The anime corner of social media has been flooded with a viral infographic claiming that One Piece has completely overtaken Dragon Ball as Toei Animation’s highest-grossing franchise, citing figures like $179.6 million versus $134.2 million.
While the headline is entirely true, One Piece has officially claimed the crown at Toei for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2026. However, the lazy aggregation across Western clickbait networks completely glosses over the actual financial mechanics behind this shift.
Instead of relying on second-hand interpretations, digging directly into the official corporate disclosures released via the Tokyo Stock Exchange reveals the exact breakdown of how this historic change happened.
The Official Ledger: FY2026/3 Revenue Breakdown
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. (TYO: 4816) reports its earnings strictly in Japanese yen. According to the official Toei Animation Consolidated Financial Results for FY2026/3, the studio recorded total net sales of ¥93,669 million.
When breaking down the performance of individual intellectual properties across Toei’s major segments, the data from the Toei Animation Fiscal Data Sheet reveals exactly where One Piece pulled ahead and where Dragon Ball maintained its ground.
Toei Animation Segment Earnings (FY2026/3)
| Revenue Segment | One Piece (Yen) | Dragon Ball (Yen) | The Defining Difference |
| Domestic Licensing (Japan Merchandise/Collabs) | ¥5,130 Million | ¥5,082 Million | One Piece edges out a narrow victory in the domestic market. |
| Overseas Film & Streaming (Global Rights) | ¥10,216 Million | ¥4,386 Million | The massive blowout. Global streaming renewals for the Egghead Arc carried the weight here. |
| Overseas Merchandise Licensing (Global Toys/Figures) | ¥11,331 Million | ¥12,497 Million | Dragon Ball retains its absolute dominance in physical international merchandise. |
| Combined Toei IP Total | ¥26,677 Million | ¥21,965 Million | One Piece wins by ¥4,712 million. |
Fact-Checking the Dollar Conversions
The viral figures circulating online, $179.6 million versus $134.2 million, are based on fluctuating historical exchange rates across different quarters of the fiscal year.
When applying a normalized mid-2026 exchange rate of approximately ¥155 JPY to $1 USD, the total reported IP value converts to roughly $172.1 million USD for One Piece and $141.7 million USD for Dragon Ball.
Despite minor variations caused by currency conversion, the core reality remains unchanged. One Piece is the highest-grossing property on Toei’s books for this fiscal cycle.
The absolute biggest mistake casual fans make during these fandom debates is treating Toei Animation’s internal report as the final word on a franchise’s global net worth.
This financial report belongs exclusively to Toei Animation. It tracks revenue generated only from the animation studio’s specific slice of the pie: television broadcasting, theatrical distribution, home video, international streaming rights (e.g., Netflix and Crunchyroll contracts), and the specific merchandising rights tied to the anime’s production.
It completely excludes two massive pillars of corporate revenue:
Manga Sales:
These publishing profits bypass Toei entirely, flowing directly to Shueisha and the respective authors.
Gaming and Global Master Toy Licensing:
This is where Dragon Ball’s true financial weight is tracked.
The heavy lifting for global toy distribution and video game production belongs to Bandai Namco Group. Due to massive, long-running mobile titles like Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle and the large-scale rollout of console releases like Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, Goku’s brand routinely generates well over ¥100 billion to ¥140 billion annually on Bandai Namco’s balance sheets. One Piece gaming revenue is highly successful, but it still operates under the shadow of Dragon Ball’s massive global gaming footprint.
One Piece claiming the top spot at Toei Animation is a legendary milestone that deserves recognition on its own merits. It proves that a continuous narrative running for over 25 years can still grow its momentum, capture international streaming audiences, and outperform the most recognizable anime brand in history within this specific corporate framework.
At the same time, Dragon Ball generating over $134 million for Toei without a continuous mainline weekly television broadcast is an equally remarkable display of long-term brand power.
