The global film industry has fallen into a trough due to the impact of the epidemic.

Only Japanese movies have not retreated but advanced, and produced a hit-

72 days after its release, the movie "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train" successfully earned 317.2 100 million yen, officially breaking the 31.68 billion yen box office set by "Spirited Away" and becoming the highest-grossing movie in Japanese film history.

01

How explosive is "Demon Slayer"?

Since its release in October last year, "Mugen Train" has almost exploded in box office growth, breaking Japan's single-day and single-week box office records.

This epic new work not only saved Japan's economic downturn by rescuing the market, but also set off a "demon slayer phenomenon" throughout Japan that should not be underestimated.

There are only two types of popular movies in theaters: one is "Demon Slayer" and the other is other works.

The movie-watching crowd spans all age groups from 7 to 70 years old.

It has been successfully made suitable for all ages and suitable for both men and women.

Audiences of almost every age group can find certain emotions through this work***:

Teenagers are attracted by curious stories, and parents are attracted by passionate feelings. Attracted, the old man was attracted by the nostalgia of Japan's Taisho era...

At the same time, the film and television peripherals of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" are also selling rapidly in Japan.

Almost every convenience store sells Demon Slayer peripherals.

Many vending machines only sell demon slayer products.

Comprehensive coverage from snacks, daily necessities to home appliances, it seems that as long as it is related to Demon Slayer, the product will definitely make a profit without losing money.

Even JR Kyushu has taken advantage of the popularity and launched a special train called "Unlimited Train".

Many public figures came to support the event spontaneously -

Tomohisa Yamashita took a photo while holding a manga of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba", saying it was "too good to cry";

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga specifically quoted the famous quote from "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" during his defense in Congress: "I will answer the question with all my concentration and breathing";

The 73-year-old Takeshi Kitano cosplayed the male protagonist of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" directly in the TV show.

While becoming popular, Demon Slayer has also spawned many proper nouns.

For example, "Demon Slayer Poverty" refers to the state of poverty caused by purchasing Demon Slayer peripherals.

"Demon Slayer Harassment" refers to various types of harassment caused by Demon Slayer.

Japan’s TBS TV station, some time ago, compiled three major routines of “Demon Slayer harassment” in a report:

“Have you not watched Demon Slayer yet?”, Behaviors such as "Come and watch" that force people to watch;

"It turns out there are people who really don't like Demon Slayer" and other behaviors that deny other people's taste;

Creating unspeakable things "Demon Slayer is boring and uninteresting" atmosphere.

Even Mr. Hayao Miyazaki, who went out to pick up garbage, was not spared and suffered "demon harassment" from reporters.

After seeing this, I am afraid that most people will have this question:

Why is "Demon Slayer" so popular?

In order to clear up this confusion, let’s talk about it in detail below based on the comics and the drama version.

02

Why "Demon Slayer"?

The wide spread of "Demon Slayer" is mainly determined by its Japanese comic genes.

In recent years, as popular works such as "Bleach", "Naruto" and "Gintama" that have been serialized for more than ten years have come to an end, many comic fans have fallen into periodic panic: who will succeed "Shounen" JUMP》?

The emergence of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" just soothed this panic in a timely manner.

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is a shounen manga created by Japanese manga artist Goto Haru. It was serialized in Shueisha's "Weekly Shonen Jump" from February 15, 2016 to May 11, 2020. , now completed.

The author Wu Qinghu Shiqing is a low-key female cartoonist.

Because her name is difficult to pronounce, fans usually call her "Teacher Crocodile" (her self-portrait is a crocodile).

As of September 17 last year, the comic's single volumes have exceeded 100 million copies. It is the only comic work in the past ten years that can compete with "One Piece" in terms of sales.

Three Major Migrant Comics

The top 22 Japanese comic sales were once occupied by "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba".

The reason why it only occupies the top 22 places is because it only has 22 volumes in one ***.

Compared with traditional Japanese comics, "Demon Slayer" has two major advantages.

First, it is short and concise, and firmly captures the hearts of readers (audiences) with its compact plot.

Most traditional Japanese comics are protracted and lengthy, and they often rely on "extending the front line" to maintain popularity.

But "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" has perfectly avoided this flaw -

The ultimate boss, Demon Slayer Muzan, appeared in the 7th episode of the animation, without any traces of it. Don't be secretive.

Such a design is quite rare in juvenile comics about upgrading and fighting monsters.

Second, it has a delicate emotional appeal.

In traditional shounen comics, female characters are always surrounded by the male gaze.

But "Demon Slayer" has shown a rare friendliness towards female characters.

As manga artist Hisashi Maeda commented:

“This is a work in which the female characters do not have much sexual expression. They rarely wear sexy and revealing clothes, and they are not outdated. The concept of 'women should be protected and retreated behind men'. They need to be tested and trained to fight with others like the protagonist."

And, since the Crocodile Teacher is a woman, Therefore, she also infiltrated delicate humanistic care into the comics.

These humanistic concerns, to a large extent, neutralize the bloody atmosphere of the battle scenes.

Since the drama version was introduced at Station B last year, "Demon Slayer" has cultivated a large number of fans in our country.

As of now, it has the highest number of views among all the dramas on station B - 550 million.

On Douban, nearly 120,000 people gave it a high score of 9.1.

Even if you haven’t seen this animation, you probably have heard of it.

03

Animation production that defies heaven

The story of "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is set in the Taisho era and takes place in a world where humans and ghosts exist. in an imaginary world.

Evil ghosts are rampant in the world and make a living by cannibalizing people.

There are only two ways to eliminate ghosts: shining the sun or cutting the neck with a sun disk.

The male protagonist Tanjiro lives in the mountains with his family.

One day, he went down the mountain to sell charcoal. When he returned home the next day, he saw a hellish scene:

Ghosts attacked their home and the whole family died in a pool of blood.

Only the younger sister Nezuko, although transformed into a ghost, retained human consciousness and reason.

In order to avenge his family, Tanjiro found ways to join the Demon Slayer Corps.

While using his flesh and blood to protect humans, he is also looking for a way to turn his sister back into a human.

Since then, in various adventures, Tanjiro has met strong opponents and made like-minded partners.

The story told in "Mugen Train" will continue after the drama version.

In terms of setting, "Demon Slayer" still follows the classic royal blood comic model.

Many familiar story settings are interspersed here:

For example, the protagonist with extraordinary talents, the improvement of abilities through monster fighting and upgrading, the binary opposition between good and evil...

However, it breaks out of the existing routines of Wangdao hot-blooded comics in many aspects.

Although "blood" is still the spiritual core of the work, the content it carries has been greatly reduced.

The author replaced it with the element of "family love" to connect the whole story.

This setting can not only balance action scenes and emotional scenes, but also bring tears to the eyes, making the audience have a strong passion for the characters.

In addition, the wonderful layout of the action also greatly improves the watchability of "Demon Slayer".

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" is personally produced by the animation production company ufotable (Ufo Club).

ufotable is known for its gorgeous special effects, exquisite CG and smooth camera movements.

Many well-known high-quality dramas are produced by ufotable:

"Fate/Stay Stay", "Sora no Kyoukai", "God Eater", "Touken Ranbu" and so on.

"Fate/Stay Night" The Movie

With the blessing of ufotable, the charm of "Demon Slayer" has been brought into full play.

For example, in the 19th episode of the drama version, there was a battle with the gods, and an animation of more than 20 minutes was filmed with the quality of a Hollywood blockbuster——

Tanjiro The "breath of water" used by Yoshiyuki heavily refers to the wave ukiyo-e in "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" by Katsushika Hokusai.

With both aesthetic support and gorgeous visual enjoyment, it is indeed the “breath of funds” that netizens call it!

If "Spirited Away" is an auteur film with a very personal style, then "Demon Slayer" is a commercial film that achieves perfect scores in all aspects.

"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba" replaced "Spirited Away" to become the "box office champion in Japanese film history", which obviously affirmed the industrialization progress of Japanese comics from the side.

Like "Spirited Away", "Mugen Train" will surely follow and become a film that leads the times.

It is reported that the film has been confirmed to be introduced into China.

If it goes well, it is estimated that it will be promoted in the country soon.

I hope we can meet it soon!