Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[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

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-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 or dextrocardia, but it doesn't get him out of a traumatic pneumothorax.

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.

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(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

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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.

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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.

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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.