There are plenty of live-action adaptations of popular comic books, video games and manga on the way this year, but in a low-key way, Fullmetal Alchemist has been climbing up the highly-anticipated list. Not long ago, the first, very brief teaser for the live-action Fullmetal Alchemist movie made its way online and really got fans buzzing. Now, we are getting our first full look at Alphonse Elric in all of his armored glory with a brand new photo from the movie that has made its way online.
The new photo, which gives us by far our best look at Alphonse yet, was released on Twitter recently. We have seen a distant glimpse at the character in another photo that was released a couple of months ago, and there was a torso shot from the trailer, but this really gives an excellent idea of just how great Alphonse is going to look in Fullmetal Alchemist. Even if you aren't a fan of the source material, this image is cool enough that it would probably at least make you wonder what this movie is all about.
This is the first ever attempt to bring the world of Fullmetal Alchemist into a live-action setting, but the other iterations over the years have been tremendously popular. The Manga has sold more than 60 million volumes worldwide and when the first volume was released in English, it became the top-selling graphic novel of the year in 2005. The Fullmetal Alchemist anime series has won several awards, including being voted the most popular anime of all time in Japan, according to two different TV Asahi polls. So this movie will have very high expectations from the very large fanbase. Here is what director Fumihiko Sori had to say about his approach to the movie.
"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. There will never be a scene in which a character says something that would identify him/her as Japanese."
For those who may not know, Fullmetal Alchemist follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse, who live in a fictional universe where alchemy is one of the most advanced scientific techniques and is a very coveted skill. The two are on a quest for the philosopher's stone (not the one from the U.K. version of Harry Potter) in order to restore their bodies. Their bodies were horribly damaged following a failed attempt to bring their mother back to life, after she died from the plague, using forbidden alchemy. That is why Alphonse needs to be in the armored body that is depicted in this latest photo.
In addition to releasing this brand new photo, it was also revealed that Fullmetal Alchemist is going to be released on December 1 in Japan. We have known for a while that the movie was going to be released in December, but now we finally have an exact date. At this time, the movie doesn't have a domestic release date. Be sure to check out the brand new photo of Alphonse for yourself below.
