>>280702527
>Back then? Not even close.
Yup. No Oda, no Jump, no Demon Slayer, no Black Clover, no Jujutsu Kaisen, no Chainsaw Man (though it was a bomb anyway).
>"One Piece Saved Shonen Jump." - Kazuhiko Torishima
>According to Torishima's recent interview, after Dragon Ball ended, Weekly Shonen Jump suffered from poor sales and a lack of new talent. Toriyama's style and work were so revolutionary that it took some time for a new generation of artists to come out, who had learned the lessons of the master. That's when Eiichiro Oda and One Piece came along, in 1997, before Kishimoto made his debut in 1999 with Naruto, and Tite Kubo with Bleach in 2001.

>Many fans believe that after Dragon Ball ended its serialization, Naruto became Shōnen Jump's saving grace, but according to Torishima, this is far from the truth. In a recently released interview with Imaginez with Discovery, legendary manga editor Torishima mentioned that One Piece almost didn’t make it to serialization. While it is hard to imagine a world without Oda’s masterpiece, higher-ups at Shōnen Jump (including Torishima) initially doubted the potential of One Piece, but, after seeing the passion that Oda held for the series and the lack of available talent at the time, they decided to give the series a shot
Every time a new manga succeeds? It's all because of GODA.