Joseph Luster
December 21, 2021 
A lot happened in 2021, and there was also a ton of anime on everyone’s minds, which is reflected in the latest roundup of trending topics from Twitter. The social media company’s Japanese branch compiled a list of its top trends once again, and among the top 20 are otaku-friendly topics like Evangelion, Chainsaw Man, and, of course, Demon Slayer.
Japan’s top trending topic for the entire year was Gold Medal, thanks to the Tokyo Olympics. Right behind it in the second spot was State of Emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but then the anime starts coming into play.
The number three spot for the year went to Mugen Train, the name of both the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba movie and the episodic version that recently aired as part of the TV anime adaptation of Koyoharu Gotouge’s hit manga. Speeding up right behind it in fourth place was the delightful stop-motion animated series Pui Pui Molcar.
The next anime and manga title on the list came in just behind Fate/Grand Order‘s Oberon at #8, Smash Bros. at #9, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl at #11, with Chainsaw Man revving its way to the #12 spot, followed by Evangelion at #13.
In addition to “Landslide”—which refers to the July 3 landslide that went through Atami City in Shizuoka and left a number of casualties in its wake—rounding out the bottom five are Umamusume, My Hero Academia, JUJUTSU KAISEN, and Gundam.
Demon Slayer also became the “Most Retweeted” topic thanks to the announcement of its Entertainment District arc back in February, which garnered over 220,000 retweets. Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto took home another honor, too, specifically for his viral Look Back one-shot manga.
It’s pretty impressive that Chainsaw Man managed to surpass heavy hitters like JUJUTSU KAISEN and Evangelion, the latter of which was Japan’s highest-grossing movie of the year. It should be interesting to see how much more popular the series becomes when the anime premieres in 2022!
Via Crunchyroll
