Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[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

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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 shit

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.

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?

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!