Okay 1st of all, the animation has not gone down in quality since the original anime, not much else to say about that. Everything else is standard fare, decent music, top notch voice acting, and a good writing, however if I could compare 1st episodes of both, FMA & Brotherhood, I'd say this one is superior storywise, mainly because it hits the ground running. In the 1st 15 minutes we're introduced to many of the major players of this series...not just Ed & Al, on top of that it's not just the main protagonists doing anything in this ep. Mustang, Bradley and Armstrong, and even Hughes get plenty of screentime doing what makes them so awesome in their own right. I'm totally digging the vibe of this series so far, I pray to God that this momentum is constant for the whole of the series!