Demon Slayer or Kimetsu No Yaiba, manga has sold more copies than the entire American comic book industry. Talk about embarrassing. While comic book companies like Marvel and DC have absolutely no idea why their comic books aren’t selling,
Sources
Otaku mag
Anime News Network
Demon Slayer has sold 100 million copies while American comic books altogether have only sold 15 million units. Keep in mind that they are also counting manga that is being sold in America. That means that the number of comic books sold themselves are much lower.
Artist in Marvel and DC complain that the reason why they are not selling enough comic books is because of the fans. They blame the fans and attack the fans. While Manga artist in Japan believe that the reason why a manga like Demon Slayer is so successful is because of story and serving the fans.
Two different perspectives. Many American comic book creators don’t really think like they used to. Sure comic books have political message however, when a comic book is made to push a political agenda that is when readers run away. Comic book readers know when they are being brain washed into thinking a certain way. It is the very reason why the Disney Star Wars failed in the first place. The focus is not to satisfy comic book readers but rather to convince to convert to a political ideology.
Comic book readers dont want to think about politics when reading comics. They want to be entertained. Some comic books have political messages as a way to make a statement like V for Vendetta. However, there was no agenda of trying to convert people to the ideology. It was just a statement, a story.
This is why more and more American readers switch to Japanese Manga, because it has not been inundated with political things. Manga focuses on telling a good story which is what Marvel and DC are not doing.
Demon Slayer manga sold 150 million copies. This is both digital and paperback. Lets thank Viz Media for providing the western world with digital manga (so people wont have to pirate online).
Here is the sales numbers in order as stated by Animenewsnetwork.com
Other sources Otaquest
- 3.5 million copies in April 2019 (when the anime premiered)
- 12 million copies as of the 17th volume in October 2019
- 25 million copies as of the 18th volume in December 2019
- 40 million copies as of the 19th volume in February 2020
- 60 million copies as of the 20th volume in May 2020
- 80 million copies as of the 21st volume in July 2020
- 100 million copies as of the 22nd volume in October 2020
- 120 million copies as of the 23rd volume in December 2020
Some people on Twitter that Andy Arts TV was lying about Demon Slayer outselling the entire American Comic Book Industry. You can find those comments by following @andyartstv on twitter.
According to gamesradar.com they said that the adults graphic novels sold over 16 million copies. They then mentioned the top 10 graphic novels. 9 of those 10 “graphic novels” therefore the real number is not 16 million but a much lower count. If they are also counting manga sales then they have failed. Two different styles of comics. Perhaps they did not want to reveal the real number because it was much lower and so they had to count manga as part of the sales number to make it look higher.
If you want to see the top 20 adult graphic novels as of April 2021 then follow the link click here. Manga has conquered all the spots and they are not even graphic novels (but Americans call it that).
Here is another source for the total sales of Comic Books Comichron.
It does not matter how much people try to deny, Manga is superior to western comics for a good reason. The proof is in the number my friends. Some people would argue that “it was because of the pandemic that manga is selling more.” Alright true, but we can also easily say because of the pandemic, comic sales should have gone up as well, instead people turned to manga. Another sad thing about western comic books is that although everyone loves superhero movies, it does not motivate them to buy comic books. Manga on the other hand, the sales are increase when the anime is released.
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