Koyoharu Gotōge

is the pen name of a Japanese manga artist, known for the manga series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2016–2020). By July 2025, the manga had over 220 million copies in circulation worldwide (including digital copies), making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

Gotouge was included as "Phenoms" in Times annual list of 100 Most Influential People, becoming the first manga artist to receive the achievement.

Early life Gotouge was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan, on May 5, 1989. The author uses a pen name to maintain anonymity. Three more one-shots followed: , published in Jump Next! in 2014; , published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2014; and , published in Weekly Shōnen Jump in 2015.

After Haeniwa no Zigzag failed to become a series, Tatsuhiko Katayama (Gotouge's first editor) suggested starting a series with an "easy-to-understand theme". The series was published in Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 15, 2016, to May 18, 2020. It became a success, with over 220 million copies in circulation worldwide (including digital copies) by July 2025, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.

In February 2021, Gotouge commented that their next project would be a science fiction romantic comedy story.

Influences Gotouge has mentioned Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure; Masashi Kishimoto's Naruto; Tite Kubo's Bleach; and Hideaki Sorachi's Gintama as influences on their work.

Awards and honors In 2020, Gotouge received the 2nd Kodansha's Noma Publishing Culture Award, which honors those who have contributed to "reinventing publishing". Gotouge received the award due to the franchise's sales, which boosted the entire publishing industry from 2019 to 2020. In the same year, Gotouge also won the award for best screenplay/original story at the Tokyo Anime Award Festival.

In February 2021, Gotouge was included as "Phenoms" in Times annual list of 100 Most Influential People, making them the first manga artist to receive the achievement. In March 2021, Gotouge won the Newcomer Award in the media fine arts category of the 2020 Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Fine Arts Recommendation Awards. In 2021, Gotouge received the Special Prize of the 25th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize. In 2021, Gotouge won the Comic division's grand prize of the 50th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards.

Works (2013; one-shot) (2014; one-shot published in Shueisha's Jump Next!) (2014; one-shot published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump) (2015; one-shot published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump) (2016–2020; serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump, and collected in 23 volumes) (2019; collected volume of Gotouge's four one-shots published by Shueisha)