Koyoharu Gotouge’s hit manga series “Kimetsu no Yaiba” has been selected as the Grand Prize winner at the Japan Cartoonists Association Award. The Awards were established by the Japan Cartoonists Association in 1972 to honour outstanding works, with the aim of promoting the spread of manga culture, and improving and developing the manga industry.

“Kimetsu no Yaiba” began serialization in “Weekly Shounen Jump” in February 2016. Set during the Taisho Era in Japan where human-eating demons existed, charcoal-seller Tanjiro Kamado had his life changed forever when his family was slaughtered by a demon. He embarked on a journey to avenge his family, and help cure his little sister Nezuko who was cursed into becoming a half-demon.

It reached its final episode in Shueisha’s “Weekly Shounen Jump” No. 24, released on 18th May 2020, bringing the four-year saga to a close. A TV anime adaptation was broadcast from April to September 2019, with a feature-length film sequel “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie – Mugen Train” released on 16th October 2020.

“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie – Mugen Train” has won the 42nd Japan Academy Prize for Best Animated Work; it also won the Best Music Award for Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina. The film has officially surpassed the box office take of Studio Ghibli’s bestselling film “Spirited Away” as of 27th December 2020, and was also the fastest film in Japanese movie history to earn JPY 10 billion, taking only ten days to reach the