Toei Animation’s latest earnings report for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, released on Jan 30, 2025, revealed a shift in the financial performance of its top franchises.
The earnings report, covering the period from October to December 2024, detailed strong financial growth for Toei Animation, with significant contributions from both Dragon Ball and One Piece.
However, Dragon Ball outperformed One Piece in cumulative earnings across Domestic Licensing, Overseas Film, and Overseas Licensing, cementing its position as Toei’s top-grossing franchise this quarter.
Revenue Breakdown: Dragon Ball vs. One Piece
In the Domestic Licensing segment, One Piece recorded ¥4,853 million, down from the previous year’s ¥5,297 million. While the franchise’s merchandising rights maintained a strong performance, the report noted that the gaming rights of One Piece did not hit the same level of last year, which contributed to the dip.
In contrast, Dragon Ball generated ¥4,786 million, marking a sharp recovery from its ¥3,894 million revenue in the same quarter last year. This was due to the strong performance of its merchandising rights domestically, owing to the release of Dragon Ball Daima.
The Overseas Film category saw both franchises performing strongly, but One Piece maintained its lead. It generated ¥6,731 million, up from ¥6,539 million in the previous year, continuing the momentum fueled by its global theatrical releases and streaming rights.
Dragon Ball, however, showed a major resurgence, reaching ¥4,967 million after dipping to ¥2,597 million in the same quarter last year. The substantial growth in Dragon Ball’s overseas film revenue was driven by increased demand for digital streaming rights – once again owing to Daima‘s release in October.
Streaming rights for the series performed strongly especially in North and South America.
In the Overseas Licensing segment, Dragon Ball pulled far ahead of One Piece, earning ¥9,238 million compared to One Piece’s ¥6,820 million.
The continued popularity of Dragon Ball in North America translated into strong merchandising and gaming-related sales. Toei’s licensing segment overall grew by 16.2% year-on-year, with Dragon Ball driving a large portion of this increase.
Additionally, the release of Dragon Ball Daima sparked renewed interest in the franchise’s products.
In comparison, One Piece faced weaker performance in some Asian markets, where its merchandise sales lagged behind expectations.
Adding up the figures across all three categories, Dragon Ball’s cumulative revenue in Q3 2025 (¥18,991 million) exceeded One Piece’s (¥18,404 million), making it the dominant franchise in Toei’s portfolio for the quarter.
Toei Animation’s Overall Financial Performance
Beyond the performance of its top franchises, Toei Animation reported strong overall financial growth in Q3 2025. Net sales for the quarter reached ¥23,735 million, a 13.4% increase from the previous year’s ¥20,933 million.
Operating profit stood at ¥6,383 million, marking a 38.1% increase quarter-over-quarter, though it showed a slight 4.0% decline compared to the same quarter last year.
For the first nine months of FY 2025 (April-December 2024), Toei’s net sales totaled ¥72,700 million, reflecting an 8.3% year-on-year increase. Gross profit also saw a significant jump, reaching ¥34,675 million, up 24.3% from the previous year.
The licensing and film segments were the primary drivers of this growth, with overseas licensing revenues experiencing notable increases.
The report also emphasized the impact of a weaker yen, which strengthened the value of overseas revenues, further contributing to Toei’s strong financial performance.
The success of domestic streaming rights for Slam Dunk and GeGeGe no Kitaro also played a role in the company’s earnings recovery.
