One Piece will always be Toei's favorite and Dragon Ball fans should be upset

Modified May 23, 2024 10:00 GMT

One Piece and Dragon Ball's importance to Toei has been debated recently (Image via Toei Animation and Shueisha).

Dragon Ball fans expressed their frustration with Toei Animation recently when the studio announced that it would display a 'larger-than-life' portrait of the Straw Hat Pirates on Sphere Vegas from June 10–16 on occasion of One Piece's 25th anniversary. As per the fans, the Japanese studio has not supported Toriyama's magnum opus on a similar level.

A large portion of the Dragon Ball fandom believes that the series deserves more support and attention, given its status in the industry and legacy as perhaps anime's most well-known property. However, the truth of the matter is that Dragon Ball has been playing second fiddle to a degree to One Piece when it comes to Toei Animation's investment, particularly in terms of marketing.

Notably, Akira Toriyama's legendary franchise has not had a new anime since Super ended six years ago, and despite a lack of marketing, the series remains Toei's largest revenue generator.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs solely to the author and does not reflect the views of Sportskeeda as a whole.

Dragon Ball fans are upset by Toei Animation's preference for One Piece over their franchise

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As previously stated, fans of Akira Toriyama's legendary franchise were not pleased with the recent announcement that One Piece's anime would be shown on Sphere Vegas for its 25th anniversary. The franchise has remained Toei's biggest source of revenue even without an anime since Super concluded in 2018, but it isn't receiving the same attention as Eiichiro Oda's series.

According to fans, aside from a lack of marketing, the unfair bias is reflected in Toei's treatment of anime adaptations, with One Piece's animation quality recently improving since the Wano arc. The Super Hero movie didn't have much marketing backing from Toei, and fans all over the world had to do their own promotion through hashtags on social media to give the film some extra exposure among anime fans.

The lack of marketing for Daima, which is intended to commemorate the franchise's 40th anniversary—a significant milestone—and is the final project writer Akira Toriyama worked on before he passed away on March 1st of this year, has also drawn a great deal of criticism.

Given how Daima is supposed to grace the screens in five months and has not received a lot of exposure and promotion, it is demeaning to a franchise that is a cultural icon in Japan and across the world.

The future of the franchise

Goku in the Daima anime (Image via Toei Animation).

Beyond the release of the Dragon Ball Daima anime in five months, the future of the franchise is a bit confusing at the moment. Akira Toriyama's passing is bound to affect public perception of future projects involving the series, and the manga, now led solely by the mangaka's protege, Toyotaro, is switching between hiatus and releasing chapters at the moment.

Therefore, the loss of a figure beloved all over the world like Toriyama and Toei's lack of support has taken a heavy toll on the fandom at the moment. Despite having the Moro and Granolah arcs in the manga to adapt, the Super anime has not given any signs of a comeback, either.

Final thoughts

Dragon Ball fans have valid reasons to be upset about One Piece getting preferential treatment from Toei when considering that the former is still a commercial juggernaut for them. The lack of support that the series has gotten in recent years should be a concern for the fandom in the long run.

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