Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

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Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by precita » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:18 pm

Nowadays the idea sounds laughable, but a decade ago back in the early/mid 2000's people thought Naruto would surpass Dragonball/Z (remember Super didn't exist at the time), and become the new most popular shonen manga and anime. Now while of course the series was a success and popular for a while, it died down considerably and the anime fillers and the manga not being well written after a certain point killed its potential. Now with Boruto nobody really cares.

So was Naruto originally planned to be the new Dragonball? What stopped it from reaching Dragonball's heights?

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by ABED » Wed Aug 16, 2017 9:32 pm

I don't know anything about Naruto, but DB is a simple fighting story. It's one that crosses cultural boundaries. I think the simplicity of the story is largely responsible for DB's worldwide popularity.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by fadeddreams5 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:23 pm

Naruto is the third best selling manga of all time, IIRC, only behind Dragon Ball. The anime has also been the most popular on Crunchy Roll since as long as I can remember. Idk how popular it is in Japan, but it became pretty huge globally for a long time, and spanned just as much merchandise as DB. If Naruto came out in the states at the same time as DBZ (Toonami run), as well as in Latin American countries, I have no it'd have rivaled it far more greatly.

And I'm not even a Naruto fan.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Cure Dragon 255 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:28 pm

fadeddreams5 wrote:Naruto is the third best selling manga of all time, IIRC, only behind Dragon Ball. The anime has also been the most popular on Crunchy Roll since as long as I can remember. Idk how popular it is in Japan, but it became pretty huge globally for a long time, and spanned just as much merchandise as DB. If Naruto came out in the states at the same time as DBZ (Toonami run), as well as in Latin American countries, I have no it'd have rivaled it far more greatly.

And I'm not even a Naruto fan.

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by fadeddreams5 » Wed Aug 16, 2017 10:34 pm

Cure Dragon 255 wrote:
fadeddreams5 wrote:Naruto is the third best selling manga of all time, IIRC, only behind Dragon Ball. The anime has also been the most popular on Crunchy Roll since as long as I can remember. Idk how popular it is in Japan, but it became pretty huge globally for a long time, and spanned just as much merchandise as DB. If Naruto came out in the states at the same time as DBZ (Toonami run), as well as in Latin American countries, I have no it'd have rivaled it far more greatly.

And I'm not even a Naruto fan.

"Sits in a lonely corner,sad that One Piece has been forgotten despite being the de facto best selling manga of all time..."
I said third best selling. 1. One Piece. 2. DB 3. Naruto.

I prob shouldn't have written "only behind." =P
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Saikyo no Senshi » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:19 pm

If nobody cared about Boruto, it wouldn't exist. I care and follow it regularly and so do many others. NARUTO's success speaks for itself. Both in Japan and worldwide.

Oh, and it surpassed Dragon Ball just like many other battle shounen did as far as I'm concerned as a piece of work. Of course, in terms of popularity Dragon Ball is still ahead.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by JulieYBM » Wed Aug 16, 2017 11:28 pm

Why do people convince themselves what they want will absolutely happen? I wish I knew so I could prevent it.

By the way, all the many hot mama-sans and new girls in Boruto are good, good, good.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Hellspawn28 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 2:59 am

Naruto was a new thing at the time and was popular with anime fans before it was dubbed. DBZ was already over in Japan by the early-mid 2000's and DBZ's popularity was over when Naruto aired in 2005. So people thought Naruto would be the next big hot thing which was for a while.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by precita » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:18 am

I don't follow Naruto too closely but from what I heard the manga goes downhill after the timeskip and the anime was killed by hundreds of pointless fillers. There's somewhere around 200 filler episodes in Naruto. That's crazy.

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by sintzu » Thu Aug 17, 2017 4:36 am

precita wrote:Nowadays the idea sounds laughable.

A decade ago back in the early/mid 2000's people thought Naruto would surpass Dragonball/Z and become the new most popular shonen manga and anime.

and the manga not being well written after a certain point killed its potential.

So was Naruto originally planned to be the new Dragonball? What stopped it from reaching Dragonball's heights?
It has just about as much products and success as DB so I don't know what's laughable about it.

Which was understandable cause it had a lot in common with it.

Naruto's sales and popularity pretty much stayed the same throughout its run so nothing really killed it.

I think every shonen starts out with that wish but what stopped Naruto from doing it was the filler hell it went into after the 1st part's 135th episode.
ABED wrote:DB is a simple fighting story. It's one that crosses cultural boundaries. I think the simplicity of the story is largely responsible for DB's worldwide popularity.
Another thing is legnth, most of DB's 444 episodes are canon material while half of Naruto's 720 are pure filler. In terms of the manga, for awhile it seemed like Naruto's last arc wouldn't end and ended up lasting 24 volumes which is a very long time for one arc that from the start wasn't very liked.
precita wrote:I don't follow Naruto too closely but from what I heard the manga goes downhill after the timeskip and the anime was killed by hundreds of pointless fillers. There's somewhere around 200 filler episodes in Naruto. That's crazy.
The 1st part has 90 or so episodes of straight filler while the 2nd part has 230 or so. In terms of the manga, most will agree that it got a bit rough around the 4th great ninja war arc. I've seen parts from the anime, games and manga so I don't have a clear image on it to say it did or not but that's the common thing among fans.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by SaiyanGod117 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:39 pm

The manga and anime went completely downhill after the time skip.

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Daimo-Rukiri » Thu Aug 17, 2017 3:53 pm

The anime had too much filler, seriously was there planned filler?...
And the last ark was just dragging on and on and on and on...

And they had the chance to cut the filler with the 1st part being brought in to HD, waste of time and potential especially money...
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Hellspawn28 » Thu Aug 17, 2017 8:54 pm

Naruto, One Piece and Bleach are the main popular Shonen series of the 2000's just like how Fairy Tail, Attack on Titan, My Hero Academia and Sword Art Online are for this decade. In the 90's, DBZ, YYH and Slam Dunk seem to be big Shonen anime & manga of that decade from what I can recall.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Xeztin » Thu Aug 17, 2017 10:10 pm

Naruto was everybodys fall back after DB ended I suppose. Nothing compared to DBZ, everyone wanted it to continue or something just as good. Dragon Ball is vastly different than most series, you just can't let it go and close the book. No matter how much it's milked people still want more. We didn't get anything for almost 20 years, Toei/Shueisha had new cash cows so they didn't care. I think everyone wanted Naruto to overtake DB in popularity, not just because it had potential, but because everyone wanted to be able to let go of DB. They got away with it in the 90's ending a popular series, they didn't get away with it for Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! If the popularity, demand and money is there, a series will never end especially now a days where the author isn't needed to draw the manga. Even Toyotaro could be replaced as there are many hungry artists out there just as good if not better. Replacements for popular artists weren't easy found without internet I suppose. In my opinion, Pokemon, Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh!, One piece and Naruto will never end even without the author. No mans going to turn downs hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars to let their story that they ended be continued by someone else. Toriyama, the one man we thought was done for good even at the risk of his series being destroyed, couldn't turn it down. If they ever try to can One Piece it'll be an outrage, that's almost a way of life over there. (Sorry for going a bit off topic)

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by TheZFighter » Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:27 am

I've never ever watched Naruto but I do like One Piece a lot though.

I wish I'd discovered One Piece at the same sort of age I discovered Dragon Ball, Pokemon, Digimon, Medabots, Tenchi, Shinzo, etc. It really deserves my full commitment/ attention.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Hellspawn28 » Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:40 am

People thought One Piece would be the next DBZ in America too. Funimation did try to dub the series before 4kids did and they mention in interviews that they wanted One Piece to be their next DBZ.

One Piece is a very popular series and has a strong fanbase, but it never reach the same mainstream level that Naruto did. Naruto had more marketing and better word of mouth given how 4kids dubbed One Piece. DBZ reaching a mainstream level of popularity is most likely due to timing and it was on a popular kids network.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by precita » Fri Aug 18, 2017 1:37 am

What is the most popular action anime in the west now? Attack on Titan has a decent following but the long breaks between seasons kills its potential.

All I see people talking about in the west is Super.

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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Kid Buu » Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:47 am

Apparently it is 20 million behind.

Closer than I thought.
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by Captain Strawberry » Fri Aug 18, 2017 11:46 am

maybe it depends on what kind of popularity?

Like in terms of raw popularity with casuals and not so big anime fans then I guess Dragon ball

But I think maybe you could argue Naruto is more popular? For people who want something deeper and more in depth in the world

Both are pretty popular in the west and DB is much older so I think age of the product is a factor that needs to be considered
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Re: Why did people used to think Naruto would overtake Dragonball in popularity?

Post by JulieYBM » Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:18 pm

Daimo-Rukiri wrote:The anime had too much filler, seriously was there planned filler?...
And the last ark was just dragging on and on and on and on...

And they had the chance to cut the filler with the 1st part being brought in to HD, waste of time and potential especially money...
Yes, they planned storylines original to the animated series. The series was typically planned six months ahead of time. Original episodes were included because the production committee wanted to continue to show the series and sell merchandise. It was agreed that to maintain the quality of the adapting of the comic storylines the cartoon would use original storylines to allow enough time for episodes to cover more than one chapter per episode.
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