At long last, I take a stab at decoding the mystery – why did Kimetsu no Yaiba become the biggest thing anime and manga has ever seen? Answers are hard to come by, but the questions are fascinating. Also, a look at the series which followed in Demon Slayer’s footsteps, Jujutsu Kaisen and Tokyo Revengers, and a guess at what might be their successor and 2022’s blockbuster hit (two series stand out).
Ben Adams
November 27, 2021 at 11:00 pmI think the success of Demon Slayer is due to having just the right combination of quality and accessibility. You have ufotable, a studio that consistently delivers some of the best production values in TV anime, working with some of the best source material they’ve ever had. And the music absolutely slaps. Don’t underestimate the appeal of great anime music.
So think about how a casual watcher, not a jaded anime fan, would experience this series. They’d catch it on TV or streaming, fall in love with the show, then go and read the manga to find out what happens next. And they wouldn’t be disappointed. Most of what makes Demon Slayer appealing is there in the manga. It’s got thrilling fights. It’s got a wholesome sibling relationship as the emotional core. It’s got a protagonist who is competent, decisive, and empathetic. It’s got a heroine with both moe appeal and super strength. It’s got iconic character designs. And the setting is distinctive enough to be interesting without being too alien. You hardly ever see shounen action series set in the Taisho period these days.
As for what comes next, I don’t see anything else on the horizon that can really dethrone Demon Slayer. Chainsaw Man has the quality, but not the accessibility. Casual watchers will likely find it to be kinda out there. Spy x Family (I think the X is supposed to be silent, like with Hunter x Hunter) will be a hit if the adaptation is on point, but it’s fundamentally a romcom rather than an action series.
P.S. I’m totally with you in hating on Zenitsu. It takes a special kind of awful to be perving on Nezuko. And stupid. Because she will literally knock your head off.
Guardian Enzo
November 27, 2021 at 11:20 pmI was going to quibble with you on it being “some of the best source material they’ve ever had”, but then I thought about what else ufotable has done and, well…
Bob
November 28, 2021 at 7:30 amThis man has not seen Heaven’s Feel.
Ben Adams
November 28, 2021 at 8:25 pmI saw the first Heaven’s Feel movie and liked it a lot. The rest of the movies are on my plan-to-watch list. However, my point about ufotable still stands. “Best” doesn’t just mean the highest quality; it’s about having the highest quality while also being accessible to a casual audience. In terms of accessibility, I’d say Heaven’s Feel comes close but falls short of Demon Slayer. Because Fate is a crazy continuity snarl.
leongsh
November 27, 2021 at 11:01 pmOne word – zeitgeist. That’s what the Kimetsu no Yaiba anime adaptation managed to tap on. A certain episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba was the lit rocket fuel that married not just the exceptional animation but the emotional release building from the start of the series that it blew most away. The interest in the manga then really skyrocketed from that particular episode.
Jujutsu Kaisen is just nice wine in a fancy updated bottle. If you’re looking for a good example of a current shounen action series with very good action choreography, lots of varied powers/skills, and personality, this is it. The anime adaptation realised the action in the manga rather well that it just fed into greater interest in the manga title.
Tokyo Revengers is really just a carnival roller-coaster ride. There was some popularity before the anime adaptation. The live action adaptation was already completed well before the Covid-19 situation hit Japan. The anime adaptation started shortly after in April 2020. That’s when the title took off. The draw was 2 things – the core delinquent characters drew in the female fans with looks and the male fans with the bad boy antics; and the lead character who is hapless, not really smart, and finding himself in situations beyond his ability to handle, which a number could identify with, and the premise which he was thrown into, that many may want a chance at. Each time that the lead character did enough to change the future led to increasing the stakes even higher. The execution is just plain carnival roller coaster. Do not take it too seriously, and just let the ride entertain.
Toni
November 28, 2021 at 12:43 amI think you answered your own question in the video. That list of ‘possible reasons’: KnY is the only anime you can apply them to. And it is a long list too.
Also, like Haikyuu!! it’s a shounen with ‘feels’ to appeal to the female audiences.
And it’s the most beautiful fighting shounen ever.
Guardian Enzo
November 28, 2021 at 9:47 amThanks for the comment. A couple of thoughts – first, there were sports shounen that had primarily female audiences and made it big before Haikyuu (Yowapeda, Kurobas, going all the way back to PoT and Oofuri). And also, Kimetsu is orders of magnitude bigger than Haikyuu.
Also I disagree by a long stretch that it’s the most beautiful fighting shounen ever, but that comes down to personal taste.
Riv
November 28, 2021 at 2:29 amInteresting video, interesting questions to explore. As you brought up, I think accessibility to audiences beyond anime fans was critical. I’ll be interested to see what the longevity is of Kimetsu, JJK and Tokyo Revengers. In the Western fanfiction world, which is where I spend most of my time, they certainly haven’t overpowered Boku no Hero Academia yet (at least on AO3, which, while it has fic in multiple languages is predominantly Western fans). According to AO3 stats, Kimetsu has about 10,000 fics, JJK has 20,000, and Tokyo Revengers only 4,000 compared to BnHA’s over 200,000. Obviously, BnHA has been around for a lot longer. But I don’t see Kimetsu or Tokyo Revengers growing to similar heights in fanfic, honestly. JJK possibly.
Guardian Enzo
November 28, 2021 at 9:49 amAs I noted in the vid, in the West HeroAca is still king. That’s why I think a lot of fans don’t realize just how honkin’ huge Kimetsu is in Japanpand.
BluBlu
November 28, 2021 at 4:55 amInteresting video. But as already said by the others, you already gave yourself piece of answers and so, as frustrating that it could be…there is no one unique answer. Everything is speculation unfortunately.
Actually, I will take the risk and reveal that I am one of these people who loved Kimetsu no Yaiba from chapter 1 (yeah, I said chapter, not episode) when it was released (funny to remember how Viz media by the way dropped it at that time and choose to proceed with “Red sprite”… Anyway…). I would even take a higher risk by saying that yeah, I am among these non-expressive who (like in the last Japanese popularity poll) appreciate that character that every talkative loves to hate (yeah, hit me XD). And I remember that when I saw in 2016 that Togashi wrote a recommendation on the obi of volume 4, I was like: “Okay, I am not that crazy to like that series”.
And to put in perspective, this is even the only Shonen Jump series that I managed to stick with since… I don’t remember, maybe HXH? (if we consider it still ongoing. And yeah, I have included the “cherish Heroes of the West”, without offending…anyone xd). I usually dropped them very quickly as they all bore me quickly.
I don’t enter into discussions about why why why Kimetsu as I always found vein the debates about trying to justify why something has success as even though we like to put logic behind stuff, the logic will always be ours and those of who share our opinions. I, myself never managed to understand why that Heroes Shonen Jump series (again, no offense) is such a darling in the West (even though, I have my own explanations).
Anyway, I am more interested in that ending part of the video as I never thought that you would mention “Chainsaw man” but rather Kaijuu N°8. Not that I like the latter (spoiler: I don’t and dropped it), neither the former as Fujimoto is an author too “smart” for me (to stay polite, even though I adored the “Look back” one-shot). But I am more interested from an analytical perspective as I remembered that “Assassination Classroom” was the last example of a million (or almost) physical copies seller without any anime and the latter did nothing more for it (actually, I am quite sure that even the live movie made more for the series than the anime). So I am very curious to see what will happen with Spy X Family.
P.S.: By the way, welcome to the world of “Be Blues greatness” Enzo.
Guardian Enzo
November 28, 2021 at 9:51 amI don’t see Kaijuu N*8 as a next big thing but hey, I could be wrong.
Yes, Be Blues is fantastic. Very sad that it will never have an anime – it truly is soccer’s “Major”.
Toni
November 28, 2021 at 7:05 pmTotally O.T. but I want to know:
Have you seen Star Wars Visions ?
Guardian Enzo
November 28, 2021 at 8:37 pmYes I have. A bit of a mixed bag, but I generally liked it. Thought The Ninth Jedi was exceptional, and I really appreciated T0-B1 for effectively being a Star Wars/Tezuka crossover.
Archaon
November 29, 2021 at 12:01 amSee, you look at this all wrong. General audience don’t look for masterpiece that do something new, they’re looking for a good read with emotional payoff. And emotional payoff is what KnY excel at. The idea that you have to do something revolution or game changing to be a big hit is a misguided one as we saw many series in both the West and the East try to subverting the audience expectation and then completely fall apart in the story telling department while ignoring the emotional payoff. (cough….GoT…cough…Star War)
True be told, i read a lot of manga and from what i have see, modern series, especially Shonen usually lack strong emotion beside “cool and awesome factor”. Meanwhile KnY success in make the readers feel the intended emotion of the scenes, not just the cool moments and that is a skill that most writers would kill for. People may complain the story is too simple without any twist, complex power system or world building but i would argue that is the point. It easy to make something complex, it’s way harder to make something simple on the surface while still have strong theme and complexity beneath the simple surface. Indeed, a lot of Japanese writers commented that they like KnY because it simplicity. It’t like Lord of the Ring, an extremely simple story with complex theme beneath it for those who want to look for it.
I would recommend you try to read the KnY manga to see what am i talking about. Really the manga is a completely difference expirience compare to the anime in term of tone.
leongsh
November 29, 2021 at 8:23 pmThe annual manga sales numbers for 2021 (period: 2021 November 23 to 2021 November 21) are in.
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2021-11-28/top-selling-manga-in-japan-by-series-2021-jujutsu-kaisen-edges-out-demon-slayer/.180075
In 2021, Jujutsu Kaisen (30,917,746 physical copies) edged Kimetsu no Yaiba (29,511,021 physical copies). Tokyo Revengers is third with 24,981,486 physical copies. Attack on Titan (4th place with 7,332,398 physical copies) and Boku no Hero Academia (5th place with 7,020,361 physical copies) are well behind the leading trio. The gap between 3rd and 4th is more than double 4th place’s numbers. Plus, it’s incredible that One Piece is not even in the Top 5.
leongsh
November 29, 2021 at 8:25 pmOops.. typo. Period is 2020 November 23 to 2021 November 21.