Of course the story wasn’t simply about these two brothers. At the core of it was Hohenheim, who was so critical to events. They condensed his history into an episode, but one can imagine the kind of life he had to lead. You could really feel sympathy for all the suffering he endured, but by the end he was proud of the life he lead.
It can just continue on with characters like Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Scar, Greed, Ling Yao, May Chang, etc. In terms of characters Brotherhood gets an A+ if I could since there were so many good ones that anyone who watches the series could have different top 5s. In terms of action a lot of characters outside the main leads got serious battles. Characters from Mustang to Ling had some great fights that are easy to remember even after the series has ended. In terms of serious battles it wasn’t like the leads did all the work at all. The best fights in the series probably would go to Mustang and Wrath. They received so many GAR moments it’s hard to believe. I liked how many of the characters really had their motivations tapped into so we could understand where they were coming from. Mustang had the desire to change the country and protect everyone while the powerful motivation to avenge Hughes also drove him on. Ling and May had the future of their respective clans on the line in the battle to curry favour with the Emperor of Xing and become Emperor or Empress. Everyone had things that were driving them forward and the main characters were just part of the whole thing. It’s not like you didn’t care about the leads since they were well developed, but you could care about other characters and no one would fault you.
