Fullmetal Alchemist watch order
Two adaptations of one manga. The question is not what order. It is which one.
Updated 8 August 2026 · 4 titles tracked
There is no combined order, because these are not two halves of a story. Fullmetal Alchemist (2003) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are separate adaptations of the same manga, and they end differently.
The 2003 series began while the manga was still being written, caught up with it about a third of the way through, and then invented its own ending. Brotherhood arrived in 2009, after the manga had finished, and adapts all of it.
Both adaptations, in release order
Grouped by adaptation. Each film belongs to one of them and only works there.
- 1Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)2003 · The 2003 Series · Essential
- 2Conqueror of Shamballa2005 · The 2003 Series
- 3Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood2009 · Brotherhood · Essential
- 4The Sacred Star of Milos2011 · Brotherhood
Watch Brotherhood
If you are only going to watch one, it is Brotherhood. It is the complete story as the author wrote it, the back half is far stronger than anything the 2003 series reaches, and it is the version the fandom means when it talks about Fullmetal Alchemist.
One warning: its first dozen or so episodes move very fast through material the 2003 series spent much longer on. That is a deliberate choice for an audience assumed to know it already, and it makes the opening feel rushed if it is your first time.
The 2003 series is not a failed draft
It is a different story that goes somewhere much bleaker, with themes Brotherhood never touches and an ending some people prefer. It is worth watching; just not first, and not instead.
The best order for anyone with the time is 2003 first and Brotherhood second, because the divergence lands harder when you already know where the road was going.
Where the two films go
Conqueror of Shamballa (2005) is the ending of the 2003 continuity and is set partly in Weimar Germany. It only makes sense after that series, and it is required if you want that version to finish.
The Sacred Star of Milos (2011) is a self-contained side story slotted into the middle of Brotherhood. Nothing depends on it and nothing in it changes anything. Skippable.
Common questions
Should I watch Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 or Brotherhood?
Brotherhood, if you are only watching one. It adapts the complete manga and has a much stronger second half. The 2003 series is a separate story with its own ending, worth watching afterwards rather than instead.
Where do the two series diverge?
Around a third of the way into the 2003 series, once it had overtaken the manga. Everything before that covers broadly the same events; everything after is two different stories.
Do I need to watch the films?
Conqueror of Shamballa completes the 2003 continuity and is needed if you watched that series. The Sacred Star of Milos is a side story to Brotherhood and can be skipped entirely.
Is Brotherhood a sequel to the 2003 series?
No. It is a second adaptation that starts again from the beginning. Watching them back to back means seeing the opening twice.