FMA:B divisive? This is the first I’ve heard that, isn’t it the top rated anime on MAL?
edit: Also 17th on imdb’s top 250 tv shows of all time, with the only animated shows ahead of it being Rick and Morty, Bluey (lol), and Avatar: The Last Airbender
Many people are divided over which one is “better.”
Some say brotherhood is tighter/more streamlined and some say it’s at the cost of characterization/it’s too trimmed. Not divisive in “people hate it” but open a discussion with a couple of fans and they’ll gladly argue about why one is superior to the other. Though occasionally I’ll meet some diehards who work really hard to convince people not to watch brotherhood and instead watch the full/original version.
Ah I wonder if that’s a thing that’s a preference for people who grew up with the 2003 anime. From my personal experience, most people prefer Brotherhood as the definitive adaptation of Hiromu Arakawa’s story, and either haven’t even bothered going back to the 2003 anime, or find ok but not as cohesive as Brotherhood (as you mentioned), or really dislike the departures it takes from the “canon” storyline.
As an aside, I did not expect to get into a discussion about FMA in an Everybody Love Raymond thread lol
I have to admit that the storyline with the little girl and some of the other emotional parts hit me harder in the original, because they were able to stretch out those relationships longer. But at other times, it stretched too long and that's where I appreciated Brotherhood going to the action quicker.