Which should I watch Original or Brotherhood?

Both :) Great stories but verrrry different.

As someone who watched Brotherhood first, I'd say start with the first series because (roughly) episodes 1-34 of the first series are an extension of episodes 1-14 in brotherhood. But there are many differences and additions there as well.

In other words, brotherhood sort of recaps those events but in a shorter amount of time and with differences.

In general though, it doesn't matter. Both are VERY different stories with different characters and whatnot so they don't have anything to do with each other. You can just flip a coin.

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I'd go with Brotherhood since it's more loyal to the manga.

The first series follows the manga until partway through season two, and it does it really well. The parts covered by the first series were ruched through in Brotherhood and they aren't as well done. There's an entire character who isn't introduced but just shows up traveling along with them, no explanation given. So basically the first part (with some of the best scenes in it) is done much better in the first anime while the later parts are superior in the second one. Other differences: The first one is very angsty, which fitted the series at the point they were making it. Every action they take has consequences and the entire thing is played off like something of a tragedy. The second one is more straight drama/action and it really works for that series. While it is dark it never seems as angsty and gloomy as the first one. While there are people controlling their actions they fight back against them rather better. Another difference is the secondary characters. I've heard people defend the characters in the first one but the only one they really spent time developing in that anime was Hughes. Everyone else is infinitely more useful in the second one. They have entire episodes where the Elrics don't show up. This makes the ending massive and more epic. Having said that about Hughes they also developed Lust more. The homunculi in general are better in the second anime since Pride, Wrath and Sloth are more fitting with their sins. The homunculi in the first don't really have a reason to be named what they are. In addition there are several characters that just don't show up in the first anime, including Major Armstrong's sister who is just sheer awesomeness. The voice acting in the first one is better too, though not by much. Al was voiced by an actual boy instead of a girl pretending and it gave him much more of a soul. I'm talking about the English dub here which is excellent in both. It's very hard to appraise the Japanese dub since I don't speak the language.

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ORIGINAL!

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Brotherhood, it's a better made show. It is RELENTLESSLY paced and just spectacularly well handled. SO MUCH *beep* HAPPENS in such a short period of time that you'll get to about the 20th episode and go "how could this possibly go on any further?!" ... and yet it just keeps going and going, building and building. It is just unbelievable. 64 episodes of lean, mean, bursting at the seams entertainment. EVERY anime should aspire to be like this.

Enjoy your egg whites.

Big thumbs up for Brotherhood if you're only going to watch one! The story and the emotions of the characters -everything was so amazing & powerful! Far surpasses many live action shows & movies. I'm not embarrassed to say I cried twice during the series. But both are great in their own way.


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Having just finished Brotherhood, in my opinion you should watch the original first. It has an interesting storyline of it's own that is pretty cool, but the big reason is the character introduction. The first series does a better job with introducing Maes Hues, Nina, and other characters. It'll be MUCH easier to know who everyone is in Brotherhood. Plus, certain scenes involving Nina and Hues are done MUCH better in the original (IMO.)

The second series is superior in my opinion, but seems to assume you already know who most of the characters are. It has a longer and more complex arc, with more moments of you going "WTF?!"

But both are great series and I hate that we'll probably never conclude the original FMA series, as "Conqueror of Shamballa" has a very open end.

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