Fantasy series runs as part of "Jump Start" initiative

Viz Media published the first chapter of Koyoharu Gotōge's Kimetsu no Yaiba (Blade of Demon Destruction) fantasy manga in its digital manga magazine Weekly Shonen Jump on Monday as part of its "Jump Start" initiative. The manga debuted on the same day in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump in Japan.

The manga's first chapter follows Tanjiro, a charcoal seller with a keen sense of smell. Tanjiro is the eldest son in a family that has lost its father. Tanjiro visits another town one day to sell charcoal, but ends up staying the night at someone else's house instead of going home because of a rumor about a demon that stalks a nearby mountain at night. When he goes home the next day, tragedy is waiting for him.

Viz Media launched its "Jump Start" initiative in North America in September 2014. Under this initiative, Viz's digital English version of Weekly Shonen Jump will run the first three chapters of "almost every single" new series that debuts in Shueisha's original Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan.

Viz's Shonen Jump did not run Tadahiro Miura's Yuragi-sō no Yūna-san manga, which debuted in Japan on February 8.