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The explosive success of the Demon Slayer franchise has had a profound impact on the manga industry, clocking in as the 9th-best-selling manga ever and one of the highest-grossing media franchises in history. As we delve into some of my favorite facts about the series and its meteoric rise, we find an intriguing intersection of marketing strategies, art styles, and authorial influences.

When we compare the sales of Demon Slayer's manga before and after the release of the anime, we observe an interesting dynamic, albeit a common one for manga series. Although sales were decent during the anime's run, they actually exploded exponentially after the anime ended. 

This is a perfect demonstration of the core function of an anime: to serve as the ultimate advertisement for its manga source material. If readers want to continue where the anime left off, they have to go and buy copies of the manga itself. We saw a great (and frustrating) example of this with Attack on Titan, where manga sales skyrocketed following the end of season 1. Sales were so good that there was an entire 5-year gap before season 2 was released.

Check this graph from @Josu_ke on Twitter, comparing Demon Slayer’s sales with those of Jujutsu Kaisen and Tokyo Revengers in 2021:

The graph highlights Demon Slayer’s (Kimetsu no Yaiba here) huge post-anime spike in sales from just over 10M copies in circulation to 100M just 6 months later. Those are insane numbers. You can also see that Tokyo Revengers and Jujutsu Kaisen were following similar patterns in 2021, just on a delay (because Demon Slayer finished airing first). 

One of the key visual features of Demon Slayer that has captivated viewers globally is the ukiyo-e style CGI used in Tanjiro's water breathing sword techniques. Melding these visuals with hand-drawn character animation was apparently a daunting task, but the results speak for themselves.

When asked about the difficulty level of animating the water breathing techniques in an awesome interview, Demon Slayer producer Yuma Takahashi explained that "the water breathing technique—particularly the waves within the attack when it is released—is all composed of hand-drawn elements.” He further explains the use of CGI vs. hand-drawn visuals: “There is a little 3DCG in the final composite, but almost all of those water elements are done by hand. It is very difficult to match the human character's movement to that of the waves, but in my opinion, Ufotable (the animation studio) is actually the best in the business at hand-drawn techniques like these."

Author Koyoharu Gotouge has openly acknowledged the influence of Bleach, Naruto, and Jojo's Bizarre Adventure on Demon Slayer. Intriguingly, Bleach's Gotei 13, the military branch of the Soul Society, was a frequent point of reference in meetings with Demon Slayer’s editor, drawing striking similarities to the "hashira” members of the series.

Despite having created an impressive body of work, Gotouge never had the opportunity to work as an assistant to another mangaka (author of manga), which is a typical position to hold before going on to create your own series. Serving as an assistant to a pre-existing mangaka provides crucial skills for working in the industry, but it seems that Gotouge did just fine without it. "Still, even without that experience, I had so many kind people willing to teach me things, so I guess it all worked out somehow,” Gotouge said regarding the matter.

The Demon Slayer author’s efforts clearly paid off, as Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, once directly congratulated Gotouge on Demon Slayer as a series that brought joy to many people during the pandemic: “At Jump, Demon Slayer was really amazing. I enjoyed how it was able to save the feelings of so many people. Absolutely superb work. This is how I want manga to be. It touched me, somehow!”

As we step back and appreciate the journey of Demon Slayer, it becomes clear that the series’ success is a testament to a fusion of innovative artistry, strategic marketing, and the compelling influence of the classics. It's a story of success carved out of passion, hard work, and, most importantly, the desire to bring joy to its readers and viewers. And in the end, isn't that what great storytelling is all about?

No great work of art is birthed without its share of challenges and painstaking labor, and Demon Slayer is no exception. Author Koyoharu Gotouge devoted an immense amount of time to each chapter, spending 7-10 hours on each storyboard, and a further 4-5 days on each full draft. 

For context, let's break down what this process involves. The creation of a manga chapter starts with a storyboard, or “name” as it’s referred to in the manga industry. This is a rough sketch of each page, where the author decides on the panel layout, creates a rough draft of the dialogues, and visualizes the primary action or emotion each panel will convey. It's in this phase that the overall pacing of the story is established.

After the storyboard stage, Gotouge would then move on to the drafts. Here, each page from the storyboard is redrawn in detail. This is where the artist inks the characters, settings, and objects, and finalizes the dialogues and visual effects. This draft is then submitted for a round of feedback and once approved, the artist will finalize the line work, add toner, and complete any remaining touch-ups.

This meticulous attention to detail ensured the high quality of the narrative and artwork, clearly contributing to the series' massive success. All mangaka worth incredibly, ridiculously hard, but to see that amount of work actually quantified for a titan of the industry such as Gotouge is wild to me.

The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga is finished now, but as fans eagerly await future endeavors from Gotouge, one thing is certain: the legacy of Demon Slayer will light the path for the next generation of manga and anime creators, just as Dragon Ball Z, One Piece, Naruto, and countless others have (and that’s just in the Shōnen genre). It's a shining testament to the world of possibilities that lie within the realms of creativity and storytelling, promising an exciting future for enthusiasts and creators alike. Hope you enjoyed this little dose of interesting anime facts for a well loved series, and I’ll catch you next time.

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