One Piece takes Japan, Dragon Ball the World

[fps_anth]

Just stumbled upon an awesome article on Kanzentai:

So we've often mentioned in passing how much of an international phenomenon DragonBall really is, specifically the original Japanese version, but it's usually been pure speculation based on observations of the general fanbase. Besides seeing how many international visitors this and many other Japanese-oriented DragonBall fansites get, we now have some actual sales numbers from Toei Animation to put along with it. The first quarter of the 2011 fiscal year (FY11) ended on 30 June 2010 and a month later Toei Animation released their fiscal report detailing the top 4 anime properties, both domestically (in Japan) and internationally. For the sake of this update and everyone's sanity, I'll be focusing on the fiscal year sales numbers rather than each individual quarter. To help gauge the significance of these sales I'll be comparing the sales numbers between DragonBall and One Piece between FY04 and FY11.

DragonBall has been doing fairly well in Japan over the past few years, with a nice spike in sales between FY06 and FY08 while the DragonBall Z Individual Discs were being sold. Following FY08, sales began to drop off slightly, and even with DragonBall Kai premiering at the very beginning of FY10, the sales in Japan have continued to drop. Conversely, after slightly dropping off between FY05 and FY09, One Piece sales have rapidly been rising. In fact, One Piece made ¥669 million for the total of FY10, but has already out sold that fiscal year in just one quarter of this fiscal year, most likely due to the series film, "Strong World". By the 2nd quarter of FY11, One Piece could conceivably make over ¥1 billion in total net sales for the fiscal year, a feat last accomplished by DragonBall!

With DragonBall on the decline after peaking at ¥1.23 billion in FY07 and One Piece possibly heading toward ¥1 trillion in FY11, it seems One Piece has completely taken over the sales market in Japan. It seems all too clear now why Fuji TV decided to combine DragonBall Kai and One Piece in an anime block. But does DragonBall still hold up internationally these days, even though it's now not the largest bread winner in Japan?

With no surprise, DragonBall is still the best selling anime series internationally, by far and away surpassing One Piece and almost every other anime series. In fact, the profit share for most anime series between domestic and overseas sales is 80:20, whereas DragonBall itself is approximately 30:70, meaning on average DragonBall has made 70% of all its net profit over the last seven fiscal years from international sales. In the last fiscal year alone, DragonBall netted ¥1.62 billion internationally, but only grabbed ¥598 million domestically in Japan. I know everyone loves looking at the graphs and numbers, but what's the real point to all this? Well, simply, the funding of DragonBall Kai.

http://kanzentai.com/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1281459822&archive=&start_from=&ucat=4&

So, to sum it up, One Piece RAN SHIT in Japan during FY2010, and is off to a great start in FY2011, despite Dragon Ball Kai. I think we have Strong World and the popularity of Marineford to thank for that.

Overseas, however… yikes. It's expected, but the gap is massive. I wonder what a comparison with Naruto would look like, that would probably be much closer =(

[firecrouch]

Well I know "Dragon Ball" is available in more regions, don't know how much more than "One Piece". But I wonder how Toei Animation is taking it?

[Zach Logan]

Well this has always been the problem. One Piece has the "correct" popularity gap in Japan, as it's seen a third boom (you can see the popularity was high in 2004 during its second boom and then drops between 2004 and 2009). The problem has always been in other nations, specifically the United States. For some reason (ADHD, attention spans, bad taste) Americans have not yet clung to One Piece, I hope it happens soon though.

As has been mentioned before there are a couple of countries around the world where One Piece rivals Dragonball in popularity, but there aren't many, and many of those countries aren't really marketably influential enough to make that graph look much different.

Americans need to do a better job spreading the word about One Piece, and I hate to bring a TV deal back into things, but it would really help.

Notice, however, this quarter if you combine both statistics (2011 Q1 Overseas and Domestic Japan), One Piece still overtakes Dragonball by an insurmountable amount.

[ShunketsuXZ]

I think we can trust FUNimation with getting One Piece out there, I mean they're dubbing and subbing the show, they know how great it is, plus they know awesome it's doing in Japan. There's still hope for a TV deal.

[dan2026]

I never quite understood the massive popularity of Dragon Ball.
Its good, don't get me wrong. But One Piece has bettered it in just about every area.
And yet look at the graph. Shit don't make sense.

[Tokoro Ataru]

I think the difference is just a matter of taste and simplicity. DB is just simple to get hooked to due to how flashy it is and people's obsession with the Z era. You can pick it up anywhere and just watch big guys beating up big guys (or little guys beating up big guys if you're more a DB fan over a Z fan). OP essentially is story personified and you literally need to follow it from chp/ep 1 to get literally everything that is going on…and yeah, Japan's had it since 1997 (1999 for the anime) and just grew along with it while the rest of the world...just never had the patience.

[omy785]

DB is the "father" of all these mangas, it's been around for many years…plus, it has a very simple plot (=easier to follow for dumb people). OP is way better in every field, but it still hasn't that much consideration outside Japan, mainly in the US, where mangas and anime still aren't really known...but in Europe I can tell you that OP has definately surpassed DB, mainly in "consideration by average teenager". DB is losing its charme, finally I'd say, so I think it's only a matter of time before OP'd get the consideration it deserves...at least in Europe

[belial]

oh wow that gap is huge, would be fun to see Naruto / Bleach in there (the international one), but I'm afraid of the results

[antiravage]

The overall ratings for dragon ball in japan when it aired were around the 27%, I think. One Piece has never passed the 16% mark. But I guess you could say that's due to the many available animes of today, which makes the market more distributed.

[Greg]

I stopped paying attention to or even caring about how Japanese series do abroad when I heard that something with 'vampire' in the title that didn't end in 'D' was the top-selling comic.

[SabZ]

American kids love ninjas and bulky warriors destroying planets. That's why Naruto and Dragonball sell well abroad compared to OP. Though I do like Dragonball a lot, and don't mind Naruto (which is meh now).

Didn't Dragonball get immense worldwide popularity after it was completely finished? I remember here in the UK they were exclusively airing DBZ around 98/99, which is years after the series ended in Japan. Well they loved it here in the UK, maybe it'll be the same for OP in a few years.

[ShunketsuXZ]

@$abZ:

Didn't Dragonball get immense worldwide popularity after it was completely finished? I remember here in the UK they were exclusively airing DBZ around 98/99, which is years after the series ended in Japan. Well they loved it here in the UK, maybe it'll be the same for OP in a few years.

That's what I'm thinking. Even though times have changed since DBZ and the anime-manga industry has expanded, we can't forget that it's international acclaim did not happen until AFTER the series was over. May be the same with One Piece.

[antiravage]

Dragon ball (together with Saint Seiya) was always a huge hit in europe, but its accession in America was slow as fuck. It failed at first from what I heard, but then funimation licensed it and people started liking it. Same thing could happen with OP. But it is true Naruto has gained a huge advantage over the years in the american market.

[Kaiolino]

FUNimation failed twice to make Dragon Ball popular in the mid-90s and it wasn't till the show premiered on Toonami that it became a hit.

And in the late 80s Harmony Gold also failed to make the show popular.

[fps_anth]

Dragon Ball Z also has nostalgia on it's side. Right now, young adults were kids watching the show when it was airing. I'm 17, and you have no idea how many full table DBZ conversations start at the lunch table at school. I'll consistently hear stuff like "Bro, I just picked up Season Nine of DBZ on DVD. Fuckin sick bro that's the Vegetto shit!" It's the only anime I'm aware of that kids, teens and even adults aren't "afraid" to talk about in public. Hence, why we see it doing so god damn well for all these years.

Any other anime, including Naruto, is "gay".

From what I've heard, DBZ video games are doing amazing as well. You'd be surprised how many of my 17 year old and older friends have a sizeable collection of DBZ games, from Budokai to Raging Blast. It's unreal.

It's a damn shame that stuff like One Piece isn't given a chance, considering how similar it is to Dragon Ball at times. I think FUNi needs to aim at the "fuckin super saiyan 2 gohan is sooo sick bro" demographic a little more. Advertise with this:

and not:

It's unfortunate (and retarded) but it would catch a ton more people's eyes. And if you call that shot of Zoro "SUPER GHEY LOOKING ART OLOOLOL", you're just hopeless.

[MasterKingJC]

They need to make that bloody pic of Zoro into T-shirts and sell them.
That should get more people interested.

[Devil-Itachi]

Even though I hate annoying little kids. I would like to see the popularity go up internationally. So we can get more merchandise overseas.

[Silver R. Bolt]

I don't think One Piece is really that complicated that you can't just watch any random episode and not get it. I mean there's going to be running gags and character traits you might not understand at the time, but if you go back you will. Besides if the running gag is good enough, they should laugh even if they didn't see it the first time.

I think the problem is a lot of people outside the fandom think the plot is shallow. I mean a happy-go lucky rubberman getting a ragtag team of adventures to sail to an ultimate treasure; isn't the most complex plot there is.

I've seen different reaction to it;

A guy in my class who tries to be a little goth, and hardcore; he doesn't like One Piece for the shallowness of the overall plot. That and he expressed hatred against Chopper, wanting him to die since he was introduced. Makes me think that he does read or watch it atleast…

ANIME FANATIC is another type of person at my school. Some dislike One Piece for its art style, while others LOVE it. But then again these are the same type who come into school with Naruto headband, jackets, etc.

ITs Length is another deal breaker for some.

[Smore]

One Piece did it's best during 2006 which… was... part of the 4Kids age. :sad:

...

Damn.

[o-chan]

But the problem is that anime OVERALL is just barely getting by here in the US. Both Naruto and Dragon Ball Z aired on the right network at the right time in order to achieve it's popularity in the US. One Piece still had to get its act together and things didn't improve for the show until AFTER the anime bubble had burst. We also have to keep in mind how both Naruto Shippuden and Dragon Ball Kai were skimmed over by CN and now have homes on other stations. I would be more worried if it wasn't for the fact that this year they did speed up the manga release and the anime is simulcasted online and I don't think the companies involved would make those types of decisions without something going right.

Anime came and made its presence in the US known and right now all it is, is a waiting game between us and the networks. It may be a long, long, looooong time if we ever see anything like the Toonami era again (if ever).

O-chan

[Flux]

@omy785:

DB is the "father" of all these mangas

I stopped reading here, because truth does not require an explanation.

[Waka]

@Silver:

I think the problem is a lot of people outside the fandom think the plot is shallow. I mean a happy-go lucky rubberman getting a ragtag team of adventures to sail to an ultimate treasure; isn't the most complex plot there is.

I'd agree with this, and I'd go so far to say that most people probably don't understand what One Piece is about at all.

Before I watched One Piece for the first time, I thought it was purely a gag manga. I had always meant to watch it sometime because I knew how popular it was in Japan, but I didn't know that it was an adventure story, or that it had epic moments of high drama. All I knew was that the art looked "goofy", I suppose, and that it was about pirates. If I had known that it had both action and drama in addition to humor, I'm sure I would have picked it up years earlier than I did. Oh well.

Now, I love OP's art – I feel like it's incredibly suited to the story, and Oda's originality literally oozes off of every page -- but I do feel like it's a big turnoff for a lot of people. I've talked to at least one person who called the art ugly. Put that together with the length of the story and it's apparent why a lot of people feel like OP is hard to get into. (Oda himself has worried that the story's length will alienate readers.) I think it also explains why the manga has jumped in popularity lately -- the events surrounding Marineford appeal to readers who require action and drama and show that OP is a kid's manga that isn't "childish".

[AMS]

Not surprising in the least. Dragonball is a monster. That said One Piece has surpassed it, better characters, better plots, better everything.

[King Calamari]

Funimation somehow worked something out with Bandai Japan and Megahouse to officially import their merchandise over here. If people want to support their release of One Piece outside of the DVDs then this is the way. I'm sure they'd make more money off american licensed products but obviously no one is interested.

[Crossword]

@Waka:

I think it also explains why the manga has jumped in popularity lately – the events surrounding Marineford appeal to readers who require action and drama and show that OP is a kid's manga that isn't "childish".

Yeah, every single Enies Lobby volume made it onto the weekly top ten best selling manga list over here in the US. It'll be interesting to see how well the Marineford volumes do. Vol. 54 made it into the top three, I recall.

[dan2026]

@fps_anth:

It's unfortunate (and retarded) but it would catch a ton more people's eyes.

You have a good point.
Even though One Piece is a kids comic/show, it would defiantly benefit from some 'look at this brutal action, people get fucked up in this show' marketing.
Rather than 'they all won though the power of friendship and rainbows'.

Kids love blood, guts and people getting the crap kicked out of them. One Piece has plenty of that but not enough people know about it.

[alchipx]

Seeing how successful DB is outside of Japan is not very surprising at all (I wonder how many mailmen are required to haul those royalty checks to Toriyama's place?). It's an exciting, action-packed franchise that produces between good eye candy (even if the pacing…shudders).

One piece takes a bit longer to get into, since it's more plot-oriented than "kick-your-face-in"-oriented. This was Oda's intention, as he had a clear plan how Luffy was going to progress. Thus, his storylines are awesome 600 chapters from the start. DB, Naruto were more action-packed, easier to jump into right away. Short attention spans should not be under-estimated.

Also, it helps that DB and Naruto have huge video game franchises. That doesn't hurt one bit. I bet that Pokemon blows away DB, Naruto, and whatever else there is international licensing wise due to video games alone.

[triforcebih]

You see man, that's weird. I mean they call it a kids anime/manga but man i'd make it +15 or +16. Jus look at the large boobs and half-naked girls, and also the bloody fights and people getting shot and ending up with a hole in their stomach (Poor Ace :|). People got the wrong image of OP. :sad:

edit: I bet that this noob pic i made would attract moar ppl… http://i37.tinypic.com/2uoosqq.png

[ARC-1300]

man seeing stuff like this is depressing :( . don't get me wrong i love DBZ, but One piece just has so much potential, but people just wont give it a chance.

all we can do now is just wait and keep supporting it like we have been