@dropper:
I'm no expert but I thought that Kai didn't continue due to the lack of merchandise sales and then Toriko got cancelled for the same reason, not because of ratings. Someone corrected me on this once.
You're talking of management decisions, not about them not being able to continue the shows. Given the fact that Toei Animation is a Profit oriented company,like all animation studios, just the money to continue an anime isn't enough, they want good profit margins.
Dragon Ball kai aired from 2 financial years, 2010 and 2011(This is from April 2009 to March 2011), at that time the Domestic Licensing was in decline.
In reality the domestic licensing was already in decline since the 2007 financial year boost(1.228 Billion Yen), so 2 years before the start of Kai.
We have for the Domestic Licensing:
! 2009 -> 769 Million Yen
Kai Starts
2010 -> 598 Million Yen
2011 -> 343 Million Yen
Kai Ends
2012 -> 408 Million Yen
! Well One Piece ran for 5 years with values lower than those, from 2004 to 2008 did at the best 295 Million yen and at its worse 85 Million Yen.
Normally reaching more than 80 Million Yen is enough to be between the Top 4 series of the company, and Toei runs around 5-8 series per year.
Though, currently we have series doing ridiculously high(so probably the 80 Million is something of the past), In the 2nd Quarter of this year(half of the year) the 4th best series already earned 166 Million Yen(Sailor Moon).
We have for the Overseas Licensing :
! 2009 -> 2.075 Billion Yen
Kai Starts
2010 -> 2.499 Billion Yen
2011 -> 1.664 Billion yen
Kai Ends
2012 -> 887 Million Yen
Adding the Domestic and Overseas values we end up with:
! 2009 -> 2.844 Billion Yen
Kai Starts
2010 -> 3.097 Billion Yen
2011 -> 2.007 Billion Yen
Kai Ends
2012 -> 1.295 Billion Yen
! So the series even got an increase with Dragon Ball Kai, but Kai last year wasn't that good, but after its end the franchise earned even less.
Is possible that the decline in the 2nd year was the reason why they decided to end Dragon Ball Kai, but I believe they just wanted to start a potential new big series, Toriko. Toriko by that Time already had 3 years without an anime, normally they only wait for 2.
About Toriko, yep its sales started to decline after its first year, being that possible the reason why it was cancelled, though at that time its sales were still OK.
There is also the fact that Dragon Ball due to the movie Battle of Gods, started to have another resurgence(mainly seen in Movies and DVD+BD sales), and probably the reason why Dragon Ball Kai returned with the Buu Saga.
Domestic Licensing Data:
! Start of Toriko
2012 -> Toriko 234 Million Yen , Dragon Ball 408 Million Yen
2013 -> Toriko 167 Million Yen, Dragon Ball 498 Million Yen
Battle of Gods Movie shown in theaters
2014 -> Toriko 88 Million Yen, Dragon Ball 498 Million Yen
End of Toriko
Start of Dragon Ball Kai: Buu Saga
2015 -> Toriko 339< Million Yen, Dragon Ball 611 Million Yen
Overseas Data:
! Start of Toriko
2012 -> Toriko(not released internationally yet) , Dragon Ball 887 Million Yen
2013 -> Toriko 137<76 Million yen, Dragon Ball 562 Million Yen
Battle of Gods Movie shown in theaters
2014 -> Toriko 294< Million Yen, Dragon Ball 676 Million Yen
End of Toriko
Start of Dragon Ball Kai: Buu Saga
2015 -> Toriko 289< Million yen, at least less than the Sailor Moon 339 Million), Dragon Ball 1.302 Billion Yen
Domestic Licensing + Overseas Data
! Start of Toriko
2012 -> Toriko 234 Million Yen, Dragon Ball 1.295 Billion Yen
2013 -> Toriko 304<243 Million Yen, Dragon Ball 1.060 Billion Yen
[Battle of Gods Movie Shown in theaters[/b]
2014 -> Toriko 382<88 Million Yen, Dragon Ball 1.174 Billion Yen
End of Toriko
2015 -> Toriko 628< Million Yen, Dragon Ball 1.913 Billion Yen
Start of Dragon Ball Kai: Buu Saga
! Dragon Ball Domestic License always earned more money than Toriko Domestic+Overseas. Still Toriko ran for 3 years.
This shows that certainly Toei Animation wasn't forced to cancel Dragon Ball kai, the first time, because of poor sales. It certainly was a management decision.
Note: Right now, 2nd half of 2016 Financial Year Dragon Ball(Super) is doing
Domestic Licensing -> 935 Million Yen
Overseas -> 1.822 Billion Yen
Total -> 2.757 Billion Yen
Already better than its 5 ENTIRE previous years. The series is doing incredibly well.
–- Update From New Post Merge ---
@ShinigamiKing:
Don't you mean that it has no problems in Japan? From what I understand, One Piece has been kind of lackluster outside of Japan. It's had some success in Italy, France, Spain, and Us (to an extent), but it never blew up the way they might have imagined.
Obviously, they make so much money in Japan that it doesn't even matter, but still. I'd think that when it's all said and done (and the anime reaches 1000 episodes), they'd want to do something to make it accessible worldwide long after it finishes, just like with Dragon Ball.
Nope, I mean the Overseas(outside of Japan), in this current financial half year, One Piece has earned _2.023 Billion Yen(_16,457,105 Dollars) that is more than half of Digimon best overseas earnings ever, _3.85 Billion Yens.
Since 2012 Financial Year(that started in March 2011) One Piece has been the best overseas franchise of Toei! This makes 5 years.
And Before that since at least 2006 it was always the 2nd, 6 years. 2005 there is not enough data, but possible was also the 2nd._ Note that from 2005 to 2008(4 years) One Piece was doing better Overseas than in Japan.
About them doing so much money in Japan that it doesn't even matter what they do overseas.
Last Financial year, 2015, One Piece did 3.609 Billion in Domestic Licenses and 1.928 Billion in Overseas. The Overseas sales was more than half of the Domestic ones. So the overseas sales are totally significant, and they are increasing with each year.
@dropper:
The production staff won't be able to deal with the gap between the anime and the manga unless they include some filler after Dressrosa, I'm almost certain there will be 4 episodes to coincide with the 2016 film but there are other opportunities. I know One Piece is successful and makes money but we all want the best of an enjoyable show right?
Why not? They are 30 chapters away from the manga, just like they have been for the past 8 years. With the Post Dressrossa fillers and the Movie Fillers, they certainly will be save for the future Oda's breaks.