Didn't read the FMA manga but the series was good so i'll belive you. When an anime is made after a manga and it's not as good it's usually because they need to cut out content due to allowed lenght of airtime or like in the case of fillers made to 'water it out' for profit.
One thing though, why does everyone praise Evangelon? Although it's just my opinion and that it might just been for me.(And don't flame me if im wrong, i barely remember anything of it) I do not like mecha, The characters was annoying though Rei was promising she never did anything interesting and Shinji was outright frustratingly annoying(okay, it's his character, Still annoying!)
I don't mind phychologcal aspects(I liked Lain) and remember that it's supposed to be, though i don't remember what it was, it did not counterweight the rest.
Evangelion is great wen you actually look at it at a calm way, you have many hings you can praise about evangelion
a) visual style, wich is seriously great
b)general realism, i have been watching anime since i was.... 4? i never liked mechas, i just couldnt believe that someone would have a gigantic robot, until evangelion came in, why? because they really arent robots, they are just giants created from other dna, not to mention the whole explanation about how much money costed to make them, etc. Wich i find great, also the fact that it has to be connected or it wont work more than 2 minutes is also great, the weapons arent really that overpowered, and most of the time it looks like the enemy is beating the crap out of the main characters , wich is not something common
c)i get what you say, thats why you should be grown up and have some patience to watch evangelion, the thing about that is realism actually, all of the characers show their diferent issues in their own way, shinji(if thats how you write the name) had a serious issue with his father, wich is what drives him to drive the eva to show he can be of some use, however he finds himself constantly finding that he isnt worth nothing, then rei who is kinda in the opposite side, she dosnt have a family but she wants one and finds it in shinji's father, and then azuka with the complex with her mother and the typical teenage god complex, she is always trying to do everything and more and sometimes she goes too far and finds out she has a limit, what gives her those "issues" and i could go on about each character but i really dont feel like it.
d)general story, its just so perfectly made that its.... its that its just perfect.
e)meaning, the real meaning about evangelion has never been really said, there are many theories about it, some people even say its a simbolism witht he manga/anime world, me? i just think its a story about humans defending themselves from the angels, this looks simple, but i comes with many problems, why is god actually sending them to attack us? if god who created this land is sending them, what makes us worthy of living? and so on and on, also in the end its suggested that the humans are the last angel, wich poses more questions, i wont keep up with this i think that its up to each one to find the meaning, wich is what makes the series so good.
as for dragon ball was a japanese tale until dragon ball Z came out, and thats wen they started fighting aliens and spaceships and stuff like that, not to mention fighting almost without a meaning unlike dragon ball