Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

[neflight86]

The disconnect for me is that earlier in the series it was established that the top six had not been replaced (killed) for over 200 years or the like, each having killed multiple hashiras (I believe the Daki duo mentioned a 20+ count combined). These are all serious threats that mercilessly punish mistakes. The gap was that all current hashiras had in common that hey had already at some point killed a lower six, but none (obviously) had killed an upper. That context added to the desperation of the battle from last season. Muichiro can be an omega genius swordsman and win- but the degree of the victory just feels out of step with anyone else by an order of magnitude.

The tone and tenseness of these fights betray that setup. These battles should feel much heavier, even if there are no disfigurements or deaths. I never felt like Muichiro was at risk of dying after he got out of the water prison because the Vase guy didn't appear formidable in a fight; it was all tricks. Lighthearted antics ("You're a coward hiding in a tree!"... "No you!") struggle to find a place here. In the previous arc, the lighter/humorous tone worked so much better because it was sprinkled on the 'discovery phase' of the encounter of the Red Light District instead of during the fight itself. The same is can be said for the previous arcs. Trash talking and posturing is fine, but when it starts to sound like school yard name calling... the tone is undercut.

Bongo demon #2 isn't shaping up to be much more interesting; these gimmicks aren't hitting like the author wanted.

[shinta|hikari]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers. And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

[MFauli]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers. And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

shinta, but it felt like shit. That's the issue. You can try to explain things away all you want. What we saw wasn't exciting. It was disappointing.

[shinta|hikari]

Excitement is subjective. I was excited because I know that none of these guys would die from the start. Too many deaths already.

[neflight86]

But that's the thing, this batch of hashiras was expected to be the best one yet, and we had one die and one retire from fighting these upper rankers.

That's why those fights were hype and super entertaining, and even emotionally poignant to a degree. These enemies are not going to be easy to kill, supposedly, and the demon slayer corps is putting their best on the line to deal with them.

And even with Muichiro beating this one, he had a ton of luck and plot armor just to do it, which also points to the fact that he is stronger than the sound dood.

I don't disagree with any of that. He probably is stronger than sound ninja was- he even mentioned him during his own fight as being one of the enigmatic hashiras that's more than they seem. My problem is I'm missing the struggle here which makes fights satisfying. If he made a slip up to get water prisoned and then freed by the selfless act of another, but reveals later he wasn't taking the fight seriously before, I don't process that as any appreciable tension. If that's to be taken at face value than the purpose of this whole fight is to job for Muichiro's capability- that's wasteful of an upper, storytelling wise. The whole fight was centered around a gimmik- get out of the water prison and win. That worked for Team 7 because there was a team dynamic and a clever plan to make it work against a stronger opponent. Here we get a stabbed kid breathing some bubbles in so Muichiro could cut smartly this time? I can't believe I'm comparing Naruto positively to this...

What purpose does this whole encounter serve if nothing seems dire and the character development is just delivered via exposition flashback? Did you think Vace had a chance of winning after the author bothered to remove Muichiro from the water prison? The full chunni 'I'm not even trying yet!" "Oh yeah? Neither was I!" is such a step down in fight direction.

He's strangely acting more like a protagonist than Tanjiro during this arc with character growth and secret revealing he's an overdog. I don't get it unless he's getting set up to be one-shot by an even higher ranked demon later which likely will fall flat because the groundwork hasn't been properly laid.

We don't know how hashiras are ranked, but it would make total sense that they aren't all equal or even in the same power category. It just so happens there is no rank above hashira except for the leprosy leader.

That is my greatest hope to preserve the power structure, but somewhat open-ended from a story perspective. If any of the hashira can just be revealed to be that much better than what we've seen (why reveal one is weaker down the line?) as need be, there's not much point in grouping them together, or that feels like a mislead to the audience.

Honestly, discussing why these fights are not hitting properly (pardon the pun) is more fun than watching right now.

[MFauli]

Now that I thought about it, I just hope that ONE thing doesn't happen: Suddenly killing off Muchirou just for the shock effect.

I can kinda see it happen, after building him up, giving him a win against a supposedly super strong upper-demon. And then: Bam, off with his head, here comes the next upper-demon who is REALLY strong.

Hope it doesn't happen, though ...

[shinta|hikari]

@netflight - Muichiro was lying to himself or to the enemy when he said he was not taking it seriously. He considered he was already dead a few times, and he totally would've died if it weren't for external help. He was just bragging/cocky at the end (the killing blow) because he unlocked a bunch of unexpected powerups. Then he realized his actions took a toll on his body and he cannot fight anymore.

[KrayZ33]

Fish demon was pretty awful and boring. If this were a fight against a random no-name demon, I would have believed it. At no point did I go through the usual grotesque feeling/despair that strong demons usually have in this show.

The splitting-demon however is interesting, odd and unique - and the power reveal was properly done imo.


Worth noting - there was no background story for the demons this time around either, not that I would've wanted to hear it from the fish guy.

[DarthEnderX]

Worth noting - there was no background story for the demons this time around either, not that I would've wanted to hear it from the fish guy.

Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares.

[Buffalobiian]

Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares.

LOL, facts!

The problem with Muichiro's fight was that it didn't feel like he was the strong one - it just felt like Vase was weak. The backstory conveyed that:

-he was a nice guy,
- that he was a descendant,
- and that he could chop up a demon with no training (and with no memory to show us how it was done).
- trained like mad due to his vengence.

The physical feats here were that:
- he escaped the water prison (though unimpressive since he got help),
- that he could dodge every attack afterwards
- cut 10'000 fish or whatever it was
- disappear with his mist attack and cut Vase's neck.

The impressiveness of the speed or technique hasn't really been conveyed through the anime/story. It's partly due to the fact that we're so used to seeing quick flurry of attacks in general that cutting up all these fish doesn't register as being impressive. It's another "amazingly quick sword", but seemingly nothing we haven't seen before. Logically yes, Muichiro's actions-per-minute was higher than anyone else's, but it didn't feel that way. Contrast this to every time Zenitsu busts out his move. He only does a few slashes, but it's amazing whenever he does it.

Muichiro's got a "oh, that's it?" response from me watching him. Maybe it's the lack of hype music or impressive visual effects. Kanroji got the hype music.

[MFauli]

Episode 10:

- yeah, sure, let's stuff this supposedly dramatic final fight with "funny" reaction faces. WTF ...
- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible? Nobody's demanding Aika-levels of panty shots ...

[DarthEnderX]

- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible?

jfc man. Just google Kanroji hentai.

[Buffalobiian]

Only demons Tanjiro kills get backstories, because he's the only one that cares.

This one got a "sympathetic" flashback! xD

I didn't quite like that Tanjiro's eardrums healed between last ep and this ep. That lack of continuity bothered me. Meanwhile, I did to back to check if Kanroji did in fact not have long socks during some flashback scenes, and indeed she did not.

- I guess I'll wait for the uncensored bluray-version. It was hilarious to what lengths the producers went to not show Kanroji's panties. So many unnatural angles, only to hide her panties. Come on, we're all human, what's so bad about showing panties when they physically should be visible? Nobody's demanding Aika-levels of panty shots ...

jfc man. Just google Kanroji hentai.

To be fair, she was much more attractive in this episode than in any doujinshi that I had bothered to pay attention to. They even gave her the battle-damaged treatment and ripped her top button. The whole energy/VA/Poses/Music does it for me. Yuki Kajiura songs do that.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Tanjiro used his breathing techniques to heal himself, including his eardrums, at least to a usable state. I think all of them kinda have to have been doing that to survive the damage they keep taking.

[neflight86]

At the very least, that mechanic existing gives them a baseline healing factor we can use to keep fights more interesting and longer.

I'm glad they took a step away from having Kanroji's backstory be another forced tearjerker. Enough tragedy for now. She can just be a super strong, super cute kid who wants to put her full potential to use. It's refreshing that not every road to corps enrollment has to be paved by the blood of innocents and the breaking of humanity.

Next week's supposedly gonna be a 70 minute finale... I hope it wraps this one up quick and shifts into the next arc for most of it, because it looks like the death blow is nearby and dragging this fight out longer wouldn't do it any favors.

[MFauli]

My final prediction: Kanroji will die.

Why? Because she's literally the only character I'd feel shocked and sad about dying.

[Buffalobiian]

Why? Because she's literally the only character I'd feel shocked and sad about dying.

I'd feel sad about her dying.

Between her and Muichiro, she'd be the only one I'd feel sad about.

But she wouldn't be the only one overall. Tengen for example would have also been sad. It doesn't look like we'll see him again though. He's retired to the good life with his 3 wives.

[DarthEnderX]

I'm glad they took a step away from having Kanroji's backstory be another forced tearjerker.

But that guy was mean to her!

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 11 (Swordsmith Village Arc Finale)

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That was enjoyable.

The humor and tension reliever before dashing in with the sword across the field helped with making things light hearted in between tense moments.

I didn't see Nezuko's twist coming, nor Kanroji's "Oh no I'm going to die" outburst coming. The idea behind Upper 4th's power makes some sense in conjunction with his character of splitting things away from himself. The actual mechanics of it (why is drum guy the strongest and how he comes about, how many he can split etc) is still beyond me but that doesn't matter anymore.

If Muzan can share vision with his underlings then he should know where the Swordsmith village is now.

[MFauli]

It was an okay finale, but with an entire disappointing season before it, it could only do so much. Still, I must admit I shed a tear, funnily enough when Genya smiled, that somehow touched my heart :>

While I'm glad Nezuko is alive, there's just so much bs involved. Ohhhh, she happens to be immune to the sun, what a convenient coincidence. And what annoys me extra is that it was so unnecessary. She could have just ran into the forest to hide from the sun. Tanjiro should have been more careful and not immediately ran towards Nezuko. And the headless body was way too reslient to the sun. Too much bs.

Anyway. I hope they can nail the final season or movie or whatever they're gonna do.

My prediction for the finale:

- rematch against Kyoujuro's killer
- fire-breathing demon who looks like Tanjiro's father from behind will turn sides
- will fight Muzan together with Tanjiro