The latest volume of the popular manga series Demon Slayer, now has a shortage of available copies in Japanese bookstores.
A crisis began in bookstores across Japan this week, as the latest installment of the incredibly popular and hotly followed manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba released nationwide. Fans where spoiled for content as volume 17 of the series released with two companion books on October 4th. Unsurprisingly, stock of all three sold out in no time over the course of the weekend. Some bookstores are having to hang signs outside their establishments saying there’s no date for when stock of the volume is coming back in.
With such high demand for Demon Slayer volume 17 during the shortage, scalpers are taking advantage. Prices for the entire manga collection on websites in Japan – such as Mercari and Yahoo! Auctions – are reaching insane prices. One collection currently runs at 100,000 yen ($936.00). Normally, each volume costs 500 yen ($4.50). This means the price per volume for the collection is 1123% above its conventional retail price.
Massive Demon Slayer hype causes manga shortage
The wave of hype for this series has reached a fever pitch over the course of the past few weeks. The final episode wrapped up the anime adaptation’s first season on September 28th, with the simultaneous announcement that the Infinity Train arc will be adapted into a film, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. Haruo Sotozaki will be returning as the director and Akira Matsushima will be returning as the character designer.
Fans in Japan and overseas simply can’t enough of the series. Some stores are reporting that Demon Slayer is taking every spot on their top 10 lists. The only competition to the manga being the last volume of Tsubaki-chou Lonely Planet. As of writing, the second most popular Demon Slayer volume was the 7th, which continues where the anime season ended.
The plot for the Infinity Train Arc is as follows:
After Enmu is assigned to kill Tanjirou Kamado in order to become an Upper moon and obtain more of Muzan’s blood, Tanjirou, Zenitsu and Inosuke buy tickets for the Infinity Train in search for Kyoujourou Rengoku, the flame pillar. In Hope’s that he has some info on the Dance of the fire God. – via the Demon Slayer wiki.
Viz Media is releasing chapters of the series in English on the same day as Japan on their Shonen Jump app. Demon Slayer volume 9 is set to release in English on November 5th.
