FMA movie, my thoughts...
Wai~ I finally watched this long awaited movie!!
I really didn't see these almost 2 hours passing by!!!
The quality was still there, in action, in chara design and so on! I wouldn't have believed it'd feel so good to see the boys again!!! Chibi!Ed at the beginning was just as he used to be, hilarious! And I really grew found of restored!Al ♥
As for the story, well, let's put a lj-cut for the...
Ed living in our world was really destabilizing for me, because just like him, seeing familiar faces yet strangers' faces (feels like Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles *wink*) felt like "uh?!"
I was also surprised to find Hohenheim again, because I thought he was killed by the missile at the end of the tv series. As for Envy, in the end, he didn't have that much of a part in the story... and I was also very surprised by the re-appearance of Gluttony... he really became a mindless monster *shudders*
However, of all the "monsters", Wrath really moved me. When he was lying near the grave of his mother... that was touching. In spite of all that's lying in their heart, homunculi do have feelings after all, because they still remain what they were at the beginning. I was moved by tears at his decision and happy too that he got what he wanted in the end. His was a kind of aimless existence by the end of the tv series and it was prettily knotted there.
Now, I really fell hard for Al. A bit naive though but really the kind heart he was before his re-transmutation. I wanted to shake him out of his horror when is world was invaded, but the shock was rather understandable given his innocence. From what I understand, he was rather cossetted through those 2 years by Izumi (I don't know if "cossetted" is the right word when speaking of Izumi, but well ^^;;; ), so the real world was an understandable shock for him.
I loved the moment when Ed met with Al again for the first time, when Al's soul remained in the armour and crossed the Gate. It was really funny and a bit emotional too. On that part, I was surprised that the brothers didn't show more their emotions and the happiness to meet again after all this time. Particularly when Ed comes back in his world and see how Al grew up... I concede the circumstances weren't exactly the best for a happy reunion, but... well, Ed has always been the tough/rough type, hasn't he?
I was so emo too when Ed decided to go back. I thought: "Not again." very close to tears! Understandably, Noa should have struck him: Ed.H sacrificed his life for him to go back and there he was; plus she wanted so much to go and he doesn't consider it important enough to stay there? But then, Al was there and it was as it should... or rather it was the best out of the situation!!
I really pity Winry because she's a wonderful female character (it's more obvious in the tv show and in the manga actually) and she was kinda left aside... very typically japanese female behaviour there, I thought (no offence meant!), to understand the way of the men and resign herself to what's they leave to her.
I also pitied Roy but a bit less. After all he has Hawkeye, but to think that he waited 2 years in such a backward place for Ed to come back... and then he was gone again. I wonder if he felt a kind of obligation of honorific stand-guard duty during these years, as if he had to stay faithfully watchful for Ed's return until he can fulfill his own duties for his country and life and career again. B/c he felt he owned Ed something and that this wait was a rightful retribution... that would be very typical japanese behaviour too, it seems to me.
As for the yaoi hints, well I sorta smirked when one of Roy's guys (the one that recovered from battle against homunculi in spite of a very serious wound that left him in bed supposedly for the rest of his life) told his Breda buddy that Roy was waiting for someone (Ed of course!). But then given the rest of the movie, I thought more along the line of what I described above, a retribution.
But of course the best was the elric brothers! When we got Al searching for his brother all around, it was just like before, a strong brotherly binding that not a dimensionnal gate could break. It went on for long, and was even supported by the apparent lack of feelings at their reunion. But then the ending... Giving up your world to be with your brother, your status, your friends and family (I think of the Rockbells as family)... that's a pretty big sacrifice! And doing so in such a hurry, a blink of the eye... he didn't think twice over it, it was what he had yearned for for so long... for me, that's the sign of something deeper than brotherly love, maybe not something like "love" but a binding of souls that runs beyond...
So as you guessed, I loved this movie, though it turned me emo more often than not. For me, it's a final period to a great saga, one of the best of the last years!
I really didn't see these almost 2 hours passing by!!!
The quality was still there, in action, in chara design and so on! I wouldn't have believed it'd feel so good to see the boys again!!! Chibi!Ed at the beginning was just as he used to be, hilarious! And I really grew found of restored!Al ♥
As for the story, well, let's put a lj-cut for the...
Ed living in our world was really destabilizing for me, because just like him, seeing familiar faces yet strangers' faces (feels like Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles *wink*) felt like "uh?!"
I was also surprised to find Hohenheim again, because I thought he was killed by the missile at the end of the tv series. As for Envy, in the end, he didn't have that much of a part in the story... and I was also very surprised by the re-appearance of Gluttony... he really became a mindless monster *shudders*
However, of all the "monsters", Wrath really moved me. When he was lying near the grave of his mother... that was touching. In spite of all that's lying in their heart, homunculi do have feelings after all, because they still remain what they were at the beginning. I was moved by tears at his decision and happy too that he got what he wanted in the end. His was a kind of aimless existence by the end of the tv series and it was prettily knotted there.
Now, I really fell hard for Al. A bit naive though but really the kind heart he was before his re-transmutation. I wanted to shake him out of his horror when is world was invaded, but the shock was rather understandable given his innocence. From what I understand, he was rather cossetted through those 2 years by Izumi (I don't know if "cossetted" is the right word when speaking of Izumi, but well ^^;;; ), so the real world was an understandable shock for him.
I loved the moment when Ed met with Al again for the first time, when Al's soul remained in the armour and crossed the Gate. It was really funny and a bit emotional too. On that part, I was surprised that the brothers didn't show more their emotions and the happiness to meet again after all this time. Particularly when Ed comes back in his world and see how Al grew up... I concede the circumstances weren't exactly the best for a happy reunion, but... well, Ed has always been the tough/rough type, hasn't he?
I was so emo too when Ed decided to go back. I thought: "Not again." very close to tears! Understandably, Noa should have struck him: Ed.H sacrificed his life for him to go back and there he was; plus she wanted so much to go and he doesn't consider it important enough to stay there? But then, Al was there and it was as it should... or rather it was the best out of the situation!!
I really pity Winry because she's a wonderful female character (it's more obvious in the tv show and in the manga actually) and she was kinda left aside... very typically japanese female behaviour there, I thought (no offence meant!), to understand the way of the men and resign herself to what's they leave to her.
I also pitied Roy but a bit less. After all he has Hawkeye, but to think that he waited 2 years in such a backward place for Ed to come back... and then he was gone again. I wonder if he felt a kind of obligation of honorific stand-guard duty during these years, as if he had to stay faithfully watchful for Ed's return until he can fulfill his own duties for his country and life and career again. B/c he felt he owned Ed something and that this wait was a rightful retribution... that would be very typical japanese behaviour too, it seems to me.
As for the yaoi hints, well I sorta smirked when one of Roy's guys (the one that recovered from battle against homunculi in spite of a very serious wound that left him in bed supposedly for the rest of his life) told his Breda buddy that Roy was waiting for someone (Ed of course!). But then given the rest of the movie, I thought more along the line of what I described above, a retribution.
But of course the best was the elric brothers! When we got Al searching for his brother all around, it was just like before, a strong brotherly binding that not a dimensionnal gate could break. It went on for long, and was even supported by the apparent lack of feelings at their reunion. But then the ending... Giving up your world to be with your brother, your status, your friends and family (I think of the Rockbells as family)... that's a pretty big sacrifice! And doing so in such a hurry, a blink of the eye... he didn't think twice over it, it was what he had yearned for for so long... for me, that's the sign of something deeper than brotherly love, maybe not something like "love" but a binding of souls that runs beyond...
So as you guessed, I loved this movie, though it turned me emo more often than not. For me, it's a final period to a great saga, one of the best of the last years!