With animation and manga becoming more mainstream than ever, it's no surprise that the competition between this year's best manga and anime series is hotter than ever. In Japan, fans have been doing their best to support their favorite series and ensure it ranks high on the monthly Oricon sales charts. The main goal is to get your favorite series to the top at the end of the year, making it the most popular and best-selling series.
In 2025 one piece With a total of 4.2 million copies sold, it took the crown as Japan's most popular manga and best-selling manga series. However, as of 2026, One Piece has not taken first place. Thanks to the enthusiastic support of fans, Japan officially won the championship. Freyren: Beyond the End of the Journey It is the best-selling and most popular boy series of 2026 so far. However, as there is still half a year left, there is a high possibility that the rankings will change significantly.
Oricon sales data for the first half of 2026 confirms Frieren as the current top boy.
The most reliable company when it comes to providing accurate sales charts for various forms of media, including Japanese comics, is the Japanese company Oricon. Among them, shonen series often rank at the top. In that respect, 2020 was no different, and it was Boy Story that dominated the Oricon charts. For six months in the first half of 2026, Japanese fans cheered Freeren brilliantly, making him the most popular boy in the country.
As for the official figures: Freeren: Beyond the end of the journey It officially took first place with cumulative sales of 1.61 million copies in the first quarter of this year. This figure is likely to rise further over time. With this, Frieren sold 1.598 million copies, beating One Piece, which came in second place by just a few thousand copies. Coming in third place was Jujutsu Kaisen, which impressed us all by selling 1.43 million copies despite the manga series not currently in progress.
What's even more surprising is that Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo also impressed, taking sixth place with 1.13 million copies sold. Taken together, the Jujutsu Kaisen franchise would technically be the most popular Shonen franchise in Japan, but when it comes to individual series, both Jujutsu Kaisen and Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo rank highly. After Season 2 of Free Ren aired, the popularity of the series increased significantly, and manga sales also increased, which was great to see.
Season 2 of Frieren was a huge boost to selling the backlog of comics.
freeren Season 2 officially began airing on January 16, 2026, and ended with 13 episodes on March 27, 2026. At the same time, Frieren season 3 has already been announced and is scheduled to air in October 2027. With Frieren set to continue his sensational popularity, his popularity as a major new generation boy in Japan will only increase. The second season was noticeably successful, which certainly helped the manga sell more copies and take over the top spot as the most popular shonen.
Frieren is not only the most popular boy in Japan right now, but his influence is also evident outside of Japan. On popular forums like MyAnimeList, Frieren continues to dominate as the highest-rated anime series of all time, with a score of 9.26/10, which is no easy feat to achieve. Clearly, Frieren continues to demonstrate tremendous dominance, and sales should steadily increase in the second half of 2026. However, it remains to be seen whether it will stay in first place for the rest of the year and beat One Piece.
Why One Piece will beat Freeren and take first place in the second half of 2026
Freeren: Beyond the end of the journey It certainly did an amazing job in the first half of the year, becoming the best new Japanese shonen series of 2026. However, the expectation that it will top the charts by the end of the year is not realistic. This is because Frieren's comics are currently on indefinite hiatus and there is no telling when they will be published again. At the same time, Frieren's animated series, which ended on March 27, 2026, gave it every possible backlog boost. Frieren's backlog sales won't increase significantly, and since no new comic books will be sold in Japan in the second half of 2026, it won't see a significant sales increase in that region either.
Meanwhile, One Piece plans to continue its sales growth through new releases. One Piece Volume 115 is already scheduled to be released in Japan on July 3, 2026. This new volume, like all other volumes, is expected to sell at least 1 million copies, and fans will see another release of One Piece Volume 116 in the fall of 2026. In total, One Piece will be released in 3 volumes, and if you add up all sales, one piece As in 2025, sales are expected to exceed 4 million units.
After 5 years, One Piece officially grants Sanji the power of the devil
One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda finally grants Sanji the full power of the Demon Ifrit at the climax of the Elbaf Arc.
Frieren is facing stiff competition in the first half of the year due to its own volume sales, but without its own volume, these numbers would be untenable. If Frieren had been discontinued, it would have ranked as Japan's biggest new shonen series of 2026 based on indicated sales figures. Unfortunately, that won't happen while the hiatus is ongoing, and we can only hope that the comic goes on hiatus soon. Currently, One Piece is likely to grow even further in terms of sales and popularity, and is likely to take the top spot once again in the coming months. Regardless, if Frieren manages to claim the second spot at the end of the year, it would still be incredibly impressive for a series that hasn't had a mass release all year and only has a brief animation boost. Despite everything, Frieren's popularity in Japan is clear, and in some ways even higher than One Piece at the moment.
All episodes of One Piece and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End are available on Crunchyroll.
