Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[MFauli]

This one is Upper Six, the other fighter was Upper Three. Fighter is stronger.

But Michael Jackson talked to her as if she was the strongest after him.

[DarthEnderX]

But Michael Jackson talked to her as if she was the strongest after him.I believe he said she COULD be the strongest.

Also, he probably tells all of them that they're the strongest.

[MFauli]

Episode 4:

I like the episode, especially the very end. Instead of some futile escape attempt or some bs deus ex machina, Tanjirou simply goes for the realest of option: "I'm weaker than her ... but I have to win anyway!". Now the difficult part is to make it look believable.

On that matter, I didn't like how he was able to defend himself and cut free the other lady from Oiran's tentacles. I expected more from an upper six, a demon that's capable of killing a hashira. Sure, she might have been playing around with her prey, but still. I hope they do her justice in the near future and show how fearsome she truly is.

[Buffalobiian]

I thought the cut was pure coincidence. He was just trying to defend himself and managed to cut a bit off that's useful.

He look he gave the cloth on the ground after she gave that comment wasn't the look of someone who did that intentionally.

[MFauli]

No way that was coincidence, because a slightly different cut would have killed the hostage. Tanjiro wouldn't have risked that.

[Ryllharu]

That's when it's popularity exploded, yes.


While I'm finally catching up with the current arc...I'll comment on this bit.

It wasn't the climax in eps 19 that's stuck with me the longest, though it certainly made an impression. A part of it has been the dry comedy or cutesy slapstick expertly used in between the segments of horror and action. The series hits that correct balance, weighted towards the horror-action.

The fact that a shonen series also has an ENDING is a big plus for it, because it means we won't get arc after arc of resets and power-rescaling just to extend out the franchise.

But the part that's stuck with me the longest since the first series ended was actually Spider-Mother's gentle death. Tanjiro is different than most protagonists. He's observant, diligent, and always compassionate before he gets angry. That's why the screaming at Upper-3 was so moving. We don't get to see his rage very often because it just isn't there. Tanjiro is so different from most male leads, to the point that he was able to dissuade an assassin who simply witnessed his innermost self.

[DarthEnderX]

Yeah. Tanjiro is just the goodest of good boys. Which should make him boring.

[Ryllharu]

I don't get it. So this Upper Six-demon is even stronger than the one that killed Kyojuro at the end of the train-movie. And somehow she's to be defeated by the same, hardly stronger heroes and another hashira who doesn't look all the capable compared to Kyojuro? Eh. I guess I'll see how that's gonna be written in a believable way. Surely the author wouldn't do some cheap writing like having the roof be destroyed and the demon dies from sunlight.
Daki (Upper-6) is certainly weaker than the other Upper demons in terms of actual combat ability, as shown by Tanjiro being able to cut her at all, but she makes up for it in terms of cunning and effectiveness.

Upper-3 is a Battle Retard. He's strong, but he sure is stupid. He got goaded into a lot of mistakes fighting Kyoujurou, and stupidly tried to convince the one of the Best Boys to join them. Which shows a real lack of comprehension and reading people. He's also branded himself a coward, and even attempted to boast of that failure to Muzan.

Daki knows well that a Hashira would be able to detect her instantly, and yet she's still killed a lot. I don't think Muzan is lying about how much he respects her. She follows his model too, going into hibernation or relocating for a few decades before resurfacing as a new Oiran to repeat the pattern.

She's careful, methodical, clean, and very skilled at ambushes in her own preferred hunting grounds. The one guy suspected her, but that's only after she's started openly killing. She was probably pretty close to moving on as it stood, but even then, she's selecting targets who were about to leave, and settled in an area where people disappear all the time for explainable reasons.

She's everything Muzan wants in an Upper Six. I would imagine that if she successfully killed off everyone here, and escaped cleanly, that Muzan would reward her with a significant blood infusion to rank her upwards.


On that matter, I didn't like how he was able to defend himself and cut free the other lady from Oiran's tentacles. I expected more from an upper six, a demon that's capable of killing a hashira. Sure, she might have been playing around with her prey, but still. I hope they do her justice in the near future and show how fearsome she truly is.

I thought the cut was pure coincidence. He was just trying to defend himself and managed to cut a bit off that's useful.
Same. He knew the obi sash like tentacles were her weapons, and noticed she was using them to somehow sub-space absorb them, and also that it was unlikely that Daki had openly killed anyone (why he suspected the wives were all still alive), but severing out the good Oiran was completely a fortunate accident. All three leads do that quite a bit. They're luckier than they are skilled at this point.

It's actually a surprise that Kanao still outranks all of them. I'd like to see her fight, honestly.

[neflight86]

The reminder of the ranking tree this episode gave me the warm fuzzies I crave from shounen. Any explanation why the wives were not killed yet? She seemed to be trying to get information from one of them, but is that all, and could any of the characters infer that somehow?

[MFauli]

The wives aren't killed because the plot requires it, lol

[Ryllharu]

The wives aren't killed because the plot requires it, lol

Yeah, but why? One I can understand. Daki wants to get more info from her, and use it to kill another Hashira or three.

But why would the others still need to be alive?

[DarthEnderX]

He's also branded himself a cowardI don't agree with that, nor do I agree with Tanjiro's taunts as he was leaving.

He was winning that fight handily. It's not his fault there's literally nothing he can do about the sunrise. Would sticking around until the sun autokilled him been...courageous?

He just has a hard time limit, while his opponents don't. I'm not sure how fighting with that limitation makes him cowardly.


But why would the others still need to be alive?Do we even know if the other 2 have been captured?

[MFauli]

Ok, new answer for Ryll:

"Why are the wives kept alive?"

"So the doujins can happen."

;>

[Ryllharu]

I don't agree with that, nor do I agree with Tanjiro's taunts as he was leaving.

He was winning that fight handily. It's not his fault there's literally nothing he can do about the sunrise. Would sticking around until the sun autokilled him been...courageous?

He just has a hard time limit, while his opponents don't. I'm not sure how fighting with that limitation makes him cowardly.

You know, I think you missed the entire point of that battle.

Upper-3 spent almost the entire fight trying to convince Kyoujurou that he can become more powerful by becoming a demon like him and honing his fighting skills "forever." He deliberately avoiding mortally wounding him to get him more time to convince him. He finally relented and delivered increasingly serious strikes as the sun was starting to rise in a last-ditch effort to convince Kyoujurou of his mortal weaknesses and embrace the offer. Repeating over and over and over how much stronger he would be after becoming a demon.

He leaves Kyoujurou, not actually killing him just mortally wounding him, as the sun comes up because he's wrong. Becoming a demon means taking on a horrible weakness of the sun. Making Upper-3 a coward because the Demon Slayers always fight demons when the demons don't have their weaknesses, when they're at their strongest. Yet when the daylight rises, they flee away because they're truly weak.

Upper-3's entire argument to Kyoujurou about the strength it brings is a lie, to himself. He flees like a coward every sunrise. He wouldn't dare try to fight in the shadows, surrounded by the sun. Going into that significant threat is something that Tanjiro and all the other Demon Slayer Corp have been doing from the very start. Even Nezuko has done it in reverse in their very first fight.

It hits even harder when we realize that Kyoujurou's father viewed him as a failure (partly because of the Sun Breathing being a limit that Flame Breathing had yet to replicate and partly because he apparently thought his kind-hearted son was weak), even when his brother and all the other Hashira thought he was one of their best. Obviously his mother was the correct one to follow...

Upper-3 lost to a "failure" of a Hashira.

[DarthEnderX]

He leaves Kyoujurou, not actually killing him just mortally wounding him, as the sun comes up because he's wrong. Becoming a demon means taking on a horrible weakness of the sun. Making Upper-3 a coward because the Demon Slayers always fight demons when the demons don't have their weaknesses, when they're at their strongest. Yet when the daylight rises, they flee away because they're truly weak.That just seems like nonsense to me.

The choice is pretty binary. A demon has to either fight when they're at their strongest, or when they would INSTANTLY DIE. That's not, like, a handicap. That's an AUTOMATIC FAIL CONDITION.

I don't see how NOT CHOOSING SUICIDE makes you cowardly.

If sunlight just made them weaker instead of instantly destroying them, then you'd have a point. But suggesting that they're somehow taking the coward's way out by not exploding themselves into dust is ridiculous.


Upper-3 lost to a "failure" of a Hashira.He didn't though. The Hashira died. AFTER he took it easy on him and repeatedly tried to spare him.

[MFauli]

Kyoujuro called himself a failure because his father did. He actually wasn't a failure and not weaker than other hashira.

[Ryllharu]

That just seems like nonsense to me.

The choice is pretty binary. A demon has to either fight when they're at their strongest, or when they would INSTANTLY DIE. That's not, like, a handicap. That's an AUTOMATIC FAIL CONDITION.

Upper-3 portrayed being a demon to be the path of true strength. That power comes at a cost of being permanently weaker (instantly die) in the sun, so all his arguments to Kyoujuro were wrong.

He's trying to prey on any insecurities that demon slayers have. Like Kyoujuro's father has in retiring relatively early. But Upper-3 is actually only showing his own insecurities about his own weaknesses (mostly mortality in being a "warrior").

Kyoujuro doesn't have any insecurities despite being a "failure", which agreed with MFauli, he isn't.

Tanjiro screaming that stuff is for people like you who missed the subtext going on there. And yet you're still missing it.

Kyoujuro won decisively because the demons failed to kill a single person aside from him. Not the maintenance kids, not the bento girl or her granny, not a single soul on that train (even the bad kids), and not Tanjiro or Inosuke. And he goaded Upper-3 into almost killing himself along with him. But he fled like a coward.

[DarthEnderX]

That power comes at a cost of being permanently weaker (instantly die) in the sunBut...he wasn't weaker. He won. Even with the drawback of daylight, he still killed the Hashira and walked away afterwards.

And he could have killed him much faster and made the sun a non-issue, but he kept holding himself back.


Kyoujuro won decisively because the demons failed to kill a single person aside from him.Lol, okay guy. "We won cause we stopped you from killing anyone other than the guy you killed."

Like, it's great that they did that, and they definitely won against the train demon, but claiming they "won" against the Upper-3 because they stopped him from doing some stuff he wasn't even really trying to do, and sacrificing a Hashira to do it...I just don't get it.


Kyoujuro doesn't have any insecurities despite being a "failure", which agreed with MFauli, he isn't.He's definitely not. Losing a fight against a stronger opponent doesn't make you a failure.


Tanjiro screaming that stuff is for people like you who missed the subtext going on there. And yet you're still missing it.Really? Cause it just feels like sour grapes to me. It's just Tanjiro going "NUH UH! YOU DIDN'T WIN! YOU CHEATED!".

And look, I understand what you're saying. And I understand that that interpretation is what the series is GOING for. But I still think that conclusion is stupid. And I think the show is stupid for making it.

Even the demon was like "What are you, fucking stupid?"

[KrayZ33]

Really? Cause it just feels like sour grapes to me. It's just Tanjiro going "NUH UH! YOU DIDN'T WIN! YOU CHEATED!".

And look, I understand what you're saying. And I understand that that interpretation is what the series is GOING for. But I still think that conclusion is stupid. And I think the show is stupid for making it.

Even the demon was like "What are you, fucking stupid?"

I agree, it's basically just a "hype/moral" boost for everyone around him and himself.
It's like a "valiant defeat", you still lost, but you made the best out of it.

It's commendable that the humans face a strong enemy at a disadvantage but that's about it.
(similar to how sports anime portray "hard workers" against "talented guys" that somehow manage to be relatively equal)

You could consider it a failure in the first place that they have to do that and can't force demons to fight during the day or make use of it, or force demons into it by smoking out their hideout.

It's not even as bad as a phyrric victory for the demons though, because they still killed one of the strongest fighters the humans have, while they themselve only lost minions.

I don't think the subtext was lost to Darth at all, it's just that when you are talking about winning and strength, the humans simply lost on all accounts other than "moral" and "duty"- they are just the "winner of hearts"
But Tanjiro's taunts mean very little in the grim face of reality and can be translated to 2 guys playing a video game and one of them saying "You only won against me because you used OP units/weapons and we almost won against you anyway!"
These weapons were always part of the game though and everyone knew they exist, even if they are overpowered.

[neflight86]

Where was this debate last year?

I'm on the side where Tanjiro's post fight taunts came off as sour grapes (and said as much in my comment on the movie), but there is truth in that choosing to fight with human limitations against a stronger foe for the sake of others is noble.

If you were reaching to justify upper 3-san's 'loss', it would be in reference to when he chose to become a demon (assuming it was a choice), abandoning his humanity and taking 'easy mode' demon resilience/strength. Demon slayers train tirelessly to get where they are, while upper crust demons get periodic Muzan juice and always skip leg day. Running from the sun was obviously the right call for him, but honestly, demon slayers corps should utilize it more often than we've seen them do.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm on the side where Tanjiro's post fight taunts came off as sour grapes (and said as much in my comment on the movie), but there is truth in that choosing to fight with human limitations against a stronger foe for the sake of others is noble.Oh I completely agree.

The only thing I was arguing against was that Upper-3 is a coward just because he chose not to stand in the sun and die.


Anyway, my takeaway is that none of the Uppers are going to be cool, because Muzan wouldn't let them be. He seems like a really shitty, petty boss. And I don't like him.

[Ryllharu]

Yuukaku-hen - 05

--------------


This episode exemplifies everything I like about Kimetsu no Yaiba over a lot of other shonen series.

- It doesn't take itself too seriously, until it does. Crybaby nurse, crybaby wife, more muscle mice, Innosuke being aware of how useless Zenitsu is when he's awake...

- ...Offset by phenomenally well executed action. I kept rewinding parts of this episode again and again, just like the more-famously known episode 19. It wasn't Tanjiro's scenes with Daki as much as it was just everything in the snakepit. The fluidity on the wives' fairly simple movies is really good. ufotable movie quality good. Especially the crybaby wife. The expressions are cute and funny, but she's fairly strong and quite skilled with a kunai despite how useless she says she is. Or Daki skating through the dirt on her obi tentacles in order to decapitate the prone Tanjiro.

- We get some touching emotional development too, even for "throwaway characters" like the wives, many of the denizens of the Entertainment district.

- Daki is threatening. Tanjiro may have leveled up, but she is better than he is, has him at a complete disadvantage, and he's wearing himself out just to stay alive.

- The kunoichi all have some meat on them. There's subtle muscle definition on each of them, and they're not normal anime scrawny crane legs with big tits.

[MFauli]

Inosuke is a suicidal madman. When he went down that hole, all I could keep thinking was "omg, so what if there's a dead end?!"

Two things:

- kinda toxic relationship when your wives call you "-sama". Could it be any more distanced?

- do we have doujins yet? The blonde tomboy wife is super hot :>

[DarthEnderX]

- kinda toxic relationship when your wives call you "-sama". Could it be any more distanced?I mean, this is, like, Taishō-era Japan. They still have geishas and whatnot.

[Ryllharu]

- kinda toxic relationship when your wives call you "-sama". Could it be any more distanced?

Taisho Era and the ninjas are kind of archaic to begin with. Tengen uses "nyoubou" for them to their faces, which is really outdated. But he's used "tsuma" to refer to them to the main trio. Pretty proper.

He's higher ranked than them, as the bleach tips wife explains in her flashback. So it is somewhat appropriate. The interesting connotation is that he's actually told them it is okay to fail a mission as long as they come back alive. He told them right to their face how much he values them over literally everything else.

It's the opposite of toxic.

[MFauli]

And yet they address their husband with "-sama". Toxic.

[Buffalobiian]

Weird that Tanjiro is only now saying water breathing isn't compatible with his body. We've never brought up comparability till now and while old mate trainer kept shitting on Tanjiro and never expecting him to finish, he never mentioned suitability and the like.

That said, it's probably rare for people to experience two styles to compare. It still doesn't make that much sense when you think about Water Breathing being a derivative of Sun. You'd think that compatibility should be similar, and only effectiveness would differ.

If someone was going to be able to slash loose cloth it'd be Inosuke. He's got serrated swords.


- do we have doujins yet? The blonde tomboy wife is super hot :>
Makio was super hot when strung up.

Hinatsuru looks better overall in terms of fitting traditional beauty standard etc, but she came off as boring this episode.

Suma's hilarious. She reminds of of Zenitsu's role in the trio.


And yet they address their husband with "-sama". Toxic.

Uhh...
lol.

[Ryllharu]

Hinatsuru looks better overall in terms of fitting traditional beauty standard etc, but she came off as boring this episode.

Suma's hilarious. She reminds of of Zenitsu's role in the trio.
Now that you mention it, I think this might be intentional...

Makio is rough around the edges, brash, and noisy, but confident and has very bright wide eyes.

Suma is more talented than she states about herself, a crybaby, and based on the Taisho Era Secret is very forward with her affections for Uzui and approached him first to request to be one of his wives.

Hinatsuru is gentle, level-headed, thoughtful, and considerate (she did keep Daki's farewell gift even though she suspected her, later getting trapped by it).

There are too many similarities to the main trio for it to be a coincidence.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm curious if we'll ever get to see Tanjiro dual wield fire and water at the same time.

[MFauli]

So ... steam breathing-style?


Now that you mention it, I think this might be intentional...

Makio is rough around the edges, brash, and noisy, but confident and has very bright wide eyes.

Suma is more talented than she states about herself, a crybaby, and based on the Taisho Era Secret is very forward with her affections for Uzui and approached him first to request to be one of his wives.

Hinatsuru is gentle, level-headed, thoughtful, and considerate (she did keep Daki's farewell gift even though she suspected her, later getting trapped by it).

There are too many similarities to the main trio for it to be a coincidence.

So basically yaoi-doujins incoming.

[DarthEnderX]

So ... steam breathing-style?Well, I was thinking more...two swords, one water, one fire. But that'd be pretty cool too.

[neflight86]

"Suddenly, Compatibility" did feel left-field, but not so far out there to jar away my enjoyment of the fights. The wives were found very quickly, and I'm surprised they all survived. Good thing he picked attractive wives, apparently.

Innosuke worming through the hole was a stellar visual gag that really got a good laugh out of me. Bravo, author-kun.

So, is it precedented that upper demons can spawn parts of themselves with fragments of the personality/will? I don't mind of not so; just wondering, because that's kind of what Muzan does by making the upper demons.

The pacing was so good, it felt like this episode was over in seconds.

[DarthEnderX]

So, is it precedented that upper demons can spawn parts of themselves with fragments of the personality/will? I don't mind of not so; just wondering, because that's kind of what Muzan does by making the upper demons.I assumed it was a lesser demon serving her.

[neflight86]

I assumed from the direct telepathy and it being cloth that it was a part of herself detached for the purpose of protecting her food source.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm curious if we'll ever get to see Tanjiro dual wield fire and water at the same time.

There shouldn't be any real point if Water is the derivative of Sun.

And.. dude, there's probably more Yaoi stuff for KnY than there is straight.

[DarthEnderX]

I still don't fully understand whether the breathing styles produce actual elements or not, or if those are just meant to be artistic flourishes representative of the style...

[Ryllharu]

I always thought it was artistic flourishes, but where that line is, isn't clear.

Shinobu poisons her enemies by using the tip of her blade as "a stinger" to inject wisteria-based poisons and all the butterflies and stuff are definitely artistic. But Tengen has explosive power to crush rock through sound (apparently) and Zenitsu breathes out static electricity contrasted to the other styles who usually just show rushing air, though he's not electrifying his enemies with his one mastered skill. The water breathing and flame breathing are definitely artistic and not manifested.

Though Nezuko's blood really does catch on fire.

[Buffalobiian]

Meanwhile, raising your body temperature makes Sun Breathing more effective so.. /shrug.

[DarthEnderX]

It's still Fire Breathing. Tanjiro doesn't know anything about Sun Breather, other than that it exists.

[MFauli]

Do Mouth Breathers exist, too?

[Buffalobiian]

It's still Fire Breathing. Tanjiro doesn't know anything about Sun Breather, other than that it exists.

Fire Breathing is what Flame Hashiras do. Sun breathing is what Tanjiro does. Tanjiro doesn't know the full ins and outs of it, but his family does Sun breathing.

Tanjiro doesn't practice Fire Breathing.

[DarthEnderX]

Tanjiro doesn't know the full ins and outs of it, but his family does Sun breathing.

Tanjiro doesn't practice Fire Breathing.And I suppose he also doesn't practice Water Breathing either, right?

Pretty sure when he uses ACTUAL Sun Breathing, it's not going to be mistaken for Fire.

[KrayZ33]

And I suppose he also doesn't practice Water Breathing either, right?

Pretty sure when he uses ACTUAL Sun Breathing, it's not going to be mistaken for Fire.

What do you mean exactly?

He does practice Water Breathing, he did practice "Tanjiro-clan" breathing in the past as well afaik. With his father, unintentionally, not knowing it was "XYZ breathing" mostly.

I'm not up to date with the episodes though.

[Ryllharu]

And I suppose he also doesn't practice Water Breathing either, right?

Pretty sure when he uses ACTUAL Sun Breathing, it's not going to be mistaken for Fire.

Sun Breathing is the core of ALL breath techniques. So if Tanjiro is using any breath technique, but modifying it so it "feels more natural," it is very likely that he's touching on the forgotten techniques.

When Tanjiro uses Water Breathing attacks, but they manifest as fire because he's inserting the family traditional dance moves and they show it switching to red, we can assume that's Sun Breathing.

[DarthEnderX]

Sun Breathing is the core of ALL breath techniques. So if Tanjiro is using any breath technique, but modifying it so it "feels more natural," it is very likely that he's touching on the forgotten techniques.Touching on, yes. But not currently using. That was the whole point of the book is to establish that the technique is forgotten, and it needs to be recreated.


When Tanjiro uses Water Breathing attacks, but they manifest as fire because he's inserting the family traditional dance moves and they show it switching to red, we can assume that's Sun Breathing.Why?

Why do you even assume his dad knew Sun Breathing? It's supposed to be some kind of long lost art. If Tanjiro's father was a Slayer that used Sun Breathing during the same period when Rengoku's father was a Slayer, why would he think it was lost? He wouldn't have to be pondering over some ancient manual trying to recreate it.

If all the breathing techniques are incomplete Sun Breathing techniques, Tanjiro's father's technique is seemingly STILL incomplete Fire Breathing. I'm sure it'll be necessary for Tanjiro to unlock real Sun Breathing, but what he uses now, ain't it.

I'm betting that REAL Sun Breathing...probably fucks demons up like actual sunlight does.

[Ryllharu]

Why?

Why do you even assume his dad knew Sun Breathing? It's supposed to be some kind of long lost art. If Tanjiro's father was a Slayer that used Sun Breathing during the same period when Rengoku's father was a Slayer, why would he think it was lost? He wouldn't have to be pondering over some ancient manual trying to recreate it.

If all the breathing techniques are incomplete Sun Breathing techniques, Tanjiro's father's technique is seemingly STILL incomplete Fire Breathing. I'm sure it'll be necessary for Tanjiro to unlock real Sun Breathing, but what he uses now, ain't it.
Were you even paying attention at all this arc? Or from the beginning of the series?

Rengoku's father lost his shit when he saw Tanjiro's earrings, that Tanjiro's dad always wore, and immediately launched into his tirade about Sun Breathing and the presumption that Tanjiro came to look down on them.

Why did Muzan himself trek all the way into the deep Northern wilderness to find Tanjiro's family, and slaughter every. single. one of them he could find?

Put two and two together.

Though it is unclear why he elected to inject Nezuko with his blood.

There's likely a reason that Tanjiro's father isolated himself in the wilderness, and was so sickly. Perhaps Sun Breathing has a double-edge to it when improperly used. Maybe most of the techniques do. They're pushing the human body to extreme limits to match the superhuman ability of the demons.

[DarthEnderX]

Rengoku's father lost his shit when he saw Tanjiro's earrings, that Tanjiro's dad always wore, and immediately launched into his tirade about Sun Breathing and the presumption that Tanjiro came to look down on them.

Why did Muzan himself trek all the way into the deep Northern wilderness to find Tanjiro's family, and slaughter every. single. one of them he could find?No shit. Because the Sun Breather was an ancestor of Tanjiro's. The earrings were obviously passed down from him. The techniques were passed down.

But Tanjiro's father is NOT that guy. Whatever techniques he showed Tanjiro are obviously incomplete. Possibly lost to time. Which is why they manifest as Fire Breathing, and not Sun Breathing.


Like, everyone that's seen his moves has called them Fire Breathing. And we've seen one old book that suggests that his family USED to do Sun Breathing. I don't understand this leap that that means he must already be doing Sun Breathing.

It's called Dance of the Fire God, not Dance of the Sun God.

[Buffalobiian]

What makes you think they're incomplete?

Tanjiro is shit at it, but that doesn't mean the techniques are incomplete.

I don't think you should expect one to kick demon once you know Sun Breathing, let alone practicing it by remembering your dad's moves as a kid.

Trainers of different styles send their kids to the exam, some die, some become mediocre and a few become Hashira. Tanjiro sucking at Sun doesn't make it inherently incomplete or bastardized.

Actually, the fact that it's been passed down as a slow dance but when executed in combat becomes a real move (after recognising its true nature as a combat art) suggests that it is the real thing.

Pass it down as a dance. Those who can make it work, will. As opposed to passing it down as a combat art, and those who can't make it work forget or tweak it into something else to maintain proficiency.

[MFauli]

Question: Is the implication that breathing styles are hereditary, dna-based? Or is it something that takes a lot of time to learn and therefore is part of these various clans/families who teach their children from young age?

Just trying to figure out if everyone *could* learn any style or not.

[Buffalobiian]

Question: Is the implication that breathing styles are hereditary, dna-based? Or is it something that takes a lot of time to learn and therefore is part of these various clans/families who teach their children from young age?

Just trying to figure out if everyone *could* learn any style or not.

Passing of technique seems to be culture. Water teacher didn't have any genetic ties that we know of and taught whoever seemed appropriate.

This is from a time when martial arts training required that you start with basic stances for months etc before you can advance to new moves. Remember when Tanjiro had to spend the night running through the mountain full of traps, or when Zenitsu's teacher beat the shit out of him during training?

You didn't have people taking weekend Water training classes for fun, so it required dedicated members, and teachers probably didn't bother unless you were clan/family/introduced. That's the kind of time this was set in.

That said, like all physical skills, one could try to learn any of them, but your affinity may vary. Like if you're short, jumping kicks from Taeskwondo might really help you out, but if you're 6 foot two, your 4 meter jump kicks are kind of wasted. Just focus on a good jab with your genetically massive range. That sort of thing.

[DarthEnderX]

What makes you think they're incomplete?

Tanjiro is shit at it, but that doesn't mean the techniques are incomplete.I guess because it is functionally and visually indistinguishable from Fire Breathing at the moment?

I guess I'm just assuming that when he actually successfully performs Sun Breathing, it'll actually...ya know, look or DO something different!

Because if it doesn't, WHO CARES? It's JUST more Fire Breathing! Why should I care that Tanjiro actually does Sun Breathing if IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT?!


Question: Is the implication that breathing styles are hereditary, dna-based? Or is it something that takes a lot of time to learn and therefore is part of these various clans/families who teach their children from young age?

Just trying to figure out if everyone *could* learn any style or not.Seems like it's both. Tanjiro DID learn Water Breathing. But now supposedly his body isn't really "compatible" with it. Which is probably DNA related.

It's probably like using an element in Naruto or Nen type in HxH that isn't your specialty. You CAN use it, but you'll always be weaker at it.


That reminds me! I'm STILL waiting for this show to explain what the fuck sword color means!

[Ryllharu]

Question: Is the implication that breathing styles are hereditary, dna-based? Or is it something that takes a lot of time to learn and therefore is part of these various clans/families who teach their children from young age?

Just trying to figure out if everyone *could* learn any style or not.

I disagree that it is hereditary. It's more like "this is my family's dojo" and the flavor of karate/kendo/judo/Fire Breathing that goes with it. If the same family are practitioners, it is because they're doing it as tradition.

The compatibility is genetic, but not in the way it matters. More like, an individual just doesn't have a knack at math, but they're really good at art. Or someone unrelated may be gifted at art, so they work closely with a family of artisans while the eldest in the family gets a business degree instead.

So I don't really agree with the way Tanjiro conveyed Rengoku's final message to his little brother. Tanjiro encouraged him to stick with it and that hard work will make him good at Fire Breathing. But the way I took Rengoku saying it was to have Tanjiro to tell his brother not to beat himself up over struggling with it, and to follow his heart. Not advising a direction, just saying don't kill yourself over it...like their father got when it came to Sun Breathing.

[Buffalobiian]

Entertainment Arc ep06

------------------



I guess because it is functionally and visually indistinguishable from Fire Breathing at the moment?

I guess I'm just assuming that when he actually successfully performs Sun Breathing, it'll actually...ya know, look or DO something different!

Because if it doesn't, WHO CARES? It's JUST more Fire Breathing! Why should I care that Tanjiro actually does Sun Breathing if IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT?!

So.. like this?

The moves are no different. Tanjiro is still only executing the moves he's learned from his dad.

When done slowly, it's a warm dance.
When done quickly it's an attack.
When done properly it stops demons from healing.

The effectiveness right now is bound by how physically conditioned Tanjiro is, not by his familiarity of technique. The move itself is not bastardised. He's dishing it out. The bit that doesn't make sense is why Tanjiro's dad gains endurance by performing the dance, while Tanjiro consumes it.

But damn, Nezuko.. muzzles off, boobs out. I wonder if she can just consume Tanjiro's blood to power up without losing any humanity. He's dripping it out anyway.

Daki looks uglier in full mode. Her talking with her brain missing was funny as hell.

[Ryllharu]

With Daki hearing the blood-inherited memories, I wonder if there in an innate fear across all the demons about Sun Breathing. She instinctually ripped off her own foot at the ankle to get away from Tanjiro after he caught her, even though she can probably easily beat him with her full power.

I guess it makes sense that Sun Breathing is equated fire that flows like water, plasma, whatever. It's more like Waterbreathing in style and motions, but manifests as fire. And it burns them much harsher. Also interesting in that it is depicted as cutting very effortlessly, but is leaving ragged cuts where it has gone through.

But I guess Sun Breathing is actually anaerobic at full speed? Tanjiro's little sister warning him to breathe, he finally did, and got a huge backlash. Had he been holding his breath in this whole time? Or maybe using it damages the lungs. That would make sense with their father.

Nezuko going to full Anego mode.

[neflight86]

Great fight with the back and forth- just what I like to see. Did not expect Nezuko to show up in a useful capacity, but she did, and possibly got some arbitrary powerup? Said powerup also being from a girl into a woman, apparently...

Interesting that the sun breathing (or whatever style Tanjiro was using) was making him cease to breathe here.

Is the other demon Muzan 'lost' to his influence the girl demon from s1 who is collecting the blood samples to reverse demonization?

[Buffalobiian]

Is the other demon Muzan 'lost' to his influence the girl demon from s1 who is collecting the blood samples to reverse demonization?

Yes, that's Tamayo.

[MFauli]

Ok, that was the worst bs in terms of deus ex machine. Literally TWO deus ex machina moments in one episode, LOL. I mean, I'm not dropping the show over it, 90% of shounen have these bs moments, but come on.

First, Tanjiro is now suddenly a "chosen one", with one of his descendents having fought Muzan. So much for a hard-training hero, it's all given from now on. Bummer.

And then Nezuko gets a power-up in the most random way. She's a demon. She can't train her body, it stays the same forever. All the power is given to her from the beginning (unless she started consuming human bodies, but she doesn't do that). Why activate this power now and not in countless earlier life-threatening battles? Eh.

It was nice to watch, no question. But it didn't feel "earned". Unlike the finale against the thread-demon in an earlier season where Tanjiro truly gave his all and, together with Nezuko's burning blood-ability, finished the demon off. I dunno. I would have preferred more believable progression. To suddenly be able to fight an upper rank-demon feelsl akin to Gon being able to fight Neferpitou, but I have doubts that Tanjiro will have to pay any comparable price for awakening such power.

To end this posting: I guess this episode officially marks the point in history where we're allowed to lewd Nezuko now. LOL, damn, those are nice boobs. Then again, it really needs to be stated: This season has plenty of nice boobs, be it the Oiran-demon, the three wives or now Nezuko. :>

[Ryllharu]

First, Tanjiro is now suddenly a "chosen one", with one of his descendents having fought Muzan. So much for a hard-training hero, it's all given from now on. Bummer.

Did you miss the part from Tanjiro where he refuted Rengoku Senior by saying that the mark on his head is pure coincidence? Others may think Tanjiro is a chosen one, and while he certainly does appear to be the secret heir to Sun Breathing, but they've set this up all very nicely to make Tanjiro very similar to Rengoku.

The burn mark from childhood was always there from episode 1. We saw the moment it got to its present state. We knew that Rengoku wasn't favored and had to teach himself after his mother died and his dad became a deadbeat. And Rengoku thought he was a loser too, but everyone loved him. Because he took after his mother, with the hard work ethic and infinite kindness she instilled in him. The same "stuff" that Tanjiro has always exhibited.

Tanjiro followed up the reminder-flashback with his own line that he's not special. He just works hard like all the Good Boys do. He's one of those heroes who is just going to try even though he will probably die (and the plot will of course spare him for that display of actual virtue because this is a shonen and not a seinen).


And then Nezuko gets a power-up in the most random way. She's a demon. She can't train her body, it stays the same forever. All the power is given to her from the beginning (unless she started consuming human bodies, but she doesn't do that). Why activate this power now and not in countless earlier life-threatening battles? Eh.

It was nice to watch, no question. But it didn't feel "earned".
They have sort of explained this. We're quite a few years into the series timeline now, because all the training montages are serious timeskips. Two years on the mountain to learn water breathing. A few months more traveling to the first test, several months each time there's another healing and more training montage after one of the big fights, because they heal at normal human rates.

Nezuko has slept in her box, or in a room, the entire time she's not shown on screen (or shown awake in her box). The elders of the series have somewhat implied that in not drinking blood, and sleeping the whole time, Nezuko's body has been up to something that none of them have ever seen before. Which is because Muzan normally takes them in right away (like he re-explained to the audience through Daki) and gets them onto murdering people.

It has been implied that her hibernations are why she has displayed such absurd strength despite never taking in a single drop of human blood, or that her regeneration is far above what it should be (not the first set of legs she has lost if you remember). She compresses her size and just accumulates power. Maybe through Muzan's blood all by itself?

But I'm with you on the Nezuko having this horn power-up and the vine markings (similar to Daki's flower marks and other Upper ranks that they mentioned at one point). That wasn't earned at all. Maybe we'll see something next time to explain any of it, but I dunno.

Did Muzan go all out and inject her with an Upper Rank quantity of blood from the start or something? Or maybe the setup they've worked in here is that indeed, Tanjiro did not inherit the 'chosen one status' that makes a forehead mark. Because Nezuko did. It could explain her burning blood.

Bit of a retcon with the younger brother saying how scary Nezuko can get when she goes into Anego Mode. So yeah, explained why her demon form is mountain ogre, but wasn't earned like Tanjiro's parts were.

[DarthEnderX]

Amazing fight. But Tanjiro looks goofy with blood in his eyes.



So.. like this? Yes.

Now that his attacks burn them the way sunlight does, NOW I believe it's Sun Breathing.

But to me, that still suggests that his previous attacks weren't Sun Breathing.


The moves are no different.I don't think the moves determine the style, the breathing does. He's Sun Breathing now because he's breathing different than before.

And the moves they are taught are just moves that work beast with their breathing style.


Said powerup also being from a girl into a woman, apparently...Well, she could already change into a child. I assume this is the same power, in reverse.


Tanjiro followed up the reminder-flashback with his own line that he's not special.Just because he says it doesn't make it true.

Naruto called himself a loser a lot. He still ended up being secret ninja Jesus.

Tanjiro is definitely some kind of chosen one.

[Ryllharu]

Tanjiro is definitely some kind of chosen one.

Still going with Tanjiro isn't, but Nezuko definitely is.

[DarthEnderX]

I wonder if demons can use breathing techniques. They don't need to breathe, but can they force themselves to if they want?


Also, I really hope Nezuko doesn't continue to not speak now that her bit is out.

[MFauli]

Still going with Tanjiro isn't, but Nezuko definitely is.

I didn't really mean "chosen one" because of his forehead scar or anything. The flashback showed someone who looked like his father (but wasn't, I assume) who opposed Muzan in the past with his sunbreathing techniques. Tanjiro is related to that guy, so now he's the chosen one in so far that he's the descendant of someone who also fought Muzan. That's shit just like it was shit in Naruto when we found out that our hardworker/outcast was actually related to a whole bunch of historically important heroes.

Again, I don't care too much about that anymore, I'm used to it. But let's recognize it.

As for sunbreathing: If it really was sunbreathing, shouldn't he have been able to cut off her head even despite her loosening up the material? Sure, the physical sword edge wouldn't be able to cut, but the sunbreathing effect should still dissolve her tissue like a chemical reaction?

[shinta|hikari]

I didn't really mean "chosen one" because of his forehead scar or anything. The flashback showed someone who looked like his father (but wasn't, I assume) who opposed Muzan in the past with his sunbreathing techniques. Tanjiro is related to that guy, so now he's the chosen one in so far that he's the descendant of someone who also fought Muzan.

But let's recognize it.


I think everyone else recognized it the moment Muzan wanted to hunt down Tanjiro after seeing his heirloom earrings...

[MFauli]

Episode 7:

Awaiting the incest doujins

[shinta|hikari]

What the FUCK is wrong with u?

[DarthEnderX]

Nothing new.

[MFauli]

What the FUCK is wrong with u?

lol, spare us the fake outrage. Got nothing to say about the episode?

[shinta|hikari]

I can't wait for the Sound Hashira to die so Sleepy Dood can replace him.

I wonder who Boar's Head will replace?

[neflight86]

Great episode. Wonderful escalation and a fun twist on the Tanjiro/Nezuko Brother/Sister dependency that the demon also has sibling ties. Just wish it were foreshadowed at all, or I missed it if it was. These fights really aren't even trying to be fair, which makes them lively and fun to watch.

[Ryllharu]

It was foreshadowed only for a few frames as Daki was having a flashback about being immolated (by their parents?) during Nezuko's fire-blood.

Agreed that they should have cryptically hinted at it a little more before in previous episodes instead of a handful of scenes before she started having her hilarious emotional breakdown (which is what I love about this series, knowing how to balance action/horror with tension relief).

What absolute killer sound direction and performance to have Miyuki Sawashiro sound like her lips had been burned off in her dialogue.

[neflight86]

After you post, I had to rewatch the scene to hear it, but they did deform her speech while she was char faced. Good catch, and agreed on the brilliant direction for that!

[Buffalobiian]

Ep 8

------------------------









The entire episode was suspenseful. Old heart of mine can't take that.

Lots of cool moments from Zenitsu today. I thought he'd keep Daki's head off with his lightning strikes but that didn't happen. His sticking up for the little girl that I've long forgotten about was a proud moment - too bad he couldn't flatten her but instead is just managing to stand his ground. It's a more realistic approach I'll admit.

Love a good Daki tantrum.

Don't start talking to Rengoku now Usui. There's a difference between a good sign and a flag.

We also now know that Slayer Corps master wasn't always blind.

[Ryllharu]

Don't start talking to Rengoku now Usui. There's a difference between a good sign and a flag.
Yeah, it's called "having three wives." All of whom are kinda badasses.


Lots of cool moments from Zenitsu today. I thought he'd keep Daki's head off with his lightning strikes but that didn't happen.I kept hoping that Inosuke would realize his gnarly chipped swords can catch and snarl her flexible yet durable obi tentacles. Tanjiro generally couldn't cut them, but here you don't need to, you just have to keep them out of the way so that your partner can make the killing blow. Big differences from before with this team fight.

[MFauli]

Wow, what a great day for anime. First Attack on Titan, now this. Great episode.

I, too, expected that Zenitsu would continuously behead the sister, proceeding with the "joke" of her being upset about it. Guess not.

Only bad thing: the cliffhanger. With how the brother smirked, we knooooow that Tanjiro's beheading attempt won't succeed, come on.

Anyway, exciting.

[neflight86]

The entire episode was suspenseful. Old heart of mine can't take that.

Amen. Wonderful fight episode with so much crisp animation and well defined matchup dynamics that I could get super hyped. It showed and told in equal measure, in the best way possible. It exceeded my lofty expectations from last week.


Don't start talking to Rengoku now Usui. There's a difference between a good sign and a flag.

It's a thin line, but I think he'll pull through. After all, this is a lower ranked demon, and he's got some backup.

[shinta|hikari]

He will probably get injured enough to retire or be demoted from Hashira status so another spot opens up for one of the kids.

So Rengoku, the Buddha dood, and the genius Souji clone are all much stronger than Sound dood.

[Buffalobiian]

I couldn't tell if he meant that he'd never be like Rengoku (putting the mission first etc) or be as strong as Rengoku. I thought it was more the former. Granted, he was thinking about reasons that he's not gifted so strength may well be why.

We never got a run-down of what Sound Breathing is all about actually. We just know he's a ninja who quit but wanted to fight for good anyway.

[MFauli]

If this guy is one of the weakest Hashira, I don't understand how so many Hashira before died to this demon. Is this some lame "golden generation"-type of thing? Eh.

My hope: Sound guy dies heroic death, then Zenitsu takes over his Hashira position as well as his 3 wives ;P

[neflight86]

If a hashira falls, surely it is replaced from the next rank down, not from four ranks from the bottom.

Perhaps the hashira that fought this duo did so solo? Gabi seemed adept at hiding and resurfacing every so many decades so to not arouse suspicion. Teamwork makes the dreamwork in a demon hunt?

[shinta|hikari]

Is this some lame "golden generation"-type of thing? Eh.

This was explicitly stated by the blind master dood. This set of 10 hashira (including the dead Rengoku) are the strongest ever.

[Buffalobiian]

Just rewatched this episode.

If the Kunai were able to nullify Upper Six's regeneration, it might also nullify the poison in Uzui.

If so, getting hit by the kunai goes from being an okay idea to a great one.

[MFauli]

Just rewatched this episode.

If the Kunai were able to nullify Upper Six's regeneration, it might also nullify the poison in Uzui.

If so, getting hit by the kunai goes from being an okay idea to a great one.

It also begs the question why not every hashira, better even every demon corps member, carries weapons with that ointment applied to.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, it hasn't really been explained why only Shinobu's branch uses wisteria toxins as their primary means of killing demons.

[shinta|hikari]

My guess is that wisteria toxin uses up a limited resource, the wisteria flower, which also doubles as a barrier for their HQ and other areas, so they can't just produce tons of it. Since other demon slayers can lop off demon heads just fine (Shinobu supposedly can't being a weak woman *eyeroll*), they simply don't need to use it, and the encounters with upper moons are so ridiculously rare that always applying it to your weapons is wasteful.

Even if you can bottle it and carry it with you, you'd have to somehow apply it on your blade when a random upper moon encounter happens, which can cause your death against such a high-level enemy.

I also think the only reasons Sound dood and his wives use the poison is one, because they are Shinobi and it is in theme, and two, they knew they were likely going against an upper moon.

[Buffalobiian]

Because fire breathing would burn the poison away, while water breathing would wash it away.

[MFauli]

Lots of bad excuses ... so probably exactly what the mangaka had in mind ;P

[Ryllharu]

I kind of doubt wisteria is a limited resource. They surrounded an entire mountain with it for a training/examination area.

It literally grows all over Japan.

[shinta|hikari]

It wasn't an exam area, right? It was THE (only) exam area, where a fat demon has been killing all the (13) students of the former water Hashira who stuck him there.

If the toxin requires a significant amount of flowers to be extracted in order to produce usable amounts, those trees will be gone pretty fast and they will lose their protected areas at the same time. They also use the flower, not the leaves, which only bloom for a few months, so it's not like they can keep harvesting them throughout the year.

There is also the issue of the expertise required to process these flowers. If only Shinobu and her team have the knowledge, skills, and tools to do it, it will be difficult to make it standard issue for every demon slayer.

[DarthEnderX]

If the toxin requires a significant amount of flowers to be extracted in order to produce usable amounts, those trees will be gone pretty fast and they will lose their protected areas at the same time. They also use the flower, not the leaves, which only bloom for a few months, so it's not like they can keep harvesting them throughout the year....then you grow more.

If you were running an organization of vampire hunters, you'd damn sure have fields of garlic planted.


There is also the issue of the expertise required to process these flowers. If only Shinobu and her team have the knowledge, skills, and tools to do it, it will be difficult to make it standard issue for every demon slayer.Not sharing that knowledge/training with other hunters would make them MASSIVE assholes.

[shinta|hikari]

You need time and resources to educate others and create more tools. Maybe they are busy just producing the limited amount they have now to do that. The whole demon slayer organization isn't exactly an example of stellar management, what with letting promising disciples die in a test against a fat demon with a vendetta instead of purging said fat demon and letting disciples grow stronger with more experience.

[Ryllharu]

You need time and resources to educate others and create more tools. Maybe they are busy just producing the limited amount they have now to do that. The whole demon slayer organization isn't exactly an example of stellar management, what with letting promising disciples die in a test against a fat demon with a vendetta instead of purging said fat demon and letting disciples grow stronger with more experience.

If I remember, the purpose of that demon, or others like it (because the others obviously passed without fighting it specifically) is to set a bar.

A candidate might have the will for revenge, they might have the drive, or show aptitude in one of the styles.

But they'll still die and become fodder for the demons, or worse (the little spider heads that Zenitsu almost became for example) if they can't manage that level of threat in the field on their own.

We see the main trio working their way up the ladder of demons throughout the series. But there's lower levels slayer running all over the place killing fledgling demons like Tanjiro faced early on.

[shinta|hikari]

The purpose of the test is to set a bar. That specific demon was clearly abnormal in that it was killing talented disciples of a former hashira (13 of them, so it's not like this was a short period). Any decent organization would notice this and send a tsuguko to deal with it. You don't even need a (understandably busy) hashira at this level.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09

------





-Flags. Flags everywhere.

-Actually thought Mantis would tear up one, maybe more, of Uzui's wives to make us cry. Glad it hasn't happened yet but I feared for her truly.

-Lol @ 6th Fang. This is the only type of scenario where it's useful.

-Running away with her like a football is the right call. I'm glad he did that.

-Uzui being incapacitated like that is realistic in that he was barely keeping up with the dude prior. It looks like Daki gaining an eye made her Obi stronger, so Mantis should have been weaker as well. Difficult to tell what his power should have been since we've never met him before.

-I feel like none of the main 3 should lose track of anyone ever. They've got super smell, hearing and vibration detection.

-I hope the fight finishes next episode. It feels long enough now.

[shinta|hikari]

How the fuck will they survive this?

Inosuke's heart is destroyed.

[Buffalobiian]

How the fuck will they survive this?

Inosuke's heart is destroyed.

I suppose he could have sinus inversus (https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/4883/situs-inversus)or dextrocardia (https://medlineplus.gov/ency/imagepages/19879.htm), but it doesn't get him out of a traumatic pneumothorax (https://www.msdmanuals.com/en-au/professional/injuries-poisoning/thoracic-trauma/pneumothorax-traumatic).

Uzui also lost his hand.(1)

I'd like Tanjiro to pull of Sun Breathing properly to finish this off, but it seems pretty bullshit to do it now given how knackered he is.

The most believable resolution would be for Uzui to do something suicidal or for another Hashira to join in.

-------------


(1) Just remembered, Uzui being a hand down with three wives means he can no longer ... you know...

[shinta|hikari]

I was right in calling out that Soundood will get retired.

I guess another hashira showing up, like Soujidood or Buddood, can resolve this. If upper ranks are so strong, why are they sending single hashiras against them anyway? Wouldn't ganging up on one with all 10 (9 minus Rengoku) be the best solution?

[MFauli]

The presentation of time really sucks in this anime, lol. When Tanjiru was running towards the demon who held the wife, the demon had like FOREVER to kill her ... but didn't for "reasons". Then later on, when Innosuke yelled to the others that the hashira is about to cut off the demon brother's head and they have to cut the sister's head off, because of the synchronous attack, yet Innosuke already saw the hashira's (supposedly) deciding sword slash at the demon's neck, so there literally was no time to regroup for Innosuke and Zenitsu or do anything really. I got over it, but stuff like that can be done better.

Other than that ... yeah, what bs deus-ex-machina will save them? Innosuke should be out of the battle, unless he's literally awakening some BERSERK-style berserker/beast mode. Zenitsu looked to be about being hit, Tanjiru was falling to the ground. Hashira lost an arm and lying on the ground not moving.

The best way to solve the situation without some uber bs would be the arrival of several other hashira. Just go like "we won't wait for you demons to take another one of us from us!" and then obliterate the demon. Other than that ... Tanjiru was already using his shounen-power at full capacity, he should long have run out of energy. The wives are weaksauce, that has been established. Only Nezuko remains, but I don't see that happen.

Innosuke sawing off the sister's head was more brutal than it was depicted like, though, lol.


1) Just remembered, Uzui being a hand down with three wives means he can no longer ... you know...

Could you pls leave the pervy comments to me? Thx! (joking :P)

[neflight86]

*Possible medical explanations for a character surviving a grave wound*

(1) Just remembered, Uzui being a hand down with three wives means he can no longer ... you know...

That's the quality gotwoot commentary I come here for. :3


How the fuck will they survive this?

Inosuke's heart is destroyed.

Nothing has me more excited than the genuine 'how will they get out of this?'.


The presentation of time really sucks in this anime, lol.

Anime eternal has suffered from this. Unless characters canonically take turns doing things in sequence, there will always be an awkwardness, exacerbated by exposition said instead of read.

It really sank my gut to see Uzui beaten off screen, but it was already established he couldn't handle Gyutaro and the blood blades by himself without some backup, so it makes sense. Too bad he could absorb the impact with some of those flags he's been raising.

[MFauli]

[I]
Anime eternal has suffered from this. Unless characters canonically take turns doing things in sequence, there will always be an awkwardness, exacerbated by exposition said instead of read.

"Shounen time", as it's called, is okay. But in this episode. we saw Tanjiro still moving, while only the enemy was frozen. That's bs and really drives me mad. In the time that Tanjiro makes 3-4 steps, the demon could have squashed the wife's neck a hundred times.One muscle contraction is all it takes. Oh well.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 10

-----------------




Oh shit.. they went ahead and GARRRed it. I'll take that.

Headbutt was nicely telegraphed. Dumb demon, when Tanjiro raises his head, you've got only one thing coming, and it hurts.

What's not foreshadowed was Usui's Muscle Score. Sure, let's say he can read moves now - but he's still got poison in him. Forgetting the fact that stopping your heart kills your brain, restarting doesn't solve the problem.

"Sound Hashira" was never explained thus far. I assumed that locating things by sound or being quiet was a ninja perk. He's never been shown to be a musician, so backstory about him learning that as part of being "flashy" would have been a nice touch.

Kunai being the antidote wouldn't actually solve the problem. If it worked immediately then there's no need to stop your heart. If it worked slowly and you needed to buy time, then stopping your heart also stops antidote circulation. If playing dead was only to "process" the Muscle Score technique, then that's a huge gamble in hoping you don't get killed in the meanwhile.

Thunderclap Godlike-speed - cool. Not much to say besides the fact that Zenitsu is pretty much fully conscious for a while now. I hope they address this soon in the form of development - ie he no longer needs to unlock his subconscious to do this stuff.

Inosuke shifting his inner organs - okay. (lol at him hosing blood from his mask)

Good comedic effect from Suma to break the tension.

Blood explosion at the end - I thought it was out of place. Seemed like a throw-in thing to kill Uzui with.

[MFauli]

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh ...

Great action, great animation. But ... none of this was earned by the heroes. I don't feel like going into detail here, because some people here will scream "you just dont get it!", but ... nah. This situation that we got a cliffhanger on last week wasn't resolved in a good, satisfying manner.

Tanjiro having infinite energy to just keep fighting. Innosuke being able to shift his organs, uhuh. Zenitsu is the least bs here, I can accept that he had some self-destructive, last resort technique in his repertoire. Usui stopping his heart to counter the poison ... ok? So what if the demon had decided to slash up his body nonetheless?

Ignoring the deus ex machina bs, it was an enjoyable episode. But just plotwise, it was utter shit. There were several occasions where Nezuko could have woke up again and belieably help win the fight. But nah, let's just use her in some flashbacks/visions. Ugh.

Edit: And fuck these kunai. If they're THAT effective, every hashira, better every demon slayer should carry one of those. That was way too powerful. Just stick it into one of the strongest demons and a half-dead Tanjiro suddenly had a chance again? lol

[Buffalobiian]

My main issue with the action/characters (besides their fluctuating endurance) is that there is little to actually distinguish their perks/attacks.

Zenitsu's supposed to be the fastest, but aside from the occasional dash, the enemy is fighting against him in a similar manner to everyone else. Notice how Inosuke kept up with their actions here while Godspeed was still happening.

Inosuke's breathing lets him do... stuff... but his detection skills was shown to help him avoid damage. That hasn't meant he took less damage than everyone else in the fights.

Uzui's style seems more flashy than sound oriented.

Tanjiro is hard to pin down because he's the one who does a bit of everything, and if Sun Breathing is supposed to be the origin master breathing then you can argue that on occasion he should be as fast as Zenitsu etc.

Nezuko shouldn't wake up further for this fight, and I'm okay with that. She spent years gathering energy to be OP for a few moments. One character staying reasonable is better than none. I liked her flashback. It was funny.

[DarthEnderX]

Thunderclap Godlike-speed - cool. Not much to say besides the fact that Zenitsu is pretty much fully conscious for a while now. I hope they address this soon in the form of development - ie he no longer needs to unlock his subconscious to do this stuff.Yeah, it was one thing where he'd just do one big move while unconscious. But he's he's fighting entire battles and having full-on conversations while unconscious now, and that's fucking stupid.

[Ryllharu]

I mean...this episode felt like ufotable let their Fate team out of the backrooms and they just took the whole thing over.

There's some pretty characteristic UBW and HF film stuff going on here. Some of the sequences are right out of the Saber Alter/Berserker and Rider/Saber Alter fights. Big blood body explosion might as well be the grail exploding.

Then again, maybe that explains what is always going to happen when an Upper Level infused with the most blood Muzan can pack into them finally kicks the bucket. We've seen Muzan explode demon thralls remotely before.

And yes, Suma is best wife.

I'm kinda with MFauli on this one. They've lost suspension of disbelief here. We've seen what happens when they get the shit kicked out of them and need to recover for months, but Tanjiro exhausted himself completely at least three times. He shouldn't have been the one to do the killing blow. Zenitsu wasn't that beat up, and they have sorta established in the past how Inosuke could survive a torso stab. But I expected something like Inosuke standing in one spot, jagged swords held up in V-slicer mode to have Zenitsu push Daki's head across it. Uzui taking out the brother.

[DarthEnderX]

But I expected something like Inosuke standing in one spot, jagged swords held up in V-slicer mode to have Zenitsu push Daki's head across it.That would have been much better.

[MFauli]

I mean, when Tanjiro did the sunbreathing at the end, it looked like he was literally awakening super saiyan-powers. I'm glad they didn't go the full length there :/

Hopefully the series goes back to more reasonable story-telling. I mean, there really were plenty of good, exciting options to get the heroes out of the situation at the end of last episode. Other hashira appearing. Nezuko awakening again. The 3 wives actually doing something. Some new character appearing. Muzan appearing and for some reason stopping the fight. My favorite: the brother demon realizing how similar Tanjiro and Nezuko are to him and his sister and killing himself with some "this brother and sister have a better chance to overcome this than us. Good bye ..."-thinking. Heck, another chilling conclusion would have been if, GASP, some of the heroes actually died. Because, you know, it's that dangerous of a battle.Innosuke and Zenitsu dying here would have made some real impact and it's not like they've proven to be some essential necessity for the plot.

And so on. Go crazy with fanfic. Most alternatives would have been better than this. It's the antithesis to HXH's Gon vs Pitou-fight. Or any HXH-fight really. When you put the heroes in a situation that's just too hopeless to be won by them, you have two options as an author: 1) write a conclusion about how they're saved by someone else or 2) bullshit themselves out of it by sheer power, wherever that power is supposed to come from. Obviously, the former is the better, more satisfying option. And even if you choose 2), then there should be lasting consequences, but that's not gonna be the case here, I bet.

Honestly, it annoys me extra much, because of how great the fight and death of Rengoku was. Great fight, exciting power struggle, tragic but reasonable conclusion. The outcome felt satisfying, because it was what was possible at that point in the story. Today's episode of KnY rather reminds me of One Piece and Water 7 where they met and fought CP9, and out of nowhere Ruffy had this Gear 2nd-technique that was never mentioned before nor any training arc was shown. Bullshit like that never feels satisfying.

[Buffalobiian]

And yes, Suma is best wife.

Nah, she's the chonky funny little sister.

Makio has her moments but her stare is intense.

Hinatsuru is a little boring but hey that's perfection.

---------------------------------

The two ways to conclude this fight is to either GAR it or have another person Deus Ex it. Problem with GAR is that these guys are half dead so not that believable. Problem with Deus Ex is that it dilutes Uzui. Neither approach would be 100% satisfactory IMO.

[MFauli]

Nah, she's the chonky funny little sister.

Makio has her moments but her stare is intense.

Hinatsuru is a little boring but hey that's perfection.

---------------------------------

The two ways to conclude this fight is to either GAR it or have another person Deus Ex it. Problem with GAR is that these guys are half dead so not that believable. Problem with Deus Ex is that it dilutes Uzui. Neither approach would be 100% satisfactory IMO.

I'll take the bait, since you're so eager to have someone ask you: What's "GAR" mean?

[Buffalobiian]

I'll take the bait, since you're so eager to have someone ask you: What's "GAR" mean?

A brief internet search seems to come up with different things, with the most visible search results suggesting Gar to mean "Gay for", or an extremely attractive male character making you gay for them etc (with Gar being a typo, not dissimilar to "kek" I guess)

But that's not what I mean. I'm referring to manly, spirited "I'll summon my efforts from deep within to overcome these evil obstacles" phenomenon. Notable examples include Gurren Lagann. That type of development is what I'm referring to.

[Ryllharu]

Pretty sure GAR has always been the former. It was applied to Gurren Lagaan. Backward link of the two terms by conflating GL with GaoGaiGar that inspired it.

[Buffalobiian]

Pretty sure GAR has always been the former. It was applied to Gurren Lagaan. Backward link of the two terms by conflating GL with GaoGaiGar that inspired it.

I'm all for retconning it, especially if it actually has some logical sense instead of being a typo.

Typos becoming a meme shits me off in general.

[MFauli]

Typos becoming a meme shits me off in general.

I'm sorry ... wat.

[Buffalobiian]

Shits me off mean pisses me off.

Maybe it's just an Australian term.

"Wat" is just spelt incorrectly. That's fine. That's not what pisses me off.

[DarthEnderX]

TVTropes used to have a GAR page, but as they often do, they got rid of the fun slang term and split it up into a bunch of boring, clinically named subtropes.

[neflight86]

I always understood GAR as being the triumph of spirit and force of will over logic and physics. Really, most of what old school Ginax or Trigger has gone.

In the heat of the moment, most of the sloppy bounceback logic didn't phase me this episode because I was enjoying them winning. Buuuut, for sake of argument, some of these complaints can be sorta rationalized to a degree.


What's not foreshadowed was Usui's Muscle Score. Sure, let's say he can read moves now - but he's still got poison in him. Forgetting the fact that stopping your heart kills your brain, restarting doesn't solve the problem.

I figure the heart stop was a ploy/gamble to buy time to perform recovery breathing that can apparently neutralize poison- at least Tanjiro acted like it could at the end of the episode. Assuming he could start his hart back up to rejoin the fight, making Tanjiro not giving up and buying time crucial.


Edit: And fuck these kunai. If they're THAT effective, every hashira, better every demon slayer should carry one of those. That was way too powerful. Just stick it into one of the strongest demons and a half-dead Tanjiro suddenly had a chance again? lol

The way Tanjiro was talking, the wisteria kunai only seems to impair demon's regeneration, and his skull just got shook; i.e concussed. Even that only seemed to last for a few moments after it was removed. I think, going by these episodes, actually taking the time to stick them (demons) is the issue. It seems more efficient to go for the kill than to try and poison/debuff strong opponents by risking direct contact.

Nothing to do with your complaint, but has there been any mention of Demon's stamina, or limits thereof? It has always been posited that the demons are advantaged during long fights because their stamina is unlimited, but don't they have to eat to replenish their strength, or is it only to grow stronger? I remember they made a big deal of Nezuko sleeping as a substitute to flesh consumption, and the doctor demon subsisting on blood, so I was wondering if any demons ever do actually get tired after unleashing successive blood arts or the like?


Yeah, it was one thing where he'd just do one big move while unconscious. But he's he's fighting entire battles and having full-on conversations while unconscious now, and that's fucking stupid.

Haven't you ever heard of sleep talking???? If it wasn't so funny to think about, it would bother me, too.


I mean...this episode felt like ufotable let their Fate team out of the backrooms and they just took the whole thing over.

There's some pretty characteristic UBW and HF film stuff going on here. Some of the sequences are right out of the Saber Alter/Berserker and Rider/Saber Alter fights. Big blood body explosion might as well be the grail exploding.

Yep. Exactly. The spectacle still carries some great hype, though.

Don't get me wrong, there is still plenty to roll your eyes at (Innosuke intuiting those poison blades two episodes ago, dodging for his life, and declaring the mountain made him immune to poison now), but the good guys pulling through was entertaining as I could hope, and most folks rooting for the heroes will love it. This (ark) was fine entertainment, I think we can all agree.

[DarthEnderX]

11

---

I wonder if Nezuko's flames can cure what's killing the boss.

[MFauli]

The beginning of this episode was atrocious. They shouldn't have done the whole blood explosion-cliffhanger last week when Nezuko undid everything within the first 5 seconds of this epiosde :/ And way too much comedic relief during all that, too. Ugh. I still can't believe they have Innosuke survive being stabbed through the chest, literally. You know, heart or not, that's a fatal wound. At least show him suffer more.

Rest of the episode was alright, although I don't see the meaning in flashbacks like these. Yes, villains most of the time have a tragic past that lead them to be the way they are ... but what about it? It doesn't excusive their crimes in the present and it doesn't offer any special insight. Wasted time mostly. If there was anything that could be done to help them, like Tanjiro entering their soul and pulling them back to the human side, that would be something. But alas ...

Season over already, ugh. I assume the next season won't air this yeah, huh?

[Ryllharu]

Tanjiro again being a perfect saint, reconciling two siblings even on their last breaths.


I wonder if Nezuko's flames can cure what's killing the boss.

The beginning of this episode was atrocious. They shouldn't have done the whole blood explosion-cliffhanger last week when Nezuko undid everything within the first 5 seconds of this epiosde :/ And way too much comedic relief during all that, too.
If I remember the end of the first series, he has some super-cancer genetic illness, like the inverse of Muzan's mutation.

It's been established that Nezuko can burn her own blood, extended to demon blood, and now demon blood arts. So it sorta follows, but has a limitation. If his super-cancer is demon blood related, then maybe she can.

The comedy relief is what makes this a good series. It's not so far up its own ass with gravitas that it can humiliate its own heroes moments after they win.



Rest of the episode was alright, although I don't see the meaning in flashbacks like these. Yes, villains most of the time have a tragic past that lead them to be the way they are ... but what about it? It doesn't excusive their crimes in the present and it doesn't offer any special insight. Wasted time mostly. If there was anything that could be done to help them, like Tanjiro entering their soul and pulling them back to the human side, that would be something. But alas ...
It never is intended to excuse their crimes. We're not meant to hate the majority of the demons aside from Muzan and a few of the Upper rankers. Tanjiro always forgives them because they're meant to be pitied for what they've become. This arc should have reinforced that from both side of Nezuko's character, which is and has been the parallel this whole time.

Nezuko almost went feral with bloodlust. She almost hate human flesh when she did. This arc is a warning to what Nezuko might become if Tanjiro and the others don't always keep an eye on her. She's good yes, she has incredible, unforseen powers for a demon, yes. But she's still very much tempted to become one of Muzan's flock.

Gyutaro realized that Daki/Ume was only fucked up and brutal because he made her that way, and he tried to even take all the blame, and (apparently) whatever afterlife there is, was willing to let her before she reciprocated that loyalty that he always had for her.

[MFauli]

If I remember the end of the first series, he has some super-cancer genetic illness, like the inverse of Muzan's mutation.

It's been established that Nezuko can burn her own blood, extended to demon blood, and now demon blood arts. So it sorta follows, but has a limitation. If his super-cancer is demon blood related, then maybe she can.

And the reason for why she is so almighty is ....? Ugh. I mean, sure, "because she doesn't kill and eat people", but that's such a lame explanation. Feels rather random to see the things Nezuko can pull off just so.

[Ryllharu]

We don't know yet.

(significant edit up above, btw, since we posted in the same time window)

Muzan makes an absurd number of demons as he struts around Japan. He specifically went to go slaughter their family, but turned one instead. Maybe he's just trying literally everything to see what he can make with the randomness? Nezuko isn't that extreme, compared to a lot of others. She doesn't have control over literal time, space, momentum (fundamentals of physics!!!), invisibility, secondary transmissible mutation powers (spider family), etc.

She has physical body control, high regen (all upper ranks do), and a blood art that affects blood arts. She's pretty average when you look at it that way. Her abilities are actually just stereotypical mountain Oni from folklore, in case you hadn't noticed.

[MFauli]

The comedy relief is what makes this a good series. It's not so far up its own ass with gravitas that it can humiliate its own heroes moments after they win.

Comedic relief in the middle of a situation where it's unclear if character are gonna survive or not is ruining the whole atmosphere. Rather, it spoils that nobody's gonna die, because that wouldn't fit the comedy. "But it was obvious that nobody was going to die", no shit, Sherlock, but the heroes were still lying around with severe wounds and at least lead us to believe that something bad COULD happen. The instant a comedy face pops up, however, ruins that tension.

It's one of the worst things in Bleach, for example, an anime where even inmidst of tragic or life-threatening scenes, the makers would use shitty comedic relief. I hate that shit so much.

[Ryllharu]

Bleach does it badly, yes. But KnY does it well.

They time it specifically where it should be. Before something tense happens, and deflating the tension only once the situation has truly resolved to mark it as finally over. Like good horror movies do.

[Buffalobiian]

Nezuko is so sweet. It made the episode so nice to watch.

Zenitsu's awake.. lol.. well I'll just call it a necessary evil.

Tengen being talked down to felt weird but we're already told that he's not the most talented of them all so meh.

I totally forgot that Tamayo's plotline exists.

Seeing Master break composure over this victory is enough to assure me that this is a huge deal. Too bad it looks like he's about to die.

[MFauli]

Talking about "big deal": If I were Muzan, I'd seen all my upper class demons towards the hashira hq. They wouldn't stand a chance, would they. The biggest risk would the demons fighting themselves lol.

[DarthEnderX]

Suma's face when Nezuko cured Uzui. An artistic masterpiece.


You know, heart or not, that's a fatal wound.Well, no. If an attack doesn't hit a vital organ, it can easily be non-fatal.

[shinta|hikari]

If he moved his heart, no sense to not move everything vital elsewhere as well. It was supposed to be a chest-yet-flesh wound.

Time for snake-dood to retire or die and be replaced by boar's head.

[Buffalobiian]

I dismiss the whole thing as "just anime things", but to find the above intellectually acceptable (for lack of better words), you'd have to accept 2 things:

1) That Inosuke can move all his vital organs, and

2) That Inosuke had time to do so.


(1) is take-it-or-leave-it, not much to discuss there since it's BS anyway. (2) depends on presentation. Inosuke was clearly ambushed here and showed no resistance or evasion towards the sickle at all. To think that he moved his organs in response to this attack is a bit of an asspull. To me, something like "I locate my organs elsewhere at baseline for exactly these scenarios" or "I'm born with my heart in my abdomen" would at least be consistent.

What they could have done was have Inosuke's spidey-sense trigger just as the attack hit. At least then we can believe that he reacted to the hit, even if he didn't show any signs of dodging.

[shinta|hikari]

What they could have done was have Inosuke's spidey-sense trigger just as the attack hit. At least then we can believe that he reacted to the hit, even if he didn't show any signs of dodging.
They couldn't do that because it would reduce the sense of dread and hopelessness. We all felt the "how the fuck are they gonna survive this" feeling, so that succeeded.

I can suspend disbelief that Inosuke can move his innards faster than he can move his body since his body depends on external factors (footing, leverage, momentum, etc.) while his internals are an isolated system. If we accept the statement that he can move his organs at will, it is within reason he noticed the attack (but we didn't see it explicitly since he has a boar head on), but could only react by moving his organs around to "unimportant" areas in anticipation of a lethal blow.

[DarthEnderX]

"I locate my organs elsewhere at baseline for exactly these scenarios"That's what I assumed.

If you can rearrange your organs, why would you ever keep them in the default spot, where you know people will target them?

[MFauli]

I dismiss the whole thing as "just anime things", but to find the above intellectually acceptable (for lack of better words), you'd have to accept 2 things:

1) That Inosuke can move all his vital organs, and

2) That Inosuke had time to do so.


(1) is take-it-or-leave-it, not much to discuss there since it's BS anyway. (2) depends on presentation. Inosuke was clearly ambushed here and showed no resistance or evasion towards the sickle at all. To think that he moved his organs in response to this attack is a bit of an asspull. To me, something like "I locate my organs elsewhere at baseline for exactly these scenarios" or "I'm born with my heart in my abdomen" would at least be consistent.

What they could have done was have Inosuke's spidey-sense trigger just as the attack hit. At least then we can believe that he reacted to the hit, even if he didn't show any signs of dodging.

Thank you, that's exactly what annoyed me, too. If he's got time to move his organs .... he's got time to do other stuff, too!

[neflight86]

Good feels for the Uzui squad getting a retirement and no deaths.

Demon flashbacks would have worked ten times better interspersed or hinted at during the fight or build up portions. The single scene exposition dump was limp and ineffectual for unsympathetic characters who have already been defeated. None of those character traits were brought up or referenced during the fight, either, so another wasted opportunity. Only takeaway from the whole flashback was the introduction of the other upper rank demon.

Still an overall good episode, for the good parts. Snake hashira was entertaining, Nezuko piggy-back was cute, and Innosuke was bluster after all about the poison immunity- I liked that. A fine end to this arc, and apparently season. Will be back for more.

[DarthEnderX]

I just wanted to say...I hope Inosuke gets to keep the muscle mice.

[DarthEnderX]

New Arc!

01

---

Looong villain conference.

So 2 Hashira vs. 2 Uppers this time, eh.

[neflight86]

Good teasing, and I knew in my bones that one of the uppers would be a proper swordsman. Love hashira is already setting off death flags. Good to break up the main three boys for an arc or two; keeps things fresh.

[DarthEnderX]

Love hashira is already setting off death flags.Nah, the other one is clearly the expendable one.


Good to break up the main three boys for an arc or two; keeps things fresh.Also, FINALLY getting around to bringing back the last of the 5 kids set up in the exam arc.

[MFauli]

1.) Really curious how they're gonna defeat two upper rank when they couldn't defeat one forever.

2.) if that sword-upper rank has a past with Tanjiro and is defeated by "speech no jutsu", fuck that shit

3.) Now I want boobs-hashira to become Tanjiro's wife. Sounded like she'd choose whichever male hashira is the strongest, and if Tanjiro somehow ends up beating the number one upper rank, well ...

4.) those ugly smith masks really ruin that village for me. Why even is everyone wearing them there, nobody else usually goes there. Must be so uncomfortable.

[DarthEnderX]

2.) if that sword-upper rank has a past with Tanjiro and is defeated by "speech no jutsu", fuck that shitWas it implied that Upper 1 and the guy with the hanafuda earrings were the same guy? They looked and sounded similar, but I couldn't be sure.


4.) those ugly smith masks really ruin that village for me. Why even is everyone wearing them there, nobody else usually goes there. Must be so uncomfortable.Japanese cultural thing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyottoko

[MFauli]

Was it implied that Upper 1 and the guy with the hanafuda earrings were the same guy? They looked and sounded similar, but I couldn't be sure.

That's why I'm writing the above. Actually, I at first thought the upper 1 was Tanjiro's dad, lol.

[Buffalobiian]

I always assumed that the Biwa woman was one of the Upper Ranks (I assumed she was #2), but turns out she's not. I wonder if she's even in the top 12 at all since we never see her eyes.

So firstly what we know is that a dude who looked like Tanjiro (and is a charcoal-smith/seller person) has no idea who the earing-swordsman is. #1 Demon and the guy in the sword village share similar hairstyles. Not sure what it all means yet, but it seems that Tanjiro's family technique isn't based on genetics.

I'm glad that they brought up the issue with the sword being inadequate. Hopefully the swordsmith is going around trying to figure out why.

I didn't like some of the CGI in this episode - particularly some bits in the Infinity Castle that looked like skyscrapers. It looks like they got regular skylines and just tweaked them a bit. It looked quite unnatural.

[KrayZ33]

I didn't like some of the CGI in this episode - particularly some bits in the Infinity Castle that looked like skyscrapers. It looks like they got regular skylines and just tweaked them a bit. It looked quite unnatural.

Woot?

Not only do I understand what exactly you are refering to (even after rewatching it after reading it), nor do I understand what a more "natural" look would be like?


Welp.
In my opinion the first ~16:30 minutes were absolutely stellar in terms of animation, both quality wise and general looks.
I honestly can't remember seeing anything better - some things were equally good, but better? Not sure.
It wasn't repetitive - you got to feel that even this infinity castle has different "zones" yet at the same time you'd be lost at every corner - that's quite difficult to achieve imho.
The sound was amazing as well. From 1:36 - 3:00 gave me chills everywhere, and what came after that was just awesome.

Pretty sure that scene is reward worthy. It made the villain look and feel so untouchable without actually using anything but scenery.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm glad that they brought up the issue with the sword being inadequate. Hopefully the swordsmith is going around trying to figure out why.Dunno why they assume there's an issue with the swordmaking. High level demons just seem to be stronger than metal. Nothing you can really do about that.

Like, normally swords would break on boulders too, but Tanjiro was eventually able to cut a boulder with enough skill. So I'd say it's more of a skill issue.

[Buffalobiian]

Woot?

Not only do I understand what exactly you are refering to (even after rewatching it after reading it), nor do I understand what a more "natural" look would be like?

https://i.imgur.com/BhaDob1.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/nARoDJG.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/cvIMumG.jpg

The entire "Akaza arrives" segment is what I'm referring to. The whole thing looks like a city skyline with regular rectangles. The inn in Spirited Away managed to look the part, though that is less in scale and is also inhabited as opposed to this.


Dunno why they assume there's an issue with the swordmaking.

General sword-smith/pride mentality I guess. The elder is quite old, and Tanjiro's swordsmith is quite junior age-wise. From a craftsman's perspective I suppose it's most useful to think "how do I make this sword better" than say "the sword's fine, the user is the issue". If the sword does not fit the wielder, one could argue that the swordsmith didn't take that into account and thus didn't make the "perfect" sword for the user.

That said, Inosuke reshaped his sword with a rock so who knows how durable these swords are supposed to be. The concept of strengthenning swords with "breathing" isn't directly established in this show - though the idea that you can cut harder things with better technique is.

[MFauli]

Tbh I fond the whole demon city-sequence way too long and self-fellating. Like the animators were way too proud of it.

[neflight86]

Tbh I fond the whole demon city-sequence way too long and self-fellating. Like the animators were way too proud of it.

I'll take that in a heartbeat, since the animation is so gorgeous to begin with. Anime is all about that, in a perfect world.

[DarthEnderX]

Tbh I fond the whole demon city-sequence way too long and self-fellating. Like the animators were way too proud of it.It did seem long. It felt like the opening credit sequence to a movie.

[DarthEnderX]

02

---

Secret sword! My RPG gland swells!

[Buffalobiian]

That was a pretty cool way to reveal the "secret weapon" that was foreshadowed.

[neflight86]

It was a little dissonant to have the kid standing up to the hashira because he didn't want the doll to break (we can't match the ancient technology to repair it!), but immediately went drill sergeant and decided he could now fix it with willpower I guess, so it was okay for Tanjiro to break it.

Genetic Memories? I might as well be playing a Metal Gear game now.

Not a huge fan of Kimetsu's comedic boke routines, and there were more than usual this episode. The Karen crow was cute, though!

Still an okay episode, but a weaker Demon Slayer episode.

[MFauli]

"Genetic memories" felt like a massive cop out. That's the kind of cheap shit you introduce when your writing is incapable of telling a proper story and you don't know how to introduce certain story beats.

[DarthEnderX]

"Genetic memories" felt like a massive cop out. That's the kind of cheap shit you introduce when your writing is incapable of telling a proper story and you don't know how to introduce certain story beats.I'm okay with it if you establish it as a thing. But suddenly introducing it this far in does indeed feel like a copout.

I'm looking at you and your Haki over there, Oda!

[KrayZ33]

I'm okay with it if you establish it as a thing. But suddenly introducing it this far in does indeed feel like a copout.



For what?
Did this memory provide anything that wasn't explained or was difficult to explain or something else?
The doll itself with the earrings already tell us that there is a connection to Tanjiro, then there is Tanjiro's birthmark, which gets bigger when he does this Sun(? can't remember)-breathing of his. The hair - even the doll has the "mark" in some way. Then there was the Demon in episode 1 this season who lived for hundreds of years and has this same mark as well (+ another one on the lower left of his face from who knows where/how/what it means - probably a different guy or generation btw, because it's a different sword + a different voice actor...)

So obviously, there are connections established already and the memory didn't give us any more to work on imho.

I mean - okay, if we assume the demon and the swordsman (for reasons mentioned above) are not the same, I guess we got some new information out of it that would be "hard" to explain. But at the same time it's not like the information was necessary for something that wasn't already shown/told otherwise.

[DarthEnderX]

then there is Tanjiro's birthmark, which gets bigger when he does this Sun(? can't remember)-breathing of his.Isn't that mark a tattoo that he got over his original scar?


So obviously, there are connections established already and the memory didn't give us any more to work on imho.Not for us. But it's giving Tanjiro information he wouldn't otherwise have.

I mean, why not just put the info in the book he's reading?

[shinta|hikari]

I'm okay with the generational memory. It has more realism than breathing techniques, and also clearly shows how Tanjiro's ancestors learned from the Sengoku sun samurai.

[MFauli]

Ok, can we pls agree that generatonal memory is NOT any more realistic than breathing techniques? Thank you, LOL.

[KrayZ33]

Not for us. But it's giving Tanjiro information he wouldn't otherwise have.

I mean, why not just put the info in the book he's reading?

I'm not saying there aren't other ways.
I'm saying it's not a copout. (in what way is the author required to use that scene, he didn't have to at all - if he trusted the viewers more, they would probably get it without it)

As you mentioned yourself, it doesn't take much to get the information across. So for sure the author thought about how he wanted to do this and he did it "this" way. But it's not like he did do it "this" way, because he had no other way or couldn't think of anything.

Keep in mind that Tanjiro was mindreading, dream/trancewalking around in scenes he didn't know and talking to ghost and stuff ever since episode 1 or 2 in the first season.


Isn't that mark a tattoo that he got over his original scar?

I don't know what it is, but it expands and burns into a different shape when he does his super-breathing style his father once did when he danced outside in the snow.

[shinta|hikari]

Ok, can we pls agree that generatonal memory is NOT any more realistic than breathing techniques? Thank you, LOL.

Generational/Genetic memory actually has some theories on it IRL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_memory_(psychology)#:~:text=In%20psycholog y%2C%20genetic%20memory%20is,over%20long%20spans%2 0of%20time.

Breathing techniques IRL is for relaxation and meditation, not powering up.

[DarthEnderX]

Ok, can we pls agree that generatonal memory is NOT any more realistic than breathing techniques? Thank you, LOL.Are you suggesting Assassin's Creed isn't scientifically accurate!


I don't know what it is, but it expands and burns into a different shape when he does his super-breathing style his father once did when he danced outside in the snow.Hmm. I never noticed it.

[DarthEnderX]

03

---

"No no! I couldn't accept this amazing secret ancient sword!" Grinning all the while. Tanjiro is a true gamer.

[Buffalobiian]

03

---

"No no! I couldn't accept this amazing secret ancient sword!" Grinning all the while. Tanjiro is a true gamer.

Yeah his grin and cry betrays it all. It was pretty funny to watch. I don't remember Nezuko having interacted with the pink haired Hashira at all to form such admiration.

So "waki" means both armpits and sides? That can be confusing if I had to say... follow instructions..

Tanjiro not being able to smell that demon is kind of lore-breaking unless they explain this specifically. Smelling things is kind of his thing.

[MFauli]

The silly smith masks are really ruining this whole arc for me. Kinda. They look so both dumb and unpleasant, it's so off-putting to look at that design. Like, it reminds me of Popeye when he blows his smoke pipe. Really dumb. And because of that the sudden switch to "now serious" didn't work for me this episode.

Another upper rank who doesn't die when decapitated is kinda lame. Although I'm curious what his weakness is gonna be, considering even simultaneous multi-decapitating didn't work against him.

And then there's the vase upper rank, too. After not having killed an upper rank in over hundred years or so, I'm not sure how plausible it's gonna be for the Hashira to slay two of them at once now (I'm assuming they'll win ultimately).

Genya totally is a fake and twin or so of the original Genya, isn't he? The tooth either is either fake, re-grew by supernatural causes or means this is a different person.

[DarthEnderX]

New Upper's gimmick seems to be every time you kill him, he splits into individual emotions.

Like that Raven episode of Teen Titans.


And then there's the vase upper rank, too. After not having killed an upper rank in over hundred years or so, I'm not sure how plausible it's gonna be for the Hashira to slay two of them at once now (I'm assuming they'll win ultimately).I mean, they're 100% gonna kill all of them, like, this year. Because this is a bog standard shonen.

[neflight86]

They got nine more episodes to do it, then.

I assume the personality splitter only goes so far, and maybe it'll be a 'gets weaker with each division' setup.

If we can safely assume that uppers don't die from simple beheadings, that would explain why none of them have been killed in living (human) memory.

Nichirin buckshot? Excellent.

Now the mist hashira is also throwing up death flags by having character growth from Tanjori's good-guy schtik. I'm predicting both him and love hashira die to kill number 4, and Tanjro and the other survivor will have to tag team to kill number five in a moment of opportunity. Just putting my bets in now.

[KrayZ33]

Love(?) Hashira is still in town as well, right? Or did she leave last night.

[MFauli]

Smith Village Arc Episode 4:

I'm not feeling this battle yet. On one hand, the supposed upper rank-demon feels weak compared to the previous 2 we saw. On the other hand, everyone is sustaining way too much damage too quickly. All those deep wounds Tanjiro suffered from the talons, then the fatal (?) wounds the annoying guy suffered, and Nezuko also got heavy damage. It all feels rushed right now, like we're not even watching the real fight right now.

I'm also not a fan of "decapitating won't kill them anymore", it was a simple, effective rule so far.

I'm assuming the female Hashira will take the spotlight in this arc, together with seaweed Hashira.

[neflight86]

I'm assuming the female Hashira will take the spotlight in this arc, together with seaweed Hashira.

I figured hashiras will always do that from now on, since I expect them to be present during these battles.

This whole last two episodes is a low for Demon Slayer. The stakes and powers are too vague and obscure to create the tension a battle like this needs. That swordsmith kid would have been a decent addition to the battle area since he's the only side character to get development this arc (protecting him as stakes); but instead is a side-mission for the seaweed hashira who we find out has amnesia as a telegraph for some shocking twist later...

Tanjiro's battle with joy demon was quite a step down from his previous few main battles as it was weakly directed and, again, showed little imminent danger to Tanjiro. Daki was on the verge of killing him a couple times and that entire scene was much more visually interesting. Joy was a retread of the 'death by a thousand cuts' speed demon archetype and Tanjiro's method for faking him out to land a blow was awkward and didn't feel earned or impressive. Shrug.

Agreed that these four split emotion upper demons have been pretty unimpressive so far. Their attacks seem too gimmicky to be taken as a serious threat, suggesting their longevity comes from their hidden weak spot- a boring proposition.

I would argue that the only one keeping this battle somewhat interesting is the shotgun kid by being able to survive death blows by unknown means (demons getting a taste of a human who won't die when 'killed normally' is a fun twist) and is getting a few hits in. Plus his style of sword x gun is a welcome change of pace.

Love hashira took her sweet time getting ready to join the fight, but hopefully next episode can recapture the energy previous seasons had in the headliner fights!

[DarthEnderX]

On the other hand, everyone is sustaining way too much damage too quickly. All those deep wounds Tanjiro suffered from the talons, then the fatal (?) wounds the annoying guy suffered, and Nezuko also got heavy damage.
If Genya can regrow a tooth, I assume he has some kind of regeneration.


Tanjiro's battle with joy demon was quite a step down from his previous few main battles as it was weakly directed and, again, showed little imminent danger to Tanjiro.It's hard to pretend Tanjiro is fighting seriously when he's not even using his breathing techniques yet.

[Buffalobiian]

Genya can regrow a tooth, yet he's got a scar. Maybe he's got demon stuff implanted in him (but demon body parts are supposed to disintegrate once they truly die so I don't know). Or maybe it's something to do with whatever Wind Breathing is supposed to do given that he's the ?brother of the Wind Hashira.

[KrayZ33]

Overall the splitting-dude seems rather weak. He doesn't feel as ominous as the others.
Feels like a generic Final Fantasy enemy or something. Weird to describe.

The vase-demon kinda has a different feel to him. The way he devoured that smith was disgusting and thus scary AF.

[shinta|hikari]

I guarantee the splitting demon has more tricks up his many sleeves. It isn't Kimetsu if you don't feel the despair.

[MFauli]

I guarantee the splitting demon has more tricks up his many sleeves. It isn't Kimetsu if you don't feel the despair.

That's part of my criticism, though: Our heroes are already kinda fucked (Genya hit by deathblows, Tanjiro with many deep flesh wounds and electro shocks, Nezuko being ineffective) and yet there is no feeling of despair. Hence why I said it doesn't feel like the fight has really started.

If Tanjiro takes this long to truly get into fighting spirits, that's a bad sign.

[Buffalobiian]

It's hard to feel "They're screwed" right now when:

1) Tanjiro isn't giving his all because he's recovering (I'm supposing that's why he's not busting out moves)
2) The Hashira are nearby and no one is presumably going to die until they at least get involved.

Genya was the only one close to "dying", but we knew nothing about him so far so his death flags weren't up yet - then he goes and just Wolverines it up so he won't die until after at least a flashback explaining his whole deal.

I agree that the current demons rouse more curiosity than dread. Funnily enough it felt more uncomfortable watching the cowering demon with the lump on his head because I didn't know what to expect from him besides "Stronger than Daki".

[MFauli]

Episode 5:

Only 7 minutes in or so, but I must vent: I've never experienced such a lack of emotions on my side while watching a dramatic situation like this. These smith masks erase any seriousness. People are dying, murdered by gruesome, creepy monsters, but I'm closer to laughing my ass off than feeling sadness for them, because of how fucking dumb everyone's faces look.

This must be one of the worst design choices in all of anime/manga. It doesn't even make sense that they're wearing those masks in their village, like, do they NEVER take them off? That's bs.

Really, really bad design and it's ruining this arc so far.

Edit: The artwork-scene LOL. It looked like some comedy/parody.

Edit 2: And while the attack of Tanjiro's at the end looked cool, it was totally unearned compared to his finishing moves against earlier boss demons. Meh :/ Also more "inherited memories" bs.

[neflight86]

Episode 5:

Only 7 minutes in or so, but I must vent: I've never experienced such a lack of emotions on my side while watching a dramatic situation like this. These smith masks erase any seriousness. People are dying, murdered by gruesome, creepy monsters, but I'm closer to laughing my ass off than feeling sadness for them, because of how fucking dumb everyone's faces look.

You really can't look past that and see what else is on offer? It seems to evoke a negative response on an emotional level from you. Since you are pretty much alone in your distaste, I don't think any discussion on that will be fruitful. But we can always try!

It's a design choice recycled from a niche japanese cultural oddity; not really worth letting ruin your viewing experience further. Personally, I got used to it in the first episode of this arc- was that the entire village wears them your issue with it?



Edit 2: And while the attack of Tanjiro's at the end looked cool, it was totally unearned compared to his finishing moves against earlier boss demons. Meh :/ Also more "inherited memories" bs.

This whole arc feels somewhat slipshod compared to the previous ones. I believe that is due to weaker build up of the conflicts and the upper demons having less 'fame' to their misdeeds. This is essentially a surprise attack on a high value strategic target (swordsmith village) with impeccably poor timing because of reasons unbeknownst to us (yes, number 5 got intel on this place, but why just now?). We're not aware of how these demons have been tormenting humans for hundreds of years, so this is just a targeted strike, and purely tactical engagements have limited room for emotional payoff. The artsy demon gets a few evil points for his corpses in a jar, but it's too little, too late for big impact.

Tanjiro's super 'time to climax the fight' attack is kind of sudden, and it would bother me if I believed for a second that this battle was over from it alone. Nice that Nezuko decided to share her boom-blood with her brother's sword and sit the rest of this out, apparently, but the spectacle was fun.

I'm glad that the physical projectiles appear to be consistently poisoned; to not be would feel like a tactical oversight. Needles through the face looks painful, though. I wish the wind hashira would react more.

So Genya is also a demon rebel? Disappointing that there are more, but probably good in the long run from a storytelling perspective. I thought demons could sense each other or something, as they were always able to tell Nezuko was one of them (and question her) in the early arcs, I thought.

Steps in the right direction, but we're still not back to peak Demon Slayer yet.

[shinta|hikari]

Or maybe Genya has a demon breathing technique LOL.

[Buffalobiian]

Or maybe Genya has a demon breathing technique LOL.

That's an interesting thought. My initial thought was that the demon was taking him over..

Another thought I entertained was what Genya was conceived by a demon/human? Nezuko seems to be the first "demon that keeps their lust in check" so I doubt Genya would be like her. But if he has latent demon abilities then it'd make the most sense for him to be an offspring since transplanting body parts seems less likely (demon parts disappear on death). It could be that Genya has regenerative abilities, but using them makes him more demonic - and he chants Buddhist sultras to keep his mind calm.

I have some reservations about the bloody-sword since it's supposed to be exploding blood, not Damage-Over-Time burning blood but whatever.

Tanjiro not busting out some fire-breathing moves prior to this does seem off - if he wasn't recovering and incapable then surely things have been pretty dire for some time now.

[DarthEnderX]

This must be one of the worst design choices in all of anime/manga.Japanese people are probably fine with it. Since it's cultural.

[shinta|hikari]

I don't mind it at all. Gives the village and smiths some unique flair.

[Buffalobiian]

Sword Village Arc - Episode 6

-------------------

Hmm, so there are 5 demons. That was quite misleading, since the big crying dude split into 2 in front of our eyes. What must have happened was that the original demon became small-controlling-demon and big-slave-demon before sending the latter in, and the latter splits into 4.

As for the Wind Hashira brother - that guy killed a demon with speed before any evident training, but the mother wasn't beheaded and was dying in the sun so I don't know how that worked. It also looks like both kids when young (and the Hashira even now) has the "wide eyes of crazy" permanently even when they mean well. The Yandere eyes.

The Ji/Spear/Chinese Halberd being shoved through a tree and getting stuck looked weird.

The times that Tanjiro did a "fire strike", it was animated in the same pink that Nezuko's Exploding Blood Art rather than the flames we saw for Hinokami Kagura in episode 19. I'm not sure if that's deliberate, since his blade isn't on fire in between - though it's still red and presumably still covered with Nezuko's blood.


I don't mind it at all. Gives the village and smiths some unique flair.

Yeah, looks fine to me. It doesn't seem comically inappropriate.

[MFauli]

That's too much damage. I don't buy that Genya would be able to recover from that, especially not while under immediate attack.

[DarthEnderX]

I mean, demons can recover from that. If he just has full demon power for a limited time, then he would be able to as well.

Is this transformation just from his mom scratching him? Or did he do something else to get like this.


Also, Genya's motivation of "Only Hashira are allowed to speak to Hashira" is ridiculous. We see Hashira speaking to other people all the time.

[shinta|hikari]

I think "Only Hashira are allowed to speak to Hashira" basically means to be able to speak with them equally. Otherwise, you will get treated like how Hashira treat normal people all the time, like NPCs or slaves.

Demons won't die unless their heads are cut off. All other injuries are kinda meaningless.

[neflight86]

I thought he meant that only Hashiras are allowed to know where the others are or summon a meeting with them. His brother seems to be avoiding him, so this looks to be the only way he could 'force a conversation', is what I got from it.

Some good progress was made this episode, and the fight didn't feel as static with good some motion and rudimentary tactics. Really, that's all it takes!

Genya's sad backstory tried to run a race it could not win by him not having enough screen time or development prior to this arc to get the investment it needed to hit to its potential. It's really telling how try-hard the kimetsu tragic back stories can be when 'entire family gets mauled by the mother-turned-demon' can feel unwelcome and overly long (it wasn't, but it was). Genya wants to be a hashira- a promotion. Is ambition so uncommon in the edo era?

Genya, so far, is the Bakugo archetype done wrong by not taking the time to lay the proper groundwork to give some depth to the character; perhaps a luxury no longer affordable to a series a quick paced as this? They could have at least given him someone more dynamic to bounce off of... Tanjiro is a total wet blanket sis-con. Innouske should be much more entertaining to interact with if Genya survives this. Still very interested in how he has semi-demon powers- how long can they hold off telling?

*edit: I forgot to mention last week, but the Genya memes I've been seeing were on point with the shotgun: American Breathing: Second Amendment!

[shinta|hikari]

I would argue Bakugo is the Bakugo archetype done wrong. He is a hateful arrogant prick.

[MFauli]

Bakugo is shit. Anyone who likes him is a weird person.

[Buffalobiian]

Bakugo's problem is that he's not just abrasive, but actively bullies Deku. The interesting thing is that his high intelligence should actually help him realise this - yet his ego/emotions get the better of him despite that.

I do agree that Genya's stuff just came out of nowhere - but that goes for most of the Hashira-related stuff. That's partly why I didn't feel anything when Rengoku died. He was a nice Hashira who turned up and got fucked up saving people. It didn't help that it got condensed into a movie.

I felt more sympathetic towards Tengen. This may be partly due to his having enough screen time to let his character bond. Exploring his backstory before be was endangered helps. Potentially losing 3 hot wives is also a relatable loss, weirdly.

What I find unsatisfying is the lack of exposition behind the the Sound Breathing lineage. It's a big thing in this series (diluting of the original technique) and in martial arts stories in general. Yet Sound was just meant to exist and be presumably self-taught by a runaway ninja, and that's the last we've heard about it. I hope mist/love don't get the same treatment.

[neflight86]

I somehow doubt we'll get any worthwhile exploration of the breathing branches. Good point on Tengen being the actual outlier in hashiras getting proper development. The others have simply paled in comparison so far, and last season was really hype so that also helped.

As far as Bakugo comparison goes, I'm on the side of interpreting his... personality as being a victim of his own talent, success, and insecurity. This kid's backstory doesn't justify (or hasn't tried to justify yet) why he's abrasive to Tanjiro or why he grabbed the hair of the twins abusively after the selection. The story and his current personality don't add up. He longs for a connection to his brother and a chance to reconcile for a hurtful thing he said at a bad time; why does that make him an edgelord today when he was a pretty normal/nice kid supporting his family back in the day? That's my disconnect.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree that Genya doesn't really need to be so damn angry. He wasn't like that as a kid.

That said, reasons for him to be angry at Tanjiro would be:

1) broke his wrist at trials.
2) killed an Upper Rank before he did.
3) Did the above when he's outwardly nice, lacking conviction and not dominating.

I see where you're going with the Bakugo thing now - in that Bakugo's issues making him a prick made sense but Genya seems to be angry for the sake of having an angry character for Tanjiro to pacify rather than having a deeper reason that we can see.

[shinta|hikari]

I think unresolved trauma from Genya's childhood is reasonable enough an explanation for him to become an asshole. That's a very common real people are assholes too.

[MFauli]

Episode 7:

I don't get it. What was the point of spending several episodes on "weak" demons when they're now just fusing back into one? Just seems pointless and anti-climatic. Why create 3 weak versions first? Does he think he's a jrpg-boss? This whole battle has been a real let down after the magnificent arc before.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree that it doesn't make much sense, unless it's entirely involuntary. Presumably the "Fear" demon experienced fear and something triggered their combination. But they also started combined, so.. I don't know. His new Kanji says "monk" though so presumably he "unlocked" some form of enlightenment.

Pragmatically, he's just unlocking his final form for whatever reason.

Tengen's arc so far has felt way better, I agree.

[MFauli]

I don't know. His new Kanji says "monk" though so presumably he "unlocked" some form of enlightenment.

Isn't it the kanji for "hate", or which one do you mean? "hate" and "monk" are similar, but the first radical on the left is different, spirit radical for "hate", leader radical for "monk" (radical naming convention by how I learned their names).

[DarthEnderX]

What was the point of spending several episodes on "weak" demons when they're now just fusing back into one? Just seems pointless and anti-climatic. Why create 3 weak versions first? Does he think he's a jrpg-boss?You're asking why the badguy just doesn't start out the fight in his final form? Have you never shounened before?


His new Kanji says "monk" though so presumably he "unlocked" some form of enlightenment.CR has it subbed as "hate".

[MFauli]

You're asking why the badguy just doesn't start out the fight in his final form? Have you never shounened before?



I've watched the previous 2 arcs. Both the train-upper and the entertainment-upper (both sister and brother) were frighteningly strong from the beginning.

[Buffalobiian]

Isn't it the kanji for "hate", or which one do you mean? "hate" and "monk" are similar, but the first radical on the left is different, spirit radical for "hate", leader radical for "monk" (radical naming convention by how I learned their names).

You're right. I misread it.

[neflight86]

This arc is missing threat and menace from these upper demons. They are both being taken lightly right now to no consequence. Hatred is engaging in sophistry with Tanjiro while Vase Face is getting clowned by a regular human and has to verbally remind us that he could kill him easily if he really wanted to. What are these chunni battles?!?

I'm not sold on their power at all, and that makes this boring by Demon Slayer standards. Not to worry, though. Every shounen has one or two weak arcs, so I'm hopeful this can turn around next season... but I've given up on this being a worthwhile fight until a hashira dies.

Explanation of the absorption felt like filler, but the breathing scene was well done.

[Buffalobiian]

Explanation of the absorption felt like filler, but the breathing scene was well done.

The "I can't stick a blade through, but I can stick my head in" scene?

[DarthEnderX]

I feel like the guy from the last arc should have been #4 instead of #6. That way, these 2 would only be considered a greater threat because there's 2 of them.

[neflight86]

The "I can't stick a blade through, but I can stick my head in" scene?

The only thing that permeates seemed to be air; I don't think the kid got his head in.

[Buffalobiian]

The only thing that permeates seemed to be air; I don't think the kid got his head in.

True. It seems I really didn't watch this episode properly.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 8


--------------------------------------------------------

The end almost made it look/sound like the one handed twin brother survived and is the Hashira.
Kinda confusing to use inner monologue scenes with the same voice for both twins, while he was fighting and while the guy has a "breakthrough".

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 8


--------------------------------------------------------

The end almost made it look/sound like the one handed twin brother survived and is the Hashira.
Kinda confusing to use inner monologue scenes with the same voice for both twins, while he was fighting and while the guy has a "breakthrough".

Yeah, I thought they traded places at the beginning of the final monologue. I'm still slightly annoyed that Breathing technique pedigree is still being ignored (as in they won't explain how he learned Mist Breathing) but I think my expectations are slowly aligning now to the fact that it won't be consistently happening.

The whole "mark" thing is also inconsistent now. At first it looked like Tanjiro got it due to his use of First Breathing, but Muichiro has developed something "similar" through gaining his memory, guts, talent and resumably being a descendant of the First Swordsman - but he does not perform First Breathing as far as we know.

I'm also enjoying Kanroji's eyecandy a lot more in the OP/ED than I thought I would.

[DarthEnderX]

It's possible that "First Breathing" is not actually related to the specific style being used, and is more of an enhancement.

[KrayZ33]

The whole "mark" thing is also inconsistent now. At first it looked like Tanjiro got it due to his use of First Breathing, but Muichiro has developed something "similar" through gaining his memory, guts, talent and resumably being a descendant of the First Swordsman - but he does not perform First Breathing as far as we know.

I'm also enjoying Kanroji's eyecandy a lot more in the OP/ED than I thought I would.

Aren't they both descendants of the same family line?
Mist Hashira's father has the same eyes as Tanjiro and his crow also mentions that he is a direct descendant of the guy who invented the first breathing style.
Maybe the mark is related to just the bloodline. Or it's related to demon-slayers in general, considering all the breathing techniques are sub-techniques of the first one. Maybe it's a "I'm in the zone" thing.
They look a little different as well. Mist Hashira's is a bit more "flowy" and reminds me of clouds.

[Buffalobiian]

Mist Hashira was stated to be a direct descendant.

Tanjiro's flashback suggests that he is not blood related. Tanjiro's ancestors (Sumiyoshi) were rescued by the First Breathing dude, and in gratitude they asked if they could pass First Breathing's family name because he has no heir.

First Breather then says:
-no need, those who master their technique will end up "in the same place" anyway..
-he failed to protect what's important to him
-his name is worthless

I guess from rewatching that, it's he's actually saying that if you strive to get good / improve your swordsmanship/breathing technique, you'll eventually arrive back to the peak - which is what he discovered as First Breathing.

Also, despite the claim that he has no heir, perhaps he thought his offspring was dead when they were actually alive - thus Muichiro. That or the wife just lied to Muichiro so they'd train with her, and all he had was raw talent. If it's the latter, he's never had a chance to demonstrate it though, so they shouldn't know about that unless he IS from the line of swordsman.

[neflight86]

They missed a great opportunity to turn the whole backstory on its head and reveal at the end that the angry, bitter twin was the survivor and that would have better aligned with his starting personality of 'don't bother to help others'.

As it was, I'm starting to lean toward all of the breathings getting similar as they are mastered, or approach the first or perhaps one true sun breathing?

In hindsight, it is at least a little interesting that this Hashira is so green. He obviously hasn't been in a prominent position or life and death battles for long as evidenced by how easy he loses his cool from a little poison and trash mobs. Due to that, I'm willing to assume he's the weakest Hashira currently and that makes this clown battle a little more tense against the number 5 demon with his own brand of autism.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09

-----------------------






Well... looks like both these demons are going to get wiped by the Hashiras. Muichiro's story had nearly zero tension for me because I couldn't really guage the power of either party or feel that involved with them.

I could actually feel how screwed Tanjiro was against the dragon, but Kanroji is about to blast that thing away with a Magical Girl kind of flair.

Interestingly, Pots wasn't going to die from just being beheaded. He was regenerating. Dicing him was what ended up doing it.

[MFauli]

What a shit episode. Yes, Kanroji in action was nice, but that was only the very end.

These two demons are so lame and so are their fights. Muichiro doing his comic relief-face all the time ruined the last bit of tension. And Tanjiro fighting a 5-headed fantasy dragon is just too lol to be taken seriously.

This has been the worst arc of the series and I want to punch all the people that hyped it up as "the best season". wtf

[DarthEnderX]

I don't see how that guy was ranked higher than #6.

[neflight86]

Exactly. Vace got chunni'ed hard and it makes his rank a joke.

[shinta|hikari]

That fight just means Muichiro is stronger than Sound dood after his soul-finding, memory recovery, gene revival, and using his all to the point he can't move after the fight.

I think it was a struggle the whole time, even if it seemed to have ended as a surprise to the 5th ranker himself. If the demon decided to play it safe and prolong the fight, which is common sense for any demon vs human fight, Muichiro would be dead. The demon's arrogance killed him.

[neflight86]

The disconnect for me is that earlier in the series it was established that the top six had not been replaced (killed) for over 200 years or the like, each having killed multiple hashiras (I believe the Daki duo mentioned a 20+ count combined). These are all serious threats that mercilessly punish mistakes. The gap was that all current hashiras had in common that hey had already at some point killed a lower six, but none (obviously) had killed an upper. That context added to the desperation of the battle from last season. Muichiro can be an omega genius swordsman and win- but the degree of the victory just feels out of step with anyone else by an order of magnitude.

The tone and tenseness of these fights betray that setup. These battles should feel much heavier, even if there are no disfigurements or deaths. I never felt like Muichiro was at risk of dying after he got out of the water prison because the Vase guy didn't appear formidable in a fight; it was all tricks. Lighthearted antics ("You're a coward hiding in a tree!"... "No you!") struggle to find a place here. In the previous arc, the lighter/humorous tone worked so much better because it was sprinkled on the 'discovery phase' of the encounter of the Red Light District instead of during the fight itself. The same is can be said for the previous arcs. Trash talking and posturing is fine, but when it starts to sound like school yard name calling... the tone is undercut.

Bongo demon #2 isn't shaping up to be much more interesting; these gimmicks aren't hitting like the author wanted.

[shinta|hikari]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers. And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

[MFauli]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers. And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

shinta, but it felt like shit. That's the issue. You can try to explain things away all you want. What we saw wasn't exciting. It was disappointing.

[shinta|hikari]

Excitement is subjective. I was excited because I know that none of these guys would die from the start. Too many deaths already.

[neflight86]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers.

That's why those fights were hype and super entertaining, and even emotionally poignant to a degree. These enemies are not going to be easy to kill, supposedly, and the demon slayer corps is putting their best on the line to deal with them.


And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

I don't disagree with any of that. He probably is stronger than sound ninja was- he even mentioned him during his own fight as being one of the enigmatic hashiras that's more than they seem. My problem is I'm missing the struggle here which makes fights satisfying. If he made a slip up to get water prisoned and then freed by the selfless act of another, but reveals later he wasn't taking the fight seriously before, I don't process that as any appreciable tension. If that's to be taken at face value than the purpose of this whole fight is to job for Muichiro's capability- that's wasteful of an upper, storytelling wise. The whole fight was centered around a gimmik- get out of the water prison and win. That worked for Team 7 because there was a team dynamic and a clever plan to make it work against a stronger opponent. Here we get a stabbed kid breathing some bubbles in so Muichiro could cut smartly this time? I can't believe I'm comparing Naruto positively to this...

What purpose does this whole encounter serve if nothing seems dire and the character development is just delivered via exposition flashback? Did you think Vace had a chance of winning after the author bothered to remove Muichiro from the water prison? The full chunni 'I'm not even trying yet!" "Oh yeah? Neither was I!" is such a step down in fight direction.

He's strangely acting more like a protagonist than Tanjiro during this arc with character growth and secret revealing he's an overdog. I don't get it unless he's getting set up to be one-shot by an even higher ranked demon later which likely will fall flat because the groundwork hasn't been properly laid.


We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

That is my greatest hope to preserve the power structure, but somewhat open-ended from a story perspective. If any of the hashira can just be revealed to be that much better than what we've seen (why reveal one is weaker down the line?) as need be, there's not much point in grouping them together, or that feels like a mislead to the audience.

Honestly, discussing why these fights are not hitting properly (pardon the pun) is more fun than watching right now.

[MFauli]

Now that I thought about it, I just hope that ONE thing doesn't happen: Suddenly killing off Muchirou just for the shock effect.

I can kinda see it happen, after building him up, giving him a win against a supposedly super strong upper-demon. And then: Bam, off with his head, here comes the next upper-demon who is REALLY strong.

Hope it doesn't happen, though ...

[shinta|hikari]

@netflight - Muichiro was lying to himself or to the enemy when he said he was not taking it seriously. He considered he was already dead a few times, and he totally would've died if it weren't for external help. He was just bragging/cocky at the end (the killing blow) because he unlocked a bunch of unexpected powerups. Then he realized his actions took a toll on his body and he cannot fight anymore.

[KrayZ33]

Fish demon was pretty awful and boring. If this were a fight against a random no-name demon, I would have believed it. At no point did I go through the usual grotesque feeling/despair that strong demons usually have in this show.

The splitting-demon however is interesting, odd and unique - and the power reveal was properly done imo.


Worth noting - there was no background story for the demons this time around either, not that I would've wanted to hear it from the fish guy.

[DarthEnderX]

Worth noting - there was no background story for the demons this time around either, not that I would've wanted to hear it from the fish guy.Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares. :p

[Buffalobiian]

Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares. :p

LOL, facts!

The problem with Muichiro's fight was that it didn't feel like he was the strong one - it just felt like Vase was weak. The backstory conveyed that:

-he was a nice guy,
- that he was a descendant,
- and that he could chop up a demon with no training (and with no memory to show us how it was done).
- trained like mad due to his vengence.

The physical feats here were that:
- he escaped the water prison (though unimpressive since he got help),
- that he could dodge every attack afterwards
- cut 10'000 fish or whatever it was
- disappear with his mist attack and cut Vase's neck.

The impressiveness of the speed or technique hasn't really been conveyed through the anime/story. It's partly due to the fact that we're so used to seeing quick flurry of attacks in general that cutting up all these fish doesn't register as being impressive. It's another "amazingly quick sword", but seemingly nothing we haven't seen before. Logically yes, Muichiro's actions-per-minute was higher than anyone else's, but it didn't feel that way. Contrast this to every time Zenitsu busts out his move. He only does a few slashes, but it's amazing whenever he does it.

Muichiro's got a "oh, that's it?" response from me watching him. Maybe it's the lack of hype music or impressive visual effects. Kanroji got the hype music.

[MFauli]

Episode 10:

- yeah, sure, let's stuff this supposedly dramatic final fight with "funny" reaction faces. WTF ...
- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible? Nobody's demanding Aika-levels of panty shots ...

[DarthEnderX]

- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible?jfc man. Just google Kanroji hentai.

[Buffalobiian]

Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares. :p

This one got a "sympathetic" flashback! xD

I didn't quite like that Tanjiro's eardrums healed between last ep and this ep. That lack of continuity bothered me. Meanwhile, I did to back to check if Kanroji did in fact not have long socks during some flashback scenes, and indeed she did not.


- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible? Nobody's demanding Aika-levels of panty shots ...


jfc man. Just google Kanroji hentai.

To be fair, she was much more attractive in this episode than in any doujinshi that I had bothered to pay attention to. They even gave her the battle-damaged treatment and ripped her top button. The whole energy/VA/Poses/Music does it for me. Yuki Kajiura songs do that.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Tanjiro used his breathing techniques to heal himself, including his eardrums, at least to a usable state. I think all of them kinda have to have been doing that to survive the damage they keep taking.

[neflight86]

At the very least, that mechanic existing gives them a baseline healing factor we can use to keep fights more interesting and longer.

I'm glad they took a step away from having Kanroji's backstory be another forced tearjerker. Enough tragedy for now. She can just be a super strong, super cute kid who wants to put her full potential to use. It's refreshing that not every road to corps enrollment has to be paved by the blood of innocents and the breaking of humanity.

Next week's supposedly gonna be a 70 minute finale... I hope it wraps this one up quick and shifts into the next arc for most of it, because it looks like the death blow is nearby and dragging this fight out longer wouldn't do it any favors.

[MFauli]

My final prediction: Kanroji will die.

Why? Because she's literally the only character I'd feel shocked and sad about dying.

[Buffalobiian]

Why? Because she's literally the only character I'd feel shocked and sad about dying.

I'd feel sad about her dying.

Between her and Muichiro, she'd be the only one I'd feel sad about.

But she wouldn't be the only one overall. Tengen for example would have also been sad. It doesn't look like we'll see him again though. He's retired to the good life with his 3 wives.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm glad they took a step away from having Kanroji's backstory be another forced tearjerker.But that guy was mean to her!

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 11 (Swordsmith Village Arc Finale)

-------------------------










That was enjoyable.

The humor and tension reliever before dashing in with the sword across the field helped with making things light hearted in between tense moments.

I didn't see Nezuko's twist coming, nor Kanroji's "Oh no I'm going to die" outburst coming. The idea behind Upper 4th's power makes some sense in conjunction with his character of splitting things away from himself. The actual mechanics of it (why is drum guy the strongest and how he comes about, how many he can split etc) is still beyond me but that doesn't matter anymore.

If Muzan can share vision with his underlings then he should know where the Swordsmith village is now.

[MFauli]

It was an okay finale, but with an entire disappointing season before it, it could only do so much. Still, I must admit I shed a tear, funnily enough when Genya smiled, that somehow touched my heart :>

While I'm glad Nezuko is alive, there's just so much bs involved. Ohhhh, she happens to be immune to the sun, what a convenient coincidence. And what annoys me extra is that it was so unnecessary. She could have just ran into the forest to hide from the sun. Tanjiro should have been more careful and not immediately ran towards Nezuko. And the headless body was way too reslient to the sun. Too much bs.

Anyway. I hope they can nail the final season or movie or whatever they're gonna do.

My prediction for the finale:

- rematch against Kyoujuro's killer
- fire-breathing demon who looks like Tanjiro's father from behind will turn sides
- will fight Muzan together with Tanjiro

[DarthEnderX]

A satisfying conclusion, with an interesting development.

Muzan's motivations are perfectly clear, now that we know he's just Kars.

I wonder if Nezuko's sun immunity is at all tied to her refusal to drink human blood.

[neflight86]

They fooled me at first with the Nezuko flashback flagging her death, and I was impressed that they could possibly kill her off... Of course it was a fake out. The random retconned powerup was fairly eye rolling and ruined a good chance for a meaningful character death, but what annoys me most in hindsight is that this immunity would have been so easy to foreshadow at all and not make this so unsatisfying. Even a small mention of her blood mutating by doctor demon would have been enough. This reeks of an unplanned story change. I've heard the ending of the manga was rushed, and maybe this development was the beginning of it.

Either way, this does serve as a good paradigm shift and thrust some more urgency on the story, now that both sides have a defined goal.

Overall though, this was easily the weakest arc yet, and hopefully a low point for the entire series, because it really felt like it was just going through the motions for most of it. I wanna be hyped for Kimetsu again.

[DarthEnderX]

Don't understand the complaints about Nezuko's power. Every demon's powers are different. Resistance to a weakness could easily be one of them. And it almost singlehandedly gives purpose to the rest of the series.


what annoys me most in hindsight is that this immunity would have been so easy to foreshadow at all and not make this so unsatisfying. Even a small mention of her blood mutating by doctor demon would have been enough.But then the fake out wouldn't have worked. They obviously wanted you to think Nezuko could actually die.


I've heard the ending of the manga was rushed, and maybe this development was the beginning of it.That should have been obvious back when they introduced a 12 person boss squad, then right afterwards, deleted 4 of them. As if the writer went "Fuck it, I'm not writing all those characters."

[DarthEnderX]

I wonder if Tanjiro will be promoted to Hashira now that he's killed an Upper.

[Buffalobiian]

Nezuko's immunity feels fine to me, but trying to explain why less points in intelligence equates to immunity or other powers later may be challenging.

It's other inconsistencies that get me more than anything else. Like when Genya said that he's getting burned by Nezuko's Demon Art because he drank demon blood before. Nezuko's Blood Art was never specified as being anti-demon specifically though - it just burns.

edit: oooh, turns out in the spider arc it was mentioned that Nezuko's fire only burned the spider dude and his thread but it didn't touch Tanjiro at all. Interesting. I just thought she managed the AOE well.

[shinta|hikari]

It just seems like Nezuko is special because her sense of protection for loved ones exceeded her own sense of self. It's not like other demons can just copy it. It is special to her because she is that selfless.

[neflight86]

Don't understand the complaints about Nezuko's power. Every demon's powers are different. Resistance to a weakness could easily be one of them. And it almost singlehandedly gives purpose to the rest of the series.

But then the fake out wouldn't have worked. They obviously wanted you to think Nezuko could actually die.


I'm talking about a mention even back in s1 when visiting the doctor; just a little vague forshadowing of the possiblity Nezuko's basic rules could be different to make the fake out seem less manipulative.

Every demon dies in the sun. Nezuko looks like she is dying in the sun. Surprise; it doesn't work on her! Inconsistency in core mechanics when there is no foreshadowing or attempt at it makes what could be powerful moments arbitrary and... unsatisfying. Nezuko 'dying' isn't what's important in that scene; it's that both of them thought she would die and the sacrificial choice was made anyway. Simply cutting to a perfectly fine Nezuko next scene with no groundwork is akin to a 'psyche'! Cutting heads and sunlight are the two constants. Uppers bend the head rule to help distinguish them; fine. Breaking the sun rule should not have been done so lightly is my beef. I like the focus of objective it adds to the story, but that doesn't excuse the writing from feeling sloppy.

[shinta|hikari]

They could've even foreshadowed it in this season, not previous seasons, but they didn't.

[DarthEnderX]

Simply cutting to a perfectly fine Nezuko next scene with no groundwork is akin to a 'psyche'!That WAS a bit weird, that we didn't get to see the transfer from burning, to being fine. But again, I assume that was to make the fakeout land.

I would expect it was like she was all charred up, but then her burned skin would flake off and she'd be fine underneath.

At first, I thought she was just straight up cured. Till I noticed her eyes.

[Buffalobiian]

At first, I thought she was just straight up cured. Till I noticed her eyes.

I noticed her teeth first.

edit: Oh, and I seem to be running into a huge number of Demon Slayer spoilers this week, mainly on youtube and facebook. Dunno if it's the algorithm deciding that I like this (I don't), or whether it's just people deciding to just publish stuff. Either way it's annoying as hell.

[neflight86]

A friend of mine suggested that what could have been a cool twist is if the sunlight actually cured her as a result of her not having consumed human flesh for so long. That would have been a bittersweet mixture of getting her 'back' from certain death, but still 'costing' the group something (no more Nezuko fighting power).

[MFauli]

I mean, wouldn't the obvious solution have been to shrink down enough to hide witihn her clothing? Even smaller than usual, THAT was foreshadowed by literally fighting an upper demon who's the size of a gnome!

[Buffalobiian]

Next arc's adaptation confirmed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rq1tllAUS1I

[DarthEnderX]

Heh, I was thinking "lotta Hashira for one arc" then the title appeared and I was all, "Ah, that makes sense."

[Buffalobiian]

I went and counted, and if we include Rengoku, that's around 9 Hashiras that we have this generation. If they've all had to kill a 12 Kizuki to become one, and the upper 6 haven't been killed in recent years, then the lower 6 would have been killed nearly twice over now as part of the 9 Hashira's promotions.

[DarthEnderX]

Since they're making a whole arc out of Hashira training, I wonder if all 5 of the "new gen" characters(Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Genya and Kanao) are going to be participating.

Also just realized they never revealed to us what Genya's super sense was. Maybe it's taste? Because of the eating demons thing? Also, it's the only one left.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm not sure that Genya is Hashira-material enough to deserve a special sense. He is a level above pleb, and has a name plus a uniform that isn't default, but he felt pretty underwhelming. He tanked a lot, but he didn't look like he had the moves.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm not sure that Genya is Hashira-material enough to deserve a special sense.Well, he passed his test along with Tanjiro and Kanao. So I'm assuming they're thematically linked.


He tanked a lot, but he didn't look like he had the moves.Yeah, not having a breathing style impedes his ability to have interesting fights.

[DarthEnderX]

Has this started back up yet? Is it on a weird service this season?

[MFauli]

22 days until it starts.