Will “Jujutsu Kaisen” exceed “Demon Slayer”? Conducting an analysis on the reasons behind its unstoppable popularity.

It was reported that the total circulation of “Jujutsu Kaisen” exceeded 36 million copies with its new volume and fan book. Its popularity reminds us of “Demon Slayer” (written by Koyoharu Gotouge, published by Shueisha), which became a social phenomenon. Thus, “Jujutsu Kaisen” is called “post-Demon Slayer” by some media. We conducted an in-depth analysis on “Jujutsu Kaisen,” mainly its search words. (For analyzing the search word, we applied a market analysis tool called “Dockpit”

“Jujutsu Kaisen” is one of the most popular manga. The first episode was published on Weekly Shonen Jump in March of 2018, and the animation series first aired in October 2020. Even though it was the debut work for the comic artist, the entire editorial team agreed to publish the work serialized unanimously.

The graph below shows the change in the number of users who have searched “Jujutsu Kaisen” over two years, from March 2019 to February 2021. The number of users started to increase in October 2020, jumpstarting the trend’s beginning with the release of the animation series.

After the release of the animation series, the number of search users continued to increase, and it exceeded 900 thousand UU in January 2021. This jump reflects that the second season, “Kyoto Sister School Exchange Meeting” episodes were successful.

We can also see how popular “Jujutsu Kaisen” is from other data.
・“Jujutsu Kaisen” was voted first in the “What do you watch now? The popular animation ranking in autumn 2020” list, which was conducted by the No. 1 domestic animation distribution site “d-AnimeStore.”
・Netflix announced that “Jujutsu Kaisen” ran 2nd behind a Netflix original for “The ten most popular anime in Japan in 2020” ranking.
・“Jujutsu Kaisen” was ranked No. 1. in the most viewed ranking in dTV for January 2021.

These facts prove the popularity of “Jujutsu Kaisen.”

Well, what can we find when “Jujutsu Kaisen” and “Demon Slayer” are compared? The graph below shows the number of searches on both works during the same period.

The comparison shows that “Demon Slayer,” indicated by the red line, exceeds “Jujutsu Kaisen,” indicated by the blue line. However, we get different data if we narrow down to when those animations first aired.

“Demon Slayer” first aired in April 2019, and the search number at that point was 270 thousand users. On the other hand, “Jujutsu Kaisen” first aired in October 2020, and the search number was 490 thousand users. Both works increased the search numbers since the start of their animations, but when we see the numbers at the starting points, “Jujutsu Kaisen” had the highest by a landslide.

Upon “Demon Slayer’s” movie release, it increased in popularity and gained even more fans. So, if “Jujutsu Kaisen” follows in these footsteps and does the right promotions moving forward, there is a possibility it can exceed “Demon Slayer” that much further. In fact, the making of a “Jujutsu Kaisen” movie was announced on March 26th, 2021. It will be interesting to see how the results of the movie affect overall popularity of “Jujutsu Kaisen”.

We now know that there is a possibility for “Jujutsu Kaisen” to exceed “Demon Slayer” from the search user number aspect. Is there any difference between the search user segments for both works? Let’s compare the gender, residential area, and age data.

Starting with the gender graph data, there is not much difference between the two works.

The gender data shows that the percentage of female search users is slightly higher in both works. It indicates that even though the comics were published mainly for “boys,” it is necessary to have female fans to win a big market.

As you can see in the graph below, the age data varies significantly.

The highest percentage of search users regarding age for “Jujutsu Kaisen” is 20s. On the contrary, the largest group of search users for “Demon Slayer” is in the 40s, and the percentage in the 20s is low.

From this data, we assume people in their 20s are sensitive to the trends, and their interest has shifted to “Jujutsu Kaisen” from “Demon Slayer.” It must be noted that the final manga of “Demon Slayer” is already published, while “Jujutsu Kaisen” is continuing its series. “Demon Slayer” is popular among teenagers and younger age groups. When reading and watching, children involve their parents, who are in their 40s; therefore, “Demon Slayer” acquired long-term enthusiasts.

The search user of “Demon Slayer” has a higher percentage in the “Have Kids” segment, allowing families to collectively enjoy the anime. This data also supports the idea aforementioned that children involve their parents.

The graph below shows the age distribution of search users for "Demon Slayer" before the movie's release.

As the graph shows, the age distribution of “Demon Slayer” before the movie’s release is similar to the current age distribution of “Jujutsu Kaisen.” So, for “Jujutsu Kaisen” to exceed “Demon Slayer,” teenagers, children, and their families are important keys to its success, just like how “Demon Slayer” gained its popularity.

It’s important to analyze search user’s interests with "Jujutsu Kaisen." Let's identify the searched keywords used with "Jujutsu Kaisen."
・The larger the font size is, the more frequently searched the keywords were with "Jujutsu Kaisen."

～March 2019 - August 2019～
This was before the animation release. The number of searches for "Jujutsu Kaisen" was low when compared to the animation’s release. There were few words searched together and were only limited to those conducted by fans who looked for spoilers (ZIP is related to the spoiler sites) and popularity polls for the characters.

～September 2019 - February 2020～
As the new mysterious character, named Tsukumo, appeared in the series during this period, the word "Tsukumo" was the most searched. The search for spoilers (RAW, RAW is related to the spoiler sites) continued in succession with the prior period, and the word "anime" emerged according to the animation release announcement in November 2019.

～March 2020 - August 2020～
The most searched word in this period was "12." This was because the 12th volume of the manga released in August. There were no big changes seen compared to the prior period, in other words.

～September 2020 - February 2021～
After September, there was a big change in searched words because the animation released in October, and it gained popularly tremendously.

At first sight, we see "volume 5" or other episode number related searches, followed by story related words such as "seal," "fingers," and "death," and animation associated words like "ending" and "theme song." As the popularity of "Jujutsu Kaisen" increased, there were also collaboration products and related stocks associated words. This is likely because "Demon Slayer"-related stocks boosted its price upon gaining popularity.

Regarding the collaboration products, the pre-order sale for "Jujutsu Kaisen Wafer 2" in June 2021 sold out within a minute. It shows that the market has expanded from the comic and animation market to the character market.

Lastly, the in-flow site and page rankings of "Jujutsu Kaisen" search words are identified.

In the site ranking, Wikipedia was ranked as the No. 1, and the official site of the animation No. 2 and No. 3. “Weekly Shonen Jump,” the comic magazine that publishes the comic series, was ranked as No. 4. In the page ranking, the official site and Wikipedia ranked high.

Fan fiction, spoilers, and insight sites (i.e., sites where fans of “Jujutsu Kaisen” consider and discuss the story) are ranked in site and page rankings. It tells us that there is strong interest in understanding the story thoroughly.

In-flow site ranking after searching “Jujutsu Kaisen”

“Jujutsu Kaisen” exceeded the total volume of 36 million copies circulated and its popularity is increasing. We have used a market analysis tool, Dockpit, to study the search data and examine what affected its popularity by comparing it to “Demon Slayer,” which often is compared to “Jujutsu Kaisen” for its’ fan base and others.

Both works have increasingly gained popularity, and the number of search users increased after their animation releases. However, the number of search users at the starting time of the animation shows that “Jujutsu Kaisen” had higher rates than “Demon Slayer.”

“Jujutsu Kaisen” has a high percentage of fans in their 20s. There have been many collaboration products sold, and all of them were successful. So, we can say that this comic influences the character market as well.

The key to increasing its popularity even more and exceeding the popularity of "Demon Slayer" and creating a social phenomenon is to gain fans in teens and younger ages, causing the inclusion of their parents, just like "Demon Slayer" did.

～Analysis Summary～
VALUES inc. offers online user behavior analysis. VALUES analyzed the online action log data from September 2019 to February 2021, with the cooperation of our panel members via Dockpit, a market analysis service using online action logs and user attributes.
*The number of users is estimated according to the national online population and based on the appearance ratio in the VALUES-owned panel.

Dockpit is very useful for the consumer trend survey to know the changes in the past. We have some complimentary features. Register now and try some of our features for free.