Fullmetal Alchemist, commonly abbreviated as FMA or Hagaren, is a manga series created by Hiromu Arakawa and serialized in Enix's (now Square Enix) Monthly Shonen Gangan. It has also been adapted into an anime TV series and a movie sequel, as well as several spin-off novels and video games.
The manga is still running in Japan, and 18 volumes have been released so far. The anime, on the other hand, is finished, and consists of 51 episodes and a full-length movie sequel. Both incarnations (the manga and the anime) have seen high popularity in both Japan and North America. The series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 2003. In September 2005, the anime was voted #1 most popular anime of all time in Japan in a TV Asahi web poll, and was #1 again in 2006. In 2005, Anime Insider named it "Series of the Year".
It was nominated in six of the eight categories for which it was eligible at the American Anime Awards in February 2007, winning awards in five of them: Best Long Series, Best Actor (Vic Mignogna), Best Cast, Best DVD Package Design, and Best Anime Theme Song (Rewrite by Asian Kung-Fu Generation). It was also nominated in the category of Best Anime Feature for Fullmetal Alchemist the Movie: Conqueror of Shamballa. Awards were given in twelve categories, and no other anime won more than two.
