Demon Slayer has been one of the most popular Shonen Jump manga of the past decade. Creator Koyoharu Gotouge has since wrapped up its story, finishing out at 205 chapters. And while that’s a lot of reading, fans are now preparing to not have any more Demon Slayer left to read.
Luckily, the story isn’t over quite yet. Shonen Jump has announced a spin-off series for the manga starring Kyojuro Rengoku, The Flame Pillar, who is one of the nine most powerful swordsmen in Demon Slayer. While fans don’t know a lot about the series yet, there are a few details about what everyone can expect.
10 Not Made By Gotouge
Gotouge has bowed out of writing and drawing the Kyojuro spin-off. After more than 200 chapters of Demon Slayer, it’s no wonder that he might be ready to leave the story behind.
Plus, the series has a very carefully-paced plot, and though he almost certainly had backstories for every character, he might not be particularly interested in writing them down. Gotouge also hasn’t written any of the other spin-off series.
9 Ryoji Hirano Will Write
Mangaka Ryoji Hirano will take over writing duties on this series. Hirano is best known for penning some of the other spin-off series for Demon Slayer.
For example, he worked on the Water Pillar story, Giyu Tomioka: Gaiden, which featured another member of the Hashira. Hirano is also the creator of a one-shot published in Shonen Jump called Boze, along with its follow-up manga, Bozebeats.
8 Won’t Replace The Main Series
While some manga spin-off series go on to be long-running series of their own, such as the Naruto follow-up Boruto, which has been ongoing since 2016 and is not written by Masashi Kishimoto, who created Naruto, that won’t be the case for this Demon Slayer spin-off. Like other spin-offs of the series, it’s expected to be a self-contained story instead of an ongoing one.
7 Infinity Train
The Demon Slayer: Infinity Train film is set to drop in Japanese theaters in October. The story of the infinity train arc heavily features Kyojuro Rengoku, so it’s very likely that the timing of the manga’s release will be determined partially by the timing of the film.
Since he’s such a prominent figure in the film, the manga will probably drop either just before or just after the film’s release to capitalize on the character.
6 Short Series
If the other Demon Slayer spin-offs are anything to go by, fans shouldn’t expect the Flame Pillar one-shot to be very long at all. As mentioned above, this is not a series meant to replace the main series.
But on top of that, it’s likely going to be quite short. For example, the Giyu Tomioka: Gaiden spin-off was only two chapters. It seems likely that the Kyojuro Rengoku series will be similarly brief.
5 Kyojuro’s Abilities
One of the most mysterious things about Kyojuro is just how powerful he is. As the Flame Pillar, he’s one of the most powerful swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps. He’s one of the few Demon Slayers who has the ability to attain “supreme territory,” a level of battle spirit that only the strongest Slayers are able to access.
But there’s not a lot of information about exactly why he’s so powerful or what makes him stand apart. The spin-off will likely give fans more details about just where he got all of these unexpected skills.
4 Kyojuro’s Past
Kyojuro is a pretty mysterious character in the series, and though he’s a good guy, there isn’t a lot known about him. The manga series will delve more in his backstory, giving us a better idea of how he ended up in the Demon Slayer Corps, to begin with.
Having more details about his personal life will also give audiences a chance to get to know him better as a character. It will also allow us to see why he’s been able to reach the level of the Hashira.
3 Character To Be Fleshed Out
There are specific questions about Kyojuro’s backstory and abilities that will likely be fleshed out in the spin-off, filling in story details that don’t necessarily affect the main narrative of Demon Slayer but offer some extra insight into the character.
On top of this, for a character who is pretty mysterious, but also rather cheerful and enthusiastic, there are a lot of opportunities in this series to flesh out his personality even more and allow him more screen time for fans to get to know him.
2 A New Plot
While there will be a lot of time spent on Kyojuro’s backstory and his character development, fans shouldn’t be put off by the idea that it’s all going to happen in the past.
The series seems assured to have an actual plot that furthers the story and the world-building of Demon Slayer. It seems ambitious for a series that will likely be very short, but there’s almost certainly going to be a lot of new action to come.
1 Capitalizing On The Success Of Demon Slayer
Demon Slayer is definitely a manga that left fans wanting more. Unlike some series that have gone on for hundreds of chapters and for more than a decade, like the perennially-popular One Piece, Demon Slayer ended right at the height of its popularity.
But the plan was never to leave fans in the lurch, which is clear from the timing of this release. Between the upcoming film and the Kyojuro one-shot, there will be plenty of Demon Slayer content for fans to consume.