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Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray |
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Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray
FUNimation Entertainment | 2005 | 105 mins | Rated PG-13 | Nov 17, 2009
Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa(2005)Action | Adventure | Anime | Drama     Set two years after the final episode of the Fullmetal Alchemist TV series, this film picks up with Edward Elric's attempts to rediscover the alchemical powers that once he had, enabling him to return to his world. Stuck in the parallel realm of Earth, Elric has lost the powers that brought him here, but has taken up the study of rocketry in the hopes of regaining them. He is aided by Alphonse, a young man who bears a striking resemblance to the brother Elric left behind, and who now toils to find a way to join Elric. For more details about Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa on Blu-ray, see the Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray Review Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray, Video Quality  Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (at an average bitrate of 27Mbps), Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shamballa looks decent enough in high definition, but the lackluster animation quality doesn’t allow for a huge upgrade in the transition to 1080p. Lines in the animation are nice and crisp through 90% of the film, with the other 10% appearing a touch on the soft side. I’m nearly positive this haziness is a result of intentional effects in the original animation, but it still diminishes the visual experience from time to time. From a color standpoint, the spectrum switches back and forth between a drab, colorless environment on Earth, and a bold display of rich hues in Amestris. The contrasting tones of both environments make it easier for viewers to tell when they’re on each side of the gate, clearing up a hint of the confusion generated by the overall plot. Continuing with the positive attributes of the transfer, black levels offer adequate depth, and contrast provides sufficient differentiation between the various shades in the transfer. Lastly, I never noticed the presence of noise in the background, color banding is kept to a minimum, and I couldn’t spot a single instance of artifacting. If you’re accustomed to the visual quality of the more impressive television anime productions hitting the Blu-ray format courtesy of Funimation, you’ll have a fairly good idea what you’re in for on this release. Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray, Audio Quality  There are two audio offerings on the disc, with a primary Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix dubbed in English, and a secondary Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix in the native language of Japanese. If anyone recalls my level of disappointment with the audio discrepancies on Origin: Spirits of the Past, my feelings are mirrored with this latest product. Once again, we have a stellar English version, clocking in at a robust 3.5Mbps (average) bitrate, with the Japanese only afforded a 1.2Mbps (average) bitrate. Despite both tracks correctly listed as TrueHD 5.1, fans of the film will have no idea the Japanese mix is inferior until they pop in the disc (or read this review). I can’t understand why the Japanese track wasn’t given an equal share of disc space, since the special features are all presented in standard definition, and the audio engineers had 50GB of space to work with. I’d even be happy if they’d elected to split the difference between the English and Japanese tracks, delivering an experience that’s fair to both language camps. Regardless, it is what it is, and I’m here to comment on the proficiency of both tracks. Beginning with the Japanese option, you’ll immediately notice a significant drop in volume compared to the English track. Dialog levels seem comparable, but the musical score and robust special effects fall flat next to the impressive clarity of the alternate mix. On the other hand, I have absolutely zero complaints with the English presentation. The hyperactive onscreen action during Gluttony’s fight with Wrath bombards your surround field with exceptional special separation, and even the most subtle details can be heard with ease (listen for the falling red crystals from body of Gluttony). There’s an excellent balance between the various elements in the sound mix, and the LFE track delivers some rousing moments courtesy of your subwoofer. As stated above, the Japanese track is a big letdown. In fact, I eventually switched to the English track for the remainder of the film, since I felt I was missing a large chunk of the overall entertainment experience. Fortunately, the voice-acting on the dub is just as good as the television series, so it didn’t bother me all that much. Bottom line, if you absolutely must watch anime in the native language, you’re going to be disappointed with this release. For everyone else, the English track is highly competent, with a level of quality that almost approaches reference levels. I’m scoring the Japanese track a 2 out of 5 and the English track a 4.5 out of 5 (which explains the overall score of 3.5). Addendum-My contact at Funimation provided the following statement regarding the perceived difference between the English and the Japanese audio tracks (courtesy of the technical team at Funimation): "TrueHD is a truly lossless format that when played back on a supported Blu-ray player or A/V receiver recreates the exact sound as it exists on the master. What was delivered by the original mixing engineer is exactly what is presented by the player. TrueHD has a variable bit-rate however which may lead to speculation on whether it is truly a lossless format. This can be observed in players such as the Playstation 3 which has a bit-rate display that gives a rough estimate of the playback bit-rate. It is a common belief that when the bit-rate of audio or video goes up there is better quality and when it goes down there is lesser quality. This is not true with Dolby TrueHD. The TrueHD encoding process will analyze the incoming audio and apply just enough bits to maintain perfect quality. What this means is that when a simple or less complex part of the soundtrack is playing the bit-rate will be lower because less bits are needed to maintain perfect quality. This could be quiet! Scenes where there may be only dialog or little music and sound effects. This also means that when there are complex parts with lots of action, explosions, and music happening all at once the Dolby TrueHD encoder will raise the bit-rate to make sure perfect quality is maintained. Sometimes an entire mix may have a different bit-rate overall. For example, an English 5.1 surround mix coexists with a Japanese 5.1 mix on the same Blu-ray disc. Because mixing is a creative process the engineer doing the English 5.1 mix may make mixing decisions that require a higher bit-rate during the encode process. If differences occur either in the overall tone or in the bit-rate between the different languages it is simply because they sound slightly different. Both will be true to their original source." Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray, News and Updates• FUNimation Announces Three Blu-ray Titles - September 1, 2009 In an early announcement to retailers, FUNimation has announced that they will bring 'Tsubasa: Season One' and 'Vexille: 2 Disc Special Edition' to Blu-ray on November 10th. A week later they will bring 'Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie' to Blu-ray on November 17th. ... • Fullmetal Alchemist Movie Coming to Blu-ray - May 4, 2009 In an early announcement to retailers, FUNimation has revealed that it will bring 'Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa' to Blu-ray on September 29. No technical specs have been announced at this time, though you can expect to see an AVC 1080p ... Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa Blu-ray, Forum Discussions
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