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Live-Action Fullmetal Alchemist Film's Visual Shows Edward, Alphonse

The official Twitter account for the live-action film of Hiromu Arakawa's Fullmetal Alchemist manga posted a new visual for the film on Tuesday. The film's official website has an expanded version of the visual, showing Edward and Alphonse overlooking a town.

In addition, a Fullmetal Alchemist fan event will take place on July 12, the anniversary of the manga's serialization debut. The cast of both the anime and the live-action film will appear at the fan event. An art exhibit for the franchise at Tokyo Dome City Gallery AaMo in Tokyo and the Nankō ATC Museum in Osaka is also scheduled for this fall.

Warner Bros. Japan previously streamed an English-subtitled trailer last Friday.

The film will open in Japan on December 1.

Fumihiko Sori (live-action Ping Pong) is directing the film. On adapting the source material, 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."

The film stars Ryōsuke Yamada (Hey! Say! JUMP member and live-action Assassination Classroom's Nagisa) as Edward Elric, Tsubasa Honda (live-action Blue Spring Ride's Futaba) (pictured top right in image to the right) as Winry Rockbell, and Dean Fujioka (live-action Happy Marriage!?) (pictured bottom left in image to the right) as Roy Mustang. Other cast members include:

• Fumiyo Kohinata as General Hakuro
• Ryuta Sato as Maes Hughes
• Misako Renbutsu as Riza Hawkeye
• Natsuna as Maria Ross
• Natsuki Harada as Gracia Hughes
• Yō Ōizumi 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

Italian newspaper La Nazione previously unveiled photos of the film's shooting in the Italian town of Volterra in June. Filming ended on August 26.

The film tells the story in one complete film. Ed is being aged up to 20 years old; he was originally 15 in the manga. Alphonse will be rendered in full CG.

Arakawa published the manga from 2001 to 2010 in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan, and Viz Media released the series in North America and describes the story:

In an alchemical ritual gone wrong, Edward Elric lost his arm and his leg, and his brother Alphonse became nothing but a soul in a suit of armor. Equipped with mechanical “auto-mail” limbs, Edward becomes a state alchemist, seeking the one thing that can restore his and his brother's bodies...the legendary Philosopher's Stone.

The series inspired the Fullmetal Alchemist television anime series in 2003 and its sequel film, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie - Conqueror of Shamballa, in 2005. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, a second television anime series based more closely on the original manga's story, debuted in 2009. A spinoff anime film, Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos, premiered in 2011.

Source: Anime! Anime! (雅や)