So I saw on Facebook Trending News that Warner Bros. is going to make a Fullmetal Alchemist movie that will come out Winter 2017! Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese serialized manga that ran in the 2000s that spawned two anime series. I read the manga and watched the second anime, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and loved both of them. This manga/anime is one of those gateway ones that everyone loves and it was also one of my first forays into Japanese comics.
Fullmetal Alchemist follows a pair of orphan brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, in their quest to find a Philosopher's Stone that will allow their bodies back after a disastrous attempt at resurrecting their mother. They get embroiled into a huge conspiracy and meet characters from around the world as they struggle to do the right thing as "state alchemists" - superpowered agents of the law. It goes to some pretty dark places, is whimsically silly and has a fair amount to say about themes like corruption and inequality. Definitely worth checking out.
The movie is a Japanese production. Director Fumihiko 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." This iI look forward to a faithful adaption that still allows the director to distinguish the movie from the manga and anime series!
On the American side of things, an adaption of Death Note is currently in the works. Warner Bros. was going to produce it before they dropped it and Netflix swooped in. I trust Netflix to respect the source material more + give more creative freedom to the directors/producers based on the Netflix Original shows I've seen. However, they are left with Warner Bros' baggage - the decision to cast the two main leads as white Americans. That rightfully stirred up a lot of controversy last year among fans though it didn't enter the public consciousness like what happened with Ghost in the Shell. Hopefully, Fullmetal Alchemist is distributed in the US and does well to show studios that consumers appreciate faithful casting and people of color can sell movies!
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