Manga/Anime Tier-List

[Fantastische Hure]

This is purely going-off of the series' popularity in its home-country (so not regarding quality). So Japan only. I'd say I base the list on a couple of things:

Popularity
Sales
Influence/Impact
Staying power
And perhaps as a franchise as a whole but that's only secondary since this is mainly about the Manga/Anime

All going by Japan. So not including world-wide success.

I find something like Yu-Gi-Oh! hard to place not only because I'll only include the original series, but as far as at series goes it wasn't even that popular even after the card-game introduction but some-how the cards sell like crazy but the rest of the franchise doesn't seem to be up there. Same with Pokémon.

Tier 0

One-Piece
DragonBall
Astro-Boy
Akira (maybe)
Sailor-Moon (not sure at all to be honest this was a big series in the west but was it as influential and popular in Japan? If not then it's one tier down)

Tier 1

Captain Tsubasa (this could be more of an intermediary between Tier 0 & 1, but I'll stick it here)
Hokuto no Ken
Naruto
Boku no Hero Academia (doesn't seem right since it's just starting but already seems to be heading toward becoming a big media franchise in the future)
Bleach (peak)
Detective-Conan
Saint-Seiya
Jo-Jo Part III
Ranma 1/2
Urusei Yatsura

Tier 2

Hunter x Hunter
Yu-Yu Hakusho
Slam-Dunk
Dr. Slump
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Pokémon
InuYasha

Tier 3

Shaman King
Gin-Tama (deserves to be higher, in my opinion but sadly doesn't seem to be as popular as it might seem. The anime boosted its popularity well though)
Fairy Tail
Rurouni Kenshin
Toriko

Tier 4
Other stuff

I probably forgot a-lot.

What your view on this subject?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Naruto ought to be moved up to tier 0 and Sailor Moon down to tier 1. The former is only surpassed by OP and DB in terms of sales, whereas the latter only has great popularity due to its anime with the manga sales being only slightly above Saint Seiya's. For similar reasons, Conan ought to be moved up a tier for similar reasons and Akira should be moved down at least two tiers when considering it only has influence going for it in terms of what it brought to animation standards and most of its popularity stems from its introduction to western audiences. Also, JoJo should be treat as a whole rather than Part 3, since the most popular part tends to fluctuate in Japan (usually Part 5, though the anime can sometimes affect this such as a major Part 4 boom from 2016-2018). MHA definitely seems ranked too high and I say it'll have a similar situation to Bleach or Attack on Titan - massive popularity at the start, but gradually fading and being forgotten when the average audience realises it as repetitive and are left with nothing to discuss once it ends.

Might as well post my version:

Tier 0
Dragon Ball
Gundam
Doraemon
Pokemon (kind of an odd placement, but there's no denying the franchise's popularity)
Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy)/Black Jack (and Osamu Tezuka works in general)
One Piece
Naruto
Lupin III
Studio Ghibli
Kochikame
Detective Conan
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Tier 1
Slam Dunk
Captain Tsubasa
Hokuto no Ken
Ashita no Joe
Sailor Moon
Legend of the Galactic Heroes
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Rumiko Takahashi works in general (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Maison Ikkoku, etc.)
Kinnikuman
Saint Seiya
Rurouni Kenshin
Go Nagai works in general (Devilman, Mazinger Z, Cutey Honey, etc.)
Hunter X Hunter
Golgo 13
Dr. Slump
City Hunter
Space Pirate Captain Harlock

Tier 2
Space Battleship Yamato
Bleach
Shingeki no Kyojin
Yu-Gi-Oh!
Death Note
Fullmetal Alchemist
Anpanman
Ghost in the Shell
Yu Yu Hakusho
Tetsujin-28
My Hero Academia
Hajime no Ippo

Tier 3
Digimon
Berserk
Akira
Gintama
World Masterpiece Theatre
Monster
Satoshi Kon films
Card Captor Sakura
Rose of Versailles

Tier 4
CLAMP in general
Shaman King
Fairy Tail
Toriko

Couldn't be bothered listing any more.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Also initial post might have been confusing but I meant everything going by Japan not only popularity. Edited OP for that reason.

The problem I found with Pokémon whilst its anime and movies could be considered a success they aren't very influential. Pikachu might be an iconic mascot but you don't see it everywhere in the same vein as DragonBall or One-Piece, similar case with Detective Conan.

I'd rank Rumiko Takahashi's work separately. Some are clearly more popular and influential than others. I think it says something when all popular works aside from InuYasha got a huge home-video blu-ray that includes Maison Ikkoku as-well which isn't as popular as InuYasha so maybe not the best indicator. And InuYasha's 20th anniversary for the anime is only next year so who knows.

JoJo I ranked differently because Part III seems to be way above the others and what really brought it its success.

Naruto is a weird case. It's definitely popular but in Japan I just have this feeling, whilst popular still not on-par with the likes of Tier 0. I mean Boruto isn't that popular and after the series ended it just seems to have disappeared off peoples' memories. I know you could counter with DragonBall GT, but still.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Also initial post might have been confusing but I meant everything going by Japan not only popularity. Edited OP for that reason.

I also took into account legacy along with the popularity of general sales, hence why I ranked OP lower than the top spot. It definitely doesn't have much in the legacy factor compared to series inspiring it (the only major series it's inspired being Toriko) and is outdone in merchandise sales by DB and Gundam, whilst Luffy came #9 in a poll of Japan's favourite anime protagonists, losing to characters such as Lupin III, Goku, Kenshiro, Amuro Ray and Yabuki Joe.

The problem I found with Pokémon whilst its anime and movies could be considered a success they aren't very influential. Pikachu might be an iconic mascot but you don't see it everywhere in the same vein as DragonBall or One-Piece, similar case with Detective Conan.

I'd say that's arguable. The Pokemon fad of the 90s did lead to a large amount of anime series with a monster controlling theme such as Beyblade, Digimon, Dinosaur King, Bakugan and (to some extent) Battle B-Daman. The Pokemon Special manga has also sold over 100mil copies.

I'd rank Rumiko Takahashi's work separately. Some are clearly more popular and influential than others.

That would probably be best, though most of her iconic works such as Ranma 1/2, Urusei Yatsura and Inuyasha are all on such a similar tier when considering each factor I lumped them all together. Ranma and UY probably have the most going for them in terms of legacy, though lack the popularity of Inuyasha. I'd say I'd probably place Urusei Yatsura at the top of her works if editing the list, given the impact it made on harem anime and episodic romcoms.

JoJo I ranked differently because Part III seems to be way above the others and what really brought it its success.

Part 3 generally got more merchandising purely due to it being where Stands were introduced and being the first part to have a large main cast. In terms of popularity, Part 5 tends to be the most highly regarded in Japan, with Part 4 having made a recent boom in popularity in the past few years. In terms of influence/legacy, I'd agree Part 3 is the biggest one due to it inspiring Yu-Gi-Oh, amongst others.

Naruto is a weird case. It's definitely popular but in Japan I just have this feeling, whilst popular still not on-par with the likes of Tier 0. I mean Boruto isn't that popular and after the series ended it just seems to have disappeared off peoples' memories. I know you could counter with DragonBall GT, but still.

Taking influence into account, Naruto did inspire My Hero Academia, which the mangaka of the latter has been very open about. Most of those elements came from Hunter X Hunter and Kinnikuman, though Naruto's popularity being leagues above them still says a lot, not to mention the original manga having consistently been a rival to OP's popularity in terms of weekly chapter votes and having been a popular choice of a favourite manga amongst many Japanese readers (at least from what irl conversations I've had with Japanese people regarding manga).

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Added something about Rumiko Takahashi works in the post above.

If we take this for what it is (can scroll through the years) then it seems One-Piece always had a lead.

http://pharaodopazoplus.blogspot.com/p/weekly-shonen-jump-pure-rankings-200.html

There were odd times when Naruto took the top-spot beating out One-Piece but never sustained the momentum.

Difficult to talk about One-Piece's influence as it is now because the generation now and in the coming decades is going to truly show how much impact it had. The children that read One-Piece back then will become mangakas now is about the time. Naruto's legacy is already showing, so I'd say One-Piece will definitely be influential perhaps even surpassing DragonBall considering its popularity.

True about Pokémon, but that could also be because of the game. Digimon also was a tamagotchi-like device in the beginning before becoming a TV-Series.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

*100 years later*

And also HxH author said a One-Piece saga where many characters were introduced or something like that inspires (or inspired) him to do the same.

 

[SSJ2]

What th hell is Doramon?

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Is a long running comedy-drama series or something like that. There is a mascot on-par with Pikachu.

Also I'm not sure I'd put Kochikame on there. It came-out around a time before the big hits and modern times. By the time DragonBall and so rolled-around out of respect they probably let the manga stay on there, instead of saying that it's enough and to clear some space for a new series. If we put that there, then what about Shin-Chan?

 

[Captain Cadaver]

Also I'm not sure I'd put Kochikame on there. It came-out around a time before the big hits and modern times. By the time DragonBall and so rolled-around out of respect they probably let the manga stay on there, instead of saying that it's enough and to clear some space for a new series. If we put that there, then what about Shin-Chan?

Kochikame still holds the record of being the longest manga in terms of volume count, so that kind of legacy is worth noting as a significant stand out in the medium. That, and its influence isn't ignored by the public, with it coming in #2 amongst Shonen Jump titles voted as the best from the 1960s-70s (#1 being Harenchi Gakuen, the manga by Go Nagai that popularised the ecchi genre).

Shin-Chan has some worth mentioning in its anime having the same episode count as 2005 Doraemon, though that would still probably make it no more than Tier 1 as Doraemon is far more iconic as a whole, that episode count was surpassed by the original Doraemon, the Pokemon anime and Sazae-san, amongst others. The Shin-Chan manga was also only 50 volumes and the series as a whole came out in a time where extremely long episodic comedies had been old news since Kochikame and Doraemon, so it didn't have much influence on the medium beyond western advertisement.

On that subject though, Sazae-san probably deserves to be up there with it having the longest anime of all time, both in episode count and years on air, as well as its general weekly ratings always being #1 for anime viewed that week.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

I was reminded that Sailor-Moon also seemingly inspired PreCure and other Super-Sentai/Shōjo hybrid series. Isn't PreCure also one of the most popular series, in-terms of merchandising at-least.

 

[Captain Cadaver]

I was reminded that Sailor-Moon also seemingly inspired PreCure and other Super-Sentai/Shōjo hybrid series.

In some ways. There were plenty of Mahou-Shoujo prior to Sailor Moon, though that was the series that did help mould the genre into its current form as DB did for battle Shonen (though the popularity of the latter is far more expansive). In that sense, however, you could say that Saint Seiya is vicariously responsible as well due to Sailor Moon having essentially taken its formula and made a female equivalent of combining Tokusatsu/Super Sentai tropes with teenage manga and some mythological inspiration.
It is worth noting, however, that unlike with something like Kinnikuman or DB that permanently changed how battle Shonen worked, the Majou Shoujo genre still had a lot of series that didn't follow its formula or lacked much major inspiration from it. For instance, Utena was far more of a magical school series with some inspiration from Rose of Versailles, Full Moon wo Sagashite is mainly concerned over pop idols rather than typical action and Princess Tutu is a clear deconstruction of the genre that draws primarily from fairy tales as its inspiration.

Isn't PreCure also one of the most popular series, in-terms of merchandising at-least.

It is, though Sailor Moon does still seem far more iconic in Japan. It's also worth noting that as far as popularity of the anime goes, a 2017 survey of a Japanese audiences still didn't have Precure in the top 100, whereas Sailor Moon made the list at #60.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Very informative. Although Japanese polls seem to sometimes rank series in weird ways. I remember that Top 20 Mangakas or something poll recently and was flabbergasted. Didn't seem to go at-all with what I was thinking.

I think your list seems right though even if I might not fully agree. Considering this isn't about every manga series in existences but the really popular ones ending it at Toriko was right since going below that there isn't much noteworthy. Everything after that can just be grouped as above-average tier I guess.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Also now that I think about it (actually quite a-bit before but only writing about it now). The reason I probably said I didn't think of Detective-Conan being up there is probably because One-Piece and DragonBall and so many other series from Weekly-Shōnen-Jump have the Shueisha machine behind them, so the marketing is all like that. Where-as Detective-Conan has Shogakukan behind that with a different kind-of marketing. Probably that.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Would love to see a list where international impact matters since I doubt OP would done well.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

Are you crazy, meng?

One-Piece is popular internationally. Only in English-talking countries doesn't seemed to have done well and that's from what I heard mostly because of the 4kids dub and censoring. One-Piece is huge in Germany.

 

[Let's Go Fearless!]

Speaking of OP

'One Piece' Takes Step Closer To Beating 'Batman' Sales Record

One Piece is the series that cannot be stopped. After more than twenty years in print, the iconic series has amassed millions of readers, and it looks like Monkey D. Luffy is getting ready to square up for his biggest fight yet.

So, forget Blackbeard! Who needs Marshall Teach when you have Bruce Wayne ready to knock down your door?

Recently, a new report went live from Japan detailing the latest sales figures for One Piece. It turns out the on-going title has put out a whopping 450 million copies worldwide, and that total puts it in direct competition with Batman.

To break things down, One Piece has sold about 380 million copies in Japan with 70 million more being sold abroad. This 450 million competes with DC Comics’ iconic series as Batman has sold 474 million single-issues to date. The superhero title has amassed more than 16,000 issues since its debut in 1939, and One Piece has under 1,000 chapters since its 1997 premiere.

Right now, the only thing standing in between Luffy and Batman is a few million copies, so fans of One Piece are hoping the manga can bridge the gap. The shonen title is already the best-selling manga ever created, but it would be something else if the Straw Hats could take down Batman. The series may not be close to toppling the 600 million sales record set by Superman, but One Piece took down Spider-Man and X-Men awhile back. So, here’s to hoping Luffy can toughen up his Haki enough to take down the Batmobile if need be this year.

Eiichiro Oda's One Piece first began serialization in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in 1997. It has since been collected into over 80 volumes, and has been a critical and commercial success worldwide with many of the volumes breaking printing records in Japan. The manga has even set a Guinness World Record for the most copies published for the same comic book by a single author, and is the best-selling manga series worldwide with over 430 million copies sold. The series still ranked number one in manga sales in 2018, which surprised fans of major new entries.

Source: https://www.google.com/amp/s/comicbook.com/anime/amp/2019/03/06/one-piece-sales-batman-record-manga/

 

[Fantastische Hure]

One-Piece hopefully will become the highest.

 

[Fantastische Hure]

The goodest series ever.

 

[Kyo]

u don’t even read it

 

[Fantastische Hure]

I do. I'm reading through (again, only this time reading instead of watching). I'm on Skypiea but dragging hard. Sincce it's brrn a long time though that's alright (like way over a decade really).