Stage play adaptations of popular anime are becoming big business. Attack on Titan: The Musical ran for two days in New York in October, while the Spirited Away stage performance was a remarkable success and will continue touring the world in 2025. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has also gotten in on the action. Demon Slayer‘s stage performance has been running since 2020, and the play is about to head to the Swordsmith Village while fans await the latest updates for its final arc adaptation.
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Based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba follows Tanjiro Kamado after demons slaughter his family, and his sister, Nezuko, is turned into one. Desperate to save his sister, Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corps to cull the source of the demons and find a cure for his sister. The manga has already been adapted into an immensely popular anime by Studio Ufotable, and the stage play is the next feather in the franchise’s cap as it primes for its debut in Japan.
Demon Slayer‘s Stage Play Takes on the Swordsmith Village Arc
Anime fans will be no stranger to the “Swordsmith Village Arc,” as it was the center of the hit show’s third (and most divisive) season. It’s now time for Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the Hashiras, Mitsuri Kanroji, and Muichiro Tokito to be brought to life on stage. The show will run in Tokyo and Hyogo in April 2025. The exact dates have not yet been unveiled.
Shogo Sakamoto will reprise his role as Tanjiro Kamado, with Karen Takahashi and Yoshihide Sasaki set to return as Nezuko and Muzan Kibutsuji, respectively. The debut play was a remarkable success, and subsequent Demon Slayer arcs were brought to the stage in the following years. Premiering in 2020, the show returned to the stage in 2021, 2022, and 2023, bringing the “Unwavering Resolve,” “Mugen Train,” and “Entertainment District” arcs to life.
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Demon Slayer‘s First Stage Play Is Streaming on Crunchyroll
If this is the first you’re hearing about Demon Slayer‘s stage play, then fear not; it’s not too late for you to enjoy it. The first stage play, which adapted much of the Unwavering Resolve Arc, is currently streaming on Crunchyroll. Coming in at a 149-minute-long run time, the play condenses the arc into a neat, feature-length runtime. Fans are still waiting for the subsequent performances to be added to the streaming site.
As for the anime’s future, the franchise is heading back to the big screen for its final arcs. After Season 4 wrapped up the “Hashira Training Arc,” the Demon Slayer Corps are traveling into the Infinity Castle in an upcoming feature-length film. The first trailer was unveiled just last week and promises to be an action-packed movie. The Infinity Castle movie is part of a new film trilogy that will bring the anime to an end. Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga was first published in 2016 in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and ended four years later in 2020.
