Review of Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa (2005) by Colin H — 04 Sep 2008

Having watched the series, I was looking for conclusion and I certainly got it! This film nicely rounds off a fantastic and imaginative anime (of the few anime's I even consider watching!).

Fans of the series will lap up everything and more, I myself got slightly muddled at times as I've only watched each episode once. The film starts off very slowly as we settle into the new world the lead character Ed has found himself in.

About 40-50 minutes in, with the return of characters from his world, the Full Metal Alchemist madness begins, and we remember why we love the series so much. Though the inclusion of the Nazi party and even Hitler himself was a little surprising! But it did root the "real" world in a time period.

You really can't watch this without prior knowledge of the entire series before it; the story is built on so much lore and there are witty cameos of past friends and foes.

The movie is well made (with some rather obvious 3D animation which does look a bit out of place) the "real" world, were Edward finds himself, has more natural colours while his world is vibrant and dazzling as the series was. It makes for a great contrast and keeps us on the ball as the movie flicks from one world to the other.

Only for the fans, ultimately, but anyone who is even remotely interested in Anime should check out the Full Metal Alchemist series; it is an excellent piece of storytelling.