I liked the endings of both for very different reasons, but the story telling of Brotherhood felt tighter (probably because they had the ending in sight from the start).
Brotherhood is more "complete" but I really preferred 03's explanation of the homunculi and how it utilized the philosophers stone. It felt way more "in-theme" with the way that alchemy worked than "alchemy god" creating them in Brotherhood.
The alchemy "god" is just Truth. It's a lot like Bloodborne in the sense that, to be able to resurrect humans (or transcend the hunt), you must by extension have transcended into something more than human. Yet, since none of the characters who perform human transmutation have actually transcended humanity, Truth is ultimately just revealing they are in fact still human and are thus attempting the impossible. Unfortunately, the law of equivalent exchange still applies, so learning one is still bound by the same human limits demands a price. That is the punishment / rebound we see where each of the characters have something taken from them.
In other words, Truth isn't sentient, it's just a manifestation / a symbol of the rules of law that govern the universe.
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u/Ayumu_Dea_84 11d ago
Gotta love Full metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. In my opinion the best series ever drawn/written.