bumble I just watched to first 33 episodes of brotherhood, and I'm disappointed with it. FMA1 was better in my opinion. When i first started watching Fullmetal-1 the thing that stuck me the most was that all the character has such more storyline and depth then most anime's i've ever seen, especially the humanculus. I'll admit that I don't watch very many anima's but i have never seen any other anima that had villains that had any completity to them. I also loved the story line between lust & scar. I loved how the humanculus retained the shape, memories, and cares of the person that a victim a failed human transmution. And by changing that in brotherhood, lost so many layers of complexity. Even though they kepted the horrificness of how to create a philosipher's stone, brotherhood lost so much weight with it, espially when the doctor (that scar ends up taking up north with him to look at his brother's research notes) makes a philosipher's stone from less then a dozen people. It made a stone much less horrific and almost common place. Where as in a original series one true stone equaled that of basically a whole continent. Not just that of a just a city. I liked how it was the Elric brothers that talked origanal anima about equivalent exchange. Don't get me wrong I think the guy that was picked to say it was good, but by having someone else say that brothers commented the ultimate taboo vs. them saying so is as if they are being condemded. And loses that personal touch. I also found it so incredably annoying, especially in the first few episodes, how when ever someone was surprised that there was no transmutation circle was used to complete a transmutation. They always used the full formal term, in any field of study people come up with a shorter form of the word. Why can't some just simple say "with no circle?" when on of the elric brothers didn't use one. I think over all the brotherhood is overly simplixite when it comes to it's characters personalities and interactions (espically it's villians). And cus of this ultimately loses many of the origanal series sutle complexities. Brotherhood also doesn't take the time to develope it's characters truly

uncharted_user After watching a few episodes of brotherhood there is one thing that is very apparent - and that is it is severely lacking the emotional, intense, dramatic and even soothing soundtrack of the "original" FMA series. It is just so amazing how much a soundtrack can add, change and set the mood of an anime (like it does in many movies). The brotherhood soundtrack isn't terrible by any means but it certainly pales in comparison to the one used in FMA. This is my only major disappointment of Brotherhood and any other dislikes is the odd unbelievable (not in a good way) scene. Maybe if they had some epic music I might feel different lol. So far I'm up to episode 43.

Gamira Considering I am more of an action comedy loving person I should have liked brotherhood better but it just didn't do for me. I found a lot of difference in the story as well as the characters. Truthfully after watching the original I became a fan of Winrey's character but the manga just took it away and left me hating her. She went from an independent, strong girl to your typical non-action anime girl who cried for the hero who didn't. Also the fact that sooo many characters were added later on started to get on my nerves and truthfully I didn't even remember their names by the end of the day. The jokes didn't work for me and the fact that Izumi could toss a huge homonculus around like a rag doll was just plain crazy. Another thing that didn't work for me was lack of some epic episodes and amazing characters like Claira and the Tringham brothers. I couldn't keep up with the story. In the end I stopped watching it after episode 31 and tried really hard to finish the manga. I guess it could be because I watched fma1 first. If I had watched the manga version first maybe I would have liked that better. But yes, fma2 did have its crowining moments that the original didn't like the battles, oh and I literally love Ling and Havoc(so I just wanted to tear people apart when he became a cripple) and oh my god Olivia was soo BADASS. Anyhow just my opinion.

WrathFan99 The 2003 Anime introduced me to the FMA Universe . It was just compelling , this idea of a kid soldier with a severe Napoleon complex and his younger brother soul-bonded to a hollow suit of armor searching for the Philosopher`s Stone to get their human limbs/body back . And , since I`d already had some familiarity with Homunculi , Chimeras , Golems , Alchemy , The Philosopher`s Stone and Kabbalistic Mythology from prior research , I got all the little nuances and philosophical juxtaposition . The thing is , Brotherhood is not a direct adaptation of The Manga anymore than The 2003 Anime is so if you`re gonna prefer Brotherhood for that reason , you`re misguided . The reason being , The Manga`s just too damn long even for a 64-Episode Anime to cover ! Yes , it`s truer to the Main Plot of The Manga , however The 2003 Anime tended to be truer to earlier parts of The Manga such as The Cornello and Yoki Arcs , in many cases actually expanding on Manga Arcs such as showing Shou Tucker as a man driven mad with desparation and scientific curiosity who shows signs of remorse rather than simply a nutcase who sacrificed his wife , daughter and dog on the altar of science as in The Manga and Brotherhood and Brotherhood tends to either gloss over or totally ignore key events from The Manga and 2003 Anime , characters who were portrayed faithfully to The Manga in The 2003 Anime (I.e.Father Cornello and Rose Thomas )are altered in controversial ways and multiple aesthetic changes . In addition , The 2003 Anime explored , examined and deconstructed philosophical themes , a mark of genius ! Brotherhood , however , talks about philosophical themes but never really deconstructs them or forces the viewer to think about them . The 2003 Anime had pathos , emotional depth and you could tell the Dub Actors put their total emotional investment into The Material . In The Brotherhood Dub however , the Returning Actors pretty much " phone-in " the very lines that had such power in The 2003 Anime . Such a waste ! " Illusion of the first time " , anyone ? And , Vic and several other VAs in The Show have actually done Theatre work so you`d think they`d be familiar with that rule of thumb but apparently not . What amazed me is that while the Returning Actors do improve over time , though never quite hitting those same emotional chords as The 2003 Anime , it`s The New Actors and Old Actors with New Characters who really shine in The Brotherhood Dub ! Oh , there`s some epic action scenes and dialogue in Brotherhood no doubt and I won`t deny Greed , Kimblee , Barry the Chopper ( Though I enjoyed his connection to The Elrics` past in The 2003 Anime ), The Chimeras , Pride and Basque Grand are handled way better ! However , pretty much all The Other Homunculi , Izumi , Sig , Mason , Scar , Armstrong , Hughes , Tucker , Cornello , Rose , Mustang , Hohenheim, Winry and The Elrics themselves were all portrayed much better not because they were truer to The Manga ( though in the case of Cornello and Rose , they were but I digress )but because they were more emotionally realistic ! I also loved how The 2003 Anime used the proper pronunciation of " detail " . People these days always get that word wrong !

aerythia omg.... ok im having trouble getting past episode 6 of brotherhood, but im trying to give it a chance... its just what really annoys me is the way they subtly changed ed's appearance just enough so that i want to shoot someone for doing it wrong. seriously. he looks retarded. and the voice actors are just a little bit off and that kills me too -_- also, i know everyone else is saying this but omg it goes by TOO FAST and i think it lost all its charm that got me hooked. fma was SO emotional and riveting, i cried so many times... the jokes were well placed, and the seriousness was in my opinion a good thing... i don't want to watch an anime that is all corny and emotionless when its about 2 kids losing their mom and sacrificing their bodies...the plot itself is serious and i dont want it full of off time jokes that are far off from comic relief and more like annoying. but i do agree the ending to fma1 was dissapionting...it made me cry because it sucked like that... i mean they sacrificed all alchemy to live in this world... and did anyone realize that since the gate was closed permanently no one in the other world could use alchemy at all anymore cuz they couldnt use the deaths from our world anymore? that made me laugh. and i loved the soundtrack to fma1, and the opening to brotherhood is growing on me, though it doesnt match up.... i thought that when they did a remake it would be making up for fma completely (i didnt want a sequel, it wouldnt even be about alchemy anymore since they were in our world), but i wish i could tell them how they screwed up both times. i read a little of the manga, and i swear that if they combined the good aspects of both animes, they would get the animated version of the manga. which is what an anime based off a manga is SUPPOSED to be. but the artwork and especially the 'robot emotions' seriously took all meaning away from them trying to fix their 'screw up' with veering off from the manga in fma1. i understand that it might be boring to watch the first 30 episodes over in a supposed new series, but they could have at least added some freaking emotion into it. it didnt seem like they cared about the beginning since they already did it in the first one, but the beginning is the basis of the entire anime! and if im not mistaken, i think they changed the voice actors... why? i don't even understand the purpose in that, when the original voice actors were awesome and made this anime one of the few i didnt watch in japanese (thinking of naruto with his stupid voice right now)... and lastly, even though this might be a little contradictory to my negative rant, i think that fma, the entire story of it and everything both animes and the manga encompasses, made for the BEST anime/ manga i HAVE EVER seen. if only they had found a way to combine the two animes, it would have got the best out of each and shone how truly outstanding this story is. it is my top anime/manga. ever. (rant over)

Cbass90 What can I say it's all been said, as another fan of FMA1 I think most of the points have been made, but I haven't read all the replies. I've seen all of FMAand all of Brotherhood, both the series and the movies, and I prefer FMA. I liked the ideas behind the endings for both, both made sense, Ed sacrificing himself in FMA and him sacrificing his ability to perform alchemy in Brotherhood. What I didn't like about Brotherhoods ending was this: 'and he lived happily ever after.' That's essentially what it said. I liked that in FMa he never got to be with Winry, and that he never regained his limbs (also he STILL sacrificed his ability to perform alchemy by crossing worlds) You don't go through that kind of ordeal and come out with everything you want. In Brotherhood he didn't really lose anything important to him. He never would have had any real use for alchemy once his goal was reached anyway, how is that a real sacrifice? Sorry to the fangirls who insist that the love interest always has to be there but I liked the lack of focus on Ed and Winry. It's about him getting his brothers body back, plain and simple, nothing else matters, not his love affairs, not even his own life, it's about personal responsibility and love for his younger brother. The only things I enjoyed in Brotherhood was episode 26 where Ed sees Al in the gate, bursts through and promises to come back for him, and of course Roy killing lust, and I enjoyed the ending, but none of those were enough to make brotherhood nearly as good as FMA. Honestly, Brotherhood made me feel like I was watching Naruto with alchemy, and I hate Naruto. Also while I liked that Greed was more of a constant character, I hated Ling and Mai, they were completely unnecessary characters true to the manga or not. Yeah, like we really need another annoying little girl and her pet animal in anime. Brotherhood was a collection of anime cliches and I honestly was bored through most of it, what I liked about FMA is it didn't feel like an anime half the time, it just felt like a good show, a good story. And yeah there were a couple of plot holes and mistakes but that can be forgiven if the overall package was good, and in my opinion it was, I liked FMA and I do not like brotherhood, having seen all of both animes I can honestly say that 100% Now I'm going to get the manga and try to read that, and it will in no way effect my view on either anime, because accuracy to the book is no excuse for bad directing and shitty side characters.

Homunculusprime personally i became so attached to the characters of the original FMA series i almost felt like breaking down and crying at some of the saddest parts, i felt a deep feeling inside and it was genuinely a sad feeling , i am not far into brotherhood right now so i cant say anything but i have the feeling that it wont give me the same attached sense that the original did. That being said its still Fullmetal Alchemist no matter what we all enjoyed it and loved the series so why diss any part of it?

brown-soul I don't get why people dont like brotherhood's ending. I'm not saying anyone is crazy or anything so don't be offended. (I just dont get it, like I dont get why some people dislike educational videos so much.) It sort of make sense since if the main problem that caused all the pains gone the charaters deserve a sucessful life. And there's closure I'm a brotherhood fan so.... yeah I got a little offended by the comments.

JustanOpinion I know I'm late to the topic, but I came across this article while researching Brotherhood. You see, I have yet to read the manga which I'm sure is quite an undertaking, and decided to watch FMA and FMAB in chronological order. I really enjoyed FMA and the movie that followed. It was a compelling story with just the right amount of character development to leave you emotionally attached rather than bored. There were a lot of central themes closely in line with theories behind holy geometry, masonry, and illuminati which I could appreciate, and I also enjoyed the way they almost contrived it as a period piece by adding real world elements to the paralel universe that is ours in the 1920s. That said, I heard that FMAB followed the storyline of the manga and was assured that this storyline was much more solid, if not better. I was very excited. Let me preface the following by saying that I have absolutely no issue with a completely different story or art style. To be honest, I actually like both in FMAB thus far. But what had me searching the internet to see if it gets better (to see if I should continue watching it) is the lack of character building. It's an essential part of storytelling that is difficult to balance, but without it you lose your audience and they become apathetic and bored. Examples thus far would be the following: The brothers are scared to meet their teacher (Izumi). She recognizes that they have attempted human transmutation. There is a range of emotion that is depicted within the next few moments of the original that are greatly lost in FMBA. In the original, we see anger, horror, sadness, and regret as she punishes them. Next we see her love for them as well as relatability as she embraces them with a hug and tears. The same could be said of the boys during this scene. I know, I know. "It didn't happen that way in the manga" Well, that's why this is simply an example. Another would be when the Chimera Martel is killed. In FMA this furthers the plot, but more importantly, you CARE that she died. In FMAB? Why should we care? What is the point in introducing characters if the audience never gets a chance to develop a sense of worth or value for them? Simply put- this story seems just like an animated enhancement of the manga illustrations in excerpt form rather than as an independant story. I'm literally just rushing through this hoping that if I hurry it along I won't get frustrated, bored, or otherwise disinterested before I have a chance to finish. One other huge problem I have with it is the "comic relief". Once again, I understand that there was a lot of this in the manga, but it isn't translating well in the animation. In the original FMA, the themes were so serious, the emotion and tension ran so high, that it was necessary to have this kind of relief. In FMAB it's saturated with this nonsense and there is nothing compelling or serious inbetween it for you to appreciate it to begin with. It's just "there". Much like the rest of the plot. The anime is just going in the motions to regurgitate something out of a book. I guess I prefer the adaptation because there was enough creative freedom for the team involved to make something they could wrap their interest in. FMAB seems more like a hired contract: a group of people getting paid x amount of dollars to translate y from page form to television screen. They don't seem to care. It's beautifully illustrated and may follow the manga verbatim, but the story telling is lost. The emotion isn't there, and the character development is non existant.

TAEHSAEN Am I the ONLY person here who wanted peel off his own skin after seeing what a pussyfied prick Ed was in Brotherhood? SO WHAT the philosophers stone was made with death and bloodshed? Those guys used to make the philosophers are ALREADY DEAD so USING THE STONE WONT KILL THEM AGAIN. Ed could have EASILY used Dr. Marcoh's philosophers stone at the beginning and brought Al's body back. ALL THIS SHIT could have been avoided. He could have just ASKED Marcoh to let him borrow the stone; why was he like "OH I didn't want to steal the stone so I didn't take it." THAT MAKES NO SENSE. And forget Ed's unwillingness to use the philosophers stone. What pissed me off EVEN MORE was how he was such an annoying prick about death. The bad guys are about to kill the good guys yet Ed still wouldn't let the good guys kill the bad guys.. I mean towards the end, in EVERY SINGLE EPISODE, Ed threw HUGE tantrums about "dont kill him! dont kill her!". Get fucking over it Ed, you joined the military and this is life - If you don't kill them, THEY will kill you. In EVERY SINGLE episode I was chanting under my breath to Ed - "please dont be a prancy please dont be a prancy" because I KNEW he'd throw his "dont kill him!" tantrum ANY SECOND now. This isn't the Ed I knew and loved. The FMA Ed was MUCH MUCH more matured than this and I can't believe I am saying this but I FUCKING HATED the Ed in FMA. FMA 2003 is WAY WAY WAY better than FMA:B.

TAEHSAEN Dearheart and ANY true fan of the original FMA, I know this is a long post but PLEASE read this and tell me what you think. I am extremely frustrated right now at how bad FMA:B was compared to FMA and want to express myself to you guys who understand what I feel right now. FMA had a great story line and FMA:B had an EVEN better one. However, FMA (original) is BY FAR the better TV show THE DAY. FMA:B doesn't even COMPARE to FMA because FMA was SO SO SO MUCH better. Why? Two words: Character Depth. FMA:B COMPLETELY lacked character depth. I did not "know" Ed and Al as well as I did in FMA. They put absolutely NO EFFORT into building up Nina and Hughes death, yet they SOLD their deaths to us up and until the end of the series; as if it was something we felt very emotional about. They COMPLETELY ruined it and I felt like killing myself after seeing what a bad job they did with Nina and Hughes. How could they? Ed and Al were MUCH MUCH MUCH more tight in the original series. After watching a great episode of FMA, I used to go listen to Brajta (english and russian) and used to cry looking at the lyrics. I felt SO much for Ed and Al. They were brothers to me. I remember that after every episode I used to shout out "I AM EDWARD ELRIC" because I wanted to become Ed SO much. I loved him. In FMA:B they FUCKING DESTROYED Ed's character. They turned Ed into a complete fucking pussy. SO WHAT if the philosopher's stone was created using people's lives. Its not like those dead people will come back if they DON'T USE the stone. Ed could have saved Al AND would have been able to keep his Alchemy. Why didn't Ed get the SIMPLE fact that those people are ALREADY DEAD and using the stone won't do anyone anymore harm. I also HATED how Ed was ALWAYS SO over the edge about killing people. He can choose not to kill anyone himself, I understand, but why did he have to be SUCH a prick about other people killing the enemies? THIS IS WAR, THIS IS THE FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES, YOU HAVE TO KILL. They OVER SOLD Ed's angel-like will to be good. It was Legend of Aang all over again where Aang was such a prick about killing people except MUCH MUCH worse because Ed is supposed to be more matured than that. The FMA ed would have used the stone ANY DAY to bring his brother back (as it wouldn't hurt anyone) and the original Ed would have just killed the Homonculis when he had the chance which would make EVERYONE's lives so much easier as they wouldn't keep coming back. Ed in FMA:B is a dumb dipshit. If he really DOES love his brother so much, then USE THE F*CKING STONE because it won't hurt anyone anymore if you do!!! FMA:B COMPLETELY ruined my love for Ed (dumbass). I also fell in love with Winry in the original FMA and I wished that I had a girl like her waiting for me back home. Although Winry got MUCH more airtime in FMA:B, she was the SAME CHARACTER OVER AND OVER AGAIN. She came all happy, saw Ed's broken arm, turned into a dragon face monster and shouted, and then cried over it later on. They just recycled this chain of events and kept repeating. There was NO color or diversity in Winry's character. The dragon faced monster in FMA:B isn't the girl I came to love in the original FMA. Despite my hatred towards FMA:B, I HAVE TO ADMIT Al was better in FMA:B. Al was more matured and wasn't a COMPLETE idiot like the Al in FMA (as the FMA Al would rather return Ed's arm than return his own body. Idiot). Forget Al though, MUSTAANG!!! I LOVED what they did with Mustang. HOLY SHIT. Mustang was the bomb in FMA:B. Loved every second of that guy. AND LING!! MY GOD DO I LOVE LING. LING WAS FANTASTIC AND I FELL IN LOVE WITH THIS GUY IN FMA:B. GREAT ADDITION! I really liked Greed in FMA and Greed in FMA:B was MUCH MUCH better. Loved this character. So in summary, Al, Mustang and Ling were the ONLY characters they did BETTER than FMA. Other than that, ALL other characters sucked ass. Armstrong was the same as FMA, no change was made to him. LAST BUT NOT LEAST. THEY F*CKING RUINED EVERY GOOD ROMANTIC MOMENT BETWEEN CHARACTERS. Why the HELL did Mustang not confess his love to Hawkeye? In FMA the chances weren't there as much, but still Mustang and Hawkeye connected A LOT more. In FMA:B it felt like Mustang INTENTIONALLY was distancing himself from Hawkeye and even when Hawkeye was trying to say something romantic to him, Mustang would keep calling her "lieutenant" and then would tell her to go carry out some order. Forget the failed romance between Mustang and Hawkeye. WHAT ABOUT ED and WINRY!!!?? ALL THAT HAPPENED AT THE end is that Ed gave winry a HUG? A SIMPLE HUG? After all that they've been through? Even though Ed physically hugged Winry in FMA:B, it was SO dry. In FMA even though there weren't any physical connections between Ed and Winry, the EMOTIONAL connection was SO great that I cried over it. WHERE THE HELL DID THIS GO?! BUT you want to know the MAIN reason why romance did not work in FMA:B? Because of the stupid ass fucking comedy. They "tired" to bring in "comedy" in EVERY SINGLE scene in FMA:B and they horribly failed. When Ed and Winry are about to have a special moment, ONCE again they bring in their "stupid-comedy". When Hawkeye and Mustang are about to have a special moment, someone else comes in with a stupid comedy line. THEY COMPLETELY SPOILED the romance in the series with USELESS GOOD FOR NOTHING COMEDY. WORST PART OF IT ALL, the comedy was overdone and wasn't intellectual AT ALL. ALL THE COMEDY in FMA:B was STUPID-Funny. There was NO intelligence in the Comedy AT ALL. ALL they did was show the characters make "dragon-faces" and be stupid and as a result, people ACTUALLY think FMA:B is funnier than FMA. You idiots. Do you even remember the episode where they show Mustang and his gang try to uncover the secrets of Warehouse 13 (it was a filler episode). ALL the comedy FMA:B can't even amount up to how funny that FMA episode was. And when FMA was trying to be funny, it always have a touch of intelligence in it, unlike FMA:B. Character development guys. I just feel so sad because I can't shout out "I AM EDWARD ELRIC" anymore. I can't imagine Ed and Winry together anymore. FMA:B spit on Hughes and Nina's graves and that broke my heart. I did not feel emotionally attached to ANY character in FMA:B but in FMA I was crying for almost everyone. I cried SO much watching FMA because I felt LOVE for the characters and I would do ANYTHING for them. In FMA:B, except for Mustang and Ling, I hated EVERYONE else. Perhaps I can forgive Al, Hawkeye and Armstrong here as they were same as the previous series IF not better. The thing is, most people like FMA:B ONLY because it follows the Manga. THAT IS ALL. NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS. FMA:B has a better storyline I admit, but it COMPLETELY messed up its character development and I will never forgive it for that. FMA (original) will always be the true FMA in my heart and nothing can compare to it.

TAEHSAEN FMA did SUCH a better job at connecting us to the series emotionally than FMA:B did. I cried at EVERY sad scene in FMA, I did not even flinch or get teary eyed at a SINGLE point in FMA:B because they HORRIBLY failed at capturing my emotions and attaching it to the dead character. I felt frustrated at how I could not cry at FMA:B. Yet I went back to the original FMA and watched the episode "Mother" and I started wailing like a child. Where was the love for their mother in FMA:B? Where was the love for Hughes? Where was the love for Nina?

sylvernights Here's a post from a new perspective. I've read the Manga. I've watched Brotherhood. I did not watch the original anime (I need to, I must, I'm positive I'll enjoy it.). What did I think? I loathed Brotherhood. B-b-but why? It's just like the manga, and if an anime is just like the manga that means it must be the better anime because they are exactly alike! That's what I disliked about Brotherhood and they weren't exactly alike, Brotherhood was a condensed, watered down, bland version of the manga. Sure it has the cool graphics and all of that, but the manga was superior by far...and if I want a carbon copy of the manga then I'd rather read the manga than watch a pale comparison. It's the same reason many books that are made into movies are superior to the actual movie. So basically I agree with the OP Brotherhood wasn't anything special, it was just telling me the same story I already read once before except it's lacking in the small details and nuances that made the manga better--it's just going through the motions and that's where I feel the heart is missing. In other words the anime was like spark notes lacking anything original. I feel the same way about Sailor Moon. The anime was nothing like the manga, but it became a sensation. The manga was still equally good. I'm actually worried about the 2013 reboot anime being too much like the manga because that's not a story, that's just a retelling of something I can easily read. I think there has to be some differences for some people.

spcats I really love both of the anime but I liked the English voice actor for Al a lot more in FMA. Something about Al's voice in FMAB just doesn't sound as sincere, and it makes his thoughts and comments seem less meaningful. Did anyone else feel this way?

Fatalbert Personally, I think the first 13 couple of episodes in Brotherhood were rushed because I believe the creators and people behind the making of the show wanted to introduce more of the characters and were into developing and revealing more of the mangas premise (pertaining to the problems that are somehow connected to one another to create what has become the main issue that could endanger the whole world and protagonists in particular) believing that the viewers may have already watched the first series so the first 13 rushed over as a recap and then got to the series/mangas version of the other half of the story in which viewers may not have seen if they have only watched the first series

killingxmoon How can anyone justify that FMAB is better than FMA aside from it following the manga better??! As a whole, FMA has so much more to offer. FMA has way more twists and turns that are unpredictable, which is why I believe that they deviated from the storyline. There is so much more heart, @Dearheart is right. In BROTHERHOOD, there is just a bunch of raving about not killing and bullshit without explanation. Also, HAVE YOU EVEN SEEN EPISODES 52 AND UP????? THE FIGHT WITH SLOTH GOES ON FOR 4 EPISODES. IT'S LIKE A BAD ACTION MOVIE CAR CHASE. ITS SENSELESS, IT ADDS NOTHING TO THE STORY AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING. MUSTANG COULD HAVE SLAUGHTERED ENVY THE SAME WAY HE DID LUST, JUST AS FAST BUT HE WALKS AND TALKS AND DELAYS DELAYS DELAYS. THEY NEVER EXPLAIN WHY THEY DON'T WANT TO KILL ENVY WHEN THEY ARE UNDERGROUND. THEY NEVER TELL THE FUHRERS WIFE THAT HE AND HER SON ARE HUMUNCULUS WHILE SHE IS AT THE RADIO STATION OR SOONER. THERE ARE SO MANY UNNECESSARY BATTLE SCENES WITH SHOOTING AND EXPLOSIONS. AL AND ED CAN BOTH DO A WHOLE LOT OF ALCHEMY BUT AFTER EPISODE 48 OR SO IT'S AS IF THEY FORGOT HOW TO DO ALCHEMY AND THEY JUST PHYSICALLY FIGHT PEOPLE ALL THE TIME. ITS RIDICULOUS. [ENDRANT] I could go on all day about how jacked I am that my friends convinced me to watch the whole series. I don't give a shit if it deviates from the manga, I really don't. FMA has a way more powerful message than Brotherhood. They give reasons and explain the value of life and why and get you to really appreciate the message behind the show. Brotherhood is just milking the young audience with senseless action by the end. Brotherhood's plot twists and seeing more of the original manga storyline was cool at first, but it just sucked in the end. Ruined my day.

bleachninja I have watched both series and like them but FMA Brotherhood is WAY BETTER. Faster action, better animation, tighter story and not full of boring sappy moments. I can understand why as a woman you like FMA better due to this. Plus IMHO the FMA Brotherhood is more true to the manga series which makes it way awesome.

Alchemistlover Bleachninja- Saying women like something because of sappy moments is kinda sexists. For some reason i never could put a proper opinion together until now. I love both dearly but prefer the original 2003 because of all the character depth and nostalgia it holds for me. Brotherhood had the better ending and concrete plot but i liked that the original went into darker themes especially about the homunculi. Also i felt more of a connection with the Elric's . Honestly it's been so long since i've watched either i think i need to re-watch.

Homunculusprime i love the discussion going on but everyone should listen to everyone elses opinions! whether you like it or not! we can go on for days defending the version we prefer and in our own ways we're all right but at the same time be fair to each other!! :)

Simmeh So... why did Hiromu Arakawa make the first anime when the manga wasn't finished at the time? >_>

glass_magnolia As someone who literally just finished Brotherhood (literally, just watched the last ep) I want to say that I'm glad I stuck with it. I understand why the people who saw the first series first had a hard time with the beginning. It DOES drag. And you can't help but compare moments you recall from the first to the new. The musical score being inferior did not help. I by no means think of Brotherhood as mediocre , but the music from the first series is clearly superior. And I wish they had gotten the same music/composers back. However, when it picks up it picks up. And does it ever expand! The world is HUGE. The characters get more fleshed out. And the new characters are pretty damn amazing. (Except maybe Rebecca whose appearances were so brief I couldn't see the point of adding her.) And Winry has such a bigger role.My God, for the first time I actually LIKED Winry/Ed because they bothered to work on it. And the Roy and Riza moments were so awesome and flawless making me very happy. You get to see more of the guys at Central. You go to the North and meet Armstrong's amazing and terrifying older sister. Scar has a bigger role. Izumi makes more appearances. Hoenheim is smack in the middle of things and the homunculi even seem more fleshed out. My favorite change here being Pride. (My least favorite being Sloth, he was boring and useless.) The homunculi are scarier. That's the best way I know how to put it. The only downside is that I miss the first series Wrath. He was a favorite of mine. Even as awesome as King Bradley was. And Lust died too early for my liking. People who are fans of Kimbly's crazy ass will be happy though. But don't let people tell this story lacks emotional depth. As someone who just saw the (very satisfying) conclusion I can tell you that's not true. There were many times when I teared up especially in the last episodes of season two. (Season two was the best!) I also love Ling and his and Greed's story arc. Greed was by far the best homunculi following Envy....who I wished had lived longer cause I just love torturing the guy. But, I guess in the end if they were going to kill him off then that was the way to do it. I had mixed feelings. His melt down was hilarious but at the same time it was sad because it was so pathetic. What else? Al. Al is amazing. And you get to see the brothers do more apart and it shows that even though they are unarguably a kick ass team they can and will stand alone just fine as well. They are both strong enough and intelligent enough to. I'm happy with it. And if I get homesick for the original it's not like I can't watch and appreciate that one for what it is still. It's just the world now seems forever dwarfed in that one. We didn't even know Amestris's name. Also the main villain makes Dante look like a weak kitten. Just saying..

stupidusernames @killingxmoon Do you seriously not understand why Mustang didn't kill envy like he did lust? He wouldn't to get revenge, he wanted to torture him as much as he could. They didn't explain why they didn't want to kill envy? Yes they absolutely did, they didn't want Mustang to kill envy because they thought he would do the same thing scar did and just get revenge for everything anyone has done to him. I agree with not telling the fuhrer's wife about the humunculi, I thought they should have too. The fighting scenes were just part of the series and they made it interesting and fun to watch. There was still plenty of alchemy after episode 48. I think all of you people who are saying stuff bad about brotherhood are just too stuck on loving the original series that you won't give brotherhood a chance and have just decided to believe it sucks no matter what, you don't want to admit that it just might be better that the original series.

wooodbury88 personally i think the plot of brotherhood is a lot better. it moves quite fast admitidly but i still felt connected to all the characters especially when alicia was at hughes grave side and when envy died,wich is wierd bcz he is evil and killed hughes. i would recommend watching the series b4 u judge it!!

zebramatt Personally, I'm glad that I watched the original FMA anime and fell in love with the characters all those years ago. And the feeling I get from Brotherhood, is that it's actually set up with that in mind. They don't try to build up events and draw you into caring about them, because you already do. It's been years since you saw them, though, so here they are all laid out again as a reminder. Remember how you felt about Ishbal, about Ed & Al's loss, about Nina. That was great stuff. Now here's how it should have all played out in the end. That's the feeling I get from FMA: Brotherhood. That it's a reboot for people who already loved FMA. Sure, it doesn't have the same sense of emotional discovery; but maybe nothing ever could have, for those of us who already went through it once? Trying to do that all over again would have made an amazing definitive experience for new viewers - and maybe in ten years, they'll do a redux to accomplish just that* - but for those of us who already went through all that with the Elric brothers, I'm glad they didn't try to do it again. I'm glad the show I remember is still there, still great, but now I have another show, with an ending the original deserved. They're two different, amazing shows, each with their own flaws. But in a way, I prefer that. *Keep dreaming, I know!

Fifionah I feel so bad now! I'm reading all of this and I realized that I am absolutely one of those Brotherhood elitists. Now I feel guilty for it, but after all of this I... My feelings haven't changed. There are so many good points in this and everything, but I guess it's just hard for me to put myself in other people's shoes when it comes to Full metal Alchemist. Brotherhood was the first anime I ever watched, I understood it just fine, and I got really attached to it. When I decided to watch the 03 version, all I could think was, "this is weird..." To this day, Brotherhood is my favorite anime ever, and I can't say I understand, why people would prefer 2003, (except growing up with it) but I won't say that I think you're an idiot if you do. I'm just one of those people who gets attached to an opinion, and once I do, even after all this debate, I am stuck to it. Now, after reading all of this And realizing realizing this about myself, I feel like a horrible person. I'm sorry, and I feel like I just insulted myself. So all us brotherhood elitists, yeah, we may be horrible people, or we might just be... nope. I'm a horrible person. BROTHERHOOD IS STILL WAY BETTER THOUGH. That was probably uncalled for. (Also sorry the rest of this happened like over a year ago and I'm just here now bcuz I have a friend who prefers 2003 and I just searched it up and this came up.)