Heh. I am re-watching _FMA:B_, but it's a rewatch so it's entirely NOT appropriate for your purposes. I'm doing it to coincide with a first-time watch elsewhere, though, which might interest you.

I was surprised by just how bad this first episode is. I think they felt pressure to do something different than the first anime, but really, the opening that anime & that manga has is good for a reason, because it was _designed_ to be an opening, and it all works so much better. Because of this, I found episodes 1-3 to be somewhat rocky in terms of exposition and pacing; episode 4 was where I thought it hit its stride again.

I love this show a lot and look forward to your posts!