Dragon Ball proves its "hype will never die" with latest victory over One Piece

Modified Nov 01, 2024 10:30 GMT

Dragon Ball continues to be Toei's biggest winner over One Piece (Image via Toei Animation and Shueisha).

The Dragon Ball series is beating One Piece in terms of profit even after Toei Animations’ financial performance was released for the first half of the fiscal year. It is now apparent why fans of Akira Toriyama's work expressed themselves actively on X, explaining that with this series — “the hype will never die.”

These indicators confirm the global reach of Dragon Ball, together with its continued relevance and enormous public interest, even after the franchise had not produced a new running anime for six years until the recent release of Daima. One Piece has not slowed down, though, which is where it gets interesting as it places key data on each series and their relationship with one another in commercial terms.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for both series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and the people quoted.

Dragon Ball continues to be Toei's biggest money-maker over One Piece

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Toei Animation's financial result for the 1st half of the fiscal year (April 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024) shows that Dragon Ball has made 12.7 Billion yen for the company and One Piece has made 11.3 Billion yen. This, naturally, has led to a discussion between the two fandoms, further showing where the two franchises stand at the moment.

There is no denying that author Akira Toriyama's series has been a cultural juggernaut since the manga came out in the 80s. It has also reached audiences worldwide with the anime adaptation made by Toei. Furthermore, it is common knowledge that this series has been pivotal for anime's growth throughout the years, becoming the flagship franchise of the medium.

On the other hand, One Piece has always been recognized as the spiritual successor of the former since it came out a few years after Toriyama ended the manga. Author Eiichiro Oda has crafted a story that has become the highest-selling manga series of all time, and the anime adaptation has gone from strength to strength in recent years.

Reactions online

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Naturally, many people have praised how Akira Toriyama's series continues to be the biggest money-maker for Toei Animation. Despite not always having a running anime or the manga going through hiatus, Goku and his friends continue to be one of the most popular series ever.

On the other hand, One Piece is also another commercial and cultural juggernaut for Toei, to the point that there is an argument to be made that this series became even more popular in the West since the days of the 2020 COVID pandemic. However, while there is a considerable amount of money as the gap between these two series, they are still above the rest of the competition.

"DB wins by doing f... all for years. Incredible actually," someone said.

"db with literally nothing out selling one piece. lmao," another person said.

"Just imagine when the manga & DBS S2 returns. Db legacy ain't ending soon," someone else said.

Regardless of where fans stand on the matter, there is no denying that Dragon Ball and One Piece are two of the biggest cornerstones of the anime industry.

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Edited by Shreya Das