Ling Yao, throughout the series, has three different tones in his voice, and after a single and painfully short clip, I was able to determine that, yes, Todd Haberkorn (Death the Kid in Soul Eater) can in fact potentially pull off the three distinctive and very important tones of Ling Yao. In any case I sought the actor's ability to portray more than one voice. well your guess is probably better than mine as to why people keep posting the same stuff. That's okay, though, because after much YouTube searching, and much of watching the same opening Ling Yao (Lin Yao) scenes over and over because. It was deeper in Japanese, and I was rather dismayed to hear his English voice squeaking forth from his lips, and I will admit that I cringed. Ling's voice, on the other hand, surprised me. Ed's voice is still Mignogna's, and it's just as well, for several reasons. Now, that being said, Al has two different voices between the two shows, at least in English, and I like them both. Neither is better than the other and I'm not going to go into that. Let us agree, for this one moment, that we are probably not going to agree. I don't even want to talk about it, subtitles vs dubbing and Japanese vs English. Even when he was on the other side of the gate and wearing different clothes, he was still just Ed to me. There are also shots where he carries himself as an adult, or dresses in normal clothes, and he looks older, and seems more his age, or maybe even a little grown up, and you can sort of project what he'll look like when he's older. He looks like a kid, and you get sort of reminded that he is one. He is about sixteen, but there are scenes where you look at him, and he looks more like he's fourteen. His age is more transitional, and less like a really immature sixteen-year-old. There is just something about, particularly, the way Ed is drawn.
Ever so subtly, it strikes me as having a higher contrast, and perhaps a slight difference in the artistic style, due to probably having different people from before working on the project. This is debatable, but I will give it to you as it appears to me: the graphics in Brotherhood are different. I do like how, in FMA, the consequences of Ed and Al's actions in Lior come back to kick their butts later on, with epic results. I was bored, too, but that is long forgotten in light of the rest of the show. That's why we loved it so much, is it not? Yes Brotherhood has a slow start, but that's because you've seen it before. Brotherhood is shiny, and new, and you didn't see it coming. The story is not better than FMA's, nor does it make the other pale or dull. I am going to refer to the first anime as FMA and Brotherhood as itself: I've heard all of these complaints, and I am going to sit here and address them. They came up with their own story and ran with it, and it should not be said that Brotherhood has a better story, better graphics, or better voices or characterization. They cooked up a really wonderful show, which cannot and should not be compared to the manga or to Brotherhood. They planned ahead for the improvisation, adding a key character in, and they did a really fantastic job. Trouble is, the first FMA came out so early in the manga that they had to improvise, so everything after the fifth laboratory is completely different. I think it's unfortunate that the first part of the show is so much like the other show, but that is how the manga runs, too.
I just haven't sat down and read it critically, yet. I read parts of the manga as I was watching Brotherhood, though, so I am somewhat aware of it. I haven't read the manga, either, or Viz Media's novels, but they are on my list somewhere. The anime is over, but I am not quite willing to give up my squealing fandom yet, while it still runs in English. It is mostly a comparison of the two, though I am giving away as little as possible of Brotherhood, because it is too awesome for me to do that. Rather than blacking out half the page, I will just tell you now: This is written for those who have already seen the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime.