Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[MFauli]

We movie quality now?


The new jutsu definitely felt like an asspull, no matter what subtle hints there might have been. BUT it was presented in such epic manner that I dont care.

Reminded me a bit of "that" episode of ReZero when the quality and drama made a huge jump upwards in terms of quality for just one episode. Even got the whole "music fades into the ending" thing.

This anime Startes out strong, then fell into a slump, but has now gotten really great for the past 5-6 episodes. Nice turnaround.

[Munsu]

Wow, even if the whole series were pure shit, it would've been worth it just to see this episode. I got goosebumps watching it.

I'll ignore the nonsense aspects of the episode for the time being, don't want to ruin the mood.

[KrayZ33]

What an amzing episode - so beautiful to look at.
Edit:

And Beast dude is such a cool battle-buddy too. I kinda like his style.

[Munsu]

I forgot to mention, so glad that a character voiced by Hayami Saori was introduced. Big fan.

[KrayZ33]

Episode 19


At first it seems like a total ass-pull, power up out of nowhere. Convenient background backfill out of nowhere. Oh, so Tanjiro's family had their own secret breathing technique...bad writing...right? But still visually amazing.

To be fair - the (demon slayer) heritage has been hinted at. Muzan has a personal grudge against those earrings. (the exact same ones even)

[Ryllharu]

I like that you failed to read the entire remainder of my post.

[DarthEnderX]

This episode was rad as shit!

[KrayZ33]

I like that you failed to read the entire remainder of my post.

Nah.
Just overlooked the earring part.

It's just that the Demon Slayer heritage was rather obvious. So it never really was something "hidden" to me that required someone to connect dots and it was the first thing that came into mind when that intermission scene was being played.
I'm saying, they literally showed a picture of a Demon Slayer wearing those earrings - basically screaming "There once was a high ranked (since he nearly killed Muzan) individual who had the exact same set".
That's why I mentioned it, not knowing that you basically excluded that of the "convinient"-background backfill with that one sentence.

^
edit: holy - that took me more tries to correct/edit than I thought, because it kept sounding like I'm saying that you didn't mention it

This episode was rad as shit!

That episode is basically the reason why I still watch anime to this day. Not exaggerating here. I loved the whole thing.
I also loved how Rui was animated during the small "chase" when he backed away from Tanjiro.
With his glowing eyes during the night in the middle of the woods, he still managed to look creepy and demonic even so he was so far in the background. I'd imagine that you could make hundreds of wallpapers out of the whole fight (if you are a fan of the series) if you pimp up the resolution some more.

https://imgur.com/gU2v4ed

just like this one - snipped out directly out of the scene.



edit edit:

Oh wow, I just noticed only now, after looking at the fight again - his scar on the forehead has changed. I always thought it was just "bloodied" and opened up or something but it isn't. It really changed from a "burn" to something else that is more similar to a tatoo.
His father has had the same mark too, not the tatoo version, but the "burn"-version.
Did they specifally mention it somewhere and I forgot? By the looks of it - it changed after he got it patched up post final-selection.

[MFauli]

Fantastic animaton and sound aside, I love the scenes where a clearly weaker character overwhelms a clearly stronger opponent (as long as it's not too bs). Usually when a hero fights a villain, the villain seems to havw the upperhand, but you can see that theres a chance for success. This was not the case here. More than once during this fight I was expecting someone to save him, be that Nezuko or, after she got caught, those uber demon slayers. But that didnt happen ... and Tanjiro pulled through!

Other such scenes from other anime would be Gon vs Pitou or Rock Lee vs Gaara (even though he loses in the end). Also Kuririn pulling some punches against evil Puccolo at the end of Dragon Ball (not Z).

[MFauli]

Btw after rewatching: The bigger asspull wasnt Tanjirus new skill - having that flashback of his dad can be explained by "people see their entire flashing beforw their eyes before a deadly hit".

What cant be eyplained is how ghost-mama woke up Nezuko ��*♀️

[neflight86]

Fun episode and great animation, but I have to fall on the side of feeling like this was too much pulled for too little foreshadowed. Even during the fight, I was thinking it was a silly power upgrade that came out of nowhere.

It worked for the story's purposes, though, and everyone enjoyed the fight, so what do I know?

[DarthEnderX]

I love the scenes where a clearly weaker character overwhelms a clearly stronger opponent (as long as it's not too bs).

I prefer the ones where the one character assumes the other character is clearly weaker, but then as soon as the fight starts they're like "Oh shit, I fucked up!"

Happens in One Piece a lot. Probably because Luffy looks like a bum.

[Buffalobiian]

The main issue is that these are "breathing techniques". In traditional Chinese martial arts sense there's the inner art (directions on breathing, what you focus on etc as you move) and the outer arts (actual physical moves and postures you assume). You can't learn inner art from just watching a dance. You need to be taught it, or self-realise it through practice and error.

In other words, emulating someone's moves without emulating their state of mind, breathing or focus doesn't yield the same results. The fact that we didn't get any training of breathing techniques from dad prior to this - then be able to pull off practical Fire God moves is the stretch.

Overall though, I don't actually mind. I was spoiled into knowing that he obtains this technique at some point, but I had no idea how or when.

And Nezuko-mama isn't that bad. She's just dreaming.

From what I've heard, ufotable handled the foreshadowing a lot better than the manga as well.

[shinta|hikari]

There was training. The dad taught him the breathing techniques and the dance. It was explicitly mentioned (not sure if it was translated well enough in the subtitles) that his dad told him to keep practicing both, no matter what.

The asspull part is the fact that we were never shown this training prior to it being mentioned this episode, especially because he didn't seem to know anything about breathing techniques until mask-sensei taught him.

[Ryllharu]

I think it is because Tanjiro didn't think to connect the two until now. His father taught him breathing techniques for dancing. Ones that would let him perform ceremonies in the cold air for very prolonged periods of time. He learned fighting separately and for short bursts of movement.

He should have mentioned it back on the training mountain. The thin air, the breathing techniques. His frail father, breathing techniques.

[Buffalobiian]

The asspull part is the fact that we were never shown this training prior to it being mentioned this episode, especially because he didn't seem to know anything about breathing techniques until mask-sensei taught him.

The translation said this: "Tanjiro, if nothing else make sure this kagura and these earings get passed down to you uninterrupted. That's what I promised."

The logical thing for me is to assume that a single word is missing from "if nothing else I'll make sure..." rather than assume the rest of the line required multiple changes instead.

All that meant to me was that his father intended to pass it on. Whether he did or didn't before he died was an unknown, and all I could see what that Tanjiro had observed some movement.

[shinta|hikari]

He actually said that these things should be inherited no matter what. So yes, Tanjirou did practice and inherit them.

I just wish I knew about that 10 episodes ago.

[Buffalobiian]

He actually said that these things should be inherited no matter what. So yes, Tanjirou did practice and inherit them.

I just wish I knew about that 10 episodes ago.

I made some edits without knowing you posted.

So you're saying that Dad asked Tanjiro to pass these things on, and we're assuming that it was adequately taught from Dad to Tanjiro?

[shinta|hikari]

Yes. .

[Buffalobiian]

Very well.

Then if that's the case, the weird part comes down to Tanjiro not connecting the two earlier, as said earlier.

The very fact that he pulled it out now is also contentious, since Tanjiro only knows that Fire breathing gives him endurance. Endurance wasn't his issue. He needed power to cut through the red strings, and there's no reason for him to assume that Hinokami Kagura would provide that.

As a last ditch effort anything goes, but there's no good reason for Tanjiro to think Fire dancing should give him heightened destructive powers, if that thought went through his mind at all.