Interest
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Tops Yahoo! Japan Search Awards in Anime for 2nd Year
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
There's no denying the popularity of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba franchise this year. The franchise welcomed record-breaking box office numbers and was plugged by the Prime Minister. It's safe to say that the series is a mainstream phenomenon. It was certainly the anime on everyone's mind as revealed by this year's Yahoo! Japan Search Awards, the second consecutive year the series has been selected.
The awards are decided based on the number of searches for a particular term compared to the year before. The people, products, and media that receives the most drastic increase in searches compared to the previous year receive awards. Demon Slayer was added to multiple streaming services in Japan in the spring and there was an uptick in searches when the manga ended in Weekly Shonen Jump in May. Overall, more people searched for the series than last year, with an emphasis on "reairing", "character", and "song" as additional search terms.
The series' sequel film Demon Slayer – Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Mugen Train also won in the film category. Tanjirō's voice actor Natsuki Hanae was the most searched voice actor.
The Nintendo Switch game Animal Crossing: New Horizons beat out the competition in the video game category. The game was released on March 20 to huge sales numbers. Turns out that in a year of social distancing, being able to hang out with your friends virtually on an island of happy villagers is just what we needed. The Nintendo Switch was also recognized in the "Home Appliance" category.
The book category was awarded to a topical classic, Albert Camus' The Plague (La Peste). The novel was based on a cholera outbreak in 1849, but obviously the story takes on new relevancy in 2020.
The drama series An Incurable Case of Love took the search engine by storm with two of its stars and theme song performers all taking top spots in their respective categories. Kamen Rider Den-O and Rurouni Kenshin live-action film actor Takeru Satoh was the most searched actor of 2020. He won two Best Supporting Actor awards this year for his role as Kairi Tendo in the television drama. Actress and singer Mone Kamishiraishi was also the most searched actress. The your name. and Weathering With You voice actress starred opposite of Satoh in An Incurable Case of Love and will release her first full-length album Note book this month. Official HiGE DANdism, the band that performed the drama's theme song, was the most searched musical group.
The live-action An Incurable Case of Love (Koi wa Tsuzuku yo Doko made mo) drama is based on Maki Enjōji manga of the same name. Viz Media licensed the manga, and it describes the story:
After witnessing a handsome and charming young doctor saving a stranger's life five years ago, Nanase Sakura trained to become a nurse. But when she meets the doctor again and they start working together, she finds Kairi Tendo to be nothing like the man she imagined him to be!
Source: Comic Natalie
