Anime
A Shonen Jump editor explains why ‘Naruto’ was more successful than ‘One Piece’ outside Japan
One Piece and Naruto are undoubtedly two of the biggest manga and anime series of all time. But why was Naruto bigger outside Japan?
‘Naruto’ and ‘One Piece’ are two works that coexisted and competed for years in the pages of Shonen Jump. The manga created by Eiichiro Oda was born in 1997 and continues today; while Masashi Kishimoto’s began in 1999 and ended a decade ago. The passage of time has changed the perspective of their rivalry in the West, and while both coincided, the popularity of ‘Naruto’ was higher outside of Japan at first, something that was difficult to believe in its country of origin. Now, some of the editors at Shonen Jump gave some of their explanations for this phenomenon.
One of those who has spoken is Yahagi Kosuke, who worked hand in hand with Masashi Kishimoto “The One Piece drama is very interesting. On the other hand, Naruto is easier to understand for the action and other aspects than for the drama. I have children, and when I show it to them, the thing they understand the least is the drama. We’ve been reading manga for a long time, so we tend to delve into what makes manga interesting. But many people abroad don’t understand Japanese manga.”
The differences between ‘Naruto’ and ‘One Piece’ according to manga professionals
Takashi Matsuyama, an editor who worked on ‘Dragon Ball’, also gave his opinion on the subject and the reasons why ‘Naruto’ triumphed in the West over Eiichiro Oda’s work: “This is just my feeling, but what One Piece is doing is, although it sounds strange to call it kabuki, in the chivalrous way, right? Like the old movies yakuza. It’s like a play or drama, including the tear-jerking parts that appeal to the Japanese. Naruto is Hollywood-oriented in some ways, including development. So I think the nature of it selling well around the world is different.”
Naruto ended its manga a decade ago, while the anime did so just a few years later. Today the world created by Masashi Kishimoto continues to live on in ‘Boruto’, and the passing of the years has helped ‘One Piece’ establish itself worldwide. It was a matter of time before a work as capital as that of Eiichiro Oda enjoyed the global popularity that it always deserved.
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