Demon Slayer Vol. 23: Life Shining Across the Years
- ISBN
- 9781974723638
- Publisher
- Viz Media
- English release
- Pages
- 232
- Chapters
- 197–205
The last volume, and the only one longer than the rest. Chapters 197 to 205 end the fight with Muzan, deal with what it leaves behind, and close on the chapter that gives the book its title, 'Life Shining Across the Years'. Viz's edition runs 232 pages against the usual 192. That is consistent with the Japanese volume's 39 added pages: not the 14-page epilogue its jacket band announced, but two sections cut from the serialization and restored, and 25 pages of extras, none of which ran in the magazine. So a reader who followed the serialization chapter by chapter has not read all of this book. No anime reaches it yet. The buying question is the box set, which Viz released three months after this volume, in November 2021. Twenty-three singles cost $275.77 at list and the set is $244.99, so a reader starting now should price the set first.
Spoilers — why this volume matters. Tap to reveal.
Muzan dies at sunrise in chapter 199, 'Millennial Dawn', held in place by everyone left alive, and chapter 200 is titled 'The Price of Victory' for a reason: only two of the serving Hashira survive the night. Then the book plays its last card. Before he burns, Muzan turns Tanjiro into a demon, 'The King of Demons', chapter 201, and the final fight of Demon Slayer is the cast trying not to kill its hero while Nezuko, human for one volume, and his friends bring him back. Chapter 204, 'A World Without Demons', disbands the Corps and sends the survivors home. Chapter 205 is set decades later, in the modern day, among the descendants and apparent reincarnations of the cast, and it is the part of the ending to argue with: a series about grief closes by handing back everyone it killed. The Japanese volume sold 2.855 million copies in its first week in December 2020, the most Oricon has recorded for any manga volume, from a first printing of 3.95 million.
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