Viz Media ends the Big 3 debate with a special poster at Anime Expo 2024

Modified Jul 05, 2024 15:05 GMT

Viz Media ends the Big 3 debate with a special poster at Anime Expo 2024 — Ichigo, Luffy, and Naruto as seen in their anime (Image via Studio Pierrot, Toei Animation)

While fans have had trouble with VIZ Media in the past, the company gained newfound respect within the anime community for ending the debate over the Big 3 anime. The Big 3 anime is a term used for the three most popular Shueisha manga series that were being serialized during the golden age in Jump magazine's mid-2000s period.

The three series are Eiichiro Oda's One Piece, Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto, and Tite Kubo's Bleach. Shueisha's major use of the protagonists of the three anime as part of their promotional material in the past pretty much confirmed them to be the "Big 3." Nevertheless, several anime fans think otherwise. This has caused major discourse online over which anime deserves to be called the Big 3.

Amidst all this, VIZ Media took matters into its own hands to end the debate with a special poster featuring the protagonists of the Big 3 anime at Anime Expo 2024.

VIZ Media set up a Big 3 special poster at Anime Expo 2024

Ichigo Kurosaki as seen in Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War (Image via Studio Pierrot)

For quite some time, anime fans have been arguing whether the Bleach manga deserved to be labeled as one of the Big 3 manga series or not. This is because the Tite Kubo manga series wasn't really a big three seller for the magazine.

Instead, it was Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter manga that sold more per compiled volume than Bleach. The only reason Bleach retained its position as the Big 3 was due to the overall popularity of the series.

Gon Freecss as seen in Hunter X Hunter anime (Image via Madhouse)

All three manga series from the Big 3 have long-running anime series. In addition, the three series still have a massive impact on the anime industry. While One Piece anime is still ongoing, the Naruto franchise's Boruto anime and Bleach's "Thousand-Year Blood War Arc" are still under production.

Meanwhile, Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter manga has gone on numerous long hiatuses due to the creator's poor health. These halts have stopped the series from progressing further, effectively canceling out any possibility of a sequel series to the 2011 anime rendition by Madhouse.

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Amidst all this, VIZ Media decided to take it upon themselves to declare what anime they believe is part of the Big 3. Anime Expo 2024 is being held between Thursday, July 4, and Monday, July 8, 2024. Hence, VIZ Media took this opportunity to use their booth to get their message out.

The publisher company arranged for a special poster featuring the protagonists of the Big 3 anime - Ichigo Kurosaki (Bleach), Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto), and Monkey D. Luffy (One Piece).

Naruto, Luffy, and Ichigo as seen in their anime (Image via Studio Pierrot, Toei Animation)

With that, VIZ Media made it very clear which series they thought of as the Big 3.

"The founding fathers together again," one fan said.

Even fans rejoiced at this moment, as it had been quite a long time since they had seen an official Jump promotional material featuring all three protagonists from the Big 3. Moreover, the special poster also helped end the debate over which series were part of Shueisha's Big 3 anime.