Demon Slayer Spin-Off Trolls the Original Manga In Cute School Parody
Just as Demon Slayer manga fans were beginning to accept the possibility that the lack of news on a sequel might mean they have seen the last of Tanjiro, Zentisu, and Inosuke, Saikyo Jump magazine has sated their appetites with the new Demon Slayer spin-off Kimetsu Gakuen or Tales of the Demon Slayer Academy. But rather than being a direct continuation of Demon Slayer and maintaining the same tone, Tales of the Demon Slayer Academy pokes good-natured fun at the best-selling and super popular manga that ended its run with its 205th chapter last fall.
The new manga, which was inked by Natsuki Hokami is based on a series of video shorts that were broadcast alongside episodes of the Demon Slayer anime. The manga, like the video shorts, features the younger demon slayers, as well as Tanjiro’s demon sister Nezuko, in classroom and school settings exploring the more humorous aspects of being a student at Demon Slayer Academy.
In one of the most obvious parodies, all the members of Demon Slayer Academy faculty and staff are members of the Hashira. Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka as the physical education teacher, Fire Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku as the history teacher, Hashira Gyomei Himejima as their homeroom teacher, and retired Water Hashira Sakonji Urokodaki serves as the the school’s grounds keeper. This mirrors the how former Hashira served as teachers and mentors in Demon Slayer. However, whereas teachers in Demon Slayers used their experience and skills to help their pupils be the best they can be, as teachers at Demon Slayer Academy they seem more focused on using their capabilities to either prank their students or get involved in their students’ shenanigans.
In this way, the manga closely follows the humorous intent of the video shorts. For instance, in the first short the students are warned that their school has been infiltrated by a suspicious person who’s been pranking female students on Valentine’s Day. Tanjiro hilariously finds out that the culprit is no other than Zentisu. In one manga story, Tanjiro, Zentisu, and Inosuke try unsuccessfully to have a pizza delivered to the school without permission. Kyojuro then sneaks them into the home economics classroom to make pizza on their own, claiming that if the get caught, he’ll take responsibility. However, when they are discovered by “home economics” teacher Haganezuka Hotaru, Kyojuro is the first one to run out the door, leaving the kids behind. In another instance, Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui, who works as the art teacher, retains the same over the top, boastful, and flashy tendencies he exhibited in Demon Slayer. However, rather than helping student level up, it serves only to torment students and destroy his classroom.
Previously, Hokami had worked on the Weekly Shonen Jump manga Hell Warden Higuma. Like Kimetsu Gakuen, Hell Warden was a school-based manga focus on the adventures of high school student Higuma Kagarite. Higuma is a hell warden, who is tasked with finding and returning evil souls that have escaped hell and now are masquerading as humans. As that manga had elements of both Demon Slayer and a school-based storyline, Hokami seems a natural fit to pen Kimetsu Gakuen.
The spin-off has been officially sanctioned by Koyoharu Gotouge, the creator of the original Demon Slayer manga, who contributed an illustration to the first volume of Tanjiro and Nezuko in their school uniforms, asking fans to read and enjoy the stories inside. While Kimetsu Gakuen has been available since August 2021 in Saikyo Jump‘s manga line-up, a new compilation of the first five chapters has now been released in both paper and digital format.
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