Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Entire Series) on DVD

My husband and I just finished watching the very last season of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. We had to watch all the episodes on the last disc in one go because the end is just crazy!

I was hesitant to even review this TV show (based on a Japanese manga book series) because of its violent and gruesome content, and I wouldn't recommend it for most of my readers here. As far as anime goes, it's pretty tame and clean on the sex (there isn't any, and about the most you see is cleavage). There's a bit of language, but not the worst kind. In fact, I don't think the F-word is used at all, but don't quote me on that. Still, I would rate the show R (it's actually rated TV14) for violence and disturbing images of evil.

The premise is rather complicated, so if you are already a fan of the show, you'll notice how much I leave out here as I try to make it as simple as possible. Ed and Al Elric are two young brothers who live at the turn of the twentieth century in an alternate version of our world where certain humans can use alchemy to achieve inhuman feats, such as reshaping metal into a sword or creating flames with the snap of a finger. When the boys' mother dies, they try to bring her back to life through alchemy, but what they "bring back" is an abomination that costs the older brother, Ed, an arm and a leg, literally, and costs Al his entire body. Ed binds Al's soul to a nearby suit of armor, thus saving his life in some form. Determined to get their original bodies back, the two boys, barely in their teens, one with a metal arm and leg, the other apparently an empty suit of armor, set off to find out all they can about alchemy and the fabled, powerful philosopher's stone. But the journey leads them through unexpected twists and turns, and evil lurks around every corner, waiting to destroy them or, worse, use them for its own nefarious purposes.

Just a side note here (but it's important!): Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is not quite the same as Fullmetal Alchemist, in case you look it up. The original TV anime is simply called Fullmetal Alchemist, and it ends very differently from Brotherhood because it caught up to the manga books and had to veer off on its own and make up an ending. Once the manga was finished, the show was rebooted with Brotherhood, the ending following more closely to the book. Where the two TV series diverge from each other, they become completely different shows. I've seen both. From what I can remember of the first, comparing the two, Brotherhood is darker and bloodier with a completely different thematic focus. Note that this review is about Brotherhood.

So, interesting as it may sound, if the show is so graphically violent, why am I reviewing it at all? Amazingly, this is a show about right and wrong, about morality, about how far is too far, and about the value of a single human life, among other large-scale moral questions. In other words, it's actually perfect material for this blog.

In Ed and Al's world, alchemy's greatest rule is that everything must be traded for something of equal value: equivalent exchange. In the attempt to raise their mother's body back to life, the boys lose parts of their bodies. What they try is not permitted among alchemists for good reason. The show explores what equivalent exchange looks like throughout every aspect of the world and whether or not it is a decent rule to live by.

(Minor SPOILERS) Later, when Ed and Al realize what the philosopher's stone really is, they refuse to use it to get their bodies back, and they become the voices of reason and right in the show. At times, they stray, but ultimately, they choose right. It's not easy for them. They have to make hard choices, and again and again, they prove that the easy, obvious choice is not always the best. They refuse to cave before evil, and they refuse to use evil means to get their way. They are the counterpart to the adults on the show who think they have to kill sometimes for the greater good; the Elric brothers are always looking for ways around that, looking for the good in people. Several times, they spare their enemies, which sometimes leads to surprising benefits later. Equivalent exchange at work again.

The religion on the show is not just a little hokey, and religion mucks things up a bit at the end. But at the same time, some Christian values creep in there: redemption; the value of giving more than one receives (not equivalent exchange!); compassion, even for the vilest of creatures; loyalty; and giving up what makes us who we think we are. The series also tackles heavy themes of loss and grief, sacrifice (both forced and freely given), and choice (do we choose what's right, even after we've messed up and redemption seems hopeless?). It's rather beautiful, after the dark.

And that sums up the show for me: beauty amidst despair, hope in the darkest places, pure goodness breaking apart the forces of evil. Despite the violence, this is a show that is overall uplifting and deeply moving. It's not for everyone, and I certainly don't agree with all of its message. But for what it is, it has value and merit. I would be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the series and look forward to every disc in the mail, but I really want to emphasize that this is not typical fare for this blog, nor is it something I recommend you watch. Also, it's definitely not for kids. Anime is not animation, though both are animated (I may be speaking to the veterans here, but you never know).

If you do choose to watch it, knowing full well what you are getting into, I hope you appreciate it as much as I do because there is certainly entertainment and worth here.

Mirror Mirror on DVD

Julia Roberts is a treat to watch in Mirror Mirror, which I just saw for the first time on DVD. The movie was released in theaters earlier this year. Of the two Snow White movies this year, the other one was the one I wanted to see. But since that one disappointed, I thought I'd try this. I wanted to like it, but cheese (people's teeth literally sparkle) just isn't my style. The movie was beautiful if you like that fake look. I cannot call the costumes beautiful, however. The gowns were even more cheesy than the movie. A concession: I did like Snow White's attire when she was with the dwarfs, and I liked the prince's clothes...when they were on him.

That's not to say there's anything inappropriate about the movie. The prince just happens to get mugged and stripped to his modest underclothes by a band of "giant dwarfs"...a couple times. It's definitely funny, but I admit, I like my fairytales to be more serious. I did think that the dwarfs were done well. I don't enjoy the original Disney dwarfs, but there's not much about the original Disney Snow White that I like. It's funny to me that this year gave us one TV show and two movies based on my least favorite Disney princess. I just don't get it. But I do keep watching. I suppose there's a part of me that wants to see if someone can just make the story more interesting and original. So far, TV is winning with Once Upon a Time (though the royal couple's affair isn't helping me like this princess any better).

Mirror Mirror does show a dark side briefly when the evil queen's mirror image magically attacks Snow White and the dwarfs with her marionette puppets. The mirror image queen is creepy, but the whole idea of the scene is just so ludicrous that it matches the tone of the rest of the movie.

I didn't dislike the whole production. I can take cheesy movies if they have serious characters or scenes to balance it out, but Mirror Mirror is all fun and games. Interesting enough to watch, but not a keeper for me. Three stars.

Cinder

I love fairytales, particularly fairytales that are retold in some unique way. I love Gail Carson Levine for that, and in fact, I'm reading one of her stories now. But I just finished Cinder, a young adult debut novel by Marissa Meyer, and Cinder is based on the story of Cinderella, except that it takes place in our world at some point after World War IV when the whole world is united under an Emperor and on the brink of possible war with the people of the Moon, the Lunars. Earth is a world of humans, androids, and cyborgs, a mix of the two others: humans with machine parts in them. Humans and cyborgs battle a plague for which there is no cure, and cyborgs are drafted to be test subjects. In this world lives Cinder, a cyborg with a metal hand and a metal foot and machine parts in her brain and other places, comprising 36.28 percent of her make-up.

Cinder is a mechanic whose life changes the day Prince Kai comes to her market booth, urgently requesting that she fix his android. But Cinder is not a free agent. She is a ward, owned by a stepmother who will take any excuse to get rid of her and does when Cinder's most sympathetic stepsister gets the plague. Her stepmother volunteers her for plague testing, and that's when Cinder finds out that she is special, but she doesn't know the half of it.

I appreciated how loosely this story was based on Cinderella. You can recognize the key elements of that fairytale, but Cinder's story takes place in such a different world with different motivations that you still feel like you're reading a unique story. However, the part that most diverged from the original fairytale is the part I wish hadn't: the end. So many young adult debut novels these days are the first of a series, and since I read them as advance reader copies, I usually don't see more than that first book unless I love it and keep up to date with the sequels. Cinder is the first of a series, so I'm going to tell you, folks, she doesn't end up with her prince...at least not yet. That is frustrating, and I feel like you should know it right up front so that you aren't disappointed. However, there's more evidence than with most series that this author knows where she is going and will wrap up everything satisfactorily. For instance, we already know that the series will be four books long, and we have titles and release dates, too, one a year through 2015. Cinder is good enough that I'm looking forward to seeing how it all ends, and believe me, there's enough plot there that it's not going to be just a simple, "Here's your prince." But it's a fairytale, so yes, I do expect and hope for "happily ever after."

Whether or not this series will be popular I don't know, but it's one to watch out for. And I don't have any complaints yet on moral appropriateness. I'm all for this one.

Four stars.