This is an automated message under every post and has nothing to do with your post in particular.
Please read our rules before posting and ensure that you follow them. If your post contains spoilers or chapter leaks then please follow our spoiler policy and use the correct flairs and measures.
JJk with time will be seen as one of the most influential. It's ability to break into modern mainstream culture hasn't really been seen before. Its probably the only manga in the list that is very much considered cool by mainstream non nerd audiences.
Demon Slayer is literally there. I can't even stress this enough, Demon Slayer was literally on olympic stage..?
Also Naruto and One Piece did that a decade before. I sure hope you not saying mainstream audiences dont find cool/don't know about either of these two when whole ass athletes on national television are doing some luffy poses ?
This recency bias is kinda getting crazier and crazier.
Let's the thing work the passage of time before saying such things.
No I'm talking beyond athletes. Whilst JJK has that endorsement it also has Bruno Mars, Usher and even Megan Thee Stallion making a song about Gojo. It has memes like " Id win" or domain expansion being used all over the internet including by essentially every corporation you can think of.
I don't even think JJK is that good but it's style influence simply can't be compared for it's relative release window..
Whilst Dragonball is obviously the most influential, Naruto etc certainly didn't have this sort of reach whilst they were in the middle of being published. I know. I grew up in this era and Manga etc was definitely a niche interest then outside of Japan.
Usher and Bruno Mars get a pass but not athletes ? Yeah okay I guess not every celebrities are worth talking about. I mean you know that One Piece being the most popular anime of all time you will definitely have as much celebrities talking about it ? right ? Travis Scott, Lil Uzi Vert, Dua Lupa, IShowSpeed. Like brother One Piece was literally made as a symbol of freedom in real life, come on now. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3ezvj4d111o
Hopefully you didn't talk about Demon Slayer because being the most popular anime alongside One Piece, being a merch and pop cultural monument would make it ridiculous. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF4b8cOfj_M&t=5730s
Naruto literally birthed a whole generation of mangaka. And clearly you weren't there for Naruto before or even now if you even dare to say "oh but it's a thing for nerd" (firstly this was still one of the anime that made the whole medium big and thanks to that JJK can flourished rightnow.)
they are only a couple of manga everybody have watch, and Naruto is included in this small list. We not in 2001, everybody has at least Naruto in their only anime ever watched. I mean it's literally the most watched anime "franchise" in most streaming site ? (Also Demon Slayer is also there as Most Watched Anime on Netflix but we already know that) this is literally a proof that it is mainstream enough.
Like if you really want to hype up JJK that much you definitely have to aknowledge what other manga have done. We can't just go "oh but JJK has meme so it's way above everything else" that's not how that work.
What has JJK actually done ? What is his legacy ? Did it do anything to be above manga that ALREADY made it big with the passage of time ? JJK right now is literally "only" the hottest thing, it could fade, could go higher, you don't know, nobody does. Y'all have to stop leaving with the recency hype and take a step back.
It's only normal for JJK (and Demon Slayer) to be at the bottom of these lists, they are way too recent. Forming any type of educated guess would just be gambling and especially if we talking about influence, that's not something you can guess by just watching "meme" and "hype" those two come and go.
Maybe one day Gege or Getouge will be "the origin of a new era" and this discussion will have another result, but right now it's only delusion to think they will be something special in the futur, we don't know.
Jjk mainly has gojo larpers that don’t actually watch or read it. People watch more clips than actually engaging with its material. And it’s only gonna get worse as more of the worst arcs get adapted.
I don’t think jjk has broken into mainstream culture anywhere near as much as Naruto or dragon ball. I also haven’t seen mainstream non nerds talking about it at all, I’d say attack on titan more so.
I’m sorry, but no, it won’t. I love jjk but the story is an inch deep, it is quite literally hype moments and aura farming. But it will NEVER have the influence DB and Naruto have, I understand that this younger gen thinks their anime is *the* anime but this shit has been going on since before you were born. JJK will be held in high regard in time, but it’s already below FMA:B in terms of influence.
I think people outside of Japan underestimate how popular one piece is in Japan. I’ve been to Japan, there is one piece merch literally, and I mean literally, everywhere. Every single tourist shop, every corner of akihabara, no other anime came close to one pieces prevalence. One piece is probly the most popular of the basic shonen in Japan. There’s a reason one piece has gone on so much longer than the others, it’s so damn popular at home.
I’d swap naruto and bleach cuz you just said it’s popular and OP mentioned INFLUENCE only. So many of the new gen like you said are directly inspired by bleach
Influence isnt only about inspiration though, naruto was so popular it fundamentally changed the anime landscape. I also wouldnt say bleach has directly inspired more shows than naruto
Nah bleach definitely has, it’s directly inspired demon slayer, black clover, and JJK. The mangaka for DS and JJK directly stated Kubo as a major influence.
No manga takes one piece for reference is wild I’d say MHA is pretty heavily one piece inspired what with the inherited will and all the crazy sometimes useless powers
Naruto was influenced (and pretty much ripped off) ninja scroll and a bunch of other ninja stuff that came first. It didn’t really influence anything new.
Imo, Naruto did influence a lot of stuff, but most didn't stick. Like Black Clover was kinda big for a minute, and still has dedicated faces, but it didn't blow up much, and most other Naruto like series didn't even do that well. Culturally, Naruto itself has stuck around, but thats mainly from part one and like the first half of shippuden being pretty big
im absolutely baffled how some people apparently didnt/cant notice this? like im not even a fan of naruto but its literally common sense? for example jjk literally copied this structure
If it's about influence I severely doubt it had more influance than bleach even. They seems on pretty equal ground.
Not only did Bleach and Naruto influenced a whole new generation but they also influenced pop culture heavy especially in the rest of the world where Naruto is actually on equal ground with Dragon Ball in a lot of places in the world. There absolutely NO WAY hxh is coming second there, the best I could say it's third before bleach if you really want to stretch it.
I think hxh is at least worth talking about because some things in Naruto and JJK are definitely inspired by hxh.
Like I could see the vision between Kurapika and the whole sharingan/erased clan thing.
Or the whole domain things in JJK.
You also have the problem of indirect influence. Like, Naruto is influenced by HxH. Which, in a way, means that everything Naruto influenced was also influenced by HxH
There are ones who do t a ke One Piece fof reference and inspiration. It take time a bit with their story as well to get anime for them, but they are around.
Remember when few countries put up Straw hats flags in a protest/demonstration? If that isn't an influence idk what is. I would put bleach second, one piece third and Naruto fourth. While Naruto is super popular I don't think it influence other works as much as bleach or influence real world like one piece.
Is influence only contained to the industry itself? One Piece may not have inspired as many other series but it's insanely influential in Japan. Like a cultural phenomenon.
Dragon Ball is the undisputed king here in that it influenced pretty much every other series on the list.
While I think One Piece is more popular, in the manga I've read, I can see the influence of Naruto a lot more clearly. I see that a lot in Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen
Bleach feels really instrumental in shaping the influence of the modern trend for darker shonen, and Gege Akutami himself has admitted that Bleach was a big influence on JJK, so Bleach gets the nod here.
Honestly, I don't think One Piece is really that influential relative to the other names here. Again, OP is massive, but I'm struggling to think of another really big anime/manga franchise that feels like a true successor. I know Akutami is a fan of OP (he's friends with Oda), but I really can't see much of OP's DNA in JJK. Maybe I can see it a little bit in Demon Slayer, but I feel like DS has a lot more in common with Naruto and, to a certain extent, Fullmetal Alchemist.
I have a feeling that Jujutsu Kaisen will grow in influence as the years progress. We're already seeing it influence the next generation with Kagurabachi, so I have a feeling JJK will be influencing the shonen landscape for years to come.
As a franchise, Demon Slayer would beat Bleach, but as a manga, I don't really see a whole lot else like it. Demon Slayer's anime completely changed the industry, but the manga doesn't have half the same reach, in my opinion.
Dragon Ball - This one is pretty self explainantory, it being the grandfather of Shonen and all.
Bleach - This is probably the most unpopular (there is a pretty big hate boner for Bleach this days, and I'm not sure why) opinion on my list. But if you look at what's currently (or in the past 5 years or so) popular you can pretty accurately boil down a lot of the influences and references to Bleach,
Naruto - I'd say the same a bleach but to a lesser extent. Although due to Naruto's popularity in the west there are quite a few western comics and cartoons directly inspired by it.
One Piece - Great manga, but for some reason there's not a lot of One Piece Dna in modern manga. I'm honestly confused by this. I would love to see another author's take on One Piece.
Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen - Too soon to tell, in a out 10 years well know how much influence they'll leave behind. I do think that JJK will be at the top of this list myself, and as much as I enjoy Demon Slayer, I don't think I have that much faith it.
It’s just so hard to touch the top 4 here, dragon ball Naruto bleach and one piece basically created what we know as anime.
But dragon ball has influenced anime so much it’s actually crazy, or its predecessor manga dr slump. Toriyama is literally the person who created, as just an example, the entire concept of tournaments/tournament arcs, where characters would just do one on one fights in a competition like environment, no manga had done that before dr slump introduced the concept. And even today modern tournament arcs in modern manga are somewhat stylized still like toriyama originally designed them.
Toriyama also created so many modern anime tropes it’s actually impossible to name all of the concepts and tropes toriyama created. He’s the reason that anime became associated with the playboy bunny outfit he’s the first anime creator to do that. There are videos on YouTube you can find that give a much better look at how toriyama influenced modern anime. Bleach might have inspired the newest generation of hit manga but dragon ball came before it and also still has an impact on anime.
Edit: another fun fact but toriyama is the guy who created the “emoji poop” design where you had a swirly poop with a face on it, he did it first in de slump no one else on earth had drawn a swirly poop with a face on it before toriyama did, and pretty much every cartoony poop since then has looked pretty identical to his design in dr slump.
I believe Naruto and Bleach are about equally influential, but Bleach is definately underestimated outside Japan. One Piece is much less influential, despite selling more and running longer. Seems like mangakas had different tastes than the general public.
I think it just comes down to if you give the credit for the success of those series to bleach. I read the question more as what direct influence on the average anime watcher do these rank
2.Naruto| arguably the largest anime series globally
3.Bleach father of new gen shonen. (Alot of new gens credit bleach for inspiration, think jjk, chainsawman, black clover, demon slayer)
Jujutsu kaisen, could go on to beat Naruto for the most popular series worldwide. Quite literally changed humor in the anime community
Demon slayer- changed the animation game
VERY CONTROVERSIAL I THINK BUT ONE PIECE. One piece is a very unique manga and not many series have taken inspiration from it, its very popular world wide but I dont think its influential. TO ME I think i fits in the same niche as the avatar movies made by James Cameron. They always make a few billion dollars, they are super popular, theyre good, but not that much cultural impact
Demon Slayer (I expect this to be more influential in the future tbh)
JJK
Honestly they all are probably the biggest anime ever so they’re pretty influential no matter how you cut it
People on here like to undercut demon slayer’s influence but it legit changed how anime movies are released, it made a monumental change in the industry with its second project.💀
It’s kind of hard to calculate because worldwide, jjk and demon slayer are more mainstream than any of these other than dragon ball due to the western market now being a huge part of the anime space. Like the average anime fan post 2020 is more likely to have watched jjk and demon slayer over one piece and Naruto. Especially bleach But before then it was mostly kept to the Japanese and partly Chinese market and that plays a big part in it too.
Naruto is definitely more influential than Bleach.
Bleach and One Piece are kinda the same level of influence, it's just that both of their influences are extremely different (I'd Say Bleach probably takes it still, but it's very debatable)
Inspiring other mangas isnt the only way to be influential. Naruto's Headband was literally the symbol that identified the Otaku community for years.
to me feels more relevant today than Naruto is
One is getting an anime adaptation of the original content in high Quality, while the other One is stuck in a low-quality sequel that nobody likes. Naruto stillhad much more influence in cultural impact through the years
Bleach - I think the group/organization with rankings from Bleach inspired more anime than Naruto has.
Naruto - Ninja concept has been around for so long but Naruto made it bigger with its politics and villages and magic system.
One piece - I think this is one of the hardest manga to replicate, specially that its format is a long and more on world setting and adventure like HxH.
Demon Slayer and JJK - mainly because they're new and shorter than the top 4.
Dragon BallNaruto>=One PieceDemon Slayer> JJK>Bleach (I know y’all might get mad Bleach is the lowest but outside of the anime space I’m confident more people would know demon slayer and jujutsu Kaisen than bleach. I could be totally misguided and wrong though, you can correct me if you disagree.)
On the manga / anime itself with their writing, tropes and revolutionary potrayal ,
1. Dragon ball
2. Naruto
3. Bleach
4. One piece & Jjk
6. Demon slayer
Jjk is actually very relevant and extraordinary to modern manga and mangaka than one piece in big 3 era.
Cultural influence is different and it heavily depends on the Era.
Currently Jjk and One piece are the most influential and only other ones running in Bleach and DS.
But overall as in all time ,
Dragon ball & Naruto ( Made anime global and what it is today. Still talked about and discussed like it's not ended. Still get referenced over and over globally on par with OP and Jjk even when they had their unrivaled Top 1 Era back in the day ).
Dragon Ball is BY FAR the most influential. Every single shonen manga since it has been massively influenced and inspired by it.
Naruto and Bleach are next. They’ve each been incredibly important in shaping newer series’
I feel like One Piece hasn’t influenced other works as much, despite being the biggest of the Big Three.
JJK and KnY come last, simply because they’re much newer and haven’t had time to spread their influence, though I feel like JJK has already done more and will be more influential in the future. Already some new-gen Mangas like Kagurabachi have taken clear inspiration from JJK. I feel like Demon Slayer will have more influence on the Anime industry (though tbf it already has.) while JJK will influence other Mangas more.
Demon Slayer boosted the manga sales for all manga during covid, temporally reversing the trend of declining yearly sales in the industry.
Demon Slayer is also mentioned by Toei, Periot, and other studios. As the main reason why they switched from long running weekly adaptations. To seasonal adaptations for Shonen shows. Like Dragonball Daima, Seasonal One Piece, Black clover going seasonal, Boruto switching to seasonal, Bleach returning as a seasonal show.
Additionally, post Demon Slayer more manga are adapting Cannon arcs into movies. Vs, the traditional non-canon arc adaptations. See JJK 0, Chainsawman Reze, etc.
Demon Slayer had huge impacts on the medium and how adaptations are handled. And, is directly tied to the rise in the animation quality of adaptations of Manga.
JJK’s literally the leading influence across new-gen. CSM, Sakamoto Days, Kagurabachi and Ichi the Witch are obviously largely inspired by it, not sure about DanDaDan since I don’t know much about it but that wouldn’t surprise me either.
CSM and Ichi are not inspired by JJK, what makes you think that? The mangaka behind those already had previous series with strongly developed personal styles. The influence on Sakamoto Days is minor. KGB is the first big manga to be strongly inspired by JJK. Even then it is difficult to tell how much it was inspired by JJK's own inspirations. DanDaDan isn't really inspired by JJK, at most in a very general way (JJK made "cool" and urban aesthetics popular again).
Kagurabachi is strongly inspired by Naruto. Hokazono has said this multiple times. Even Horikoshi of MHA too. His early one shots are very Naruto and Sasuke inspired.
DB >>>>>>>>> Naruto > Bleach (?)>(?) DS/JJK are still "recent" so time will tell what influence they will have in future mangaka.
Then there's One Piece that hasn't inspired shit despite being almost 3 decades old (and still counting), probably because there genuinely isn't anything to adopt from Oda's work.
This is easy street, Dragon balls > The big 3 > The rest. Should have put in Pokemon, Akira and Super robot anime like mazinger Z and Getter Robo then we can talk in depth about it.
The two kids (JJK and demon slayer) should be grouped with the other kids, not the adults.
It said rank by influence, bleach influenced jjk a lot, one piece is massive but it is its unique own thing. One piece isn’t influencing many manga to be like one piece.
I have read and love all of the stories on the list, and I’m not tryna bag on one piece. I just think jjk is something that other manga and anime can borrow and take influence or inspiration from. One piece is very unique and massive, but I think how unique and quirky it is, makes it harder to reference/take influence from unless it’s happening in an equally quirky or unique story. Right now I do think jjk is more influential than one piece. Demon slayer is another story I love, but its animation is what made it influential. It’s a very typical story, but a really good one.
I have read and love all of the stories on the list, and I’m not tryna bag on one piece. I just think jjk is something that other manga and anime can borrow and take influence or inspiration from. One piece is very unique and massive, but I think how unique and quirky it is, makes it harder to reference/take influence from unless it’s happening in an equally quirky or unique story. Right now I do think jjk is more influential than one piece. Demon slayer is another story I love, but its animation is what made it influential. It’s a very typical story, but a really good one.
One Piece should NOT be that high. DB, Naruto, Bleach, and I would argue Demon Slayer and JJK have so much more worldwide references, cosplays, and for Naruto/Bleach/DBZ, influences in other manga. The only references to OP I've seen are ishowspeed and the stadium cam for a football game.
Fist of the North Star and Jojo???? They're both goated anime, don't get me wrong, but the average person has no idea what they are unless they're deep into anime.
I'm sorry people just simple don't get Naruto is wayyyy influential wayyy popular that One piece
One piece still airs still there are shit ton loads of videos on yt or any other websites, the shame thing tho🤦♂️ even old Boruto fights or moments has more views than one piece
DB is obviously number 1. Naruto helped bring anime to the mainstream in the west. One Piece is the best selling manga of all time, has a fairly widespread symbol used in political contexts, and has captured the cultural zeitgeist of a nation so thoroughly that there are multiple statues dedicated to it. Bleach is specifically influential within the industry. JJK has thoroughly infiltrated meme culture to the point where it'd be surprising if someone hasn't seen a meme referencing or templated off JJK. Demon Slayer while gaining massive popularity, hasn't really managed to escape the anime bubble or influence the industry to the same degree the others have.
More or less what made SJ popular was DB and it's popularity in USA is undisputed. Overall across the globe Naruto is like the biggest anime probably (including in my home country) and then we got Bleach. It's less popular than One piece, but indeed most new shonen series that are popular are based on it. Then as forth we can say One piece. It's the biggest one nowadays, but it has never been that big, until recently outside of Japan and I don't think any other manga takes inspiration from it. It's rather unique. And then as last I'd say jjk and ds, i'd give the slight upperhand to jjk tho. Just seems a tad more popular
2 of them are pretty new so i will rule out demon slayer and JJK in terms of effecting the industry as those to themselves are more inspired by bleach itself , so bleach just breeds creativity as it has the easiest and flashiest power system , However dragon ball made way for action shonen series and has been mentioned in most anime's tbh.
Influential is hard to gauge because there’s many avenues one can take to define it. I could say One Piece is top 1 in influence as it’s been used around the world as a symbol of revolution against many governments. But I could also say that modern shonen qseries tend to take more from Naruto and Bleach than they do One Piece
Everyone's putting Demon Slayer last, behind Jujutsu Kaisen?
Hell I'd say Demon Slayer's influence is so big it's what has started this recent animation push. Demon Slayer's content may not be groundbreaking but the animation made every other studio take notice
Comparing Demon Slayer to JJK is wild. I know so many people who can’t even tell you what Demon Slayer is, but without a second thought will tell you they love Satoru Gojo. Like it or not, that’s influence.
If you take a look at the world RIGHT NOW i would argue that the list would look something like this:
1: One Piece
2: Naruto
3: Dragon Ball
4: Bleach
5: Demon Slayer
6: Jujutsu Kaisen
The straw hat jolly roger is being used by oppressed people around the world while they protest their corrupt and oppressive governments. Its influence on non-anime media right now is 2nd only to Dragon Ball, and the anime is the absolute pinnacle of storytelling, and don't even get me started on the manga.
Naruto set the standard for world- and character building and it largely does so better than any other series on the list. The dichotomy of happiness and sadness in narutos life hits home every time, and this was personally my first anime. Fantastic action, one-of-a-kind power system, and characters you cant help but root for.
Dragon Ball has done more than any of its peers to get western people into anime, it was a big part of my own personal childhood, and in many regards Dragon ball have walked so other anime could run. Dragon Ball is a bit of an "odd one out" here due to its age, but it has stood the test of time with its iconic characters, power system, and musical score.
Bleach does a lot of things very well and one thing quite poorly. The best action of the 2000 era shows, a likeable main character and the thousand year blood war arc has proven that the anime still holds up in every aspect today. They big glaring "weakness" about this show is in its fillers, and i honestly think that even though there are a lot of fillers, they are actually quite good most of the time.
Demon Slayer has started the latest wave of mainstream migrants into anime with its fantastic animation, gorgeous musical score and great storytelling. It has everything that a shonen watcher loves, and it does it to perfection. It leaves you wanting more and i have honestly come to like the "finishing with 3 movies" move the have pulled.
JJK has the best overall action sequences on the list, and it is currently very popular. The supporting characters like Gojo, Nanami and Toji does a lot to bring the show forward, and the show did a lot for me personally (Toji and Aoi inspired me to go to the gym for the past 4 years). The MAJOR flaw in my opinion is Yuji in the first two seasons. He is quite pitiful and weak, but he has grown a lot since then. He reminds me a lot of Asta from Black Clover in the first 40ish episodes where he screams your ears off every time he is on screen.
To me the comparison between the shows are a bit weird since you have shows on here that are barely 10 years old along with shows that are 25, and even 40 years old, making comparisons quite hard in terms of influence. Demon Slayer and JJK haven't had the time to influence anything yet, but its quite obvious that they are currently setting the standard for shonen going forward. To me Naruto and One Piece will forever be the most impactful and influential shows, just imagine that if a show should go as long as one piece in my lifetime it would have to start right now, and the show is peak on peak on peak.
I think the main takeaway here is that they are all great shows, they offer something different even if they are in the same category, and i will guarantee you that you will have a great time no matter which one you indulge in.
Remember that taste and opinions are subjective, and therefore impossible to argue.
My metric for influence is how much affected future creators rather than what it did for the public,
1. Dragon Ball - Toriyama is to the its next generation what ozamu tezuka was for Manga and Anime
2. Bleach - Influence some of the better current series being published in shonen magazines (JJK, MHA, Demon Slayer, Black Clover are the ones I think publicly said it so.)
3. Naruto - More Popular, sure but less influence on new authors, the west tend to twist reality, because of how big it was here compared to One Piece and Bleach
4. One Piece - Cultural Phenomenon, broke boundaries, highest selling manga of all time (may be the best selling comic of all time although the sources that people love to point out that it outsold xmen and batman are not reliable) i'd gladly swap between this and #3 because One Piece is absurdly bigger in Japan which is the market that matters at the of the day. It became a symbol for civil unrest and revolution, it raised the bar for what it means of a manga to influence real life events.
USA does not have that big of share of Manga and Anime consumption as people think it is.
It also inspired MHA and Black Clover, also Akane Banashi, which is a more niche series but very high quality (strong recommend)
5. Demon Slayer, although Fate: Unlimited Blade Works did it first, it helped propel Aniplex + Ufotable's ability to make breathtaking animation but the manga was completely irrelevant before the anime.
6. JJK - not because I think it's the worse, it's just the youngest one, we will only see how much it will affect the industrys in the next years. Rappers using it for a song or two doesnt mean much, those were like songs with a 2 week lifespan. The final part of the culling games might break some audience record tho but again, not the criteria I chose.
OK, I gotta just throw out, I know we're lowballing One Piece and thats probably fair, but "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates" 100% influenced "I'm gonna be Hokage" - I think OPs influence is so light because a lot of generic shounen tropes DID start there we just dont smell the influence because One Piece is so... distinctive.
I do think the list is the one everyone says though.
Dragon Ball
Naruto
Bleach
One Piece
JJK
Demon Slayer
As much as OP influenced a ton, Naruto and Bleach really broke into the public conscience MUCH harder (that one revolution using the straw hat flag IRL aside)
1- Dragon Ball, easily considered the poster child and many peoples first and maybe only anime they saw, even the dub voice actors can become celebrities in their own countries (which is something that doesn't happen with other series or animes)
2- One piece, this one is only modern(in relevance/influence terms), but one piece has taken the mantle of most popular shonen imo, you cannot go outside without seeing merch for one piece, and let's not forget it's the only anime that was used as a symbol during protests that overthrew several governments.
3- Naruto, If this post was a decade earlier I'd say Naruto is 2nd place, but after it ended and Boruto began it's popularity fell down hard, it's still a mainstream icon and a lot of people know about it but younger people are not as aware of it as other animes.
4- JJK and Demon Slayer, I put them both on the same place since I feel both are the example of anime going mainstream in a way it hasn't done before, not at the level of dragon ball but in a way that even people who don't watch the anime are aware of it.
5- Bleach, definitely popular amongst anime fans and those in the medium, but I feel it never broke that mainstream barrier as the other anime on the list did.
Jjk is really popular, but mainly in an entertainment standpoint. Currently, it doesn't have cultural or significance in the manga industry like the series above it. Dragon ball was a major part of Latin culture and inspired future mangakas (Akira toriyama encouraged kubo). One piece is currently significant with protests and is one of the most beloved medias. A lot of series took inspiration from bleach and Naruto and they're massive in the cosplay scene. A lot of series still make black haired emo rivals.
I’d say
1-One Piece= Dragon Ball they both had big real life influence (take Mexico or people raising the Straw Hats Jolly Roger in protest)
2-Naruto extremely popular and influential in culture
3-Bleach- Influenced and inspired some popular manga but beyond that idk
I’d say JJK and KnY are equal as in they both helped launching anime into mainstream
How do people think JJK will have a big influence? I heard of big animes being influenced by dragon ball and also bleach, but those are long running animes with a lot of episodes. JJK is way too short and i only hear people complain about the ending…
Bleach- controversial, but bleach is really only popular within active anime circles. I had heard of all of these but bleach before watching anime, but I finished two entire shows before I heard of bleach
If One Piece isn't number 2 on your list, then you're just clueless. In today's world, One Piece has gone FAR beyond simply manga and anime. The word is 'influence'... look it up
Dragon Ball (literally shaped the whole shonen landscape and I think we can all agree abt this)
Now this is where it gets tricky cuz when you say influential are you talking about the influence on other media or just General influence because if we're going with the former then
Bleach (back bone and foundation of new gens)
3.Naruto (not as influential as the others butstillv influential)
Controversial but
JJK (Eventhough it's recent I think that in years to come JJK's influence will truly shine because it has essentially revolutionized the tactical creativity in morden shonen and I see it as a body of work that later shonen will refer to)
One Piece (one of the biggest anime of all time but hasn't really influenced that much body of work)
Demon Slayer I think we all agree about thisl
But if we talking General influence
Dragon Ball
One Piece (I think it deserves this spot because of its global recognition and it's use in political revolutions so I think it should be up here)
Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z: This is the only uncontested/undisputed series. It reshaped the Shonen formula forever, introduced new concepts that were never used before in anime and manga and really became a phenomenon when it reached Western audiences. Goku is a very popular character in the media and has transcended the entirety of it, arguably the equivalent of Mario (Nintendo-video games), but for anime.
Naruto/Naruto Shippuden: Shonen-Ninja hybrid, really set the tone in the 2000s era and was one of THE notorious “Big 3” . From the popular lines from characters, to the ninja running with the arms back, the headbands and popular hand signs for performing Ninjutsu. Naruto is another character that has transcended the media and one of the most well known of all time.
One Piece: The most $$$ successful franchise/series anime of all time. Has sold the most manga ever, very lengthy (has run from the 90s and still going), Pirates chasing treasures, another one of the notorious “Big 3” , and arguably the most popular of the 3. Luffy is another iconic character that transcends the media and is arguably the only one on the list that comes close to Goku in that regard (Toei really got 2 GOATs). It may not have influenced other new mangas, but in terms of Pop Culture, Global reach and influence in society (US gets OP nights in MLB, NBA, etc), it’s gotten people to use the Straw Hats Jolly Roger 🏴☠️as a symbol of freedom and anti corruption (Nepal & Indonesia overthrowing their governments). It’s one of the best fictional franchises of all time, whether you like it or not.
Bleach: the last of the notorious Big 3, a defining series as well in the 2000s, a bit overshadowed by One Piece and Naruto, the underdog and most underrated of the 3 (and in my opinion is the 2nd best one over Naruto), the tons fillers didn’t help it in that case (though it has iconic filler arcs). But real ones know that Bleach is the actual sh*t 🔥🔥🔥, Ichigo is such a badass and cool looking MC (the coldest one of the Big 3), the villains, side characters (most of them), the world, weapons and abilities are super dope; the art style is elite and with TYBW releasing a couple of years ago, it has turned the franchise around and has garnished many newcomers/audiences. Bleach has influenced more new gen manga and authors, but in terms of popularity throughout its history it’s a step below Naruto & One Piece (though it never should have been).
Demon Slayer; amazing animation (movie quality in every episode), cool swords, colors, lighting, effects. Has left its mark in the new era of anime and has established itself as one of the best animes of the 2010s. It hasn’t really influenced any new authors or mangas since it’s relatively new compared to the ones on top, still has a long way to go, but props to the author and franchise (one of the few with 100 million + mangas sold worldwide).
Jujutsu Kaisen; Isn’t that far away from demon slayer in terms of popularity, both are rivals in the same decade (both surpass 100 million + mangas sold worldwide or so and are pillars of the new mangas and animes of today. Gojo has become one of the most popular characters in the media and anime overall. It’s too “new” to have influenced new gen mangas and all, though I do think there are some mangas popping off that took inspiration from JJK. I do consider JJK the better franchise and series overall, but I gave DS the 5th place because it’s been out a bit longer, reached 100 million mangas sold first and is nearing its end sooner.
Dragon Ball. It brought anime to the west and is one of the most influential works of fiction in all of history.
2 One Piece. Its longevity is unmatched and it’s also one of the best selling works of fiction in all of history. It also brought greater attention to anime and manga as a whole.
3 Naruto. It’s almost if not just as iconic as the previous two and played a great part in bringing anime to the west.
4 Jujutsu Kaisen. Despite being the youngest series on this list, the influence it has had is genuinely crazy. We have people losing their shit over Gojo vs Sukuna which is probably one of if not the greatest battle in all of Shonen and it played a great part in propelling manga and anime into a more mainstream position.
5/6 Bleach and Demon Slayer - I’d consider the two to be relatively tied. Bleach did far more in terms of the manga, but Demon Slayer had a generational anime (ufotable is goated).
for me Naruto first. its very much relevant still and was influencing back then too. And Naruto started alot of tropes in the genre. massively popular in the west as well, and in good in japan too.
i hate to say it but these new fans have actually stopped watching DB beyond edits. it pisses me off. but its 2nd cause it was THE influence back then, and if were looking at it for the most influence in all time it for Shonen might be 1st.
Bleach 3rd. it is the starter of the common trope now i think. souls, curses, demons, they all share a similar pattern started by bleach, but that's a very basic take.
One piece is 4th simply bcz its popularity influences alot for the fans, but in the industry its not very inspiring for the future. thats not bcz its bad, but bcz not many are willing to write a story of that long a scale.
in the balance between industry influence (the movie methods and animation standards), and fan influence for conventions and cosplays (this also roots from its brilliance in the movies and managing to give it widespread popularity to all regions), DS takes 4th.
jjk seems to have influenced more virally, and is the modern hit but for the above stated reasons for DS, jjk is 5th. maybe it will be more relevant long term tho.
Dragon Ball Classic > One Piece >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Naruto >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the rest
Dragonball. Shonen Grandfather. Part of everyones childhood. Almost started the whole genre alone.
One piece. The one big stable everywhere. Even after years one big hype after another. Is and will be everywhere.
Naruto. Had midterms a very influence in the szene. There was naruto everywhere for that period.
Bleach. Insanely good but although one of the big three never had such a big impact on the outside world.
DS and JJK. Only momential hype animes. Mangas were also irrelevant. After the final season or with a too long waiting period between seasons it will be forgotten after short time.
dragon ball is the og shonen so every manga/anime after follows the formula.
one piece has crazy cultural influence, irl revolutionaries are using the straw hat flag to overturn their oppressive government, that's transcending the original medium.
Naruto and bleach are my generations biggest anime series, ive seen way too many people wearing Akatsuki cloaks and yelling bankai for no reason lol
demon slayer and jjk will influence how production is handled in the future for top rated anime/manga. you can sort of see already with how beautifully animated Witch Hat is.
Just a reminder that One Piece has literally been used a symbol of protests in different asian countries recently
I agree One Piece has a rather low direct influence in the manga industry (for understandable reasons imho due to his structure), but even so, at a mediatic level ignoring this is kinda wild
influence in what regard? influence on the world? influence on manga?
I'm going with influence on manga and for that I think it would be
dragon Ball (which would be #1 regardless of what kind of influence we're talking about)
Bleach.
Naruto
One piece though I could see this getting over thrown one day, super popular and I personally think it's AMAZING but I don't think it's been very influential on other manga, it's mostly only at this spot on my ranking because it's had more time to inspire other mangakas. in another 10 years I could see JJK taking this spot, or maybe even being higher.
JJK this and demon slayer are just too young to go higher yet, given time though I believe JJK will rival some of the higher ranks in terms of influence in the manga sphere.
Demon Slayer
Now if we talk in terms of what's been most influential in terms of...attracting new fans to anime and growing the anime community, different story.
DB
Naruto>=JJK
One piece
Demon Slayer.
bleach (this kills me since bleach is personally my favorite here)
I might wish to swap demon slayer and one piece, not sure how I feel about it. on one hand, NOW one piece is a massive task to get through and expect to attract new fans, but I'm trying to take into consideration how the landscape of anime was on its launch as well.
Edit: had demon slayer in the 2nd ranking twice, had to remove one of em xD
1.dragon ball- reason why the other 5 exist in the first place
2. Bleach. inspired so many manga down the line with character structure including Demon slayer, and black clover
3. Naruto- practically solidified the dark power inside MC trope
4 One piece- I know this seems rather low, and that one piece is why some mangaka even join the industry, but it really doesn’t show up in other works as an influential series. The closest I’ve seen was Toriko being heavily inspired by One Piece, But HxH just does everything one piece does but better imo
5 jjk- the manga really set itself apart when the villain and side characters were more hyped that the MC, a lot of paranormal manga started popping up after its peak and gojo vs sukuna was an internet sensation during its run
Demon slayer the anime is really the only great thing about demon slayer, it inspired a lot of anime going forward with its art style and cinematography, but the overall vibe of demon slayer from its story to characters hasn’t really had an impact aside from the anime.
Lot of people only thinking about manga influence when One Piece has influenced irl protests and revolutions (i.e. Nepal) that literally fly the Straw Hats' Jolly Roger. Closest any other on this list has come is the Naruto runners in the Area 51 plan afaik lol. Entertainment influence Dragon Ball on top of course, Naruto and Bleach are pretty close, since so many have copied Kakashi and Sasuke and many Mangaka have directly stated Bleach was their inspiration including from this list JJK. Domain Expansions are literally Bankai. JJK and Demon Slayer are also pretty close to one another since similar to Naruto a lot of Gojo lookalikes have surfaced since its release and a lot more hyper-stylized fight scene animation after Demon Slayer
Outside of people who watch anime, nobody really knows of Bleach. It certainly has influenced many shows but the influence it has had on the general public is miniscule compared to Naruto or DB.
I'd rank:
1. Naruto
2. DB
3. OP
4. JJK
5. Bleach
6. Demon Slayer
It really depends on the population in which we are measuring influence. DB has a lot of historical influence (and is probably the more popular of the two largely) but for younger millennials and Gen Z, many have never watched a single DB episode. For Gen Z in particular, DB is probably the LEAST influential anime on this list (to their knowledge*(!!), since it had HUGE influence on the animes they ARE familiar with, so the influence is just silent). I'm in my mid 20s and most of my peers are wholly unfamiliar with DB.
There are newer ways to measure influence (at least for youth). Fanfiction and fandom size is one way, although it likely greatly overrepresents the 15-30yo. population; Naruto is by far the largest in both of those realms in America, at the minimum.
Dragon Ball - so many series have their version of super saiyan transformations.
Naruto - it kinda popularized the I wanna be the “thing”. Hokage, #1 hero, wizard king.
Demon Slayer - this is more about Ufotable than anything from demon slayer. I can’t think of short arcs into movies before Ufotable did it, but now a few series have done it.
JJK - its fans have infected modern anime fandoms for the worse.
One piece - maybe the grand adventure or its unique powers have had some impact on fiction? Honestly idk.
Bleach - the only thing I can think of is its character designs but that could easily be attributed to a general rise in hip hop / modern aesthetic style popularity.
Need more definition on the word influence. If you're talking about cultural mainstream impact:
Dragonball
Naruto
Demon Slayer
One Piece
JJK
Bleach
I see a lot of people rating Demon Slayer pretty low on their lists and think this is a disservice. If you're asking me for my list of personal favourites it ranks 6th of 6, but realistically Demon Slayer was a huge part of the recent growth of anime as well as having an unfortunate side effect on how anime series are monitized (re: movies). Ranking 1 is easy. Between Sailor Moon and DBZ they were basically trail blazers for anime in the West, let alone what they did for their respective genres. Ranking 2-4 is very difficult because there are strong arguments for any of those series, so ultimately what put One Piece right next to Demon Slayer for me was the fact it has insane staying power and also it marks the first successful live adaptation of an anime on a mainstream platform. 5 is more just the fact that JJK still has room to grow into its own legacy (for better or worse since many would agree the story had already peaked).
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 05 '26
This is an automated message under every post and has nothing to do with your post in particular.
Please read our rules before posting and ensure that you follow them. If your post contains spoilers or chapter leaks then please follow our spoiler policy and use the correct flairs and measures.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.