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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga #20 Takes Oricon's Top 2 Weekly Slots by Selling Nearly 2 Million
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Oricon reported on Friday that the regular and limited editions of Koyoharu Gotouge's 20th Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga volume ranked #1 and #2, respectively, on Oricon's weekly manga chart for the May 11-17 week. The regular edition sold 1,086,157 physical print copies, while the limited edition sold 904,092 physical print copies, for a total of 1,990,249.
In addition, the manga series overall has sold a total of 60.027 million physical print copies as of Oricon's last update (which is post-dated March 31, but actually tallies sales up to May 17). Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is only the third manga series to sell over 60 million physical print copies since Oricon began reporting its book ranking charts in April of 2008. Shueisha had reported that the franchise as a whole has more than 60 million copies in circulation (including both print and digital) as of May 13.
Shiawase no Hana (Flower of Happiness) and Kataha no Chō (One-Winged Butterfly), the franchise's first and second novels, once again ranked at #1 and #2 on Oricon's weekly general book ranking in the same week. They sold 28,761 and 26,730 copies, respectively.
The manga ended on Monday. Ryōji Hirano will launch a short spinoff manga titled Kimetsu no Yaiba: Rengoku Gaiden centering on the Flame Hashira character Kyōjurō Rengoku. Shueisha has not yet announced a premiere date for the spinoff.
The manga's 18th volume debuted with a record first printing of 1 million copies last December. Shueisha revealed last November that the manga was the company's second highest-selling manga in 2019, second only to Eiichiro Oda's One Piece manga. Volumes of the manga occupied the entire top 10 of Oricon's weekly comic chart for the full month of February.
The manga inspired a 26-episode television anime that premiered in April 2019. Aniplex of America has licensed the series and is streaming the show on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and FunimationNow. Adult Swim's Toonami programming block premiered the television anime last October. The anime will receive a sequel anime film that will open in Japan on October 16.
The manga has also inspired a stage play and upcoming smartphone and PlayStation 4 games. An upcoming third novel will ship in July.
