The Japanese portal Oricon reported that the eighth, first and seventh volumes of the manga written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge, Kimetsu no Yaiba (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba), have exceeded 5.03 million, 5.029 million and 5.009 million copies sold, respectively. These have become the first volumes to exceed five million copies sold since Oricon began recording sales in April 2008.
The eighth, first and seventh volumes sold 66,000, 69,000 and 107,000 copies, respectively, during the week of December 28, 2020, through January 3, 2021. The seventh volume includes the arc adapted from the film Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen, which explains its increase in sales.
It is worth mentioning that the sixth volume of the manga compilation written and illustrated by Tatsuya Endo, SPY x FAMILY, which was released in Japan on December 28, was placed at the top of the sales ranking in the same period, with 538,000 copies sold, and is the second volume of this franchise to reach the top position, after the fifth volume compilation.
For its part, Koyoharu Gotouge began publishing the manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in February 2016 and completed it in May 2020. The publisher published the 22nd volume of the compilation on October 2, and the 23rd and final volume on December 4.
Synopsis of Kimetsu no Yaiba
In the Taisho era in Japan, Tanjirou Kamado is a kind and intelligent boy who lives with his family in the mountains. Tanjirou has become the head of his family after the death of his father, making constant trips to the village at the foot of the mountain to sell firewood and charcoal.
However, his life changes when one day, returning home after a night out, he discovers that his family has been killed by a demon. Tanjirou and her sister Nezuko are the only survivors now, but she has been turned into a demon, although surprisingly she still shows emotions and seems to have a sense of reason. After an encounter with Giyuu Tomioka, a demon hunter; Tanjirou decides to become a demon hunter to hunt down the killer of her family and find a way to bring Nezuko back to normal.
© 吾峠 呼世晴 (著) / SHUEISHA 集英社
