Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen 鬼滅の刃遊郭編

2022 winter | Episodes: 11 | Score: 8.7 (993362)

Updated every Sundays at 23:15 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Producers:Aniplex | Studio Mausu | Shueisha

Synopsis

The devastation of the Mugen Train incident still weighs heavily on the members of the Demon Slayer Corps. Despite being given time to recover, life must go on, as the wicked never sleep: a vicious demon is terrorizing the alluring women of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District. The Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, and his three wives are on the case. However, when he soon loses contact with his spouses, Tengen fears the worst and enlists the help of Tanjirou Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Inosuke Hashibira to infiltrate the district's most prominent houses and locate the depraved Upper Rank Demon. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Voice Actors

Shimono, Hiro

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu

Hanae, Natsuki

Kitou, Akari

Konishi, Katsuyuki

News

Reviews

CarbonRuiner
05/19/2024, 11:21 AM
If we put aside the super sexualization of ALL women. The ridiculous, bad, and old-fashioned depiction of All women appearing in this season. The ultra over the top sexualization of the main villain. (Don't get me wrong, a little here and there is okay, it's target demographic is clear, but you know, it rest credibility to the overall product and became even annoying). The lack of plot, and the nonsensical of the premise. The eternal main fight that goes on for more than half of the episodes. Tje bad pacing of the script and the constant cuts when the action reaches its climax. Zenitsuand his insufferable personality. The screaming for no reason. And many other little nuances. And we are left with impeccable action sequences. Monumental production values. Fantastic main villains in every way (until they nerf one of them and she becomes insufferable). The background of those villains. Absolutely perfect main combat (until they drag it out longer than it should be). Tanjiro, Inosuke and this time also Nezuko (obviating the super sexualization of her character). A great Pillar, Tengen (just forgetting his over the top personality and annoying sexism specially in the first episodes). We would get a pretty solid season that would have been perfect if we took out all the bad stuff (which is absurd to begins with and very easy to spot and known that shouldn't be there). And either, that the season lasted only seven episodes (like the previous one) or that it had a story to tell to fill the eleven episodes that make it up. But that isn't the case and it is what it is, so overall a 7 (should be a 6, but I do really like the villain(s) and their backstory even when it is predictable... so I gave it an extra point, but it is a 6+ to be fair).
Faepin
02/19/2022, 11:01 AM
The show and music were so insanely hyped that I was constantly flexing my arm creating time under tension. Insane way to build up my triceps. Opening and Ending by Aimer also goes crazy that I listened to it in the gym and hit a new PR. I was at my last breathe when I thought to myself "What would Rengoku do?", the next moment I found my legs pushed up on the leg press machine. Throughout the show, I was sweating from anticipation giving me a good cardio workout as well. Moments in the show made my jaw drop from the sheer astonishment and excitementI felt while experiencing such carefully curated and wonderful animation paired with top-notch orgasmic orchestra music. When I closed my mouth, I could feel my jawline getting sharper. Overall 10/10 season.
KageroPhantom
02/14/2022, 05:43 AM
It's a damn shame. A real damn shame that so many are looking to dislike this amazing series out of some sub-conscious spite they have toward plots that are simple, yet executed so well. The fact these reviews are popping up 4/10 or around that on feature page of this series, I truly believe people are doing their best to dislike a series they don't want to appreciate - whether that be due to popularity or their own selfish beliefs. The popularity and overall score people have given this season should say enough; forget what these hipsters believe, they're searching for reasons to dislike it. Thevery fact they've needed to think about the most insignificant things of the series to actually base their dislike and review off, is childish. The series is simple - kill the demons. Why does the series need to have plot twists, or abilities to see the past and future like AOT, to be considered great writing? Have we forgotten that some of the most enjoyable movies we've seen in cinemas has been a result of just simple, yet well executed story telling? It really angers me. The Entertainment Arc is FLASHY, the scenes are animated so well, the story-telling (yes, let me admit) GO BEYOND, I live for these tropes. I found myself rooting for the Slayer Corps so much yet I shed tears for both Ume and Gyotaru - if abandoning humanity and having it slap you back in the face as these Upper Ranks pass and realize over time with the series they've forgotten what it means to be human, I'm all for it. Everything about the series is really well executed and I love it. It's not confusing, it's not such a brain fart you need think about what has happened over the next week, you won't need to search up multiple YouTube videos as to explain how timeline A affected C which in turn set timeline B 50 years into the future where your old, future self comes back to explain why your second-cousin picking up a banana on this date altered the course of humanity and your present self to have visions where he'll die if he doesn't destroy humanity. Although simple, it's extremely impactful. This will always be a top 10 recommendation from me to anyone who asks for anime/manga suggestions. Set your heart ablaze and go beyond your limits! Absolutely amazing! 10/10
CodeBlazeFate
02/13/2022, 02:12 PM
*spoilers for Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen and Yuukaku-hen Kimetsu no Yaiba's ultimate downfall can be quickly surmised as an attitude problem. The series's lack of respect for its audience or characters, its incessantly speedy pacing between arcs, and its inane humor can all be boiled down to this singular, core problem. Its sheer lack of restraint can be felt from that attitude problem as well. What made Mugen Train function was its limitations which forced the series to straighten up and dial back in all the bullshit which made the first season largely intolerable. However, this second season, Yuukaku-hen slips back into some of these oldhabits while bringing brand new issues into the fray. Let's start with its attitude regarding the death of Rengoku: the Fire Hashira from Mugen Train. It's awful, absolutely appalling in its presentation. They desperately oversell the reverence everyone has for the man. First off, the first 3 minutes are an awkwardly presented recap of the Mugen Train finale to remind the audience of what they just watched: the dude dying and everyone crying. More importantly, they have the gall to shove his smiling visage amidst a heavenly backdrop onto damn near every scene people talk about him in. It happens so often that nothing gets to speak for itself; Kimetsu no Yaiba can basically be boiled down to those last 6 words. Then again, considering a quarter of the double-length first episode is about Tanjirou assuring Rengoku's teary-eyed kid brother and confronting a painfully obnoxious deadbeat "I lash out and shittalk but actually care for and cry over the dead" drunkard dad, this is not unexpected. Perhaps it's rude to point at Naruto as a shining example on how to tactfully handle the fallout of the death of someone close to its heroes, as it’s one of the Big 3 and it often gets used as a measuring stick for how bogus 2010s shounen are. However, it's hard not to look at a shounen that genuinely respects those who have fallen, how the characters take the time to explore their surroundings, shut down, and require the help of others to move along, without noticing why KnY failed. In Naruto, we get to process the grief of those most affected in an artful way, not once, but twice. In KnY, we get caricatures and obnoxious slow-mo Zack Snyder trailer shots. Well, we also get a 4 month time-skip amidst a training montage and more obnoxious in-your-face yelly humor because clearly SAO shouldn't be alone in horribly mangled time skips. Hell, we even get told how Zenitsu and Inosuke develop rather than having that unfold in front of us, just like with Kirito in Aincrad. Actually, to be fair to SAO, even it has more respect for Kirito and his supporting cast than KnY does for most of its characters. Hell, not once in the grieving process where Tanjirou struggles with a stomach wound, does Nezuko attempt to console him. Perhaps it's because she's barely a character --lower than most pokemon-- and more of an object to only be deployed when necessary for asspulls. Zenitsu might still be an insufferable, screaming simpcel who should have embraced his role as a straight-man to his wacky teammates by now, but at least that prick's a character. It would be funny how the series still treats its sole female companion to the heroes worse than most shounen like Naruto, Fairy Tail, or every Yugioh title if it didn't mean that the core sibling dynamic at the heart of the series wasn't shafted to such a puzzling degree. Hell, despite it being a major focus in the latter half, the most Nezuko plays into it after she's decommissioned in ep 7 is by appearing in Tanjirou's dreams. Can't let our trophy plot device sister have any actual agency, now can we? As for the new characters, to address some of them, let's look at the show's lack of restraint regarding character gimmicks. Much like its Drifters-tier screamy tone-killer humor, KnY goes overboard with giving characters gimmicks. Sure, sometimes a gimmick or quirk is needed for a character to stand out. However, the way they constantly shift up gimmicks for Inosuke is head-tilting, and Zenitsu speaks (or shouts) for himself. More importantly, Tengen Uzui aka the Sound Hashira would be way better if he were just the vain ladies man and beleagured chaperone leader to our trio rather than having this irritating and incessant "muh flashiness" gimmick that he never shuts the fuck up about. Hell, that’s how most of the Hashiras in S1 were introduced, so it’s no surprise the issue continues. Admittedly, he does get better the more we learn of him and how world-weary he is and why he values “flashiness” so much. Still, a nasty first impression and gimmick crammed down our throats makes him the hardest to stomach of all the Hashiras that have gotten substantial screen time so far despite him being the best new character of the season. The antagonists themselves are pretty whatever as well, not that Kimetsu has ever been good at handling its villains barring maybe Akaza. They’re hardly worth discussing beyond just being mean vain pretty bitch Daki, and shaggy ugly avenger brother Gyytarou. Their powers are interesting, they’re petty, vengeful pricks, moving on. In spite of everything, however, the season was proving to be tolerable once we transitioned from the heinous premiere to the start of the arc proper. The aforementioned issues were all there, but even returning problems weren’t as bad as they were in S1. Less of Zenitsu being insufferable, more time for Inosuke to be a badass despite his growth being skipped, and largely serviceable build-up. It was standard KnY fair, which while not good, is more akin to the more tolerable parts of S1 than the entire middle portion of that season. Then the middle of the season happened, and from there, the show went back down to the abyss. Perhaps the most agonizing aspect of KnY’s attitude and approach to storytelling remains its usage of flashbacks as a primary tool. Mugen Train did well to limit this approach, not extending it to either of its antagonists, and using it for Rengoku long before his death so the audience can get attached to him without his exploration being an obvious pace-breaker or red flag. This season, on the other hand, has regressed back to the spider arc from S1, where fights are constantly being interrupted to provide brand new information about our characters that could and should have been naturally presented to us before the first moment they’re immediately relevant to a fight or emotional beat. It’s fake and hollow in its execution and overuse, making the show come off as wholly ingenuine when, say, we learn more about Tengen’s wives in the scene where they tearfully reunite with him than we did in all of the previous episodes, combined. Hell, they get more screen time in this one scene than they had cumulatively in previous episodes as well, though given how insufferable and one-note they are when they’re on-screen from ep 5-onwards, that might be for the best. The show’s rapid-fire flashback spam only even remotely works occasionally like with Tengen in ep 8, and that’s because they do it so often that, like with blindly or haphazardly throwing darts at a dartboard, there’s gonna be a hit somewhere in the distance amidst the meter-away misses. Still, when they’re bad, they’re abysmal, and the fact that the series has the gall to give its antagonists another ridiculously over the top sad backstory AFTER ONE OF THEM HAS DIED AND THE OTHER IS SOON TO FOLLOW, is scalding to the senses. Another issue that rears its ugly head in the 2nd half is the asspulls. KnY is no stranger to them. S1 ep 19 had several back to back in the climax of the arc’s big fight scene before the start of ep 20 undoes all of that with yet another one that contradicts the very events of that iconic moment. Mugen Train pulled a final boss out of nowhere because we needed a final act and the previous antagonist of the arc had been slain. Kimetsu no Yaiba’s 2nd season combines the two, while reintegrating the idea of crafting asspulls via flashbacks. Let's not even discuss all of the death fake-outs with bullshit justifications that take place towards the last 3 episodes like this was a latter day Fairy Tail arc. Tanjirou constantly pushes past his limits like broken clavicles without any supernatural aide whatsoever for extended periods of time, Nezuko gets cool new powers out of nowhere without us ever showing her train or anything, and recovery breathing on top of stuff like Zenitsu being fully autonomous and capable when asleep are introduced this season, too! GEE, I BET THIS WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN REALLY COOL AND NOT AT ALL A BUNCH OF OUTTA NOWHERE ASSPULL BULLSHIT IF WE HADN’T SKIPPED 4 MONTHS OF TRAINING AND INSTEAD GOTTEN TO SEE THESE IDIOTS WORK FOR THEIR NEW POWERS, HUH?! The second half, where the bulk of the fights take place, is filled to the brim with such utter nonsense that at some point, especially if you’re binging, you sorta become numb to them until an episode ends. Sure, the fights are all lavishly animated barring some gross ass CG blood splatter, but goddamn are they littered with idiocy. Between all that and the extraneous monologuing characters do in split-second slow-mo intervals, it all just becomes white noise. It’s hard to be consistently livid here compared to the insulting nonsense of episodes 1 and 5. Only when they keep spamming images of Rengoku because “HE WAS COOL, RIGHT GUYS”, is the numb trance broken. There are a ton of other issues and nitpicks that are barely worth addressing. Tanjirou learning more lore about his dad’s techniques is cool but they’re not expanded upon organically. Despite the breakneck pacing of the first half and how we time skip past all the training that could’ve justified much of what went on this season, the latter half is a dragged out bunch of flight scenes with painfully stretched-out episode closers. Characters sometimes just decide not to finish each other off for no reason or randomly become stronger in earlier parts of a fight when they were supposedly less threatening. Some of this is all standard shounen issues taken to their logical extreme because Kimetsu no Yaiba has always been like this. Some of it is new issues for this season. At some point, we can’t drag this review out like the show drags its fights, because watching this show has become nothing short of exhausting! No battle shounen has ever been this exhausting, Jesus Fucking Christ! On the topic of those flashy brawls, the visuals this season are overall better than they were in S1. Haruo Sotozaki has largely proved himself as a very good director, with several outstanding shots and weighty fight sequences that despite the immense chaos and speed towards the final few episodes, can still be kept up with when things go wild. However, before we get into the merits of the visuals, there are some nits worth picking since there are frame rate issues and some of the CG (fire in ep 10) still can’t hold up so well. More importantly, there are several questionable shots like the janky camera motions when cutting up from someone’s screaming death, or the disquieting amount of scenes unnecessarily infected by speed lines. The premiere is easily the worst, however, as it seems like whoever the episode director was, really wanted to emulate Zack Snyder with all the stupid slow-mo trailer shots. Between that and some unintentionally silly shots of angry Muzan and Tanjirou, the presentation comes.off as very overblown at times. Plus, there’s an amusing number of moments where characters run in place when they’re clearly supposed to be moving. However, these faults can in no way outweigh the technical prowess on display. Sure, they often try to oversell sequences to dumb degrees (and the music doesn’t help matters), but the visuals are still better than they were in the first season. There are no extremely ugly CG backgrounds, and they play more with experimental visualizations like watercolor brush stroke style visuals for visualizing certain sounds in a location, or how the show tries to visually represent certain explanations like Tengen’s shinobi upbringing. It's clear that Haruo Sotozaki and his team want to give the show the reverence its popularity affords, with more dynamic swooping shots and interesting styles than ever before. Moreover, the fight scenes get more and more impressive as they go along, showcasing some insane sakuga that can compete with the Heaven’s Feel Movie trilogy at times. Episodes 5-10 are an almost nonstop cavalcade of fight scenes, and each one looks better than the last. Ufotable’s trademark in-house digital effects certainly add that extra bit of flair to the spectacular action sequences. After all, it helped paper over some of the maddeningly dire state of the writing in the latter half. If one didn’t mind all the utter nonsense on display (or if they just watched sakugabooru clips) then they’d find these sequences nothing short of pulse-pounding rather than mildly cool. Without exaggeration, the latter half of S2 might be their strongest TV production to date in spite of some hiccups, not that the first half is bad by any means. “Not bad by any means” can also largely be used to describe the soundtrack which was once again helmed by Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina. Unfortunately, this is certainly one of their weaker anime projects. Gone is any of the eeriness of some of S1’s tracks, and while the Marvel type orchestral tracks are fine, none of it is even remotely memorable. The OST serves the series well enough (barring that shitty dubstep piece in ep 5) and adding some light electronic elements to the mix isn’t a bad thing, but this is a bit of a step down from S1. There isn’t even an electrifying insert song like in S1 ep 19. If anything, Aimer’s OP “Zankyou Zanka” and ED “Asa ga Kuru” are picking up the pace a little, with some fun, energetic jazz pop for the former and a slower, more dramatic Kajiura type piece for the latter. The LiSA songs from S1, Mugen Train Movie, and even TV Mugen are overall preferable, but still, Kimetsu has never had a bad OP or ED and that continues even here. Kimetsu no Yaiba’s 2nd Season was nothing short of an overblown, ingenuine exercise in exhaustion. Everything bad about the first season has been kept and some of them have been amplified alongside new problems. Plus, season one at least had Shinobu and a fair number of ok episodes so that the experience wasn’t just misery like the middle portion of that 2-cour juggernaut was. The first half of this season was a mix of rushed, agonizing nonsense and some tolerable set-up, while the latter half is a nonstop barrage of asspulls, flashbacks, and fights that turn into noise as the eyes glaze over and the brain begs to shut down. The visuals are largely better than S1 and perhaps more interesting than ever. However, that alone cannot save this from being perhaps the worst full installment thus far, and the worst arc barring maybe the spider arc from S1….maybe. Sometimes you hear the take of ufotable carrying the series while the material itself is garbage, and there’s some merit to that claim. One might even wonder: had this gone to a lesser studio with a more modest batting average in terms of animation quality, would this be seen more akin to Fairy Tail or Boruto in terms of being the bottom of the battle shounen barrel. Such thinking is a tad malicious, as if whoever thinks so wishes the show got what it “deserved” rather than the royal treatment it has today. However, any good faith Mugen Train had built up after S1’s failings has been completely and utterly dashed. Worthwhile audiovisuals can only do so much to aid atrocious writing, but it's hard to deny that this show would not be as fondly remembered if not for the team it resonated with doing everything to make the most out of the material they more than likely love. Perhaps this abysmal battle shounen would be left to rot like a beheaded demon, and it would still see a sizable audience. Fairy Tail managed that before it became the shounen community’s punching bag, as did Hero Academia before the later seasons slipped up in production quality and started getting dogged on for it among other reasons. Alas, this is all speculation. What we have is what we have. Haruo Sotozaki and his team at ufotable should be proud, and if the legions of fans dazzled by the visuals and some of the show’s pathos cherish it as one of their favorites, good for them. Nothing can or should take that away from them. We are nearing the halfway point of Kimetsu no Yaiba's story, so before it chugs along to its 3rd season, let’s depart from this demon train peacefully.
aestx
02/13/2022, 02:01 PM
Honestly, this anime ended on my birthday so yea, but the art/animation is really clean I really like and the storyline is nice but I'll probably have to read the manga if I want to see what happens next. I like to say it was very nerve-racking watching this because half of them were on the brick of dying, but these side stories that were in anime show how things happen and make it understandable. So yea I never really write reviews but this ended on my birthday and it just feels special to write this review because it was good while watching it andI just wanted to. <3
IreliaOneTrick
02/13/2022, 01:54 PM
This review may contain spoilers Is this all it takes? My only question is that, can the author try something new? I've never seen a narrower imagination, I simply cannot fathom how can you be this lazy as an author, let's put every single garbage aspect of this show aside, and talk about the events only. First big arc of kimetsu no yaiba, demon slayers running after the supposedly moon-thingy demon, they kill him but... Wait... It actually wasn't him!!! He wasn't the main villan of this arc.. Damn, never saw that one coming. OK second big arc, demon corps fighting main villan of this arc andlet's Fucking GOOOOOO they murdered him, oh really? You're telling me he wasn't the main villan of this arc again? Dammit, the author can't possibly use this lazy ass scenario again, right? right? RIGHT? *WRONG* three arcs in a row, and im yet to see anything new. All the fight scenes look exactly the same, sometimes I feel like I'm staring into a void whilst looking at my screen during the fight scenes, it's to the point where I feel like they:re reusing old animations, I honestly wish they were, because it's not worth the sweat of the talented people working on this poop. I wish the author displayed any sort of imagination, it's almost like she doesn't actually need any imagination to succeed. Every single arc is the same thing, demon chads kill a demon, the demon "unexpectedly" loses, then they proceed to show us some melodramatic garbage that no human being could ever sympthize with past the first one, because, every single time, the demons back story is EXACTLY THE SAME. I wish the events or the writing were my most hated things about this show. the writing sometimes doesn't look like complete garbage in comparison with the characters here, every single character of this show is literally a one personality trait, MC is the kind, the yellow haired is the pussy, and the boar is the crazy, both the hashiras we've extensively interacted with so far are the perfect charismatic role models. I just can't with this show, I hate nagging but godam this is garbage. I honestly feel very generous just for giving this hot trash a "2"
Cyrose
02/13/2022, 11:23 AM
GOD-LIKE SEASON: The-hype ⚡ never-ends. Demon Slayer were famous for some of the most legendary episodes in Animes. From now on, they will referred to as one of the most Epic Series in the Anime History of All Times! Now, as this season has been ended, I've completed my full review on it. Even if you haven't seen the previous seasons before, you can still free to read it, as it doesn't contain any spoiler. Revel in; I wasn't expecting myself reviewing Kimetsu no Yaiba. Even though I liked the first season, I had mixed feelings about the concept of the show. Is it gonna berefreshing? Or is it gonna be the same over-used shounen again? Is it only the art style that will separate this show from the others? Speaking of the art, I also thought that the art was weird at first, instead of what it actually is. Which fact is also true for the previous question marks and describe this show as a whole; Completely breathtaking. 🌸 Story 7/10 Kimetsu no Yaiba is actually well-done, story-wise, as I've seen a few similarities between other anime. What made me forget those comparable/alike story/characteristics connection's etc. at some point is that this show managed to be different in almost every aspect. Showing us things from a new perspective, even though I can recall where I've seen "those" before, it was a actually new feeling, a new moment that I lived though the story of Kimetsu no Yaiba. That's what I really appreciated while watching this show. I felt that I could be a little kid again, as watching badass cool stuff happening in various styles in front of my eyes is the best thing ever. That's what shounen is all about: to be flashy, cool, action mixed somewhat deep story based show. That's my people, Kimetsu no Yaiba at it's finest. As of now, there's really nothing else needs to be discussed about the story as we are still in the middle of the third Arc. However I believe people who've already seen the first season knows where the story moves from it's delightful narrative. Which makes it clearly enjoyable, so the story gets a solid 7/10 from me. I am really excited as to what is about to come! 🔥 Characters/Dialogue 9/10 The characters. I mean, wow. Honestly, it's hard to find a better cast when it comes to it what Kimetsu no Yaiba has to offer. They're all lovely and likable characters who have their own goals and ambitions in the story. I like the synergy between the main trio, which is quite rare and unique on its own. I have to mention Inosuke since the "Mugen Ressa-hen Arc" is fairly growing on me. His moments are some of my favorites, alongside Zenitsu's funny and warm expressions. They really feel like a good team. 9/10. As of writing this review, I have noticed that most reviews are bringing up the dialogues negatively. I think there is nothing wrong with the dialogues. First and foremost, the characters don't talk in a way that younger audiences will find some difficulty in understanding. If they sound stupid, they are. If they sound out of place, they probably are. I can't see any problem with that whatsoever, because which shounen or animes in general hasn't had stupid or even meaningless dialogues? In Kimetsu no Yaiba, they don't talk much, but when they do, they are either funny as hell or emotional/serious. Because of this, I am always impressed by their VA's work which is always top-notch by the way. Either way, I might have missed something. Besides, it hasn't disrupted any of my enjoyment on the show. The conversations might not influence the story progression that much, but helps to keep maintain the act and carry us through one phase to another, like how every dialogue should be. Nothing more: straight and simple. 🌊 Art/Characters design 10/10 The art has to be the peak of this show as it is one of the parts that doesn't have to be discussed much. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the art sucked, but oh boy, I was very much mistaken. The anime's traditional Japanese art, and character designs are absolutely incredible. Whether it be a fighting scene or just a relaxing landscape, it was highly well-done, to the characters eyes and their customs. I have to highlight the demon's designs and the body structures in general. The male characters look handsome while the females are as womanly-shaped they can possibly be. There are no ecchi for the sake of ecchiness, in fact, there is zero unnecessary content in this show. They just look very attractive and hot. As for design, Daki is my personal favorite in this arc, but Douma is also gonna be sick as hell. Likewise "Charley's three angel" Suma, Makio and Hina the perfect incarnation of Inusuke, Zenitsu and Tanjiro's female version appearances is hilariously epic through the charm of Tengen-sama. Characters that we already known from before like Shinobu or the mains are also A-1. This season craftsmanship was the pure definition of love and care for anime, every scene and every detail was crafted with such care and passion. So the art gets the obvious 10/10. Absolutely incredible work by ufotable and credit to the creator as well! ⚡ Sound/Soundtrack 7/10 I believe Kaijura Yuki, one of my personal favorite composer, and her amazing touch really shows in this series in a similar fashion;If you familiar with her other works on~;Tsubsa Cronicles, Fate series, or Kara no Kyokai' ect. ~You can tell. She is an amazing talent and did an incredible job in Kimetsu no Yaiba as well. The same praise goes to all the openings and endings. The music is smooth and in harmony with the frames, making the fighting scenes more intense, the drama scenes more sorrowful, and the funny moments more hilarious. Nothing extreme, but a really catchy 7/10 for the tunes. 💥 Enjoyment 9/10 It's hard to describe the feels, what you're experiencing while watching marvelously epic fighting scenes bond perfect harmony with deep emotions. Just staring out of your physical body: Mesmerizing. While your chest filling tight, as it goes ample by the overload of emotionally various events. The way it's ready to tear you up, but you manage to hold it back, just barely in your throat where all the things rashly flowing together, you can't even swallow... -Yeah, this Arc is pretty much fire. ✍️ Conclusion Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of those rare shows that definitely deserves all the love it gets and its current main score as of writing this review, which is 8.60+. I must have to admit that I've slightly overlooked it's flaw's, as it doesn't really effected my overall enjoyment on the show. Even if the story isn't that brilliant or it has some inexplicable errors. Therefore, I can understand if you think this is nothing more than an average show or even if you think it's a masterpiece. Either way, we have to appreciate creations like this, because Kimetsu no Yaiba is undeniably a work of art in the 21st century. If it wasn't clear enough how happy and hyped I'm about this series then you probably think I'm just over my head. Maybe, but the truth is why I'm really happy about is that we finally have a real diamond in the shounen genre that will never be forgotten, neither gonna lose it's spotlight for a long period of time. ⭐ Overall 8.4 / My personal score: 9.4 Goated season. Highly recommended! Credit goes to AlexPaulLEWZ to editing and read proof my review! Thank you for reading!
TheAbzzz
02/13/2022, 09:55 AM
Carried by the animations. It is what it is. Story 2/10 In short, they go to a town, become women, "hunt" down the three wives and demons, fight and end it off with a "touching" ending. The flashback was somewhat decent to learn about but might need to take lessons from Black Clover (only real fans who don't skip fillers will know what I'm on about.) After episode 5, when the fight started, it started to get interesting and actually good compared to the first few episodes which, in my opinion, were a joke. Episode 1 took 45 minutes to introduce Tengen Uzui and talk about theirjourney to the new location to kill a demon. That's all there is. Art 6/10 A studio what some people refer to as the "unlimited budget studio" and are designing/animating certain episodes like it's a special or some kids show? Surely not. Almost every episode had a "budget-decreased funny face" where the eyes are just black balls and other elements which are hard to describe but some of you will know what I mean. Alas the fight scenes were really good and enjoyable. Probably the only good parts of the entire season. Sound 7/10 You can't go wrong with sound. It's nice to see that Tanjirou isn't screaming as much as he did in season 1. Character 2/10 There was no character development anywhere. Same as they were in season 1. Zenitsu is a different breed. Hopefully he gets killed off later. Enjoyment 4/10 Starting with the comedy: absolutely DRY. Are they trying to make a newborn laugh or what? The jokes they make are not even funny. They change the art style to look childish to fit the joke but they are only wasting their time and money. I'd rather count how many blades of grass there are on a large field. The fight scenes are what improved the enjoyment score from a 2 to a 4. Overall 4/10 The start was really slow and the funny faces just wasn't it chief. But it got better over time. I'd say to watch the first 3 episodes in 10x speed since barely anything happens.
Haru_Kobuchizawa
02/13/2022, 09:55 AM
Kimerdson II 2/10 It's the same review as the first season because it doesn't change anything. It's just animation. Villains are shit. the protagonist is a door and the only thing that works in this crap is Zenitsu and Inosuke. It's a generic battle shonen with slightly above average animation (Ufotable does better with Fate), there's nothing more than that, the script is crap and the dramatization is hilarious for being too bad. Worst of all is the fanbase forcing this shit like it's the best anime in the world because of some scenes with colored lights. Get out of the bubble and stop forcing this generic shonenlike divine animation because of colored lights. it gets to be very funny because the fans just force the animation of this shit, and there's nothing to talk about other "qualities".
Takoyucky69
02/13/2022, 09:28 AM
Several people tend to discredit Demon Slayer just because it is overrated, overhyped and has cringe moments. I'm not denying those. In my opinion, these statements reinforces the anime itself. Why, you may ask? People say it is overrated because of its animation. Well, I think this is the anime's strongest point. You have to be literally blind for you to not bask in Ufotable's prowess when it comes to animating every scene. It does excel in other areas, such as the music and score, where Aimer effortlessly delivers bops that I listen repeatedly. In a sense, I'm glad that people who say Demon Slayer isoverrated because they are complementing it. People say it is overhyped because those who have watched the series have excessively talked about it to others that it may have triggered close-minded people into thinking that this show is another generic shounen slugfest. Well, I think these types of people are just too preoccupied to the fact that every show/series/anime that becomes mainstream has a story and set of characters that are just basic. Which makes them feel superior when they negatively bash an anime that they haven't seen or completed yet. Which makes them inferior because they think they are the minority that have been challenging the majority, but in reality, these inferior beings are just clout chasers that talk shit about Demon Slayer, which I admittedly cannot conceive how they think like that. Their outspoken misgivings on Demon Slayer actually promotes the anime, making others see what the fuss is all about, thus ever increasing the viewership and, possibly, the Demon Slayer fanbase as well. Which I count as a win. People say that it has cringe moments because of its corny jokes during serious moments. Well, yes it does, in some times. But these are to help the story relax before and after the occurrence of intense action-packed set pieces and dramatic scenes. The way Zenitsu cries like a lil' bitch, the way Nezuko's eyes are just dots in her face, and the way Inosuke pig-headedly charges ahead are forms of comic relief to relieve the tension and buildup of the story. If you think otherwise, then okay, go laugh at Jimmy Kimmel jokes or something. Some people who cannot comprehend the sheer brilliance of this season and the anime in general might be butthurt AoT/FMAB fanboys and self-described "anime enthusiasts" who are acting high and mighty. Just kidding, people have subjective tastes and some may be too hard-headed to care about anything about Demon Slayer. But for those who genuinely do care, those who have followed the series since its inception, oh boy, you are in for an incredible and worthwhile ride. It may not be a masterpiece, but it is truly a masterful piece of modern art.
MonadProxyy
02/13/2022, 08:34 AM
Have you ever heard of demon slayer? Yes, that anime which everyone loves and calls a masterpiece, one that will be written down in the history as one of the best shonen's to have ever existed. Its for sure that its gonna happen but is demon slayer really worth it? Simple Answer, fuck no. This has been a complete down hill after it's first season which unfortunately also wasn't very pleasing to me. But. This is worse. All of the problems from last season continue, we get even more asspulls but the best episode now being one from this season, demon slayer is nothing but rottenfood that just sickens you. For one, it has the same generic, overused and absolutely garbage formula that not only makes a predictable story but one that has very little to enjoy about, no, no. I take that back! It has nothing to enjoy about! Its very frustrating watching a show that has no surprises for you and even the comedy makes you feel like drinking vomit! The comedy is basically: Character one: Chasing! Character 2: Screaming! Character 3: Screaming! Wow, the author somehow thought that's comedy, Yes! Screaming and running characters chased by more character doing the same thing is funny! Absolutely! That's hilarious! Who won't laugh? I mean, that's the funniest thing ever! The garbage, random and cringe dialogue make it worse. The repetitive cycle of this type of similar comedy (yes, they call that comedy) and it absolutely not improving is why this has to be the most unfunny thing I have ever seen in a (not dark, imagine thinking demon slayer is dark hahaha) shonen ever do. It's not hard to make good comedy, you have chainsaw man and jujutsu kaisen as an example. Despite both of them being shonen, they nail the comedy aspect! One might do it by bringing in perverted jokes or characters with funny goals instead of the "very" original and serious goal that Tanjiro has of saving her demon sister. Jokes are absolutely not perverted, none of them crack a funny or sex related joke. (this is something an interesting shonen does hehe) Not even once! The plot is set up to be either be fighting or unfunny and uninteresting characters who are doing random bullshit or on quests on hunting some fucking goddamn demon! One reason why the comedy also fails is that how the author made the characters. The characters and demons are supposed to be the same boring thing you have probably seen in every fucking old shonen. There is no good character development or there's none! Every fucking character, be it the main character, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Nezuko or even the Hashira's are super annoying. The character writing is also fucking hilariously bad. For Tanjiro, its because he is too kind (it makes him feel like every shonen protagonist) and keeps spitting random and unfunny stuff. Zenitsu is such a weakling and boring character, every time he is on screen he makes you vomit. He is a simp with nothing but this one trait of being a simp, his time on screen is either him fighting or him being a simp. Fucking whaaat?? Inosuke keeps shouting for no good reason. His character is very aggressive, making him an annoying retard. Nezuko does nothing aside from some fighting and she is not cute. Every hashira's is also very unfunny and keep speaking random bullshit. The art and animation may be the best part about demon slayer, for one the animation is done by ufotable a studio so top tier that every other shonen looks garbage in comparison, but I am not a fan of the animation style, its very flashy and the scenes aside from fighting aren't very pleasing to me. The character designs are also awful and I don't like them. The sound is like every shonen at least decent, the second seasons opening and ending theme wasn't bad but didn't feel as good as last seasons. The voice acting is amazing but its being put into a terrible show with ass dialogue where the voice actors need to shout or talk weirdly because that's how demon slayer's dialogues supposedly are. The fights apparently the best part about it are terrible, for episodes its like as: Demon Too strong. Heroes Can't win. Random Power Up. Monster Kill. This cycle is repeated to the point where its the formula of demon slayer. And this is one of the many reasons why demon slayer is one of the most boring anime to ever exist. I wish ufotable gave this kind of treatment to some good seinen manga such as Gantz hehe. (Joking, Joking, Gantz can never be adapted lol) To sum up the issues with Demon Slayer- -Them not to use much flashy colors -The comedy felt very forced to me, they could have cracked perverted jokes similar to csm -could have tried having more original plot twists unlike the same ones we have seen in other shonen -character writing needed more originality -dialogues felt cringe and out of place -very formulaic I understand that this might be a good anime for beginners but this is absolutely NOT a good show if you are looking for something more than bad jokes, great animated fights or a predictable story. Demon Slayer is unfortunately a terrible show which gets much undeserved love. If you are a beginner and want some actually good shows to watch, then try -Made In Abyss (s tier adventure) -Violet Evergarden (great drama) -Barakamon (God Tier sol) -Monster (peak mystery) -Odd Taxi (well written, solid mystery) -Samurai Champloo (fun, memorable) -Cowboy Bebop (fun, memorable) -Vinland Saga (good character, few issues related to character writing but most is fixed next season) -Mushishi (the god of sol) -Jujutsu Kaisen (a much better shonen than demon slayer) -Death Note (good mystery) -Kaguya sama (very funny) -Fate Series (great) -The Promised Neverland (obviously not season 2) -Bakuman (fun, inspiring) -Berserk (old version baka) -Hunter x Hunter (good shonen) -Houseki no Kuni (good characters, many issues in s1 but good) -Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (nicely tied plot) -re:zero (mind fuck)
CrimsonWanderer
02/13/2022, 07:50 AM
***THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS, AND MANY SPICY RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS*** Imagine being animated by Studio Ufotable, imagine being animated by the CG gods, the very same legends that crafted Fate/Zero, one of the best stunning anime ever made. And now, give them a new project that ain't a Type Moon Visual Novel adaptation or a lame video game adaptation, and what do you get? you get Kimetsu no Yaiba, one of the worst shounen I've ever had the displeasure of watching. But how could this anime be bad if it is being done by the amazing Ufotable Studio? Well, more than being Ufotable's fault,this is just evidence that the source material is awful. Kimetsu no Yaiba is an anime so bad, not even the top tier animation from Ufotable can save it from being a completely and irredeemable utter disaster. I really tried to like Demon Slayer, I really did, and while it's true that the visuals are good, they won't carry anything if everything else freaking blows ass. Do you like having headaches? Do you love when characters scream at each other for no good reason while they make the stupìdest faces trying to land an extremely bad joke? Do you enjoy having your eyes being completely obliterated by extremely over the top flashy visuals? Do you enjoy watching a fight extend itself aimlessly with characters outsmarting each other until the other end doesn't have any more tricks under their sleeve? Do you enjoy having random flashbacks of events that should have been told in cronological order being shown in the middle of a fight? do you like characters getting powerups through asspulls? do you enjoy looking at a little demon girl suddenly get a powerup where she grows to be a sexy thot that ends up being useless anyway? Do you enjoy same face syndrome? Do you enjoy listening to Aimer's voice while having Salsa and Merengue playing and absolutely ruining her vocals? Do you enjoy being spoonfed? Do you enjoy being stated the obvious by the character's thoughts? Do you enjoy plotholes? Do you enjoy petty plot devices? Do you enjoy being treated like a brain dead idiot? If the answer to anything above is yes, I suggest you go to the doctor, because there might be something wrong with you, there's no possible way someone can endure watching this turd of an arc and be okay with it. This Second Season of Demon Slayer is one of the worst battle shounen I have ever seen in my life, not only does the comedy get worse, the whole thing is almost unbearable, because every minute a character has to scream, every minute a character has to act like has some serious mental illness, every minute a character has to make noises or do something stupid because somehow Gotouge Koyoharu thought it would be a great idea to keep you entertained with stupid shit that actually exhaust you rather than amuse you, and while she's at it, she attempts to create action by insulting your intelligence. This arc is a single battle, ONLY 1 BATTLE THAT GOES THROUGH THE ENTIRE ARC. Don't get me wrong, there have been great battles in shounen that have gone through several episodes and have been great, but that's only if you know how to write action, never exhaust it and always come up with something creative that doesn't drown the viewer in a pestilence of more of the same shit, but Demon Slayer does not do action right at all, ever since the fight starts, the following things I'm going to describe, are the only things that have happened in the spawn of 9 episodes: Monster appear, hero fight, Monster succeeds, hero gets asspull, he gets power up, he succeed against monster, monster is not defeated, hero is surprised and tired, monster gets power up, reinforcements arrives, everyone gets power up, they clash, hero succeeds against monster, monster is not defeated, monster plays asspull, monster gets power up, monster obliterate heroes, heroes gets flashbacks, heroes gets asspulls, heroes gets powerups, heroes obliterate monster, heroes succeed... but they don't... IT WASN'T EVEN THE MONSTER'S FINAL FORM!!! Imagine writing such crap, give me a damn break, how are you able to create such a boring battle that instead of excite you, bores you to death due to how terribly formulaic and extended it is? This kind of format would work for 2 episodes, but 9? Imagine the fight beween Saber and Caster from Fate/Zero, each time Saber uses Excalibur, Caster gets a new form after being destroyed, now extend it for 10 episodes, how would you feel? like you were scammed? if the answer is yes, then how is Demon Slayer "action" going to be any worth it, if nothing valuable happens through all those episodes? That's the neat part, it's not worth it, it never was, and it will never be. Demon Slayer is absolute balls, braindead and 0% innovative and 100% amount of schleep. Ufotable, do yourself a favor, abandon Demon Slayer and embrace Type Moon forever and never ever attempt to adapt anything else, do not give shit manga godlike visuals, it won't save them from being an utter and complete failure. Oh boy, I'm tired, imagine being tired and bored after having watched 11 episodes of "action" and "comedy". Jesus Fucking Christ...
Natsuki_SanJuan
02/13/2022, 07:42 AM
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS** Oh boy… There are two sides of a coin if you’re talking about Kimetsu no Yaiba; - Either love and enjoy it for the animation. - Or dislike it for the bad characters, cringe comedy, and the poor storytelling Animation is one of the main factors of an anime. However, how can you enjoy the anime if the plot or the story is poor? This leaves these two words that wise men always said; “Does the animation triumph a mediocre writing?”. “Can you ignore one to enjoy most of them?”. One of the confusing parts of the anime community is that if a franchise reallysold well to the viewers, they will claim it a “masterpiece”. And Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of them. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc is the sequel to the first movie of the franchise. The fans massively loved it for the “great story”, “great characters”, and for the animation that always triumphs. Hard-core fans always love to jump into the hype train and easily claim it as the “new-gen anime” and “masterpiece anime of all time”. If you’re new to anime, you will absolutely love it. However, if you see most of the shounen animes, you might criticize them for the poor elements and plot inconsistencies. Before I discuss the pros and cons of anime, I have to say a few things about the hard-core stans. Read and understood first my review before you attack my profile. So here it comes… Pros 1.Animation The animation of this show is superb, as expected from Ufotable. The viewers have always praised this show because of the art of this anime. The combination of 2D and 3D animation makes the whole show move more fluid. The cinematography and fight choreography are always fire. But I think it’s always Ufotable’s forte of animating things. The direction was pretty handled well but I always want to see some of its fights under the daylight. The amazing flashy things are always seen under the moonlight but I guess it’s because the demons are active during the night. 2.Sound The BGM was always good to the ears, as expected from Yuki Kajiura. She blended the traditional Japanese music and the thrilling action sounds for the action sequences, which is so great. The OP was catchy and it’s my first time to appreciate Aimer’s voice. The ED was good but I prefer more the OP than the ED. Cons 1.Story/Pacing I will discuss this as a former fan of the manga. Ever since the ending of the Mugen Train, the next story arc followed this formula; There’s a demon invasion in a certain place, a hashira pillar will investigate it, the three characters will join the hashira, discover the world, find the demon, fight sequences, some flashbacks, and then boom! ending. I saw it many times in some story arcs in the manga and it was almost repetitive. In this anime adaptation, the pacing was slow and awful. The first episode of the anime that had 45 mins long, consisted of the epilogue of Mugen train, and the prologue of Entertainment District. The pacing of the anime was slow because of additional view scenes as a visual-feast. This arc from the manga had a nice pace but it seems the anime was just full of action sequences, in most of the episodes. No character developments were seen throughout the entire season. The useless monologues of Tanjiro were shallow and repetitive, in almost most of the story arcs. He just repeated himself that; “I can do it!”, “I have to break the neck!”, “Stand up! Stand up!”, etc. like the viewers might react, “We got you already, dude. You said that for the nth time already…”. The fact that they were always bringing his dead family, as his “motivation to fight” was utterly repetitive. 2.Comedy I get it that most of the shounen have comedy, except AOT and Tokyo Ghoul if I may remember. The comedy in this show awfully sucks. I don’t know if they are trying to kill the intense mood of the series or just comic relief. The scene where one of the wives of Usui helped Inosuke from fighting the demon and then one of his wives just pulled a joke because she was scared of death was frickin’ horrible. Even the other parts of the season weren’t great either. The comedy was 3x worse than FMAB’s and it absolutely cringed. 3.Characters I’ll keep this short and straight to the point. The characters are annoying as their finest. The entire season was just full of action sequences and no character development whatsoever, just like what I said earlier. The three main characters were just being them, and no development and progress. Tanjiro was always relying on and bringing back his dead family as a motivation for fighting the demon. And then after that part, boom! Powered up to the next level! Inosuke and Zenitsu were just a comic relief after all. Usui got a little bit of development but not enough to make him a great character. 4.Ass-pulls and Plot Armor This element made me why I absolutely dislike this show. I get it that most of the shows have these two but in this show, it was countless times and getting out of hand. It’s just they are not humans, more powerful than the villains. I mentioned that Tanjirou always brings back his dead family, right? That was one of the ass-pulls I’ve ever seen. Many horrible plot armors I’ve seen in this show like when Usui got his arm chopped but didn’t die of blood loss and was capable of moving faster, Inosuke could frickin shift his heart while he was stabbed in the chest, Inosuke was capable of catching up Zenitsu after that poison, Zenitsu capable of escaping the building, and Tanjiro being alive after those massive injuries. I mean, how the heck did they survive all of that? They are just humans, right? Try those for yourself, let’s see if you can survive all of that. Kimetsu no Yaiba isn’t a bad nor a great show. It’s because the hard-core fans are always claiming it as a masterpiece and flawless, which makes the show obviously bad. I really want to enjoy this show, but it seems it’s hard to turn your brain off while watching this. This show is obviously for entertainment only and visual-feast. Some animes have a high level of animation but the story was bad or generic like GoH, Takt. Op. Destiny, MHA, etc. However, I don’t seem to understand why fans don’t consider Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of them. But that’s just me and I don’t care for anybody else. So that’s it folks, my review for this season. I’ll give this a solid 4+ because of those plot inconsistencies. But I do admit that I somewhat enjoy this show and its direction. As an anime fan, who always seeks a great story over animation, I could give this a 3 or lower. But it seems I’m generous this time. As a wrap of this review, I’ll quote this statement for the massive fanbase of this show, “Most of the people understood why people love Kimetsu no Yaiba. It’s because of the animation. However, can the fanbase understand why most of the people are criticizing the show and calling it a mid?” Who knows? You might know the answer.
Spirit_Chaser
02/13/2022, 07:29 AM
I tried to be patient during the first season and the movie. Now Demon Slayer plagues me again with another season of little progression glossed over with pretty animation. Season 2 for the most part was a recycled and worse version of season 1 because it still has the same problems but made even worse. Season 2 never came close to topping the greatness of episode 19 in season 1, and the last episode was terribly disappointing. The most impressive animation scenes are the only hollow like enjoyment I could get out of this. I can't give it praise. At most it's a guilty pleasure.Giving poorly written and developed demon a flashback was a mistake. How about the author write a good villain instead of preying on the viewer's emotions and forcing them to care this way? I waited for Nezuko to grow and instead she is still mindless and lifeless from within the plot box. To make it worse, they gave her random abilities with no further explanations. Honestly, that box should have been smashed long ago during one of Tanjirou's fights. What is it made of? It can't be wood. What is Zenitsu? When are they going to explain and make sense of his odd battle abilities? He's a powerful character written with cheap and convenient restraints. When he's not asleep, he is still obnoxious and unfunny. What is this author thinking? Inosuke may have the personality of a rhino, but I can't deny his character has been the most entertaining with a great voice actor and spirit. Who is the master? Why should I care? Why should I care about anything in this series? if this is a series where you are looking for character growth, you are in the wrong series. Even when Tanjirou was teased at being a coward I felt something because at least his character was deviating and going somewhere else from the norm. Every character failed to grow from the first season. There is nothing meaningfully new I can add about Tanjiro this time. The fights continue to be bizarre. Now characters receiving mortal blows can shift their organs around to avoid getting killed? Explosives that can destroy upper ranks? How? Sure, the fights look nice. Still, I'd rather be moved by a compelling story with great characters rather than lifeless tropes and pretty flashing lights and CGI crows. I've explained much of my position on Demon Slayer in my past two reviews of the series, and feel no need to repeat most of those points that painfully still apply to this series. And what was that last episode? Almost nothing happens because once again I need the ultimate sad sob story shoved in my face to care again about poorly written characters. Even the execution of this is terrible. Badly written characters being redeemed by sad sob stories every single time is some of the worst writing I have ever seen. There are many characters still left in the dust. Shinobu got seconds of screen time once again. I can already feel how this might drag on for endless amounts of seasons. That's the weakness of Shonen anime: it drags on endlessly with mostly mediocre episodes with a hit rarely in between. They are dependent on animation rather than story and characters. The music and comedy went downhill from there also. You can say I am being harsh. Still, if you look at what has influenced me you'd see I've been given a ruler of very high standards by them. I know what I am looking for in a series and Demon Slayer failed time and time again. Now, if you enjoy this, that's fine. I am just stating an opinion. This series has gotten progressively worse. That's not to say it had it's moments. There were at least a few times I was entertained and shocked. Still, this painfully reminds me about the mediocrity of shonen anime.
V4Watcher
02/13/2022, 07:25 AM
WARNING: This review is gonna be FLASHY!!!! Without further ado, onto the review (I’ll mark from where the spoilers start, so don’t worry. Continue reading this with the same amount of confidence that Zenitsu gets when he starts sleeping.) What do you get when you mix an amazing plot and harmonious soundtrack with unreal animation? You get Demon Slayer. I believe I don’t have to explain how much hype there was for Season 2, and I can confidently say Ufotable delivered more than expected. The animation was a blessing for the eyes, containing some of the best battles animation has to offer. The fluid fights resonated withevery atom of my body, making it pump out that adrenaline faster than Muzan could get pissed at his demons. Hopefully even the haters can agree, the animation is straight up amazing. Huge thanks to Ufotable for making this gem. Now, onto the story…. A delicate yet wonderful mesh of emotional moments, humorous dialogues and stimulating fights, this Season is packed with beautifully animated scenes. One scene you’ll be bawling your eyes out, the next laughing uncontrollably, and the next cheering for whoever you like. Perfectly paced, it slowly prepares you for what’s coming next, then explodes your mind with more than what you expected. Every scene is interesting, and not a single moment is wasted. This is one of the few anime, where not even a single scene has bored me. Even the music, especially the OP song was really good. Our not so smooth (I’ll tear your guts out if you slightly piss me off) criminal Michael Jackson gets some screen time briefly too, so that’s a plus. Now about the characters (Spoilers start from here. So for those who haven’t watched it yet, go watch it after mentally preparing yourself for an amazing journey.) Tanjiro – We once again meet with our good boy Tanjiro. What’s not there to love about him? Someone deeply relatable to us; a human trying to find their way in the world while struggling to hold tight and not let go the few precious things he has left, his sister and his friends. I have no siblings of my own, yet I could still feel the strong bond between Tanjiro and Nezuko. His passion reached the heart of Rengoku’s father, and he wrote letters to Senjuro without losing touch with him. These two scenes were short, but their impact was immense. It goes to show how much Tanjiro cares about others. His attitude, where he keeps going even when things look bleak, and pushes himself to the max, pretty much inspired me too. He’s no Saitama, but that will never stop him from trying harder. Uzui Tengen – Has one of the funniest entrances I’ve seen so far. Calls himself God of Festivals, and when Inouske called himself God of Mountains, he found him weird lmao. Has a pretty interesting backstory, and knows the value of life. When in danger, prioritise your life first, that way you can survive to fight another day. Nezuko – New power up was sick. Plant Nezuko looked really nice, while baby Nezuko was adorable. Zenitsu – Speed hax. Love how during all the important fight scenes he was asleep. Inouske – Rearranging internal organs and dislocating joints to move like a worm; I wouldn’t be able to make abilities like this even if I was overdosed with sake. Daki and Gyutaro – Tanjiro and Nezuko but evil. Their synergy was great and both of them really put up a good fight till the end. Their backstory in the last episode really hit me in the feels. Michael Jackson – I gotta say he’s one of the coolest and cruellest villains I’ve seen. The way his overwhelming power was shown blew me away. Basically my summary of this is - An amazing series having a beautifully crafted story, animated down to the finest of details, with the right sprinkle of humour, emotion and action. Before I go, always remember- Set your hearts ablaze and be FLASHY! ;)
NextUniverse
02/13/2022, 07:20 AM
Finally. We have reached cinema. Acme. Apex. Kino. Peak. Pinnacle.Zenith. THE GOAT. Demon Slayer is the undisputed impeccable face of shounen. Everything about Demon Slayer is of ultimate quality. Despite the common horde of "criticism" the anime gets, Demon Slayer is the anime that has left a name for itself. It will be on countless top 10s, it will be the classic of the future, it will live as eternal memory in the anime timeline. Anime so good I can assure you Japan is never going back into recession with this goat's existence. But anyway, before I get into the actual review, I'd like to do some talk on the community as a whole with fiction such as Demon Slayer. It is clear to just about anyone who uses forums, reads reviews, or just chat with friends, will find that people will be on one of two sides. The first group will see any piece of animation ("art" works too) and call it the best thing in the world, the second will see said art and slander it by calling these works "overrated" and "overhyped" and literally any other words of criticism frowned upon via hidden reviewer rules as being lazy to use. I've explained this before in another review of mine, however, I am going to be on a different side this time, and if you couldn't already tell from my score, the anime captivated me enough such that I do believe Demon Slayer is a work of art worthy of all the praise in the world. But. I'd like to stress something, which I will do very soon. Sure, Demon Slayer is lucky and all. It managed to get in the hands of a nice studio. Though something about Demon Slayer is still very striking and very honest that regardless of what you may think of the writing side, you have to admit that it has some masterpiece or at the very minimum, *good* qualities. The story of Demon Slayer is nothing grand, but it is honest. Really, that is all that matters. Not just that it is honest, but it also goes to no lengths to stretch anything out into absurdity. It plays its cards nicely, doesn't overstay its welcome with any lopsided tactics in a desperate attempt to engage the audience, because it is already amazing in itself. I feel as if simplicity is often overlooked in media these days, something simple cannot somehow be appreciated equally as other more sophisticated titles out there. I'd argue against it for sure. It's even more concerning to know that many people will be very quick to call Demon Slayer "generic", and honestly, that is "true", but what the hell does that word even mean in an honest sense? Generic relative to what standard? Why is X considered generic and not just a plot device made to make the story go forward, because you know, plots need plot devices? When you say "generic", isn't that just a broad term taking in everything rather than looking at Demon Slayer as a shounen anime? Which it so happens to be one. People will throw around terms like the aforementioned but it is bizarre to me that it can be used so carefree in an anime that is also not trying to present itself in a genre with different motifs and themes running behind them irrelevant to the common ones seen in the genre it actually is inside of. It's unfortunate really that the story of this show will get overshadowed by standards it does not need to meet. But let's go over why the story isn't even bad in the first place rather than saying that it doesn't need to do X and Y. For this particular season, Demon Slayer focuses on the chapter on Uzui Tengen and the three musketeers infiltrating the Entertainment District in search of Uzui's wives. Nothing in this particular season stands out for what currently exists, and I would imagine that the quality would stay this way for future seasons to come for the anime (as well as from what I read, I can kinda confirm). But, as mentioned beforehand, this is all a very honest story. What we are met within this arc is none other than typical shounen tropes with exemplary performances attached to their name. There are multiple moments in this arc where characters would be pulled under situations where seemingly all hope is lost and countless lives are placed in peril. Doesn't sound like a lot, but for a story of its kind, with the amazing execution in art and writing, you can truly grasp the situation. It is like a "feels" effect but for shounen anime. The stakes are real here and the characters' emotions follow through with zero losses in the system. I wouldn't go around dismissing stuff like this as low-quality effortless works that exist simply to hold the story together. It seems to me that people are forgetting the target audience needs, or if you don't want to be cynical, they are not respecting the high-quality aspects usually found when evaluating anime as its kind. All unfortunate stuff, but it is understandable why one may think like that, but it also kinda strikes me as a little dishonest to say that the quality of these shows are some level of objectively (lol) bad because they are using tropes seen everywhere. As explained, it isn't as if Demon Slayer is being half-hearted with these tropes. Hell, our characters are not even in their endgame yet, they are also recalling vital memories of the past as a means to grow themselves into the ideal state they wish to become. The writing here doesn't suck, I'd vehemently disagree, and it would be nice if people could understand my perspective on the story as to why the writing isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Honestly, though, I will say one thing, and that is speed. I don't mean pacing is bad—issues exist there, however. What I mean is that you have moments of intense action followed up with talking that can last a little while long enough to take up more time than necessary. In an anime that is heavily focused on action and the likes, I see this as a distorted fit, something that doesn't work as well as people may hope it should. It's something I went over in another review (might as well check out all my reviews at this point), but being too critical of the matter isn't something I'd say is necessary. Sure, it is slow at times, but it should also come to clear notice as to how this is a TV anime, which has different fundamentals than compared to, let's say, a movie. You should expect to find that there are moments here that might kill the tension, but in this fault, there are consequences that follow up with something impressive, to say the least. Moments in this TV anime that have low retention to action isn't something that is consistent in the viewing experience. Only a few times does that even happen? Something that might as well be insufficient depending on who you are talking to, but it is something that I wanted to note. Even in this review basically praising Demon Slayer for just about every matter that has been drawn, the fault is still around these corners. Nothing too devastating though. Would imagine most would enjoy such. Most of the aforementioned is a stereotype enforced onto shounen anime anyway. A little bit about the pacing too. For the most part, it was liveable, most of the moments were correctly allocated to the correct episodes. One thing I didn't like however is how each episode would get cut short but some cliffhanger relative to each individual episode. It wasn't due to me disliking the tension being carried forward, rather, the abrupt endings to everything that was happening. I suppose that too is common in shounen anime, but it was something that I didn't find to be the most appealing in my viewing experience. Some decent closure in each episode would have been nice. Aside from all I have rambled on about. The writing aspect of Demon Slayer is generally underrated for the most part. Again, I will hands down admit that it isn't Evangelion or Tatami Galaxy or whatever kind of obscure pre-2010 avant-garde title you can throw at me. But I will be there fighting for this anime's side in its writing quality. No development? Literal training scenes. Nothing to draw attention to? Recollection of the past and everything that has happened thus far AND how that impacts the characters in the anime currently. It's boring? Subjectivity issue. I'd hope more people would recognise the story as something a little more than it is "generic". I could go on but I'd like to write some more down on other aspects. Demon Slayer often gets the cynical side of criticism very easily and I just wanted to relay something to support what it had going for itself. The characters of the story here are one of the best points here too. Following on from the Mugen Train arc, everyone here is still amidst the long journey they brought for themselves and it comes across as something that still will be something of a grand trek. Again, these characters are training, these characters are reflecting, these characters still have a lot on their shoulders. This isn't some rubbish out of nowhere. It was something of a well-crafted or at minima, something that had thought behind it. These guys are very easy to attach to with their goals set in stone, doing everything in their power to make sure that such becomes a reality. Tanjiro. The wholehearted wholesome guy. You can actually tell he cares about his job as a Demon Slayer, keeping up the morale and having the motivation required for him to truly fit the role of the main character of the story. The aspiration everyone would like to take the path of in bettering themselves. He is the embodiment of a world-class shounen character. Zenitsu and Inosuke. Here, they may seem the same as it was when this first aired, however, I do believe that they have changed for the better even if in minuscule segments. With all that training and lessons along the way, they take up their swords to strike down the enemy ahead of them in a way that was not like the past. I mean shoutout to Zenitsu for that exemplary commanding skill even in sleep. Nezuko. Doesn't really have the best development, which I would agree with. Although she isn't some dead weight (never really was), managed to improve herself and come to some terms that may be of future reference in the future arcs. Uzui. The flashing legend. Although he is no Rengoatku, the dude is still a loveable Hashira that has managed to sway the hearts of many as he did his three wives. He's not all fun and games though. Along with his flashy style, he has still had a past that is deep enough to make you understand that the guy has been through a lot already, it only stacks atop one another with stakes with episodes of this season. A solid cast of characters all around for this season really. Everyone had a role here and all were executed to masterful status. It is amazing how far they made the anime so enjoyable. Nothing here has led me to believe this is low quality or anything. Played their roles well and I would imagine most of the audience would agree. Now. The animation. No words can describe how amazing it was. Ufotable is truly pulling out mad ones and was not messing around this season. Literally, everything here was to some quality that doesn't come around every so often in such a very very very good way. Fluid animation, literally every sequence of frames was something of a magical experience. You could feel the literal action, the fights, the sword swings, whatever, they were all performed to such a high standard it is genuinely incredible. So much stuff got the detail it deserved, so many more stuff got the vibrant nature is dreaded for. Ufotable delivered, and that is all that was needed to make everything work. The thing is with art is that it is powerful enough to make people obscure thoughts that don't correlate to 100% of everything they are talking about. Happens with anything that has good art. Violet Evergarden, Your Name, Silent Voice, Solo Leveling, Ousama Ranking, the list goes on ad infinitum. But Demon Slayer's art and story worked well so much together that I don't believe it is something of a misinterpretation to say that the art here obscures the value of the anime. Sure, as pointed out, the faults are there. But there are glory points people seem to be forgetting as well. Demon Slayer is a lucky fiction to get the attention it has, but I will also stand by it and defend it where it should because people think the criticism it gets is something that is quite unfortunate, which it certainly is. I love this art and it helped out everything, yeah, but I also love the works beneath it. I am not so cynical to hate this for it being flashy. I mean, Uzui would love for it to be too. I used to be very myopic with Demon Slayer. I have to admit, I at one point in life, would not hesitate to say "oh, this anime bad!! it just got good animation, it's not actually **good**" but then I came to terms with myself and understood that not everything needs to have criticism in a way that may make an individual seem unique. It is really okay to love anime like Demon Slayer, it seems we have forgotten mutual respect out of the stuff like so that come out, but where the nail hits seem to be for big shounen. It's quite sad, people can have the opinions they want, but it is also disappointing that a distaste for real good shows that are indeed simple pieces of elaborate work exist out there. Nothing wrong with that, and that's all I need for a 10. ufotable has achieved cinema, and it is only going to be wild from thereon. I'll see you all in the next chapter.
In_human
02/13/2022, 07:18 AM
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FROM SEASON 1 and THE MOVIE** After a long wait Ufotable finally graces us with demon slayer's new season. Honestly speaking I wasn't that hyped about Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen). People often call this anime overrated, is it though? Let's discuss Story: 6 Well there are many points I can defend Demon Slayer on but one part on which not even it's hardcore fans can't debate is it's story. It has a pretty basic plot an MC who was a normal kid before but due to some unfortunate incidents he became a Demon Slayer. It's basically the sameplot we see in various action shounen anime, kinda generic though. Despite of that it does few things different from other shounen's though it's not enough to make it stand out a lot. So, I would give it a 6 in story. Art & Animation: 10 Even if you hate Demon Slayer you can't complain about it's animation. Ufotable took a below average art style to a whole new level. I often see many people watching Demon Slayer just because of it's animation. Ufotable actually did an amazing job adapting Demon Slayer especially the fight scenes looked really good and were a feast to our eyes. So, definitely a 10 in Art & Animation. Sound: 9 The Studio did a good job for hiring Aimer for the Opening & Ending sequences. It really was nice to see something new this time. Other than that the OST's used in the anime were quite good too. And the most important thing the VA performance, each and every character's voice acting was done so good it felt like those character were speaking themselves rather than a voice actor doing it specially of Gyuutarou. At that note I would give it a 9 in Sound. Character: 8 After the introduction of upper moons in mugen train movie. I was really interested to know about upper moons more. This season does just that for me. We get to explore more about new types of demons, upper moons & hashiras. Every character got a chance in this season, all of the characters had a decent amount of screen time and played important role in the development of story. Each character had a chance to shine whether it be in action or just supporting the story to progress. So, I would give it an 8 in character. Enjoyment: 9 Let's be honest here Animation & Sounds play an greater role in enjoyment from an anime compared to story. Though in the case of Demon Slayer the story is decent it doesn't bore you at the very least. It keeps you entertained. Meanwhile Animation and Sounds playing their own role in it. Overall speaking I enjoyed Demon Slayer a lot so I would give it a 8 in enjoyment. Overall: 8 Now let's talk about "Is Demon Slayer Overrated?" I would say it totally depends on the viewers of this anime. This anime was just made for new watchers who just came recently and haven't watched much anime. So, I would say it's a little overrated in my opinion. As you can see it has just a basic story and doesn't offers anything new. I would give it a 7.5 but as we can't actually give it that in MAL so let's go with 8 or 7 (however you like) In my opinion it's an 8.
Drokster
02/13/2022, 07:15 AM
What makes a good show? The pacing, the plot, the characters, the themes, the execution, the direction, the music, the voice actors, the animation. These are all common things people point to when defining what is and isn’t a good show, and for good reasons. They are criterias that allow individuals, each with their own unique perspective, to gain a better judgement at differentiating the good from the bad. However with so many factors contributing to the success of a show, it comes as no surprise for people to cherish these factors differently. ‘Demon Slayer is only good for its animation’ ‘Without ufotable, Demon Slayer would just beanother mid anime’ But does a show need to perfect every factor to be good? No it doesn’t, because what is crucial to the success of a story, to a show, is that there is the essence of life in it. All the factors I mentioned above serve a greater purpose in the big picture, to ultimately bring life to a show, and in my eyes, KnY as a whole has done a splendid job at creating a beautiful, immersive work of fiction despite its undeniable shortcomings. KnY embodies the definition of a Shounen Battle Anime. Be it the loud battle cries, the tragic backstories, the vulnerable and triumphant moments of the main characters, the series engages the audience emotionally. And like most other Battle Shounens, KnY is founded on a very simple premise and based itself on well established tropes. Its simplistic, straight forward approach at writing a story has garnered the series a lot of criticisms which is completely understandable, but at the same time, its simplicity is also its greatest strength. KnY never required a grandiose plot to engage the audience, its very simplicity allows the audience to instantaneously grasp and understand what is going on behind the screens. Its refusal to diverge from the usual Shounen tropes welcomed those already familiar with them to the fandom. Its straightforward narratives allow the audience to easily root and empathise with the characters and their actions. KnY’s simplicity makes it easy for anyone to pick up the show and be invested. While other series sought to make themselves more complex to be more interesting, KnY took an entirely different approach. Its decision to play by simplicity, and polished said simplicity ultimately paid off as it brought the series into the mainstream spotlight, a feat that few anime have accomplished. But enough about KnY as a whole, let's talk about S2 shall we. xxxxxxx Slight Spoilers Ahead! xxxxxxx Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen built upon the foundations laid by the original season and the Mugen Train movie. With what transpired in the films before, there is now greater weight, threat and overall sense of ominosity throughout the whole arc. There is also an overall improvement in the direction of which the series is headed. Unlike Season 1 which felt episodic in the beginning , Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen knew where it was headed by setting up an end goal - To resolve the mysterious disappearances in the Yoshiwara Entertainment District. Though the pacing was a bit off at the beginning, the show soon found its footing and was relatively consistent throughout. In Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen, ufotable once again proves why they are one of the best animation studios in Japan (If we were to ignore their questionable work practises). After the heart warming display of familial love in Season 1 episode 19, and the tear jerking events that transpired in Mugen Train, expectations were high in terms of sheer quality of production for Season 2. Somehow, even with such high expectations, ufotable transcended and produced something way beyond my imagination. Animation quality is no doubt a huge determining factor for the audience’s enjoyment of the show, and with consistently better animation with each episode release, it is no wonder why there was so much discussion and hype surrounding the show during its air time. The fluidity, the dynamic camera angles, the consistent character model, the colour palette, the bland of CGI and hand drawn animations worked harmoniously together, climaxing in a spectacle of battles in Episode 9 and Episode 10, with what I regard as one of ufotable’s best works, right next to the Heaven’s Feels trilogy. But the quality doesn’t stop there. Hats off to the sound composers of the show, because the OSTs are absolutely epic. Whether it’s the character themes or just ambient music in the background, it brings so much life to the world of KnY, that you can’t help but be engrossed with whatever that is happening on your screen. They further captured the feeling of an ‘Epic’ through the amazing voice works done by each of the respective voice actors. The battle cries are so raw that it reaches to your soul, that you have no choice but to suspend your disbelief and appreciate the art form before you. The staff working at ufotable really out did themselves with the execution of the show. Now about the characters in the show, Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen introduced a new flamboyant mentor for the trio and a fantastic villain to match, which brought greater life to the show than anticipated. Uzui Tengen was a great addition to the show, bringing a much needed contrast to the personalities already present in the show. He screams pride, radiates arrogance but ultimately possesses a good character. On the surface, he seems to be the total opposite of the humble and diligent Tanjiro, the quirky and cowardly Zenitsu, the rash and confident Inosuke. Yet, their chemistry together makes so much sense. Why? Because they all share an underlying desire to protect, an underlying anger against those that do others wrong. And it is with this commonality that they found solitude with the Demon Slayer Corps in the first place. The villain of this season was also surprisingly well written, with great parallels being drawn between the villain and the protagonist, which makes the conflict ever so personal and meaningful to the main characters and to the audience. Though I admit that the characters in KnY are more towards the flat side, showcasing only 1 distinct character trait and hardly ever deviating away from it, the characters are somehow brought to life with the combination of well written character histories and amazing voice works. One must also understand that these characters are simplistically written to suit the simplistic theme of the show - the importance of bonds, the importance of life. Because in the world of KnY, becoming a demon is to reject the essential fragility of human life, to lose oneself despite not being born evil. It is a reminder that the easiest route is not necessarily the correct path to walk, a reminder to all of us to appreciate and cherish the things we already have in life - our friends, our family. It is cliche but KnY is unapologetically shounen and preaches virtues through the eyes and words of the main character Tanjiro. It can be campy, and to some even annoying, but to me these characters are endearing, because these virtues undoubtedly hold true in the real world. KnY does indeed have all the negatives that critiques point out. The ass-pulling, the exposition dumping, the long internal monologue. But whether you like it or not, KnY is currently a pillar in the anime world and will continue to be one as time progresses. It’s decision to stay simple, to stay true to itself is the reason for its overall success in becoming a great show even if it didn’t perfect all the factors. 9/10 Thanks for reading :)
noob2121
02/13/2022, 07:13 AM
Contains some mild spoilers. "Demon Slayer is carried by its animation" A common take that haters of this show love to spew, but how true is it actually? Demon Slayer S2 picks up immediately where the movie leaves off with the main trio and now the sound hashira going to the "entertainment district" to kill a demon residing there. It introduces us to the new Sound Hashira, and also new villains, in the form of a pair of brother-sister demons. It goes without saying that Demon Slayer's fight scenes look spectacular, i dont think i need to spend much time praising the visuals or itschoreography. When people talk about or hype up Demon Slayer, this is the first thing that comes to mind. While Demon Slayer may not be Ufotable's best work (that goes to Heaven's Feel in my opinion), it does not change the fact that it is still undeniably one of the most well-animated shows in the medium. The score is by the renowned Yuki Kajiura, and its decent. It compliments the animation and the fights well. It hits when it matters, nothing much else to say about it. The Aimer OP and ED, while they are very nice songs to listen to, do not really fit the dark, gritty tone that the show was trying to adopt, especially towards the latter half of the season, but i dont think this means a lot in the grand scheme of things so i wont dwell too long on it. Now onto the less amazing parts of Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer's character writing is very polarising. Tanjiro, probably the most interesting character, is an altruistic, selfless empath. He never fails to see the good in even the worst of demons. He is a nice guy at heart, and easy to get behind which makes for a likeable protagonist, but not necessarily the most interesting to watch. Zenitsu and Inosuke on the other hand, represent running gags that the show has. Inosuke is aggressive, hot-headed and short-tempered, while Zenitsu is a simp. Most of their dialogue and personality revolve around this one trait that they have. While fans may find them to be funny and great comic relief, I am certainly not one of them. The 2 new antagonists have a somewhat endearing sibling relationship, but we are spoon-fed their backstory just as they are about to die. It comes off as if they are forcing us to feel sad for characters that we would otherwise not care about. Because, before the backstory, i saw the 2 villains as one-note, blank slate villains which will surely die by the end of the season. Their backstories are admittedly somewhat sad and heartbreaking and I am sure that these moments do make many viewers feel for the characters, and thats great. However for me, and lots of people i've interacted with, these moments come off as emotionally manipulative and forced. The dialogue in Demon Slayer is very VERY bloated. There is an extraordinary overuse of monologues. Monologues arent inherently bad, but when its used so much, it gets to the point of being completely meaningless. This causes the flashy, pretty looking fights to become somewhat boring and stale. What do i mean by this? Demon Slayer has a tendency of treating its audience like they are 3 year olds who dont have basic reading comprehension. It feels this need to explain everything that happens on-screen, even the most blatantly obvious things. "I'll slash as hard as i can!", "The slash didnt go through!!" This kind of "walkthrough dialogue" (a term coined by a friend of mine) that almost narrates the events shown, give the fight sequences themselves a lot less impact and make them far less meaningful or immersive. As for the tonal inconsistencies, there are many sudden tone changes that happens out of the blue. The show would randomly crack a joke in the middle of a fight, the music stops, and some sound effects intended for comic relief start to play. Dont get me wrong, comic relief isnt bad, but the timing is what matters, and Demon Slayer times these comic relief moments IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTENSE FIGHT SCENE. This breaks immersion, and reduces investment, especially when it comes out of nowhere. Thankfully, as the season progressed, this became less and less of a problem as the show managed to stick to the dark, gritty tone that it had originally intended to adopt. Demon Slayer is also rampant with plot conveniences. Characters would have broken fingers, be punched in the gut 10 times or so, and still effectively be at full fighting capacity. At one point, Tanjiro goes down, has a flashback about Nezuko, manages to get back up (albeit with a little bit of difficulty and limping), and is suddenly ready to fight again, "Determination conquers all", a common theme throughout the series. So whats the problem here? The injuries and hits that they take feel very meaningless. Yes sure, when they do get hit, they get hit very hard, but why does it matter? They just get back up a minute later as if nothing happened to them. Fingers broken? Just hold the sword with your remaining fingers lmao. Got stabbed through the chest? Just shift the position of your organs lmao. This can potentially stop me from taking the fights seriously, as the stakes become nonexistent. The only real stakes that are present, come at the end of the season, but by then, the fight is over, and the impact that it leaves, is not very significant. Its easy to see the appeal of Demon Slayer, and i do enjoy what it has to offer. It is easily accessible, easily digestable, and it looks great, making for a very entertaining show to watch, but its definitely not without its fair share of flaws. I imagine the diehard fans of the series either dont consider my issues as flaws, or are willing to overlook the flaws despite them being present. On the other hand, i imagine that the diehard haters think the positives count for little when the myriad of other flaws are present. Both positions are totally reasonable and understandable. Thank you for reading.
SingleH
02/13/2022, 07:00 AM
*out-of-context spoilers* People always say Demon Slayer is only popular thanks to its dazzling animation, but I completely disagree. When you actually sit down and watch it, you just see some generic, uninteresting shounen, and yet everyone acts like it’s this incredible masterpiece, so why the massive difference in opinion? It must be the flashy animation, right? Personally, I doubt it, because shows with good animation are ignored just as often as shows with bad animation are propped up. The most well-animated show of last season was Ousama Ranking, and it wasn’t even in the top five most popular shows of the season here on MAL.The most well-animated show from last Summer was Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, and conversely, it was in the top five. Spring was Vivy, and it wasn’t. And Winter was Mushoku Tensei, but it was. My point is there’s no consistency in behavior. Shows like Attack on Titan: The Final Season can have laughable CG and be defended ferociously, while shows like Overlord III can have equally laughable CG and be unanimously mocked. Obviously, the visuals have a lot to do with Demon Slayer’s ability to go viral online, but if you ask me, the real key to becoming this much of a monolithic mega-hit is its accessibility. This is not a show where the writers feel the need to diversify their exposition dumps. Even mid-battle, every character is perfectly willing to spontaneously inner-monologue any information even slightly necessary for the audience, and everyone’s motivation is so simple and straightforward, that to forget it, you would have to forget the entire existence of the character. If you’re a cynical bitch like me, it’s very easy to think, “Wow. This show must be written for retards, five-year-olds, or retarded five-year-olds.” However, I finally realized it’s not that it’s written for retards or five-year-olds. It’s written for people who literally haven’t watched the show before. Allow me to explain. This is going to come across as extremely condescending and insincere, but one thing I genuinely really appreciate about Demon Slayer, and the deciding factor which I think makes the show so easily accessible to such a vast audience, is that it’s so shallow and superficial, it requires no commitment and no real attention to enjoy. That’s an insult packaged within a very thin compliment, I understand that, but I’m being very genuine when I say this, because season one of Demon Slayer for me was a twenty six week long nap. I mean, seriously, I slept through so much of that first season, I truly do not remember even an hour’s worth of its content. I remember pretty much all of episode one, because I go into every show with somewhat of an open mind, and this is especially true with Demon Slayer, because ufotable has earned their reputation. I know their shows will never just be total effortless dogshit, and thanks to the massive marketing initiative Aniplex launched to advertise it, I had already seen the promotional material as well. I really loved the colors and the whole Taisho-era aesthetic of the show, so I really wanted to like it. When it turned out to be totally milquetoast and boring, that attention faded very quickly, but for at least episode one, I had my brain turned on, and I therefore remember how everything starts. This is important, because with shounen manga adaptations, the inciting incident is all that really matters. By the end of chapter one, you always have your one and only goal, and this one and only goal is the backbone of the Weekly Shounen Jump formula. Find One Piece and become Pirate King, become the Fifth Hokage, find all seven Dragon Balls, find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human, etc. But that’s where my memory kinda stops, and yet the fact my memory stops in no way impedes upon my enjoyment of the show. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. Having watched season one in this drowsy stupor, barely sober and barely awake, I only really remember a few distinct, well-executed moments beyond episode one. I remember Tanjiro cutting the boulder in episode four; I remember Zenitsu unveiling his sleep attack in episode twelve; I remember the Blessed Rain After the Drought from episode sixteen; I remember Zenitsu going crazy in episode seventeen; I remember most of episode nineteen, as well as how they invalidated the victory in the following episode and CG water man had to come and finish off the spider guy; and I remember that one Hashira trying bait Nezuko into attacking him in one of the later episodes. But that’s not how the series actually plays out, because Demon Slayer was twenty six episodes worth of content, not just those few moments I was able to recall and describe. It had a plot, it had multiple story arcs, it had tons of dialogue I’m sure, but it was so tortuously boring, it always put me to sleep. I must also stress that I did not binge this. Every single week for twenty six weeks, I would turn on the new episode and just pass out. My soul would just exit my fucking body. When I went to go see Infinity Train, I asked these three boys who were sat near me in the theatre if we’d met Rengoku in the show before, and when they said, “no, not really,” I burst out laughing. His character development in the movie was easily among the most unoriginal, uninspired, generic shounen flashback backstories I’d ever seen, and since his whole personality was just haha lol so funny haha he said UMAI! haha xd funny meme bro haha ayy lmao haha, that by the time the end of the movie came around and he was fighting some OTHER fucking guy who we also just met and who had EVEN LESS screen time or memorable characterization, I was just cracking myself up in the theatre cackling like a psychopath screaming, “Who the fuck ARE you?!” All of ufotable’s most talented staff came together to produce one of the most spectacular fight sequences I’d ever seen, but there was no tension, no excitement, no emotion, no engagement, no anything, because the combatants were these two shallow non-characters who I only just met and who I didn’t give half a shit about at all. The result is an unbelievable spectacle that’s only impressive for the sake of being impressive, and that’s it. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. Despite remembering only a handful of moments from season one and sleeping through the rest, I was able to watch Infinity Train (and now The Red Light District Arc as well) without feeling confused or missing the appeal at all. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. It’s not successful simply because it has flashy animation—those people are just haters spouting random shit to diminish the show’s achievements because they don’t like it. It’s successful because anyone in Japan, whether they’re young or old, boy or girl, man or woman, student or professional, unemployed or retired, ANYONE can turn on the TV, see a sociopolitically whitewashed, inoffensive portrayal of Taisho, the most beloved and romanticized era of Japanese history, with pretty colors and a simple story, and say, “He wants to save his sister? That’s nice.” That’s called accessibility, and it’s why Demon Slayer is so popular. It’s boring and generic? Why the hell am I talking like these are bad things? Being boring and generic is exactly what people like about it! Like I said at the beginning of this review, it’s not written for dummies. It’s written for people who literally haven’t watched the show before. It’s written so that if you’re flipping though channels and land on Fuji TV, it’ll be more effort to find something else than it would be to think, “Eh. This looks fine.” If anything, the more dumbed-down the script is, the easier it is for people to get on board. In episode one of season two, Mini Rengoku says to Tanjiro, “But you came all this way for it, only to end up learning nothing about Hinokami Kagura or what my father called ‘Sun Breathing’,” and I seriously laughed for something like two minutes straight. The dialogue in this show is fucking negative IQ level shit. It feels like watching Alex Kurtzman’s Mummy, where the blonde lady has to keep explaining to Tom Cruise who his character is supposed to be so the Chinese theater audience has multiple opportunities to read the subtitles. This tiresome, dull-witted approach to scripting is reflected in the notoriously bad comedy as well, because there are no jokes in Demon Slayer. There is no written humor. It’s just a bunch of dopey physical comedy. Never does it setup or payoff a real, constructed joke. It’s just: “HAHA He screamed! XD” “HAHA He fell over! XD” “HAHA He made a silly face! XD” It’s such basic, bargain-bin humor that even a monkey could laugh at. It can get me to smile when it stops trying to play itself straight—like at the beginning of episode two when Tanjiro and Uzui are doing this unfunny comedy routine, and it just keeps cutting to Zenitsu going, “What the fuck are these people talking about?”—but most of the time, the childish humor is just as annoying as it’s ever been. And don’t even get me started on the inept tone. When I reach the point as an audience member where I’m watching the red-haired demon guy from Infinity Train shuttering in terror, groveling in fear, getting fiercely accosted by the main villain who looks like shota Michael Jackson, I have to take a step back and ask whether or not this is supposed to be funny. I mean, when they cast Maya Sakamoto, utilize her perfectly, but then make her embarrassingly bawl, “Tasukete, Onii-chan!” I’m not thinking, “Wow! What a dramatic character arc!” I’m thinking, “How the fuck am I even supposed to feel about this character?” I saw someone attempting to defend the shitty writing by arguing that generic shounenshit we’ve seen a million times like villains who waste time soapboxing instead of killing the protagonists shouldn’t be criticized because, indeed, we’ve seen this trash a million times and should be accustomed to it. This is a classic example of thinking with low standards. Yes, this trope is used as a crutch for hack authors who write themselves into corners all the time, but does that make it okay? Does banality elevate something above criticism? No, of course not. It isn’t not bad because it happens all the time; it’s bad, and it’s bad every time it happens. This, of course, is only addressing the general archetypes. I haven’t even touched the seriously goofy shit yet… >Shifting the positions of my internal organs and having immunity to poison is child’s play because…I grew up in the mountains? >Before, I was lightning speed, but when the narrative requires it, I AM GODSPEED. (please ignore Killua rip-off) >Nezuko burns away the demonic poison, and Tanjiro literally says “idk lol” when asked how she can do that. >”’Score?!’ Did he say ‘score?!’ Did he turn my Blood Demon Art into a song and deflect it?!” Yeah. Not exactly the most brilliantly written show in the universe. With a script THIS dumb, it’s no wonder ufotable relies on spectacle. To give credit where it’s due, Demon Slayer never derails and stays true to its core themes, hackneyed as they may be. If recent best-sellers are anything to go on, you can clearly see the “Big Three” era of 700+ chapter manga is over. A fantastic adaptation which greatly elevates the source material, amazing character designs, no extensive filler, good music, cool fights—just turn your brain off, and what's not to like, right? I’ve also seen people underrate Tanjiro as a character, labeling him a generic goodboy MC and moving on, but I think he's actually quite distinct from typical shounen protagonists. What makes him interesting is how his conscience is handled. He accepts the fact demons were once people, and he is able to sympathize with them despite the atrocities they commit, typically in the form of high bodycounts. However, he is also resolute in his efforts to slay them, and he does not hesitate to deliver killing blows. This apparent contradiction is justified by Tanjiro's innate respect for life: the driving, defining force behind his moral compass. This makes him relatively unique compared to most shounen protagonists, as he not only delivers killing blows frequently, but also with the knowledge he is deliberately ending an intelligent being's life—killing "people" that have been unsalvageably corrupted. I can't think of too many shounen protagonists who actually kill their enemies, much less one who is portrayed as a traditional hero as opposed to some edgy anti-hero. Deep character, right? Maybe, but what this boils down to in execution is: “Those lost lives will never return! They can never come back! Those made of flesh and blood can’t do what demons do. Why would you rob them? Why would you trample their lives?” There’s a solid character conceit hidden somewhere behind all that bland, platitudinous drivel, but it’s completely smothered by this Anakin Skywalker, Attack of the Clones-level writing. The only character who overcomes the shitty writing is Uzui. Uzui is not only the first character with enough actual characterization for me to consider a character at all, but he’s also the first member of the cast to actually make me like them as a person even a little bit. I just love it when anime prominently features men written by women, because unlike the majority-male industry of manga authors who write uncharismatic, unimposing, self-insert characters, female authors are actually comfortable with having men who stand out and leave an impression. When this guy was introduced slapping some girl’s ass, taking children into Red Light Districts, selling said children into prostitution, and boasting about his harem of three beautiful wives, I could not wipe the grin off my face. Much like the pandering waifus we always see in anime written by men, it is crystal clear to me that Uzui’s painted nails and flamboyant, fujoshi-bait K-pop aesthetic is the embodiment of everything the author fetishizes in a man. To me, he just screams old, hair metal, 80s rock bands like Guns N' Roses or Mötley Crüe who had long hair, wore make-up, and got beauty treatments at glamor salons. They all looked very feminine, and yet they had literal oceans of topless women throwing themselves at them. For all the basement-dwelling otaku who wouldn’t have the slightest idea what rock stars used to look like before the year 2000, let me just say I don’t think it’s a coincidence this guy is called the “Sound Hashira” and defeats his enemies with the power of music. Again, Uzui slapped some chick’s ass, and all the shameless girls on social media were immediately smitten, slobbering over their screens wishing they were her. No male author could manufacture that shit, and unlike the cast up until this point which has consisted entirely of cookie-cutter shounen re-skins, Uzui gives this series a much needed spark of personality. No offense to Director Sotozaki—and, yes, I’m fully aware fans of this series probably have little to no conception of what it means for something to be “well-directed”—I have no idea why this series hasn’t been handed over to Toshiyuki Shirai yet. His episodes are always more visually interesting, and I’d be curious to see if he could improve the tortuously boring episodes filled with nothing but braindead comedy and snail-paced narrative progression, or if he only seems wildly more talented as a director because he was lucky enough to be tasked with handling the more memorable episodes. Either way, the visuals are exactly what you’d expect from Fate-fotable: Unlimited Tax Evasion Works. Whether they’re drawing a still pose, adding speed lines, shaking the frame, and spamming digital effects, or actually treating us to well-rounded, legitimately impressive animation, the audience will eat it up regardless and denounce anyone who suggests the series has less than perfect visuals as a dishonest contrarian…but people call me that anyway, so fuck it. Let’s nitpick. First of all, no matter how relentless they are with their post-processing, ufotable still can’t hide their CG. The CG ribbons aren’t as bad as the CG tentacles from Infinity Train, but still. The main digital effects worth complaining about are the Michael Bay fireworks Uzui throws around, and of course, the fire. The digital smoke effects they love using in this aren’t terrible, but no matter how good ufotable’s compositing is, no one can make that Shutterstock™ fireplace.gif look natural. I could go on, but you get the point. Demon Slayer is an impressive, beautiful show, but anyone who says it’s flawless knows nothing about animation production. This show aired an episode with fight sequences nearly outclassing its own movie on the same day Attack on Titan ended on a jpeg of a manga panel, so even I’d feel petty for nitpicking too much. I have high standards, so even though I never had any real animosity toward Demon Slayer, I gave season one the negative score it deserved. Remember, it’s only real problem was being trite and consequentially boring to any thinking viewer, but by allowing myself to fall asleep, I didn’t torture myself with it. The result of this uncaring attitude is that all I really remembered about the show by the time Infinity Train came out was the handful of awesome highlights which actually kept me awake, so even though I’m consciously aware of its shortcomings and failures, all the memories I had of it were great. Feeling generous and not wanting to sour these good memories, I had a truly brilliant idea. To take advantage of the—how should I say this?—subcultural predilections of my fellow Americans, I bought a ticket downtown and reserved a seat at a theatre with a bar to guarantee the audience would be a lively, rowdy, urban bunch. This way, I could get shitfaced, overreact and talk shit, and still ultimately be quieter and more courteous than 99% of the hollering moviegoers sharing the cinema with my good self. A genius move, needless to say, because I had a fucking blast watching Infinity Train—easily the most fun I’ve ever had watching anime in a movie theater—and I didn’t even kill myself driving all the way home. (Don’t drink and drive, kids. I’m not a role model.) The point of the story? Demon Slayer is perfect for casuals who just want to turn their brains off and gawk at pretty colors and loud noises, or losers like me who just want an excuse to indulge in some nice, diversionary substance abuse to escape the tedium of their lives and be ever so briefly stupefied by visual excess. Decorate it as much as you want; a garden-variety shounen manga adaptation filled with nothing but one-note characters, lowbrow humor, and multi-episode, asspull-ridden fights simply is what it is, ufotable animation or not. Thank you for reading.

Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen 鬼滅の刃遊郭編

2022 winter | Episodes: 11 | Score: 8.7 (993362)

Updated every Sundays at 23:15 | Status: Finished Airing

Type: TV

Producers:Aniplex | Studio Mausu | Shueisha

Synopsis

Voice Actors

Shimono, Hiro

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu

Hanae, Natsuki

Kitou, Akari

Konishi, Katsuyuki

News

Reviews

CarbonRuiner
05/19/2024, 11:21 AM
If we put aside the super sexualization of ALL women. The ridiculous, bad, and old-fashioned depiction of All women appearing in this season. The ultra over the top sexualization of the main villain. (Don't get me wrong, a little here and there is okay, it's target demographic is clear, but you know, it rest credibility to the overall product and became even annoying). The lack of plot, and the nonsensical of the premise. The eternal main fight that goes on for more than half of the episodes. Tje bad pacing of the script and the constant cuts when the action reaches its climax. Zenitsuand his insufferable personality. The screaming for no reason. And many other little nuances. And we are left with impeccable action sequences. Monumental production values. Fantastic main villains in every way (until they nerf one of them and she becomes insufferable). The background of those villains. Absolutely perfect main combat (until they drag it out longer than it should be). Tanjiro, Inosuke and this time also Nezuko (obviating the super sexualization of her character). A great Pillar, Tengen (just forgetting his over the top personality and annoying sexism specially in the first episodes). We would get a pretty solid season that would have been perfect if we took out all the bad stuff (which is absurd to begins with and very easy to spot and known that shouldn't be there). And either, that the season lasted only seven episodes (like the previous one) or that it had a story to tell to fill the eleven episodes that make it up. But that isn't the case and it is what it is, so overall a 7 (should be a 6, but I do really like the villain(s) and their backstory even when it is predictable... so I gave it an extra point, but it is a 6+ to be fair).
Faepin
02/19/2022, 11:01 AM
The show and music were so insanely hyped that I was constantly flexing my arm creating time under tension. Insane way to build up my triceps. Opening and Ending by Aimer also goes crazy that I listened to it in the gym and hit a new PR. I was at my last breathe when I thought to myself "What would Rengoku do?", the next moment I found my legs pushed up on the leg press machine. Throughout the show, I was sweating from anticipation giving me a good cardio workout as well. Moments in the show made my jaw drop from the sheer astonishment and excitementI felt while experiencing such carefully curated and wonderful animation paired with top-notch orgasmic orchestra music. When I closed my mouth, I could feel my jawline getting sharper. Overall 10/10 season.
KageroPhantom
02/14/2022, 05:43 AM
It's a damn shame. A real damn shame that so many are looking to dislike this amazing series out of some sub-conscious spite they have toward plots that are simple, yet executed so well. The fact these reviews are popping up 4/10 or around that on feature page of this series, I truly believe people are doing their best to dislike a series they don't want to appreciate - whether that be due to popularity or their own selfish beliefs. The popularity and overall score people have given this season should say enough; forget what these hipsters believe, they're searching for reasons to dislike it. Thevery fact they've needed to think about the most insignificant things of the series to actually base their dislike and review off, is childish. The series is simple - kill the demons. Why does the series need to have plot twists, or abilities to see the past and future like AOT, to be considered great writing? Have we forgotten that some of the most enjoyable movies we've seen in cinemas has been a result of just simple, yet well executed story telling? It really angers me. The Entertainment Arc is FLASHY, the scenes are animated so well, the story-telling (yes, let me admit) GO BEYOND, I live for these tropes. I found myself rooting for the Slayer Corps so much yet I shed tears for both Ume and Gyotaru - if abandoning humanity and having it slap you back in the face as these Upper Ranks pass and realize over time with the series they've forgotten what it means to be human, I'm all for it. Everything about the series is really well executed and I love it. It's not confusing, it's not such a brain fart you need think about what has happened over the next week, you won't need to search up multiple YouTube videos as to explain how timeline A affected C which in turn set timeline B 50 years into the future where your old, future self comes back to explain why your second-cousin picking up a banana on this date altered the course of humanity and your present self to have visions where he'll die if he doesn't destroy humanity. Although simple, it's extremely impactful. This will always be a top 10 recommendation from me to anyone who asks for anime/manga suggestions. Set your heart ablaze and go beyond your limits! Absolutely amazing! 10/10
CodeBlazeFate
02/13/2022, 02:12 PM
*spoilers for Kimetsu no Yaiba: Mugen Ressha-hen and Yuukaku-hen Kimetsu no Yaiba's ultimate downfall can be quickly surmised as an attitude problem. The series's lack of respect for its audience or characters, its incessantly speedy pacing between arcs, and its inane humor can all be boiled down to this singular, core problem. Its sheer lack of restraint can be felt from that attitude problem as well. What made Mugen Train function was its limitations which forced the series to straighten up and dial back in all the bullshit which made the first season largely intolerable. However, this second season, Yuukaku-hen slips back into some of these oldhabits while bringing brand new issues into the fray. Let's start with its attitude regarding the death of Rengoku: the Fire Hashira from Mugen Train. It's awful, absolutely appalling in its presentation. They desperately oversell the reverence everyone has for the man. First off, the first 3 minutes are an awkwardly presented recap of the Mugen Train finale to remind the audience of what they just watched: the dude dying and everyone crying. More importantly, they have the gall to shove his smiling visage amidst a heavenly backdrop onto damn near every scene people talk about him in. It happens so often that nothing gets to speak for itself; Kimetsu no Yaiba can basically be boiled down to those last 6 words. Then again, considering a quarter of the double-length first episode is about Tanjirou assuring Rengoku's teary-eyed kid brother and confronting a painfully obnoxious deadbeat "I lash out and shittalk but actually care for and cry over the dead" drunkard dad, this is not unexpected. Perhaps it's rude to point at Naruto as a shining example on how to tactfully handle the fallout of the death of someone close to its heroes, as it’s one of the Big 3 and it often gets used as a measuring stick for how bogus 2010s shounen are. However, it's hard not to look at a shounen that genuinely respects those who have fallen, how the characters take the time to explore their surroundings, shut down, and require the help of others to move along, without noticing why KnY failed. In Naruto, we get to process the grief of those most affected in an artful way, not once, but twice. In KnY, we get caricatures and obnoxious slow-mo Zack Snyder trailer shots. Well, we also get a 4 month time-skip amidst a training montage and more obnoxious in-your-face yelly humor because clearly SAO shouldn't be alone in horribly mangled time skips. Hell, we even get told how Zenitsu and Inosuke develop rather than having that unfold in front of us, just like with Kirito in Aincrad. Actually, to be fair to SAO, even it has more respect for Kirito and his supporting cast than KnY does for most of its characters. Hell, not once in the grieving process where Tanjirou struggles with a stomach wound, does Nezuko attempt to console him. Perhaps it's because she's barely a character --lower than most pokemon-- and more of an object to only be deployed when necessary for asspulls. Zenitsu might still be an insufferable, screaming simpcel who should have embraced his role as a straight-man to his wacky teammates by now, but at least that prick's a character. It would be funny how the series still treats its sole female companion to the heroes worse than most shounen like Naruto, Fairy Tail, or every Yugioh title if it didn't mean that the core sibling dynamic at the heart of the series wasn't shafted to such a puzzling degree. Hell, despite it being a major focus in the latter half, the most Nezuko plays into it after she's decommissioned in ep 7 is by appearing in Tanjirou's dreams. Can't let our trophy plot device sister have any actual agency, now can we? As for the new characters, to address some of them, let's look at the show's lack of restraint regarding character gimmicks. Much like its Drifters-tier screamy tone-killer humor, KnY goes overboard with giving characters gimmicks. Sure, sometimes a gimmick or quirk is needed for a character to stand out. However, the way they constantly shift up gimmicks for Inosuke is head-tilting, and Zenitsu speaks (or shouts) for himself. More importantly, Tengen Uzui aka the Sound Hashira would be way better if he were just the vain ladies man and beleagured chaperone leader to our trio rather than having this irritating and incessant "muh flashiness" gimmick that he never shuts the fuck up about. Hell, that’s how most of the Hashiras in S1 were introduced, so it’s no surprise the issue continues. Admittedly, he does get better the more we learn of him and how world-weary he is and why he values “flashiness” so much. Still, a nasty first impression and gimmick crammed down our throats makes him the hardest to stomach of all the Hashiras that have gotten substantial screen time so far despite him being the best new character of the season. The antagonists themselves are pretty whatever as well, not that Kimetsu has ever been good at handling its villains barring maybe Akaza. They’re hardly worth discussing beyond just being mean vain pretty bitch Daki, and shaggy ugly avenger brother Gyytarou. Their powers are interesting, they’re petty, vengeful pricks, moving on. In spite of everything, however, the season was proving to be tolerable once we transitioned from the heinous premiere to the start of the arc proper. The aforementioned issues were all there, but even returning problems weren’t as bad as they were in S1. Less of Zenitsu being insufferable, more time for Inosuke to be a badass despite his growth being skipped, and largely serviceable build-up. It was standard KnY fair, which while not good, is more akin to the more tolerable parts of S1 than the entire middle portion of that season. Then the middle of the season happened, and from there, the show went back down to the abyss. Perhaps the most agonizing aspect of KnY’s attitude and approach to storytelling remains its usage of flashbacks as a primary tool. Mugen Train did well to limit this approach, not extending it to either of its antagonists, and using it for Rengoku long before his death so the audience can get attached to him without his exploration being an obvious pace-breaker or red flag. This season, on the other hand, has regressed back to the spider arc from S1, where fights are constantly being interrupted to provide brand new information about our characters that could and should have been naturally presented to us before the first moment they’re immediately relevant to a fight or emotional beat. It’s fake and hollow in its execution and overuse, making the show come off as wholly ingenuine when, say, we learn more about Tengen’s wives in the scene where they tearfully reunite with him than we did in all of the previous episodes, combined. Hell, they get more screen time in this one scene than they had cumulatively in previous episodes as well, though given how insufferable and one-note they are when they’re on-screen from ep 5-onwards, that might be for the best. The show’s rapid-fire flashback spam only even remotely works occasionally like with Tengen in ep 8, and that’s because they do it so often that, like with blindly or haphazardly throwing darts at a dartboard, there’s gonna be a hit somewhere in the distance amidst the meter-away misses. Still, when they’re bad, they’re abysmal, and the fact that the series has the gall to give its antagonists another ridiculously over the top sad backstory AFTER ONE OF THEM HAS DIED AND THE OTHER IS SOON TO FOLLOW, is scalding to the senses. Another issue that rears its ugly head in the 2nd half is the asspulls. KnY is no stranger to them. S1 ep 19 had several back to back in the climax of the arc’s big fight scene before the start of ep 20 undoes all of that with yet another one that contradicts the very events of that iconic moment. Mugen Train pulled a final boss out of nowhere because we needed a final act and the previous antagonist of the arc had been slain. Kimetsu no Yaiba’s 2nd season combines the two, while reintegrating the idea of crafting asspulls via flashbacks. Let's not even discuss all of the death fake-outs with bullshit justifications that take place towards the last 3 episodes like this was a latter day Fairy Tail arc. Tanjirou constantly pushes past his limits like broken clavicles without any supernatural aide whatsoever for extended periods of time, Nezuko gets cool new powers out of nowhere without us ever showing her train or anything, and recovery breathing on top of stuff like Zenitsu being fully autonomous and capable when asleep are introduced this season, too! GEE, I BET THIS WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN REALLY COOL AND NOT AT ALL A BUNCH OF OUTTA NOWHERE ASSPULL BULLSHIT IF WE HADN’T SKIPPED 4 MONTHS OF TRAINING AND INSTEAD GOTTEN TO SEE THESE IDIOTS WORK FOR THEIR NEW POWERS, HUH?! The second half, where the bulk of the fights take place, is filled to the brim with such utter nonsense that at some point, especially if you’re binging, you sorta become numb to them until an episode ends. Sure, the fights are all lavishly animated barring some gross ass CG blood splatter, but goddamn are they littered with idiocy. Between all that and the extraneous monologuing characters do in split-second slow-mo intervals, it all just becomes white noise. It’s hard to be consistently livid here compared to the insulting nonsense of episodes 1 and 5. Only when they keep spamming images of Rengoku because “HE WAS COOL, RIGHT GUYS”, is the numb trance broken. There are a ton of other issues and nitpicks that are barely worth addressing. Tanjirou learning more lore about his dad’s techniques is cool but they’re not expanded upon organically. Despite the breakneck pacing of the first half and how we time skip past all the training that could’ve justified much of what went on this season, the latter half is a dragged out bunch of flight scenes with painfully stretched-out episode closers. Characters sometimes just decide not to finish each other off for no reason or randomly become stronger in earlier parts of a fight when they were supposedly less threatening. Some of this is all standard shounen issues taken to their logical extreme because Kimetsu no Yaiba has always been like this. Some of it is new issues for this season. At some point, we can’t drag this review out like the show drags its fights, because watching this show has become nothing short of exhausting! No battle shounen has ever been this exhausting, Jesus Fucking Christ! On the topic of those flashy brawls, the visuals this season are overall better than they were in S1. Haruo Sotozaki has largely proved himself as a very good director, with several outstanding shots and weighty fight sequences that despite the immense chaos and speed towards the final few episodes, can still be kept up with when things go wild. However, before we get into the merits of the visuals, there are some nits worth picking since there are frame rate issues and some of the CG (fire in ep 10) still can’t hold up so well. More importantly, there are several questionable shots like the janky camera motions when cutting up from someone’s screaming death, or the disquieting amount of scenes unnecessarily infected by speed lines. The premiere is easily the worst, however, as it seems like whoever the episode director was, really wanted to emulate Zack Snyder with all the stupid slow-mo trailer shots. Between that and some unintentionally silly shots of angry Muzan and Tanjirou, the presentation comes.off as very overblown at times. Plus, there’s an amusing number of moments where characters run in place when they’re clearly supposed to be moving. However, these faults can in no way outweigh the technical prowess on display. Sure, they often try to oversell sequences to dumb degrees (and the music doesn’t help matters), but the visuals are still better than they were in the first season. There are no extremely ugly CG backgrounds, and they play more with experimental visualizations like watercolor brush stroke style visuals for visualizing certain sounds in a location, or how the show tries to visually represent certain explanations like Tengen’s shinobi upbringing. It's clear that Haruo Sotozaki and his team want to give the show the reverence its popularity affords, with more dynamic swooping shots and interesting styles than ever before. Moreover, the fight scenes get more and more impressive as they go along, showcasing some insane sakuga that can compete with the Heaven’s Feel Movie trilogy at times. Episodes 5-10 are an almost nonstop cavalcade of fight scenes, and each one looks better than the last. Ufotable’s trademark in-house digital effects certainly add that extra bit of flair to the spectacular action sequences. After all, it helped paper over some of the maddeningly dire state of the writing in the latter half. If one didn’t mind all the utter nonsense on display (or if they just watched sakugabooru clips) then they’d find these sequences nothing short of pulse-pounding rather than mildly cool. Without exaggeration, the latter half of S2 might be their strongest TV production to date in spite of some hiccups, not that the first half is bad by any means. “Not bad by any means” can also largely be used to describe the soundtrack which was once again helmed by Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina. Unfortunately, this is certainly one of their weaker anime projects. Gone is any of the eeriness of some of S1’s tracks, and while the Marvel type orchestral tracks are fine, none of it is even remotely memorable. The OST serves the series well enough (barring that shitty dubstep piece in ep 5) and adding some light electronic elements to the mix isn’t a bad thing, but this is a bit of a step down from S1. There isn’t even an electrifying insert song like in S1 ep 19. If anything, Aimer’s OP “Zankyou Zanka” and ED “Asa ga Kuru” are picking up the pace a little, with some fun, energetic jazz pop for the former and a slower, more dramatic Kajiura type piece for the latter. The LiSA songs from S1, Mugen Train Movie, and even TV Mugen are overall preferable, but still, Kimetsu has never had a bad OP or ED and that continues even here. Kimetsu no Yaiba’s 2nd Season was nothing short of an overblown, ingenuine exercise in exhaustion. Everything bad about the first season has been kept and some of them have been amplified alongside new problems. Plus, season one at least had Shinobu and a fair number of ok episodes so that the experience wasn’t just misery like the middle portion of that 2-cour juggernaut was. The first half of this season was a mix of rushed, agonizing nonsense and some tolerable set-up, while the latter half is a nonstop barrage of asspulls, flashbacks, and fights that turn into noise as the eyes glaze over and the brain begs to shut down. The visuals are largely better than S1 and perhaps more interesting than ever. However, that alone cannot save this from being perhaps the worst full installment thus far, and the worst arc barring maybe the spider arc from S1….maybe. Sometimes you hear the take of ufotable carrying the series while the material itself is garbage, and there’s some merit to that claim. One might even wonder: had this gone to a lesser studio with a more modest batting average in terms of animation quality, would this be seen more akin to Fairy Tail or Boruto in terms of being the bottom of the battle shounen barrel. Such thinking is a tad malicious, as if whoever thinks so wishes the show got what it “deserved” rather than the royal treatment it has today. However, any good faith Mugen Train had built up after S1’s failings has been completely and utterly dashed. Worthwhile audiovisuals can only do so much to aid atrocious writing, but it's hard to deny that this show would not be as fondly remembered if not for the team it resonated with doing everything to make the most out of the material they more than likely love. Perhaps this abysmal battle shounen would be left to rot like a beheaded demon, and it would still see a sizable audience. Fairy Tail managed that before it became the shounen community’s punching bag, as did Hero Academia before the later seasons slipped up in production quality and started getting dogged on for it among other reasons. Alas, this is all speculation. What we have is what we have. Haruo Sotozaki and his team at ufotable should be proud, and if the legions of fans dazzled by the visuals and some of the show’s pathos cherish it as one of their favorites, good for them. Nothing can or should take that away from them. We are nearing the halfway point of Kimetsu no Yaiba's story, so before it chugs along to its 3rd season, let’s depart from this demon train peacefully.
aestx
02/13/2022, 02:01 PM
Honestly, this anime ended on my birthday so yea, but the art/animation is really clean I really like and the storyline is nice but I'll probably have to read the manga if I want to see what happens next. I like to say it was very nerve-racking watching this because half of them were on the brick of dying, but these side stories that were in anime show how things happen and make it understandable. So yea I never really write reviews but this ended on my birthday and it just feels special to write this review because it was good while watching it andI just wanted to. <3
IreliaOneTrick
02/13/2022, 01:54 PM
This review may contain spoilers Is this all it takes? My only question is that, can the author try something new? I've never seen a narrower imagination, I simply cannot fathom how can you be this lazy as an author, let's put every single garbage aspect of this show aside, and talk about the events only. First big arc of kimetsu no yaiba, demon slayers running after the supposedly moon-thingy demon, they kill him but... Wait... It actually wasn't him!!! He wasn't the main villan of this arc.. Damn, never saw that one coming. OK second big arc, demon corps fighting main villan of this arc andlet's Fucking GOOOOOO they murdered him, oh really? You're telling me he wasn't the main villan of this arc again? Dammit, the author can't possibly use this lazy ass scenario again, right? right? RIGHT? *WRONG* three arcs in a row, and im yet to see anything new. All the fight scenes look exactly the same, sometimes I feel like I'm staring into a void whilst looking at my screen during the fight scenes, it's to the point where I feel like they:re reusing old animations, I honestly wish they were, because it's not worth the sweat of the talented people working on this poop. I wish the author displayed any sort of imagination, it's almost like she doesn't actually need any imagination to succeed. Every single arc is the same thing, demon chads kill a demon, the demon "unexpectedly" loses, then they proceed to show us some melodramatic garbage that no human being could ever sympthize with past the first one, because, every single time, the demons back story is EXACTLY THE SAME. I wish the events or the writing were my most hated things about this show. the writing sometimes doesn't look like complete garbage in comparison with the characters here, every single character of this show is literally a one personality trait, MC is the kind, the yellow haired is the pussy, and the boar is the crazy, both the hashiras we've extensively interacted with so far are the perfect charismatic role models. I just can't with this show, I hate nagging but godam this is garbage. I honestly feel very generous just for giving this hot trash a "2"
Cyrose
02/13/2022, 11:23 AM
GOD-LIKE SEASON: The-hype ⚡ never-ends. Demon Slayer were famous for some of the most legendary episodes in Animes. From now on, they will referred to as one of the most Epic Series in the Anime History of All Times! Now, as this season has been ended, I've completed my full review on it. Even if you haven't seen the previous seasons before, you can still free to read it, as it doesn't contain any spoiler. Revel in; I wasn't expecting myself reviewing Kimetsu no Yaiba. Even though I liked the first season, I had mixed feelings about the concept of the show. Is it gonna berefreshing? Or is it gonna be the same over-used shounen again? Is it only the art style that will separate this show from the others? Speaking of the art, I also thought that the art was weird at first, instead of what it actually is. Which fact is also true for the previous question marks and describe this show as a whole; Completely breathtaking. 🌸 Story 7/10 Kimetsu no Yaiba is actually well-done, story-wise, as I've seen a few similarities between other anime. What made me forget those comparable/alike story/characteristics connection's etc. at some point is that this show managed to be different in almost every aspect. Showing us things from a new perspective, even though I can recall where I've seen "those" before, it was a actually new feeling, a new moment that I lived though the story of Kimetsu no Yaiba. That's what I really appreciated while watching this show. I felt that I could be a little kid again, as watching badass cool stuff happening in various styles in front of my eyes is the best thing ever. That's what shounen is all about: to be flashy, cool, action mixed somewhat deep story based show. That's my people, Kimetsu no Yaiba at it's finest. As of now, there's really nothing else needs to be discussed about the story as we are still in the middle of the third Arc. However I believe people who've already seen the first season knows where the story moves from it's delightful narrative. Which makes it clearly enjoyable, so the story gets a solid 7/10 from me. I am really excited as to what is about to come! 🔥 Characters/Dialogue 9/10 The characters. I mean, wow. Honestly, it's hard to find a better cast when it comes to it what Kimetsu no Yaiba has to offer. They're all lovely and likable characters who have their own goals and ambitions in the story. I like the synergy between the main trio, which is quite rare and unique on its own. I have to mention Inosuke since the "Mugen Ressa-hen Arc" is fairly growing on me. His moments are some of my favorites, alongside Zenitsu's funny and warm expressions. They really feel like a good team. 9/10. As of writing this review, I have noticed that most reviews are bringing up the dialogues negatively. I think there is nothing wrong with the dialogues. First and foremost, the characters don't talk in a way that younger audiences will find some difficulty in understanding. If they sound stupid, they are. If they sound out of place, they probably are. I can't see any problem with that whatsoever, because which shounen or animes in general hasn't had stupid or even meaningless dialogues? In Kimetsu no Yaiba, they don't talk much, but when they do, they are either funny as hell or emotional/serious. Because of this, I am always impressed by their VA's work which is always top-notch by the way. Either way, I might have missed something. Besides, it hasn't disrupted any of my enjoyment on the show. The conversations might not influence the story progression that much, but helps to keep maintain the act and carry us through one phase to another, like how every dialogue should be. Nothing more: straight and simple. 🌊 Art/Characters design 10/10 The art has to be the peak of this show as it is one of the parts that doesn't have to be discussed much. As I mentioned earlier, I thought the art sucked, but oh boy, I was very much mistaken. The anime's traditional Japanese art, and character designs are absolutely incredible. Whether it be a fighting scene or just a relaxing landscape, it was highly well-done, to the characters eyes and their customs. I have to highlight the demon's designs and the body structures in general. The male characters look handsome while the females are as womanly-shaped they can possibly be. There are no ecchi for the sake of ecchiness, in fact, there is zero unnecessary content in this show. They just look very attractive and hot. As for design, Daki is my personal favorite in this arc, but Douma is also gonna be sick as hell. Likewise "Charley's three angel" Suma, Makio and Hina the perfect incarnation of Inusuke, Zenitsu and Tanjiro's female version appearances is hilariously epic through the charm of Tengen-sama. Characters that we already known from before like Shinobu or the mains are also A-1. This season craftsmanship was the pure definition of love and care for anime, every scene and every detail was crafted with such care and passion. So the art gets the obvious 10/10. Absolutely incredible work by ufotable and credit to the creator as well! ⚡ Sound/Soundtrack 7/10 I believe Kaijura Yuki, one of my personal favorite composer, and her amazing touch really shows in this series in a similar fashion;If you familiar with her other works on~;Tsubsa Cronicles, Fate series, or Kara no Kyokai' ect. ~You can tell. She is an amazing talent and did an incredible job in Kimetsu no Yaiba as well. The same praise goes to all the openings and endings. The music is smooth and in harmony with the frames, making the fighting scenes more intense, the drama scenes more sorrowful, and the funny moments more hilarious. Nothing extreme, but a really catchy 7/10 for the tunes. 💥 Enjoyment 9/10 It's hard to describe the feels, what you're experiencing while watching marvelously epic fighting scenes bond perfect harmony with deep emotions. Just staring out of your physical body: Mesmerizing. While your chest filling tight, as it goes ample by the overload of emotionally various events. The way it's ready to tear you up, but you manage to hold it back, just barely in your throat where all the things rashly flowing together, you can't even swallow... -Yeah, this Arc is pretty much fire. ✍️ Conclusion Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of those rare shows that definitely deserves all the love it gets and its current main score as of writing this review, which is 8.60+. I must have to admit that I've slightly overlooked it's flaw's, as it doesn't really effected my overall enjoyment on the show. Even if the story isn't that brilliant or it has some inexplicable errors. Therefore, I can understand if you think this is nothing more than an average show or even if you think it's a masterpiece. Either way, we have to appreciate creations like this, because Kimetsu no Yaiba is undeniably a work of art in the 21st century. If it wasn't clear enough how happy and hyped I'm about this series then you probably think I'm just over my head. Maybe, but the truth is why I'm really happy about is that we finally have a real diamond in the shounen genre that will never be forgotten, neither gonna lose it's spotlight for a long period of time. ⭐ Overall 8.4 / My personal score: 9.4 Goated season. Highly recommended! Credit goes to AlexPaulLEWZ to editing and read proof my review! Thank you for reading!
TheAbzzz
02/13/2022, 09:55 AM
Carried by the animations. It is what it is. Story 2/10 In short, they go to a town, become women, "hunt" down the three wives and demons, fight and end it off with a "touching" ending. The flashback was somewhat decent to learn about but might need to take lessons from Black Clover (only real fans who don't skip fillers will know what I'm on about.) After episode 5, when the fight started, it started to get interesting and actually good compared to the first few episodes which, in my opinion, were a joke. Episode 1 took 45 minutes to introduce Tengen Uzui and talk about theirjourney to the new location to kill a demon. That's all there is. Art 6/10 A studio what some people refer to as the "unlimited budget studio" and are designing/animating certain episodes like it's a special or some kids show? Surely not. Almost every episode had a "budget-decreased funny face" where the eyes are just black balls and other elements which are hard to describe but some of you will know what I mean. Alas the fight scenes were really good and enjoyable. Probably the only good parts of the entire season. Sound 7/10 You can't go wrong with sound. It's nice to see that Tanjirou isn't screaming as much as he did in season 1. Character 2/10 There was no character development anywhere. Same as they were in season 1. Zenitsu is a different breed. Hopefully he gets killed off later. Enjoyment 4/10 Starting with the comedy: absolutely DRY. Are they trying to make a newborn laugh or what? The jokes they make are not even funny. They change the art style to look childish to fit the joke but they are only wasting their time and money. I'd rather count how many blades of grass there are on a large field. The fight scenes are what improved the enjoyment score from a 2 to a 4. Overall 4/10 The start was really slow and the funny faces just wasn't it chief. But it got better over time. I'd say to watch the first 3 episodes in 10x speed since barely anything happens.
Haru_Kobuchizawa
02/13/2022, 09:55 AM
Kimerdson II 2/10 It's the same review as the first season because it doesn't change anything. It's just animation. Villains are shit. the protagonist is a door and the only thing that works in this crap is Zenitsu and Inosuke. It's a generic battle shonen with slightly above average animation (Ufotable does better with Fate), there's nothing more than that, the script is crap and the dramatization is hilarious for being too bad. Worst of all is the fanbase forcing this shit like it's the best anime in the world because of some scenes with colored lights. Get out of the bubble and stop forcing this generic shonenlike divine animation because of colored lights. it gets to be very funny because the fans just force the animation of this shit, and there's nothing to talk about other "qualities".
Takoyucky69
02/13/2022, 09:28 AM
Several people tend to discredit Demon Slayer just because it is overrated, overhyped and has cringe moments. I'm not denying those. In my opinion, these statements reinforces the anime itself. Why, you may ask? People say it is overrated because of its animation. Well, I think this is the anime's strongest point. You have to be literally blind for you to not bask in Ufotable's prowess when it comes to animating every scene. It does excel in other areas, such as the music and score, where Aimer effortlessly delivers bops that I listen repeatedly. In a sense, I'm glad that people who say Demon Slayer isoverrated because they are complementing it. People say it is overhyped because those who have watched the series have excessively talked about it to others that it may have triggered close-minded people into thinking that this show is another generic shounen slugfest. Well, I think these types of people are just too preoccupied to the fact that every show/series/anime that becomes mainstream has a story and set of characters that are just basic. Which makes them feel superior when they negatively bash an anime that they haven't seen or completed yet. Which makes them inferior because they think they are the minority that have been challenging the majority, but in reality, these inferior beings are just clout chasers that talk shit about Demon Slayer, which I admittedly cannot conceive how they think like that. Their outspoken misgivings on Demon Slayer actually promotes the anime, making others see what the fuss is all about, thus ever increasing the viewership and, possibly, the Demon Slayer fanbase as well. Which I count as a win. People say that it has cringe moments because of its corny jokes during serious moments. Well, yes it does, in some times. But these are to help the story relax before and after the occurrence of intense action-packed set pieces and dramatic scenes. The way Zenitsu cries like a lil' bitch, the way Nezuko's eyes are just dots in her face, and the way Inosuke pig-headedly charges ahead are forms of comic relief to relieve the tension and buildup of the story. If you think otherwise, then okay, go laugh at Jimmy Kimmel jokes or something. Some people who cannot comprehend the sheer brilliance of this season and the anime in general might be butthurt AoT/FMAB fanboys and self-described "anime enthusiasts" who are acting high and mighty. Just kidding, people have subjective tastes and some may be too hard-headed to care about anything about Demon Slayer. But for those who genuinely do care, those who have followed the series since its inception, oh boy, you are in for an incredible and worthwhile ride. It may not be a masterpiece, but it is truly a masterful piece of modern art.
MonadProxyy
02/13/2022, 08:34 AM
Have you ever heard of demon slayer? Yes, that anime which everyone loves and calls a masterpiece, one that will be written down in the history as one of the best shonen's to have ever existed. Its for sure that its gonna happen but is demon slayer really worth it? Simple Answer, fuck no. This has been a complete down hill after it's first season which unfortunately also wasn't very pleasing to me. But. This is worse. All of the problems from last season continue, we get even more asspulls but the best episode now being one from this season, demon slayer is nothing but rottenfood that just sickens you. For one, it has the same generic, overused and absolutely garbage formula that not only makes a predictable story but one that has very little to enjoy about, no, no. I take that back! It has nothing to enjoy about! Its very frustrating watching a show that has no surprises for you and even the comedy makes you feel like drinking vomit! The comedy is basically: Character one: Chasing! Character 2: Screaming! Character 3: Screaming! Wow, the author somehow thought that's comedy, Yes! Screaming and running characters chased by more character doing the same thing is funny! Absolutely! That's hilarious! Who won't laugh? I mean, that's the funniest thing ever! The garbage, random and cringe dialogue make it worse. The repetitive cycle of this type of similar comedy (yes, they call that comedy) and it absolutely not improving is why this has to be the most unfunny thing I have ever seen in a (not dark, imagine thinking demon slayer is dark hahaha) shonen ever do. It's not hard to make good comedy, you have chainsaw man and jujutsu kaisen as an example. Despite both of them being shonen, they nail the comedy aspect! One might do it by bringing in perverted jokes or characters with funny goals instead of the "very" original and serious goal that Tanjiro has of saving her demon sister. Jokes are absolutely not perverted, none of them crack a funny or sex related joke. (this is something an interesting shonen does hehe) Not even once! The plot is set up to be either be fighting or unfunny and uninteresting characters who are doing random bullshit or on quests on hunting some fucking goddamn demon! One reason why the comedy also fails is that how the author made the characters. The characters and demons are supposed to be the same boring thing you have probably seen in every fucking old shonen. There is no good character development or there's none! Every fucking character, be it the main character, Inosuke, Zenitsu, Nezuko or even the Hashira's are super annoying. The character writing is also fucking hilariously bad. For Tanjiro, its because he is too kind (it makes him feel like every shonen protagonist) and keeps spitting random and unfunny stuff. Zenitsu is such a weakling and boring character, every time he is on screen he makes you vomit. He is a simp with nothing but this one trait of being a simp, his time on screen is either him fighting or him being a simp. Fucking whaaat?? Inosuke keeps shouting for no good reason. His character is very aggressive, making him an annoying retard. Nezuko does nothing aside from some fighting and she is not cute. Every hashira's is also very unfunny and keep speaking random bullshit. The art and animation may be the best part about demon slayer, for one the animation is done by ufotable a studio so top tier that every other shonen looks garbage in comparison, but I am not a fan of the animation style, its very flashy and the scenes aside from fighting aren't very pleasing to me. The character designs are also awful and I don't like them. The sound is like every shonen at least decent, the second seasons opening and ending theme wasn't bad but didn't feel as good as last seasons. The voice acting is amazing but its being put into a terrible show with ass dialogue where the voice actors need to shout or talk weirdly because that's how demon slayer's dialogues supposedly are. The fights apparently the best part about it are terrible, for episodes its like as: Demon Too strong. Heroes Can't win. Random Power Up. Monster Kill. This cycle is repeated to the point where its the formula of demon slayer. And this is one of the many reasons why demon slayer is one of the most boring anime to ever exist. I wish ufotable gave this kind of treatment to some good seinen manga such as Gantz hehe. (Joking, Joking, Gantz can never be adapted lol) To sum up the issues with Demon Slayer- -Them not to use much flashy colors -The comedy felt very forced to me, they could have cracked perverted jokes similar to csm -could have tried having more original plot twists unlike the same ones we have seen in other shonen -character writing needed more originality -dialogues felt cringe and out of place -very formulaic I understand that this might be a good anime for beginners but this is absolutely NOT a good show if you are looking for something more than bad jokes, great animated fights or a predictable story. Demon Slayer is unfortunately a terrible show which gets much undeserved love. If you are a beginner and want some actually good shows to watch, then try -Made In Abyss (s tier adventure) -Violet Evergarden (great drama) -Barakamon (God Tier sol) -Monster (peak mystery) -Odd Taxi (well written, solid mystery) -Samurai Champloo (fun, memorable) -Cowboy Bebop (fun, memorable) -Vinland Saga (good character, few issues related to character writing but most is fixed next season) -Mushishi (the god of sol) -Jujutsu Kaisen (a much better shonen than demon slayer) -Death Note (good mystery) -Kaguya sama (very funny) -Fate Series (great) -The Promised Neverland (obviously not season 2) -Bakuman (fun, inspiring) -Berserk (old version baka) -Hunter x Hunter (good shonen) -Houseki no Kuni (good characters, many issues in s1 but good) -Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (nicely tied plot) -re:zero (mind fuck)
CrimsonWanderer
02/13/2022, 07:50 AM
***THIS REVIEW MIGHT CONTAIN SPOILERS, AND MANY SPICY RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS*** Imagine being animated by Studio Ufotable, imagine being animated by the CG gods, the very same legends that crafted Fate/Zero, one of the best stunning anime ever made. And now, give them a new project that ain't a Type Moon Visual Novel adaptation or a lame video game adaptation, and what do you get? you get Kimetsu no Yaiba, one of the worst shounen I've ever had the displeasure of watching. But how could this anime be bad if it is being done by the amazing Ufotable Studio? Well, more than being Ufotable's fault,this is just evidence that the source material is awful. Kimetsu no Yaiba is an anime so bad, not even the top tier animation from Ufotable can save it from being a completely and irredeemable utter disaster. I really tried to like Demon Slayer, I really did, and while it's true that the visuals are good, they won't carry anything if everything else freaking blows ass. Do you like having headaches? Do you love when characters scream at each other for no good reason while they make the stupìdest faces trying to land an extremely bad joke? Do you enjoy having your eyes being completely obliterated by extremely over the top flashy visuals? Do you enjoy watching a fight extend itself aimlessly with characters outsmarting each other until the other end doesn't have any more tricks under their sleeve? Do you enjoy having random flashbacks of events that should have been told in cronological order being shown in the middle of a fight? do you like characters getting powerups through asspulls? do you enjoy looking at a little demon girl suddenly get a powerup where she grows to be a sexy thot that ends up being useless anyway? Do you enjoy same face syndrome? Do you enjoy listening to Aimer's voice while having Salsa and Merengue playing and absolutely ruining her vocals? Do you enjoy being spoonfed? Do you enjoy being stated the obvious by the character's thoughts? Do you enjoy plotholes? Do you enjoy petty plot devices? Do you enjoy being treated like a brain dead idiot? If the answer to anything above is yes, I suggest you go to the doctor, because there might be something wrong with you, there's no possible way someone can endure watching this turd of an arc and be okay with it. This Second Season of Demon Slayer is one of the worst battle shounen I have ever seen in my life, not only does the comedy get worse, the whole thing is almost unbearable, because every minute a character has to scream, every minute a character has to act like has some serious mental illness, every minute a character has to make noises or do something stupid because somehow Gotouge Koyoharu thought it would be a great idea to keep you entertained with stupid shit that actually exhaust you rather than amuse you, and while she's at it, she attempts to create action by insulting your intelligence. This arc is a single battle, ONLY 1 BATTLE THAT GOES THROUGH THE ENTIRE ARC. Don't get me wrong, there have been great battles in shounen that have gone through several episodes and have been great, but that's only if you know how to write action, never exhaust it and always come up with something creative that doesn't drown the viewer in a pestilence of more of the same shit, but Demon Slayer does not do action right at all, ever since the fight starts, the following things I'm going to describe, are the only things that have happened in the spawn of 9 episodes: Monster appear, hero fight, Monster succeeds, hero gets asspull, he gets power up, he succeed against monster, monster is not defeated, hero is surprised and tired, monster gets power up, reinforcements arrives, everyone gets power up, they clash, hero succeeds against monster, monster is not defeated, monster plays asspull, monster gets power up, monster obliterate heroes, heroes gets flashbacks, heroes gets asspulls, heroes gets powerups, heroes obliterate monster, heroes succeed... but they don't... IT WASN'T EVEN THE MONSTER'S FINAL FORM!!! Imagine writing such crap, give me a damn break, how are you able to create such a boring battle that instead of excite you, bores you to death due to how terribly formulaic and extended it is? This kind of format would work for 2 episodes, but 9? Imagine the fight beween Saber and Caster from Fate/Zero, each time Saber uses Excalibur, Caster gets a new form after being destroyed, now extend it for 10 episodes, how would you feel? like you were scammed? if the answer is yes, then how is Demon Slayer "action" going to be any worth it, if nothing valuable happens through all those episodes? That's the neat part, it's not worth it, it never was, and it will never be. Demon Slayer is absolute balls, braindead and 0% innovative and 100% amount of schleep. Ufotable, do yourself a favor, abandon Demon Slayer and embrace Type Moon forever and never ever attempt to adapt anything else, do not give shit manga godlike visuals, it won't save them from being an utter and complete failure. Oh boy, I'm tired, imagine being tired and bored after having watched 11 episodes of "action" and "comedy". Jesus Fucking Christ...
Natsuki_SanJuan
02/13/2022, 07:42 AM
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MASSIVE SPOILERS** Oh boy… There are two sides of a coin if you’re talking about Kimetsu no Yaiba; - Either love and enjoy it for the animation. - Or dislike it for the bad characters, cringe comedy, and the poor storytelling Animation is one of the main factors of an anime. However, how can you enjoy the anime if the plot or the story is poor? This leaves these two words that wise men always said; “Does the animation triumph a mediocre writing?”. “Can you ignore one to enjoy most of them?”. One of the confusing parts of the anime community is that if a franchise reallysold well to the viewers, they will claim it a “masterpiece”. And Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of them. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Entertainment District Arc is the sequel to the first movie of the franchise. The fans massively loved it for the “great story”, “great characters”, and for the animation that always triumphs. Hard-core fans always love to jump into the hype train and easily claim it as the “new-gen anime” and “masterpiece anime of all time”. If you’re new to anime, you will absolutely love it. However, if you see most of the shounen animes, you might criticize them for the poor elements and plot inconsistencies. Before I discuss the pros and cons of anime, I have to say a few things about the hard-core stans. Read and understood first my review before you attack my profile. So here it comes… Pros 1.Animation The animation of this show is superb, as expected from Ufotable. The viewers have always praised this show because of the art of this anime. The combination of 2D and 3D animation makes the whole show move more fluid. The cinematography and fight choreography are always fire. But I think it’s always Ufotable’s forte of animating things. The direction was pretty handled well but I always want to see some of its fights under the daylight. The amazing flashy things are always seen under the moonlight but I guess it’s because the demons are active during the night. 2.Sound The BGM was always good to the ears, as expected from Yuki Kajiura. She blended the traditional Japanese music and the thrilling action sounds for the action sequences, which is so great. The OP was catchy and it’s my first time to appreciate Aimer’s voice. The ED was good but I prefer more the OP than the ED. Cons 1.Story/Pacing I will discuss this as a former fan of the manga. Ever since the ending of the Mugen Train, the next story arc followed this formula; There’s a demon invasion in a certain place, a hashira pillar will investigate it, the three characters will join the hashira, discover the world, find the demon, fight sequences, some flashbacks, and then boom! ending. I saw it many times in some story arcs in the manga and it was almost repetitive. In this anime adaptation, the pacing was slow and awful. The first episode of the anime that had 45 mins long, consisted of the epilogue of Mugen train, and the prologue of Entertainment District. The pacing of the anime was slow because of additional view scenes as a visual-feast. This arc from the manga had a nice pace but it seems the anime was just full of action sequences, in most of the episodes. No character developments were seen throughout the entire season. The useless monologues of Tanjiro were shallow and repetitive, in almost most of the story arcs. He just repeated himself that; “I can do it!”, “I have to break the neck!”, “Stand up! Stand up!”, etc. like the viewers might react, “We got you already, dude. You said that for the nth time already…”. The fact that they were always bringing his dead family, as his “motivation to fight” was utterly repetitive. 2.Comedy I get it that most of the shounen have comedy, except AOT and Tokyo Ghoul if I may remember. The comedy in this show awfully sucks. I don’t know if they are trying to kill the intense mood of the series or just comic relief. The scene where one of the wives of Usui helped Inosuke from fighting the demon and then one of his wives just pulled a joke because she was scared of death was frickin’ horrible. Even the other parts of the season weren’t great either. The comedy was 3x worse than FMAB’s and it absolutely cringed. 3.Characters I’ll keep this short and straight to the point. The characters are annoying as their finest. The entire season was just full of action sequences and no character development whatsoever, just like what I said earlier. The three main characters were just being them, and no development and progress. Tanjiro was always relying on and bringing back his dead family as a motivation for fighting the demon. And then after that part, boom! Powered up to the next level! Inosuke and Zenitsu were just a comic relief after all. Usui got a little bit of development but not enough to make him a great character. 4.Ass-pulls and Plot Armor This element made me why I absolutely dislike this show. I get it that most of the shows have these two but in this show, it was countless times and getting out of hand. It’s just they are not humans, more powerful than the villains. I mentioned that Tanjirou always brings back his dead family, right? That was one of the ass-pulls I’ve ever seen. Many horrible plot armors I’ve seen in this show like when Usui got his arm chopped but didn’t die of blood loss and was capable of moving faster, Inosuke could frickin shift his heart while he was stabbed in the chest, Inosuke was capable of catching up Zenitsu after that poison, Zenitsu capable of escaping the building, and Tanjiro being alive after those massive injuries. I mean, how the heck did they survive all of that? They are just humans, right? Try those for yourself, let’s see if you can survive all of that. Kimetsu no Yaiba isn’t a bad nor a great show. It’s because the hard-core fans are always claiming it as a masterpiece and flawless, which makes the show obviously bad. I really want to enjoy this show, but it seems it’s hard to turn your brain off while watching this. This show is obviously for entertainment only and visual-feast. Some animes have a high level of animation but the story was bad or generic like GoH, Takt. Op. Destiny, MHA, etc. However, I don’t seem to understand why fans don’t consider Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of them. But that’s just me and I don’t care for anybody else. So that’s it folks, my review for this season. I’ll give this a solid 4+ because of those plot inconsistencies. But I do admit that I somewhat enjoy this show and its direction. As an anime fan, who always seeks a great story over animation, I could give this a 3 or lower. But it seems I’m generous this time. As a wrap of this review, I’ll quote this statement for the massive fanbase of this show, “Most of the people understood why people love Kimetsu no Yaiba. It’s because of the animation. However, can the fanbase understand why most of the people are criticizing the show and calling it a mid?” Who knows? You might know the answer.
Spirit_Chaser
02/13/2022, 07:29 AM
I tried to be patient during the first season and the movie. Now Demon Slayer plagues me again with another season of little progression glossed over with pretty animation. Season 2 for the most part was a recycled and worse version of season 1 because it still has the same problems but made even worse. Season 2 never came close to topping the greatness of episode 19 in season 1, and the last episode was terribly disappointing. The most impressive animation scenes are the only hollow like enjoyment I could get out of this. I can't give it praise. At most it's a guilty pleasure.Giving poorly written and developed demon a flashback was a mistake. How about the author write a good villain instead of preying on the viewer's emotions and forcing them to care this way? I waited for Nezuko to grow and instead she is still mindless and lifeless from within the plot box. To make it worse, they gave her random abilities with no further explanations. Honestly, that box should have been smashed long ago during one of Tanjirou's fights. What is it made of? It can't be wood. What is Zenitsu? When are they going to explain and make sense of his odd battle abilities? He's a powerful character written with cheap and convenient restraints. When he's not asleep, he is still obnoxious and unfunny. What is this author thinking? Inosuke may have the personality of a rhino, but I can't deny his character has been the most entertaining with a great voice actor and spirit. Who is the master? Why should I care? Why should I care about anything in this series? if this is a series where you are looking for character growth, you are in the wrong series. Even when Tanjirou was teased at being a coward I felt something because at least his character was deviating and going somewhere else from the norm. Every character failed to grow from the first season. There is nothing meaningfully new I can add about Tanjiro this time. The fights continue to be bizarre. Now characters receiving mortal blows can shift their organs around to avoid getting killed? Explosives that can destroy upper ranks? How? Sure, the fights look nice. Still, I'd rather be moved by a compelling story with great characters rather than lifeless tropes and pretty flashing lights and CGI crows. I've explained much of my position on Demon Slayer in my past two reviews of the series, and feel no need to repeat most of those points that painfully still apply to this series. And what was that last episode? Almost nothing happens because once again I need the ultimate sad sob story shoved in my face to care again about poorly written characters. Even the execution of this is terrible. Badly written characters being redeemed by sad sob stories every single time is some of the worst writing I have ever seen. There are many characters still left in the dust. Shinobu got seconds of screen time once again. I can already feel how this might drag on for endless amounts of seasons. That's the weakness of Shonen anime: it drags on endlessly with mostly mediocre episodes with a hit rarely in between. They are dependent on animation rather than story and characters. The music and comedy went downhill from there also. You can say I am being harsh. Still, if you look at what has influenced me you'd see I've been given a ruler of very high standards by them. I know what I am looking for in a series and Demon Slayer failed time and time again. Now, if you enjoy this, that's fine. I am just stating an opinion. This series has gotten progressively worse. That's not to say it had it's moments. There were at least a few times I was entertained and shocked. Still, this painfully reminds me about the mediocrity of shonen anime.
V4Watcher
02/13/2022, 07:25 AM
WARNING: This review is gonna be FLASHY!!!! Without further ado, onto the review (I’ll mark from where the spoilers start, so don’t worry. Continue reading this with the same amount of confidence that Zenitsu gets when he starts sleeping.) What do you get when you mix an amazing plot and harmonious soundtrack with unreal animation? You get Demon Slayer. I believe I don’t have to explain how much hype there was for Season 2, and I can confidently say Ufotable delivered more than expected. The animation was a blessing for the eyes, containing some of the best battles animation has to offer. The fluid fights resonated withevery atom of my body, making it pump out that adrenaline faster than Muzan could get pissed at his demons. Hopefully even the haters can agree, the animation is straight up amazing. Huge thanks to Ufotable for making this gem. Now, onto the story…. A delicate yet wonderful mesh of emotional moments, humorous dialogues and stimulating fights, this Season is packed with beautifully animated scenes. One scene you’ll be bawling your eyes out, the next laughing uncontrollably, and the next cheering for whoever you like. Perfectly paced, it slowly prepares you for what’s coming next, then explodes your mind with more than what you expected. Every scene is interesting, and not a single moment is wasted. This is one of the few anime, where not even a single scene has bored me. Even the music, especially the OP song was really good. Our not so smooth (I’ll tear your guts out if you slightly piss me off) criminal Michael Jackson gets some screen time briefly too, so that’s a plus. Now about the characters (Spoilers start from here. So for those who haven’t watched it yet, go watch it after mentally preparing yourself for an amazing journey.) Tanjiro – We once again meet with our good boy Tanjiro. What’s not there to love about him? Someone deeply relatable to us; a human trying to find their way in the world while struggling to hold tight and not let go the few precious things he has left, his sister and his friends. I have no siblings of my own, yet I could still feel the strong bond between Tanjiro and Nezuko. His passion reached the heart of Rengoku’s father, and he wrote letters to Senjuro without losing touch with him. These two scenes were short, but their impact was immense. It goes to show how much Tanjiro cares about others. His attitude, where he keeps going even when things look bleak, and pushes himself to the max, pretty much inspired me too. He’s no Saitama, but that will never stop him from trying harder. Uzui Tengen – Has one of the funniest entrances I’ve seen so far. Calls himself God of Festivals, and when Inouske called himself God of Mountains, he found him weird lmao. Has a pretty interesting backstory, and knows the value of life. When in danger, prioritise your life first, that way you can survive to fight another day. Nezuko – New power up was sick. Plant Nezuko looked really nice, while baby Nezuko was adorable. Zenitsu – Speed hax. Love how during all the important fight scenes he was asleep. Inouske – Rearranging internal organs and dislocating joints to move like a worm; I wouldn’t be able to make abilities like this even if I was overdosed with sake. Daki and Gyutaro – Tanjiro and Nezuko but evil. Their synergy was great and both of them really put up a good fight till the end. Their backstory in the last episode really hit me in the feels. Michael Jackson – I gotta say he’s one of the coolest and cruellest villains I’ve seen. The way his overwhelming power was shown blew me away. Basically my summary of this is - An amazing series having a beautifully crafted story, animated down to the finest of details, with the right sprinkle of humour, emotion and action. Before I go, always remember- Set your hearts ablaze and be FLASHY! ;)
NextUniverse
02/13/2022, 07:20 AM
Finally. We have reached cinema. Acme. Apex. Kino. Peak. Pinnacle.Zenith. THE GOAT. Demon Slayer is the undisputed impeccable face of shounen. Everything about Demon Slayer is of ultimate quality. Despite the common horde of "criticism" the anime gets, Demon Slayer is the anime that has left a name for itself. It will be on countless top 10s, it will be the classic of the future, it will live as eternal memory in the anime timeline. Anime so good I can assure you Japan is never going back into recession with this goat's existence. But anyway, before I get into the actual review, I'd like to do some talk on the community as a whole with fiction such as Demon Slayer. It is clear to just about anyone who uses forums, reads reviews, or just chat with friends, will find that people will be on one of two sides. The first group will see any piece of animation ("art" works too) and call it the best thing in the world, the second will see said art and slander it by calling these works "overrated" and "overhyped" and literally any other words of criticism frowned upon via hidden reviewer rules as being lazy to use. I've explained this before in another review of mine, however, I am going to be on a different side this time, and if you couldn't already tell from my score, the anime captivated me enough such that I do believe Demon Slayer is a work of art worthy of all the praise in the world. But. I'd like to stress something, which I will do very soon. Sure, Demon Slayer is lucky and all. It managed to get in the hands of a nice studio. Though something about Demon Slayer is still very striking and very honest that regardless of what you may think of the writing side, you have to admit that it has some masterpiece or at the very minimum, *good* qualities. The story of Demon Slayer is nothing grand, but it is honest. Really, that is all that matters. Not just that it is honest, but it also goes to no lengths to stretch anything out into absurdity. It plays its cards nicely, doesn't overstay its welcome with any lopsided tactics in a desperate attempt to engage the audience, because it is already amazing in itself. I feel as if simplicity is often overlooked in media these days, something simple cannot somehow be appreciated equally as other more sophisticated titles out there. I'd argue against it for sure. It's even more concerning to know that many people will be very quick to call Demon Slayer "generic", and honestly, that is "true", but what the hell does that word even mean in an honest sense? Generic relative to what standard? Why is X considered generic and not just a plot device made to make the story go forward, because you know, plots need plot devices? When you say "generic", isn't that just a broad term taking in everything rather than looking at Demon Slayer as a shounen anime? Which it so happens to be one. People will throw around terms like the aforementioned but it is bizarre to me that it can be used so carefree in an anime that is also not trying to present itself in a genre with different motifs and themes running behind them irrelevant to the common ones seen in the genre it actually is inside of. It's unfortunate really that the story of this show will get overshadowed by standards it does not need to meet. But let's go over why the story isn't even bad in the first place rather than saying that it doesn't need to do X and Y. For this particular season, Demon Slayer focuses on the chapter on Uzui Tengen and the three musketeers infiltrating the Entertainment District in search of Uzui's wives. Nothing in this particular season stands out for what currently exists, and I would imagine that the quality would stay this way for future seasons to come for the anime (as well as from what I read, I can kinda confirm). But, as mentioned beforehand, this is all a very honest story. What we are met within this arc is none other than typical shounen tropes with exemplary performances attached to their name. There are multiple moments in this arc where characters would be pulled under situations where seemingly all hope is lost and countless lives are placed in peril. Doesn't sound like a lot, but for a story of its kind, with the amazing execution in art and writing, you can truly grasp the situation. It is like a "feels" effect but for shounen anime. The stakes are real here and the characters' emotions follow through with zero losses in the system. I wouldn't go around dismissing stuff like this as low-quality effortless works that exist simply to hold the story together. It seems to me that people are forgetting the target audience needs, or if you don't want to be cynical, they are not respecting the high-quality aspects usually found when evaluating anime as its kind. All unfortunate stuff, but it is understandable why one may think like that, but it also kinda strikes me as a little dishonest to say that the quality of these shows are some level of objectively (lol) bad because they are using tropes seen everywhere. As explained, it isn't as if Demon Slayer is being half-hearted with these tropes. Hell, our characters are not even in their endgame yet, they are also recalling vital memories of the past as a means to grow themselves into the ideal state they wish to become. The writing here doesn't suck, I'd vehemently disagree, and it would be nice if people could understand my perspective on the story as to why the writing isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Honestly, though, I will say one thing, and that is speed. I don't mean pacing is bad—issues exist there, however. What I mean is that you have moments of intense action followed up with talking that can last a little while long enough to take up more time than necessary. In an anime that is heavily focused on action and the likes, I see this as a distorted fit, something that doesn't work as well as people may hope it should. It's something I went over in another review (might as well check out all my reviews at this point), but being too critical of the matter isn't something I'd say is necessary. Sure, it is slow at times, but it should also come to clear notice as to how this is a TV anime, which has different fundamentals than compared to, let's say, a movie. You should expect to find that there are moments here that might kill the tension, but in this fault, there are consequences that follow up with something impressive, to say the least. Moments in this TV anime that have low retention to action isn't something that is consistent in the viewing experience. Only a few times does that even happen? Something that might as well be insufficient depending on who you are talking to, but it is something that I wanted to note. Even in this review basically praising Demon Slayer for just about every matter that has been drawn, the fault is still around these corners. Nothing too devastating though. Would imagine most would enjoy such. Most of the aforementioned is a stereotype enforced onto shounen anime anyway. A little bit about the pacing too. For the most part, it was liveable, most of the moments were correctly allocated to the correct episodes. One thing I didn't like however is how each episode would get cut short but some cliffhanger relative to each individual episode. It wasn't due to me disliking the tension being carried forward, rather, the abrupt endings to everything that was happening. I suppose that too is common in shounen anime, but it was something that I didn't find to be the most appealing in my viewing experience. Some decent closure in each episode would have been nice. Aside from all I have rambled on about. The writing aspect of Demon Slayer is generally underrated for the most part. Again, I will hands down admit that it isn't Evangelion or Tatami Galaxy or whatever kind of obscure pre-2010 avant-garde title you can throw at me. But I will be there fighting for this anime's side in its writing quality. No development? Literal training scenes. Nothing to draw attention to? Recollection of the past and everything that has happened thus far AND how that impacts the characters in the anime currently. It's boring? Subjectivity issue. I'd hope more people would recognise the story as something a little more than it is "generic". I could go on but I'd like to write some more down on other aspects. Demon Slayer often gets the cynical side of criticism very easily and I just wanted to relay something to support what it had going for itself. The characters of the story here are one of the best points here too. Following on from the Mugen Train arc, everyone here is still amidst the long journey they brought for themselves and it comes across as something that still will be something of a grand trek. Again, these characters are training, these characters are reflecting, these characters still have a lot on their shoulders. This isn't some rubbish out of nowhere. It was something of a well-crafted or at minima, something that had thought behind it. These guys are very easy to attach to with their goals set in stone, doing everything in their power to make sure that such becomes a reality. Tanjiro. The wholehearted wholesome guy. You can actually tell he cares about his job as a Demon Slayer, keeping up the morale and having the motivation required for him to truly fit the role of the main character of the story. The aspiration everyone would like to take the path of in bettering themselves. He is the embodiment of a world-class shounen character. Zenitsu and Inosuke. Here, they may seem the same as it was when this first aired, however, I do believe that they have changed for the better even if in minuscule segments. With all that training and lessons along the way, they take up their swords to strike down the enemy ahead of them in a way that was not like the past. I mean shoutout to Zenitsu for that exemplary commanding skill even in sleep. Nezuko. Doesn't really have the best development, which I would agree with. Although she isn't some dead weight (never really was), managed to improve herself and come to some terms that may be of future reference in the future arcs. Uzui. The flashing legend. Although he is no Rengoatku, the dude is still a loveable Hashira that has managed to sway the hearts of many as he did his three wives. He's not all fun and games though. Along with his flashy style, he has still had a past that is deep enough to make you understand that the guy has been through a lot already, it only stacks atop one another with stakes with episodes of this season. A solid cast of characters all around for this season really. Everyone had a role here and all were executed to masterful status. It is amazing how far they made the anime so enjoyable. Nothing here has led me to believe this is low quality or anything. Played their roles well and I would imagine most of the audience would agree. Now. The animation. No words can describe how amazing it was. Ufotable is truly pulling out mad ones and was not messing around this season. Literally, everything here was to some quality that doesn't come around every so often in such a very very very good way. Fluid animation, literally every sequence of frames was something of a magical experience. You could feel the literal action, the fights, the sword swings, whatever, they were all performed to such a high standard it is genuinely incredible. So much stuff got the detail it deserved, so many more stuff got the vibrant nature is dreaded for. Ufotable delivered, and that is all that was needed to make everything work. The thing is with art is that it is powerful enough to make people obscure thoughts that don't correlate to 100% of everything they are talking about. Happens with anything that has good art. Violet Evergarden, Your Name, Silent Voice, Solo Leveling, Ousama Ranking, the list goes on ad infinitum. But Demon Slayer's art and story worked well so much together that I don't believe it is something of a misinterpretation to say that the art here obscures the value of the anime. Sure, as pointed out, the faults are there. But there are glory points people seem to be forgetting as well. Demon Slayer is a lucky fiction to get the attention it has, but I will also stand by it and defend it where it should because people think the criticism it gets is something that is quite unfortunate, which it certainly is. I love this art and it helped out everything, yeah, but I also love the works beneath it. I am not so cynical to hate this for it being flashy. I mean, Uzui would love for it to be too. I used to be very myopic with Demon Slayer. I have to admit, I at one point in life, would not hesitate to say "oh, this anime bad!! it just got good animation, it's not actually **good**" but then I came to terms with myself and understood that not everything needs to have criticism in a way that may make an individual seem unique. It is really okay to love anime like Demon Slayer, it seems we have forgotten mutual respect out of the stuff like so that come out, but where the nail hits seem to be for big shounen. It's quite sad, people can have the opinions they want, but it is also disappointing that a distaste for real good shows that are indeed simple pieces of elaborate work exist out there. Nothing wrong with that, and that's all I need for a 10. ufotable has achieved cinema, and it is only going to be wild from thereon. I'll see you all in the next chapter.
In_human
02/13/2022, 07:18 AM
**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS FROM SEASON 1 and THE MOVIE** After a long wait Ufotable finally graces us with demon slayer's new season. Honestly speaking I wasn't that hyped about Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc (Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen). People often call this anime overrated, is it though? Let's discuss Story: 6 Well there are many points I can defend Demon Slayer on but one part on which not even it's hardcore fans can't debate is it's story. It has a pretty basic plot an MC who was a normal kid before but due to some unfortunate incidents he became a Demon Slayer. It's basically the sameplot we see in various action shounen anime, kinda generic though. Despite of that it does few things different from other shounen's though it's not enough to make it stand out a lot. So, I would give it a 6 in story. Art & Animation: 10 Even if you hate Demon Slayer you can't complain about it's animation. Ufotable took a below average art style to a whole new level. I often see many people watching Demon Slayer just because of it's animation. Ufotable actually did an amazing job adapting Demon Slayer especially the fight scenes looked really good and were a feast to our eyes. So, definitely a 10 in Art & Animation. Sound: 9 The Studio did a good job for hiring Aimer for the Opening & Ending sequences. It really was nice to see something new this time. Other than that the OST's used in the anime were quite good too. And the most important thing the VA performance, each and every character's voice acting was done so good it felt like those character were speaking themselves rather than a voice actor doing it specially of Gyuutarou. At that note I would give it a 9 in Sound. Character: 8 After the introduction of upper moons in mugen train movie. I was really interested to know about upper moons more. This season does just that for me. We get to explore more about new types of demons, upper moons & hashiras. Every character got a chance in this season, all of the characters had a decent amount of screen time and played important role in the development of story. Each character had a chance to shine whether it be in action or just supporting the story to progress. So, I would give it an 8 in character. Enjoyment: 9 Let's be honest here Animation & Sounds play an greater role in enjoyment from an anime compared to story. Though in the case of Demon Slayer the story is decent it doesn't bore you at the very least. It keeps you entertained. Meanwhile Animation and Sounds playing their own role in it. Overall speaking I enjoyed Demon Slayer a lot so I would give it a 8 in enjoyment. Overall: 8 Now let's talk about "Is Demon Slayer Overrated?" I would say it totally depends on the viewers of this anime. This anime was just made for new watchers who just came recently and haven't watched much anime. So, I would say it's a little overrated in my opinion. As you can see it has just a basic story and doesn't offers anything new. I would give it a 7.5 but as we can't actually give it that in MAL so let's go with 8 or 7 (however you like) In my opinion it's an 8.
Drokster
02/13/2022, 07:15 AM
What makes a good show? The pacing, the plot, the characters, the themes, the execution, the direction, the music, the voice actors, the animation. These are all common things people point to when defining what is and isn’t a good show, and for good reasons. They are criterias that allow individuals, each with their own unique perspective, to gain a better judgement at differentiating the good from the bad. However with so many factors contributing to the success of a show, it comes as no surprise for people to cherish these factors differently. ‘Demon Slayer is only good for its animation’ ‘Without ufotable, Demon Slayer would just beanother mid anime’ But does a show need to perfect every factor to be good? No it doesn’t, because what is crucial to the success of a story, to a show, is that there is the essence of life in it. All the factors I mentioned above serve a greater purpose in the big picture, to ultimately bring life to a show, and in my eyes, KnY as a whole has done a splendid job at creating a beautiful, immersive work of fiction despite its undeniable shortcomings. KnY embodies the definition of a Shounen Battle Anime. Be it the loud battle cries, the tragic backstories, the vulnerable and triumphant moments of the main characters, the series engages the audience emotionally. And like most other Battle Shounens, KnY is founded on a very simple premise and based itself on well established tropes. Its simplistic, straight forward approach at writing a story has garnered the series a lot of criticisms which is completely understandable, but at the same time, its simplicity is also its greatest strength. KnY never required a grandiose plot to engage the audience, its very simplicity allows the audience to instantaneously grasp and understand what is going on behind the screens. Its refusal to diverge from the usual Shounen tropes welcomed those already familiar with them to the fandom. Its straightforward narratives allow the audience to easily root and empathise with the characters and their actions. KnY’s simplicity makes it easy for anyone to pick up the show and be invested. While other series sought to make themselves more complex to be more interesting, KnY took an entirely different approach. Its decision to play by simplicity, and polished said simplicity ultimately paid off as it brought the series into the mainstream spotlight, a feat that few anime have accomplished. But enough about KnY as a whole, let's talk about S2 shall we. xxxxxxx Slight Spoilers Ahead! xxxxxxx Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen built upon the foundations laid by the original season and the Mugen Train movie. With what transpired in the films before, there is now greater weight, threat and overall sense of ominosity throughout the whole arc. There is also an overall improvement in the direction of which the series is headed. Unlike Season 1 which felt episodic in the beginning , Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen knew where it was headed by setting up an end goal - To resolve the mysterious disappearances in the Yoshiwara Entertainment District. Though the pacing was a bit off at the beginning, the show soon found its footing and was relatively consistent throughout. In Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen, ufotable once again proves why they are one of the best animation studios in Japan (If we were to ignore their questionable work practises). After the heart warming display of familial love in Season 1 episode 19, and the tear jerking events that transpired in Mugen Train, expectations were high in terms of sheer quality of production for Season 2. Somehow, even with such high expectations, ufotable transcended and produced something way beyond my imagination. Animation quality is no doubt a huge determining factor for the audience’s enjoyment of the show, and with consistently better animation with each episode release, it is no wonder why there was so much discussion and hype surrounding the show during its air time. The fluidity, the dynamic camera angles, the consistent character model, the colour palette, the bland of CGI and hand drawn animations worked harmoniously together, climaxing in a spectacle of battles in Episode 9 and Episode 10, with what I regard as one of ufotable’s best works, right next to the Heaven’s Feels trilogy. But the quality doesn’t stop there. Hats off to the sound composers of the show, because the OSTs are absolutely epic. Whether it’s the character themes or just ambient music in the background, it brings so much life to the world of KnY, that you can’t help but be engrossed with whatever that is happening on your screen. They further captured the feeling of an ‘Epic’ through the amazing voice works done by each of the respective voice actors. The battle cries are so raw that it reaches to your soul, that you have no choice but to suspend your disbelief and appreciate the art form before you. The staff working at ufotable really out did themselves with the execution of the show. Now about the characters in the show, Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen introduced a new flamboyant mentor for the trio and a fantastic villain to match, which brought greater life to the show than anticipated. Uzui Tengen was a great addition to the show, bringing a much needed contrast to the personalities already present in the show. He screams pride, radiates arrogance but ultimately possesses a good character. On the surface, he seems to be the total opposite of the humble and diligent Tanjiro, the quirky and cowardly Zenitsu, the rash and confident Inosuke. Yet, their chemistry together makes so much sense. Why? Because they all share an underlying desire to protect, an underlying anger against those that do others wrong. And it is with this commonality that they found solitude with the Demon Slayer Corps in the first place. The villain of this season was also surprisingly well written, with great parallels being drawn between the villain and the protagonist, which makes the conflict ever so personal and meaningful to the main characters and to the audience. Though I admit that the characters in KnY are more towards the flat side, showcasing only 1 distinct character trait and hardly ever deviating away from it, the characters are somehow brought to life with the combination of well written character histories and amazing voice works. One must also understand that these characters are simplistically written to suit the simplistic theme of the show - the importance of bonds, the importance of life. Because in the world of KnY, becoming a demon is to reject the essential fragility of human life, to lose oneself despite not being born evil. It is a reminder that the easiest route is not necessarily the correct path to walk, a reminder to all of us to appreciate and cherish the things we already have in life - our friends, our family. It is cliche but KnY is unapologetically shounen and preaches virtues through the eyes and words of the main character Tanjiro. It can be campy, and to some even annoying, but to me these characters are endearing, because these virtues undoubtedly hold true in the real world. KnY does indeed have all the negatives that critiques point out. The ass-pulling, the exposition dumping, the long internal monologue. But whether you like it or not, KnY is currently a pillar in the anime world and will continue to be one as time progresses. It’s decision to stay simple, to stay true to itself is the reason for its overall success in becoming a great show even if it didn’t perfect all the factors. 9/10 Thanks for reading :)
noob2121
02/13/2022, 07:13 AM
Contains some mild spoilers. "Demon Slayer is carried by its animation" A common take that haters of this show love to spew, but how true is it actually? Demon Slayer S2 picks up immediately where the movie leaves off with the main trio and now the sound hashira going to the "entertainment district" to kill a demon residing there. It introduces us to the new Sound Hashira, and also new villains, in the form of a pair of brother-sister demons. It goes without saying that Demon Slayer's fight scenes look spectacular, i dont think i need to spend much time praising the visuals or itschoreography. When people talk about or hype up Demon Slayer, this is the first thing that comes to mind. While Demon Slayer may not be Ufotable's best work (that goes to Heaven's Feel in my opinion), it does not change the fact that it is still undeniably one of the most well-animated shows in the medium. The score is by the renowned Yuki Kajiura, and its decent. It compliments the animation and the fights well. It hits when it matters, nothing much else to say about it. The Aimer OP and ED, while they are very nice songs to listen to, do not really fit the dark, gritty tone that the show was trying to adopt, especially towards the latter half of the season, but i dont think this means a lot in the grand scheme of things so i wont dwell too long on it. Now onto the less amazing parts of Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer's character writing is very polarising. Tanjiro, probably the most interesting character, is an altruistic, selfless empath. He never fails to see the good in even the worst of demons. He is a nice guy at heart, and easy to get behind which makes for a likeable protagonist, but not necessarily the most interesting to watch. Zenitsu and Inosuke on the other hand, represent running gags that the show has. Inosuke is aggressive, hot-headed and short-tempered, while Zenitsu is a simp. Most of their dialogue and personality revolve around this one trait that they have. While fans may find them to be funny and great comic relief, I am certainly not one of them. The 2 new antagonists have a somewhat endearing sibling relationship, but we are spoon-fed their backstory just as they are about to die. It comes off as if they are forcing us to feel sad for characters that we would otherwise not care about. Because, before the backstory, i saw the 2 villains as one-note, blank slate villains which will surely die by the end of the season. Their backstories are admittedly somewhat sad and heartbreaking and I am sure that these moments do make many viewers feel for the characters, and thats great. However for me, and lots of people i've interacted with, these moments come off as emotionally manipulative and forced. The dialogue in Demon Slayer is very VERY bloated. There is an extraordinary overuse of monologues. Monologues arent inherently bad, but when its used so much, it gets to the point of being completely meaningless. This causes the flashy, pretty looking fights to become somewhat boring and stale. What do i mean by this? Demon Slayer has a tendency of treating its audience like they are 3 year olds who dont have basic reading comprehension. It feels this need to explain everything that happens on-screen, even the most blatantly obvious things. "I'll slash as hard as i can!", "The slash didnt go through!!" This kind of "walkthrough dialogue" (a term coined by a friend of mine) that almost narrates the events shown, give the fight sequences themselves a lot less impact and make them far less meaningful or immersive. As for the tonal inconsistencies, there are many sudden tone changes that happens out of the blue. The show would randomly crack a joke in the middle of a fight, the music stops, and some sound effects intended for comic relief start to play. Dont get me wrong, comic relief isnt bad, but the timing is what matters, and Demon Slayer times these comic relief moments IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTENSE FIGHT SCENE. This breaks immersion, and reduces investment, especially when it comes out of nowhere. Thankfully, as the season progressed, this became less and less of a problem as the show managed to stick to the dark, gritty tone that it had originally intended to adopt. Demon Slayer is also rampant with plot conveniences. Characters would have broken fingers, be punched in the gut 10 times or so, and still effectively be at full fighting capacity. At one point, Tanjiro goes down, has a flashback about Nezuko, manages to get back up (albeit with a little bit of difficulty and limping), and is suddenly ready to fight again, "Determination conquers all", a common theme throughout the series. So whats the problem here? The injuries and hits that they take feel very meaningless. Yes sure, when they do get hit, they get hit very hard, but why does it matter? They just get back up a minute later as if nothing happened to them. Fingers broken? Just hold the sword with your remaining fingers lmao. Got stabbed through the chest? Just shift the position of your organs lmao. This can potentially stop me from taking the fights seriously, as the stakes become nonexistent. The only real stakes that are present, come at the end of the season, but by then, the fight is over, and the impact that it leaves, is not very significant. Its easy to see the appeal of Demon Slayer, and i do enjoy what it has to offer. It is easily accessible, easily digestable, and it looks great, making for a very entertaining show to watch, but its definitely not without its fair share of flaws. I imagine the diehard fans of the series either dont consider my issues as flaws, or are willing to overlook the flaws despite them being present. On the other hand, i imagine that the diehard haters think the positives count for little when the myriad of other flaws are present. Both positions are totally reasonable and understandable. Thank you for reading.
SingleH
02/13/2022, 07:00 AM
*out-of-context spoilers* People always say Demon Slayer is only popular thanks to its dazzling animation, but I completely disagree. When you actually sit down and watch it, you just see some generic, uninteresting shounen, and yet everyone acts like it’s this incredible masterpiece, so why the massive difference in opinion? It must be the flashy animation, right? Personally, I doubt it, because shows with good animation are ignored just as often as shows with bad animation are propped up. The most well-animated show of last season was Ousama Ranking, and it wasn’t even in the top five most popular shows of the season here on MAL.The most well-animated show from last Summer was Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid S, and conversely, it was in the top five. Spring was Vivy, and it wasn’t. And Winter was Mushoku Tensei, but it was. My point is there’s no consistency in behavior. Shows like Attack on Titan: The Final Season can have laughable CG and be defended ferociously, while shows like Overlord III can have equally laughable CG and be unanimously mocked. Obviously, the visuals have a lot to do with Demon Slayer’s ability to go viral online, but if you ask me, the real key to becoming this much of a monolithic mega-hit is its accessibility. This is not a show where the writers feel the need to diversify their exposition dumps. Even mid-battle, every character is perfectly willing to spontaneously inner-monologue any information even slightly necessary for the audience, and everyone’s motivation is so simple and straightforward, that to forget it, you would have to forget the entire existence of the character. If you’re a cynical bitch like me, it’s very easy to think, “Wow. This show must be written for retards, five-year-olds, or retarded five-year-olds.” However, I finally realized it’s not that it’s written for retards or five-year-olds. It’s written for people who literally haven’t watched the show before. Allow me to explain. This is going to come across as extremely condescending and insincere, but one thing I genuinely really appreciate about Demon Slayer, and the deciding factor which I think makes the show so easily accessible to such a vast audience, is that it’s so shallow and superficial, it requires no commitment and no real attention to enjoy. That’s an insult packaged within a very thin compliment, I understand that, but I’m being very genuine when I say this, because season one of Demon Slayer for me was a twenty six week long nap. I mean, seriously, I slept through so much of that first season, I truly do not remember even an hour’s worth of its content. I remember pretty much all of episode one, because I go into every show with somewhat of an open mind, and this is especially true with Demon Slayer, because ufotable has earned their reputation. I know their shows will never just be total effortless dogshit, and thanks to the massive marketing initiative Aniplex launched to advertise it, I had already seen the promotional material as well. I really loved the colors and the whole Taisho-era aesthetic of the show, so I really wanted to like it. When it turned out to be totally milquetoast and boring, that attention faded very quickly, but for at least episode one, I had my brain turned on, and I therefore remember how everything starts. This is important, because with shounen manga adaptations, the inciting incident is all that really matters. By the end of chapter one, you always have your one and only goal, and this one and only goal is the backbone of the Weekly Shounen Jump formula. Find One Piece and become Pirate King, become the Fifth Hokage, find all seven Dragon Balls, find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human, etc. But that’s where my memory kinda stops, and yet the fact my memory stops in no way impedes upon my enjoyment of the show. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. Having watched season one in this drowsy stupor, barely sober and barely awake, I only really remember a few distinct, well-executed moments beyond episode one. I remember Tanjiro cutting the boulder in episode four; I remember Zenitsu unveiling his sleep attack in episode twelve; I remember the Blessed Rain After the Drought from episode sixteen; I remember Zenitsu going crazy in episode seventeen; I remember most of episode nineteen, as well as how they invalidated the victory in the following episode and CG water man had to come and finish off the spider guy; and I remember that one Hashira trying bait Nezuko into attacking him in one of the later episodes. But that’s not how the series actually plays out, because Demon Slayer was twenty six episodes worth of content, not just those few moments I was able to recall and describe. It had a plot, it had multiple story arcs, it had tons of dialogue I’m sure, but it was so tortuously boring, it always put me to sleep. I must also stress that I did not binge this. Every single week for twenty six weeks, I would turn on the new episode and just pass out. My soul would just exit my fucking body. When I went to go see Infinity Train, I asked these three boys who were sat near me in the theatre if we’d met Rengoku in the show before, and when they said, “no, not really,” I burst out laughing. His character development in the movie was easily among the most unoriginal, uninspired, generic shounen flashback backstories I’d ever seen, and since his whole personality was just haha lol so funny haha he said UMAI! haha xd funny meme bro haha ayy lmao haha, that by the time the end of the movie came around and he was fighting some OTHER fucking guy who we also just met and who had EVEN LESS screen time or memorable characterization, I was just cracking myself up in the theatre cackling like a psychopath screaming, “Who the fuck ARE you?!” All of ufotable’s most talented staff came together to produce one of the most spectacular fight sequences I’d ever seen, but there was no tension, no excitement, no emotion, no engagement, no anything, because the combatants were these two shallow non-characters who I only just met and who I didn’t give half a shit about at all. The result is an unbelievable spectacle that’s only impressive for the sake of being impressive, and that’s it. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. Despite remembering only a handful of moments from season one and sleeping through the rest, I was able to watch Infinity Train (and now The Red Light District Arc as well) without feeling confused or missing the appeal at all. THAT’S the key to Demon Slayer’s success. It’s not successful simply because it has flashy animation—those people are just haters spouting random shit to diminish the show’s achievements because they don’t like it. It’s successful because anyone in Japan, whether they’re young or old, boy or girl, man or woman, student or professional, unemployed or retired, ANYONE can turn on the TV, see a sociopolitically whitewashed, inoffensive portrayal of Taisho, the most beloved and romanticized era of Japanese history, with pretty colors and a simple story, and say, “He wants to save his sister? That’s nice.” That’s called accessibility, and it’s why Demon Slayer is so popular. It’s boring and generic? Why the hell am I talking like these are bad things? Being boring and generic is exactly what people like about it! Like I said at the beginning of this review, it’s not written for dummies. It’s written for people who literally haven’t watched the show before. It’s written so that if you’re flipping though channels and land on Fuji TV, it’ll be more effort to find something else than it would be to think, “Eh. This looks fine.” If anything, the more dumbed-down the script is, the easier it is for people to get on board. In episode one of season two, Mini Rengoku says to Tanjiro, “But you came all this way for it, only to end up learning nothing about Hinokami Kagura or what my father called ‘Sun Breathing’,” and I seriously laughed for something like two minutes straight. The dialogue in this show is fucking negative IQ level shit. It feels like watching Alex Kurtzman’s Mummy, where the blonde lady has to keep explaining to Tom Cruise who his character is supposed to be so the Chinese theater audience has multiple opportunities to read the subtitles. This tiresome, dull-witted approach to scripting is reflected in the notoriously bad comedy as well, because there are no jokes in Demon Slayer. There is no written humor. It’s just a bunch of dopey physical comedy. Never does it setup or payoff a real, constructed joke. It’s just: “HAHA He screamed! XD” “HAHA He fell over! XD” “HAHA He made a silly face! XD” It’s such basic, bargain-bin humor that even a monkey could laugh at. It can get me to smile when it stops trying to play itself straight—like at the beginning of episode two when Tanjiro and Uzui are doing this unfunny comedy routine, and it just keeps cutting to Zenitsu going, “What the fuck are these people talking about?”—but most of the time, the childish humor is just as annoying as it’s ever been. And don’t even get me started on the inept tone. When I reach the point as an audience member where I’m watching the red-haired demon guy from Infinity Train shuttering in terror, groveling in fear, getting fiercely accosted by the main villain who looks like shota Michael Jackson, I have to take a step back and ask whether or not this is supposed to be funny. I mean, when they cast Maya Sakamoto, utilize her perfectly, but then make her embarrassingly bawl, “Tasukete, Onii-chan!” I’m not thinking, “Wow! What a dramatic character arc!” I’m thinking, “How the fuck am I even supposed to feel about this character?” I saw someone attempting to defend the shitty writing by arguing that generic shounenshit we’ve seen a million times like villains who waste time soapboxing instead of killing the protagonists shouldn’t be criticized because, indeed, we’ve seen this trash a million times and should be accustomed to it. This is a classic example of thinking with low standards. Yes, this trope is used as a crutch for hack authors who write themselves into corners all the time, but does that make it okay? Does banality elevate something above criticism? No, of course not. It isn’t not bad because it happens all the time; it’s bad, and it’s bad every time it happens. This, of course, is only addressing the general archetypes. I haven’t even touched the seriously goofy shit yet… >Shifting the positions of my internal organs and having immunity to poison is child’s play because…I grew up in the mountains? >Before, I was lightning speed, but when the narrative requires it, I AM GODSPEED. (please ignore Killua rip-off) >Nezuko burns away the demonic poison, and Tanjiro literally says “idk lol” when asked how she can do that. >”’Score?!’ Did he say ‘score?!’ Did he turn my Blood Demon Art into a song and deflect it?!” Yeah. Not exactly the most brilliantly written show in the universe. With a script THIS dumb, it’s no wonder ufotable relies on spectacle. To give credit where it’s due, Demon Slayer never derails and stays true to its core themes, hackneyed as they may be. If recent best-sellers are anything to go on, you can clearly see the “Big Three” era of 700+ chapter manga is over. A fantastic adaptation which greatly elevates the source material, amazing character designs, no extensive filler, good music, cool fights—just turn your brain off, and what's not to like, right? I’ve also seen people underrate Tanjiro as a character, labeling him a generic goodboy MC and moving on, but I think he's actually quite distinct from typical shounen protagonists. What makes him interesting is how his conscience is handled. He accepts the fact demons were once people, and he is able to sympathize with them despite the atrocities they commit, typically in the form of high bodycounts. However, he is also resolute in his efforts to slay them, and he does not hesitate to deliver killing blows. This apparent contradiction is justified by Tanjiro's innate respect for life: the driving, defining force behind his moral compass. This makes him relatively unique compared to most shounen protagonists, as he not only delivers killing blows frequently, but also with the knowledge he is deliberately ending an intelligent being's life—killing "people" that have been unsalvageably corrupted. I can't think of too many shounen protagonists who actually kill their enemies, much less one who is portrayed as a traditional hero as opposed to some edgy anti-hero. Deep character, right? Maybe, but what this boils down to in execution is: “Those lost lives will never return! They can never come back! Those made of flesh and blood can’t do what demons do. Why would you rob them? Why would you trample their lives?” There’s a solid character conceit hidden somewhere behind all that bland, platitudinous drivel, but it’s completely smothered by this Anakin Skywalker, Attack of the Clones-level writing. The only character who overcomes the shitty writing is Uzui. Uzui is not only the first character with enough actual characterization for me to consider a character at all, but he’s also the first member of the cast to actually make me like them as a person even a little bit. I just love it when anime prominently features men written by women, because unlike the majority-male industry of manga authors who write uncharismatic, unimposing, self-insert characters, female authors are actually comfortable with having men who stand out and leave an impression. When this guy was introduced slapping some girl’s ass, taking children into Red Light Districts, selling said children into prostitution, and boasting about his harem of three beautiful wives, I could not wipe the grin off my face. Much like the pandering waifus we always see in anime written by men, it is crystal clear to me that Uzui’s painted nails and flamboyant, fujoshi-bait K-pop aesthetic is the embodiment of everything the author fetishizes in a man. To me, he just screams old, hair metal, 80s rock bands like Guns N' Roses or Mötley Crüe who had long hair, wore make-up, and got beauty treatments at glamor salons. They all looked very feminine, and yet they had literal oceans of topless women throwing themselves at them. For all the basement-dwelling otaku who wouldn’t have the slightest idea what rock stars used to look like before the year 2000, let me just say I don’t think it’s a coincidence this guy is called the “Sound Hashira” and defeats his enemies with the power of music. Again, Uzui slapped some chick’s ass, and all the shameless girls on social media were immediately smitten, slobbering over their screens wishing they were her. No male author could manufacture that shit, and unlike the cast up until this point which has consisted entirely of cookie-cutter shounen re-skins, Uzui gives this series a much needed spark of personality. No offense to Director Sotozaki—and, yes, I’m fully aware fans of this series probably have little to no conception of what it means for something to be “well-directed”—I have no idea why this series hasn’t been handed over to Toshiyuki Shirai yet. His episodes are always more visually interesting, and I’d be curious to see if he could improve the tortuously boring episodes filled with nothing but braindead comedy and snail-paced narrative progression, or if he only seems wildly more talented as a director because he was lucky enough to be tasked with handling the more memorable episodes. Either way, the visuals are exactly what you’d expect from Fate-fotable: Unlimited Tax Evasion Works. Whether they’re drawing a still pose, adding speed lines, shaking the frame, and spamming digital effects, or actually treating us to well-rounded, legitimately impressive animation, the audience will eat it up regardless and denounce anyone who suggests the series has less than perfect visuals as a dishonest contrarian…but people call me that anyway, so fuck it. Let’s nitpick. First of all, no matter how relentless they are with their post-processing, ufotable still can’t hide their CG. The CG ribbons aren’t as bad as the CG tentacles from Infinity Train, but still. The main digital effects worth complaining about are the Michael Bay fireworks Uzui throws around, and of course, the fire. The digital smoke effects they love using in this aren’t terrible, but no matter how good ufotable’s compositing is, no one can make that Shutterstock™ fireplace.gif look natural. I could go on, but you get the point. Demon Slayer is an impressive, beautiful show, but anyone who says it’s flawless knows nothing about animation production. This show aired an episode with fight sequences nearly outclassing its own movie on the same day Attack on Titan ended on a jpeg of a manga panel, so even I’d feel petty for nitpicking too much. I have high standards, so even though I never had any real animosity toward Demon Slayer, I gave season one the negative score it deserved. Remember, it’s only real problem was being trite and consequentially boring to any thinking viewer, but by allowing myself to fall asleep, I didn’t torture myself with it. The result of this uncaring attitude is that all I really remembered about the show by the time Infinity Train came out was the handful of awesome highlights which actually kept me awake, so even though I’m consciously aware of its shortcomings and failures, all the memories I had of it were great. Feeling generous and not wanting to sour these good memories, I had a truly brilliant idea. To take advantage of the—how should I say this?—subcultural predilections of my fellow Americans, I bought a ticket downtown and reserved a seat at a theatre with a bar to guarantee the audience would be a lively, rowdy, urban bunch. This way, I could get shitfaced, overreact and talk shit, and still ultimately be quieter and more courteous than 99% of the hollering moviegoers sharing the cinema with my good self. A genius move, needless to say, because I had a fucking blast watching Infinity Train—easily the most fun I’ve ever had watching anime in a movie theater—and I didn’t even kill myself driving all the way home. (Don’t drink and drive, kids. I’m not a role model.) The point of the story? Demon Slayer is perfect for casuals who just want to turn their brains off and gawk at pretty colors and loud noises, or losers like me who just want an excuse to indulge in some nice, diversionary substance abuse to escape the tedium of their lives and be ever so briefly stupefied by visual excess. Decorate it as much as you want; a garden-variety shounen manga adaptation filled with nothing but one-note characters, lowbrow humor, and multi-episode, asspull-ridden fights simply is what it is, ufotable animation or not. Thank you for reading.

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