Was Demon Slayer a Flop Before Its Anime Debuted?

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba knows what it means to be popular. The hit series debuted several years ago, and creator Koyoharu Gotouge had no idea how big the manga would become. Tanjiro and his friends became full-on icons once the Demon Slayer anime went live, and it is now well into season 3. Still, rumors persist Demon Slayer was on death’s door before its anime dropped, and that is absolutely not how things went down.

If you are familiar with shonen manga, you know the field is competitive to say the least. Series have to stand out shortly after debuting, and stories that don’t succeed quickly are cut off at the knee. When Demon Slayer went live, the manga’s first two chapters were incredibly well met.

In fact, the series was buzzed about often during Tanjiro’s training arc, and things only heated up once the Hashira Exam got underway. I mean, Demon Slayer was gifted a cover page after just 7 chapters, so you know the team at Shueisha felt strongly about its chances.

Now for those who want hard data to back up Demon Slayer’s pre-anime success, we’ve got you covered. The show was released in April 2019 just after the manga’s 15th volume was released. You can look at the Oricon sale data of Demon Slayer’s earlier volumes to see how the title fared with readers. For the first four volumes of Demon Slayer, sales were slow during each releases’ first week, but that began changing with volume five. By the time volume six was released, first week sales for Demon Slayer volumes were high, and at least 100k copies were sold within two weeks by the time volume eight went live.

Of course, Demon Slayer volume 15 was the last one to go live before the series’ anime dropped. It sold nearly 200k copies in four weeks which is nothing to laugh at. By the time volume 16 went live, Demon Slayer fever had begun, and you can see the anime gave the manga a huge sales boost at this volume sold 225k in its first week.

There is no denying Demon Slayer manga sales were boosted by the anime, and that is what pushed the shonen into record-breaking territory. However, there is no denying the series was selling just fine before the show went live. Volume sales were climbing consistently before the show went live, and Shueisha showed interest in Demon Slayer well before the anime was even pitched. So if you thought the only impressive part of Demon Slayer was its anime, you can think again.

When did you get into Demon Slayer…? Did the manga pique your interest or was it the anime that made you look? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.