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Thread: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

  1. #121
    Awesome user with default custom title neflight86's Avatar
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    This kind of discussion is where my passion lies...

    Shounen power scaling... truly a mysterious art that is required to harmonize with the tone, scope, and theme of a shounen for it to dare step into the pantheon of great shounen anime.

    As I see it, there are four important factors in long for conflict/battle driven manga to present interesting progression and conflict: Properly paced strength scaling, Revelation of Scope, power interactions, and poignant power revelations.

    Being long form stories, shounen has a very real 'power ceiling' that, once passed, just becomes boring, ala DragonBall. If the numbers just keep increasing but the basic 'gameplay' doesn't change, fights stagnate with simply bigger explosions. Kimetsu is somewhat average in this department, as recent shounen have moved away from flat numeric systems to represent power and typically favor more general rankings based systems. The hashira are understandably impressive, but revealing their prowess this early sets a soft limiter on how impressive the other nine ranks can be while maintaining continuity. The same goes for the other 12 high class demons, however they are easier to retrofit into being stronger or weaker as needed by the story conceits thus far. This creates some burden on the author if they plan to explore the other ranks, as viewers (especially young WSJ readers) are ill equipped to tell apart a very nuanced differentiation of power levels like this, meaning more exposition will be necessary down the line.

    This battle also served to set some scope. This is actually the most difficult one to get wrong (which is why I am the most harsh critically of Fairy Tale - because it screwed this up royally) among shounens. Giving the audience a taste of coming distractions and where the hero is headed is great for re-invigorating hype; especially earlier in a series. Again though, the author played his big cards very early, and while this can work (Mihawk in One Piece), it still created a storytelling burden where future characters will likely be compared to the heights of what we have experienced, and that reduces their potential impact on the audience. We've seen the best, so what else could impress us aside from the final villain? From what I hear, Bleach suffered from this as well. Did the author do this as a desperation move to preserve rankings in WSJ, or are they planning on a shorter tale that doesn't need to 'save' high rank character reveals until later? They are a precious limited resource to a WSJ mangaka, so I expect it is more the former...

    The power interactions were a mixed bag. On the one hand, modern shounen has largely attempted to sidestep generic 'strength' in determining battles and has taken a page from Jojo in having more clever application of powers deciding battles versus 'strength versus strength'. The split I would guess to be around 50/50. That was largely missing from this battle tactically, but represented fairly well in the animation and choreography, so I don't have any real complaints. Series like Shoukugeki no Souma are entirely built on this, as well as most sports shounen. My Hero Academia also emphasizes this, as well as HxH, and arguably the best (early) portions of Naruto.

    The power reveal and relation is the only strong criticism I have for this fight. Like I said, the foreshadowing was paltry (mid-fight flashback) and the power up felt unnecessary, especially since he was saved by the Hashira anyway. It was flashy and exciting, but it didn't have the emotional impact that the best kinds of battles do. For a demonstration of this done right, I would suggest the original Dempsey Roll reveal in Hajime no Ippo. To be fair, Kimetsu didn't have (or take) the time to build this up as much before springing it on us.

    Some of these 'compromises' might be due to the compacted format this show has been produced in. UFOtable isn't a long running show producer, so they may be trying to cram in as much source material as possible into its run, showcasing instead its beautiful animation. Still a solid watch, though.

  2. #122
    Linerunner MFauli's Avatar
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    Hm, I wouldnt complain about Tanjiro being saved by the hashira guy, even after getting a power up. It was meant to evoke desperation, like "omg, the hero gave it his all, but even that wasnt enough!". Worked for me.

    Btw thats why HXH remains the best shounem. Even now the manga has no issues with power ceilings and recelations, because abilities are set up in such clever fashion that one steong character can never be sure Theres not gonna be some freak ability with another character. Also Dark Continent could introduce a whole new power system, but thats more my personal hope.

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  3. #123
    AdmiralKage DarthEnderX's Avatar
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    I would have been okay with it if A. he hadn't won effortlessly, or B. Tanjiro had actually noticeably wounded the demon first, and the other guy was basically just finishing the guy off because Tanjiro couldn't.
    Last edited by DarthEnderX; Mon, 08-19-2019 at 01:01 AM.

  4. #124
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    It's hard to animate effort when their best move is Dead Calm unless they dish out lots of movement.

    Interestingly, Shinobu's poison should only work if she manages to pierce someone, which isn't always easy according to our present fight. So she can kill those who she can already cut in the first place. That last point goes for everyone, but the different is that those who train to increase their power can improve upon that. Having better poison doesn't, unless it reduces the demon's skin integrity.

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  5. #125
    Procacious Polymath Ryllharu's Avatar
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    The biggest crock of bullshit wasn't anything the demon slayers were doing. It was that Rui somehow managed cut off his own head first.

    - He shouldn't have known that Nezuko was going to attack him, or could.
    - Both Nezuko and Tanjiro were burning away his threads like crazy.
    - The attacks and the power behind them took him completely by surprise.

    So how did he manage to both form new threads amidst all that fire consuming them, near his head when his arms were well below his neck, and do it despite the fact that Tanjiro's demon slaying blade was already halfway in his neck?

    Plot armor, that's how. For a shitty, obnoxious villain character that had long overstayed his welcome.

  6. #126
    Yorha Unit- shinta|hikari's Avatar
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    His strings are weird in that they are supposedly attached to his hands but appear from everywhere.

    This is basically an anime trope whenever a character uses strings. They can basically control each strand at will.
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  7. #127
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ryll
    So how did he manage to both form new threads amidst all that fire consuming them, near his head when his arms were well below his neck, and do it despite the fact that Tanjiro's demon slaying blade was already halfway in his neck?
    You know, even if you say that's possible... Rui did then go and say that his neck was tougher than any string he makes so... yeah.


    Episode 21



    -------------------------------------------













    Chibi Nezuko ftw!

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  8. #128
    Procacious Polymath Ryllharu's Avatar
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    I do like the tempo of this series in terms of rapidly switching from dramatics to comedy. It feels like a very natural way that tension gets broken. Abruptly and without warning.

    It's almost certainly some trope, but I like the distinction that Tanjiro is determined when it comes to slaying them, but he also pities them once the job is done. I feel like what will have him stand out from the other slayers over time, isn't any of the powerful strikes, but maybe more towards the one he used on the Mother spider. She surrendered, and he was able to switch to the form where her suffering was ended peacefully.

    Maybe a "warm hearth fire" gentle rain form?

    I still hate Rui though. Don't give a shit what his sob story was.

  9. #129
    Awesome user with default custom title KrayZ33's Avatar
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    The Hashira interaction was hilarious.

    The Butterfly Hashira is super smug. Reminds me of Shinoa, not only due to her being voiced by the same person (I assume)

  10. #130
    Yorha Unit- shinta|hikari's Avatar
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    Bitch was overconfident. If Hated Dood wanted to, he could've offed or injured her gravely in an instant, like she had been trying to do to him.

    And why didn't Tanjiro explain that his sister wasn't a threat? Fumbling over your words at such critical times is so cringey. Didn't he think he might ever need to explain that he is carrying around a demon to his allies and at least somewhat prepare for it?

    Sure, she might not believe you, but trying to explain is sure a hell of a lot better than "You're technically not incorrect that she's a demon!"

    Also, we wasted half an episode over some random brat who no one cares about...
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  11. #131
    AdmiralKage DarthEnderX's Avatar
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    I know he was distracted, but Tanjiro forgot to get a blood sample.

  12. #132
    Linerunner MFauli's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DarthEnderX View Post
    I know he was distracted, but Tanjiro forgot to get a blood sample.
    That really annoyed me. HOW MANY.CHANCES LIKE THAT DO YOU GET??? ��

    That aside, good episode. Nezuko might be the best imouto ever. I was so scared for her when she shrunk but was still hunted.

    Next episode should be fun.


    On a sidenote: Im enjoying this anime more than Vinland Saga. Didnt expect that.

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  13. #133
    AdmiralKage DarthEnderX's Avatar
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    Right now I'm mostly looking forward to how they handle his sword situation.

    I'll be disappointed if they just keep giving him more disposable swords.

    Quote Originally Posted by MFauli View Post
    Nezuko might be the best imouto ever.
    Gigguk seems to agree with you.

    I like how both he and Mother's Basement both put out videos this week talking about how episode 19 exploded this series's popularity.

  14. #134
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DEX
    Right now I'm mostly looking forward to how they handle his sword situation.

    I'll be disappointed if they just keep giving him more disposable swords.
    What else can they do? It's not the sword's fault. Even the training boulder could have wrecked your sword if you were shit.

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  15. #135
    Linerunner MFauli's Avatar
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    Have we seen the special ability of Tanjiro's black sword?

  16. #136
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Nope. Tanjiro asked if black was bad when he first got it, and Tengu just said "not necessarily". I don't remember anything significant since then.

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  17. #137
    Linerunner MFauli's Avatar
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    Maybe black has self-repair ability plus "it becomes stronger together with its users mind" ��*♀️

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  18. #138
    Family Friendly Mascot Buffalobiian's Avatar
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    Blades are as strong as each person's technique. That much has been established.

    Even Shinobu's blade doesn't "break" despite her lacking physical strength.

    If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~

  19. #139
    AdmiralKage DarthEnderX's Avatar
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    That, or higher ranking slayers get higher quality blades.

  20. #140
    Linerunner MFauli's Avatar
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    i love the anime community:


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fODiiyM0n9E

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