Brotherhood?

[Tacit Effigy]

Is Brotherhood better than the original? If so how?

[twychaos697]

Yes, I would certainly say so. Mostly due to the fact that it is a lot truer to the manga. In original, I got confused and the story I felt was weaker. The fact that they technically had to finish it with a movie also ruined it for me. Brotherhood has more depth for characters and in my opinion is just overall better. There is more story in Brotherhood and more characters as well. But the way they weave it is great. It doesn't feel like a chore watching it all. I could watch it over and over again. Great anime.

[Selena1450]

Brotherhood is more like the manga. I watched Brotherhood and read the manga first, but when my cousin told me about the first anime, it totally confused me. sweatdrop
'The homunculi want to become human' is what he told me. In Brotherhood, the homunculi say that humans are the lowest life form. Maybe it's just that I'm used to Brotherhood.

[Tacit Effigy]

Selena1450

Brotherhood is more like the manga. I watched Brotherhood and read the manga first, but when my cousin told me about the first anime, it totally confused me. sweatdrop
'The homunculi want to become human' is what he told me. In Brotherhood, the homunculi say that humans are the lowest life form. Maybe it's just that I'm used to Brotherhood.

twychaos697

Yes, I would certainly say so. Mostly due to the fact that it is a lot truer to the manga. In original, I got confused and the story I felt was weaker. The fact that they technically had to finish it with a movie also ruined it for me. Brotherhood has more depth for characters and in my opinion is just overall better. There is more story in Brotherhood and more characters as well. But the way they weave it is great. It doesn't feel like a chore watching it all. I could watch it over and over again. Great anime.

Thanks for the information. Now i want to rewatch FMA in its original form smile

[Drummer_kidder]

In my head, Brotherhood IS the original... the original story. Although I saw the 2003 anime before I ever read any of the manga or heard any rumour of the Brotherhood version, while I loved so much of it, I felt it was wrong somehow. Brotherhood, being based on the manga, got it right.

My biggest problem was when Ed discovers (huge spoil alert here for any innocents who haven't seen all of the 2003 version) that alchemy is based on energy from people who die in the version of Earth connected to their world. This means that ALL alchemy derives from the death of others. So ALL alchemy is inherently evil. Yet even knowing that, Ed returns to Amestris from the other side of the Gate, and uses alchemy to fight Dante and the others, then after being going through the Gate again, and once again returning to Amestris, he STILL uses alchemy. A lot.

Alchemy in the manga and Brotherhood is either derived from the Dragon's Pulse-- energy that goes through the planet-- or from tectonic plate shifting.

So in my view, yeah, Brotherhood is way, way better than the 2003 version. Although Hughes's death makes me cry in both. crying

[Lisa_the_paramagic]

I prefer Brotherhood and watched it first cuz the manga is what got me into FMA and FMAB follows the manga.

[Angry Tronson]

Absolutely love FMA2003. Have both seasons and cannot get enough. Have seriously considered watching/buying brotherhood but haven't got around to it.

Now that I have a full time job I'm buying anime like crazy. Thanks for the comments, will definitely bump FMA:brotherhood up on my list of anime to check out.

[Kashii_Ai]

New user here so jumping into the forums where I can. |D

I haven't seen Anime1/FMA2003/whatever-you-call-it yet, so I can't make any solid comparisons to Brotherhood beyond what I've heard about Anime1. I actually watched Brotherhood in place of reading the manga because it was my understanding that it was 100% true to it with the small exception of the end of the Diore/Liore episode, so that fight played out differently, but that didn't affect the overall storyline much. So . . . it was really cool to know I was basically watching the entire FMA manga as an anime.

As for why I like Brotherhood, there's lots of reasons. I love Ed to bits and pieces, and the rest of the cast follows fairly close behind--it's really hard to pick your most favorite character. I also really like the themes explored throughout the series, like the idea that death can't be undone/once a person dies they can't come back, life can't be duplicated by artificial means, there is a difference between seeking power to help others and seeking power for yourself (corruption/beneficiary dynamic!) and the means by which you seek that power can determine your choices, and by extension, your choices make you good or evil.

I also liked the final theme presented in the series: that a power like alchemy isn't absolutely EVERYTHING and in the end it's just a science that should be used to benefit others, not a means to ultimate power (I also liked the way the series illustrates this in the end too with Ed's final sacrifice ;D).

I also find this theme a lot more compelling than the final theme we get in Anime1 that someone mentioned earlier, that all alchemy is basically evil.

It's not the power itself, it's how you use that power. c: