When it comes to iconic manga series, One Piece always comes to mind for most fans immediately. One Piece is the world's best-selling manga series, and has been for quite some time now. No other series will be able to take this title from it, not for a very long time, at least. When it comes to manga sales, One Piece is untouchable, but looking at overall profits, it’s not always on top. Recently, Mobile Suit Gundam, an old but renowned series, ended up on top for Bandai Namco.
One Piece: Oda Reveals The Strongest Pirate Of The New Generation
The strongest pirate of the new generation has been revealed, and it's not Luffy or Blackbeard in One Piece.
Not only did it beat all expectations, but it blew the likes of One Piece, and even Dragon Ball, out of the way. One Piece fell short of expectations, and one of the biggest reasons for this could be fewer anime episodes being released in 2025, as well as no new movie release.
Mobile Suit Gundam Beat One Piece In Revenue
One Piece is a well-known series all over the world. Fans know this series to be absolutely huge, and it has been a big source of income for Bandai for years. Bandai produces a lot of merchandise for anime series, such as action figurines and toys, among other things.
Recently, Bandai revealed its earnings for FY2026, and One Piece fell short. One Piece earned ¥69.5 billion for the first half of FY2026, and while it’s an impressive number, it’s ¥500m short of its goal.
November 16 Will Be A Sad Day For One Piece Fans
The One Piece manga is going on break again, and the next chapter is about to be delayed.
Meanwhile, Mobile Suit Gundam seems to be dominating. Mobile Suit Gundam has proven to be the most lucrative series this fiscal year, and it ended up making a whopping ¥127.2 billion. This is far above the projected earnings for the series, which were anticipated at ¥80 billion. Mobile Suit Gundam didn’t just beat One Piece, but also other monumental series like Dragon Ball and Super Sentai.
Why One Piece Was Beaten By Gundam
One Piece’s earnings fell quite short this year, and this brings up many questions about the current state of the series. The truth is, One Piece’s anime has been slowing down. For the first four months of 2025, the series had no ongoing anime series, which definitely hurts merchandise sales.
Furthermore, One Piece, since 2022, has not had a new movie release. Movies are some of the most lucrative ways to sell merchandise. After all, Mobile Suit Gundam got a movie recently, and that is most certainly what pushed its earnings high for this fiscal year.
With Jump Festa coming soon in December, fans hope that the new projects that will be announced for One Piece will help the series get back up. This could be a movie release, new information on the WIT remake, or even a new video game.
In the grand scheme of things, One Piece is still performing decently, and it remains one of Bandai’s most profitable and reliable series.
- Release Date
- October 20, 1999
- Network
- Fuji TV
- Directors
- Hiroaki Miyamoto, Konosuke Uda, Junji Shimizu, Satoshi Itō, Munehisa Sakai, Katsumi Tokoro, Yutaka Nakajima, Yoshihiro Ueda, Kenichi Takeshita, Yoko Ikeda, Ryota Nakamura, Hiroyuki Kakudou, Takahiro Imamura, Toshihiro Maeya, Yûji Endô, Nozomu Shishido, Hidehiko Kadota, Sumio Watanabe, Harume Kosaka, Yasuhiro Tanabe, Yukihiko Nakao, Keisuke Onishi, Junichi Fujise, Hiroyuki Satou
Cast
-
Mayumi TanakaMonkey D. Luffy (voice) -
Kazuya NakaiRoronoa Zoro (voice)
WHERE TO WATCH
One Piece is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda. The series follows protagonist Monkey D. Luffy and his Straw Hat Pirate crew as they explore the Grand Line to find the King of the Pirates' ultimate treasure, the One Piece, in order to become the next king. The manga's popularity helped it spin off into a larger media franchise, including an anime with more than 1,000 episodes.
- Studio
- Toei Animation
- Creator
- Eiichiro Oda
- Streaming Service(s)
- Crunchyroll, Netflix, Hulu, Pluto TV
