Reviews

Prequels and sequels are known to be tough to do well. They're dependent on and constrained by the original work (because of 'Fate/ Stay Night', we all know that certain characters in 'Fate Zero' have invulnerable plot armor). Still, there have been examples of such works that earn high critical praise. However, there is a third type of '-quel', the 'Interquel'- a story that takes place during an existing story. To my knowledge this type of story has NEVER produced an exceptional work. Not even Fullmetal Alchemist, though 'Sacred Star' does make for a decent time for existing FMA fans.

-Story-

'Sacred Star' is set during the 'Brotherhood' storyline, but feels like it came out of the original anime- for all the wrong reasons. The plot is basically a movie length version of "The Elrics find a lead on the Philosopher's Stone, investigate, and it turns out to not be the real thing". There must be at least half a dozen filler episodes in the original anime that have the same story. Now, the story isn't all bad, we do get some cool world building that existing FMA fans will enjoy, and even if you can see the twists coming the journey is enjoyable just because we get to head back to Amestris one more time. The great downfall of any 'Interquel' is that it categorically CANNOT do anything that would disrupt the main plot, so there are limits to how big the consequences of any action can be (come on, we all know going in that the Elrics aren't going to find something that will get them their bodies back).

-Art & Sound-

Little to say here. The animation production values are decent for a movie-length release, and sound is fine with the same voice actors reprising their roles from the main series. The art style is slightly different from 'Brotherhood', but that's not a plus or minus.

-Characters-

We already know the main cast, and they stick to their established personas, so no harm no foul. The new characters Ed and Al meet are interesting enough, but not to the point that I wish could see lots more of them. There is some exploration of what it's like to be a small people group caught between two large and powerful nations, but not to any truly deep level. Being an interquel, the main characters are static- character development is strictly for the main storyline.

-Enjoyment-

As a FMA fan, I did enjoy getting to see the Brothers in action again, but I was also able to predict the plot long before it happened. New FMA fans probably won't see what all the fuss is over if this is their first look into the franchise. Treat 'Sacred Star' as a little diversion and you'll enjoy it well enough.

-Overall-

'The Sacred Star' is not a bad movie, but it's not truly a good movie either. It's a movie-length filler episode with some good production values and cool world building. Enjoyable if you need more FMA in your life, but hardly the defining work of the franchise.