- Aspect Ratio: 1:78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24 (23.976Hz)
- Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit), English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz/24-bit)
- Subtitles: English
- Region: A (Region-Locked)
- Rating: TV-14
- Discs: 2 (1 x Blu-ray + 1 x DVD)
- Run Time: 110 Mins.
- Studio: Funimation Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: April 24, 2012
- List Price: $34.98
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Purchase Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: The Sacred Star of Milos on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(All TheaterByte screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG at 100% quality setting and are meant as a general representation of the content. They do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Just as I thought Fullmetal Alchemist couldn’t get any darker and at the same time more compelling, the franchise surprises me. For anyone unfamiliar with this radically successful anime franchise, any number of our previous reviews can get you up to speed. In this new full-length feature film, Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: The Sacred Star of Milos, the Elric brothers are thrown into a dangerous adventure when a violent alchemist escapes from prison and following him leads them to the land of Milos. A desolate, desert land filled with destitute and oppressed people being worked like slaves by the leaders of surrounding territories, the people of Milos are involved in an underground revolution against their oppressors, at the center of it all is the charming young Julia, whom Alphonse befriends. Her drive to free her people, however, means she is willing to do the unthinkable, and that is use The mythical Sacred Star of Blood, a dreaded philosopher’s stone, to harness its unthinkable power.
The Sacred Star of Milos is marked by enticing animation, particularly that of the wolf Chimera that attack the Elric brothers and the Milos throughout the film. Their character design is appropriately menacing while the quick movements of the chimera are rubbery and fluid. Dazzling visual effects, a trademark of the franchise, seem even more robust in this film, with brilliant, electric blue sparks, orange flames, and Tyrian purple blazes accompany much of the magic and explosions of the action. If there is one complaint to make about this film, and that is fans of Winry will be disappointed that she hardly appears or has an impact on the overall outcome of the story.
Video Quality
[Rating:5/5]
The AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 encodement of The Sacred Star of Milos looks fantastic. There’s nothing to complain about here, really. It has all the evidence of a clean, sharply detailed, fully-digital, high definition animated transfer. There’s no aliasing or motion artifacts, noise is nonexistent and colors, especially reds, oranges, and blues, look amazing.
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
The Sacred Star of Milos comes with two excellent lossless 5.1 soundtracks in Dolby TrueHD (48kHz/24-bit). This is one of those rare anime releases that has both the original Japanese track and English dub in 5.1 and they are both superb. I used the Japanese track as the main reference and from he very beginning it is rather aggressive, although not distractingly so. The surround channels are active throughout, filled with all manner of discrete sound effects, atmospherics and ambience, yet there is a good balance of front and rear channel sounds. Dialogue is clear, kept above the sound effects at all time and lows are extended well down, adding a good heavy bottom, but not necessarily, big, Hollywood blockbuster bass like, say, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, for instance.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
The extras are a boon for FMA fans including a lengthy making of featurette, the U.S. Cast commentary, and inclusion of the Web Promo, which also includes more FMA animation.
The supplements:
- Fullmetal Alchemist: Making of Sacred Star of Milos (1.78:1; 01:04:25)
- U.S. Cast Commentary
- U.S. Trailer (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Web Promo (1.78:1; 1080p/24; 00:19:13)
- Theatrical Trailers (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- TV Spot (1.78:1; 1080p/24)
- Funimation Trailers
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4.5/5]
The adventures of the Elric brothers continue in this fine full-length outing. It’s one that I’m confident fans of the series and OVAs will enjoy. I was slow to warm up to FMA, but over time, the growing intensity and complexity of the characters has drawn me in. The Sacred Star of Milos is must watch stop in the story.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B0071LEJTO[/amazon-product]
Purchase Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood: The Sacred Star of Milos on Blu-ray at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4.5/5]
The Film
[Rating:4/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
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