Big news for the anime and manga industry has just been revealed. Koyoharu Gotouge, the creator of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, has been listed in TIME magazine‘s TIME100 list. The list is curated by Time to showcase 100 emerging artists, leaders, advocates, and socialites who deserve recognition. The prestigious TIME magazine has run the TIME100 for two years but has never featured a manga author on the specific list or in the magazine as a whole.
This is undoubtedly an honor for the mangaka, who has had an incredibly successful run with his series Demon Slayer so far. He’s made huge waves in the industry in such a short period of time, going toe to toe in sales with some of the anime giants. It’s clear he is here to stay. Gotouge’s entry notes the achievements made by the production team for the series’ latest film, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train. Mugen Train burst through the Japanese box office, becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time in the country. Gotouge also briefly discussed the origins of the manga and some comments made by the editor, Kohei Ohnishi.
Before the release of the 23rd volume of Demon Slayer, the manga series as a whole had an impressive 100 million copies in circulation. It is the eighth manga title from Shueisha and Weekly Shonen Jump magazine to reach 100 million copies in circulation, not including digital copies.
Shueisha also revealed last November that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was consistently the company’s second highest-selling series over all of 2019, second only to the juggernaut that is One Piece. Fans may remember such releases as volume 17, which had a national shortage all over Japan due to how quickly they were selling out.
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