Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos

I must start by saying that I have never seen Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood beyond the first handful of episodes. I’ve heard from many people just how great the series is, but I’ve only seen the original Fullmetal Alchemist series and the movie that went with it. I enjoyed the original series to a great degree, so going into The Sacred Star of Milos without knowing much about Brotherhood was a little worrisome. But in the end I don’t think anything was really spoiled for me beyond a few select minor details. Cool beans!


Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos takes place somewhere in between episodes of the Brotherhood series. Ed and Al are on an adventure, doing something and going somewhere when they get caught up with an alchemist fugitive who just escaped from prison. It’s no secret that this alchemist, who goes by the name of Ashley, can create alchemy out of thin air with just his hands. What is unique about him is that he can create and utilize different elements such as lightning and water, making him a powerful antagonist. Also, his name is Ashley for crying out loud, and his name got many laughs during the screening.


Although that doesn’t last long, as after he abducts, or rather saves, a character named Julia Crichton, we learn that he is actually her long lost brother. Ed and Al somehow get caught up in Ashley and Julia’s interesting past, and then they learn of what is happening with Julia’s current objectives. It turns out that Julia is part of an underground movement to help save her homeland from dying out, and that Milos is caught geographically between two warring nations. I wasn’t expecting The Sacred Star of Milos to have such a strong political background story, so that was surprising. I forgot how realistic the creators of Fullmetal Alchemist can be, and the political drama that unfolded was well done. War, power, alchemy, death… they all come into play.


But was the film any good? YES, it was excellent. The animation was done well, the story was pretty good, and the action scenes were very entertaining. I forgot how great a Fullmetal Alchemist fight can be. I need to mention that the animation quality at times was astounding, especially during a particular battle or high movement scene. It’s as if the animators were aware that they were dealing with animation, so they went ahead and gave it an extra umph of what looks to be hand drawn quality. It just really stood out. And also, Funimation’s English dub was fairly well done and I have no complaints about it. But I do still think it’s funny that Julia’s brother is named Ashley. No wonder his past is so screwed up.


I went and saw Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos at the Cinema Village movie theater at 22 East 12^th Street in New York. With it being the opening night of the show, the movie most certainly sold out. The theater, which only holds 67 seats in the particular room I was in, was packed with anime fans. I know that sounds like a bad idea but it went well for an event catered to fans of Fullmetal Alchemist. The theater was quiet for a good chunk of the time and the side talking wasn’t that distracting. It was more like people were reacting to the film and yelling “Oooh!” and “Oh no!” while something awesome, or sad, was happening on screen. Although there was definitely more talking happening at this screening than at the screening of a normal film, but I would say it was all a part of the experience of viewing an anime film in the theater. And this is coming from someone who usually hates it if people talk during a movie.

Overall I am glad that Funimation and Eleven Arts were able to get Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos in North American theaters. It’s unfortunate the film will only be playing at select theaters in cities around the country, but if you’re interested check out the theater list here. Go see it if you can!

-Jared Cyhowski

Redjuice - Guilty Crown

As I stated in my first post on Guilty Crown, one of the immediate draws for me was the artwork Funimation hosted on their site in promotion for the new series. It’s very catching and it looks great, so I decided to look into the artwork some more. I discovered that an artist named Redjuice has supplied his talents for the character design in Guilty Crown. This is the image I spoke of, but in a higher quality compared to what was posted before.

Redjuice is an illustrator for the band Supercell, an 11-member band where 10 of the members contribute artwork for animation, music videos, inserts, covers, etc. They’ve attributed works in the line of Hatsune Miku and Black Rock Shooter. Supercell has provided the intro and outro themes for this season’s Guilty Crown anime series, but from what I understand Redjuice is the only member to provide illustrations.

Check out Redjuice’s deviantART page here and his personal art page here.

-Jared C.

Guilty Crown: Episode 2

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the second episode of Guilty Crown. Yes, the first episode was good but you never know what to expect with a new series. It turns out that episode 2, Survival of the Fittest, pushes forward a little bit slower than the first episode. This is a good thing because we see more of Shu’s character and some development between him, Gai, and Inori. Speaking of that, Gai is kinda pissed off at Shu because the weapon inside Inori was meant for him, not Shu. Check out the imagery here with how the characters are spaced with the triangle in the background. Catch my drift?

The story goes further to explain the resistance faction that Gai leads, called the “Undertakers”, also translated to Funeral Parlor. They’re sick and tired of the government’s superiority over common people. The military exterminates anyone and everyone they want to, which explains the setting for a cruel and disgusting leadership. This hatred is likely sparked by Guilty Crown’s back story where Japan was ravaged by a disease, and by a separation of lower and higher classes, the people at the bottom of society have a “higher chance” at being diseased. It’s a great concept to feed an anime series with.

The episode was entertaining and was able to show Shu using his secret genetic weapon that comes from Inori’s chest once again. It seems as if the weapon has multiple abilities, and Shu can use it however he pleases. There must be some sort of a catch involved but I haven’t seen one yet. If anything, this episode introduces one of the main villains of the series, Daryl Yan. He has a twisted view on life and kills when he pleases. I’m pretty sure he and Shu will become rivals at some point.

There are certainly a few things I don’t care for in Guilty Crown. I can live with these things in the series, but I sort of wish they were handled differently. One is the close relation to Code Geass’ storytelling structure. Ichiro Okouchi wrote Code Geass and is supervising the script for Guilty Crown, so they have a very similar feel. This isn’t really a bad thing as Code Geass had a great story, but some of the same plot developments are popping up in this new series. Guilty Crown is guilty of having Inori show up at the same school that Shu attends as a transfer student. She’ll likely be undercover and keep her identity a secret, of which only Shu will know the truth. Code Geass has very similar concepts.

The other issue I have is the unnecessary amount of underage skin that’s shown. I mean come on, do all the female characters need to be dressed so scantily? One of the girls is only 14 and they have her wear a tight pilot suit to “show off her assets”. But come on! Yeah it doesn’t bother me that much but it seems that most female characters, who are only teenagers, are dressed like this. I wish Guilty Crown was just a bit more mature with their character designs, or that the female characters were old enough to warrant such outfits.

But in the end Guilty Crown is shaping up to be an interesting show that has the potential to keep getting better. I really hope it continues on the path it’s on now, because if it does it will be a hit. We shall see!

*Image credit to Funimation.

-Jared C.

Guilty Crown: Episode 1

I have to start out with saying that Guilty Crown is the first anime I've ever attempted to watch from a new season of anime in Japan. I was looking up ANN's Fall Preview Guide, searching around Crunchyroll, and I was on Facebook where I saw a post from Funimation about Guilty Crown just premiering and how I should watch it. So I went to Funi's site and saw this large banner with stylized artwork promoting the show.

And there you have it.

Guilty Crown is an interesting name for an anime where the title doesn't have much relevance in the first episode. Actually, speaking of the first episode, it packs a lot of setting and information into just 25 minutes. But it does it rather well, introducing characters and situations one after the other.

*Spoilers Ahead*

We follow the male lead Shu who makes it clear that he's not the strongest guy in his class. He's fairly average, seems to have a few friends, and is seen as "dense" by his fellow classmates. He acknowledges that he's a bit different in narrative dialogue, which is a bit too direct for me. But hey, I guess the guy knows himself pretty well.


Shu arrives at his own place, but it's hard to tell if it's his home or his secret getaway. He finds a girl named Inori that was shown previously being shot at by large mechs and the like. There's definitely something going on between Shu and Inori, because when he gets close to her he has a flashback. They may be siblings, or they may have been best friends when they were little. Either way, the government shows up and takes Inori from under Shu's feet, leaving him helpless.

Inori gave Shu the task to deliver a particular item to an anti-government group, and after she's been taken away it's the only thing Shu can do to prove he's worth something. After getting caught up in a battle and truly showing that he has a pair, Shu summons a large sword-like weapon by using Inori as a form of catalyst. Yeah, I have no idea what's going on but it's damn cool.


Guilty Crown really packs a punch in its production values and goes to great length to show off its soundtrack. The dialogue was nice and the actions of the characters were fairly realistic. It's easy to take this show seriously, and I like that. One of my favorite parts of the first episode is when Shu hesitates before going to possibly save Inori. He pushes himself to take that step and be a man.

If the story can keep up in quality and stay interesting, then I believe Guilty Crown has the potential to have some jaw-dropping moments. Hopefully it'll stand its ground in a season where there's not much competition going on...

*All image credit to Funimation.

-Jared C.