To Shamballa!

~SPOILERS!!~

After the completion of the first anime series, a movie for the continuation of Fullmetal Alchemist was released a year later. And thus, Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa premiered!

Two years have passed since Edward Elric was dragged from his world to ours in the year 1923 in Munich, Germany. All his powers involving alchemy are gone, yet he continues to research in the field of science as a rocket engineer with friend Alfons Heiderich, who coincidentally resembles Edward's younger brother while sharing the same name. Edward still has hopes on returning to his home where his family and friends are.

His average life on Earth turns around when he becomes involved in the Thule Society as they try to open a portal into Edward's world, believing it to be a utopia known as Shamballa.

While the Thule Society transports soldiers right into Edward's world, in the city of Liore where his brother Alphonse finally sees a chance to see his older brother again, yet still has memory loss after Edward sacrificed himself to bring Al back to life. Alphonse gets into contact with the homonculus Wrath to open the Gate of Alchemy to reunite with Edward just as Edward does the same on Earth as the Thule Society plans to launch a revolution in Germany.

In anime film history, I personally think that this is the best anime movie based off of a series. Unlike other anime movies based off the series, you don't have to guess what time in the anime it would take place; you know it's after the first series! It's just a thing I don't like to think about when I watch that stuff with other animes like Naruto or Bleach.

I love the returning characters and the new ones like Alfons Heiderich and the gypsy Noah. Some of the fighting scenes can be kinda graphic and a bit scary such as *spoiler* the deformed Gluttony when he's fighting Wrath *spoiler* but they're really good fight scenes. There are some pretty cool graphics too and I love the historical goodies they give us about Germany at the time. Overall, damn good movie.

Who are you calling a pipsqueak midget?!

So while I wait for my new Yosemite photos being uploaded to Facebook, I'll do another review on Fullmetal Alchemist.

Alchemy is the science of understanding matter, breaking it down, and then reconstructing it into something else. It can even turn lead into gold. However, it's not an all powerful science. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That's what the Elric brother, Edward and Alphonse, learned the night they attempted to bring their mother back from the dead.

Born in a small town of Resembool in the country Amestris, Edward and his younger brother, Alphonse, live with their mother and developed an aptitude for alchemy at a young age. Their father, Hohenheim, left home for an unknown reason when they were little and their mother, Trisha Elric, died years later of a terminal illness.

Distressed by their mother's death, Edward and Alphonse began researching human transmutation, an forbidden alchemy where one attempts to create or modify a human being. After a year of training alchemy, they attempt to bring their mother back, but this attempt failed. Not only what they created wasn't human, but Edward lost his left leg while Alphonse lost his entire body. Desperate to save the only family he had left, Edward sacrificed his right arm, putting Alphonse's soul into a suit of armor.

Some days later, a state alchemist named Roy Mustang visited the brothers, discovering their attempt at human transmutation. Impressed by how Edward was able to survive, he suggests to him to become a state alchemist to help him and Alphonse recover their bodies. The next day, close family friends Winry Rockbell and her grandmother Pinako replace Edward's arm and leg with automail, a type of prosthetic limb. After a year of therapy, Edward becomes the youngest state alchemist ever.

After becoming a state alchemist, Edward and Alphonse leave their home to search for the Philosopher's Stone(For Harry Potter fans, yes it's the same thing as the Sorcerer's Stone), a legendary substance that ignores the laws of alchemy, making the brothers able to bring their normal bodies back.

Another mainstream anime that's really great. A mix of comedy, action and some drama, this anime has broken another scale of anime rating.

Now, there are actually two Fullmetal Alchemist series: Fullmetal Alchemist and FMA: Brotherhood. Here's the difference of the two so you know which ones you're watching.

The original Fullmetal Alchemist series follows the manga until about halfway through the series where it begins to run on a totally different story and it ends with a movie called Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa. In FMA: Brotherhood, it follows all of the manga and this summer there is going to be a release of a movie called Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos. I still have yet to finish Brotherhood but so far it's really good and the original anime series is really great to watch too.

~Liz~