Why Demon Slayer Overtook Naruto and One Piece — The Strategy Behind Anime’s Fastest Rise
Shonen’s crown belonged to Eiichiro Oda’s One Piece and Masashi Kishimoto’s Naruto for over a decade—until Koyoharu Gotouge’s Demon Slayer stormed the scene and rewrote the leaderboard.
For years, the shonen banner has basically flown over two ships: One Piece and Naruto. Then Demon Slayer showed up, didn’t so much climb the ladder as launch itself past a few rungs, and suddenly the conversation changed.
How Demon Slayer went from slow burn to rocket booster
The manga kicked off in 2016 without a huge splash. Solid, but not a phenomenon. The 2019 anime changed everything. Once Ufotable’s adaptation hit, the thing blew up. The surge was so big it dragged the manga to the top of the sales charts in 2019 and 2020. Awards followed, word of mouth did the rest, and on platforms like Crunchyroll the show started outscoring long-running titans like One Piece and Naruto.
The big flex, though, was theatrical. In October 2020, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Mugen Train rolled into theaters and didn’t stop, becoming the highest-grossing anime and the highest-grossing Japanese film ever worldwide. That record stood until the next swing from the same franchise.
Infinity Castle keeps rewriting the scoreboard
The first Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Movie: Infinity Castle landed in September and, by box office reports, has already cleared $674 million worldwide. Along the way it smashed a stack of records and now sits as the top-grossing Japanese film globally. Between the series, the earlier movie, and this new one, Demon Slayer has managed to outpace One Piece and Naruto on pure popularity more than once.
What’s next (and why the ceiling is still higher)
Even though the manga wrapped in 2020, the anime rollout is not done. Ufotable and Crunchyroll confirmed the entire Infinity Castle arc is being told across three movies, scheduled for 2025, 2027, and 2029. It’s a long plan, but it’s built to actually finish the story on the big screen, which is exactly the kind of finale this series has earned. Given how the first Infinity Castle film performed, it’s a safe bet the next two push the franchise to even bigger critical and commercial highs. I wouldn’t blink if Demon Slayer winds up one of the defining global anime brands of this era.
- 2016: Manga debuts; modest reception at first.
- 2019: Anime adaptation premieres; popularity explodes; manga sales surge.
- 2019–2020: Manga becomes the best-selling series two years running.
- Oct 2020: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train releases and becomes the highest-grossing anime and Japanese film worldwide.
- September (recent): Demon Slayer: The Movie: Infinity Castle opens and reportedly hits $674 million worldwide, breaking multiple box office records and taking the all-time Japanese film crown.
- Next up: Infinity Castle continues as a trilogy with films slated for 2025, 2027, and 2029.
- Score snapshot (because people always ask): IMDb — Demon Slayer 8.6, One Piece 9.0, Naruto 8.7; MyAnimeList — Demon Slayer 8.42, One Piece 8.73, Naruto 8.28.
- Where to watch: Demon Slayer is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Does Demon Slayer end up the biggest commercial name in anime when all is said and done? At this point, it’s not a wild prediction. Tell me where you land.