Review of Full Metal Alchemist: Volume 9

Introduction

A new year, and a new anime distributor enters the UK market, picking up Full Metal Alchemist where MVM left off. Up till last December when their agreement lapsed, Funimation had released its UK titles via MVM. But in the corporate world, consolidation and cutting costs is a priority, which is why from this January, Funimation`s parent company Navarre decided to shift UK distribution through another of its companies, Revelation Films. This has every indication of being a good thing, as right off the bat, the R.R.P for Revelation`s anime discs have been cut to a more agreeable £15.99. However, it`s been 3 months since the release of volume 8 of FMA, with a cliff-hanger needing to be resolved, but on the bright side, Revelation`s new release schedule promises one volume a month for the remainder of FMA`s run. Back catalogue Funimation discs haven`t vanished off the shelves if you are concerned, as Revelation have also released a Fruits Basket boxset and are in the process of re-releasing the earlier FMA volumes at the lower price point. I doubt anyone will have to worry about the absence of titles like Gunslinger Girl or Kiddy Grade from shop shelves for long, and with Revelation devoted to Funimation titles, the choice for UK customers just got wider. It isn`t all gloom for MVM either, as they still have a jam-packed release schedule full of new and existing titles ahead, slightly eased by the lack of Funimation discs. It`s a win-win scenario for the customer.

Alchemy is the art of the transmutation of matter by means of an incantation, a mystical circle, or sheer willpower alone. For centuries charlatans and the deluded pursued the creation of gold by alchemical means but to no avail. But in Full Metal Alchemist, alchemy is a realised science. Set in an alternative world during the early years of the twentieth century, the transmutation of elements is indeed a reality, and the state regards such talent highly indeed. Full Metal Alchemist tells the story of brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric, two precocious alchemists who are on a quest. The young brothers had attempted the unspeakable, resurrecting their mother. But the Law Of Equivalent Exchange cannot be flouted, only objects of equal mass can be transmuted, and the dead cannot be brought back to life. The attempt failed disastrously. Now, Alphonse is a disembodied spirit bound to a suit of animated armour, while Edward has replaced his leg and arm with metal automail, but it`s his prodigious facility with alchemy that has earned him the name, Full Metal Alchemist. Now they search for a means to restore their bodies.

Volume 8 of Full Metal Alchemist was quite the revelation (no pun intended), as we delved into the nature of the Homunculi and how they are created. It also introduced the newest of their number, who has a chilling connection to Ed. Taking the name of Wrath, he promises to be a troublesome adversary for the Elric brothers. Seeking more truths, the brothers were directed to meet with an alchemist named Dante, but the enigmatic Homunculus Greed was waiting for them. The story continues in volume 9: Pain and Lust, with four more episodes following Ed and Al`s quest.

33. Al Taken Prisoner
Ed searches frantically for his brother while Al is an unwilling guest of Greed and a host of chimera, Tucker among them. Greed, living up to his name wants ultimate power, glory and eternal life, and he`ll get it if he has to dismantle Al to find the secret of his disembodied existence. Al`s just waiting for his brother to rescue him, but it`s Izumi who shows up with the cavalry.

34. The Theory Of Avarice
Lt Col Archer stops Ed from pursuing Greed who still has Al, but there is more to the military intervention than meets the eye. Still, Ed and Izumi quickly give their guard the slip. Meanwhile his fellow Homunculi pay a visit to Greed. It isn`t a friendly reunion.

35. Reunion Of Fools
Ed, Al and Winry leave Dublith to find the Ishbalans on their quest to locate the Philosopher`s Stone. Meanwhile Lust is getting philosophical about life, when a car crash reunites her with an old flame. Lujon is an alchemist who is fighting an incurable disease. When Ed rescues a damsel in distress, who happens to be looking for Lujon, the stage is set for a tragic meeting.

36. The Sinner Within
Ed and Al catch up with the Ishbalan refugees, who are now guests of the military. They can`t find Scar, but they learn of an old man in a refugee camp that can help them. But this man is an outcast even among his own people, and getting to talk to him will be difficult. They learn that Scar is about to cross a moral line from which there is no return. At the same time Winry learns the truth about what happened to her parents.

Video

The picture for Full Metal Alchemist comes in a 4:3 transfer and it is clear and sharp throughout, without any hint of artefacts. The anime looks gorgeous, with distinctive characters, detailed retro world design and atmospheric animation. Once again, an anime blends traditional line animation with 3D design and the results are exciting and vibrant.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese. I chose the original language track for preference, and the Japanese track is indeed clear and dynamic enough for a stereo track. Full Metal Alchemist also has some stunning music, most noticeably in the opening and closing themes. The English dub is something I just spot-checked, and while the main character voices are pretty good, the same cannot be said for the voices of the incidental characters. The surround is pretty good, with a fair bit of ambience and it reflects the action well. You can watch the show with translated subtitles or signs.

Features

The format of the extras remains unchanged despite the change in distributor. You get multi angle credit sequences depending on which language you watch in, as well as the usual jacket picture. Volume 8 had an odd glitch for the end credits of the third episode on the disc, with it alternating between angles, making it look as if scenes were jerkily repeating every few seconds. This problem appears to have spread on this disc, with practically all of the multi-angle sequences so affected on my Sony player (not on my PC oddly). Skipping forward or back quickly fixes this though.

You can see the textless opening and closing sequences, and in a nice twist, they are subtitled both in English and Romanji Japanese, so you can sing along should you feel the urge.

In a section called production art, you can find two slideshows, showing Models and Illustrations. The total running time is around 2 minutes.

There are trailers for Fruits Basket and Spiral.

Finally there is an Easter Egg secreted away on this disc. Seek it out it and you`ll find some humorous episode previews.

Conclusion

I did have a wild hope that the change in distributor would mean an end to those niggling glitches and subtitle errors that occasionally afflicted earlier discs in the series. It wasn`t to be of course, as Madman Entertainment authors the discs, and Revelation only distribute them. The anime business is a tangled web of licences and sub-licences that weave a network around the word, difficult to fathom at the best of times. On the bright side, it does mean that the quality of the release hasn`t diminished in any way, consistency has been maintained in the packaging and disc art, and I actually prefer the Amaray cases that Revelation pack the discs in, as opposed to the pseudo-Amarays from before.

I had hoped that the disc contents would allow me to glibly type `more of the same` and be on my merry way. Alas this isn`t the case, as Full Metal Alchemist`s second season hits its midway slump a little early. Of course this has to be seen in relative terms, and the best way I can describe it is that the episodes on this disc are `merely` brilliant, as opposed to utterly stunning. Even when Full Metal Alchemist drops in quality, it`s never less than entertaining. The first half of this disc is a victim of hyperbole. We wound up the last disc with the announcement that Dante could teach Ed and Al what Izumi could not, and introduced her as an even more accomplished alchemist. Unfortunately, the character of Dante turns out to be merely a deus ex machina. It is an essential plot line, but does seem somewhat wasteful of the character. The plot itself concerns the homunculus Greed, who takes centre stage in these two episodes. Again hyperbole strikes, as at the end of the first series, Greed was released from captivity with much wailing and imminent menace. Here was a new threat to Ed and Al that would add to their gallery of foes, and every indication was that their world had suddenly become a whole lot more dangerous. That threat is effectively neutralised by the end of these two episodes, and it feels like an early end for an interesting character`s story.

For Greed is a truly compelling character, with much to recommend him. If this volume does anything, it really adds to the Homunculus mythos. Prior to the latest arc, they were just a bunch of mysterious villains dressed in black, but having learnt of their origins, the story really begins to add flesh to their characters, explain their motivations and backgrounds and even create a little audience empathy. Greed is perhaps the most enigmatic of the bunch, his behaviour is unexpected, and by the end of the story he certainly evokes sympathy.

The third episode is at first glance something of a rehash. We`ve seen from earlier in the series that homunculi aren`t above bringing despair and affliction to a community in pursuit of a Philosopher`s Stone, and it appears that this is what is happening here as well. What makes this episode different is that we now see these actions from Lust`s point of view, and her actions and decisions are predicated by her past and her origins, which we learn to be quite familiar here.

The final episode gets the main story back on track, with Ed and Al back on the trail of the Philosopher`s Stone and seeking help from the Ishbalans. However, they learn that the Ishbalan method of creating a stone is even more expensive, and that Scar`s actions have crossed the line. Speaking of crossing the line, the main protagonists` character arcs aren`t neglected by any means, as Ed also makes an irrevocable decision that will affect him. Meanwhile Winry`s path diverges from the brothers` when she learns of what happened to her parents.

It`s just as true today as it was three months ago; Full Metal Alchemist is an awesome series. These character rich and story dense episodes simply add to what is a gripping and compelling universe. Relatively speaking, these four episodes are somewhat pedestrian compared to the previous volume, but that is on the order of comparing gold to platinum. Once again, a Full Metal Alchemist volume turns out to be an essential purchase, and with Revelation`s reduced retail prices, and more importantly accelerated release schedule, the next volume couldn`t come soon enough.