A little over six years ago, I began a little catch-up journey in the world of anime, and I did so in time to be mindful of the immense rollout of live-action manga adaptations arising in the following year: Yuichi Fukuda fans had Gintama; Kentaro Hagiwara sat in to manifest Tokyo Ghoul; Takashi Miike brought JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Chapter One – Diamond Is Unbreakable and Blade Of The Immortal to life; and for what it’s worth, there was Adam Wingard’s treatment of Death Note for Netflix.
Also, Sori Fumihiko gave us Fullmetal Alchemist, a sprawling, explosive dark fantasy story that treks across the globe and between dimensions, centering on two brothers cursed by the practice of Alchemy, and equally gifted as the two race to battle near-impenetrable forces of evil in order to bring the world back to balance. The animated series was one of the first I deep-dove into and I always wondered what would become of the franchise following Fumihiko’s adaptation; the inaugural film’s ending definitely held up the packaging enough as a likely standalone in case nothing would’ve come to pass, and so if you’re like me, you’re behind a tough-as-fuck language barrier that you can’t read Kanji enough to otherwise have a clue, Tuesday’s out-of-left-field teaser launch for Fumihiko’s two-part sequel from Warner Bros. Japan comes as an absolute, albeit delightful shock.
Parts one and two are titled respectively titled Fullmetal Alchemist Complete Edition: Revenge Scar, and Fullmetal Alchemist Complete Edition: Final Forge, with actor Ryouske Yamada front and center in the teaser, as well as new key art which you can view at the bottom of this article. Yamada reprises his role as stoic Alchemist journeyman warrior Edward Elric alongside the spiritually-imbued knight’s armor worn by the essence of his younger brother, Alphonse, voice-acted once more by Atomu Mizuishi.
Joining the aforemention this time along with the upcoming film’s mix of new and returning characters is actor Mackenyu Arata (JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable, Tokyo Ghoul S, Rurouni Kenshin: The Final, upcoming Saint Seiya: Knights Of The Zodiac), who will help bookend Fumihiko’s live-action foray here as Scar, a key antagonist in the Fullmetal Alchemist saga whose own history is pivotal to the story, in its connection to the mystery behind the so-called “Philosopher’s Stone”.
I have to say, I’m delightfully surprised by this development, and I wholly welcome this two-part finale. Revenge Scar opens in Japan on May 20, with Final Forge releasing June 24.
