Robette: To this day I do not understand why anyone likes FMA Brotherhood. I watched a few episodes and I hated it. It felt like everything that defined the depth of FMA was replaced with either rather flat comedy or sudden over-dramatization out of nowhere. I really liked FMA but I have nothing good to say about Brotherhood.
The original
FMA anime was made when the series was incomplete (
still coming out in manga), so they made their own side arcs to fill in the gaps, and finish the series in some reasonable fashion.
Brotherhood follows the original script almost perfectly and exactly. At first I thought it was a cheap attempt to continue the series; At least until I saw one scene and recognized immediately, then I started saying (
nearly) word for word exactly what they were going to because I had already read that portion of the story. It was then I knew they were followed the original story, where the original anime they had to improvise (
which you are familiar with). Trust me, I read the original manga (
fan translated I think), and brotherhood is the story the way it was suppose to be. It honestly made no sense the ending of the original anime.
As for the first episode, you know they have to show off everything that can be done to keep you interested. First episode of every slayers season used a dragon slave, regardless how overpowered it was, like a signature move, and helped set the mood and pacing.