Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa  "Conqueror of Shamballa" premiered in Japan on July 23, 2005. A CD soundtrack has also been published featuring music from the film developed by Michiru Oshima and L'Arc-en-Ciel. In Japan, it has been edited in a standard DVD, as well as in a limited edition. It was later licensed in North America by Funimation that featured the film in cinemas for a short time, and also released it on DVD and Blu-ray. Most of the staff from the first "Fullmetal Alchemist" anime started development on "Conqueror of Shamballa" shortly after the anime's ending. The original script had to be shortened to fit the film's length of 105 minutes. During its premiere in Japan, "Conqueror of Shamballa" remained as one of the most popular films in the year. Critical reaction to the film has commonly been positive, with reviews praising the film's story and animation used. After Edward Elric recovers his arm and his brother Alphonse's body, Edward is dragged from his homeworld through the Gate of Alchemy—the source of alchemical energy—to a parallel world of Earth in 1923. The world is fundamentally governed by the laws of modern science instead of alchemy. When Edward arrives there, he discovers that he has been stripped of his alchemical powers and his newly restored arm and leg. Two years later, in Munich, Germany, Edward researches rocketry with his friend Alfons Heiderich, a young man who resembles Alphonse, in the hopes of returning to his world. Edward rescues a persecuted Romani woman named Noah from being sold. Noah is taken in by Edward to live with him and Alfons, and begins having visions concerning Edward's life in his world. The next day, Edward meets Fritz Lang, a Jewish film director resembling King Bradley, who persuades Edward into helping him hunt down a dragon he has been seeking for inspiration for his next film. The dragon, which turns out to be homunculus Envy, attacks Edward, but is then weakened and captured by members of the Thule Society. The Thule Society, led by Karl Haushofer and Dietlinde Eckhart, use Envy and Edward's kidnapped father Hohenheim as catalysts to open a portal to Edward's world, believing it to be the utopia Shamballa after learning about it from Hohenheim. A number of armored soldiers are sent through the portal, only to emerge on the other side in the city of Liore as mutated zombie-like creatures.