Like the Big Three anime series — namely, One Piece, Bleach and Naruto — Demon Slayer originated as a manga published in the pages of the venerable and popular magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump. Like the Big Three, Demon Slayer was then adapted into a hugely popular anime series. Although not considered one of the Big Three, Demon Slayer has gone on to become one of the most popular manga and anime franchises of the 2010s and early 2020s. In fact, Demon Slayer actually outsold Bleach by the end of its publication run.
The English title Demon Slayer is a loose translation of the original Japanese title, Kimetsu no Yaiba, which translates to something like "Sword of Demon Destruction." In English, the franchise uses the Japanese name as a subtitle, so the English version is properly known as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, though most commonly referred to as just Demon Slayer.
Demon Slayer is a striking mix of Historical Fiction and intense Fantasy action
Demon Slayer is set in the real world during Japan's Taishō era, corresponding to the reign of the Emperor of the same name between 1912 and 1926. Compared to other periods of Japanese history, particularly the Sengoku period (the late 1400s to early 1600s) and the Meiji era (the period immediately before the Taishō era beginning in 1868, when Japan began opening up to foreign contact after nearly 300 years of intense isolationism), the Taishō period doesn't get as much attention in anime and manga.
By the Taishō period the modernization and westernization of Japan was well underway. While the technological and social influence of the process of modernization are on display when the characters visit larger cities, traditional Japanese culture hasn't been completely supplanted, with many of the characters still wearing traditional Japanese clothing and the events of the story kicking off in a small, remote village that has still been largely unaffected by the rising modernization of Japan.
Crunchyroll's listing for the series provides the following summary:
"It is the Taisho Period in Japan. Tanjiro, a kindhearted boy who sells charcoal for a living, finds his family slaughtered by a demon. To make matters worse, his younger sister Nezuko, the sole survivor, has been transformed into a demon herself.
Though devastated by this grim reality, Tanjiro resolves to become a 'demon slayer' so that he can turn his sister back into a human, and kill the demon that massacred his family."
In a lot of ways, Demon Slayer is very similar to Bleach, both following an elite group of warriors borrowing a lot of samurai aesthetics while fighting demons and monsters with the help of magical swords. The Demon Slayer, the swords are known as Nichirin Swords and are basically color-coded, with the color of their blade corresponding to the sword's specific powers.
Like Bleach, Demon Slayer also boasts some fantastic art direction and animation. The art of Demon Slayer focuses on bright colors, unique character designs (especially for the demons) making the most of the contrast of traditional Japanese aesthetics and early twentieth-century western designs. Much like how the Taishō period setting helps the anime stand apart from others, its unique and memorable art and animation help it stand out from other anime despite a lot of conceptual similarities with other series like Bleach.
The beginning of the end is coming later this year
The original run of the Demon Slayer anime ended in 2024 after airing four seasons. The anime ended before the conclusion of the story of the manga. The conclusion of the Demon Slayer anime will come in the form of a trilogy of feature-length movies adapting the Infinity Castle arc of the manga. The Bam Smack Pow team has previously reported the conclusion of the Demon Slayer story, Infinity Castle is coming to theaters all around the world in 2025. The debut of Infinity Castle will be staggered based on region and language throughout August and September. The scheduled debut dates include:
• August 14 in Malaysia, Pakistan and Singapore
• August 15 in Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam
• August 20 in the Philippines
• September 11 in Australia, the Caribbean, Central America, most South American countries, Thailand and parts of Europe
• September 12 in Canada, the US, the UK, India, Kenya, and most of Europe not covered by the September 11 debut
• September 17 in the French-speaking parts of Africa and Europe
• September 25 in the German-speaking parts of Europe.
The full list of announced dates for regional debuts can be found on Crunchyroll.
Luckily, whether you're a longtime Demon Slayer fan or you want to get into one of the most popular anime series of the 2020, there's still plenty of time to catch up on the masterfully animated story of elite swordsmen doing battle with demons before that story closes out with the Infinity Castle movies. More information about Infinity Castle can be found on the official website here.
Demon Slayer is available to stream on Netflix, Crunchyroll and Hulu, though it may not be available to stream on every service in every international region. Additionally, the original Demon Slayer manga is available to read on original publisher Shueisha's Manga Plus website and app, and English-language publisher Viz Media's Shonen Jump website and app.
As always, keep following Bam Smack Pow for the latest news about Marvel and DC, along with weekly recaps of the biggest breaking anime news and a recommendation of another must-watch anime series!