One of the editors who worked on Koyoharu Gotouge’s Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba revealed that protagonist Tanjiro Kamado almost has a very different personality.
As reported by Anime Senpai, Tatsuhiko Katayama shared in a recent interview that they originally designed Tanjiro to be a ruthless, heartless killer who completely lacks the well-defined kind heart. clear about him in the actual story. The character’s original artwork features a cold, emotionless facial expression and a missing arm.
How changing Tanjiro will change the story of Demon Slayer
Katayama further explains that in keeping with the dark nature of the original Tanjiro, the first general concepts of the Demon Slayer’s story are much more brutal and barbaric, with a theme purely about revenge. According to the editor, the story will lack the beloved humor and jokes of the final product that will appeal to many anime fans. So he asked Gotouge to turn the callous protagonist into someone with more charm.
Advice from Katayama may have helped Demon Slayer to great success; Not only is the series one of the best-selling manga in history with over 150 million copies worldwide, but the larger franchise is also one of the most lucrative media properties of all time. With a gross of over $8.7 billion, Demon Slayer ranks above other notable pop culture IPs like Power Rangers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Jurassic Park.
A significant portion of that money came from Ufotable’s award-winning animated film adaptation. The first season premiered in April 2019 and won multiple categories at the Newtype Anime Awards — including Tanjiro’s Best Character (Male) award — and Best Anime Series at the IGN Awards. The most recent season, which describes the events of the “Swordsmith Village” part of the manga, debuted as part of the spring 2023 anime series.
In addition to the manga and anime, the Demon Slayer franchise includes numerous spin-offs, movies, light novels, and a wealth of merchandise and collectibles. Fans celebrate Gotouge’s work by creating their own content, especially cosplay. Cosplayer Macklmoor, for instance, showed off their gender-swapping interpretation of Doma, the powerful high-level demon, with outfits that accentuated his signature blood-red turtleneck, hat, and black crown figure. Similarly, Naoko-Hime uploaded a photo of their vibrant Nezuko cosplay, using cherry blossoms to highlight the young girl’s pink-centered character design.
Anime Demon Slayer is available on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll. VIZ Media distributes the manga in North America.
Source: Anime Senpai
