulk in the Arctic, or wherever that was. I mean, I do believe that Roy from most of the series would, but the Roy that we see in the final three episodes seemed to have grown past that. Also, from the ending of the series, it didn't seem like Roy would go abandon Hawkeye again. On the other hand, I totally believe that Hawkeye would refuse to see Roy if he went all emo like that.
- The part that really had me yelling at the screen was when Ed's plane crashed, and he emerged, and the first person to recognize him and run up to him and welcome him home was Winry, not Al. Normally I dislike pushing out female characters from male-male bonds, but in this case, it just felt wrong. The entire series is about Ed and Al and what they do for each other and the last episode is all about what they're willing to sacrifice for each other, and even though Al knows Ed is alive at that point, I felt like he should have been the first person to welcome Ed back. So I am totally fanwanking that in my head and pretending that's what happened.
- Nazi-Hughes is too weird and I don't believe it, even though it's an alternate world and Alphonse Heiderich isn't much like Al. It would have worked better for me if it had been an alterna-Roy.
- Noah was really, incredibly boring, and I kept forgetting her name because "Noah" isn't something I tend to associate with gypsies. Also, Noah kissing Ed was really, incredibly weird, even though I know Ed is 17.
- The whole thing with Wrath felt too short. I think it would have worked better in an anime series with more time for character motivation.
- Not enough setup for Hohenheim suddenly ending up in the mouth of snake!Envy. That was very random.
- The entire Nazi subplot, which really just didn't work for me.
- The entire military plot/take over the world thing, which seems very antithetical to the series. I also didn't like that it was basically resolved via guns and alchemy and violence, which also seems very antithetical to the series. I think a lot of the movie felt like that for me because it didn't have the deliberate invocation of the consequences that I loved so much about the series.
Ambiguous things:
- I miss crazy!Ed so much. We get to see snippets of him when Al returns, particularly when they're fleeing (laughed so much!), and I do think it makes sense that Ed is much more somber and solemn after having gone through all that he did and after spending years on another world wondering if his final sacrifice even worked. And it fits with the Ed who said goodbye to Roy, but I miss him being boyish and stubborn and short-tempered so much.
Thing that I really did like:
- ED AND AL! ED AND AL! ED AND AL!!!!! My boys! I missed you so much!!!! There may have been a whole lot of squeeing and flapping of hands when Al's soul gets to talk to Ed via armor and the big hug and the "Nii-san! You're taller!" and the dynamic of Ed getting in trouble and Al tagging along and OMG MY BOYS! I love the Elrics so much. The entire movie was totally worth it just for the Ed-and-Al scenes.
- Al in armor again, quietly telling Ed that he lost his memories, and that moment when he fades back out, and Ed finally knowing for sure that his last sacrifice worked and that Al was safe, and Al crying in bed over his brother, lost in another world.
- Al! OMG! Al in the red coat and the black and the gloves and the hand clapping and the ponytail and the opening where he treks across the desert just like the first episode! Al, trying so hard to be Ed and be fight-y and rambunctious like Ed! Al apologizing for not remember Armstrong! Oh Al! I thought I would miss Al-in-armor, and while I do, I adore little human Al as well! For a second, I thought Al actually remembered the Gate and could do alchemy without a circle, but it turns out he has a special glove.
- Al angst! Al's opening of the gate paralleled with Ed's constant guilt over the decision to resurrect their mother!
- Ed with ponytail! Ok, this is shallow squee from me, but dude. Ed grew up real pretty.
- Mustang returns! That was such an awesome scene and there was more flailing and squeeing from me as he walked around and gave order and that final salute from Hawkeye.
- All the callouts to the series: Winry and Sheska crawling through air ducts again, Roy calling up Winry, Gluttony still there in the underground city, the old transmutation circles still there in the underground city, the hot air balloon, Liore being the city of crisis once again, thanks to Scar's transmutation circle, and first Roy then Winry and Sheska at Hughes' grave.
- OMG Mustang returns! I know, I said this before, but still! Eyepatch!
- The grace note for Izumi.
- ED AND AL!!!!!!! Ed and Al in matching coats and ponytails, flying up in unison, Ed and Al pairing up to stop the airship, Ed trying to teach Al the lessons that he learned and remembers from their four years together, and just... ED AND AL! I squeed every single time I saw them in their matching coats and ponytails, looking so alike, and I want to hug them both so much!
- Winry knowing that she was saying goodbye to Ed.
- This isn't actually something I enjoyed per se, because it ripped out my heart again, but Ed dividing the airplane into two and telling Al that they both needed to close the Gate, and Al crying out for his brother, and Roy holding him back, and yes, there may have been some tears.
- And oh, that last bit when I thought Al had put some of himself in the armor for one last goodbye, and finding out that it was Al himself! Much squeeing! I don't care about what I said about everything else in the movie feeling unearned, that part still had enough angst and pain and trauma from the series to make it perfectly fine with me, because I could not bear to see them parted for a second time. I'm a little more iffy about Al with his memories back, but honestly, I'm not complaining. Plus, they're both alone and can't do alchemy anymore, so that is a price. Anyhow, the Elrics are back together! I am so happy!
The entire movie was so worth it for that, because even though the movie isn't really canon in my head, just knowing that even an AU!Ed and an AU!Al get back together is fine by me.
I could not love the Elrics any more.
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I concur. And if that blinds me to the movie's flaws since I love it so, I so don't care.
You forgot AU!Scar and AU!Lust! Who made me jump up and SHRIEK.
Now go watch the OVAs of movie spoileriness!
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magic carpetstone block together looking so alike was so awesome!And yes! AU!Scar and AU!Lust were excellent!
Are the OVAs the hagaren-chibi thing and something else? I have them, but my codecs aren't playing the sound and it is tragic, because Hawkeye is obviously yelling at Roy!
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This is exactly how I feel. I mean, I think the series ending with the brothers separated is exactly the right choice, but it makes me so sad.
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If I ignore the random Nazi plot, and the unbelievably ineffective villian (I mean, what the hell?!), then I do honestly love this movie.
I don't know if they assumed because it was a movie it had to be bigger, with more flashy stuff or something, but I came out of it thinking they'd completely lost the point. FMA is primarily about the characters, and there wasn't nearly enough time spent in Amestris. And wtf to that reunion scene with Winry and Al. Come on guys, we know you're all disillusioned and world-weary now, but show some emotion!
I was pretty peeved Mustang only had, what, 5 minutes total screen time? And I hadn't thought about swapping Nazi Hughes with someone else - alter!Roy would have worked so much better. And hell, I'm positive Ed would have been more engaged in our reality if he'd had a Roy to fight with (cause even if it's not actually Roy, you know he'd still be a smug bastard).
*sighs* It doesn't matter really. Ed and Al are back together, and it still surprises me how happy that makes me. Yay. And as much as I miss crazy!Ed as well, I very much approve of how his character evolved. He became a bit like his father really. It's so believable.
Ok, I have to stop myself now, because this could go on forever. I'm glad you enjoyed, that was what I meant to say.
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I prefer Ed with a braid though.
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Also... ED AND AL!
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These boys are so pretty and so angsty it hurts.