Japanese popularity of Dragon Ball vs. One Piece

[GS7X7]

I'm just curious but which one was bigger? One Piece is VERY close to 500 episodes now so the anime is almost as long as DB's. (also, please try to lay low on any OP spoilers for anyone who has watched all 490+ episodes of it, thanks)

[JulieYBM]

Currently? One Piece is way bigger in Japan. Over 620 chapters, five hundred episodes, eleven movies, and tons of merchandise. It's hard to gauge how big Dragon Ball was back in its prime in comparison to today's One Piece, espicially with the different economic climates and such.

[AgitoZ]

It's too early to tell which is/will be more popular, considering one is still going. Also, what do you mean more popular? You seem to go by episode count alone and personally I don't think that's a good measure.

If we go by numbers alone, in Japan mind you, One Piece is definitely beating Dragon Ball in terms of sales. If we take the rest of the world into account Dragon Ball is doing a bit better.

But we can only tell when One Piece is old as Dragon Ball if it's more popular. Will it outlast OP? We'll just have to wait and see.

[GS7X7]

I just mean more popular by which had more viewers and which sold more merchandise overall, ie, which one was/is "bigger" in Japan at the time.

Obviously DB can't compete with OP in Japan right now but I'm curious if OP right now is bigger than DB was during the height of it's popularity.

[JulieYBM]

Well, for comparison's sake, One Piece is already in its fourteenth year of publication. The comic has had longer prescence than Dragon Ball's did and the anime is only two or three months away from completely blowing off the combined total of the first three Dragon Ball television series'. Whereas Dragon Ball's popular was beginning to dip around now, One Piece's is actually soaring. Of course, we can attribute this to numerous things (like the past year or two of comic and anime covering the biggest and probably most original arcs of the entire series so far), so it'll be interesting to see if the momentum keeps up for 2012.

[AgitoZ]

Whereas Dragon Ball's popular was beginning to dip around now, One Piece's is actually soaring. Of course, we can attribute this to numerous things (like the past year or two of comic and anime covering the biggest and probably most original arcs of the entire series so far), so it'll be interesting to see if the momentum keeps up for 2012.

Don't forget the giant advertising campaign for the 10th One Piece movie, Strong World, and the series itself.

But really, like Hujio said on the podcast (I think it was him), it will be difficult to keep this level of popularity for a number of years.

[GS7X7]

I wonder if Oda's still full of pep or if he's getting old.

Fwiw, over 10 or so years ago a figure was floated around in news articles about DB of "3 billion" worldwide in DB sales.

[Raithos]

I'd say DB has lasting popularity at the moment, but in this current time One Piece is blowing it away huge. Once One Piece is finished and everything then we may be able to see how it stacks against DB, as of right now it certainly has the quantity factor on it's side...

[Bussani]

You might find this Kanzentai post interesting. I seem to remember that One Piece overtook Dragon Ball in manga sales in Japan a while back, and its manga sales break records quite regularly.

[Chuquita]

One Piece is huge in Japan. Considering all the manga records it has been breaking lately, Strong World in general, and the fact that it's entering the sort of popularity in Japan with people of all ages; it's definitely bigger than DB.

Yet DB's still the more popular one in the U.S. OP never really caught on in what I think was a combination of 4Kids creating a bad first impression, OP's art style in general being something that can take some getting used to, and that it starts out slow.


As for OP's longevity, there's lots of world-building; everything's pretty tightly woven together and from what I've read, Oda's got a lot of passion for working on his series and doesn't seem to be growing disinterested or bored with it any time soon.

[GS7X7]

How has OP done in America since Funimation took over? I wasn't a fan of the VA for Zoro (ironically 4Kids had a much better one) but aside from that the dub looks pretty great.

[Super Sonic]

I heard they were selling well at least as far as the first two seasons. Other than that, I don't know.

[SylentEcho]

Sales can't just be compared like that. Keep in mind that everyone there has already watched DBZ at least once if not several times over.

Will people still be talking about One Piece 10 years from now? Maybe. Will a remake of it (One Piece Kai ) do as well as Dragon Ball Kai did? I don't think so. Why? Because there's a bit of Dragon Ball in every Shonen anime especially One Piece.

I bet each time the viewers there watch Luffy eat or Zoro behave a little like Piccolo, they'll remember Dragon Ball. Even if it is for a couple of seconds. Dragon Ball will surely live forever as long as mangaka are inspired by it and they most likely always will be.

[Bussani]

Sales can't just be compared like that. Keep in mind that everyone there has already watched DBZ at least once if not several times over.

They're taking into account all of Dragon Ball's sales ever, though. Even from when everyone hadn't watched it at least once. But that could just mean that more people read manga now then they did when Dragon Ball was new, I suppose...

Because there's a bit of Dragon Ball in every Shonen anime especially One Piece.

I bet each time the viewers there watch Luffy eat or Zoro behave a little like Piccolo, they'll remember Dragon Ball. Even if it is for a couple of seconds. Dragon Ball will surely live forever as long as mangaka are inspired by it and they most likely always will be.

It's true that One Piece and many other modern shonen are inspired by Dragon Ball, but it's not like Dragon Ball invented the tropes you're referring to.

[Ahiru77]

I'd have to guess Dragon Ball is more popular due to those trivial polls.

Dragon ball would've beat One Piece saleswise if it was still ongoing.

[JulieYBM]

Will people still be talking about One Piece 10 years from now? Maybe. Will a remake of it (One Piece Kai ) do as well as Dragon Ball Kai did?

Dragon Ball Kai didn't exactly do very well, y'know.

But yeah, people are going to remember One Piece years and years from now for exactly the things it did that nobody else did. If it were the things that resembled Dragon Ball were what made One Piece as huge as it is now we would probably have had this discussion a few years ago, not in a post-volume #50 world.

[Super Sayian Prime]

If you want to do the ratings comparisons, Dragon Ball's ratings at its height could reach 2x what One Piece is doing now (which many would say is its height). As well, circulation of JUMP reached its peak when Dragon Ball was in serialization.

Though One Piece faces greater competition, economic/social changes, and has a worse TV slot than Dragon Ball did.

[GS7X7]

DB Kai is pretty old so that's not too surprising.

I'm sure DB Kai should do more than well enough internationally to justify it's expense. (I mean, just how expensive is remastering DB Kai anyway?)

[Captain Awesome]

There is no comparison at the moment, One Piece just keeps breaking records, be it the sales of the tankoubon or the ridiculous amount of money the series rakes in as a whole; In overall sales, One Piece as a franchise is known to do more in a quarter than Dragonball does in an entire year.

[GS7X7]

Here are some questions to try and get some sort of idea....



Which volume of Dragon Ball has sold the most- how many did it sell?

Which volume of One Piece has sold the most- how many did it sell?

Which DBZ movie made the most money? How much?

Which OP movie made the most money? How much?

How much on average has each DB and OP volume earned? (ie, a 1 volume manga with 2 million in sales outweighs a 10 volume manga with 1 million in sales for each volume)

Which episode of DBZ had the most viewers- how many?

Which episode of OP had the most viewers- how many?