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I’m watching FMA Brotherhood. There’s not like, another show or anything I need to watch before this one is there?
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Nah, FMA Brotherhood is called that to set it apart from the earlier series from 2003 which was a much looser adaptation of the manga with an original ending. Brotherhood is a reboot that (more or less) just adapts the manga.
Nope, it doesn't do a fantastic job at setting things up, but it's not bad. I always suggest watching the first 2 episodes of '03 and then skipping the Lior episode (I think it's episode 3). If you also skip episode 1 you don't really miss anything but a whole bunch of names for people you don't know and a cool foreshadow that's unnecessary and I'm pretty sure it picks up where '03 left off. But that's getting too complicated for a recommendation.
Not really. There is FMA03 but it kind of goes off the rails pretty quick since they were ahead of the manga.
FMAB does gloss over some characters that had more backstory in FMA03 due to the expectation of viewers having seen FMA03.
But FMAB follows the manga and imo is much much better.
Nope. There’s another version of fma that tells a different story if you want to watch it - but you can totally just watch BH by itself and it will make sense. The only thing is there are maybe two or three characters in both shows who are fleshed out a bit more in the other one.
Which characters are more fleshed out in 03?
Arguably (depending on your definition of "fleshed out") most of them actually are. For example I feel Ed's beliefs are challenged a lot more in 03 compared to BH, where he just kinda gets everything he wanted. But the ones I was specifically talking about were:
-Yoki (you get to actually see the Youswell incident, instead of just hearing about it later)
-Rose (who gets a whole fucking plotline all to herself)
-Barry the Chopper (who you meet much earlier in his timeline, thus having it be cathartic when he returns later at Lab Five)
You should watch the first half of 03 to get a slower and more in depth introduction to the characters, and the skip the second half of 03 and start with Brotherhood.
When you see the upside-down dog man, it's time to switch.
For a first time watcher that’s probably too complicated.
Just watch both. They reflect and contrast each other in interesting ways.