‘Demon Slayer’ Becomes Japan’s Highest Grossing Anime Since Miyazaki’s 2001 ‘Spirited Away’

The blockbuster animated film adaptation of ‘Demon Slayer: Ghost Train’ has recently reached record level sales worldwide.

On April 27, 2021,  ‘Kimetsu No Yaiba’ has become the first movie in Japan ever to gross over 40 billion yen worldwide.  This surpasses Studio Ghibli’s ‘Spirited Away,’ which had previously been the top-grossing film in Japan for the last 20 years with a total box office of roughly 31 billion yen.

‘Kimetsu No Yaiba’ has been at an all-time high in the anime community. Since its debut in 2016 on Shonen Jump. The manga had served to become one of the most popular at its time and had ended in 2020. While it remained prevalent amongst the anime community, it had not gained much recognition until 2018, when the animation studio known as ‘Ufotable’ had begun to adapt it into an anime.

Daphne, a sophomore that watches anime, said,” Ufotable is a household name in the anime community. It has animated many esteemed titles such as ‘Violet Evergarden’ and ‘Fate’.”

While it saddens many who have been in the anime community for a long time, including Daphne, Studio Ghibli’s legacy will never be forgotten due to its legendary and classic anime films. Titles such as ‘Princess Monoke’,’ Howl’s Moving Castle’, ‘My Neighbor Totoro’ and many more originate from this studio.

Even people who barely know about anime have heard of Studio Ghibli or at least one of their movies.

Frank O., a twelfth grader in AISGZ who hardly watches anime, commented,” Yeah, I’ve heard of Spirited Away. I watched it when I was a child.”

‘Kimetsu No Yaiba’ has become the highest-grossing film in Japan. While this is cause for celebration for many, it also saddens fans of ‘Spirited Away’ that they will likely never see a Studio Ghibli film back in the number one spot.