Having seen Band of Brothers first, I suspect I will be seeing all of the Pacific through that lens. So the first thing I noticed was the difference in how it started. I hadn't been that keen on how BoB had started its run with a flashback to training rather than in a chronological format. By comparison, this series of least started with the instigating event, and then moving forward.

However, I didn't find that this really helped in getting to know the characters because there's only a little homefront info then jumping into deployment. Rather, there seem to be less development than in the other series, at least in the first episode.

I was puzzled by who the dead bodies were when they were first marching through the jungle. Were they advance scouts?

The overall structure of the episode also didn't really lend itself to much understanding of what was going on, aside from certain scenes. Part of this was probably the many night scenes, and also less clear progress in terms of troop movement.

What did come across in scenes like the grenade ambush of the medics and the lone soldier screaming in the river, was the different nature of this sector of the war.

I like the scene with them reading one another their letters. I wonder if that's still as popular today given so many more entertainment options.