Where Does "The Big 3" Come From?

We all know One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach. But do we know why they're called the Big 3?

REFERENCES

Best Selling Manga list from 2007

"The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump." Comipress, May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

Shonen Jump sales dip in 1995

"週刊少年ジャンプの発行部数（最高653万部）." Exlight.net, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://exlight.net/doc/business/jump/index.html

Hunter X Hunter outselling Bleach in 2007

Loo, Egan. "Japanese Comic Ranking: Top 10 Manga of 2007." Anime News Network, Dec 31, 2007. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-31/japanese-comic-ranking-top-10-manga-of-2007

Hunter X Hunter outselling One Piece in 2010

Loo, Egan. "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 28-January 10." Anime News Network, Jan 13, 2010. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2010-01-13/japanese-comic-ranking-december-28-january-10

Hunter X Hunter outselling Bleach in 2011

Loo, Egan. "Japanese Comic Ranking, August 8-14." Anime News Network, Aug 17, 2011. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-08-17/japanese-comic-ranking-august-8-14

Hunter X Hunter outselling every other manga in 2012

Hodgkins, Crystalyn. "Japanese Comic Ranking, December 3-9." Anime News Network, Dec 13, 2012. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-12-13/japanese-comic-ranking-december-3-9

TotallyNotMark video about the Big 3

Totally Not Mark. "The Big 3: Anime's Biggest Lie." YouTube, Aug 24, 2024. https://youtu.be/CWERaofVmjQ

Shonen Jump tweeting about the Big 3 of MHA

@jumpch_youtube. "『#ヒロアカ』に登場する “ビッグ3” 彼らに焦点を当てたPVがプレミア公開！ " Twitter, Jun 3, 2023. https://x.com/jumpch_youtube/status/1664950053650178051

Shonen Jump tweeting about the Three Great Families of JJK

@jump_henshubu. "#ジャンプGIGA2022AUTUMN の記事をチラ見せ❗️" Twitter, Oct 21, 2022. https://x.com/jump_henshubu/status/1583391865549729792

The Big 3 of MHA

Horikoshi, Kōhei. "My Hero Academia." Shueisha, Jan 16, 2017. volume 14, chapter 122, p. 17.

Gosanke wiki

"御三家." Wikipedia, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Fan wiki referencing Gosanke and Pokemon

"御三家." 萌娘百科, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/zh-hans/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Interview with WSJ editor-in-chief, calling the Big 3 the Three Pillars

黒木貴啓，ねとらぼ. "『ジャンプ』編集長ら語る「ジャンプの未来」は　「カギは少年誰もが知るキャラクター」「横断的漫画アプリは予定なし」." Net Lab, May 11, 2018. https://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1805/11/news064_2.html

4chan archive search showing people talking about the Big 3 as far back as 2008

"Searching for posts that contain ‘"big 3"’ and posts before 2009-01-01." Desu Archive, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://desuarchive.org/a/search/text/%22big%203%22/end/2009-01-01

Forum referencing Big Three in 2010

Shadowseraph. "Bleach is one of Jump's big three, its classic shonen." The Fanfiction Forum, Aug 18, 2010. https://thefanfictionforum.net/xenforo/index.php?threads/images.4479/page-90

Article referencing the Big Three in 2011

Lawson, Corrina. "Comics Spotlight on Bleach." Wired, Jun 1, 2011. https://www.wired.com/2011/06/comics-spotlight-on-bleach-2/

Horikoshi on his Three Pillars of Jump

"Tite Kubo x Kohei Horikoshi Special Talk." Edomonogatari, Oct 4, 2019. https://edomonogatari.wordpress.com/2019/10/05/kubo-horikoshi/

Gege Akutami on the Three Pillars of Jump

@JujutsuKaisen, @Douceanco. "With the Fanbook out and tons of new information available, we wanted to add to that by bringing back this Interview Gege Akutami did with Ki-oon in 2019." Twitter, Mar 3, 2021. https://x.com/JujutsuKaisen/status/1367211303283130371

WSJ editor-in-chief, in the same Jump no Mirai 2018 event as his other interview, using Three Pillars as a term

"『ジャンプ』編集長、子ども層の開拓に苦戦も「世界中の人が知るキャラ作りが大事」" Oricon News, May 9 2018. https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2111092/full/

Japanese wiki about Friendship, Effort, Victory

"友情・努力・勝利" Wikipedia, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%8B%E6%83%85%E3%83%BB%E5%8A%AA%E5%8A%9B%E3%83%BB%E5%8B%9D%E5%88%A9

Interview with former Jump editor-in-chief, talking about the origin of Friendship, Effort, Victory

nmt事務局. "「友情」「努力」「勝利」。ボクらは『少年ジャンプ』から学んだ。" The News Masters Tokyo, Jul 3, 2018. https://www.joqr.co.jp/nmt/special/2018/07/post-99.php

Article about Jump staff’s thoughts on Friendship, Effort, Victory

"『ジャンプ』編集長、子ども層の開拓に苦戦も「世界中の人が知るキャラ作りが大事」" Oricon News, May 9 2018. https://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2111092/full/

Akira Toriyama calling Friendship, Effort, Victory lame transcript

富岳良. "元祖サイコパス主人公!?『ドラゴンボール』孫悟空の「卑劣な行い」トップ10." My Jitsu, Mar 14, 2021. https://web.archive.org./web/20210314191351/https://myjitsu.jp/enta/archives/87757

Akira Toriyama calling Friendship, Effort, Victory lame original video subtitled and translated

Ac6ut. "Akira Toriyama Full Interview + Drawing (English Sub) Jump Ryu." YouTube, Jan 29, 2022. https://youtu.be/Y42oRITnDMg

Shonen Jump editors talking about various things as the Three Pillars

山田薫. "伝説のジャンプ編集者が見誤った傑作漫画サバイバル." Nikkei, Feb 11, 2019. https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO40658940Q9A130C1CR8000/

Manga sales by volume in 2006 showing Hunter X Hunter and Death Note above 1 million

"The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump." Comipress, May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

Manga sales by volume in 2011 showing Hunter X Hunter above 1 million, and Bleach below

Loo, Egan. "Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Volume: 2011." Anime News Network, Nov 30, 2011. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-30/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-volume/2011

Manga sales by volume in 2012 showing Hunter X Hunter above 1 million, and Bleach below

Loo, Egan. "50 Top-Selling Manga in Japan by Volume: 2012." Anime News Network, Dec 2, 2012. https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2012-12-02/50-top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-volume/2012

Big 3s origins in basketball

Attenweiler, Robert. "Us And Them: A History Of The Term “The Big Three”." Uproxx, Sep 30, 2014. https://uproxx.com/dimemag/us-and-them-history-term-big-three/

Big 3 Allied Forces of WW2

"The Big Three." The National WWII Museum, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/big-three

Big 3 insurance companies headline

Brooks, Sydney. ""The Big Three," 1905-1912." The North American Review, Oct 1912. Vol. 196, No. 683. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25119855?seq=1

Big Three insurance companies referenced in 1907

Hendrick, Burton J. "The Story of Life Insurance." New York, McClure, Phillips & Co, 1907. p. 194. https://archive.org/details/storylifeinsura03hendgoog/page/n224/mode/2up

List of various uses of Gosanke

"御三家." Wikipedia, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Tokugawa Gosanke

"徳川御三家." Wikipedia, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://ja.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BE%B3%E5%B7%9D%E5%BE%A1%E4%B8%89%E5%AE%B6

Kyogen and its connection to Tokugawa

"狂言（読み）キョウゲンデジタル大辞泉「狂言」の意味・読み・例文・類語." Kotobank, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%8B%82%E8%A8%80-52582

Three Pillars Kyogen

"三本柱（さんぼんのはしら）" Kyogen Kyodosha, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://kyogen.co.jp/outline/post_42/

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Wikipedia, Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_of_the_Three_Kingdoms

Trinity

"Trinity." Wikipedia, Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity

Triple Goddess

"Triple Goddess (Neopaganism)." Wikipedia, Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_Goddess_(Neopaganism)

Tridevi

"Tridevi." Wikipedia, Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tridevi

Three Ages of Buddhism

"Three Ages of Buddhism." Wikipedia, Jan 10, 2025. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Ages_of_Buddhism

Percy Jackson Big Three

"Big Three." Riordan Wiki, Jan 10, 2025. https://riordan.fandom.com/wiki/Big_Three

Gilgamesh described as “two-thirds divine, one-third human”

Foster, Benjamin R. "The Epic of Gilgamesh: A New Translation, Analogues, Criticism." Norton, 2001. p. 5. https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780393975161/page/4/mode/2up?view=theater

Classicist Natalie Haynes on trios in Greek Mythology

@hayfestival. "Classicist @Natalie Haynes on the mysterious significance of numbers in myths." Tik Tok, Nov 24, 2024. https://www.tiktok.com/@hayfestival/video/7440858846077209889

The Big 4 and France

Volle, Adam. "Allied powers." Encyclopaedia Britannica, Dec 7, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Allied-powers-World-War-II

History of Jump, broken down into decades

"ジャンプ三本柱." Pixiv Encyclopedia, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A3%E3%83%B3%E3%83%97%E4%B8%89%E6%9C%AC%E6%9F%B1

Fan wiki about migrant worker comics

"民工漫." 萌娘百科, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://zh.moegirl.org.cn/%E6%B0%91%E5%B7%A5%E6%BC%AB

Fan wiki talking about migrant worker comics

"民工漫." Baidu Baike, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E6%B0%91%E5%B7%A5%E6%BC%AB/228673

Shonen Jump sales graph in the 90s

"The Rise and Fall of Weekly Shonen Jump: A Look at the Circulation of Weekly Jump." Comipress, May 6, 2007. https://www.comipress.com/article/2007/05/06/1923

The story of The Big 3 being published, the real three pillars of Jump, and One Piece’s serialization

山田薫. "伝説のジャンプ編集者が見誤った傑作漫画サバイバル." Nikkei, Feb 11, 2019. https://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXMZO40658940Q9A130C1CR8000/

One Piece sales graph

OHandS. "One Piece Manga Sales Analysis 2022 - The best sales year in 5 years? A decade?" Reddit, Dec 23, 2022. https://old.reddit.com/r/OnePiece/comments/ztbdvx/one_piece_manga_sales_analysis_2022_the_best/

Ranking of Shonen Jump manga over the years by their position in the magazine

"Weekly Shonen Jump Popular Mangas in History." Jajanken, Accessed Jan 10, 2025. https://www.jajanken.net/en/history#notes

A history of the covers of Shonen Jump and the Big 3

スパスパ . "ジャンプの表紙から見る歴代3看板の歴史（2000年代〜2020年代中盤）" Note, Oct 1, 2024. https://note.com/spuspurs/n/n28f72bed928d

Where Does "The Big 3" Come From?

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