which full metal alchemist saga is better?

[Dante_almont]

hey guys i saw both FMA and FMA Shintetsu and i think they both were pretty awesome. Now i asked myself, which of them was better. In my opinion, Shintetsu was better because it was more based on the manga than the earlier one. But that's my opinion of course. Who do you guys think it was better?

[Mr Lint]

I prefer the original anime...I think there was a lot more emotion and power behind it than the Brotherhood series...I don't care that it wasn't based on the manga, a great anime shouldn't be put down just because it doesn't follow its paper-printed predecessor...

[Glasya]

LonelyTraveler13

I prefer the original anime...I think there was a lot more emotion and power behind it than the Brotherhood series...I don't care that it wasn't based on the manga, a great anime shouldn't be put down just because it doesn't follow its paper-printed predecessor...

This ^^

[StrayKit]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS WARNING

the 2003 anime is my favorite, yes the manga/brotherhood storyline is still good but i liked the first anime the best. i thought that, for making an anime based on a manga that wasn't even finished yet at the time of it's creation, that they did a pretty good job with the direction they took it, people couldn't have expected a lot of the things that showed up in it. i liked the homunculi better in that version, how they were made, their backstories, everything. yeah a lot of them were the same but still, i loved seeing how they interacted with their pasts and creations effecting them throughout the storyline while still being very human in their own ways. to be honest, i even found Dante, despite how much i absolutely hate her, to be a wose character than Father. honestly, his entire plan is a little redundant and expected, isn't it? killing hundreds and thousands of people over the years just to live forever and stay young and beatiful? far worse in my opinion.

there were fewer characters and some missing, yes, but those who had minor roles to start with like Rose were given bigger ones later ona nd you got to see them have their own strengeths as well just like the other characters. everyone still had a challenge and difficulty they had to overcome and managed to develop throughout the storyline. true less time was covered in that version it seems but it everyone still had something to get past. the art and music was still good, and i had far more emotional responses to the 2003 anime than brotherhood and the manga. yes the manga and brotherhood had some moments where i cried but i cried, felt scared, was on edge, and felt what the characters were expressing more in the 2003 anime. yes the ending was a bit saddening, since Ed and Al were separated but it worked for that storyline and what they did with it. Shamballa really wasn't all that bad either. again, not a perfect ending and what everyone was hoping for but it worked for the storyline it was given and sometimes animes don't end or turn out how we want them too

over all, both of the versions were good, but the 2003 anime is still my favorite for those reasons and a handful of others. these here are just the main, big points

[Kitten says meow]

looks as if im a loner on this one, id say brotherhood i didnt read the manga so i felt very left out at the end of the first one, i enjoyed the detail in brotherhood much more than in the original, but they were both awsome

[Drummer_kidder]

I saw the 2003 anime before reading any of the manga, but at the time, it felt wrong to me. I thought the way both Ed and Mustang threw away everything at the end was wrong. Also, in episode 49 of that, Ed states that he will "destroy" the Philosopher's Stone. Not use it up to bring Al back... DESTROY. This (SPOIL) when the Stone in question is Alphonse. I also didn't like the fact that alchemy suddenly became inherently evil (again, SPOIL) because Hohenheim tells Ed that all alchemy in their world is fuelled by death in the alternate world connected by the Gate. Makes some of Ed's prancing about being silly just so wrong... yet even having been told that, Ed returns to Amestris and uses alchemy readily, and in "Shamballa", he does so even more.

There are other points, too, but I just felt it was wrong somehow, that the characters were ever so slightly being altered to make them fit somebody else's idea of what it should be. So I read the manga, and when Brotherhood came out, saw it.

And to me, Brotherhood is where everything is RIGHT. I do understand some of why some people like the first series more (the homunculi are incredibly sympathetic, plus some people automatically feel that any happy endings are "childish", thus inferior), but for me, I'll always love Brotherhood more. Those who prefer the 2003 version, that's fine. I won't convince them otherwise, they won't convince me.

And now to go back to the DVDs and watch that episode where Ed has a shower. heart

[starbolt122]

I prefer Brotherhood because I just think it's better and such. the original was good too, I just think Brotherhood was better with storyline and detail. (I never read the manga, but to me, it just flows better) 3nodding

[knaramadil]

LonelyTraveler13

I prefer the original anime...I think there was a lot more emotion and power behind it than the Brotherhood series...I don't care that it wasn't based on the manga, a great anime shouldn't be put down just because it doesn't follow its paper-printed predecessor...

agreed completely! exclaim exclaim exclaim

[NyteSama]

I hated the manga
so naturally I hated Brotherhood.

Taking the manga out of the equation (which seems to be pretty much one of the only supports it even has), it's just not that good.
The pacing is terrible, the animation is mediocre, and it's pretty.... meh.

True, there were lots of iffy moments in the original anime as well, but as a whole, it came together much better.
At least it took its time and let you actually care about what happened to the characters instead of going "Hi here's the show. Here's Hughes. Oh, he's dead. Here's a quick funeral. Okay, moving on."


So I think the original is better.

[lucifer demono]

I liked brotherhood better then original. they pretty much just rejected Winry out of the story at the end of the series (I HATE THAT), and I found brotherhood to be more emotional and dark then it's predecessor. That and I prefer it when the anime follows the manga it was based on.

[ChilledRandy]

I like brotherhood more because it has much more details than the original and of course its much like the manga.

[Torako Hanataka]

I liked Brotherhood more than the first one. For one there is more character development, more plots and all the loose ends seem pretty well tied up. However the first series was my 'first love'. It had its own thing going on there and I really liked the whole thing and goodness knows I cried just as much on that one as I did on Brotherhood. And in the beginning I was very uninterested in watching Brotherhood. I like to think of Brotherhood and the first series to be one ball of happiness.

[InSaNiTy_NEkO]

Thats hard...though i have to say the later one.