Live-Action ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ Unveils Blu-ray & DVD Release Date

Fullmetal Alchemist fans in the United States were finally able set their eyes on the live-action adaptation of the famous manga and anime series since it became available on Netflix. But there are fans who want to see more, and soon they will have their chance.

The live-action Fullmetal Alchemist is set to release in Japan on Blu-ray and DVD April 18.

The Japanese home video release (which you can find here) comes with two mini posters as well as graphics depicting each of the film’s characters, and a photo book of the film to wrap up its two disc box set release in either DVD or Blu-ray.

For those unfamiliar with Fullmetal Alchemist, the series was first created by Hiromu Arakawa. The story follows two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, who learn alchemy in order to bring back their deceased mother. After a terrible miscalculation, however, the two brothers pay a terrible price with Alphonse even losing his body and linking his soul to a suit of armor. As the two boys search for an alchemy that will restore their bodies to their original forms, they join the military and deal with a whole host of new political, ethical, and moral issues.

The series ran in Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine from August 2001 to June 2010. It was collected into 27 volumes, and was localized for an English language release by Viz Media. It has sold 67 million copies worldwide, and was later adapted into two anime series from studio Bones.

Bones’ first attempt in 2003 successfully ran for 51 episodes, but was marred by fans for its pacing issues and deviations from the original source. Bones produced a more faithful adaptation in 2009 with Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, and most fans assumed the live-action film would parallel this series since it was pretty much beat for beat with the original source.

The recently released live-action adaptation for Fullmetal Alchemist has been met with fan acclaim, but this view isn’t exactly shared by critics as the film seeks to include as much of the original series’ material as possible in order to please fans.

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