Demon Slayer's first draft was rejected for being too gloomy
Koyoharu Gotouge's early pitch for a demon-hunting story was turned down as too dark and humourless. The editor asked for a brighter, ordinary hero instead. The result, a charcoal seller named Tanjiro, became one of the best-selling manga ever and fuelled the highest-grossing Japanese film of all time.
Gotouge's earlier manga, Haeniwa no Zigzag, ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2015 but was not picked up as a series. Editor Tatsuhiko Katayama urged a simpler, easy-to-grasp theme, and a draft built on swords and demons was drafted, then rejected for its bleak mood and lack of comic relief. Katayama suggested a more everyday protagonist in the same world. Even the title was softened: an early version used the character for 'kill', judged too blunt, so Gotouge coined the invented word kimetsu, roughly 'demon destruction', while yaiba signals a Japanese sword.
The story is set in Taishō-era Japan. Tanjiro Kamado, who has supported his mountain family by selling charcoal since his father died, comes home to find them killed by a demon; only his sister Nezuko survives, turned into a demon herself yet keeping some human feeling. He trains in a sword style called Water Breathing, joins the centuries-old Demon Slayer Corps, and hunts Muzan Kibutsuji, the first demon, hoping to make Nezuko human again. Demons in this world can be destroyed only by sunlight, blades of a special Nichirin alloy, or wisteria poison.
Gotouge named JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Naruto and Bleach as the three biggest influences, with Gintama shaping the comedy, and Katayama said Tanjiro owes something to the swordsman hero of Rurouni Kenshin. Serialisation began in February 2016 and wrapped up in May 2020, a run later gathered into 23 volumes.
Studio Ufotable's anime launched in April 2019, and the October 2020 film Mugen Train became the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film ever made. Theatregoers for that film received a booklet printed in a limited run of 4.5 million copies. By July 2025 the manga had passed 220 million copies in circulation, and it topped manga sales in both 2019 and 2020.
Source: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
