--- title: Koyoharu Gotouge Is on the TIME100 Next 2021 List description: Find out how Koyoharu Gotouge is shaping the future and defining the next generation of leadership. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2021-02-16T21:39:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-02T23:47:18.825Z og:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Koyoharu Gotouge og:description: Find out why Koyoharu Gotouge is on this year’s TIME100 Next list og:url: https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt229cc931b846309a/698a1740457a526147d64e9e/time100-next-Koyoharu-Gotouge.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2021 TIME100 Next: Koyoharu Gotouge og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2021 TIME100 Next: Koyoharu Gotouge twitter:description: Find out why Koyoharu Gotouge is on this year’s TIME100 Next list twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt229cc931b846309a/698a1740457a526147d64e9e/time100-next-Koyoharu-Gotouge.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Feb 16, 2021 # Koyoharu Gotouge by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff  For almost two decades, _Spirited Away_ was Japan’s highest-grossing movie of all time. That changed last year, when the animated film _Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train_ logged the biggest opening weekend in Japan’s history and wound up grossing a record-setting $313 million—a surreal achievement that only deepened interest in the mysterious author and illustrator at the franchise’s heart. Writing under the pen name Koyoharu Gotouge, the author published the first chapter of the serialized _Demon Slayer_ in 2016\. The manga follows Tanjiro, the teen protagonist who trains vigorously to fight against demons—while feeling immense empathy for these creatures who were once human. While Gotouge maintains anonymity in public, Kohei Ohnishi—an editor at _Weekly Shonen Jump,_ the manga magazine that publishes _Demon Slayer—_says the writer’s personality shines through the series, in particular in Tanjiro’s “serious nature, honesty and strong sense of responsibility.” And with the _Demon Slayer_ television series now streaming on Netflix and the film slated for release in North American theaters later this year, the reach of Gotouge’s work promises to go even further. —_Kat Moon_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/"},"headline":"Koyoharu Gotouge","datePublished":"2021-02-16T21:39:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-02T23:47:18.825Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/","keywords":["list","franchise","TIME 100 Next"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt229cc931b846309a/698a1740457a526147d64e9e/time100-next-Koyoharu-Gotouge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt229cc931b846309a/698a1740457a526147d64e9e/time100-next-Koyoharu-Gotouge.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time100-next-2021/5937744/koyoharu-gotouge/","name":"Koyoharu Gotouge"}}]}] ```