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Fullmetal Alchemist will probably remain my favorite anime forever. I started buying the manga in Czech as it was being released, and no matter what form I see the story of the Elric brothers in, I always have tears in my eyes right from the very beginning. As time goes by and their abilities develop, I passionately root for them, while I crush the seat in anger at Lust and the other despicable characters. The stories from Amestris have been deep in my heart for quite a few years, and most of that time, I've yearned to see them in live action. And Fumihiko Sori has fulfilled that wish for me. After I heard the first reviews, I was nervous about the result, but now I can't believe it. Adaptations obviously have a hard time, whether they completely deviate from the original version or – as Fullmetal Alchemist shows – even when they are the same as the source material. The sense of humor, the appearance of the characters, the chilling moments, and twists, it's all here. Moreover, Ryôsuke Yamada is a more perfect Edward than I could have ever wished for. I can forgive several necessary plot omissions, shortenings, or combining of multiple characters into one in favor of the dreamed-of whole, which presents the theater of the homunculi, Stones, and, above all, alchemy with a great pomp, despite having been seen many times before. I take the commercial failure in Japanese cinemas quite hard because this story deserved to be told and worked up to Hohenheim and other legends. (24.05.2018)

Such a disappointment. It’s got such a great story, the anime/manga are suspenseful, full of epic moments and powerful scenes. The movie tried to implement them too, but nothing came of it. It's just a very long, very very well cast (except for Honda Tsubasa, who played Winry), rather visually interesting spectacle, but it doesn't really keep you in the saddle. The actors try their best, the costumes are great, the effects are above average by Japanese standards, you can see that the Japanese did what they could. But unfortunately, it's all rather bland and flavorless, leaving the door open for the next installment. They can come up with one, but they should get rid of the writer, because he obviously messed it up quite a bit. Definitely a film worth seeing, at least for fans of the prequel, but you better not have any expectations. You’re better off buying the manga coming out now from Crew, you're better off buying any anime series. Still, if you want to have at least some idea of what all the memes are actually referring to, where the talking hairy dog is begging Ed to go play with him... why not. That's a pretty good reason to watch it too. (22.02.2018)

Some manga should just stay in comic book form, because the live-action form doesn't suit it as much. The fights look quite decent in the film, and the special effects are really good, but they were not able to really get emotions out of it. And yet, it’s done great on the pages of the manga, whether the emotions happen to be happy or darker. (08.03.2018)