Yeah, glad to see some caring message, after all, all my efforts go for you to win the gold medal xD
Ok, let me increase my salt level to 40%, and see if you like it, long time since my last time, hope not have go rusted.
Thank you for the first one, glad you acknowledged him a bit.
I only want to stop about your concept of giving life to a drawing, which i consider to be very interesting... with your example, i only see some spark and shine, it looks good but i suppose that we both can agree that when a drawing is detailed, is when it can become alive, not just putting some spark in the eyes of someone at the picture, for example, my favorite mangaka girl at drawing carpets:
My point... a drawing full of life must take you to the place where you can touch the thing portrayed in the drawing... in this event, only Asano does that, but he isn't in the final with Pun Pun, hope we can agreed on that, because in the whole world that manga gives us, characters aren't the only important thing, and for sure, nor Oda nor Arakawa pick us to their universes with only the art.
Detailed?
She could start with detailing the noses, don't you think? The one that saves is Al, wonder why... because he hasn't a nose xD
I can see your argument, but you base yours with shojo rules. Such as giving more space to backgrounds and characters than dialogue, every shojo is the same draw, and only a few go out of that "rule". In One Piece, dialogues are important, the oratory is one of the greatest communication tools of human beings, and just like when Oda puts an image in a blank space, he has to make it move accordingly with what is doing, and shojo mangakas with certain aren't worried of what the character might say or what weight it will have on its reader but only the drawing.
My point for you to accept is that Oda can draw nice pictures when he purpose it, Arakawa got more realism in her FMA, but Oda tries always to catch the attention of it's readers with not just the drawing but with what it might inspire on them, make them think, he uses manga as a tool of communication, you're apparently biased thanks to your previous read works, but the art is part of a mix, when talking about One Piece.
The clothes in One Piece are in a fashion display, things that bring more personality to a character, such as Crocodile, Akainu, Jinbe and Brook, all of them have clothes that identify them as individuals more than simple coat or military uniform. Again, what matters here are the ideas that come within the character, for example, Crocodile is my favorite character of One Piece, because when i see it, i start exactly with his clothes, he looks outstandingly badass, more than a gangster character, i can see him being evil, and when i see his dialogues and actions, it's just superb... and only 3 authors have made me say: "Yes, that's the cloth that only this characters wear", the others are Bleach's Hirako Shinji, Eyeshield 21's Kongo Agon and finally Crocodile.
Doing that, instead of just putting some cloth to someone, i'd prefer the former.
Think twice, you're actually arguing that a series that has bad art, thus with a low fanbase, shouldn't even compare with other ones with almost real life characters... and you're using as example the history's best seller manga... how come this is happening??
A storyline starts to lose consistency when characters are forced, so for sure this two aren't examples of consistency either. There's a lot of times when i notice that plot is important than characters in One Piece, and FMA is the same, if you think a little.
>Ed and Al wants their bodies back with mom alive, searching for Philosopher's stone
>Ed and Al notices that Alchemy is bad for people and is dangerous, keep searching PS
>Ed and Al start to care for people and aid them thanks to Alchemy, they don't want mom by now and only focus in Al
>Ed and Al notices that all the people is in danger for a masterplan to use them to energy an alchemy process to the bad guy reach godhood
>Ed and Al find PS by chance, and they use it for the greater good, the people and the bad guy falls because he was an egotist with inferiority complex
>Ed and Al now live without using alchemy because their adventure, and learned that are powerless beings and are happy with it because now they don't have to see things dangerous to people.
That isn't character development, all the characters were used as tools, the system of power was thrown to the trash-can, and just working everyday is nice to them because a lamb life is better than a wolf live. For sure is entertaining but about worth and weight of the story, One Piece simply stamps it just by caring about all that it composes it, and nothing is considered trash but hurting friends, a mere detail that allows One Piece to be published in a weekly magazine for children of 14 years old.
FMA is liked for one thing in this war that One Piece doesn't have... and that is! The concept of Retribution. It's a matter of every reader to analyse it, but when is done well, it brings lots of points to a series, and One Piece only the good guys die, so the concept shatters to justice seekers readers, and that's very understandable, while in FMA you can see that bad guys meet their demise, and in a crude way... Arakawa made a Dark Fantasy work after all, this is very much why in all the places is reminded as a good work, to my eyes ofc.
Regarding character development, One Piece has only 4 that you can perfectly say that are developed through their lifes, which are Zoro, Usopp, Garp and Big Mom. The first and the third now priorize their "families" over their duty, the second stands to what are his conditions to be in his "family" half the way, and the fourth is a fourth dimensional character that Oda manages to entangle her relationships with her job, her family, herself, and her powers, along with the heavy ship that carries her past and now develops contantly.
FMA has... Ling, that through the power he obtained, he reached a status quo in his relationships, his job and his neighboor country, and wasn't corrupted by it.
About definition, if FMA has 15 well done characters, OP has 60. But, when you talk about ending... FMA wins, and regarding your tastes about that, can't meddle, just sayin' Oda is doing something no other mangaka is doing, but when it comes to tastes, better no pick one.