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The Big 3, consisting of Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach, is a term coined by Western anime fans to refer to the three most dominant, popular, and influential shonen titles of the 2000s. In the 2020s, however, as the shonen demographic was undergoing notable changes and its audience’s tastes shifted towards more mature, bleaker topics, a new supreme triad emerged – the Dark Shonen Trio.
Chainsaw Man, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Hell’s Paradise: Jigokurarku that make up the new-gen Dark Trio are undeniably excellent shows that reflect the modern sensibilities of shonen well. Yet, despite their novelty and the standout quality of each of these trailblazing titles, they haven’t managed to beat the iconic Big 3 and are still lacking in comparison.
The Big 3’s Magnificent Worldbuilding Is Equal to None
The Dark Trio series undeniably have compelling settings: an urban fantasy world where curses lurk out of common people’s sight, a horrifying dystopia plagued by fears manifested as bloodthirsty monsters, and a supernatural version of Edo-period Japan. However, when it comes to creating complex and original fantasy worlds, the new generation of shonen anime is obviously lacking compared to its predecessors, which largely enticed fans thanks to the strength of their worldbuilding.
All Big 3 titles take place in vastly different worlds, with Bleach’s setting being the most grounded, while Naruto and especially One Piece construct entire fantastical universes far removed from reality. Unlike their Dark Trio counterparts, the Big 3 anime don’t use their worlds as merely backgrounds to set the plot against.
Each show has the time and space to go deep into the culture, politics, and history of its respective setting, which makes their universes feel far more lived-in, nuanced, and immersive. One Piece in particular is an unrivaled masterclass of expansive worldbuilding, with Eiichiro Oda crafting a one-of-a-kind seafaring planet where every island feels distinct yet flawlessly integrated into the larger world and story.
One Piece’s setting expands organically as the story evolves, and at no point does it feel like the world is shallow or simply revolves around the protagonists. Creating a riveting world fans want to adventure through plays an enormous part in making a shonen narrative engrossing, and the Big 3 understood the importance of making their worlds stand out.
The Big 3 Are Legends That Had a Far Greater Impact on the Anime Community
The term “Shonen Big 3” emerged and stuck around because, in the early 2000s, it was not up for debate that One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach were the biggest shonen series that dominated the market. They have risen to massive global popularity around the same time and played an enormous part in increasing anime’s reach in the West.
Comparatively, the Dark Trio is a much more arbitrary grouping. The term itself doesn’t hold as much weight, and the shows included in the Dark Shonen Trio are hardly as influential. The Big 3’s simultaneous run in Weekly Shonen Jump was truly sensational. While they weren’t the only long-running shonen titles, even among popular series, releasing at the time, the Big 3 largely influenced how battle shonen anime and manga would look for years to come.
Even creators of the modern Dark Trio, like Jujutsu Kaisen’s Gege Akutami, cite the Big 3 as a major inspiration. It can be argued whether One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach were the best shonen series around in the 2000s, but they successfully became the blueprint for the genre.
Today, anime might be more popular than ever before, but the individual impact of shows has undeniably lessened. No matter how popular they are, no series in the Dark Trio managed to have an influence on the community or the industry compared to the Big 3.
Down the line, the most innovative series in the Dark Trio, Chainsaw Man, will likely have the most lasting impact, but largely because, in the manga’s latter half, it abandons following all shonen conventions and turns into a subversive auteur project, the success of which cannot be imitated.
Unlike The Big 3, The Dark Trio Is Already Losing Relevance
Having debuted in the late ‘90s, or, in Bleach’s case, the early 2000s, the Big 3 have all been around for over two decades. And, in one way or another, their franchises are still active – One Piece’s main story is yet to conclude, Bleach is actively releasing a new anime series, and Naruto lives on through Boruto. Even outside of their modern iterations, the Big 3 are passionately discussed in anime spaces to this day and have hardly faded into obscurity, remaining some of the most popular anime titles of all time.
However, just a few years after the concept of the Dark Trio was coined, these shows are already proving that they will have much less staying power. All three of their respective manga series have ended, and it’s debatable whether the ongoing Dark Trio anime adaptations, which come out rather inconsistently, will help them stay relevant long-term.
Despite being grouped together, the Dark Trio titles largely have different fan bases and vary drastically in terms of popularity and reach. Even the term “Dark Shonen Trio” is used much less today than it was just a couple of years ago, and people argue whether these series are truly the ones to represent the new-gen wave of mature shonen titles.
Hell’s Paradise, which many find surprising even made it into the Dark Trio, being significantly less popular than the other two, is fading into obscurity the quickest. But, since Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man ended their manga runs, they have also started gradually losing their cultural standing.
Unlike the Big 3, the Dark Trio isn’t a united cultural behemoth synonymous with its generation of shonen manga and anime. They’re simply (admittedly excellent) series that somewhat exemplify the demographic’s shift to darker topics and a more mature tone, and, in that, they are three of many.
Inspiring Themes of Older Shonen Anime Still Resonate With Viewers
Speaking of what even prompted fans to create the concept of the Dark Shonen Trio, the major thing Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man, and Hell’s Paradise share, of course, lies in the name. Modern shonen is no longer optimistic and jolly. It's a generation is all about lethal stakes, dark worlds, and mature themes. Of course, just like the Big 3 didn’t pioneer most of its defining traits, the Dark Trio series weren’t the first shonen titles to “go dark.”
Before them, there were Attack on Titan, Demon Slayer, and even older examples like Death Note and Claymore. However, shonen’s noticeable switch to grimmer, more hopeless narratives, while welcomed by many, makes some fans raise a reasonable question: are classic happy-go-lucky shonen series truly going out of style?
While shonen has always been a diverse demographic, most fans associate it with inspiring stories that promote ideals of friendship, hard work, camaraderie, and chasing one’s dreams, which are all universal virtues modern shonen series seem to lack (or at least de-prioritize). One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto might be a tad idealistic, yet the stories of their heroes undeniably inspired fans to be more compassionate, persevere through hardship, and value their community and bonds.
There is a reason why these values are considered universal, and making them the core of a shonen series doesn’t make the narrative boring or unrealistic. It just makes the story feel more sincere.
The Big 3 Proved That Long-Running Shonen Titles Have Their Unique Merits
A thing fans either love or hate about the old guard of shonen anime is their length. Compared to the Big 3’s intimidating runtimes of hundreds of episodes, the Dark Trio series are much more concise. None of them exceed 300 chapters, telling complete stories in what, in the case of a manga like One Piece, could’ve constituted just a couple of arcs.
The Big 3 shows all had way more time to develop their plots, flesh out their worlds, and give their characters time to grow and build meaningful bonds with the audience. There are merits to having a series run for as long as the Big 3 titles did, as they never feel rushed, and the characters’ journeys are substantial.
Fans end up forming genuine emotional connections with the narrative instead of simply consuming the plot for entertainment and forgetting about it just as quickly. Some fans might prefer that shonen series no longer drag their stories out, but what new-gen anime like the Dark Trio could never offer fans is the sense of an endless adventure.
