hey @WomanCorn is there a "plain" fullmetal alchemist i should watch before fullmetal achemist brotherhood? i, uh, don't quite get it. or is it just not worth it and things clear up after a while?
@delca so, there is a plain _Fullmetal Alchemist_, often called 2003 (IIRC). It's not in continuity with _Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood_ though.
Basically, the original manga wasn't finished when they did the 2003 adaptation, so they made up their own ending. Both Brotherhood and 2003 start the same, but then go different directions, including revealing different back stories and metaphysics.
@delca One drawback of Brotherhood is that they kind of went at a faster pace for the first bit where 2003 had adapted the same material, so 2003 can give a gentler onramp. Also the first episode of Brotherhood is a kind of <everyone you love is here> sales pitch.
I'm not sure how far in you are.
@WomanCorn started it today, two episodes in. First episode is the one with the two little girls, right? Yeah the pacing was a bit weird, too.
@delca first episode is the one with the ice alchemist where they're fighting in the city.
Second episode is a flashback showing how they wrecked their lives trying to resurrect their mother. They're young kids in that one, so might be mistaken for girls.
Third episode is the real start of the main timeline where they investigate reports of miracles to see if they're being done with a philosopher's stone.
@delca OVA is Original Video Animation, which used to mean a direct to video series, but now usually means bonus episodes included with the DVD releases.
(You'll also sometimes see ONA for things released online.)
Occasionally they'll have an official spot in the main series order, but those ones don't even appear on my go-to watch order list.
@WomanCorn thank you! I'll skip them for now then and watch them after the series.
@WomanCorn uh, that's not what I've been watching.
Oh! I've been watching these OVA... things instead of the actual episodes. No wonder it felt all weird and disconnected! My bad.
Should I watch these though? What does OVA even mean?