From my understanding, the original FMA series followed the manga's story upto a certain point, which was a way into the series I gather. I think what confuses people, including myself, is that if this new FMA series is based on the manga story then wont the first part be near identical to what we've already seen? From the limited footage we've seen also, the animation style and quality doesn't seem all that different too. Either way I'm into this bigtime and can't wait!