Demon Slayer has become one of the biggest series in pop culture, and its influence knows no bounds. At this point, the manga and anime have conjoined to form a huge fanbase. Demon Slayer has shown what power the group has when it works together, and it seems the fandom is working to help blood drives these days.
Videos by ComicBook.com
The whole story cropped up in Japan when the Red Cross began a new donor campaign. The organization traditionally has little issue getting donations in Tokushima, but the ongoing pandemic has made things harder for the group. This forced the Red Cross to get creative overseas, and it used Demon Slayer to get people into clinics.
It turns out the Red Cross licensed Demon Slayer to put the characters on blood drive posters. If you signed up to give blood, the prefecture said it would automatically enter you to win one of the special posters. As you can imagine, fans heeded the call, and the Red Cross didn’t expect to see the turnout it did.
LiveDoor News says in April, the Red Cross hit 77% of its target for Tokushima. This rate is comparable to its pre-pandemic standard of 80% turnout. However, things shot up after the Demon Slayer contest began in May. There were 1,701 donors this past month compared to the 464 in April. So if you thought Tanjiro had little power in the real world, you can think again!
For the Red Cross, this crossover was a blessing, and this is not the first time Demon Slayer has taken part in campaigning for such drives. Its return in 2021 shows how much weight Demon Slayer carries with fans, and collectors will go the distance to nab rare merchandise. So if you happen to have won one of these posters, you most definitely earned it!
What do you think of this latest Demon Slayer phenomenon? Would you donate blood for the anime…? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
