You know when I was younger I didn’t really mind that Brotherhood front-loads the Elric brothers’ backstory to episode 2 and has the anime-only ensemble cast introduction in episode 1, but I do actually think this takes away from the smart craft of how Arakawa drip-feeds you information throughout the earlier chapters.
You’re not supposed to learn Ed and Al’s full backstory until Izumi Curtis confronts them about it
Then, of course, there is the fact that Brotherhood speeds past many of the earlier smaller arcs that got covered already in FMA03. Which I don't really blame them for given the circumstances but it does hamper the experience.
So truly my recommendation is to read the Fullmetal Alchemist manga as well, up through Ling's introduction or--really--the whole thing.
*re-enters through the revolving door I just left by* FURTHERMORE, read volume 15. That's chapters 58-61.
This is the other part of the manga that Brotherhood absolutely truncated. Most volumes get 2 or 2.5 episodes to cover them. Volume 15 only got one episode (with a few short scenes moved elsewhere). And I suspect highly it had nothing to do with timing or pacing.
Because this is in fact the entire recount of the Amestrian military's involvement in Ishval and--for reasons I'd have loved to listen in behind closed doors to learn--the Brotherhood adaptation neutered quite a lot of it. And I specifically mean removing or toning down the more heinous things the military did, or offloading them to some nameless hegemony of 'horde of Amestrian soldiers' instead of how the manga actually handles it.
I have a longer post about this from about 10 years back. The earlier Brotherhood truncations were for the sake of not rehashing what FMA03 already covered. But I am so certain the truncating of volume 15 was political.
