The Demon Slayer manga’s ending may be coming up sooner than many fans might have expected. Weekly Shonen Jump announced that creator Koyoharu Gotouge would be releasing the “climax” for the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga soon in 2020.
The climax will be contained in Demon Slayer Chapter 204, which will ship on May 11, 2020. Japanese publisher Shueisha is also releasing Demon Slayer Volume 20 (which contains up through Chapter 178) on May 13, 2020.
Perhaps to celebrate the coming of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga’s ending, Volume 20 will come bundled with special merchandise. Additionally, Volumes 21 through 23 will have special bundles.
North American publisher Viz Media is publishing the official English translation online and in the tankobon-format books.
The English Volume 12 is scheduled to release on May 5, 2020, Volume 13 on June 2, 2020, Volume 14 on July 7, 2020, Volume 15 on August 4, 2020, Volume 16 on September 1, 2020, Volume 17 on October 6, 2020, Volume 18 on November 3, 2020, and Volume 19 on December 1, 2020.
Assuming that the Demon Slayer manga ends within several chapters, the final chapter could be contained in Volume 23. However, it’s also possible the manga creator has one last surprise in store for readers that could extend the story.
How the Demon Slayer Season 3 anime could be impacted by the Kimetsu no Yaiba manga’s ending
At this point, anime-only watchers probably just want to know how this manga announcement will impact the Demon Slayer Season 2 anime.
Without getting into spoilers (see below), it’s likely that the entire anime series will end with a longer-length Demon Slayer Season 3 anime.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 26 ended by adapting Chapter 51 of Volume 6. The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba movie release date has been confirmed for fall 2020, and the film picks up the story with Chapter 52 and will probably end with Chapters 66 through 69.
That means Demon Slayer Season 2 will likely adapt two story arcs (Chapters 70 through 127) with two anime cours since the manga arcs have 58 chapters combined.
A “cour” is a three-month unit of TV broadcasting based on the physical weather seasons. Most anime seasons feature 12 or 13 episodes per cour.
Then Demon Slayer Season 3 could start with a short, 9-chapter training arc before launching into the final arc. Unfortunately, the final arc’s plot does not offer a decent stopping point anywhere but it’s 67+ chapters are divided into two major parts.
The third season will likely need to have three or four cours for a good adaptation with solid pacing.
The only other option is to leave anime audiences hanging on a cliffhanger waiting for the final ending in Demon Slayer Season 4… or, perhaps, the finale could be adapted in a second Demon Slayer movie?
Is the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga ending soon in 2020? [Major Spoilers]
Considering how much manga fans have enjoyed the Demon Slayer manga series it’s almost surprising that the ending is coming up so soon.
You would think that Gotouge would try to stretch the story out a bit further similar to how the My Hero Academia manga’s ending was pushed back past the creator’s original plan.
The problem is that Gotouge has not left any wiggle room for stretching the plot unless he introduces a completely new story element.
Warning: The following contains major spoilers for the Demon Slayer manga’s ending! Do not read unless you want major details to be spoiled!
The ending was kind of unexpected since the Final Battle story arc occurred right after a training arc, which is unusual. You would think there would be more buildup before the villain was confronted. At the same time, the final arc was the longest arc by far so at least the ending wasn’t sudden.
In Chapter 196, Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko accomplished one of the major goals they have been seeking since the beginning of the series. Nezuko was finally healed, her humanity restored, and her memories fully returned!
Chapters 199 and 200 contained a second major moment that’s hard for the series to walk back from. Muzan Kibutsuji is killed and his body begins disintegrating at the touch of the sun’s rays.
Chapter 201 contained a major plot twist that could have been developed into a long story arc but the unexpected situation was resolved quickly. Unfortunately, in killing Muzan, Tanjiro lost an arm and he was slowly dying from the blood loss.
Muzan attempted a last-ditch effort at revenge by injecting Tanjiro with his blood so he could destroy the remnants of the Slayer Corps.
Tanjiro transformed into a sun-immune demon, spawned spine-like whips from his back, and began to attack everyone mindlessly. Stunned, his friends could not bring themselves to attack their fallen ally.
Thankfully, Tanjiro resisted the mind-manipulations of Muzan and there was one last dose of the cure left. In Chapter 203, Nezuko rushed to the aid of her brother and Tanjiro regained his humanity, vanquishing Muzan once and for all.
At this point, every major story arc seems settled unless Gotouge has a surprise in mind for the climax in Demon Slayer Chapter 204.
After all, The Seven Deadly Sins (Nanatsu no Taizai) manga seemed like it was about to end in Chapter 311 only for a shocking surprise to launch a final battle. The Sins’ story was extended greatly, not ending until Chapter 346.
On the other hand, The Promised Neverland manga’s ending also took place fairly soon after the climax of the final arc was announced.
But even if the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga’s ending needs several more volumes the final chapter should come out by the end of 2020.
There is also the possibility the final chapter could launch a Demon Slayer manga sequel, which is what happened with The Seven Deadly Sins.
The final chapter introduced a time gap and then teased The Seven Deadly Sins: The Four Knights of the Apocalypse (Nanatsu no Taizai: Mokushiroku no Yon-Kishi).
Let’s just hope the Demon Slayer manga’s ending also teases a Kimetsu no Yaiba sequel. Stay tuned!