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Column by Scott Green
Leading up to FUNimation's September 12th release of Fullmetal Alchemist: The Conqueror of Shamballa on DVD, the company screened the movie theatrically on August 25th and 26th (Texas fans can still see it September 5-7, see here for details). Based on the audience reaction in the Boston area screening, though the movie went a bit far astray for the anime series' epilogue, the audience received what they are looking for.
The original 51 episode Full Metal Alchemist TV series has been a well warranted hit among anime fans. Where series like the popular Naruto requires allowances for the contortions needed to manufacture more episodes while remaining behind its source material manga, the Fullmetal Alchemist anime takes on the framework of a well planned epic. Fluid, complex action animation work from BONES (Cowboy Bebop: The Movie), mature handling of characters, compelling, often harsh developments and little reliance on formula compound to make for a series that will thrill anime faithful as well as those wary of the conceits of popular anime.
The anime is set in a world physically and metaphysically governed by the Law of Equivalent Exchange, which an alchemist may utilize to turn one form of matter into another. Young brothers Ed and Al break this law attempting to resurrect their mother. In the bloody, disastrous procedure gone awry, Ed loses an arm and a leg. Al looses his body, though Ed is able to affix the younger Al's soul into a hulking suit of armor. Taking up the quest to find the Philosopher Stone in order to re-obtain their original bodies, Ed, outfitted with mechanical replacement limbs, trades freedom for knowledge by becoming a "dog of the military" joining his nation's State Alchemists. As their journey continues and the innocence of the young heroes is stripped, their idealism frequently comes into conflict with the consequences of their action.
If you're hoping to avoid learning too much about the particulars of the Fullmetal Alchemist movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa, the thumbnail evaluation would be that it is everything a fan would want in an anime action movie and little more. Though it largely deviates from familiar trapping of the anime series, it offers plenty of well receive crowd pleasing moments of the favorite characters expressing themselves in movie quality animation. In contrast to many anime-franchise movies Seiji Mizushima constructs one that is neither rushed or incomplete, nor does it have the out of character non-urgency that makes many franchise movie seem like official fan-fiction. Instead, it is well paced and logically constructed throughout. Mizushima's habit of inappropriately using humor to lighten moments in scenes that for dramatic effect should not be lightened is present in a few rather pronounced instances with character making deliberately comedic overtures in moments when they are seriously engage. BONES's animation carries a more detailed design work than the television series, and there is some absolutely spectacular creature work in the movie, but more often many of the effects and fights are overly familiar. The climax fight scene specifically is very reminiscent in its motion of one of the highly regarded fights of the anime.
There is a spectacular creature fight 1/4 into the movie, and a much larger, much more impressive one 3/4 in. Theatrical anime works frequently aim to show high magnitude animation prowess with this type of scene, but here, BONES in particular leverages starkly contrasting elements and fluid animation to produces memorable visual displays. However, especially the second one, the integration into the larger movie is problematic to the point where the scenes clearly don't know what do with characters who are present for the event.
Beyond that, plot is essential to the movie, and it should not be discussed in detail without going into the plot.
The movie was not just plastering the Fullmetal Alchemist name over another concept the way some fans might fear. It isn't the kind of radical format break that a movie like Ghost in the Shell: Innocence was. It doesn't appear that the movie's makers had tired of the franchise and grafted an separate idea onto the names of the franchise. Instead, the movie appears to be an exercise in exploring a moment of history that had previously been linked to the title along facets of the familiar work. As such, previous knowledge aids enjoyment of the movie, which has more to do with viewing existing structures of personalities and events from slightly skewed angles. It is less in the business of created or even re-creating than in its in turning and repositioning.
Conqueror of Shamballa follows intersecting stories in the world of the original series and in a historical moment of our own world. Shou Aikawa's script adeptly develops a Fullmetal Alchemist story within the context of this history. It pulls in the politics, science and mysticism that are both appropriate for the time and in what gives Fullmetal Alchemist its character.
The title refers to a plot by the proto-Nazi, esoteric Thule Society, which includes Rudolf Hess and Karl Haushofer, to open a gate to Fullmetal Alchemist' original world, assumed to be a hollow-Earth theory variant of Tibet's legendary Shamballa. As such, the movie draws inspiration from Oberth's rocket work and the Nazi' beer hall putsch of Weimar Germany in 1923 Munich.
Familiarity with history is a useful tool for approaching the movie. Given that the theatre crowd was audibly surprised and discomforted to learn that the beer hall ranting was swelling into a Nazi rally, it does not seem safe to assume that everyone is going to realized the movie positive PROBLEM-SOLVED tone to the failure of the November 8th coup and the arrest of Hitler and Hess didn't mark the end of the Nazi party's rise, or that the movie diverged from real history. Knowledge of the wider context isn't just illuminating, but makes the niche the world builds out more interesting.
The movie teases the the franchise as it does history. Plenty of dramatic irony is worked into the relationships between the worlds. The man who was Führer King Bradley of the original world is shown to be the counterpart of movie maker Fritz Lang, who plays and active role in the story. Fan favorite Hughes is shown to have a counterpart in the German police who is far less mentally or morally impressive. There's no offered up explanation why these twin with some spiritual similarities, but radically different lives.
The movie's greatest accomplishment is that it is able to coherently integrate all elements it works with. On the Fullmetal Alchemist front, the movie is able to bring back many of the familiar players from the anime, and while a few of their contributions are forced, their sub-stories are often satisfactorily complete.
There is some character advancement, but more often that advancement takes the characters back into familiar positions. Thematically it is retreading familiar ground for the franchise, with little new for the characters. Al beginning to resemble his father, as Ed began to the TV series, but in a different way than his bother did could have given the movie a unique angle. Yet, despite working on his own, he's still the deuteragonist, and only given a limited window. Disasters and innocent victims suffering as the consequence of pursued goals is old territory for Fullmetal Alchemist. Even if the escalation of a host of characters' intersecting paths does provide the expected gravity, the movie was be a bit lazy in the demonstration. Illustrating the cost of war through a bloodstain and teddy bear pales in comparison to the original series crimes against humanity.
In all, the movie remains engaging four its hour and 45 minute running length, and holds together far better than most works of the format. It is a tale that speaks well, covering a well constructed set of characters situations along with a fascinating, pivotal moment on history, without figuring out a way to say much new about either.
