pros
+ good concept with interesting characters & development
+ good voice acting, hd design, and well-selected op/ed pieces
+ good story with drama, emotion, psychology, action, comedy
cons
- story differs from the manga alot and the end may just drive you up the wall
- doesn't go into depth concerning e.g. 'the father'
- dialogue isn't quite amazing

conclusion: so you might need a bit of patience on this one as it does differ from the manga. e.g. it spends a lot of time talking about politics rather than on the mc's and their cause. however, it's still good in its own right. interesting characters, good emotion and development, action, and some comedy. the animation and music pieces are good as well. however, seeing as this doesn't go into the original story's full depth, i'd strongly suggest either reading the manga or watching this with brotherhood (golden middle would prolly be to watch this till around ep 20~25 and then switch to fma:b). personally, i still love the manga, and like fma:b more than this, but at least for those who haven't read the manga, this is bound to be interesting.

peace. (show less)

^^

As stated in the title this anime is really good for people who haven't read the manga it has a very good story and interesting characters however I didn't find the dialogue to be amazing and the series didn't really entertain me as much as the mange did.

And although I didn't mean this review to turn out this way I know that I'm going to end up comparing FMA to FMAB. Because I honestly just think that FMAB is an improved version of FMA I loved absolutely everything about FMAB I even loved how bad ass and creepy and evil the villains were as in FMA I simply liked it.

Don't get me wrong FMA is a really good anime especially if you haven't read the manga but I think if you are going to watch FMA then watch FMAB afterwards just to see the difference because you might be like me and think that FMAB is better or you might think FMA is better because it really is a good series. (show less)

I've actually have about half of this series on DVD. For an anime from that particular time, the animation is very high quality and is pretty standard through the story (well at least the half I've seen).

Sure, it probably isn't as awesome or source-material-following as the first one, but it isn't bad. It is interesting and a pleasant watch.

Like the source it was based on, it has a solid story that is filled with plot turns and unearthing a mystery. The fact that the mystery has a deadline in order to prevent massive casualties is an added bonus.

It is a good story, and regardless of whether you watch it in english or jap, it is still well done.

One thing I prefered about this one (as opposed to the new one Brotherhood) is that the openings aren't as girly-steriotypically-anime-cherry-blossom-power as the remake.

So watch this one. Don't think the remake is the only thing to get out of this series. (show less)