Recommended: Brotherhood First Recommended
0 / 2 watchedBrotherhood alone, in broadcast order. This is the complete story, and the film is an optional extra you can skip on a first pass.
The complete version
Both Versions in Release Order
0 / 4 watchedFor anyone who wants the whole catalogue. This is the order they came out, and it plays better that way: the 2003 series sets up expectations that Brotherhood then flips.
First adaptation
Second adaptation
About Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist got two anime because the first one caught up with a manga that was still being written. The 2003 series aired 51 episodes from October 2003 to October 2004, ran past the source material, invented its own ending, and closed that story with the film Conqueror of Shamballa in 2005. Brotherhood, 64 episodes from April 2009 to July 2010, starts over and adapts Hiromu Arakawa's manga from the first chapter to the last.
For a first watch, Brotherhood is the pick. It is one complete story that reaches the manga's real ending instead of stopping for a film, it carries no homework, and it is the version the reputation is built on. The 2003 series is still worth seeing, but it changes the villains, the rules behind the Homunculi, and where the story goes.
Good to know
The two series share an opening stretch and then split, so do not splice them together, they contradict each other. The Sacred Star of Milos (2011) is an optional side story set inside Brotherhood. Brotherhood streams widely, but as of September 2026 the 2003 series is off the major US, UK and Canadian services, so it may take discs or a regional library. Watching 2003 first works if you plan to see both, since it finishes with its movie before Brotherhood starts.
