Quote Originally Posted by Ryllharu
I think the difference is how much more proficient she seems than Ed was. Even if it took both of them 6 months (I forget how long the jump was supposed to be, winter -> spring/summer), Ed could walk and move with his arm and leg, but I wouldn't say he was really proficient with it until he and Al trained with Izumi. Lan Fan on the other hand seems to be even more powerful that she was before. She's integrated with the blade the same way Paninya was with her canon, and the huge guy at Briggs was with the crocodile arm or the claws. Ed is pretty sloppy as a fighter when he transmutes his arm into a punch blade. He's certainly better than the average person, but he gets tossed around a lot without the assistance of his alchemy. I'm not knocking Ed so much as admiring how much more impressive she appears to have become.
Not really arguing your point but don't think Ed really had any reason to increase his abilities as a fighter or integrate his automail into his fighting style until stuff started to happen in the series. After all he's an alchemist and not a fighter so his focus most of the time has been on the alchemy part and the only reason he can fight is because Izumi made them do it while teaching them alchemy. And as Lan Fan wanted to get stronger and better at fighting so that she could fight against the homonculus it's more natural that she's stronger now.

I think Ed realized that he either have to get a lot better at fighting since Father neutralized their alchemy so he can't depend on that or learn eastern alchemy and integrate it so that he can still fight with alchemy. Which comes down to if Ed is willing to ask his dad for help to get better at alchemy.