Anime studios should take a cue from Ufotable.
Summary
- Demon Slayer will be completed with three movies.
- The plot closely follows the events of the manga.
- The decision to release the movies instead of a new season was partly influenced by financial factors.
Shōnen manga and anime are often associated with incredible longevity, as many fans not only grow up with their favorite franchises, but sometimes even bring their own children into them at some point. Dragon Ball Z lasted 9 years, Naruto including Shippuden lasted 15 years, and the equally iconic manga series Hunter x Hunter and One Piece are still being published today. And that's not counting the many revivals that have taken place in recent years, such as Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, which picked up 10 years after the main anime series ended.
And this is where Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba stands out. The story of the confrontation between humans and demons during the Japanese Taishō era is arguably one of the most recognizable examples of shōnen of the late 2010s and early 2020s, easily competing with My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen. However, while the MHA manga is nearing its end, the Demon Slayer manga has been finished for four years. What's more, the anime adaptation is also coming to an end. But why is such a popular series, which has brought Ufotable and Crunchyroll fabulous profits, ending so soon?
Demon Slayer Will End with Full-Length Movies
Shortly after the release of the final episode of Demon Slayer Season 4, which covered the events of the so-called Hashira Training Arc, Crunchyroll announced that the story is coming to a close. Many of our readers may have been unhappy with how filler-ish Season 4 felt, but there's an action-packed climax and a smooth conclusion ahead.
Sadly, we will not be seeing Season 5. Instead of a series adaptation, we'll get three feature films, which will be distributed in Japan by Toho and Aniplex, and outside of Japan by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. As for a release date for each of the movies, we have yet to find out.
Why Does Demon Slayer End So Early?
Although both the manga and the anime got off to a slow start, Demon Slayer is now one of the most popular IPs in the shōnen demographic. Therefore, fans have a very logical question: Why is Kimetsu no Yaiba being packaged at the height of its popularity? The answer has to do with both the story itself and the very clever commercial approach of Ufotable and Crunchyroll.
First of all, the reason why Demon Slayer is coming to an end is because the anime has so far faithfully followed the events of Koyoharu Gotōge's manga. Yes, even Season 4, despite its lack of significant events (with the exception of a revelation regarding Muzan and Ubayashiki's bond and the latter's death), is an adaptation of the manga's plot.
We are left with the Final Battle Arc, which will feature a final confrontation between Tanjiro and his fellow Demon Slayers and the King of Demons and his henchmen. In other words, there's not much left until the end, and so three full-length movies will be enough to complete the story.
Of course, Ufotable could have done something similar to Studio Pierrot's adaptations of Naruto and Bleach, stretching the story out over more years by adding filler episodes. However, Pierrot did this mainly because the release of the anime series ran parallel to their manga originals. Gotōge's manga, however, is now complete.
Regarding the feature-length format, as Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — The Movie: Mugen Train, which grossed $507.1 million worldwide against a budget of $15.7 million, demostrated, the decision to end the story with three films is not a commercially risky move. The anime has a huge fan base, so tickets are sure to sell out. What's more, audiences will get a much higher quality production in the full-length feature.
Source: Twitter.