Popularity and cultural impact
The anime had received high TV rating percentage and has consistently ranked among the top ten animated shows in Japan, since the release of second season's Mugen Train and Entertainment District story arcs.[80] According to Video Research, Entertainment District Arc averaged 18.43 million viewers, with 25.5 million for episode 10 and 25.97 million for episode 11.[81] The Swordsmith Village Arc's final episode averaged 22.87 million viewers, while the double feature special of the anime's Entertainment District Arc drew 22.51 million after their broadcast.[82] The Swordsmith Village Arc also became the most-watched anime in 2023, garnering 15.4 million viewers in Japan.[83]
Gadget Tsūshin listed both the breathing techniques suffix and "Ah! The era, the era changed again!" on their 2019 anime buzzwords list.[84] On Tumblr's Year in Review, which highlights the largest communities, fandoms, and trends on the platform throughout the year, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba ranked seventh on the Top Anime & Manga Shows category in 2019 and 2020.[85][86] The second season's Mugen Train placed third on the annual Twitter Japan's Trend Awards in 2021, based on the social network's top trending topics of the year.[87] According to a 2020 poll conducted by education and publishing company Benesse, which asked 7,661 third to sixth-grade Japanese children (5,170 girls and 2,491 boys), Tanjiro Kamado ranked first on the top 10 most admired people, which placed the children's mothers, fathers, and teachers on second, fourth and fifth place, respectively, with the remaining spots occupied by other Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba characters.[88] The series helped to increase internal tourism, with many tourists traveling to similar spots to the ones featured in the series.[89][90][91][92]
According to Yuma Takahashi, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series producer, the series had three main factors for its success: "The power of the original work, the attitude towards adapting it to anime, and the environment". Takahashi explained that although many people learned about the manga through the anime, that in itself is not enough to generate a hit, stating that the original manga itself is interesting and they tried to adapt it earnestly without losing any of its appeal. The earnest attitude towards the adaptation and techniques from the staff at Ufotable were other key factors. Takahashi pointed out the changes in the anime-viewing landscape within the past few years and the increasing popularity of the streaming platforms. Takahashi said that by airing the series for two cours, it had the time to build up an audience. Takahashi added: "While the anime was airing, the story being serialized in the manga was heating up, so the timing was also ideal. It wasn't as if it suddenly became the center of attention; I feel that it steadily picked up fans and expanded its audience".[93] In 2021, in Tokushima, the Red Cross featured characters from the series on blood drive posters, which helped to increase the number of donors.[94][95]
In January 2021, Gundam franchise's creator Yoshiyuki Tomino discussed his thoughts on the series in an interview, where he said that he initially felt jealous of how the series attracted "such a dedicated and talented staff", and said: "The voice actors are great, the composer of the song that everyone knows is great. So many talented people showed up! In that sense, what I felt surpassed envy, and I started thinking, 'Man, those guys sure are something!'". Nevertheless, Tomino called the series cultural success a coincidence, explaining: "I don't think that Demon Slayer is a calculated or contrived work. I think that its assemblage was quite a coincidence", adding that in the anime industry people often get chosen for a job because they "just happened to be there" or their schedules "happened to align at the right time" and that it is rare for people with exactly the ideal talents or innate qualities to get chosen.[96]
Former prime minister of Japan Yoshihide Suga quoted the series at a House of Representatives Budget Committee in the National Diet in November 2020.[97][98] Former prime minister Fumio Kishida has remarked that he was a fan of the series, pledging that he would improve the conditions in the anime and manga industry.[99][100] Several politicians even used motifs and patterns from the series in their campaigns in 2021.[101][102]
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba holds an approval rating of 100% based on six reviews.[103] Writing for Monsters and Critics, Patrick Frye wrote that the anime adaptation is "praised [for] the animation quality and flowing battle scenes that integrate digital effects seamlessly" while noting that "some fans have complained about weird story pacing issues thanks to flashbacks and some slow moments, but everyone agrees that once the action picks up, it's amazing."[104] Writing for Anime News Network, James Beckett highlighted the 19th episode by noting it was "a thrilling showstopper of an episode, showing off ufotable's considerable skills as producers of nearly unrivaled action spectacle."[105]
The anime series has been considered as one of the best anime of the 2010s. Polygon's Austen Goslin wrote that "Few shows over the last 10 years have so clearly or unabashedly made fights their focus, and absolutely none of them have done it as well as Demon Slayer".[106]
