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The story
A thread on 5ch about Weekly Shonen Jump’s most popular series of all time got heated. Posters agreed that Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Demon Slayer form a “Big 3” on a level of their own, but opinion split right down the middle over who deserves the No. 5 spot. Candidates like Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, Yu Yu Hakusho, Fist of the North Star, Captain Tsubasa, and Yu-Gi-Oh! were floated one after another, but with no agreement on whether to judge by sales, worldwide name recognition, or sheer quality, the discussion never really converged.
What people said
Dragon Ball
One Piece
#1 Dragon Ball
#2 Fist of the North Star
#3 One Piece
#4 Yu-Gi-Oh!
that much I get, but what's #5?
Hana no Keiji (Legend of the Blazing Flowers)?
Is there actually solid data backing those numbers?
Give me a source for exactly how many yen each one made.
No love for City Hunter?
those are really the only options anyway
it's true that things drop off hard after #4
I'd say Yu Yu Hakusho over Hunter x Hunter.
I like Hunter x Hunter more personally, but Yu Yu Hakusho left a stronger impression.
I'd put Yu Yu Hakusho and Naruto at roughly the same level.
My gut says it's Captain Tsubasa or Saint Seiya.
Those were strong, but they're just too old-school now.
If this were 10-20 years ago they'd still fit right in without feeling out of place.
Kinnikuman gives me a similar impression.
Honestly this settles it, right?
Kochikame, Dr. Slump's Arale, Kinnikuman, Captain Tsubasa, Fist of the North Star, and Slam Dunk all rank above it, honestly.
Don't underestimate how much overseas fans love NARUTO.
A boom so big it became a social phenomenon
First manga ever with an initial print run over 2 million copies
The anime peaked at a 36% viewer rating
Still gets used in commercials and the like over 40 years after it ended
Torishima (Dragon Ball's editor) has said outright that, as a social phenomenon, Dragon Ball never quite matched Dr. Slump.
Though it probably didn't have the staying power.
Arale-chan's been remade so many times too.
Though these days you probably have to factor in global popularity too.
If that's the standard, it's gotta be Captain Tsubasa.
Fist of the North Star
One Piece
Yu-Gi-Oh!
See?
Lmao that's hard to read.
Fist of the North Star, Slam Dunk, Naruto, Jujutsu Kaisen—honestly any of them work.
Better to just settle on the Top 3 and leave it there.
This.
Easiest way to put it is a baseball analogy: Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Demon Slayer are basically manga's equivalent of Shigeo Nagashima, Ichiro, and Shohei Ohtani.
Kochikame would be the runner-up.
For economic scale, Fist of the North Star is bigger.
Dragon Ball
One Piece
Naruto
Hunter x Hunter
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Jujutsu Kaisen
My Hero Academia
Chainsaw Man
BLEACH
Rurouni Kenshin
Yu Yu Hakusho
Below that: Slam Dunk, Fist of the North Star, Yu-Gi-Oh!, etc.
What do you think?
I love Naruto, but it feels a notch below Dragon Ball and One Piece when you put them side by side.
I love Hunter x Hunter, but with all those hiatuses it's not quite enough to call it a flagship title.
I love JoJo, but it's got too much of that subculture vibe, or maybe just too quirky—something feels off.
Dragon Ball and One Piece are so dominant you have to include them, but as genuinely enjoyable works, honestly I'd rank them 5th or lower.
Even factoring that in, the only manga that beats One Piece is Dragon Ball, honestly.
Dr. Slump or Kochikame, which one though?
I think Kochikame's about the only one that qualifies.
Maybe Barefoot Gen?
Then Mazinger Z works too.
Feels wrong to include that one.
Even with astroturfing, a bad work stays bad, though.
To use the baseball analogy again: that's like saying Nagashima and Ichiro became national stars on pure talent, but Shohei Ohtani just got carried by astroturfing and hired shills, so it feels wrong to include him.
Keep refusing to face reality and you're gonna lose your mind.
Background and Talking Points
Ranking debates over Jump’s flagship titles are a perennial topic on Japanese message boards, and there’s no official, unified standard for judging them. In this thread too, opinions split depending on whether people weighed sales figures, worldwide name recognition, or the era a series came from, with candidates like Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, Hunter x Hunter, Fist of the North Star, Captain Tsubasa, and Yu-Gi-Oh! all coming up. One post claimed that former Shueisha editor Kazuhiko Torishima had said Dragon Ball never quite matched Dr. Slump as a social phenomenon — a surprising point for readers unfamiliar with the Jump golden age that preceded Dragon Ball. Meanwhile, opinions on Demon Slayer were split over whether its success came down to the work’s own merits or to marketing and scalper-driven hype, reflecting how recent breakout hits often haven’t had their reputations fully settled yet. The one point everyone agreed on was that the Big 3 are on a different level entirely — but beyond that, the thread went on without ever landing on a clear ranking.
※This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyou G) thread “Weekly Shonen Jump’s ‘No. 5 spot’ will never be settled wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”
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