Dragon Ball is arguably not just the most recognizable, profitable worldwide anime/manga series today, its close to being one of the most recognizable profitable franchises period. The story of Son Goku and the rest of the Saiyan, human, android, and alien fighters started with Goku as a child in Dragon Ball, as an adult in Dragon Ball Z, and finally as a God (sort of) in Dragon Ball Super. Recently, a Twitter user broke down the series record breaking profits in one easy to digest chart.
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The chart, released by Twitter User Ethan Law, details Dragon Ball’s profitability rise from FY2008 to present. As you can see from the chart, Toei Animation has had some very good years with the increased popularity of Dragon Ball continuing to ratchet up money intake with around a $180 Million USD made for this year alone. The chart takes into account not just the profits seen from the anime and manga series chapters released, but also movie ticket revenue, video game sales, and general merchandise sold to name a few things.
Updated chart for how much money DB has made for Toei Animation since FY2008. pic.twitter.com/jg0uo4Paom
— Ethan Law (@ArchedThunder) May 15, 2019
Its clear that Toei has seen a record infall of profits come directly from the introduction, and continuation, of Dragon Ball Super. The series continues the story of Goku and company from Dragon Ball Z, which actually ended its anime run in Japan initially in 1996! Eventually, DBZ was brought to the United States originally in syndication by Funimation Studios. After an initial run on Saturday mornings on different television stations, the series found its way to Cartoon Network, specifically during the popular anime block: Toonami. It was here that Dragon Ball really found its legs here in the United States.
Dragon Ball Super has been a juggernaut in the anime world, not just producing a highly successful anime that ran for 131 episodes before going on hiatus to allow the manga to get a little leeway in terms of storytelling. Also, Super was able to release the popular movie, Dragon Ball Super: Broly, that saw the return of one of the most “out of continuity” villains in the form of the Legendary Super Saiyan, Broly. The manga has continued with a new storyline focusing on a rogue sorcerer on the Planet Namek and the anime is expected to return this year.
Dragon Ball Super currently airs its English dub on Adult Swim during the Toonami programming block Saturday evenings at 11:00 p.m. It is also available to stream on Funimation and Amazon Video. The Japanese language release of the series is complete, and available to stream on FunimationNOW and Crunchyroll. The manga has chapters that can currently be read for free thanks to Viz Media. Dragon Ball Super: Broly is out now on Blu-Ray and DVD.
