Why is One Piece less popular than Bleach/Naruto

[dabigkrunch]

I started off watching Bleach and Naruto and have watched every single one. Now with the current filler series I decided I needed something else to watch. So I went ahead and tried One Piece just for the hell of it.

OMG it is awesome. I have watched up to eps 170 and loved every single episode. Despite having as many episodes as naruto it has not had one lousy filler. In fact it only has about 4 or 5 filler type episodes at all. It is always exciting and unpredictable.

It has a sense of adventure that the others lack. Oh and it is definitely funnier.

Now I love naruto and bleach, One piece doesnt have the "wow cool" factor that they do.

My main thought is why is One Piece less popular. Any ideas?

[Ichy]

Originally Posted by dabigkrunch

I started off watching Bleach and Naruto and have watched every single one. Now with the current filler series I decided I needed something else to watch. So I went ahead and tried One Piece just for the hell of it.

OMG it is awesome. I have watched up to eps 170 and loved every single episode. Despite having as many episodes as naruto it has not had one lousy filler. In fact it only has about 4 or 5 filler type episodes at all. It is always exciting and unpredictable.

It has a sense of adventure that the others lack. Oh and it is definitely funnier.

Now I love naruto and bleach, One piece doesnt have the "wow cool" factor that they do.

My main thought is why is One Piece less popular. Any ideas?

Some people may have just watched a few Minutes, and stopped watching it because of the strange Animation Style of the Anime...

Or the just wachted the 4kids Version and get annoyed

[neodrag38]

Originally Posted by dabigkrunch

I started off watching Bleach and Naruto and have watched every single one. Now with the current filler series I decided I needed something else to watch. So I went ahead and tried One Piece just for the hell of it.

OMG it is awesome. I have watched up to eps 170 and loved every single episode. Despite having as many episodes as naruto it has not had one lousy filler. In fact it only has about 4 or 5 filler type episodes at all. It is always exciting and unpredictable.

It has a sense of adventure that the others lack. Oh and it is definitely funnier.

Now I love naruto and bleach, One piece doesnt have the "wow cool" factor that they do.

My main thought is why is One Piece less popular. Any ideas?

Less popular how? Cause a forum nor the US represent overall popularity. In case you are refering to either the two it remains that some people don't get through One Piece's unique look thinking superficially that since it doesn't look like just another anime or the goofiness involved that it isn't worth going through, the crappy dub version from 4kids isn't gonna increased fans, and again that One Piece doesn't go out of its way to look overly Japanese where Naruto has ninjas, though you really couldn't call them that if you watch the show, and Bleach having its distinct Shinigamis that use katanas.

[Yotsuba]

Originally Posted by dabigkrunch

I started off watching Bleach and Naruto and have watched every single one. Now with the current filler series I decided I needed something else to watch. So I went ahead and tried One Piece just for the hell of it.

OMG it is awesome. I have watched up to eps 170 and loved every single episode. Despite having as many episodes as naruto it has not had one lousy filler. In fact it only has about 4 or 5 filler type episodes at all. It is always exciting and unpredictable.

It has a sense of adventure that the others lack. Oh and it is definitely funnier.

Now I love naruto and bleach, One piece doesnt have the "wow cool" factor that they do.

My main thought is why is One Piece less popular. Any ideas?

I just don't like the anime. I prefer manga. Although that goes for all the series.. I don't know, I sort of find it long winded, but that goes for most shounen manga. Too many arcs and fillers, etc. I usually just peak in at Naruto every few chapters to see if anything has happened, since it can take like 5-10 chapters for a single battle in some cases. I think One Piece is just less hyped, to be honest. Or maybe people would rather see ninjas than pirates?

[Chuixupu]

Well, truth is, in America, the Naruto manga is selling way better than the One Piece manga. The animes of both shows are doing pretty much just as well. But in Japan, One Piece sells more manga than Naruto, and the animes are similar in popularity. The ratings for both shows go up and down. OP is still one of the most popular animes in Japan, and one of THE best selling mangas in history.

[wingdarkness]

Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't One Piece the number #1 rated anime in all of Japan?? I've read that a few times...

The only reason it isn't as popular in the forum world is because for the longest time you had no clue when a new episode would be availiable...When the episodes have no consistency of release then you can't discuss each ep like you can in the Naruto and Bleach forum...You know every Tues night you'll be able to see Bleach and every Wed night you'll see Naruto, but OP is all over the place...And discussion is what breeds hype...

Also it doesn't help that people who have no clue about the real OP only have the dub to work off which has sorely ruined any great potential for One Piece in the states...

[chucky]

Well, one piece's setting may be a bit too... "western" and I wont be surprised a lot of US audiences/manga fans etc may have found it too familiar, unlike the always fascinating ninjitzu with its "orientalist" flavour here and there.....

That being said, true, OP has a more robust and concrete story, the adaption to anime is well done...... Naruto and Bleach, especially the latter, in many cases can't even minimally convince me the mangake know what they are trying to do, and their adaptions are very average if not sub-par (esp the case of bleach which is just absolutely terrible). But again, Jump series always got their readers, the adaptations their audiences, and that's a fact of life.

[Phenomenal]

Well One Piece is the most popular manga in Japan, and Naruto is not far behind. Only reason why they are both only that popular in japan is because World Wide they are not that popular like a Dragonball!

[neodrag38]

World wide they are not that popular like Dragonball how? Last I check over a 100 million volumes of One Piece were sold worldwide much less multiple nations liscensing the show. Really, Dragonball is pretty much old news.

[Phenomenal]

World wide they are not that popular like Dragonball how? Last I check over a 100 million volumes of One Piece were sold worldwide much less multiple nations liscensing the show. Really, Dragonball is pretty much old news.

I know that they sold over 100 million copies, but how much of One Piece is actually known all over the world like a Dragonball. I know Dragonball is old new I am just using that as an example. Most of One Piece is popular in Japan and maybe some parts of America.

[wingdarkness]

Originally Posted by neodrag38

World wide they are not that popular like Dragonball how? Last I check over a 100 million volumes of One Piece were sold worldwide much less multiple nations liscensing the show. Really, Dragonball is pretty much old news.

Neodrag c'mon...In terms of Americanizing anime none these shows can come close to messing with DBZ...Hell it's DBZ's fault this crappy a$$ OP dub even exists cause when DBZ ended every cartoon block started looking for the next DBZ...DBZ won the world's best cartoon like 7 outta 10 years or something like that (can't remember the actual name of that award which veiwed every cartoon all over the world)...I can't stand when people pi$$ on DBZ when it was the standard of this genre (Not saying this is what you're doing)...Dragonball is old news because it finally ran it's course, but as much as i love One piece Dragonball doesn't bow down to any anime in terms of the impact of popularity...In it's intial run DBZ was as popular if not way more popular than One Piece...Only Yu yu hakusho came close to sharing the spotlight in Japanese TV ratings...

[Sazelyt]

For Naruto and Bleach, the intensity/forwarding-density is higher, you can get to the rhythm of the story in a short period. That is not the case with One Piece.

It is too long, and it takes quite some time to catch that rhythm. The style of backgrounds, slow-by-slow character additions, etc., may not come that attractive to many here.

Also, sometimes anime is the main driving force and the slowliness/unavaliability of fansubbing is one of the reasons that drives away or not attract the fans. I got into Bleach and Naruto manga after watching the anime. Everything the Japanese have was also available here. But, I don't think that was the case with One Piece -at least in terms of anime. And currently after 26x episodes, it is a bit too difficult for many to catch up with. But, I believe that One Piece will most probably steadily increase its popularity ratings outside of Japan.

[Slayerx]

Y'know i noticed that one piece seems to starts out alot slower then bleach and naruto... i found that bleach and naruto can get you hooked pretty quickly, while One piece takes more time... I also notice that there a some poeple who really just don't like the art style; personally i like One pice's art style, it has a lot of flavor to it... The slow start combined with a somewhat unfavorable art style can easily turn off a few poeple; then end up dropping the series after the first few eps, not realizing how awsome its going to be once it picks up...

Personally, what i think is the most awsome thing about One piece is how utterly unlimited it is in terms of lengths... i mean, most 100+ episode series are only that long because they tried to drag it on WAY longer then it should have been (Inuyasha, DBZ)... One piece on the otherhand is currently at 250+ episodes and shows now sign of slowing down and doesn't feel like its dragging on... Oda successfully found a way to make a story that lasts a long time yet doesn't drag on... i think Naruto could have also pulled it off too, but it's too late for them now... if they go too far beyond Oro and Ataksuki, or if either becomes like naraku in inuyasha, it will just start to drag...

As for whats being said for DBZ... in the long run, overall, i don't like it... however, i give it credit where credit is due; it did alot for the world of anime... you can't deny that it had quite the impact

[neodrag38]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

Neodrag c'mon...In terms of Americanizing anime none these shows can come close to messing with DBZ...Hell it's DBZ's fault this crappy a$$ OP dub even exists cause when DBZ ended every cartoon block started looking for the next DBZ...DBZ won the world's best cartoon like 7 outta 10 years or something like that (can't remember the actual name of that award which veiwed every cartoon all over the world)...I can't stand when people pi$$ on DBZ when it was the standard of this genre (Not saying this is what you're doing)...Dragonball is old news because it finally ran it's course, but as much as i love One piece Dragonball doesn't bow down to any anime in terms of the impact of popularity...In it's intial run DBZ was as popular if not way more popular than One Piece...Only Yu yu hakusho came close to sharing the spotlight in Japanese TV ratings...

It's fun pushing the buttons of (former) DBZ fans. It remains that One Piece is a product with a worldwide audience in which hopefully it doesn't get ripped on as much after it ends, though it wouldn't be too hard to do so when DBZ got pretty pointless after the Freiza saga.

[Phenomenal]

Neodrag c'mon...In terms of Americanizing anime none these shows can come close to messing with DBZ...Hell it's DBZ's fault this crappy a$$ OP dub even exists cause when DBZ ended every cartoon block started looking for the next DBZ...DBZ won the world's best cartoon like 7 outta 10 years or something like that (can't remember the actual name of that award which veiwed every cartoon all over the world)...I can't stand when people pi$$ on DBZ when it was the standard of this genre (Not saying this is what you're doing)...Dragonball is old news because it finally ran it's course, but as much as i love One piece Dragonball doesn't bow down to any anime in terms of the impact of popularity...In it's intial run DBZ was as popular if not way more popular than One Piece...Only Yu yu hakusho came close to sharing the spotlight in Japanese TV ratings...

Thankyou Wingdarkness. DBZ changed the fighting Genre for all anime and action cartoons. Hell without DBZ you would not have one piece, Naruto or hell even a hadouken from Street fighter. Not to mention Neodrag that your Oda was inspired by Akira Toriyama himself same for Kishimoto!

It's fun pushing the buttons of (former) DBZ fans. It remains that One Piece is a product with a worldwide audience in which hopefully it doesn't get ripped on as much after it ends, though it wouldn't be too hard to do so when DBZ got pretty pointless after the Freiza saga.

Well I am a huge fan so watch it!!!

[wingdarkness]

@Neo - Well I found Future Trunks//Android//Cell saga to be pretty good and actually pretty complex on some levels (Some of the unperfect Cell arc was really intense)...I remember me and some of my friends used to get in heated debates over Future trunks stuff...The Buu saga was pushing it a bit, but to see Vegeta turn evil again and that final fight with Goku was worth it...DBZ was all about fighting (not to mention funny like One piece is) and the only anime ever where the villians were the underdawgs...It was what it was...Character driven, not really plot-driven like One Piece...For some odd reason though my favorite moments of OP almost always involve Luffy kicking a$$...His fighting techniques are so underrated to me, he has so many cool moves...Obviously Krillen could put a dent in him in DBZ though ...

The Phenomenol - there's a reason why this show is so beloved by so many and the gateway anime for millions...I still love DBZGT and I won't let it crapped on because it became "TOO POPULAR" (To where it became popular to hate, just for that sake)...

[ragweed]

For Naruto and Bleach, the intensity/forwarding-density is higher, you can get to the rhythm of the story in a short period. That is not the case with One Piece.

Interesting that you said that. At first, I would have to agree with you. One Piece starts out slow and the arcs go through a process of building until the climax of the arc, while Naruto has more fights and instant action.

But then I have to disagree. I think Naruto relies too heavily on cliffhangers and doesn't focus on the action enough. Lately the fights in Naruto have relied too much on face shots, "........." panels, and second-by-second. One Piece has more diologue and action per panel. In fact, the latest fight chapter of OP has had a grand total of '1' profile panels (a panel of a character thinking with no thought bubbles or action), while Naruto had 10. =/ Nothing really happens that much anymore! I think that's why there's been so much filler going on lately.

But anyway, I think Naruto is more popular because it's a typical anime with bishies and powerups all that. And angst, loads and loads or angst.

[Conri]

Originally Posted by Sazelyt

For Naruto and Bleach, the intensity/forwarding-density is higher, you can get to the rhythm of the story in a short period. That is not the case with One Piece.

My problem wasn't getting into the rhythm of One Piece...I just didn't give it a chance. I didn't hear about it at all until a couple years ago because it wasn't well known, and when I gave it a try, I couldn't get through the first episode. I eventually downloaded the first 10 episode pack, and then I got hooked for good.

Bleach, however...10 episodes didn't hook me...trudging through the 30's didn't hook me...temporarily dropping the anime and picking up the Soul Society manga arc is what finally caught my interest. I liked the Naruto manga right away, but the anime beat up my interest and threw it away.

Originally Posted by dabigkrunch

Now I love naruto and bleach, One piece doesnt have the "wow cool" factor that they do.

It doesn't? It does to me.

Interesting that you said that. At first, I would have to agree with you. One Piece starts out slow and the arcs go through a process of building until the climax of the arc, while Naruto has more fights and instant action.

I think that's exactly why I'm still following One Piece, but Naruto has fallen by the wayside. I can't comment on your panel comparison because of this...except to say that that's a shame! It's always been in the back of my mind that I should try picking up the Naruto manga again, but I can't say it's actually going to happen.

[neodrag38]

Originally Posted by wingdarkness

@Neo - Well I found Future Trunks//Android//Cell saga to be pretty good and actually pretty complex on some levels (Some of the unperfect Cell arc was really intense)...I remember me and some of my friends used to get in heated debates over Future trunks stuff...The Buu saga was pushing it a bit, but to see Vegeta turn evil again and that final fight with Goku was worth it...DBZ was all about fighting (not to mention funny like One piece is) and the only anime ever where the villians were the underdawgs...It was what it was...Character driven, not really plot-driven like One Piece...For some odd reason though my favorite moments of OP almost always involve Luffy kicking a$$...His fighting techniques are so underrated to me, he has so many cool moves...Obviously Krillen could put a dent in him in DBZ though ...

The Phenomenol - there's a reason why this show is so beloved by so many and the gateway anime for millions...I still love DBZGT and I won't let it crapped on because it became "TOO POPULAR" (To where it became popular to hate, just for that sake)...

The only anime ever where the villains were the underdogs? So the multiple times where the main villain of an arc was freakishly stronger than everyone else making it a necessity that the heroes trained alot or pull a power up out of their butts based on anger never happened?

Funny like One Piece is how? And of course Krillin could do what you suggest since Krillin reached a strength level where he could destroy a planet anyway along with so many of the other DBZ characters.

And I thought it was already made clear that the point wasn't to simply crap on DB for being popular but for the fact that it just became in exercise in repetition really. That it would be kind of overreaching to claim that DBZ wasn't as popular as it was not because of all the over the top energy blast, machine gun punches, floating objects from powering up, etc. stuff that the show is none for.

But anyway, wasn't there a thread on the given topic already made in which the guy who started this could have saved his time with simply using the search function.

[Phenomenal]

The Phenomenol - there's a reason why this show is so beloved by so many and the gateway anime for millions...I still love DBZGT and I won't let it crapped on because it became "TOO POPULAR" (To where it became popular to hate, just for that sake)...

I totally agree WingDarkness! It became so popular and loved by many people got mad and started hating on it's success! In my eyes DBZ will never die not as long as you have shows like One Piece and Naruto trying to base certain aspects from the masterpeice!