To sum up this theatrical continuation of the Fullmetal Alchemist television series in two words: mixed blessing. There’s no denying that Conqueror of Shamballa hits many of the right notes, but leaves some areas wishing for a bit more time and care put into them.
The story is set three years after the conclusion of the television series, with the events that transpired in the final episodes leaving Edward and Alphonse Elric separated between two parallel worlds. Edward now resides in pre-World War II Nazi Germany, studying rocketry and longing for his homeworld of Amestris, and Alphonse, who wanders through the country searching for a way to recover his brother. Unknown to Edward, an occultist group sponsored by the Nazis known as the Thule Society has discovered the existence of the parallel world of Amestris, which they refer to as “Shamballa”. Assuming Ed and Al’s homeworld yields new and advanced technology that will lend itself to the Nazi’s planned takeover of Europe, the Thule Society, directed by the cruel Dietlinde Eckhart, plans to open a portal to “Shamballa” and invade it. As Edward becomes involved in the Thule Society’s plot, the actions of Alphonse, the three surviving homunculi scattered across both worlds, and Ed and Al’s father, Van Hohenheim, threaten to bring Eckhart’s plan toward fruition. This first half of the film leaves little to complain about, moving at a perfect pace and slowly ushering the audience into the story. Once it starts to build to the grand, final battle however, some flies can be noticed in the ointment.
Compared to the original manga, the animated adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was noticeably more character driven. While the action of the manga revolves around an epic “fate of the world” plot, the anime was much lower key and put more emphasis on the decisions and inner workings of both the protagonists and antagonists. While it occasionally fell into the realm of cliché while doing so, the anime storyline ultimately has more emotional impact. It was hard not to feel sorry for even the most ruthless and cruel of the anime’s villains once you understood exactly what motivated them. In Conqueror of Shamballa, director Seiji Mizushima and writer Shou Aikawa choose to take the opposite direction, probably due to the fact that they had two hours to tell their story as opposed to the twenty hours they had for the series.
Familiar characters like the Elric Brothers and Roy Mustang have strong emotional arcs that run throughout the film, dealing with their respective realization of responsibility and requisition of a sense purpose. On the other hand, some others suffer. Out of the three surviving Homunculi, Envy, Wrath, and Gluttony, only Wrath seems properly handled. His character carries a nice and tragic subplot that functions well within the greater context of the story, moving it forward while still providing a satisfying close to his arc. Gluttony’s portrayal as a mindless beast somewhat excuses his lack of development, but his abrupt entrance and quick exit from the story highlight the nature of his character as a plot device. Out of the three homunculi though, Envy suffers the most. His grudge against Hohenheim is finally brought to a conclusion, but is done so in a quick, cheap, and unsatisfying manner that allows no sense of a proper end and renders him a simple plot device. The abrupt manner in which the antagonists of the series serve their roles in the story is only made more tragic by the new villains introduced in the film, who feel by comparison rather flat.
No character however, has a more unsatisfying role than Van Hohenheim, whose treatment is absolutely pathetic. The character suffered enough from a lack of screentime in the series, but at least had a strong emotional weight that accompanied his history and motivations. As with the series, it is Hohenheim’s offscreen actions that begin the film’s story, but in the end he doesn’t amount to much more than another cheap device to moving the “Nazi Invasion” storyline forward. Appearing for no more than two minutes, he performs an action that begins the final battle and departs, bringing a disgustingly abrupt end to his character. The fact that no one ever mentions him again after he serves his purpose in the plot serves as a bitter testament to how little writer Aikawa cared for the plenty compelling character.
Despite the rocky treatment of familiar characters, the new protagonists fare decently. Alfons Heidrich stands out as the most well rendered of them, having a strong and tragic motivation and character arc that accompanies the development of Edward’s character and lends some nice emotional power to the film. Officer Hughes, a parallel version of Amestris’ Maes Hughes, is another nice player in the story, especially considering the viewer’s familiarity with the other version of the character and his ultimate fate. The fact that he plays a decent role is a nice thing for fans of the original character (such as myself) to see. On the other hand, some new characters have a few problems. The Gypsy Noa, despite her sizeable screentime, comes across as a bit unlikable and cliché, and as entertaining as it was to see a “nice” incarnation of King Bradley in the form of Fritz Lang, he feels a bit unnecessary overall.
My final bone to pick with the film is the way it ultimately ends. A traditional “happy ending” would have functioned counter to the overall thematic structure of Fullmetal Alchemist, so a lack of one here isn’t a problem. The issue here is how open ended the denouement is, especially considering this is supposedly the final installment of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime storyline. While it’s true that all threads left untied at the end of the television series are addressed in this film, its ultimate conclusion plays out as a lead in to a second series, which to my knowledge, isn’t going to materialize (it’s true a new anime is in production, but no word on whether it’s a continuation of this film or a more faithful adaptation of the almost-finished manga). The ultimate flaw of Conqueror of Shamballa, which functions as both a part of the character development and the ending, is that it just doesn’t feel like a satisfying goodbye.
While Conqueror of Shamballa may disappoint a bit in terms of story and characters, it’s superb from a visual and auditory standpoint. The animation is wonderful and fluid, a perfect combination of traditional methods and CGI. The action sequences are a treat for the eyes, well directed and animated. The older bunch of voice actors deliver typically strong performances, and the cast of characters exclusive to this film are also well portrayed by a selection of new voices unfamiliar with the anime industry. In terms of music, Michiru Oshima delivers a nice score that accompanies the action nicely although like her work on the series, it doesn’t have the stand alone appeal of one of her Godzilla scores. Like the TV series, Conqueror of Shamballa opens and ends with a song from a contemporary Japanese artist. In this case, it’s L-arc-en-ciel, who provided the second opening of the anime series. Both of their songs here are some pretty good tunes and set the right mood of their respective positions in the film.
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa is an overall enjoyable anime flick with some fundamental issues. As a capper to the Fullmetal Alchemist series, I can’t really say it does its’ job, but ultimately is a worthy entry in FMA canon.
The story is set three years after the conclusion of the television series, with the events that transpired in the final episodes leaving Edward and Alphonse Elric separated between two parallel worlds. Edward now resides in pre-World War II Nazi Germany, studying rocketry and longing for his homeworld of Amestris, and Alphonse, who wanders through the country searching for a way to recover his brother. Unknown to Edward, an occultist group sponsored by the Nazis known as the Thule Society has discovered the existence of the parallel world of Amestris, which they refer to as “Shamballa”. Assuming Ed and Al’s homeworld yields new and advanced technology that will lend itself to the Nazi’s planned takeover of Europe, the Thule Society, directed by the cruel Dietlinde Eckhart, plans to open a portal to “Shamballa” and invade it. As Edward becomes involved in the Thule Society’s plot, the actions of Alphonse, the three surviving homunculi scattered across both worlds, and Ed and Al’s father, Van Hohenheim, threaten to bring Eckhart’s plan toward fruition. This first half of the film leaves little to complain about, moving at a perfect pace and slowly ushering the audience into the story. Once it starts to build to the grand, final battle however, some flies can be noticed in the ointment.
Compared to the original manga, the animated adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was noticeably more character driven. While the action of the manga revolves around an epic “fate of the world” plot, the anime was much lower key and put more emphasis on the decisions and inner workings of both the protagonists and antagonists. While it occasionally fell into the realm of cliché while doing so, the anime storyline ultimately has more emotional impact. It was hard not to feel sorry for even the most ruthless and cruel of the anime’s villains once you understood exactly what motivated them. In Conqueror of Shamballa, director Seiji Mizushima and writer Shou Aikawa choose to take the opposite direction, probably due to the fact that they had two hours to tell their story as opposed to the twenty hours they had for the series.
Familiar characters like the Elric Brothers and Roy Mustang have strong emotional arcs that run throughout the film, dealing with their respective realization of responsibility and requisition of a sense purpose. On the other hand, some others suffer. Out of the three surviving Homunculi, Envy, Wrath, and Gluttony, only Wrath seems properly handled. His character carries a nice and tragic subplot that functions well within the greater context of the story, moving it forward while still providing a satisfying close to his arc. Gluttony’s portrayal as a mindless beast somewhat excuses his lack of development, but his abrupt entrance and quick exit from the story highlight the nature of his character as a plot device. Out of the three homunculi though, Envy suffers the most. His grudge against Hohenheim is finally brought to a conclusion, but is done so in a quick, cheap, and unsatisfying manner that allows no sense of a proper end and renders him a simple plot device. The abrupt manner in which the antagonists of the series serve their roles in the story is only made more tragic by the new villains introduced in the film, who feel by comparison rather flat.
No character however, has a more unsatisfying role than Van Hohenheim, whose treatment is absolutely pathetic. The character suffered enough from a lack of screentime in the series, but at least had a strong emotional weight that accompanied his history and motivations. As with the series, it is Hohenheim’s offscreen actions that begin the film’s story, but in the end he doesn’t amount to much more than another cheap device to moving the “Nazi Invasion” storyline forward. Appearing for no more than two minutes, he performs an action that begins the final battle and departs, bringing a disgustingly abrupt end to his character. The fact that no one ever mentions him again after he serves his purpose in the plot serves as a bitter testament to how little writer Aikawa cared for the plenty compelling character.
Despite the rocky treatment of familiar characters, the new protagonists fare decently. Alfons Heidrich stands out as the most well rendered of them, having a strong and tragic motivation and character arc that accompanies the development of Edward’s character and lends some nice emotional power to the film. Officer Hughes, a parallel version of Amestris’ Maes Hughes, is another nice player in the story, especially considering the viewer’s familiarity with the other version of the character and his ultimate fate. The fact that he plays a decent role is a nice thing for fans of the original character (such as myself) to see. On the other hand, some new characters have a few problems. The Gypsy Noa, despite her sizeable screentime, comes across as a bit unlikable and cliché, and as entertaining as it was to see a “nice” incarnation of King Bradley in the form of Fritz Lang, he feels a bit unnecessary overall.
My final bone to pick with the film is the way it ultimately ends. A traditional “happy ending” would have functioned counter to the overall thematic structure of Fullmetal Alchemist, so a lack of one here isn’t a problem. The issue here is how open ended the denouement is, especially considering this is supposedly the final installment of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime storyline. While it’s true that all threads left untied at the end of the television series are addressed in this film, its ultimate conclusion plays out as a lead in to a second series, which to my knowledge, isn’t going to materialize (it’s true a new anime is in production, but no word on whether it’s a continuation of this film or a more faithful adaptation of the almost-finished manga). The ultimate flaw of Conqueror of Shamballa, which functions as both a part of the character development and the ending, is that it just doesn’t feel like a satisfying goodbye.
While Conqueror of Shamballa may disappoint a bit in terms of story and characters, it’s superb from a visual and auditory standpoint. The animation is wonderful and fluid, a perfect combination of traditional methods and CGI. The action sequences are a treat for the eyes, well directed and animated. The older bunch of voice actors deliver typically strong performances, and the cast of characters exclusive to this film are also well portrayed by a selection of new voices unfamiliar with the anime industry. In terms of music, Michiru Oshima delivers a nice score that accompanies the action nicely although like her work on the series, it doesn’t have the stand alone appeal of one of her Godzilla scores. Like the TV series, Conqueror of Shamballa opens and ends with a song from a contemporary Japanese artist. In this case, it’s L-arc-en-ciel, who provided the second opening of the anime series. Both of their songs here are some pretty good tunes and set the right mood of their respective positions in the film.
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: The Conqueror of Shamballa is an overall enjoyable anime flick with some fundamental issues. As a capper to the Fullmetal Alchemist series, I can’t really say it does its’ job, but ultimately is a worthy entry in FMA canon.
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