Back in 2017 a Japanese live-action adaptation of fan-favorite anime & manga series Fullmetal Alchemist was announced of which the license & streaming rights were acquired by Netflix. Two sequels meant to cover the remaining halves of the series were announced with the second film covering the beginnings of Ed & Al being forced to work with the Homunculi as well as the debuts of Scar & Ling Yao along with the latter’s allies. The third and final film covers the final battle with Father and is also available now on Netflix.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar is a 2022 live-action manga adaptation film, it is produced by Square Enix & Oxybot Inc., it is distributed by WB. Pictures Japan and streaming exclusively on Netflix outside of Japan. It is currently available for viewing now.

Editor’s Note: Near complete to complete spoilers for Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar as well as some spoilers for the source material may be present within this review.

Originally created by mangaka Hiromu Arakawa and published by Square Enix (yes, THAT Square Enix they publish and create manga) in 2001 the Fullmetal Alchemist franchise was one of the first anime & manga to get in on the early beginnings of the worldwide boom period which began around the mid-2000s. An anime was launched in 2003 in Japan and slightly over a year later in America becoming a near instant hit for it’s surprisingly dark story & quality animation & action scenes. The original anime was forced to follow an anime only storyline for it’s second half due to it catching up to it’s source which was still ongoing at the time (a common occurrence during FMA’s time). A few years later a 100% canonical adaptation was released as Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood which covers all of the source’s main plot points. The new film trilogy follows the same pathway of ‘Brotherhood’ and all three films are available on Netflix now.

THE GOOD: A group of anti-military terrorists attack a train boarded by the Elric brothers Edward & Alphonse. After stopping the terrorists & their leader’s plan they’re met by Riza Hawkeye & Roy Mustang who inform them of their next mission. Sometime later they are met by Ling Yao a young man who initially appears to be a homeless grifter but is actually the Prince of a nation named Xing where they have a similar practice of alchemy known as alkahestry which is more medicinal based in use. Ling suddenly disappears leaving Ed & Al who learn of a state alchemist assassin known by the nickname of Scar due to the distinct scar on his face. Upon discovering that Scar uses alchemy to commit his acts of revenge Ed becomes disgusted and swears to stop him. Ed & Al meet Scar and face off for the first time but are easily defeated and nearly killed, however the military led by Hawkeye & Mustang save them and Scar escapes underground. 

Scar damages the Elrics to the point where they have to return to their old home for repairs. Their they reunite with childhood friend Winry Rockbell; an engineer who helped create Ed’s automail prosthetics. With repairs fixed Ed & Al head to town where they impress locals with alchemy. May Chang; a princess of Xing (and later revealed to be Ling Yao’s half-sister) accompanied by a miniature panda named Shao Mei encounters the Elrics in similar fashion to how they met Ling. May ends up crushing on Al and mocking Ed for his height before running off. While wondering about Ed finds a refugee sight full of Ishvalans where he learns about Scar’s past. 

He also deduces that Scar is the one who murdered Winry’s parents who were doctors that aided the military as well as Ishvalans during the war. Scar’s brother was an Ishvalan scholar who learned of and used alchemy to help defend their home against the military. While escaping military forces Scar’s brother received a mortal wound protecting the former. Scar still lost both of his arms in the attack and laid dying. With his brother’s own dying breath he transmutated his arms to Scar granting him his gift in alchemy which Scar detested initiating his revenge against the state alchemists. Feeling slightly conflicted now knowing Scar’s past Ed still wants to stop him.

As he returns to town he’s met by Al & Winry and they all encounter Scar being attacked by the military. Ed accidentally reveals to Winry that Scar killed her parents leading to Winry nearly killing him with a gun before she’s convinced otherwise by the Elrics. The military forces arrive forcing Scar to escape underground. In the sewers Scar encounters Ling and his group but they’re attacked by the Homunculi who view all of them as a threatening outlier to their plans. Pride attempts to kill Ling & his companion Lan Fan who had her arm severed in the attack. The two escape after using Lan’s arm as a distraction, meanwhile Ed & Al along with Ling trick the other Homunculi and nearly capture Gluttony. However on Envy’s command Gluttony “eats” Ed, Ling, and accidentally Envy after losing control. Alphonse attempts to force Gluttony to return them but he can’t as he doesn’t know how nor where he sends what he consumes. Ed & Ling survive and reunite but are met with Envy who moves in to kill both out of anger. 

“Revenge of Scar” featured a stellar cast of actors including stand outs such as Mackenyu as Scar, Ryosuke Hamada as Edward Elric, and Tsubasa Honda as Winry Rockbell. The action sequences and rendition of the source are well done. There weren’t any weird “film only” changes that I saw as I watched at least not any that were too noticeable beyond Winry being a brunette if that’s anything to even really complain too much about. Many of the set pieces and the atmosphere of the film fit the series and I think fans will appreciate that regardless of whether they came from the manga or anime. I did think the film had some slight pacing issues but it’s not too much coming at you in a “blink and you miss it” sense. 

THE BAD: Some of the CGI usage looks better than others, but that kind of comes with the territory with live-action adaptations such as Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar. As expected with live action adaptations of this kind don’t expect everything to be covered including the possible removal of some of your favorite scenes. 

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar while obviously less than perfect is one of the better anime/manga live-action adaptations I’ve seen in quite awhile. I remember enjoying the original film, but as is the case with these you can’t help but notice any glaring issues especially when the adaptation is an IP as important & popular as Fullmetal Alchemist was and is. Acting performances and action sequences are the main reason to stick around, but the film does a solid job of adapting most of the major chapters that ‘Revenge of Scar’ is meant to cover. Otaku Dome gives Fullmetal Alchemist: Revenge of Scar a 70 out of 100.