For those who don't know, the basic story of Fullmetal Alchemist is this: two young brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric, live in a world where a science called alchemy is the main area of scientific research. Alchemy allows a person who understand matter to break things down and reconstruct them as something else by drawing a transmutation circle (it's an anime, so it has fantastical "magic" elements). A transmutation may be anything from converting a tree into a wooden sled, snow into ice blocks, a steel rod into a sword, and so on and so forth. However, alchemy has rules, the most important being equivalent exchange, you cannot gain something without losing something of equal value: in order to make that sled you must have all the wood necessary from the tree, the ice block may only consist of the water in the snow. The story starts when the two brothers father, who is a genius at alchemy, disappears and they live with their mother for a few years, but their mother contracts a terrible disease and dies when the boys are only ten and eleven years old (Edward being one year older than Alphonse). The boys, who were already naturally gifted at alchemy, find a teacher to study serious alchemy, the true science behind it.
After several years of study and training the boys attempt to bring their mother back to life with alchemy, using all of the elements that exist in the human body, as well as a drop of their blood each in exchange for their mothers soul. But, the transmutation backfires and Edward's leg is taken as payment and Alphonse's whole body is taken. In a desperate attempt to save the life of his brother, Edward uses his arm as payment to pull his brother's soul back from the gate to the afterlife, before it crossed over, and attach it to a suit of armor. A year later, after Ed has been fitted with mechanical limbs to replace his lost arm and leg, he joins the ranks of the State Alchemists: militant soldiers and researches who are all incredibly gifted, almost genius, alchemists. Using his state title and research grants he and Al begin searching for the legendary Philosopher's Stone, a substance that supposedly grants the holder the ability to bypass the law of equivalent exchange in alchemy. Their journey is the main story of the show, that was just the first three episodes (sorry for the long description, but it was necessary).
The first thing I want to compare between the two series is tone: Fullmetal Alchemist, particularly in the second season, is incredibly dark: Ed and Al face mass murderers, monsters that embody humanly sins, incredible atrocities committed by the military, and the darkest extents of human depravity. Brotherhood has many of the same themes but comparatively the original series has a bleakness and sense of hopelessness that Brotherhood, which follows the theme of hope stays away from. In terms of length Brotherhood thirteen episodes longer than Fullmetal Alchemist, but because of the scale of it's story it moves far more quickly. About halfway through Fullmetal Alchemist, around episode twenty-five a major character is murdered, this same event happens in episode ten of Brotherhood, and it just doesn't carry the same emotional weight as it did in the original. Not to mention that a lot of the early episodes of the original series which could have been considered "filler" turned out to actually be important because they gave the audience a sense of who the Elric brothers were as people, whereas Brotherhood skims right past them expecting the audience to already be connected to the Elric brothers. Due to the increased budget, the animation and action in Brotherhood is like night and day when compared to Fullmetal Alchemist. Brotherhood is far more visually pleasing, but the original series, in my opinion, has a better, more personal story, and better pacing. Overall I liked Fullmetal Alchemist more than I liked Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.
Both series have a movie as well, Fullmetal Alchemist has Fullmetal Alchemist: the Conquerer of Shamballa while Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood has Fullmetal Alchemist: the Sacred Star of Milos. Between the two movies, Conquerer of Shamballa is undoubtedly the better of them. It serves as a capstone to the original series, finishing the story and showing the final fates of the Elric brothers as well as all of the other characters. The movie also has a noticeably dark tone, just like Fullmetal Alchemist and takes place in our own history, in Berlin, Germany in the 1930's. Conquerer of Shamballa provides a satisfying conclusion to the series. The Sacred Star of Milos however, is a singular story, only tangentially connected to Brotherhood. In fact, I haven't been able to find out where in the storyline of Brotherhood the movie takes place, and the side characters that show up in it are basically cameos. Now, don't get me wrong, it's a fairly good movie, but not up to what I've come to expect in quality from the rest of the Fullmetal Alchemist universe.
Overall
Fullmetal Alchemist
9.5/10
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood
9/10
Fullmetal Alchemist: the Conquerer of Shamballa
9.5/10
Fullmetal Alchemist: the Sacred Star of Milos
8/10
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