MovieChat Forums > Gekijô-ban hagane no renkinjutsushi: Shanbara wo yuku mono (2006) Discussion > You missed the point.The dark, open end ...

You missed the point.The dark, open end is fantastic!

posted 16 years ago by thingswemake
29 replies | jump to latest

If the film had ended the way most of you here seem to want then it would have broken my heart and destroyed my immense respect for the writers of this.

Throughout the whole series we saw various humans abuse power, do anything to achieve the philosophers stone. By the time ed and ai had matured their goal wasn't self serving: to bring back their mum, to save their bodies it was to try and prevent suffering! They already felt responsible for various people's deaths. do you really think ed is just going to risk the gate being open in the nazi world, where the lives of populations in 2 worlds would be at risk when someone eventually discovered how to open it! Is he going to jeopordise billions of peoples lives just so him and his brother can gang bang winry?! After the development of these 2 characters throughout the series i thought that this would have been,not obvious, but I didn't expect people to be demanding some perfect ending! That would have been disgusting, for me personally but everyone is entitled to their view. I just wonder if they considered the whole scope of the series. The ending isn't really leaivng that many questions, they're going to carry on the same quest, to prevent humans trying to obtain the ultimate weap

Plus with hawkeye and mustang......the whole point of that is unrequited love. He cares for her as a soldier, he knows that she likes him and that's why he keeps her close! She's the most loyal officer, the reason she is his second best is not because he likes her but because she will follow him, no matter what! I admit, I also wanted them to get together, but only in my head, for them to have done that in the anime would have been counter to everything that had been played out.

As regards to a sequel? What?! This isn't america. this isn't prison break where if something can make money then keep crapping out episodes until no one can stomach it anymore. Any ddecent american series are mostly ruined by making too many series and fearing to try something new and risky. The anime was beautiful, almost twice the length of usual animes and managed to stay gripping throughout.The ending isn't really leaivng that many questions, they're going to carry on the same quest, to prevent humans trying to obtain the ultimate weapon but in a different world. Do you really want a sequel where they are running round in the 1920s, unable to use alchemy!?!?!? hmmm

A happy, soppy ending would have in no way fitted this anime as the themes in it throughout are incredibly dark and thoroughly rooted in problems that we still deal with now.

GENETIC ENGINEERING
They committed the ultimate taboo!
It focuses on genetic engineering which is becoming an incresingly important topic in real life.
What does it mean to be human?
The homunculus have human like bodies, they act like us but dont' seem to have a soul yet some of them retained faint memories. When AI is in the armour he has part of his soul but no body, so is he human? Think of someone like Tucker, the alchemist who made a chimera out of his own daughter. He has a soul and a body but would you classify him as human?

THE WAR

America acts like the fuhrer. They want to take over territories but have fed their people lies about democracy and freedom. like when the fuhrer tries to provoke the people where rosa was the holy mother of at the end to attack first. "we stand for peace, it makes things easier if we attack first."

It also focuses on discrimination, the people from ishbal with dark skin and red eyes, even ed says he is scared of them because he is not used to it.

Ok, this is getting long now but you get the idea. The rosy, happy life they gave up when they committed the taboo and they spent the next years trying to fix that, growing up along the way and changing their goals.

[–] plutonax 16 years ago

Yes, I want a sequel... and no, the end was not good at all...

The ending was very against the all idea of Equivalent Trade. They didn't talk much about the gate itself, so, you can think that they can shut the gate in Amestris without being "trapped" in our world.

Another thing... why do you think that a sequel would be like that? They could perfectly show alchemy in our world, as far as I know. Remeber Ed activating the gate in our world? Even though Al helped it too, Ed used alchemy.

And when I say that I want a sequel, I don't want it because I miss FMA. I want it, because the end basically sucked and a sequel would be the only and plausible way to end the show perfectly. I'm not saying a large sequel... it could only be like 5 episodes. In 5 episodes they could end the show very well.

I think you miss the all point of Equivalent Trade... Winry didn't get nothing and lost basically everything. Ed gained his brother back, but basically lost his world, family and friends.

[–] rollindough11 16 years ago

Agreed with Pluto... Winry lost everything when she worked hard to make Ed stay home by making automail that feels real, so that he wouldn't find the philosopher's stone to bring his arm like it was.

[–] PirateRaven 16 years ago

I liked the ending, sure it was sad, but life is sad. Not everyone ends up happy in real life, and this movie shows that.

Ways To Annoy Voldemort, #27: Call him Ikle Lickle Voldykins and then run.
Fast.

[–] rollindough11 16 years ago

Yeah, it was sad, but the ending just didn't have any closure whatsoever, it seemed a bit rushed. It was like the last second Al shows up: "I'm here! I guess we have some stuff to do." The end. And it seems the director forgot about Winry. I guess she was relatively unimportant in his eyes.

[–] thingswemake 16 years ago

Ok, I agree it was poor when Alphons popped up out of the blue.

I doubt the creators who made the 51 episodes were going to rush the script, maybe they were forced by stupid fan pressure to make a gay ending.
It would have been better to have them both stranded in other worlds.

Then a sequel may have been warranted.

It's natural to feel empty after a decent program ends, but stop demaning them to make sequels. You're complaning enough about this film and think a sequel wouldn't be an even more watered down piece of crap?

Just find a new anime and move on!

[–] thingswemake 16 years ago

I think you missed the whole point actually.

"what did winry get!?"

Ed's dad and dante both said that equivalent trade was a con!

The film actually gave true life examples so as to explain it to ...well, yeah...children!
"all the people who worked hard to become state alchemists, what did they get."

Not everyone gets out what they put in. They explained that equivalent trade is a childish thing to believe in! So stop talking about winry.

Ed and AI worked to get their bodies back , that was their reward. They committed many taboos so had to pay a price.

Another sequel?

Ed running around being the only one able to perform alchemy.
No homunculus, no colonel mustang, no scar...just them running around knocking down nazis.....sounds like some indiana jones bore.

The ending is fine...it leaves it to your IMAGINATION what happens to them.
Winry wasn't even a main character!

[–] rollindough11 16 years ago

Winry wasn't a main character, but she was quite important.

Who says that a sequel to the movie would be horrible? If anything, it would be better than that crap ending they gave us. Then again, they could make it even crappier. In my own opinion, leaving viewers to their imagination what happens to them is quite slack, the movie had no sense of closure at all. In some movies it may work, where there is SOME sense of closure open to interpretation, but not in this one. It was like,"We got some stuff to do Al." "Yeah." The End

[–] evilgrinlord 16 years ago

I LOVED the end. I mean, I'm sad that Ed and Winry can't be together, because I love Winry as a sisterly/love-interest/friend figure, and she's a good influence on Ed. But that's life, and you can't have everything. If there's one thing FMA has always been true to, it's the hard facts of life: People die, and you can't bring them back. Mistakes have consequences. Parents aren't always good to their children. Villains are sometimes heroes, and heroes are sometimes villains. The people you respect most have flaws, and have made terrible mistakes of their own.

That's what I love about FMA. It's the ultimate coming of age story. Ed and Al truly grown up in this movie. They're goals have completely shifted from the beginning of their journey, when they lied to Izumi, saying they wanted to learn alchemy "to help people", when really, their goals were pretty selfish. (Though understandable, because those poor guys did go through a lot of crap.)

Ed says it really well during the battle of Central. Nobody wanted to start a war. Al just wanted to bring Ed home, Noah wanted a home, Alfons just wanted to build rockets... everyone wanted something. They weren't bad things, but by achieving them, they did bring on a war.

That's the main lesson. Sometimes, you have to sacrifice something for the greater good of the world. You can't always think of yourself.

For me, it was enough that Ed and Al are side by side again. They had to give up alchemy, Winry, their home world, and pretty much all relations they had before that, but it was the price of saving humanity, and they knew at that point, they couldn't think of themselves.

And hey, they got to ride off into the sunset with another mission to work on, so, yay, I'm happy. Well done.

[–] plutonax 16 years ago

rollindough11, I totally agree with you... a sequel would be much better than the ending the author gave us. Seriously, do you think a ending open to our imagination makes any sense? The ending was very rushed... try to see the movie again from the part when Al and Ed fight Eckart. After they defeated her, the ending was so looking for the "THE END" part... it looked like they were just looking for a closure.

One more thing... No Mustang? And why is that? Did you see him being killed or something? Did you see him closing the gate?

If the authors created a great Anime in 51 episodes, they could perfectly create a sequel...

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] plutonax 16 years ago

chaotic_kalas, you just made me kinda happy with that point of view... I've never thought like that.

However, if a new version eventually comes out, will be very different from the version we saw, so people like me wanted a good end to the first version we saw.

In my opinion, in five years we'll get a new version, and I think the FMA Manga is near its end... some people claim that the Manga is almost getting to an end... Any ideas?

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] rollindough11 16 years ago

Great, so there's still a slight shred of hope. FMA was a damn great anime too, but just a flawed ending...

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] ruthless1867 16 years ago

FYI: The "Inuyasha" manga has just finished and word is a new series of the anime will be made to take the new chapters (since the anime ended a few years ago) into account.
Re: FMA manga. Chapter 85 was just posted at onemanga and it's - breathtaking.

"I'm not short, I'm fun-sized!" - Edward Elric

[–] mynamesidare 16 years ago

No sense of closure? are you thick? The film whole revolved around Ed and Al finally getting back to each other with Al back in his body.... that happens.

[–] plutonax 16 years ago

The movie was about Ed and Al getting finally peace in their lives... of course, they had to get back to each other and Al get back to his former body. However, the all purpose of the movie wasn't just. It was Al and Ed finally get back to their lives with no troubles and getting back to his friends and family.

[–] raptor_lord_number_3 16 years ago

If they end the manga in the same depressing style as the movie, I will never read FMA again.

The manga doesn't have the same depressing style like the movie.

Cowz.
Vegetarian=me.
Member of The Anti-Shippers Club.

[–] Lyco_the_Bishie_Queen 16 years ago

Finally someone I can agree with. The ending, and whole movie in general, was great! It wasn't depressing, what the hell do you people watch other than FMA, Disney movies???

The manga is of course better, darker, and more humorous, but you gotta admit the film dealt with themes from the manga that the series couldn't quite get it's head around. I firmly stand my ground that the film and it's eventual ending rocked.

_____________________
Chenji zah warudo ...

[–] ruthless1867 16 years ago

My personal opinion is: the movie was OK, but the ending was weak and it could have been better. But until Miyazaki were to remake the film, or BONES makes a sequel, well, that is why we have fanfiction. Those who didn't like the movie, or it's ending can re-write it for their own enjoyment. Some recommendations:

"He Who Searches For Himself" by Yuuki Hikari
"Forward the Machine" by Baka Deshi
"Balance of Power" by The Crackbunny Syndrome

All are on ff.net, and are stories I've read and liked. There are probably others, but these three are the only ones I can think of right now.

"Getting himself blown up while talking to me. How rude." Kimbley,ch. 79

[–] plutonax 16 years ago

"or BONES makes a sequel"... sorry, but who or what is BONES?

[–] ruthless1867 16 years ago

BONES is the name of the studio which did the animation. It's quite famous in Japan and has done quite a few anime series ("Scrapped Princess" just off the top of my head).

"I'm not short, I'm fun-sized!" - Edward Elric

[–] avpduran 16 years ago

The ending was iffy for me. I agree it was rushed, as many movies are anyway.

I just have some questions, now. [Also some about the series.]
SPOILERS. Obviously, but just as a warning.

-We see Wrath get Ed's limbs taken away in the series. So, what happened to them? Alphonse's body is returned in the end of the series, so why couldn't Ed's limbs return to him when he returns to his world.

-I'm sure I missed this, but who created Gluttony? I'm going to guess that he is supposed to be a Philosopher's Stone (he eats people, so their lives are in him, and he is seen eating Al while Al is the Philosopher's Stone).

-The uranium bomb. So, it had managed to pass through the gate, but that mad scientist could not. Safe to deduce that objects can pass through the gate to the other world safely?

-What happens to Envy? Does the whole 'not dying because he's a homunculus' work in Earth?

-Why is it when Wrath dies, he is seen in front of the gate running to Izumi? I mean, is that supposed to be his soul? It shouldn't be, however, because Homunculi are not supposed to have souls, so the original Wrath's soul should have been passed on.

-Is there a new Fuhrer in Ed's world?

-How come Ed and Al pass through the gate harmlessly? Maybe because they've done it before, but is it really?

[–] joeymlib 16 years ago

I don't really feel like reading most of this thread, but I decided I'd throw in my two cents..

The movie wasn't horrible. I feel that maybe we can all agree on that, but it was pretty shallow. Hell, the fight between *spoiler* Eckhart and Ed really made me look back on the Greed fight *endspoiler*. I'm sure that the crew behind the series and film wanted to do more, and I'm sure they wanted to keep the fans pleased. Most likely, if it isn't obvious by now, it was warranted by fan pressure to rush it. There is still so much potential to end it all with a "sequel", be it a few episodes or another film. Hell..

*Spoiler*

The movie ends with Ed and Al pursuing the Atom Bomb, well "Uraniam Bomb". I think it's a clue from the directo and co that there is a chance for another sequel, or maybe they just want us all to grow up and leave it be.

*End Spoiler*

To sum up what I'm trying to say..

The movie was good, I even gave it a 9 out of faith. I'll admit I sort of liked the feeling that Episode 51 gave, but the movie was still a great deal of fun. Our two brothers are united again, and their ultimate quest and point of the show is met - They're reuinited. ( Bite me, I've been fairly good with spoiler tags but this should just be obvious ). Be happy, it may not have been the peachy flowery ending with all of our favorite characters getting what they wanted.. what we wanted, but it's still a good ending.

Though, I agree.. there is a great need for a real sequel :-P.. so, I counter my own point xD.

Oh, and to the theory of Equivalent Exchange ( or Trade, as some of you put it ) -

Hasn't it occurred yet that, despite this, Ed was put onto Earth for no apparent reason? That, by chance, he was thrown to our world in time for the events that took place in the Movie? Remember, the Gate of Truths is dragged out of real life religion.. and if anyone reads the Manga, look for the detail on Manga version of the gate. I'm not saying anything to do with a God, but maybe there is more to it that we're supposed to look into.. or maybe nothing at all.

Equivalent Exchange seems more like a Law that is made by Man, sort of how "Bible Rules" are made by man on this Earth. They don't really 'apply', per-say, but they're guiding lines put into place to help remind us of who and what we are, and how little individual ambitions turn out being.

meh, anyways..

Good movie, GREAT series, and I hope there is a sequel.

Fin.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] wrath_0077 16 years ago

After reading all those misunderstanding comments I just had to make a account to say your right Thingswemake!
Its not about the girl getting the boy or otherwise. A cheesy and happy ending would not have fitted it at all!
About Equivalent Trade, they said before in the series that it wasent real. Ed choose to believe in it anyway, tho he know it might not always be true.

I dont wanna go on saying the same things all over again, but i really cant understand why some people cant see that...

It was a perfect film/ending for the serie!

[–] !!!deleted!!! (4524359) 16 years ago

I don't get why the question is he human is so important to you. First of all soul is just a made up word and if someone has feelings it wont matter if it's a chimera or a robot or a dog. Why is being human so much better? When al was in the armor he wasn't human obviously since what defines a human is our biology. He wasn't worth less though, his mind was intact and that's where the value lies. So the question was he human is pointless because it really doesn't matter he is worth the same even if he isn't, what you call the condition wont change the condition.

[–] SilentJay32 16 years ago

As regards to a sequel? What?! This isn't america.

No, it's Japan, where sequelitis is far worse.

That said, it ends at the right place, with the brothers together again.

At the same time, a series of Indiana Jones like adventures staring the brothers in our world would be pretty nifty.

[–] RookDragonwolf 11 years ago

******Spoiler Alert********

I realize that this is 6 years later but I just watch the movie and I have to say, the ending was a bit lame. Yeah, okay, I did wish one other person made it thru the game also but to me, the perfect ending would have been Al didn't get thru, he and Winry vowed to find a way to get Ed back, and Ed in his disdain way, misses his brother and Winry but is too concerned about the plutonium bomb to even think about finding another way back. And basically starts something with Noah. That ending would have fit the FMA path better.

Also, just how did both Ed and Al get back over untouch? Ed made it thru home because his ship was built for speed and was too fast for those in the middle to grab him. But he didn't go back in the same ship.

I love this series despite the tragic story line. But it should have stuck with the tragic line at the end.