Back to original topic, I finally got a chance to watch the first episode. It was a pretty good intro episode, and I love the ending animation, it’s really cute. 
Looks like the second one is going to be pure backstory which everybody already knows, so it might be pretty boring…
Also, am I the only one who noticed that the Japanese name for this series is Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: Full Metal Alchemist? No wonder they picked another subtitle for the English release…
Just watched the 2nd ep. Looks like its heading into the main story arc now 
Cid: Thats pretty much all that the second ep is 
Just watched it, it’s almost freaky how precise the adaptation is. It’s obviously out of order (last chapter was a segment from Vol.6) but the whole thing was almost word-per-word frame-by-frame what happens in the manga.
I was surprised to see Truth appear so early, but I suppose they’re really trying to drive the point home that it’s the manga canon now. I can’t say I mind, that was probably the best scene in the episode.
Episode 3 = watched.
Liore went by quickly (one episode instead of two) but was otherwise the same as before, however to speed things up they rushed through a lot of the dramatic moments by going into SD mode (Edit: actually the SD mode was in the manga, they did however, cut much of the banter between Rose and the brothers as well as some of the explanations). In fact the only real variation from the manga was the battle with Cornello as it went differently than in either the previous anime or the manga (he supersized himself to put up a fight instead of just having Ed pull a large statue from the walls into the to prove his point). Overall while more faithful to the manga, the original anime version was most likely the superior of the two.
At any rate the fourth episode will cover the joyful events surrounding Tucker and Nina.
I thought the Liore bit was interesting. CORNELLO SMASH! I guess speeding through the story is kind of necessary, I’m sure the pace will even out by the time Hughes dies.
Sigh, Nina. I’ve seen it in the original anime, I read it in the manga, and now I’m about to see it all again. Probably one of the most depressing parts of the story.
I definitely thought this version was far inferior to the original anime. 
It felt way too rushed, there was no fleshing out or feeling to the town, it was just kind of…eh. Still good, but nowhere near as good.
Also.
nina. ;.;
Out of curiosity: in the original, is Nina before or after Liore?
Why waste a lot of time going over whats essentially the same up to the turning point?
In the original anime Nina was chronologically before Liore. Though the anime started with Liore, then went into flashback-land for seven or eight episodes.
I can’t remember if it was the same in the manga or not, and I don’t have my volumes here with me.
Its going in the correct order according the manga. She also wasn’t before Lior in the first adaption of the anime either.
Sources:
Because that’s what I enjoyed about the original series? The characters didn’t feel superfluous. I got an actual sense of menace from the townsfolk, instead of just the ramblings of a mad priest. When I watch the first two episodes of the anime, the revelations about Ed and Al still get me going…here it was there, but not to the same extent. I didn’t think it was as well done.
And if you’re going to take the attitude of why waste time: why bother doing it at all, then? Just have a quick flashback sequence to show us what’s going on, everyone who saw the original already knows and it clearly isn’t important. So let’s just get on with it!
Only, it is. So I think they should be putting in more effort.
Because it is important and all of the main points of it are intact? Besides, the priest wasn’t much of an important character anyhow nor was he shown again after that episode.He was still exposed, Rose still has to deal with the fact that her lover can’t be resurrected, Ed and Al found the philosopher stone they sought after and what sparkle of hope they had in using it was still snuffed out. Nothing insignificant really gone.
Yeah, only I don’t care as much about any of that as much as I did in the original version. And I am aware the priest wasn’t that important. So what? The interaction between less important characters and the main ones is a great way for development of characters. I’m not saying it was rubbish. I’m just saying I preferred the original anime. Now it’s just points with lesser impact on me. I’d have no problem if they’d decided to cut straight to the turning point really, I just wish…ah whatever. It’ snot really important.
That’s the thing they’re covering old ground. In fact they’re skipping both the mining town and the train heist events and went straight into the Nina/Tucker event. Also in fact the original anime was really faithful to the early chapters to begin with so there really isn’t a hell of a lot to improve upon with this version (in fact they expanded upon what was in the manga like covering the death of the general who was in charge of the fifth laboratory rather than just mentioning it off-hand). Right now they really are just trying to get to the new ground as fast as they can.
Editor’s note: I’ve actually started rereading the manga from the beginning just to see how faithful this version of the anime and what they’re skipping.
Sounds like I should start watching this soon. Or at least watch a episode or two just to see how it is.
Worry not sai, interest will spring forth soon enough
As I said: My problem with that attitude is that it’s really half-assed. Either you do the whole story and you try to make it all as good as you can, or you skip straight to the turning point, tell people “Okay the first x episodes are just the oringinal series up to this point. Watch it it’s awesome, blah blah blah now here’s our awesome stuff.” This just feels half assed.
Except that there’s really important stuff going down that, if not covered, will most likely leave the viewer asking questions like who’s this Huges fellow and why should I care that he died? Basically stuff went down hard, fast, and early on and the original anime already did a spectacular job covering it the first time, but for those who haven’t seen the original they’ll be left clueless as to the importance of the events surrounding Rush Valley and onwards. Also the events that the original anime took diverged immensely from the manga like with what the homunculii are and who the main antagonist is as well as the fate of some of the more important side characters like Dr Marceo.
Episode 3 kind of took the Liore incident and changed it from a very serious, poignant, dramatic scene into something more akin to filler. I agree, the menace is gone, it’s much more light-hearted, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The original version is there if you want more emotion. I like the speed-through (it’s almost a Coles notes) and wouldn’t be happy if they jumped to the middle of the story, since quite frankly I forgot what happened to get there. And they’re already making some changes (such as the mention of someone named Father at the end of episode 3).
Killmore, I know they have to let people know it somehow. I’m just saying I dislike how they did it. With this way, I’d almost rather they’d just taken the original two episodes about Liore and just shown them instead of forcing me to watch something that just took away from mit, rather than added to it for me.