@Rival:
A series with nothing special about it simply wouldn't be as popular as Yaiba is. It's on track to sell more in just half a year than One Piece's best ever record of 38 mil yearly sales. Smashing the record and entering into a league of its own in terms of total yearly sales. That doesn't just happen with any run of the mill series, that much should be obvious.
Remember when Bleach used to be part of the big three selling on par with series like My Hero Academia and Promised Neverland? Still in the top ten best selling manga of all time. How about Fairy Tail which sold over 70 million copies? Demon Slayer Yaiba is far, far superior to these series but tying popularity to quality is naive at best.
(Also let's set the facts straight here, OP will be the best selling series of all time for the rest of eternity, this isn't me being hyperbolic, this is simply fact. Yaiba having one great year isn't gonna change that.)
@Rival:
There are many things that make Yaiba stand out, and I'm talking about the manga too, not just the anime. The newest manga volumes are outselling the newest OP volumes so there is clearly something there other than simply the stellar anime.
https://comicbook.com/anime/2019/11/26/demon-slayer-anime-influence-manga-sales-boost/
As the article I linked stated, Yaiba's been around for a couple of years slowly growing popularity but it was the anime that gave it an exponential boost in popularity.
@Rival:
A lot of people only consider the narrative when judging a series as a whole. Hence why many frown upon Yaiba since the narrative is (intentionally) simple. But the real pull of the series lies in its cast and the meaning, emotion and symbolism. The series is soaked in all 3 and can be understood once you try to look below the surface level. There are countless powerful moments that it's no surprise people develop a real personal connection with the series considering its themes, rather than having mere casual enjoyment with it like many do regarding Dr. Stone for example.
I'm old enough to remember people making these points to defend Bleach lol
I reiterate that Yaiba is far, far superior to Bleach, i don't want to be accused of saying that it's a bad series, it's a good series but absolutely nothing special. It has good theming, characters and a solid narrative but absolutely nothing about it is anything that is out of this world. And its execution is far from flawless. This final arc especially has been too rushed meaning a lot of narrative shortcuts have been taken to its detriment. Like a convenient poison that turns off all of Muzan's cheats (why even give him these abilities if he doesn't even use them in the final battle? Characters like Kanao never really interacting with the main cast. A lot of exposition and flashback dumping on characters who are seconds from dying. That one chapter where Muzan off screened all the remaining fighters just to force an ending with Tanjiro getting a Goku moment? These are a few problems I have. Personally I feel the series peaked with the fight against Upper 6 and hasn't really reached that level of tension and excitement since then but that's just my opinion. Also from my personal opinion, just from the current jump lineup, I'd put One Piece, Dr. Stone, Chainsaw Man and Act-Age above it (not counting the other Jump affiliated series like SpyxFamily, World Trigger and Hell's Paradise) in having better told stories and characters with more unique spins and interesting art.
@Rival:
Dr Stone is the sort of the series you can appreciate, think was cool and then forget about once you close the book. Yaiba is something that stays with people far more and can be seen as so much more relatable and meaningful.
Oh we're going to the part where we start putting down series huh? Okay. Yaiba is super popular because Ufotable put millions of yen to make black and white paper really vibrant and colourful coupled with great voice acting and musical score in a way that went really well with the Japanese aesthetic. It's super Japanese to the point of feeling cultural and Japanese and Weeb audiences ate it right up. The theme of Family is extremely resonant in Japanese culture and has been done to death with varying degrees of success in a ton of series from Bleach to Jojo to Fairy Tail to Full Metal Alchemist to One Piece because that's what sells. Most of those series though tended to have more to them than that one theme though. With Yaiba, almost every single major conflict I can think of is tied to family issues. Lower Fifth? He wants a family. Upper Sixth, the sibling bond with each other to the point of them becoming one person. Upper Third, he's sad that he wasn't strong enough to protect his family. Upper Second? He ate Inosuke and Kanao's family. Upper First? He hated his Brother. And Muzan turned Tanjiro's sister into a demon. Look, it's fine to write conflicts with a focus on the main theme of your series, it's fine to have a simple character driven story that focuses on the emotions of the characters and it's fine to like a series that does this but let's take a step back and have some perspective here when we're making claims on some unfathomable depth and meaning that may or may not exist with a series.
I would argue Dr Stone is a lot more resonant and meaningful to our society because Dr Stone explores science. It explores its role in society, how we as a species take it for granted, the good it can do for humanity when used properly and the harm it can do when used dangerously. And it does this in a way that makes science look very cool and fun in a way that resonates with younger readers. It makes you feel the weight of science, its historical value, how valuable the ambition for knowledge is and the importance of wisdom being carried across the ages acting as a foundation for the next generation. And most importantly it gives you a feeling of hope and optimism for the future, where whatever problem humanity comes across we can overcome by putting our thinking caps on and working together. Given the post global warming crisis, corona epidemic, anti-intellectual world we currently live in, I personally find this a lot more resonant (and definitely more original) than another tired I want to protect my loved one story regardless of how relatable it may be. But I guess it's not as moe and kawaii as Nezuko in a box so it doesn't sell as well.
@Rival:
When it's a Yaiba character like Giyuu or Shinobu's birthday, that becomes the no.1 trend on twitter Japan. That's how much people love characters in Yaiba.
Yeah sure, social media artifice based on fads is what you want to base your arguments on.
For reference, this is what's trending number one on Japan right now.
https://twitter.com/search?q=%E3%82%B9%E3%82%AF%E3%83%A9%E3%83%83%E3%83%81&src=typeahead_click
A Granblue Fantasy mobile game that people will forget about in a month.
