>>138225

There's not really any "order". They're all the same story.

The manga is the original story, of course.

The 2003 anime was made before the manga finished, thus around halfway through the show Bones started taking the story their own way. It's a lot darker in tone than the manga and Brotherhood, but it's got some classic Bones writing (for unfinished series) where nothing makes sense and the plot doesn't matter, but the animation is amazing.

The Brotherhood anime is like the "definitive edition" anime. It adheres closely to the manga and is probably mostly a 1:1 adaption (haven't actually read it). It's 64-episodes of a gloriously animated adventure. Bones animated it once more and the animation is even better than the 2003 anime.


I recommend Brotherhood, unless you actually love reading, then read the manga. If you choose to read the manga though, definitely watch the anime afterwards. The animation is top tier.

The 2003 anime does have its own appeal though. If you end up really liking the series and want to jump into another long anime and different take on the same thing, give it a shot.

>>138225
watch only Brotherhood and read the manga at the same time.

>>138238
>where nothing makes sense and the plot doesn't matter

Why do you say that? I found the plot interesting

>>138286

I wrote that line half-jokingly, sorry. And even though I haven't watched it in years, I still agree with you that the plot is pretty interesting in where they take it. Some people argue about which is better to this day. Even the mangaka herself thought the 2003 anime was an interesting take on her work, so they must've done something right.

Still, the ending was confusing and wacky like most Bones endings and that's mostly what I meant by that comment.

>>138238
>It adheres closely to the manga and is probably mostly a 1:1 adaption
I wouldn't say that. It's definitely a more faithful adaptation than the 2003 anime but they do skip over a lot of stuff in the early part of the story and the first episode is actually anime original filler. They also only adapted about half the Ishval Rebellion flashback arc and left out one of Envy's fight scenes entirely.

That aside it's still like 95% accurate to the manga.

>>138344

Interesting. Thanks for the correction.

More reason to read the manga if you want to, OP.