1. Use visual contrast early
Because every answer already belongs to Fullmetal Alchemist, the only contrast left is inside the pool: 6 characters, all listed for 2003, where none hair appears on only 1 of them, while blonde covers 3. Two openers that share a hair colour spend a turn without splitting the board.
2. Let year split smaller pools
Genre is fixed here, so year and eyes carry the load: yellow eyes are the rarest tag at 1, and black the most common at 1. Bracket the era first, then let the remaining visual clue choose between the survivors.
3. Memorize a few anchor characters
A small group of recognizable anchors is enough to carry most solves. For Fullmetal Alchemist, useful anchors include Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric, Riza Hawkeye, Roy Mustang because they help you remember distinct clue combinations inside the current pool.