Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from February 2016 to May 2020, spanning 23 collected volumes. The story is set in Taishō-era Japan and follows Tanjiro Kamado, a kind-hearted boy who returns home one day to find his entire family slaughtered by a demon, with only his younger sister Nezuko surviving — but she has been transformed into a demon herself. Driven by love and a fierce determination, Tanjiro joins the secretive Demon Slayer Corps and embarks on a perilous quest to find a cure for Nezuko and avenge his family.
The manga blends visceral, high-stakes action with deep emotional storytelling, exploring themes of family, loss, and the thin line between humanity and monstrosity. Gotouge's distinctive art style and dynamic fight choreography quickly garnered a massive following. By the time the series concluded, it had become one of the best-selling manga of all time, with over 150 million copies in circulation worldwide. Its cultural impact in Japan and globally has been profound, sparking a renaissance of interest in dark fantasy shōnen narratives and setting new benchmarks for the genre.