Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

When a mysterious and powerful prisoner escapes from prison in Central, Edward and Alphonse Elric trail him to a valley near the city of Creta.  Here, the brothers find themselves caught up in a web of intrigue and danger as the struggling people of Milos plot an open rebellion against the military that has oppressed them.  At the center of this chaos is Julia, a beautiful girl who catches young Al’s eye.  To free her people, Julia will cross any line necessary, including harnessing a forbidden power that Ed and Al have first hand experience dealing with.  With fighting on the horizon, it’s up to the Elric Brothers to stop the total extermination of the Milosian people.

It’s hard to believe that Fullmetal Alchemist has been around for so long and yet its only had two films on its resume.  I guess that’s not so bad considering how most Anime based on TV shows can run their series of films into the ground by overstaying their welcome (Dragon Ball Z, Bleach).  While The Sacred Star of Milos isn’t anything truly groundbreaking for the franchise, it is a much better theatrical outing for Ed and Al than The Conqueror of Shamballa.

The film boasts a totally stand alone tale that could either fit in or outside of the main storyline (which I guess would be Brotherhood considering this came out after it was finished).  With that advantage, Milos acts as a much better entry point for new fans of the seires.  It’s a good sampler of the best of Fullmetal Alchemists storytelling abilities (adventure, the bonds of family, and self sacrifice amongst other things).  It definitely feels like this could have taken place during the series (especially the 2003 series as that allowed more time for filler tales like this one), which is probably the movie feels like a 2-3 part story rather than a movie level event but its still pretty good.

I really enjoyed the setting of the valley.  The Milosian people may have been trapped down here through terrible means but man they built a really amazing looking settlement.  The caverns and homes built inside and along the outer perimeter of the valley walls are great feats of human ingenuity and spirit, definitely places id love to visit if they existed.  Likewise, the Milosian’s are a pretty likeable bunch, especially Julia.  And man is it nice to see Al having his eyes on a girl for once, cause there’s only but so much you can do with teasing Ed and Winry being paired up (good as they may be).  In fact, the tragic tale of Julia and her brother, Ashley, could be viewed as a mirror experience for Ed and Al.  Both pairs end up after the same thing (spoilers I guess but come on, if everything is connected to The Philosopher’s Stone, cause Fullmetal Alchemist, it’s easy to predict what the titular Sacred Star of Milos actually is).  But whereas Ed and Al are well established on a mutual goal, Julia and Ashley’s priorities couldn’t be further apart.  Could Ed and Al have gone down this route?  It’s a scary but fascinating thought. 

One thing of immediate note for Sacred Star of Milos is it’s animation style.  While the film is done by Bones, the studio behind all things FMA, the art bears a very strong resemblance to Studio Gainax and Studio Trigger, which grew out of Gainax.  The emphasis on how unique the cave system of the valley works made me think a lot of Gurren Lagann (hell this could have been a Gurren Lagann tale if you added in some mecha).  Still, I went back and forth on whether or not I liked the animation.  On the one hand, it certainly helps the movie stand out.  But it also feels more art house style than I think Fullmetal Alchemist is meant to be, especially when the style of both the 2003 series and FMA: Brotherhood looked great.  Heck even Conqueror of Shamballa only had some minor touch ups from the 2003 series for a theatrical release.  At some points it bothered me, at others I was so invested in the action I didn’t really care about it.  The animation is divisive, ill say that much.

While Sacred Star of Milos is better than Conqueror of Shamballa overall, the film isn’t without its problems (some of which both share in a way).  Once again, series mainstays are shooed in for little more than fanservice.  I get maybe having Roy Mustang and Riza Hawkeye in there to give Ed and Al their mission.  However, Winry’s presence is totally unnecessary and Mustang’s big action scenes take place all off screen.  Come on, you don’t put Roy Mustang into a tale and don’t show off his bad assness when you get the chance.  Elsewhere, the movie does have some slow parts which made me wonder if it could have been 15-20mins shorter.  And while this is accessible to newcomers, some of the plot elements of the film, particularly towards the end, are borrowed from other key points of the main FMA storyline, so it feels sort of unoriginal.  It didn’t hurt my overall enjoyment, personally, but it was hard not to ignore similarities when they popped up.  Lastly, there’s a particular twist towards the end that’s just meant to pad out the runtime and the movie did a poor job building up to it with a poorly used villain who barely had any screentime or even an introduction for that matter.

Thankfully, the pros outweigh the cons on this one.  Even if it has some not so new ideas and could be a filler arc slipped into the 2003 series (Brotherhood follows so close to the manga it would be hard to find a spot this could fit into), Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos is a much more enjoyable outing for the Elric Brothers than the full on fan service extended ending that was The Conqueror of Shamballa.  At the very least, I enjoyed much of my time checking this one out and am glad that, if this is to be it for the Elric Brothers movie run for a while, they have one film that I would recommend to fans and newcomers as a good entry point for one of Anime’s most beloved tales.

8/10

Well there was one misfire and one better attempt but those were just the Anime films.  The bigger question lies ahead…can Ed and Al’s shot at live action stardom steer more towards Rurouni Kenshin greatness or will it end up on the Ghost in the Shell/Death Note 2017 side of the spectrum.  Good or bad, the review of Fullmetal Alchemist 2017 marks the 4^th Anniversary of the Gundam Anime Corner.  Fingers crossed it’s good.