Once criticized as a “Naruto copy,” this manga series has delivered a surprise by outselling One Piece in the August 2026 monthly sales rankings.
Kingdom topped Oricon’s monthly manga ranking for August 2026, but the most notable result came elsewhere in the top 10. Black Clover, a manga that has long been labeled a “Naruto copy” by some Naruto fans, unexpectedly surpassed One Piece by nearly 36,000 copies.
The latest volume of Black Clover, created by Yuki Tabata, ranked fifth with 104,187 copies sold, while Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece Volume 115 dropped to eighth place with 68,312 copies. Meanwhile, Kingdom Volume 80 easily claimed the top spot with 365,379 copies sold.
Black Clover Outsells One Piece in the Top 10 Best-Selling Manga
Oricon’s monthly manga ranking for August 2026, which tracks sales from August 3 to August 30, recorded Kingdom Volume 80 at No. 1 with 365,379 copies sold.
One Piece ranked three places below Black Clover. Oda’s Volume 115 sold 68,312 copies in August, enough for only eighth place, although its cumulative sales have already surpassed 1.088 million copies. This means Black Clover, a series that recently concluded after 11 years, sold nearly 36,000 more copies than the latest One Piece volume in the same monthly ranking.
The result is particularly noteworthy when viewed purely through the numbers. One Piece remains one of the best-selling manga series in the world in terms of cumulative sales. However, in this particular monthly ranking, One Piece was not even the highest-selling manga from Shueisha, let alone the overall leader.
Why Do Fans Still Consider Black Clover a Naruto Copy?
This debate has existed for almost as long as Black Clover itself. Since 2015, whenever a new chapter was released, online discussions have repeatedly examined the similarities between the series and Naruto.
Two orphaned boys who become rivals from a young age and both aspire to reach the highest position in their respective worlds—Wizard King instead of Hokage—is a comparison that seems unlikely to disappear.
Asta’s possession of Liebe, an anti-magic devil residing within his grimoire, has also led many readers to draw comparisons with Naruto’s Kurama. However, Yuki Tabata previously revealed that Liebe was actually inspired by Zangetsu from Bleach.
The accusations continued to surface over the years. One controversial arc even featured a character awakening an eye-based ability whose appearance was considered by some fans to be strikingly similar to the Sharingan.
Comparison images were widely shared online, with panels from older manga placed side by side and jokes about Black Clover “copying” Naruto quickly spreading across fan communities.
During an appearance at Manga Barcelona, Yuki Tabata once named Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, Bleach, Naruto and One Piece—all famous Weekly Shonen Jump titles—as sources of inspiration.
However, being influenced by other works does not necessarily mean that an author blatantly copied them, as some fans have alleged. If anything, the ending of Black Clover has kept the debate alive, with fans scrutinizing its final chapters and looking for similarities with the conclusion of Naruto.
Whether the accusations are fair or not, the “Naruto copy” label has followed Black Clover since its very first chapter. And even after more than a decade and 38 volumes, many fans still do not seem ready to let the debate come to an end.
Sources: gamek