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One Piece is widely recognized throughout Japan as the most popular manga currently available, which can easily be understood due to its compelling story line and well-written characters. The series has never stopped building momentum since its early days in 1997, and has now become a worldwide sensation selling more than 345 million volumes. And of course, with any popular franchise, the demand for licensed merchandise is never far behind.
One Piece is the most notable sign that manga is still alive and popular even as overall sales of manga has been on a downward trend in Japan. In 2010, One Piece broke the record when it sold 3 million copies of its first edition. Volumes 64 and 65 sold more than 4 million copies and required a second run due to the demand. The overall sale of One Piece copies is 40 million, making up 6 percent of all manga sales. Other mangas like Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist don’t even come close to the kind of sales One Piece enjoys.
G-Shock watches, which offer high resistance to vibration and gravitational shock, are geared toward people with intense, highly active lifestyles, like sports, hiking, and military use. Since the G-Shock began in 1983, it has been an in-demand watch. Less than 10 years after its first model was launched, Casio has sold over 19 million units worldwide. Last year G-Shock celebrated its 30th anniversary, and one of the reasons for its longevity is that the brand regularly issues limited edition timepieces and collector’s watches.
Kuroko no Basuke has been extremely popular with mainstream readers, particularly women. It has had many doujinshi spin-offs, largely due to the seven male leads, which means a big opportunity for male-male pairings. The frequent reference to Kuroko as being a shadow helps push the matter further. As such, the fan clubs of the franchise are composed almost solely of fujoshi (females with an obsessive fascination for male-male pairings).
Doujinshi are usually self-published works made by amateurs to the publishing scene, but published artists are also known to dabble in doujinshi as a way to release works that aren’t otherwise suitable for general publication. They can be divided into two main categories—originals and spin-offs of existing works in the market, though the latter seems more common in recent years.
(Image Source: orendsrange.com)