homunculi being failed human transmutations was the most baller story change decision the fma03 team made and they milked the hell out of that concept. you got the theme of what makes you human (memories? presence of a soul? what does that even mean?) that ties in with al’s identity crisis (that didn’t really make sense in mangahood but was built up and thematically rich in 03), you got the drama of alchemists having to face a distorted version of the loved one they tried to bring back (the best version of Came Back Wrong ive ever seen), you got the concept that a person is so much more than just your own idea of them and bringing them back through human transmutation really only brings back a one-dimensional version of them (how each homunculus was only really the version of that person the alchemist had in their head, and not a full person themselves, and each reacted to this fact differently), you get the existential crisis all of this gives you when you consider what makes you YOU and how do you prove your own humanity and memories and identity, you get the characters of the homunculi like envy and lust who were given so much more depth than their mangahood counterparts, and AAAAAAA its just so good and if we can give fma 03 ANYTHING that’s objectively better/more interesting than mangahood’s plot (which i normally say is overall objectively a better written and more cohesive story) i 100% believe its this change from the manga
Oh and obviously i have bring this up again but the ethical dilemma of ed vs al. Ed says “we made this homunculus we have to destroy it” and al says “exactly, we created it, its mom, and we have to take care of her” because which is more ethical? is it really their “mom?” Does it matter if its really “mom” or not, because she has their mom’s memories, was created to be their “mom” so is killing her the right thing to do? ed says yes, because of the Came Back Wrong concept…its more cruel to let her live as a distorted version of the real thing who only feels what’s missing (her humanity) (but maybe ed just doesnt want to face his failure anymore and would rather destroy it). Al says no, because she’s still a living thing with thoughts and feelings (but maybe al is just so desperate to have his mom back that he’ll accept a one-dimensional, empty version of her that wants to kill him). Its so complicated and i AAAAAAAA