Bookstore phenomenon, the manga "Demon Slayer" is breaking the Japanese box office with its animated adaptation -

Hiroshi Adacghi / AP / SIPA

After having shaken up the manga industry, and titillating 

One Piece

,

Demon Slayer

is now attacking the cinema.

Its animated adaptation is indeed on the way to breaking the record for theatrical receipts in Japan, held by

Spirited Away

 from Studio Ghibli.

Despite the pandemic, the success of the film has not been denied since its release in mid-October, and is currently on the heels of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, after having overtaken

James Cameron's

Titanic 

.

But the stakes are not yet over.

An almost Hollywood rebound has just disrupted the inexorable rise of the newcomer: Tuesday, the revenues

of Spirited Away

 at the Japanese box office were revalued upwards to take into account its release in theaters this summer.

With 31.7 billion yen (252 million euros) in revenue,

Spirited Away

 keeps its throne for now, while

Demon Slayer

, still in theaters, posted 30.3 billion yen during the last updated box office ranking on Monday.

A phenomenon in cinema, TV and manga

Demon Slayer

 tells the story of Tanjiro, a teenage boy living in Japan during the Taisho era (1912-1926), who becomes a demon hunter after his family is slaughtered by these bloodthirsty human creatures.

The work combines the hero's initiatory journey, a recurring theme in manga for adolescents, with positive values ​​such as brotherly love, friendship and the struggle of good against evil.

The original manga, published in the weekly

Weekly Shonen Jump

from 2016 to 2020 (and still in progress in France at Panini), gained further popularity with the release in 2019 of an animated series adaptation.

Then its bookstore sales soared last spring, when the Japanese population was called to stay at home because of the pandemic.

According to the Dai-ichi Life research institute, the franchise has already generated 270 billion yen (2.1 billion euros) taking into account admissions to theaters, sales of manga and derivative products.

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