When one first discovers manga and anime, you quite often begin choosing titles based on what critics, fans and friends have to say. By the time I got into manga and anime around 2009, I began to hear the term “The Big Three” frequently. Naturally, these series were amongst the first that I watched and were quite formative on my initial tastes. However, as time has gone on, I have slowly come to detest and hate the term “The Big Three” for numerous reasons.
First off, I should begin by explaining what “The Big Three” are. The term refers to both the manga and anime incarnations of One Piece, Naruto and Bleach and were considered by many to be essential reading/watching when it came to exploring the worlds of manga and anime. However, the term has become not only irrelevant as time has gone on but it has also contributed to misinformation when it comes to both the manga and anime industries and the role that these series play within them.
To start with, one must question whether the term was ever true in the first place. No one can deny the importance of One Piece in the manga industry with an estimated 480 million copies sold worldwide, making it the best-selling manga of all time. However, Naruto’s manga sales number about 250 million copies. While still very impressive, this places Naruto in fourth place behind One Piece and either Dragonball or Golgo 13 in second and third place. Bleach in particular is surprisingly low on the list with only an estimated 120 million copies sold. This places it below numerous other series such as Detective Conan, Slam Dunk, Black Jack and several others. This is not to belittle these sales figures as all of the series I’ve mentioned so far have sold incredibly well but when people hear the term “The Big Three”, they quite often mistake these three series as being the most popular manga of all time, something which contributes both to misinformation regarding the popularity of manga and my hate of the term.
When it comes to their anime incarnations, the term fares even worse. While all three anime series have been quite successful, their viewership pale compared to either the most watched anime episodes of all time or the weekly most watched anime in Japan. One Piece quite often makes its way to fifth or sixth place for most watched anime of the week while Naruto and Bleach quite often struggled to even crack the top ten. Again, this is not to belittle the success of these shows, only to point out that these series are not the be-all and end-all of anime.
It also doesn’t help that the term itself is incredibly outdated. While both the manga and anime versions of One Piece are still going strong, Naruto finished up both its manga and anime incarnations in 2014 and 2017 respectively while Bleach finished its manga and anime in 2016 and 2012 respectively, although it’s worth noting that the final arc of the manga will be adapted into an anime at some point in the future. Since then we have seen numerous manga and anime series grow incredibly popular but some Western fans cannot let go of “The Big Three”.
Of course, perhaps some Western fans intended the term to simply refer to some of the more popular manga and anime series in the West and, if it’s interpreted in that way, I can accept that. However, I have come across too many instances of toxicity surrounding the term as well as people blindly believing these franchises to be the largest in either the manga or anime industries to accept it in general.
I have grown to hate the term “The Big Three” due to the misinformation and confusion it causes surrounding the manga and anime industries and how it also contributes to stigma towards these mediums as a form of storytelling. Let me know your thoughts on the term “The Big Three”, whether you like it or hate it, whether you also believe the term contributes to confusion and misunderstanding and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!