one day i'm gonna write the essay I want to about FMA 03 and its engagement with disability cure narrative
like, from the outset, the entire premise is a cure narrative. that's where it starts, that's what it *is*. they want to get their bodies back because their disabilities are too much to bear as well as the trauma around them. and the reason i'm underlining this so much is that they *do not achieve that goal*. The Al that Ed brings back from the Gate is not really the same person that Ed's been traveling with -- he doesn't have those memories and he's behind everyone else as a result. Ed only briefly gets his limbs back and even then, at what cost? And even when he transmutes himself wholly through the Gate, he loses them again and he's back to being a double amputee -- where, I would argue, he probably is more comfortable at this point. He's spent most of his grown life missing two limbs by the end of COS.
And like, it's not an entirely cohesive thing. But even things like, Wrath has those limbs now, Ed wants them back, what does that mean for Wrath -- Those questions are so interesting to me especially if you regard the homunculi (and particularly Wrath) also through the lens of disability. What are you taking from others for a cure that won't do what you want it to?
