Slay More Beasts In Other Anime
Demon Slayer is one of Shonen Jump’s latest series to gain an immense following and a few awards to boot. The story follows Tanjiro, whose whole family except his sister Nezuko has perished at the hands of bloodthirsty demons. Unfortunately, his sister has become a demon herself. With all this weight upon his shoulders, Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corp in hopes of avenging his family.
If you’re having trouble finding anime similar to Demon Slayer, fear not!
We’ve discovered 10 alternate shows that’ll give you a similar experience as Demon Slayer.
For your reading pleasure, we have included the similarities they all share.
Additionally, for each anime we’ve reviewed, we’ve included a link that allows you to view our full thoughts about the series to see if it’s worth your time.
So without further ado, we present 10 TV shows that should whet the appetite when you’ve finished streaming Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid!
Dororo
Similarities – Revenge & Exploration
Slaying a species to avenge one’s fallen brethren has been done many times in anime like Attack On Titan and Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer also sets a goal for its main character to help a relative retain their humanity.
Dororo follows another demon-slaying adventure of a protagonist who hunts demons to secure his humanity. Its protagonist seeks it for himself, unlike Tanjiro, who aims to regain Nezuko’s humanity. Although they differ in art style and have different takes on feudal Japan, both offer a similar theme, premise, and sense of adventure.
Dororo is about an abandoned, limbless boy named Hyakkimaru who receives prosthetics and weapons to survive. We follow him as he grows, aiming to slaughter every demon he encounters. Doing so grants Hyakkimaru a part of his humanity. Then, he meets an orphan named Dororo, and the story details their dangerous journey in this demon-centric world.
Both anime feature a protagonist who lost his family and must fight off demons to regain human life. Dororo features dark tones reminiscent of the Demon Slayer franchise and doesn’t shy away from showing heavy amounts of bloodshed. This series also envokes the feeling of exploration fueled by the lust for revenge.
If you’re looking for another demon-slaying adventure that resembles Demon Slayer but offers an alternative take, Dororo is worth watching.
Blue Exorcist
Similarities – Characters & Action
Although Tanjiro wouldn’t be fond of befriending Blue Exorcist’s Rin Okumura because of his demonic blood, their aligned personalities and goals would persuade him. Fans of Demon Slayer will find Blue Exorcist a great alternative due to its thrilling action scenes and likable characters.
Blue Exorcist follows Rin Okumura, who wants to become an exorcist that’ll slay Hell’s ruler Satan, who also happens to be his father. Alongside his brother Yukio, Rin undergoes immense training that’ll hopefully help him stop Satan’s devious plans.
Like Demon Slayer, Blue Exorcist features fights between demons and humanity, despite Rin having demon genes inside him. Rin’s personality is nearly identical to Tanjiro’s as both characters are optimistic naive sword-wielding heroes that want nothing to do with demons. Demons also affect them on a family level as issues in their family circle crop up occasionally.
The art style, animation, and soundtrack for both anime are top-notch. However, Demon Slayer’s animated scenes are jaw-dropping, while Blue Exorcist appears fine in comparison. On the other hand, fans that enjoyed Demon Slayer for its fights will find a similar appreciation with Blue Exorcist.
The Promised Neverland
Similarities – Human Adolescents Vs Demons
The Promised Neverland received praise for its intelligent young characters, intriguing world, and well-written plot. While the characters don’t have incredible techniques to aid them in their fight with demons, The Promised Neverland shares many similarities with Demon Slayer.
The Promised Neverland follows Emma, Ray, and Norman, children who reside in the Gracefield House alongside many others. Their daily activities consist of completing chores, playing outside, and taking tests to fuel their knowledge. While there are simple rules in place, the important rule is that they cannot wander too far from the residence.
One night, a friend named Connie leaves the orphanage after being adopted, but they forget to bring their plushie. This encourages Emma and Norman to sneak out of the house in hopes of giving Connie her plushie. When Emma and Norman reach a dead end, they discover Connie’s lifeless body and two carnivorous demons discussing ransoms with their caretaker, Isabella. With tears in their eyes, Emma and Norman vow to escape Gracefield and bring everyone with them before they become demon trophies too.
Humans witness their world being overrun by demons in The Promised Neverland, as in Demon Slayer. These demons leave a traumatic impact on the main characters through methods of death and feelings of despair. While the children in The Promised Neverland aren’t stellar swordsmen like Tanjiro, they later develop professional hunting skills to defend themselves from the demons. Both anime also dive into their demons’ lore and the history surrounding their rivalry with humans.
While Demon Slayer feels more action-centric and visually stunning, unlike The Promised Neverland, the latter leans more on the cunning and tactical side.
Tokyo Ghoul
Similarities – Characters & Themes
What do ghouls and demons have in common? They both are frightening carnivorous beings that love to prey upon humans. There are some similarities between Tokyo Ghoul and Demon Slayer, although Tokyo Ghoul takes place in a modern setting and feels darker.
Tokyo Ghoul is about Ken Kaneki, a college student who wakes up in a hospital because of a vicious encounter with a strange female. He’s later released but notices slight changes to his psyche and body. He now hungers for blood and has superb strength, and later learns that he’s become a Ghoul. Without any chances to return to his previous livelihood, Kaneki must adapt to his new life as a blood-thirsty creature.
Demon Slayer and Tokyo Ghoul both feature creatures with vampire-like traits. The ghouls and demons consume blood to regain strength and can transform humans into their respected species. They also have to fend off an elite squadron of human warriors who carry weapons created to slaughter them. Both Demon Slayer and Tokyo Ghoul have thrilling action sequences, despite Demon Slayer’s more fluid fights.
Another aspect worth comparing is Kaneki and Nezuko. Both characters started as ordinary humans whose lives changed because of their encounter with a supernatural creature. They also exhibit motives as both don’t want to lose their humanity by murdering humans for energy. Tokyo Ghoul and Demon Slayer come together because of the feeling of innocence and refusal to change.
Inuyasha
Similarities – Setting & Characters
While it’ll be a while for Demon Slayer to be deemed a classic anime to many, it does adopt many similar tropes kickstarted by various retro anime. Inuyasha is a classic anime that may not hold up animation-wise to Demon Slayer but carries many similarities with this new-aged title.
Inuyasha follows Kagome Higurashi, who finds herself sent 500 years in the past when violence reigned during Japan’s Sengoku era. She gets involved in a fight with a demon and causes a wish-gifting jewel to shatter into many pieces.
Aiming to redo her mistake, she enlists the help of a half-dog and human hybrid named Inuyasha and others. Together, they must find the shards and restore the jewel to its previous form and fight off the many demons in their way. Like Demon Slayer, fighting demonic entities is an occupation and activity in Inuyasha’s setting.
Inuyasha also takes place in feudal Japan. The character designs also look similar and blend naturally with many of these series’ environments. Inuyasha also features great chemistry surrounding its main characters and has plenty of sword fighting scenes to satisfy action fans. As for the antagonists, both series feature a wide variety of enemies and an endgame boss that’s sure to deliver in power and personality.
Jujutsu Kaisen
Similarities – Supernatural & Action
Thanks to anime’s boom in popularity from the previous decade, series like Demon Slayer have attained a massive fandom. Following in the trend is Jujutsu Kaisen, an anime with enough flair, fights, and charisma that’d be too difficult not to recommend.
Jujutsu Kaisen follows Yuji Itadori, a boy who discovers a cursed item that transports him into the world of the Curses. The Curses are beings that represent dreadful human emotions regarding cruelty and gloom. He later develops unique powers and undergoes a quest to become a profound Jujutsu sorcerer.
Jujutsu Kaisen’s Curses don’t share much in common with the demons in Demon Slayer regarding their functions and necessities. However, both entities are menaces to society and must die at the hands of specifically trained warriors. At the same time, there’s also a hierarchical system in place, placing different warriors at a higher level than others.
Both capture similar old-school shonen tropes but provide their distinct spin on the genre to avoid retreading old ground. The animation and art style for both series is widely beloved by many, especially in the action scenes drip-fed throughout their seasons. If you’re looking for another hardcore, action-packed adventure with stunning animation, check out Jujutsu Kaisen.
Noragami
Similarities – Swordsmanship & Fantasy
Noragami is one of those seasonal anime that excited fans as it aired but lost its hype after its season finale aired. That’s not to say the season finale was terrible. It just couldn’t retain a long-term hype cycle in the same vein as Demon Slayer.
On that note, Noragami feels more character-focused than Demon Slayer as its female heroine Hiyori takes on a POV role for the viewer. This is apparent as she slowly unravels the truth behind the many mysteries hidden in this new world she finds herself in. One of the biggest mysteries revolves around the Delivery God, Yato’s past life.
In brief, Noragami follows the god, Yato, who wants people to worship him. However, he’s not the brightest compared to the other gods and finds himself performing odd jobs for low-level pay. One day, he finds himself a partner in Hiyori, who loses her life to save Yato from a car accident. Wanting to capitalize on the opportunity before him, Yato promises to help Hiyori gain her soulless half in exchange for finding him a new partner in crime.
Despite the differences mentioned earlier, there are some similarities worth pinpointing between Noragami and Demon Slayer. Both anime contain incredible swordsmanship from their male protagonists, Yato and Tanjiro. Both anime delve into the main character’s origin story. However, Yato’s origin is built upon throughout the anime, unlike Tanjiro’s. Lastly, both anime involve their characters fighting demonic entities of some kind.
Bleach
Similarities – Samurai Anime
Recognized as one of Shonen Jump’s best properties of the past, Bleach has acquired quite a following alongside Naruto and One Piece. With all the hype surrounding its new anime project, it’s good to look back at what Bleach offers.
Bleach is quite long, unlike Demon Slayer, and may not contain animation on par with that series either. Furthermore, the Bleach characters’ abilities feel more in line with superpowers, unlike Demon Slayer, whose breathing technique feels more natural. Despite those differences, Bleach promises to deliver incredible tear-jerking and thrilling moments.
For those unaware, Bleach follows Ichigo Kurosaki, who finds his home being invaded by a mysterious creature one night. During this altercation, a soul reaper named Ruki arrives to quell the beast but suffers a terrible wound. Then, Rukia bestows her powers onto Ichigo, allowing him to become a Soul Reaper. After defeating the creature with his newfound powers, Ichigo embarks on a quest to fight against the Hollows and other villains.
Bleach features plenty of action scenes that will generate excitement for any fan of samurai anime. The anime also nails down the importance of family, trust, and seeking strength to protect loved ones. The hierarchical system established by Bleach’s Espada also shares similarities with the ladder system incorporated into Demon Slayer’s Slayer Corps.
In brief, both are incredible samurai anime aiming to reimagine those historic warriors in unique ways.
Samurai Champloo
Similarities – Themes & Adventure
If you’re looking for a samurai anime that has realistically accurate and well-choreographed combat, Samurai Champloo is a series you should watch. Samurai Champloo offers a unique experience not many samurai anime have replicated, including Demon Slayer.
While Samurai Champloo also takes place during a past period in Japanese history, it demonstrates a musical approach to the samurai concept. The fighting style feels influenced by hip-hop music as the characters perform dance-like maneuvers while fighting. The series also carries the same vast energy of graffiti art you’d find in alleyways. It’s a unique approach that helps the anime remain different from series that have come before and after its airing.
Samurai Champloo follows a wandering samurai named Mugen, who accidentally destroys a small tea shop. He also killed a magistrate’s son during a scuffle with a ronin named Jin. Before Mugen and Jin receive their punishments for their crimes, the tea shop’s waitress Fuu rescues them. She also requests that they help her find a specific samurai–which Mugen and Jin accept.
Despite the different tones between Demon Slayer and Samurai Champloo, both offer unique takes on samurai culture and life. They also take place during different periods of Japanese history and pay tribute to the culture in many ways. Both series are action-centric, despite one having more fights with the supernatural than the other. Lastly, the chemistry between Samurai Champloo’s trio is highly reminiscent of the bond shared in Tanjiro’s friend group.
Ruroni Kenshin
Similarities – Action & Setting
Although the series has received some backlash because of specific real-life events, Ruroni Kenshin is one of the best classic samurai. While viewers will have to sit through 90+ episodes, Ruroni Kenshin’s story, characters, and world offer so much in genre variety that it’s worth a binge.
Ruroni Kenshin is an older work, unlike Demon Slayer, and its animation may not have aged well in the eyes of newer anime fans. Furthermore, new viewers will not find all the characters in Ruroni Kenshin to their liking, and its handling of specific genres doesn’t always hit the mark. If you can look past those differences and semi-issues, then Ruroni Kenshin’s promises to impress.
Ruroni Kenshin tells the story of a once-feared killer named Hitokiri Battousai, who allegedly remained hidden for ten years. However, everyone is unaware that he still roams freely and has dawned a new name being, Kenshin Himura. Kenshin vows never to kill again and only wishes to help people in need.
However, he runs into a female named Kaoru Kamiya, whose being harassed by an unknown imposter declaring himself to be Battousai. She allows Kenshin to stay in her household in response. Thus the story details Kenshin’s life of saving people in need and fighting off past and previous enemies.
Kenshin and Tanjiro experience vicious fights with formidable foes. Both series take place in a rural Japanese setting and their characters wear attire fitting to their era. Although Kenshin’s swordplay closely resembles real-life samurai combat, both series aren’t afraid to show blood on screen.
So there we have it, our 10 anime/TV show alternatives to watch when you’ve caught up with Demon Slayer!
What do you think of our picks? Do you agree? Are there any notable omissions? Let us know in the comments below!