For the last seven years, Dragon Ball has reigned as Toei Animation's highest-earning anime franchise. However, the company's latest fiscal report indicates that One Piece has officially dethroned its iconic competitor.
An X (formerly Twitter) user known as Schaewn Frost (or @Schaewn) recently shared Toei Animation's total earnings for April 2023 through March 2024. According to the report, One Piece raked in over 22.2 billion yen (roughly US$142.120,026). On the other hand, Dragon Ball only earned about 19 billion yen (roughly US$121,634,200), marking the end of the franchise's seven-year winning streak. Although DragonBall is certainly maintaining an audience, this data confirms that One Piece is continuing to expand its already massive viewership, making the latter series an even more formidable opponent for both current and future competitors.
Toei Animation's Dragon Ball Anime Loses Its #1 Spot for the First Time in 7 Years
One Piece has likewise achieved landmark success with companies like Bandai Namco Entertainment, which oversees the franchise's gaming division. According to the company's 2024 fiscal report, One Piece earned over 112.1 billion yen (equivalent to US$721,893,733 at the time) in media sales, setting a new 100 billion yen milestone for the series. In contrast, Dragon Ball earned 140.6 billion yen, allowing it to win against One Piece while losing its previous #1 spot to Mobile Suit Gundam, which raked in over 145.7 billion yen in total sales. Prior to 2024, Dragon Ball had maintained a six-year winning streak as Bandai Namco Entertainment's highest-earning franchise.
Dragon Ball's Loss Is Still Viewed as a Massive Win By Many
For Toei, there is no denying that One Piece has come out on top. However, some fans feel that the report only reinforces Dragon Ball's supremacy within the anime fandom. This is primarily due to the fact that Dragon Ball's last major anime series, Dragon Ball Super, concluded back in 2018, while the One Piece anime still has new episodes coming out on a weekly basis. Despite this, Dragon Ball only lost by a margin of 3 billion yen -- a fact that many DB fans drew attention to in the comment section. "[One Piece] going up against a series that's completely inactive across the board and can only manage a 3 billion yen gap when it has everything going for it...once again this is just more impressive for Dragon Ball," one user wrote.
One Piece Is Seen as Getting Far Better Marketing Than Dragon Ball, Especially Internationally
Notably, there is some contention within the Toei Animation community regarding how the company treats its two shonen titans. Some fans have argued that Toei pours most of its international marketing efforts into One Piece while devoting a comparatively sparse amount of advertising to Dragon Ball, particularly in the West. DB fans online have pointed this out in relation to Toei Animation's upcoming anime series Dragon Ball Daima, which has only received a few international trailers to tide the community over until its Fall 2024 premiere. Last month, one X user expressed their concerns about this on a public Dragon Ball thread. "I know we are still 5+ months away, but I don't want this to be another Super Hero situation where they don't show anything until like a month before release," they wrote.
The Dragon Ball manga is available in English from VIZ Media. The series' respective anime adaptations, including Dragon Ball, DragonBall Z, Dragon Ball GT and Dragon Ball Super, are available to stream on Hulu and Crunchyroll. The One Piece manga is likewise available in English from VIZ Media, while Toei Animation's long-running One Piece anime is currently available on Hulu, Netflix and Crunchyroll.
Source: Toei Animation, X (formerly Twitter)
