Anime and manga like Demon Slayer: what to watch next?

When you finish the series, something is missing: the characters, their tenderness in the middle of the fights, that Japan of the Taisho era where electricity arrives in town while demons prowl the mountains. No series reproduces this mix exactly, but many share a part of it, the theme, the tone, the period or the way of telling the bonds between characters.

This article offers a selection of anime and manga, sorted by what they have in common with Tanjiro’s story, with the audience each one suits. Our article on the differences between the anime and the manga helps you choose between reading and watching, and our page on the Demon Slayer manga covers all twenty-three volumes.

What makes Demon Slayer so special?

To find a similar series, you need to know what you liked. The series is first of all a shonen, an adventure story originally aimed at teenagers, with a hero who progresses from fight to fight. But it stands out for its gentleness: Tanjiro comforts the demons he has just defeated, and the series tells their human past. It also stands out for its period, the Japan of the early twentieth century, and for the place of family bonds, a brother who wants to save his sister.

The series in this selection take up one or more of these traits. Some share the demons and the fights, others the period, others still the bond between siblings or the melancholy. The table sums up the main ones, with the recommended audience: several are clearly more violent or cruder than Gotouge’s work.

Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man: today’s demon hunters

Jujutsu Kaisen is the series its fans mention most often. Gege Akutami’s manga, published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2018 to 2024, follows Yuji Itadori, a high school student who swallows the finger of a legendary curse, Sukuna, and enters a school for sorcerers. Curses are born of humans’ negative emotions, and the fights, staged by studio MAPPA in the anime, rival those of ufotable. The mentor, Satoru Gojo, has the same aura as the Hashira.

Chainsaw Man, by Tatsuki Fujimoto, published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2018, tells the story of Denji, an indebted boy who merges with his devil dog, Pochita, and becomes a devil hunter. The tone is much cruder, more absurd and more violent than among the demon slayers, and the series is clearly aimed at adults. Those who liked the darkness of certain demons will find what they are looking for, the youngest will not.

These two series share with it an organisation of hunters, monsters born of human suffering and characters who die without warning. On the other hand, they take place in present-day Japan, without the period charm that is part of its success.

Dororo, Inuyasha and Hell’s Paradise: the Japan of old

Dororo is perhaps the closest series in subject. The manga by Osamu Tezuka, nicknamed the god of manga in Japan, published at the end of the 1960s, was adapted into an anime in 2019. Its hero, Hyakkimaru, is born without limbs or organs: his father promised his body to demons in exchange for power. He recovers each part of himself by killing the demon that holds it, in a medieval Japan ravaged by war. The quest for a body to win back recalls that of Tanjiro, who wants to give Nezuko back her humanity.

Inuyasha, by Rumiko Takahashi, published from 1996 to 2008, older and lighter, follows a high school girl transported to medieval Japan, where she accompanies a half-demon in search of the shards of a sacred jewel. Demons, spirits and priestesses are everywhere, and the mix of action, humour and romance makes it a good gateway for younger viewers. Hell’s Paradise, by Yuji Kaku, takes place in the Edo period: prisoners sentenced to death are sent to an island full of monsters to find the elixir of life. More violent, adapted into an anime in 2023, it is aimed at adults.

These three series share with the story of the demon slayers the swords, the demons of folklore and a Japan before modernity. Our article on the oni of Japanese folklore explains where these creatures, common to all these stories, come from.

Rurouni Kenshin: a neighbouring era

Rurouni Kenshin, by Nobuhiro Watsuki, published in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1994 to 1999, takes place in the Meiji era, the one immediately before Tanjiro’s Taisho era. Its hero, Kenshin Himura, is a former assassin who has sworn never to kill again. He fights with a reverse-blade sword, whose edge faces him, to protect others without taking lives.

It shares with Gotouge’s work the contrast between swords and the arriving modernity: the ban on carrying swords, the first trains, Western clothing mixing with kimonos. It also shares a hero of great gentleness, pushed towards violence by everything and refusing it as much as he can. The anime received a new adaptation in 2023. Our article on the Taisho era, the period of the series explains what changed between the two eras.

Fullmetal Alchemist: two brothers and a mistake

Fullmetal Alchemist, by Hiromu Arakawa, published from 2001 to 2010 and adapted twice into an anime, including the Brotherhood version, tells the story of two brothers, Edward and Alphonse Elric. As children, they tried to bring their mother back to life through alchemy, and paid dearly for it: Edward lost an arm and a leg, Alphonse his whole body, and his soul is bound to a suit of armour. They travel the country to recover what they lost.

It is the bond between the two brothers that brings the series close to Gotouge’s. Like Tanjiro with Nezuko, Edward fights to give Alphonse back a human body, and each protects the other to the point of absurdity. The series also has a sense of grief and loss that speaks to those who cried over Rengoku’s death. It is aimed at teenagers as well as adults, and many consider it one of the best anime ever made.

Attack on Titan: an army against man-eaters

Attack on Titan, by Hajime Isayama, published from 2009 to 2021, shares a starting idea with the story of the demon slayers: humanity threatened by creatures that devour people, and an elite army that fights them at the cost of huge losses. The soldiers tasked with going outside the walls, with their manoeuvring gear and their blades, recall the demon slayers and their swords.

The series then takes a very different direction, political and dark, and its final seasons question war and revenge. It is aimed at older teenagers and adults, because of its violence. For Tanjiro’s fans, it is the series that pushes furthest the question of what war does to fighters.

Mushishi and Mononoke: folklore at a gentle pace

Mushishi, by Yuki Urushibara, is the opposite of an action shonen. Ginko, a white-haired traveller, roams a rural and timeless Japan to study mushi, life forms on the edge of the visible world that cause strange phenomena in humans. Each episode of the anime, adapted from 2005, is a complete story, slow and contemplative, with no fighting. Those who loved the mountain landscapes, the snow and the calm of Tanjiro’s first episodes will find a similar atmosphere there.

Mononoke, a series from 2007, follows a mysterious medicine seller who exorcises spirits born of human resentment. Its visual style, inspired by Japanese prints, with its paper textures and bright colours, makes it a work apart. As with the demon slayers, it always tells the human suffering hidden behind the monster. Our article on religion in Demon Slayer looks back at these beliefs.

The manga the author reads

Koyoharu Gotouge, the author of the series, has cited her influences on several occasions. Her favourite manga is Gintama, by Hideaki Sorachi, an action comedy in an Edo Japan invaded by aliens, known for going from fits of laughter to emotion in a single page. You find this mix among the demon slayers, where Zenitsu and Inosuke make you laugh just before a tragic scene. As a nod from the studios, Gyomei has the same Japanese voice as the hero of Gintama.

She also cites JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, by Hirohiko Araki, known for its poses and its villains, Naruto, by Masashi Kishimoto, and its bonds between masters and disciples, Bleach, by Tite Kubo, and its sword fights, and Berserk, by Kentaro Miura, of great darkness. Berserk is for adults only, very violent and very crude.

Bleach is probably the closest to the demon slayers among these influences. Ichigo Kurosaki, a high school student who sees spirits, becomes a shinigami, a sword-wielding guide of souls, and fights spirits turned into monsters. Each sword there has a name and a released form, just as each demon slayer has their breathing style and the colour of their blade. The manga, published from 2001 to 2016, was adapted into an anime, right up to its final part, the Thousand-Year Blood War. Our article on Koyoharu Gotouge, the author tells her journey.

What to recommend by age?

For a child or young teenager who loved the series, the safest choices are Inuyasha and Naruto, long, funny and less crude, then Fullmetal Alchemist and Rurouni Kenshin from twelve or thirteen. Jujutsu Kaisen suits teenagers used to the demon slayers’ fights, but some passages are harsher. Our article on the recommended age for Demon Slayer gives reference points that also apply to these series.

Chainsaw Man, Hell’s Paradise and Berserk are for adults only, because of their violence, their sex scenes or their darkness. Attack on Titan suits older teenagers. Mushishi and Mononoke have no spectacular violence, but their slow pace and their themes are better suited to older teenagers and adults. Our page on Demon Slayer for children details the sensitive passages of the series.

Coming back to Demon Slayer

After discovering these series, many fans come back to Tanjiro’s through its extras. The spin-off novels tell new stories about the characters, the fanbooks reveal their secrets, and the Kimetsu Academy parody turns them into high school students and teachers. Two spin-off stories, devoted to Giyu Tomioka and Kyojuro Rengoku, tell episodes of their life as Hashira. Our article on the spin-offs, novels and fanbooks presents them all.

Those who have only seen the anime also have another option: reading the manga. The twenty-three volumes go to the end of the story, final battle and last chapter included, while the anime is still finishing its adaptation in cinemas. The bonus pages, between chapters, add anecdotes about the characters that the anime does not always include. Our article on the number of volumes of the manga sums it up.

To keep the characters close, the figures, posters and items in our range take up the most famous scenes. Our Demon Slayer figure section, our Demon Slayer posters, our Demon Slayer pop figures and our Tanjiro Kamado Demon Slayer collection bring them together. Our page on the Demon Slayer universe covers the whole series.