Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[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.