Yes, it’s finally happening! One of my most favorite manga/anime is finally getting itself it’s own live action version that is slated to be released next year at around Q4 (winter).
The trailer for the live-action adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s Fullmetal Alchemist has just been dropped and we’re seeing a lot of familiar scenes on both the anime (both versions) and the manga versions of the story.
The titular character, the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric himself, is going to be portrayed by Ryōsuke Yamada who played Nagisa in the live action adaptation of Assassination Classrom. In the trailer we see a bit of Alphonse who is in full CGI. Other reported cast members include the ff:
- Tsubasa Honda as Winry Rockbell
- Dean Fujioka as Roy Mustang
- Fumiyo Kohinata as General Hakuro
- Ryuta Sato as Maes Hughes
- Misako Renbutsu as Riza Hawkeye
- Natsuna as Maria Ross
- Natsuki Harada as Gracia Hughes
- Yo Oizumi as Shou Tucker
- Jun Kunimura as Doctor Marco
- Yasuko Matsuyuki as Lust
- Kanata Hongou as Envy
- Shinji Uchiyama as Gluttony
- Kenjiro Ishimaru as Father Cornello
Sadly, at this point we don’t see any of the Armstrong family being cast well, especially Alex. Since Alex has been one of the integral characters on all versions of the Fullmetal Alchemist story, it’s going to be interesting on how they would fill the void the lack of any representation of the Armstrong family or Alex in particular. Probably they could cast Genki Sudo on that role though. But that’s just me.
Also another interesting bit here is that while the trailer shows key scenes from the start of the series. It’s interesting to see that Shou Tucker and even General Hakuro being cast. Will we finally get to see the live action version *SPOILER ALERT* of that heart wrenching moment that is still too early to even mention in the net.
Another interesting point in the movie is the lack of any European or at least Caucasian actors in the cast. Especially with the story’s setting contained mostly within a European setting. To that question director answers:
Sori said, “I want to create a style that follows the original manga as much as possible. The cast is entirely Japanese, but the cultural background is Europe. However, it’s a style that doesn’t represent a specific race or country.” Regarding the faithfulness of the adaptation, which has characters of non-Japanese ethnicity, the director said, “There will never be a scene in which a character says something that would identify him/her as Japanese.”
Whatever the case, I am totally psyched for the movie itself. I’ve been a long-time fan of the series and I finally really enjoy seeing one of the anime/manga that’s dear to my heart getting it’s live action adaptation.
Here’s the trailer for the movie
Here’s the text that comes with the trailer for us who don’t understand Japanese:
Text: The time has come.
Text: Original work: Hiromu Arakawa
Text: Director: Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong)
Text: Two brothers’ great journey.
Text: The legend…
Text: Finally begins.
Title Logo: Fullmetal Alchemist
Edward: I promise I’ll get our bodies back.
Text: 2017, winter.
Are you guys excited for the movie? Please sound off at the comments!
(source: Anime News Network)