Lunar Month

The animation studio Bones adapted the manga into a 51-episode anime series, directed by Seiji Mizushima and co-produced by Bones, Mainichi Broadcasting System and Aniplex with character designs by Yoshiyuki Ito and scripts by Sho Aikawa, which ran on the Mainichi Broadcasting System, TBS, and Animax in Japan from October 4, 2003 to October 2, 2004, with a 6.8 percent television viewership rating. The English dub of the Fullmetal Alchemist anime debuted on the Adult Swim block of the United States cable channel Cartoon Network in November 6, 2004. A year and a half later, Canada's YTV began airing it on March 3, 2006.

The anime's later story and conclusion by Bones is different from the manga, which is still ongoing due to a request by Hiromu Arakawa. During the making of the anime, Hiromu Arakawa was present in meetings to give the staff insight in the world of Fullmetal Alchemist, though she did not actively take part in any writing for the TV series.

A series of five Original video animations (OVAs) were also released. Most of them are noted to have little to no plot continuity. These OVAs also include a live action segment with Alphonse Elric travelling around a city. In March 2006 a DVD featuring these OVAs was released in Japan with the name of Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium Collection.