It is an incredibly well-written story anchored with a great array of characters, almost all of whom has steady series development (I will mention here that Ed's physical growth mirrors his ongoing maturity throughout the show). The plot moves at a good pace; in 64 episodes I can only recall one filler episode (Rush Valley).
I know almost everyone praises this anime so I'll just focus on some of its weaknesses. One thing I noticed is the ill-timed or rather well-timed comedy value in serious situations. It prevents the show from becoming a runaway drama but at the same time I feel like it takes away the gravity of the situation at hand.
I also feel that with the multitude of characters there is almost always someone who can double up as Deus Ex Machina. There were numerous instances where all hope looks lost to our protaganists if it weren't for the 'very timely' arrival of character A. It just feels like a cop-out whenever that happens.
With these in mind, I still watched it with great enjoyment from start to finish. I have to commend Arakawa for creating a wonderful manga (which I shall start soon, I have to get some books out of the way first!) and Bones for creating this adaptation in the first place.
