Fullmetal Alchemist transmutes the first trailer for not just one, but two new live-action movies.
The two new films, entitled Vengeance of Scar and The Last Transmutation, were unveiled with a trailer that was released by Warner Bros. Japan. The trailer features the two Elric brothers doing battle with the anti-State Alchemist serial killer Scar, and also shows off the first look at the live-action versions of certain characters, including the Fuhrer King Bradley, Ling Yao, Lan Fan, Olivier Mira Armstrong and the brothers' long-missing father, Van Hoenheim. The first of the new titles is scheduled to be released in Japan on May 20, while the second will premiere on June 24. An international release for both movies has yet to be announced.
The two movies are sequels to the 2017 live-action Fullmetal Alchemist movie, which was directed by Fumihiko Sori (Ping Pong) and released internationally in 2018 as a Netflix streaming exclusive. Ryosuke Yamada and Dean Fujioka will reprise their roles as Edward and Alphonse Elric, respectively. Yamada previously starred in the live-action adaptation of Assassination Classroom, while anime fans may recognize Fujioka's name from Yuri!! on Ice, as he performed that show's theme song, "History Maker." Japanese-American actor Mackenyu will portray Scar in the new movies. Mackenyu, who is the son of legendary martial artist and actor Sonny Chiba, previously starred in a number of movies based on anime and manga, including Chihayafuru and Rurouni Kenshin. He has also been cast as the swordsman Roronoa Zoro in Netflix's upcoming reboot of Eiichiro Oda's One Piece.
A first look at the movies was teased when Square Enix, which published the original Fullmetal Alchemist manga, launched a website featuring an image of Scar. According to that site, the new movies are being created to mark the 20th anniversary of the original manga's publication, though notably that anniversary was in 2021.
Fullmetal Alchemist was created by Hiromi Arakawa in 2001 and was one of the most popular manga series of its era. Arakawa's manga received two separate anime adaptations: the first, which premiered in 2003, was a huge commercial success at the time of its release, though it is now criticized for diverging substantially from the original source material. A second anime, entitled Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood, was produced in 2009. The second series was a much more faithful rendition of the manga and is now widely regarded as the better of the two adaptations.
The anime series are now available for streaming on Hulu and Crunchyroll, while the manga is available in English from VIZ Media and Yen Press.
Source: YouTube
