For the 20th anniversary of the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, the creators held a special live stream on July 12th to announce some exciting news for the anime franchise. Among the announcements including the reopening of an exhibit in Tokyo showcasing art and illustrations from the series, a new manga from the creator Hiromu Arakawa, and a special celebratory book. But there was one final grand announcement that fans are most excited about.
The Fullmetal Alchemist series announced they would be developing a smartphone game called Fullmetal Alchemist MOBILE based on the show. The voice actors for Edward (Romi Park) and Alphonse (Rie Kugimiya) revealed the new game at the end of the livestream as the big surprise for the series. No release date for the game is set just yet, but more information should be available to fans in the winter of 2021.
The announcement contains little other information available for the game. Shonen Gangan, a popular anime magazine, tweeted out the announcement during the live stream with a post that included a short clip teasing the Fullmetal Alchemist game in Japanese. The clip does not, unfortunately, include much animation or provide much more information, only slabs of stone are shown with various Japanese text written on them. Notably, the philosopher's stone with transmutation energies was showcased in the video along with a battlefield resembling illustrations from the original manga. With these small pieces highlighted in the teaser, fans can hopefully expect a game based on the original manga versus an adaptation story.
The Fullmetal Alchemist manga first serialized in July of 2001, spiraling upward in recognition ever since. Becoming one of the most recognizable animes worldwide, Fullmetal Alchemist continues to add on to the franchise after the finale of the manga. The franchise's history includes various Fullmetal Alchemist video game attempts, 1 season of the show in 2003, and subsequent films in 2005, 2011, and 2017. Although the series has significantly fewer media than other popular animes like Attack on Titan and Dragon Ball Z, which have many seasons, that anime has held its ground as a fan favorite over the years.
With so little information out on the game right now, fans can only look forward to more announcements and hopefully a trailer sometime in the winter. In the meantime, fans can look forward to the art exhibit opening back up in Tokyo for 30 days from December 18, 2021, to January 16, 2022.
The new manga (which will be serialized with Shonen Gangan) and the new celebratory book do not have release dates since they were only announced as "coming soon." Fans can anticipate the next year to be filled with these new releases from Fullmetal Alchemist.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
Source: Shonen Gangan