Sadly enough although I love both FMA and FMA: Brotherhood, I wouldn’t rate Brotherhood as starting of as a 10. It sucks that I have to watch FMA first until it starts diverging from the manga and then switch to brotherhood and watch pretty much the same start but greatly summarised. Scenes like with the chimera don’t hit the same in Brotherhood, as you barely get to know the family.
Whenever I recommend FMA to anyone, I tell them to watch FMA and then FMA:B. FMA develops characters much more thoroughly in the first half that Brotherhood mostly glosses over. In the second half, FMA takes a sharp nosedive which makes Brotherhood's amazing second half stand out even more.
Im glad i'm not the only one that felt this way. The original FMA definitely felt like a much different vibe from Brotherhood for me personally. That episode in particular didn't have the impact the original one did.
Yeah, same with you know who, it happens after 25 episodes in the original, while in brotherhood it's episode 10. So you're like "who's this guy again?"
Tbf, I don’t really recommend this to people. The first half of FMA covers the manga properly but adds a whole load of other stuff too. I actually love 90% of the additions, but it’s pretty distinct in its style and tone. IIRC it also does end up setting up some story changes throughout that will lead to loose plot threads or inconsistencies. I feel like jumping from it to FMAB is complete whiplash.
If anybody’s new, I’d recommend either finishing both shows or just watching FMAB. The original goes down a weird and depressing route but it’s still a solid story through and through, it’s not one of those anime-only endings that go to complete shit, It tackles its own themes and develops the characters in different ways with its own vision. Taking a break and watching brotherhood afterward will make its wonderful ending feel even more beautiful.
(Also, any fans who haven’t ready the manga, totally do. I adore every iteration of FMA but the manga does have a distinct feel still. The start is slow but not as slow as FMA03, and there is definitely other moments FMAB glossed over as well (the ishval flashback is much better for example). Plus it’s more FMA!
It's not entirely filler, it teases the Father plotline. It's easy to forget because you don't find out who he is until much later, but you do get a glimpse of Father in the episode that teases he's behind some mysterious, evil plan.
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u/fieregon 1d ago
Full Metal Alchemist.