It is the Taisho Period in Japan. Tanjiro, a kindhearted boy who sells charcoal for a living, finds
his family slaughtered by a demon. To make matters worse, his younger sister Nezuko, the sole
survivor, has been transformed into a demon herself. Though devastated by this grim reality, Tanjiro
resolves to become a “demon slayer” so that he can turn his sister back into a human, and kill the
demon that massacred his family.
(Source: Crunchyroll)
Demon Slayer is a Japanese manga series, which was published by Koyoharu Gotouge, which is his 2nd work. An anime television series adaptation by Ufotable premiered on April 6, 2019. The final episode aired on September 28, 2019. From the earliest times, the humanity knows about human-flesh eating monsters, lurking in the darkness to devour an unfortunate soul that does not trust rumors. However, the rumors also mention an elite corps of demon hunters, skilled assassins, killing demons. Demon Slayer focuses on Tanjirou Kamado, who is still very young, but is the only man in his family. One day, Tanjirou decides to go down to the local village to make a little money, selling charcoal. When he returns back, he becomes an unwilling part of these horrifying rumors: his family is slaughtered and the only survivor, his sister Nezuko, is turned into demon. For some reason, Nezuko still acts as a human, which is the reason for Tanjirou to join demon slayers and cure his sister. Will he manage to join the elite corps and cure his sister? It is, without a doubt, quite a challenge to make an interesting and new battle shounen. With so many titles that represent the genre, as well as cliché surrounding it, Kimetsu no Yaiba could have been another title, everyone will stop to hype about after the first week. However, there is something different about it, which makes it stand out. The story-line is slow, which grants enough development, the main protagonist does look like your average battle-shounen protagonist, but he is not as annoying as his counterparts, characters are actually interesting, since even supporting cast receives enough development, finally, the setting looks somewhat new, because you will not see that often a setting, describing the Taishou era. Animation wise, it is quite challenging to find even one work of ufotable with bad animation. It does look somewhat similar to Katanagatari, but not quite. Everything from character designs to action scenes looks just awesome and beautiful, an eye candy you want to never end. Sound wise, even if there is English dub one day, I would still highly recommend you to watch Demon Slayer subbed, because of many voice acting gurus, voicing this series. Even the OST fits the anime well and makes the series even more catchy. Characters is another important part, a must to make battle-shounen likeable. Kamado Tanjirou, however, does not look that promising to 'carry' the whole series. However, this problem is solved when he is joined by the other protagonists of the series, who together form a very likeable group of protagonist. They are interesting, because of how different they are: Tanjirou Kamado is a very trustworthy and hardworking individual, but he is a too trustful. Nezuko Kamado, Tanjirou's sister and the only person that was able to remain human after having been turned into a demon. The noodle head Zenitsu Agatsuma is a member of the Demon Killing Corps and a traveling companion of Kamado Tanjirou. He is always scared by any noise, but he becomes a fearful enemy for the demons, when it is needed. Inosuke Hashibira is the last companion of Tanjurou and he is also a t..p. Enjoyment wise, it is truly one of the brightest gems of this season. Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of these titles that was able to unite comedy and drama and make it interesting to watch. What I mean is that many series were trying to do that, but failed. One was intervening with the other and the end result was horrible. Here, however, just like in Gintama, it is both funny and dramatic sometimes, which makes it that good. Imagine 26 episodes of nothing but drama. This is just unreal for any person. Overall, Kimetsu no Yaiba is one of a very small amount of battle-shounen series that is actually fun to watch. The story, the art, the voice acting, the OST, I cannot think of anything, I did not like about it, nor have I ever felt bored, when I was watching this series. There are, however, some minor flaws, I feel useless to even mention. Great job, Gotouge Koyoharu. For your first animated series, Demon Slayer is quite an achievement to be proud of. A very-very weak 10/10.
~~~img500(https://i.imgur.com/FIHvvEq.png)~~~ It's hard to find a more ubiquitous genre in anime than Shounen. Maybe romance/moe-blobs, but it's a close race. With series like _One Piece_ and until recently _Naruto_, being a constant presence each season/year. Often this makes it difficult for newer series to break into the anime market in a meaningful way. With the recent success stories of that being _My Hero Academia_ and _Black Clover_. However, with this season, I think _Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba_ can stand toe to toe with its contemporaries and stand proud. As the series, written by Koyoharu Gotouge and adapted by __Ufotable__, has broken into the scene en force. Even managing to break into the mainstream on social media like Twitter with some episodes, really showing how far anime can reach today. So the question then becomes, what does _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ do right? What does it do wrong? Without further ado, let's dive right in and see if we can't answer those questions. __(_Disclaimer_: I am working to make 50 the new "average". 70 is not an average score people. 70 is above average. Also this review contains minor spoilers. You can also find individual episode write ups and comment on this review on my [blog here](http://starcrossedanime.com/kimetsu-no-yaiba-anime-review-80-100/). Carry on.)__ ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/eDVTQ81.png)~~~ # __~~~Animation/Art~~~__ Of course, the first thing you have to mention when talking about anime is the art and animation in question. Starting off, _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ has style. I have always enjoyed thicker or inconsistent line work in a series. Most anime just come off feeling to impersonal and this helps alleviate that somewhat. Combine that with __Ufotable’s__ generally excellent effects/lighting work and its a recipe for some beautiful still shots. Some might complain about lighting gradients and such, and yes occasionally these are a problem. You need only look at the recent _[One Punch Man S2](https://anilist.co/review/4775)_ for an example of this going wrong. However I feel that Yuuichi Terao, the Director of Photography, generally has a handle on this sort of thing. I dare say that after holding the position on _Fate/Zero_, _Fate/UBW_ and the entire _Kara no Kyoukai_ series among others, he knows what he’s doing. Moving on to animation itself, this really needs to be split into two parts. Those being the traditional 2D and the myriad of CGI in the series. Starting with the first, _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ is pretty tame for the most part. Shifting to a much simpler style for all of its comedic bits and keeping movement to a minimum outside combat. Some rotoscoping excluded. Inside combat however, is where _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ shines. With the legendary talents of [Masayuki Kunihiro](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=48534) and [Go Kimura](https://www.sakugabooru.com/post?tags=go_kimura+order%3Ascore) for animation and [Nozomu Abe](https://anilist.co/staff/116271/Nozomu-Abe) for special effects really stretching their muscles on this series. When it wants to, _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ looks nothing short of stunning. The issue though arizes outside of these highpoints. As the series suffers from reused animation, some simple or confusing storyboards and perhaps a touch of to much ambition in some parts. Oh, also the CGI. The CGI is probably the biggest bugbear I and others have with the series. When it comes to environments, I think _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ does a fine job. Creating some very interesting combat arena’s, backdrops or first person camera motions. Yes, the textures are visible and when compared to the previously mentioned 2D it becomes obvious. For the most part though, it works. When it comes to the characters however… There’s no missing it, as our leads walk across a fantastically rendered background, waddling their CGI butts across the screen. Occasionally it works fine, when other elements help mask it. Try as they might, __Ufotable __just couldn’t nail everything, and it’s a damn shame. When it’s all said and done though, personally I don’t think it will bother you all that much. These scenes are generally far between and the action set pieces carry most of the series weight. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/BZOVsn7.png)~~~ #~~~__Direction__~~~ Next up, let’s talk about how _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ actually uses this animation and art. Here [Haruo Sotozaki](https://anilist.co/staff/99006/Haruo-Sotozaki) is a man of extremes. Resulting in either very beautiful frames, or incredibly simple ones. Most of this only really coming out during the battles. How much of this we can credit to his storyboard and how much to the animators own creativity, I do not know. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt. As in many combat scenes, Sotozaki tries to make the best of his CGI environments. Twisting the camera and following our lead as he flips around the screen in one continuous shot. A 2D character in a 3D rotating environment. It’s really ambitious I feel, and while it doesn’t always work, its something I can appreciate the attempt of. Meanwhile, outside of combat, _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ is pretty basic. Mostly consisting of character shots and flipping from face to face while people are talking. Occasionally we will get some interesting angles outside combat. Such as the memed to death “Dio walk“, or some nice rotating or skybox shots to help establish a scene/environment. For the most part though, it’s just simple and solid. Framing a character against the moon, or other such imagery. Personally, I prefer this more simplistic approach to going hog wild like say… __Studio Shaft__. As what is important is you get the information across first, and get fancy with it second. It’s one of my major complaints with __Shaft__, their often style over substance approach. So while _Kimetsu no Yaiba's_ direction won’t win any awards, I think it serves its purpose solidly. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/rY8hLdC.png)~~~ #~~~__Story/World__~~~ Finally onto the actual narrative of the story, starting with the story/world. _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ sort of takes the easy way out here, setting itself in the Meiji era of Japan. A setting most anime fans have seen at least once, right at the cusp of the industrial revolution for the country. It’s not a bad setting, one of my favorite classics [Rurouni Kenshin](https://anilist.co/anime/45/Rurouni-Kenshin-Meiji-Kenkaku-Romantan) takes place in the era. And it’s not like _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ doesn’t do its own establishing through many shots. Such as the night life of Asakusa near Tokyo, the rural mountains or the Demon Slayers own headquarters. However it never really explores this environment, not even bringing up or addressing the sword ban until the final episode. Instead focusing entirely on the demon’s and its characters. Not a poor choice, but definitely one with consequences, as I wish we had gotten more. For the story itself, if the upcoming movie wasn’t enough of an indiciation, this isn’t the full story. Instead being more of an opening to the entire series as Tanjiro gets established inside the Demon Slayers order and sets up the greater goal. With each individual arc focusing on a new antagonist each time, with undertones of the greater conflict slowly getting established. This is something I actually think _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ does well, as while we don’t see direct conflict with the lead antagonist Muzan, he is introduced early. Letting each of the later arcs build on that established character through said arc’s antagonist. It’s actually rather novel for a Shounen. As many completely forgo the overarching antagonist, instead focusing entirely on each individual arcs antagonist. That or when they attempt it, the arc villain’s don’t connect properly to the greater conflict. So well done there. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/CXjLeE9.png)~~~ #~~~__Characters__~~~ As far as characters go, I think _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ has a few standouts among an otherwise average cast. With a few notable negatives. Among our heroes, the positives include Tanjiro and Inosuke. The first actually has a rather mature view towards combat and the story in question. Understanding that demons need to die for killing innocents, instead of the normal MC attitude of “saving” everyone. Yet he doesn’t let that stop him from empathizing with them, as the moment he is unable to do that, his sister stops being human herself. Outside combat he is still a little naive at times, with classic Shounen MC traits, but he is largely a positive. Meanwhile Inosuke is a veritable walking dating sim, who I think portrays his upbringing fantastically. Like most characters, he is tuned up a bit at the start. But he quickly tones it down and establishes himself. Among the villains, I can’t not mention Kibutsuji Muzan, voiced by the brilliant Toshihiko Seki. This man makes Demon Michael Jackson _irresistible_, I just love his voice. Capable of going from calm and composed, to terrifying in a moment while keeping the base character. Enough about that though, we have to talk about his actual character. For only really being around for maybe 20 minutes total, Muzan gets more characterization than most. Establishing himself early, and then getting more and more built up through other characters backstories with him. Effectively building him based off of other people’s experiences, rather than the viewers own. Personally, I think _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ does a good job here. Effectively creating a head honcho bad guy without coming up with a crazy reason for the MC to fight them and survive early on. Sidestepping the whole question of power. Sadly, not everything is sunny here. There are some negatives as far as characters go, one being specific, the other being how the series introduces them. For the former, _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ has a tendency to introduce all of its characters turned up to 11. Blasting the basest aspects of their personality at full volume from the start. There were a number of times this immediately put me off a character. As however effective it is at establishing who they are, it is terribly annoying. For the most part, as we spend time with these characters, this gets toned down and leads to some good ones like Inosuke. For Zenitsu however… I just couldn’t get into him. His whining and womanizing is like a completely separate character from the somber and self-deprecating kid who doesn’t want to fight demons. One is an interesting internal character study. The other is just annoying, regardless of the impressive VA. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/FNKk3sQ.png)~~~ #~~~__Music/OST__~~~ Last but not least, let's talk about the music. Jointly produced by [Go Shiina](https://anilist.co/staff/109341/Go-Shiina) and [Yuki Kajiura](https://anilist.co/staff/100077/Yuki-Kajiura), it’s pretty damn good. I would link a few songs in particular here, but each one would spoil or ruin the surprise of some standout moments in the series. So instead just take my word for it when I say that it’s good. There are of course plenty of insert songs that define a scene, not really overpowering but elevating even when they dominate the sounds effects of what’s happening. But some of the real stars to my ears are actually some of the few composed by Yuki Kajiura. As though Go Shiina does most of the work I believe, Kajiura is back in form for _Kimetsu no Yaiba_. With her haunting vocals such as in “[To Destroy The Evil](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV1lGEhNmrQ)” or her combination of strings and flutes in “[Survive And Get The Blade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=867Sb08va0I)“. Meanwhile Go Shiina provides the bulk of the OST for the series I believe. Composing a majority of the background music for the show. While most of this isn’t particularly noteworthy, mostly just setting scenes, I think it still does its job amiably. Not every song in an anime OST needs to be an insert song or a set piece. The role of the OST isn’t to dominate a scene but rather to amplify it. Meanwhile a bad OST is one that takes away from the scene in question. For _Kimetsu no Yaiba_, I never had that experience. Sure I can only really recognize a handful of tracks, but the rest of the time? It fit right in. So between this serviceable establishing music and the standout insert songs by the two composters, _Kimetsu no Yaiba's_ OST at the very least earns a good listen from any fan. ~~~img(https://i.imgur.com/6EdQdye.png)~~~ #~~~__Conclusion__~~~ So, all in all, how was _Kimetsu no Yaiba_? If I had to choose a word to sum it up, it would have to be “competent”, or maybe “enjoyable”. I certainly didn’t have a bad time with the series. I don’t think there is a single portion that underperformed. As even at their worst the characters had their moments, and the story quickly moved past the few mistakes it made. No, if anything what holds the series back is how… safe it feels. The _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ competently executes a standard Shounen story, but it doesn’t really take any risks. I fear that without __Ufotable’s__ beautiful adaptation, this story is one I would otherwise pass over. As the animation and music is usually what sells the scenes, not the story itself. Hopefully now that everything is established _Kimetsu no Yaiba_ can get a bit more adventurous. Because as critical as I am, and while it doesn’t crack into the greats, this is a solid series, competently executed with some fantastic production. And that’s more than we usually get in this day and age.
[Does contain spoilers] At first, Kimetsu no Yaiba just feels like another typical shounen anime, and tbh it is that only to an extent, but it does it so well that you just can't ignore it. The main premise of the anime is pretty simple and straightforward - A really evil antagonist kills the family of a young all-happy and helpful teen, only leaving his younger sister who's now a demon. The teen is now motivated to turn his sister back to human again, are directed by a really skilled dude who's obviously a future pillar, the teen works hard and gets better and better and becoming stronger - pretty typical. The main star of the show that makes it amazing here is ufotable and their adaptation. Ufotable did an incredible job adapting the manga, from the awesome animation style (I love those wave animations) to the amazing character designs, to the incredible sound effects and osts to literally the best CG in the anime industry rn (ofc, it's ufotable after all) and not only that but keeping the level of production consistent during the whole 2 cour. This adaptation was like a Christmas present for a shounen trash like me. I absolutely love the character designs of all the Hashiras, plus the character design in general (especially the character designs of some demons). (maybe apart from Tanjirou's family, they're all... a bit monotonous/too alike) and the animation, oh boy the animation. ~!Add that incredible animation style with awesome direction and CG and you get masterpieces like episode 19 or literally any moment Zenitsu uses his 1st Form!~ The lore being straightforward and simple also helps not have stupid tangled and confusing parts in the story, combine that with the sasugafest ufotable provides, and you have this piece of art here. Further, Kimetsu no Yaiba is among the likes of Samurai Champloo and Baccano for me as it has it's distinct enough of animation style and vibe in general (that a lot of anime do not have, or at least is not that discrete enough to stand out on their own. And honestly the animation style was the reason I started watching this series and I am totally satisfied) This was surely one of the best anime out there within this season, and easily a S tier for me because I enjoyed it so much
~~~__A short Kimetsu no Yaiba review__~~~ Demon Slayer is what I’d call a modern shounen. Just like My Hero Academia, it takes the standard shounen tropes, and deals them straight. But with enough minor subversions that it doesn't feel played out. It doesn’t try to subvert the genre is any meaningful way, but it still feels fresh, which can be attributed to the amazing job Ufotable did with the adaptation. The animation is beautiful, the camerawork is incredible, the sound design enhances the strong moments, and the special effects that Ufotable adds to the motion as gorgeous as they ever were. A lot of the time the manga completely pales in comparison to the beauty of the show. They really went the extra mile to make sure that this is the best adaptation possible. The story feels like it’s constantly moving forward at a solid pace. And the power progression also feels solid. But this unlike a complete show is only meant to setup the pieces rather than tell you the whole story. At the point in time we have main characters with a lot of room for growth. So one can somewhat feel where the story will go from here, but it feels as if it really hasn't really started yet. There is one thing that Demon Slayer does really well and that’s how the villains are characterized. Because while they are currently unrepentantly evil, they are all victims of their circumstances, mainly that the big bad turned them into Demons. But they can’t be forgiven for their crimes and as such, should be culled before they are able to inflict more harm to the world. That’s not unique to Kimetsu no Yaiba. A lot of the modern shounen really lean in of their sympathetic villains. For another very recent example Fire Force treats its infernals as more of a consequence of life, rather than a force of Evil. And considers their removed a sacred ritual. While older Shounen also tried to do that as well, a lot of time it was contrived as an afterthought, and even worse it tried to make them completely devoid of loyalty to “EVIL” and they’d just join the MC after a beatdown. After this slight tangent I’ll say that at its core it’s a very simple show. It’s about a boy that beats up demons, who has a cute sister with him. What makes it good, is the heart of it all. It doesn’t try to completely bend the rules of the universe to fit a completely broken OP protagonist. It doesn’t try to make him completely oblivious to the reality of the world, but it does try that he hasn't really lost the spirit of a shounen MC, which is compassion and perseverance. The side characters all feel likeable (except Zenistsu, but even he has some good moments). Even the most one off people like the non-fighters in the Demon Slayers corps were memorable and felt genuine. They are currently a bit one note, but that's par the course for a start of a long running series. It doesn't waste too much time in dwelling on their current conditions, but rather characterizes them on the go, while they are evolving. It's just the start of their journey, but you can imagine how much they'll improve. And that's always fun. Overall there isn’t much wrong about the show. It certainly doesn’t push any boundries, but it does what it does well. It’s hypest moments were on par with the best of the genre, but only visually, it still needs some more time for the heart of the show to solidify, because the bad guys so far were randoms, so it didn’t feel personal, it still has a long way to go for it to be considered a true modern shounen classic. Because as of right now it’s just a very solid groundwork. Some side notes, I feel like I repeated myself a bit too much in this review, but there really isn't that much to say about the show as of yet, the themes are just said and not really explored. Some of the powerups felt as if they came out of nowhere, but I expect them to be explained well. I will be following it with great anticipation, a very solid **7.5/10**, with the hopes that it’ll rise up a lot more with coming Seasons.
__Kimetsu no Yaiba__ is a heartfelt story about a boy stripped from his bliss and pushed into a world of utter hell by an unexpected misfortune. Though we have seen stories like this countless of times, Kimetsu no Yaiba innovates it and sets a new bar for shows like this by delivering it with fantastic writing, a perfectly fit beautifully haunting score, meticulous direction and terrific voice acting. The show's 26-episode journey starts and ends with great pacing. This is done with a riveting story and fully realized characters introduced and explored attentively. Our main character, from the starting isn't given a true break which helps the viewer to not loose focus in the anime. The main cast of the series are given something to do or prepare for and thus evolving. As a character, Tanjiro is pure but refreshingly not innocent. He, quite often, uses his intelligence and intuition to get out of situations where on brute strength for which he has trained for will not suffice. The story sees an unbalanced and insincere mind as a weakness and it presents this through it's characters. One aspect where __Kimetsu no Yaiba__ excels at is their animation. It sets a new bar for action scenes in anime with inspirational and visionary direction. The choreography of the fight scenes are genius and casts a shadow on its contemporaries. The biggest factor to why I'm drawn to the fight scenes is because of its capability in projecting the emotion of whatever the characters are going through at the time through stellar and meticulous animation. youtube(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce6dhqGWdrA) _This is a minor example of what the show has to offer with it's animation_. Another great thing about the anime is it's ability to balance factors such as humor, tribulations, desperation, loss, courage, kindness etc. without them awkwardly overlapping each other. Everything seems well-timed. This is because of the terrific writing it delivers that understands how a story can be cohesive, captive and well-told. The interactions between the characters seem genuine and though the story dwells in fantasy, it presents ideas, relationships characters that are grounded easy to connect to. The soundtrack should not be overlooked. It's memorable and it stands out due to it's distinction compared to other anime while perfectly flowing in with the show's visuals and writing. It sounds as if this soundtrack is uniquely created for the show and wouldn't work elsewhere. __Kimetsu no Yaiba__ starts and ends without a dull moment and all the targets this show attempts to make, it succeeds in hitting precisely. ufolab's hardwork and skill does not go unnoticed. Hope to see more from this studio and especially excited for the continuation of this anime.
Kimetsu no Yaiba En resumen, una obra de arte, esta serie cumplido con el objetivo básico de cualquier serie entretener y dejar a los espectadores con ganas de más. Historia: 9/10 La historia te atrapa un Japón antiguo en desarrollo, en donde te pone a pensar de cierto modo como la gente de aquella época vivía, atrapándote en ese tiempo, la premisa de demonios y cazadores de los mismos no es algo nuevo y por tanto es un argumento difícil de desarrollar y mantener, es todo un reto lograr que los espectadores tomen apego a este tipo de historias sin embargo “Kimetsu no Yaiba” lo logra, como espectador confieso que me emocione con cada capitulo siempre con esa duda de que pasara en el siguiente, sin más que decir excelente historia. Características de los personajes: 8/10 Los personajes cumplen con el estándar de las series shounen, el principal bondadoso y con la peculiaridad de no rendirse, el chistoso y el terco, podríamos encontrar miles de similitudes en animes de este tipo, sin embargo esto no quiere decir que sea malo de echo es un reto apegarse al estándar y aun así lograr unos buenos personajes, en donde en esta primera temporada no se entrega mucho de cada uno de ellos pero da cabida para pensar que se desarrollaran sus historias más adelante enriqueciendo la serie haciéndola mas interesante con cada nuevo capitulo en donde de una forma u otra se observa un claro crecimiento de los personajes y al publico en general esto le agrada, series largas como ONE-PIECE, NARUTO, etc, lo demuestran, el publico se identifica con un personaje al ver que ellos también pueden crecer como lo hace aquel personaje al que le han tomado aprecio. Animación y arte: 10/10 Un trabajo impecable, en cada trazo, en cada escena de podía apreciar el gran trabajo realizado. Disfrute: 10/10 Fue todo un placer ver los 26 capítulos de seguido la serie tiene ese poder de atraparte hasta que te das cuenta que se a acabado y quedas con ganas de más, sin embargo, te entregan un final en el cual sabes que continuara y eso tranquiliza. En general: 9/10 Una obra de arte en proceso,un le faltan detalles para terminar de pulirse y ser un 10 de 10, la recomiendo al 100%, si te gusta el género, una buena historia y una excelente animación este anime no te diseccionará, no es necesario ser un experto o un fehaciente critico de anime para darse cuneta de lo buena que es la serie y lo mucho que promete, con ansia espero la película y la segunda temporada.
_“Feel the rage, The powerful, pure rage of not being able to forgive will become your unswerving drive to take action.” – Giyu Tomioka_ For starters, this anime is truly unique in its own way. This review is coming from someone who’s rewatched the anime, so I was able to pick up a few of the mistakes this anime had and I was also able to move away from the hype surrounding this anime. So rest assured, this review brings just the facts to the table. The art and animation is beautiful and refreshing, and the main protagonist is someone that is lovable and not overly generic. You’ll definitely feel at home as a shounen watcher because of the great action scenes that are VERY satisfying. While this anime excels in these departments, taking a closer look reveals a few mistakes in terms of the overall storyline and characters that holds this anime back from becoming a complete masterpiece. Time for my review, TOTAL CONCENTRATION! Art and Animation: 9.7/10 - I immediately fell in love with the art style of Kimetsu no Yaiba because it felt like I was watching a manga in action. I’ve never seen an art style like it which made for a truly authentic and unique watch, and all scenes were shot with very high quality video production. The action scenes themselves were something else entirely, they were BREATH TAKING. I had even replayed some of these scenes in order to fully appreciate the amazing animation and talent that I was witnessing. The character designs themselves were quite unique, and I didn’t really find myself despising much of them. The choice in color palette was used in such an amazing way to add the appropriate vibe and mood to a scene. When it came down to art and animation, this anime had it all. Storyline and Character Progression: 7.9/10 - This is where the anime struggled the most in. In the storyline, the overall outline is a pretty generic and average one once you remove all the smoke and mirrors. This definitely took me a while to realize and get over once I did my rewatch of it. While the storyline itself didn’t have many problems, it didn’t have a lot of depth either. What saved the storyline was the AMAZING character interaction between Tanjiro and the demons. The storytelling in such a short amount of time was really something to behold, and that’s what I had appreciate most in this storyline. It gave us a REASON to sympathize with the demons and relate to Tanjiro even more, which in turn developed and matured him as a character. When it came down to the other characters, I just couldn’t respect Zenitsu. I know what they were trying to go for when they made this character, but it was executed VERY poorly. Zenitsu had so much potential as the bad boy OP character we secretly wanted, but his whining personality had overpowered the potential in the end. And to make matters worse, they gave him the “ladychaser” trope which DEFINITELY doesn’t fit his weak and whining personality. Some moments I really did like Zenitsu because of his comedic relief, but I couldn’t justify this awkward mesh of tropes. When it comes down to Inosuke, I had mixed feelings about him. At some moments I really enjoyed his aggressive personality, but more often than not, it didn’t fit the mood at all. The rest of the cast didn’t receive much development worth noting of, even our girl Nezuko!!! Really wish they gave us just a LITTLE bit more with her, but I guess that’s for another season. Soundtrack and Audio: 9.3/10 - What can you expect from a soundtrack full of LiSA? In terms of just pure quality, the musicality of Kimetsu no Yaiba is nothing short of amazing. The OP is sure to become an iconic one among LiSA fans, and the rest of the soundtrack invokes so much emotion to make VERY powerful scenes. The voice acting was VERY good, I mean....c’mon, Tanjiro. That’s all I really need to say! I have to admit, even the voice acting for Zenitsu and Inosuke fit them very well. You could tell they had poured themselves into their characters, and I could definitely respect that. I have no complaints when I comes to the sound effects as well, they were well used and were especially satisfying during the action scenes. Overall, this anime was absolutely stunning. It really deserves all the praise it gets because when it’s all said and done, this anime deserves it. That’s why I’m really comfortable giving it a rating of 9.1/10.Whether you’re coming here for the entertainment, or with a critical eye, there’s definitely something here for you to enjoy. I’d highly recommend this anime to anyone looking for a refreshing shounen to watch that has a unique cast of characters and just absolutely amazing action scenes. My only word of advice, don’t be too critical about the storyline. It’s not the most creative, but it is by no means something to sleep on. I sense a lot of potential in the upcoming movie and season 2! Hope this helps those of you curious about picking this one up, I’d say: Go for it! You definitely won’t have any regrets! As always everyone, thank you so much for the support, and I’ll see y’all in the next one! ~~~~~Streaming Platform: Crunchyroll~~~~~
__Spoiler alert!__ I’ve had a problem with how anime gets shared recently. A problem with how anime gets popular. A problem with what is prioritized. How the technical side of a show is being prioritized over the writing. Now I don’t want to accuse all popular anime to be bad, my favorite movie of all time is one of the most successful anime of all time. Why would the popularity of a show or movie dictate how well-made it will be. There are tons of great movies that are popular, and there are tons of terrible movies that are popular. But I’ve had this feeling for a long time, that if an anime gets trendy then it’ll always be because of a cute girl doing something cute, a detailed fight scene or maybe a scene where someone cries. Whether that is correct or not, that is what I’ve felt for the last half a year or so. I’m scared that watching for example Attack on Titan season 3 expecting a modern classic, which is what I’ve been told, will just make me disappointed. And that feeling was only exacerbated by Demon Slayer. The show is undeniably very well visualized. The character designs all feel original and unique (Especially the demons, some of which look fantastic), the directing is better than most anime and the animation is fuckin great. It has some of the best fight scenes that I have seen in anime in years, my favorites being in episode 9 and 19. And while the CGI can at times be distracting, especially when used for certain water effects, it is used extremely well for the most part. I would even say that the show has influenced my artstyle, and that’s from an artist who doesn’t really draw in an “anime style”. The score is also surprisingly great! many of the soundtracks feel very bombastic yet separates itself from classical music with a lot of Asian instruments and vocals. It has a sound that you don’t usually hear in anime in my opinion. It feels very unique. I can’t write a review for Demon Slayer without saying that the technical aspects of the show are at times incredible, it would be dishonest. Looking at it by itself it definitely deserves the recognition it has gotten, but I feel like looking at the bigger picture shows a pattern. A pattern of similar prioritization. Cause while it was technically well-made, the rest of the show didn’t have nearly as much quality. In my opinion, all aspects of filmmaking are worth as much as the other. The visuals are as important as the writing and the direction and the acting. Nothing should prioritize over something else, but it doesn’t feel like the creators of Demon Slayer agree. While the visuals and the score were certainly good, the rest didn’t even compare. It has a lot of issues that I find hard to ignore. Ones I feel like I have to bring up over and over again. I found the exposition to be really bad, not showing an ounce of subtlety. There’s a point where 13-year old Tanjirou asks what the demons are, a question that is obviously not meant to inform the character but the audience. Another example would be when Shinobu says “I may be the only swordswoman among the Hashiras unable to decapitate demons, but as I’ve created a poison lethal to demons, I’m also rather awesome” which is the most unsubtle way of conveying that piece of information. I bring this up a lot in my reviews, A LOT. And the reason why I do that is that I love dialogue. I think you can do a lot with dialogue, and when it works you can tell. And it’s the same when it doesn’t. There’s a sense that the characters aren’t real people cause no one talks like this. It feels weird, you are brought out of the show if only for just a second and that can drag down a scene or a whole show very easily. And whenever the dialogue isn’t used for exposition, it’s always really cheesy lines like “What is this feeling?” or “The bond between Nezuko and me can’t be severed by anyone” that I feel like I’ve heard a thousand times. And the characters saying these lines are as unnatural. They all feel very one-sided, not really having any downsides or character development. We may learn a little more about them kind of and they definitely get stronger but they don’t become better or worse people cause they are mostly perfect all the way through. At one point, the demons they fight are more interesting than the main characters and even then they weren’t that compelling. In the end, the show doesn’t really have a purpose. It doesn’t really have a lot to say that hasn’t been said before, didn’t give me any characters that I found remotely interesting, nor any themes that resonated with me. Yet there was something admirable about it. In many ways it has inspired me to, mainly use more pen pressure sensitivity for my art, but also to find more samurai-Esque shows cause I find the setting very interesting even though I can’t say I loved the way the show used it. Ultimately, I think the show is good. While it has a lot of problems with its writing, the visual direction the show had was very interesting and beautiful at times. I’ll say this. It isn’t mediocre. __Like, a weak 6/10 probably__
img1440(https://66.media.tumblr.com/1b90a88478771ae2d08cf858b6dd7a5a/906e7ade7f6c661c-43/s1280x1920/5fb7240580720a57ff22fa1db7d7cd1af52d6658.png) If I had to describe what being part of the anime community - specifically the online community - is like this past decade, I would say it’s seeing it evolve from simply consuming shows they enjoyed to being a more active and critical consumer of what they watch. Of course, I don’t mean to imply that critical analysis of anime only began a handful of years ago, but that the industry and the community has grown so much and anime become so much more accessible than it ever used to be that we’re now seeing more and more older anime fans who have been part of the community for many years and thus they are more aware of Japanese culture and what to expect from the writing and the tropes. Battle shounen being one of those that most fans can talk days on end about, whether they speak of its negatives or positives. When we look at some of the most recent popular shounen anime of the past 2 years such as ‘Attack on Titan’, ‘Mob Psycho 100’, ‘The Promised Neverland’ and ‘Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure’, I think its safe to say the general trend is shifting towards seeing what new ideas are they bringing to the table. So naturally, Demon Slayer being the latest hit to come out of the genre this year has generally garnered mixed opinions as its perhaps the safest battle shounen to make it this big in recent times. However, I think there’s something to be said about the fact that a show like Demon Slayer was able to achieve the level of popularity it has and why I think sticking to the roots of the shounen formula is not necessarily a terrible thing. img1280(https://66.media.tumblr.com/abe9eeaab87f37d4566e3bb9a8f0f48d/tumblr_pyjvr5ppDa1vz5npso1_1280.png) Demon Slayer is a show about the main character, Tanjirou and his quest to restore his little sister to the way she was after he returns home to find his entire family slaughtered by demons save for Nezuko who herself has been turned into a demon. This leads to him joining an organisation called the Demon Slayer Corps which is how he gains some friends and allies to help along the way. The general structure of this story boils down a monster of the week type formula where you generally go from one fight to the next with not that much down time in between. Our cast consists of our main character Tanjirou who’s a cheerful boy with the power to never give up, Inosuke who’s the meat head with a heart of gold, Zenitsu who mostly serves as the comic relief as the groups crybaby. If a lot of this sounds very familiar, it’s because it is because Demon Slayer is a story that above all else celebrates the tried and tested tropes and ideas of battle shounen but as I stated before that isn’t automatically a bad thing and I think when executed well like it has been here, it serves as a great reminder as to why I fell in love with the genre in the first place. Even though the story isn’t breaking new grounds, I find Tanjirou’s motives compelling because it’s easy to understand what drives him and while the characters themselves are simple, this simplicity worked in its favor and made it easy for the characters to have a lot of chemistry and made their group dynamics very fun. img1440(https://66.media.tumblr.com/c56b40f450a2bec7d8a5e7633ea3bda2/f19a5d2f5b8c2dc2-87/s1280x1920/6ae257c49a5dc66baff16fc7338b80476dd0d185.png) That isn’t to say Demon Slayer has no interesting ideas of its own. The family elements and themes about wanting your body to go back to the way it was and the general body horror and demons designs of this show reminds me of a cross between ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ and ‘Yuu Yuu Hakusho’ giving it a more unique feeling and is one of the biggest reasons it stands out amongst its contemporaries. The general gore level is more than you expect with designs this cute and that also gave the show an edge and one of the best parts about Demon Slayer is how Nezuko and Tanjirou feel like they’re a genuine duo fighting demons together as a team instead of Tanjirou taking on the role of Nezuko’s protector. It also introduces our main antagonist very early on in the story which tells us that this show isn’t going to mess around and understands its end goals and is working towards it. ~~~img540(https://66.media.tumblr.com/866d93a7eb86c990a1a8066617c6af3c/5ca0233a17a278e9-0c/s540x810/3b128893f33f20a968e6b637c0715d81bd890e15.gifv)~~~ It would be remiss of me to not talk about the general production and direction of Demon Slayer and how it elevated the show overall. It’s animated by Ufotable which should give fans of the studio a good idea of what to expect but I would say it’s possibly the most ambitious anime they’ve made to date. The CGI backgrounds are absolutely stunning and rendered in such a way that they feel realistic which really allows the characters to stand out. Speaking of, the line-work on the characters is very bold as is the patterns and colors on their haori and I love how you can get a sense of each persons characteristics through their clothing, no doubt these are some of the most distinctive character designs to come out this year and while the animation itself wasn’t super consistent throughout, it never dipped below a certain quality level and when the time came, they always delivered especially in regards to The Breath Styles, from seeing the various applications of Tanjirou using Breath of Water style to even Zenitsu’s one and only Breath of Thunder style attack. I briefly touched upon it before but some of the best visual aspects of the show came from the various demon’s designs that either looked very grotesque and inhuman to insect like. The soundtrack is also another stellar work by Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina. ~~~img540(https://66.media.tumblr.com/fe98018e1878cb5462c6bd87a530c371/54a8b7f8d1adf7a4-dd/s540x810/a870e9fe2c59daa9a28d8a438ae62e45c83d1581.gifv)~~~ __ “In terms of ufotable's goals for this series specifically, it's not their aim necessarily to make the best anime ever, but to make the best Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.”__ - Demon Slayer producer Yuma Takahashi If you are being uncharitable, it’s easy to look at the tropes, the training arcs, the structure and think it’s just an action heavy show made for young boys but personally, I don’t think that it was ever its goal to change things up drastically, rather to me it always felt like a 90’s or 80’s battle shounen with digital animation. I think a lot of Demon Slayer’s appeal lies in what it doesn’t do rather than what it does. It’s a honest to god good battle shounen that doesn’t horse around and delivers on exactly what most shounen fans turn to shows like this for. Engaging fights. Cool music. Fun characters. Maybe that’s all a show really needs to be sometimes.
I am gonna be totally honest here. I never thought I would be writing a review for Demon Slayer. You can imagine why I say that. It's an obvious answer. It's undeniable the truth I turned a blind eye to most of the issues the first time I watched Demon Slayer. Still, this anime strongest point is the animation, fights. How it executes and explore the simple power-system. Let's not forget about the backstory on the different demon we'll be facing through the journey. Ufotable took the ok manga and made it ten times better. Added some more flavor to the story through extending scenes, like demon backstory or flexing madly on us with that top-notch sakuga and sound effects and what more. But If you look at it with open eyes, it's the usual shounen we either love or hate with a simple premise and story. That said, it's more to a good show, then some flashy actions and tons of money thrown at it. This is no doubt different from people to people, but I have the biggest weight put onto the cast themself. I would never watch any form of media unless the characters first and foremost resonate with me in any way. Now don't get me wrong. Demon Slayer is a decent shounen, but it's far from the best thing out there. In the first few episodes, I can already tell this would never have the potential to become a masterpiece at all. It's so simple in anything it does, and it shows Koyoharu has no intention to get out of his comfort zone to explore the dangerous territory. Bless Ufotable for adapting, or it might not be this popular. Think about it, would Black Clover or Fairy Tail not get this amount of fame if Ufotable adapted it? That's nothing but fact since when I first began my anime journey, I too was baited by the art and animation. It's not that it's a bad thing since you can have a good story and fantastic production or even the opposite of the spectrum. Tho, it amounts to nothing if the rest of the content is not all there. I will most likely compare Demon Slayer to many stories to hopefully get my point across with much credibility as possible. If you don't wanna read-on, then let me just tell you that Demon Slayer is the equivalent to Fairy Tail but far worse. Fairy Tail at least had heart. Take it as however you want, but it should be clear what I am implying here. I guess I should start with the characters. Tanjiro seems to be many fan favorite since he is so easy to like, but gosh is he one of the most boring protagonists I had the pleasure of following. He is viewed as this picture-perfect person everyone would wanna be, the guy got no flaws from a normal person standpoint. Or the author does not do a good job of conveying them if they exist. Tho, no lie how he is so kind, and it pisses off Inousuke to no end is a good comedy to me. I will give the author that, Koyoharu Gotouge knows how to make simple but effective comedic relief moments. That's not true all the time tho. Also, sadly, I can't say the same about the protagonist lacking proper substance and depth. Tanjiro has no real glaring flaws, and that makes him dull and tiresome in the long run. Additionally, there is little no growth to him as a character and the biggest change is how stronger he becomes. I mean, Asta in Black Clover comes off as loud, curious, reckless, and even stubborn. I could still keep on going. Let's throw my favorite male mad lad of all time here too. Luffy, who is overflowing ball of curiosity, charisma, romance for adventure, an unpredictable fellow, and reckless goofball of a lovable dork. I guess I can throw my scientific lovable nerd Senku in here too, who has many of the traits of those mentioned above. Then you have Tanjiro, who is simply kind, had one or two burst out to make him seem more. Still, it feels out of character since he is already established as a gentle, kind-hearted soul. Not that's it wrong either since all those mentioned have that as part of their traits but so much more too. Even the side characters in Demon Slayer are not all that great. Zenitsu is loud and annoying without a balance, and the comedic relief is so absurd it's cringe-inducing. Please tell me I am not the only one who wanted to shoot myself every time this Mineta wannabe opened his mouth? Zenitsu does, in fact, get growth in the manga, but to be frank, it just happened. There was no underlying context to show you the process in a way you could comprehend the character properly. Among the trio, Inousuke is simply the best. He seems to have some layer to him, outside of being a funny, quirky, and a battle-hungry maniac. He is one of the few ones, I would say Koyoharu does a good job with. Every time Inousuke comes by an unprecedented situation, he feels fear, anger, depression, and so forth. We see it clearly in detail and how it affects him. A lot of work could be used, but he is a better example of a properly written character if you ask me. The Hashiras, who are a significant part of the story, is also not poorly written but far from the best. They all have their own set of unique selves and are not cut out from the same cloth. Shinobu is the most complex I have seen. She has that arara onee-san vibe and one heck of an enticing smile that draws you in with an energetic persona. Did I forget to mention, all of that is merely a facade, and there is more to her than meets the eye? Not gonna sugarcoat it, but since she is a waifu material, I do have a level of bias with my opinion of her. Anyway, Koyoharu clearly has some nicely written characters. Still, since the main trio, or should I say the quartet is the focus, their potential is not fully tapped into. I wanna lightly touch on Nezuko, tell me what is her purpose, besides being an adorable and pleasing sight for your aching eyes who can throw around some punches? She adds nothing to the story before way in and is only a way to lure watchers and readers into this terribly mediocre shounen. And the title of best girl goes to either Shinobu or Kanao, who has more to tell than a cute "hmmph" all the damn time. Hey, I am not complaining, just trying to prove a point. Nezuko's purpose also comes out from the left field, even if it was an apparent outcome anyone could see coming. As if that not enough, the big bad villain, Muzan, who started out with a strong introduction. It is just a scary Micheal Jackson with anger issues, and thirst for blood and is simply a manipulative douchebag. Koyoharu do use shock factor to make him seem intimidating and while some moments do give you an impact of emotions. It's not that he is a well-written villain. In a way, he is also a waste of potential since he could be so much more than this sad excuse of a way to give something at least resembling a closure. You know, going out with a bang so that all you went through was well worth it. But it's not. Why do I say that? I am not a manga reader anymore, I'll wait out untill the story concludes and then we'll see what happens. So take my coming opinion with a grain of salt. Ignorance can be such a bliss when you don't realize the bigger picture, it's factual that the pacing in the manga is terrible. No room to breathe to see character interactions and let you bond with them before we are yet again thrown into more actions. We barely know a thing about the world of Demon Slayer, and there is no realism to give it that authentic feel. So you can feel more significant emotions, which actually amounts to something. The world is flimsily established and is merely just a means to an end. Now, look at some other work that is simple in the core but has more to offer and has better established it's setting, world, and characters. Before that, I wanna say I am looking at the source material and not just the anime. Black Clover is one such which stars Asta and Noelle. Let's focus on those two for this example. Asta comes off as simple and is generic, just like any shounen protagonist. Still, he is humane and not as easy to describe. At one point, he gains appetizing growth, which makes you appreciate his character all the more. Let's not forget about best girl Noelle, who starts out as a typical tsundere and thinks everything is above here. But slowly mellows out and becomes a truly complex, deep, and very charming of a character you grow to love so immensely. In fact, the whole cast of Black Clover feels more than merely simple. Another shounen worthy of praise is Dr. Stone. Great cast of characters you can easily differentiate. Not to mention, both execute their story efficiently with a level of balance when it comes to pacing to establish the world, setting, and the cast themself. There is a reasonable level of growth, and someone you hated at first might become your fav the next moment and so forth. Tell me, what does Demon Slayer do differently besides being backed up by the monster of a studio with an unlimited budget to work with? I can tho give some sincere praise to the backstory of each respective demon who feels like such a more interesting character. I mean, in my eyes, both Kyogai, the spider lady, Rui even is more fascinating than the quartet of Demon Slayer. And that's only an example since many demons feel like someone you want to learn about than the actual main cast. It's evidently clear Demon Slayer is only popular since it's animated by Ufotable. Easily accessible to newcomers to anime and get into in terms of manga since it has less than 200 chapters available. There is not much dialogue, so you can burn through the content pretty damn fast actually, and it's easy to digest to boot. However, not everything is average about Demon Slayer. I want to give some praise to one of the greatest episode animated which ironically come out from Demon Slayer. It's not my favorite moment, but it's no doubt worthy of attention and recognition. Episode 19 is Ufotable at best, sure it has some ass-pulls here and there, but the execution and direction are stunning and do the trick. The build-up is gradual, as one beautiful soundtrack ramps up in the background before the climax hits and delivers a fantastic finish. This episode displays the bond of brother and sister with the utmost respect, touching on the connection, and subtlety exploring it in-depth. It's generic in its core, but it would be stupid to not appreciate the work that put into it and the meaning behind it Ufotable is trying to get across. Outside of that, Demon Slayer is top-notch when it comes to visual and artwork. There is not a second. It looks terrible or just low quality in any way. Of course, nothing beats the highly engrossing and famous Fate franchise. Especially Heavens Feel, which is in another league when it comes to production value or likewise the Kara no Kyoukai movie franchise. It's not fair to compare TV shows to movies, but I am just trying to give a different point of view many seem to miss now that they are highly influenced by Demon Slayer. On that note, the OP and ED for Demon Slayer are great. I mean with Lisa on both, did you expect anything else but quality, beautiful and catchy tune? Same, me neither. That goes for the soundtrack too which has one of the legends Yuki Kaujira and the equally amazing Go Shiina composition so you better bet your ears will thank you for experiencing bliss. One more thing the anime provides tremendous justice for is the fighting scenes. And elevate the power-system of Demon Slayer, which otherwise feels simple and is not appropriately shown in the manga. It's not easy to tell what happens every time someone uses one of the many breath styles, not for sure anyway. This has more to do with colors and accurate display of what the author is trying to show, which is not easy to draw in the manga. Often when you don't have colors or can visually show the process of an attack. Ufotable, however, gives justice to this display and shows the attack clearly. They all are flashy, colorful, and packed with sound effects and beautiful spectacle to behold and be astounded by. In which case, I can safely say. At the same time, the power system of the Demon Slayer is good enough. Even while many things feel not as solidly built. I guess it does the trick. And Ufotable does a great job of showing the illustrations of water, fire, wind, and any other Breath Style. It also shows the user's traits. For instance, Tanjiro style is water since he is gentle, has self-discipline, among others. While Inousuke, who wears a boar mask and was raised in the wilderness, puts emphasis on that in his Breath Style. Zenitsu is slightly tricky since no bit of his character tells you he hits strong and fast like lightning. Wait for a second, I could put in the fact his growth just happened since it was fast and hit you out from nowhere. One more example is Kanao, who is the Breath of the flower since she is beautiful, peaceful, quiet, and blooms slowly, just like a flower would. So while I am harsh with my opinion of Demon Slayer, I am trying my best to not gloss over the things Koyoharu was able to do well and Ufotable who rose it into much greater heights. As you continue the journey of Demon Slayer, you see more power-system developments, and many of the things are, in fact, foreshadowed every so subtlety by Koyoharu. Without giving way heavily spoilers to anime only, I am referring to the crimson red Nichirin Blade and the mark on Tanjiro's forehead, which was foreshadowed before the battle at Natagumo Mountain arc. Honestly, speaking as I wrote this review. My opinion on Demon Slayer changed ever so slightly again since I looked at both sides and not just controlled by the negative emotions. It's not at all a bad shounen, and I really hope I didn't give that impression. That's not my intention. There's it's no question about it; it's highly overrated. Demon Slayer has only Ufotable to thank for to gain a massive boost in sales for the otherwise a-okay manga. Besides, any other shounen with a simple basis would've blown out of proportion if a studio with an enormous amount of budget worked on it. At the time of writing this article, Demon Slayer is in its last stage of the story and seems to be suffering a lot. That's the result of glossing over many things that would otherwise result in a much bigger pay-off in the long run. It's the reason One Piece's popularity is more or less consistent and can easily explode if Oda-sensei ever wishes. It's the reason Black Clover gets way-way better later on when introduction and all the things are properly established. It's the reason, Dr. Stone is also just that good after the slow beginning. If you don't want to listen to my side, then take at least one thing out from this review. At the very least, animation and art-style. Will only truly shine if the author's work already has some well-developed parts as we have looked from Demon Slayer, which has some. But it's not a great shounen, groundbreaking or any of that. It's simple and has a huge studio backing them up with unlimited budget works.
This is a review from someone who has been watching demon slayer since the first air, not when all the hype surrounding it had begun. Story and Writing: 6 This anime has a very mediocre story that is poorly written. This also applies to the characters who are cliche and shallow, with Zenitsu being the only decent one. First of all, the beginning is a cliche of a tragic beginning. Secondly, the story simply progresses with Tanjiro meeting new friends and foes and becoming stronger. Ring any bells? The overall main goal of tanjiro is a decent concept that gave me interest to watch the anime in the first place. We weren't even given much background onto tanjiro's family to give us a viable reason to follow on with tanjiro's goal with nezuko. The only thing we could draw from it was taht he probably loved his family. The final scenes with Tanjiro and the crew on a train had the most predicatable cliche and dialogue that I swear I've heard a million times in older anime. The episodes after tanjiro's near-fatal fight were really boring to sit through, like whos there to spend a few hours in total watching an MC go through rehab. The ending was overall generic and was on a mediocre level. Visuals: 10 I have nothing but respect for the visuals and choreography. This is of the overall animation, art style and fight scenes. The realistic backgrounds had somehow fit in well with the art style. Sound: 9 Again, like the visuals, very well done. Characters: 7 Tanjiro is quite the shallow mc who happens to be gifted like most shonen MCs. Zenitsu is an exception as a unique, laughable and likeable character who is more liked across the community. Nezuko is just a young girl whos cute and serves importance in tanjiro's journey. Inosuke is youre typical bloodsthirsty madman. Thus, The character writing of this anime is poor to mediocre. C+ to -B Enjoyment/Entertainment: 7 I had a decent time watching this but I ended up dropping this anime multiple times due to how i felt that there wasnt anything exciting or new. Nonetheless, the aesthetics is what had kept me to watch it. I will agree that the anime begun to be a little more interesting when the crew met characters like Muzan, Yushiro and Tamayo. The spider demons were also interesting villains. Thus episodes 10-20 were quite good But, these few episodes caused the anime the skyrocket in ratings and popularity, becoming things like "The best ever" and "super enjoyable", to a point where it topped the charts of anime platforms like anilist, MAL and streaming services, likely because of studio ufotable's excellent animation. The animation had somehow drawn everyone away from what the anime really is. It showed that good aesthetics would make an average anime the best ever. This went to a point of winning Crunchyroll's annual Anime of the Year award, much undeserved. My final rating has some correspondence to the ratings I mentioned earlier. This anime deserves no more than an 8/10 but the rating in how much I like and how good i believe it is a 7.5/10. This is strictly my opinion, the anime is still pretty worth checking out.
__DEMON SLAYER__ No battle with the antagonist, no ending, season 2 delayed by movie of one arc, last 3 episodes are 5/10. Good Opening song and good ending song. I put a 9 because of the amazing animation and of episode 19. Wow, just Wow. I really lick when the spider says fakiu and then gonpachiro kicks him and animation epic. but story really do kinda be poopoo stinky. A real stinker in my book. Tanjiroo was genderic, he was bbasic no character. Nezucock had no cock. Zenyatta cried and was a wimpy kid without a diary, truly dissapointing. Inosuke was a pig, but then reveal he was no pig, i Coudlnt believe it, how was inoskue not a pig i am the big sad. i like when the building went 360 no scope and then the drums went boom boom. it was a real gamer moment when tanjrio broke a rock in two, like that doesnt happen. very unrealistic unlike the rest of the show. Demon slayer is an absolute anti gamer moment. I would slay myself than watch demno slayer agane. the big demon boy was like roar and then character cried like a little pooper, like how did he get demon slaying liscence. The lisccene giving system needs a rework to prevent these noobs from reaching the highest rank of slayer of the demons. i hope tanjirop become strong and kill like one punch man so he can be epic. wash this anime if you want to sleep but be careful because you might die of boring. I hope in the movie or next season we can get some good written characters and story like in the sword art online. please ufotable hire me so ican write the story of demons slayuer. thank me later. the antagonist lookj like michel jackson so that was the only good in poop slayer hahaha. i hope the villain can become epic and have a fight to death with our poop protagonist tanjirou. i Hope that you enjoyed my review and I hiope you have a nice day, English isn;t my first language, if you want to talk with me please talk to me in suajili, thanks in advance. if you watch denmon slayer the ni am sorry that you had to suffer a real poop. I dont really have much to say, my brain is empty like the brain of inosuke. inosuke sounds like josuke from the anime/manga series Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. You should go wath Jojos because it is like demon slayer because they breath to get powers. this was my first review and i think i did a great job. I will apply to a proffestional review writing cite like ign. anyway thanks for reading this far. I want to give a shoutout to my friend themandesssniper with whom I discussed the intellectual property Demon Slayer aka kimetsu no yiberish. the animation was pretty good ngl. especially when tanjrio went slash and the spider was like wat da flip. it was also cool how the water moved like a painting and then he slash demons. tl;dr stinky
This, my friends, is the best Touhou anime you've never seen! ~~~img770(https://files.catbox.moe/45niz7.png)~~~ But alright, jokes aside, this anime is more beautiful than I expected. No amount of trailers will give it enough justice in that regard. I love the thick lines, so it's very much up my alley. The animation is simply outstanding. A lot of interesting decisions, for example, sometimes it goes first-person for extra immersion. You get used to CGI very fast, it's done so well that it never stands out in a bad way. This anime has fantastic, original effects, beautiful intermissions, really creepy demon designs and characters that look unique. There is blood and gore, which is good. Limbs fly around quite often and blood sprays even more so. Characters don't mind though, they just brush it off without as much as a scream and keep fighting. Oh well... that's just how the genre works. Some things, however, are censored. Which is weird. Because sometimes censorship is there and sometimes it isn't. I just don't know how they decided what warrants it. That said, when it's there, it's still rather stylish. So, visually, this anime is absolutely amazing, one of the best I've ever seen, no doubt. The composer is Yuki Kajiura, so... to no one's surprise, the soundtrack will give you goosebumps because of how breathtakingly atmospheric it is. Nothing else to add here. A masterpiece. The episodes are a little empty. It's like nothing has happened yet, and it already ended. And that ending is often abrupt, with no cliffhanger or a defined ending scene. I would honestly go crazy if I was watching it as an ongoing instead of binging. Besides, at this point I'm so used to great anime that don't waste time on typical "previously on..." scenes that just the fact that they were present in Kimetsu no Yaiba was disheartening. I was just sitting there thinking "why did you just waste two and a half minutes of screen time?" Now, to the juicy part, story and dialogues. img770(https://files.catbox.moe/k73j89.png) Oh boy... They were so poor, I'm not sure words I want to use to describe them would be approved on this site. And I really can't explain how infuriatingly dumb they are without going into spoilers, but let's just say I can rant about them for hours and it will get heated, because I hate them THAT much. I'll give you one example. One dialogue without context, so it's not much of a spoiler, but if you don't want even that much, just skip it. ~!One character asks another what year it is. Assuming that he has lost count of time at this point. He didn't get the answer besides the fact that the era has changed (meaning it is a different emperor on the throne now). No dates. Not way of knowing how many emperors have changed. Nothing. And so, literally in the next line he starts saying: "I will never forget that day, 47 years ago..." Seriously? SERIOUSLY? I mean, come on, this is an extremely amateurish mistake.!~ There is a lot of exposition and not of a fun variety, just stupid. Explanations like "this sword is made of special metal", "this clothing is made of special cloth", "this mask is protected by special charms" - this all sounds like a kindergartner wrote the story. And there are just too many instances like this. Writing in this anime is offensively stupid. In fact, here are some more spoilers for you, if you'd like more examples: ~!When Tanjiro sensed an antagonist, he left Nezuko sitting on a bench. Not even for a second has he thought that if their fight would drag out till morning, she would just die. Not to mention that he just gives a box with her to anyone during the day. And what if someone gets curious and opens it? Come on! Also, what's the point of ranks in this anime, if they send whoever they want to whatever missions they want? Think about this, they sent 10 people to clear a forest in one of the episodes. These 10 people failed. What did the organization do? They sent out protagonists, way fewer in numbers AND of a lower rank, to fix it. Uhm... logic? Hello? Where are you? I'd like to have a word... And then, of course, there is one of the finale battles, in which the protagonist suddenly remembers a technique that he has learned long ago, that will save him from the current predicament. Wow. How convenient. And what a lazy writing.!~ Humor... well... let's just say, it's the same as the rest of the writing. Stupid. And if in the first few episodes it looks kinda cute, later it just becomes annoying. At one point I just started skipping their comedic routine to get back to the main story, because I understood that if I struggled through one more scene like that I just wouldn't be able to finish this anime. It's really that bad. ~~~img770(https://files.catbox.moe/0ar9hu.png)~~~ The characters are one-dimensional and don't go beyond one personality quirk. Tanjiro, the protagonist, is weirdly enough the best of the bunch. He is not your typical shonen hero. He doesn't scream, doesn't rush and he's very kind. But it's not a stupid type of kindness that stands between him and his mission. It doesn't look phony at all, but instead creates some of the most emotional moments in the series. I also love the way he talks to kids. He manages to make child characters way less annoying than they usually are. Nezuko... exists. And that makes internet happy. I mean, it makes me happy too, but doesn't make her a good character at all. She has about zero development, even though she's undeniably cute. Also, please, put something soft inside her box! I just don't want to think how much it hurts with all the running, jumping, spinning, swimming that Tanjiro does. The antagonist is... described by one of the characters the best - he is a coward. And a rather pathetic one at that. Which makes watching him a really dull experience. Shinobu is nice. I need way more battles with her. I want to know if there are any to be expected from season 2, because this could be the deciding factor in whether I'll watch it or not. She's just that cool. Again, not particularly well developed, but cool nonetheless. And then Zenitsu happened. And... I'll be honest, I almost dropped this anime the moment he opened his mouth. His level of annoyance is at the level of the worst One-Piece characters. And I'm saying this as a person who actually enjoys One-Piece. Stupid, loud, whiny comedic relief. Sure, he has his moments. In fact, I'll go as far as to say his moments are some the most epic in this anime. But they are way too few to tolerate him all the other time. Which is a shame because he was the character I was most looking forward to the moment I saw his design. Finally, while I mostly found Inosuke annoying, I just have to give props to his voice actor. He was so good with all the screaming I couldn't believe when I saw his name. The most protagonist voice you've ever heard - Yoshitsugu Matsuoka - the same guy who voiced protagonists of Sword Art Online and Danmachi among other things.. Like... holy hell... I'm impressed, I would've never guessed it was him. Bravo! I think I found my new favorite male voice actor. img770(https://files.catbox.moe/u7f7xh.png) # __Pros__: + Art and animation, especially in combat + A fantastic soundtrack + Loli in a basket... or a box... or a blanket... # __Cons__: - Story, dialogues, characters, humor... basically everything that was _written_. - A horrible ending. As if it was just an episode ending, instead of an ending for a season. You get no satisfaction at all from it. In the end, Kimetsu no Yaiba is an empty show in a gorgeous wrapper. Because of that wrapper and the main idea behind the show, I managed to watch it to the end (of the first season). But at some point it became such a painful experience, because of the whole stupidity of dialogues and story, that I couldn't recommend it to anyone else in good faith. The writer's skill was so poor that it didn't just become an average show with some plot holes and tropes you can forgive. It actively worked against everything this show was doing right. You can see that she (writer) had amazing ideas, but lacked the talent to put them together. These ideas - points A, B, C in the story - are marvelous. But the path between them is simply atrocious. Sometimes you're watching a moment of unmatched beauty, both visually and emotionally, and are thinking - there it is, fantastic, gorgeous, breathtaking! And everything in that moment of silent visual storytelling is clear without words... but then the moment keeps dragging, they add words: start talking about exposition, backstory, put a completely unnecessary comment from the heroes. And all you can do is sit there and think: "No, please, stop, not now, it was so perfect"... But alas, the moment is gone. And this is what killed Kimetsu no Yaiba for me. And I'm just upset that such a potential was ruined. Be it lack of talent or just lack of experience - it doesn't matter. The writing quality killed this anime.
#~~~__Opinión sin Spoiler__~~~ ~~~~~~ "Demon Slayer" es una de las series más aclamadas que han surgido en el último año (2019). Personalmente, he disfrutado enormemente del atracón que me di con ella una vez finalizada su emisión, ya que la vi tarde. Esta serie presenta una temática muy clara Shonen incluyendo aspectos sobrenaturales, y como tal, debe ser vista en base a lo que aporta al género e innova en el mismo. Dentro de este género, uno de los aspectos más importantes es la escala de poder. En animes antiguos, se sufre mucho de este problema, ya que los poderes de los personajes tienden a escalar a niveles ridículos sin un objetivo muy claro a la vista. En este caso en particular, parece que se lleva muy bien este aspecto, ya que desde prácticamente el principio se establece un objetivo final que es a la vez una prueba de fuerza y el hito que marcaría el final de la historia del protagonista. Y digo parece, porque la serie no está finalizada, y queda todavía mucho camino que recorrer con ocasiones en las que meter la pata con el desarrollo de personajes, etc. En su estado actual, este anime es una maravilla audiovisual (excelente animación, para nada convencional, uno de los puntos más fuertes de la serie) que tal vez cae en los tropos clásicos del shonen, pero que indudablemente merece la pena seguir. Sus personajes son memorables, la banda sonora está muy a tono y la ya comentada animación que mezcla el trazo grueso para dar énfasis a la acción (al estilo de Attack on Titan) con efectos de pintura tradicional japonesa hace que se te pase el tiempo de visionado volando. Queda recomendada para cualquier persona interesada en el género Shonen, con ganas de ver escenas muy bien animadas y que no tenga demasiado manidos los clásicos argumentos de este tipo de series (y aunque los tengas... dale una oportunidad, no te decepcionará) ~~~~~~ ~~~~~~ #~~~__Opinión con Spoiler__~~~ ~~~~~~ En primer lugar, voy a sacar de encima el criticismo que pueda tener de esta serie, ya que tiene muchos aspectos positivos que le hacen destacar por encima de las demás. El anime cae de forma bastante notable en los clásicos arcos que se cuentan en una historia de estas características. La pérdida de un ser querido (o muchos, en este caso). La búsqueda de un mayor poder. Conocer a un mentor, entrenar con él, volverte más fuerte y una vez sales al mundo real seguir mejorando, haciendo ver que lo que has hecho hasta ese momento es tan solo el principio. Hay un par de excepciones que me parecen notables en este punto; una es la motivación de Tanjirou por alcanzar la meta (derrotar al señor demonio), que es algo tan puro como el amor por el único miembro restante de su familia. Me gusta la contraposición que ofrece este objetivo frente a lo que podría haber sido una historia de venganza con la cura de Nezuko como objetivo secundario. Y precisamente unido a este punto, me gusta la amabilidad y humildad de Tanjirou, a pesar de ser muy hábil, lo que hace que los personajes del mundo se vean en cierto modo atraídos a él. Este defecto a nivel historia, impide que el anime sea considerado obra maestra desde mi punto de vista. Pese al criticismo, el desarrollo es muy disfrutable quitando las partes que se me hacen bastante de relleno (historias de los demonios, cualquier parte en la que aparezca Zenitsu...). Llegados a este punto, hay que hablar un poco de los personajes. Tanjiro y Netzuko hacen un muy buen dúo dinámico, y precisamente la personalidad de Tanjiro es un punto muy a favor. Me gustaría que Nezuko tuviera un poco más de desarrollo, pero lógicamente no puede haber mucho si el personaje se pasa dormido media serie (aunque es una cosita super mona). Inosuke es genial, es muy válido como alivio cómico y parece que se va desarrollando según pasa la serie, pero Zenitsu a mi entender es un personaje más mediocre. La actitud general que tiene resulta cansina, sus recuerdos motivadores no están muy inspirados, y lo único que le salva, otra vez, es el brillante destello en que se convierten sus peleas. Hablamos de saltar directamente las partes de pensamiento e historia pero repetir varias veces sus escasísimas dos escenas de pelea. Los personajes secundarios son memorables, especialmente algunos miembros de élite del cuerpo de exterminio de demonios (Shinobu Kocho y su aprendiz Tsuyuri), el maestro de Tanjirou y Tamayo y Yushiro. Pero, lo que realmente le hace destacar, es el estilo de animación. Como ya se ha comentado, el uso de trazo grueso en conjunto con la animación tradicional hace mucho por las escenas de acción, en la que se puede experimentar la tensión, los impactos y la devoción de los personajes se hace palpable. Es muy adecuada la paleta de colores, que le da un aspecto característico al pelo de los personajes y sus vestimentas que no suele verse. Y, por supuesto, hay que comentar el final de la pelea de Tanjirou en el episodio 19. Una animación increíble, donde un súbito estallido de color en todas direcciones se junta con la dinámica de la escena y la belleza de la música para acabar en un golpe final extremadamente satisfactorio. Probablemente haya visto esa escena más veces de las que me quiero admitir, y la vi de nuevo antes de hacer esta opinión. Marca un punto final en un muy buen momento a este arco, y anticipa el desarrollo de la fuerza de Tanjirou y Nezuko, estrechando sus lazos como familia. A partir de entonces, se entra en un pequeño arco de entrenamiento, pero me gusta mucho como se desarrolla la situación de Netzuko y como el grupo encuentra la motivación que necesita. A nota personal, me gusta mucho la relación que se va entreviendo entre Tanjirou y Tsuyuri, aunque queda por ver si experimenta un desarrollo conmovedor o se queda en el típico interés unidireccional de esta clase de Shonen. Hay un punto muy a favor de la serie, que apenas he comentado, y es que no sexualiza a sus personajes femeninos (excepto una flagrante violación de este hecho con el Pilar del amor), además de darle roles muy importantes y personalidades interesantes a ambos géneros, sin apenas clichés. Tsuyuri, Tamayo, Kocho y Netzuko tienen sus propias intenciones que se irán desarrollando conforme pase el tiempo. En general, me parece uno de los mejores animes que he visto últimamente, y tal vez el mejor de género shonen. ¡Gracias por llegar hasta aquí! Un saludo de SiegmAer, de Catarina.
This anime was all over my timeline or more like Nezuko was and so I decided to give it a shot. I will say it starts off a bit slow for me and I felt like maybe this one is a tad bit overhyped. I was still enjoying it though but when Tamayo and Yushiro come in, I became more interested in the show's world and then when Zenitsu and Inosuke finally come is when this show really picks up for me and I started to find it difficult to stop watching. World building plays a really huge role in me liking a show and that aspect picks up at around episode 15 and after that I saw the potential the show had and I am now excited to see the story develop in the future seasons. The __animation__ is great, there is one action scene that was done so well that it is my top moment of the show, that scene was great for even more reasons, you will know what I am talking about when you watch. __The characters__: Well my favorite character was introduced late in the show so I won't talk about her here. I will talk about the protagonists in this review. - Tanjiro: He is good and his actions scenes are great, while I enjoy watching him, he is a typical good and kind guy and don't get me wrong I wouldn't ever change that aspect of the show because how important his kindness is to the story but that just makes him a bit one note. - Nezuko: There is really nothing to dislike, she is precious and cute. - Zenitsu: He is too whiny which makes me want to shake him but his fight scenes are great. - Inosuke: Very loud guy but it is understandable why, I like him he may be loud and annoying but I like what he adds to the show and the main trio. I find the characters that were introduced near the end way more interesting than our main trio and I am so excited to explore them in the upcoming movie and seasons. Should talk about our main villain, he doesn't instill a lot of fear in me even when he is doing bad stuff, I didn't care much about the demons either but they got better, I really liked the key demons of the last two main demon slaying arcs. Now that our protagonists are about to encounter stronger demons I am way more excited about them. __Story__: Like I said the story has a lot of aspects that can be explored in future seasons, so this season was just the setting up phase which explain why it could feel slow at times, it was still engaging and I suggest if you are hesitating because you feel it might not live up to the hype, watch like the first 20 episodes before giving your verdict. Soundtrack: The score is used well in the show, I don't remember ever feeling that this soundtrack feels out of place and I have been impressed by the use at times. I skip the intro but not the outro.
Demon Slayer is like junk food - It may be simple, cheap, and not the highest in quality, but it's delicious nonetheless. Demon Slayer encapsulates shounen in its purest form. It's an energetic, high-octane thrill ride that just seeks to entertain its audience through its simple story and spectacular fight scenes. First off, no one should go into Demon Slayer expecting an intricate, detailed story on a huge scale, because it is far from that. Demon Slayer's story is very simple, and I think that works in its favour. Rather than dwelling on plot details and characterisation, the anime instead chooses to provide the bear minimum so that the more emotional moments, while having very little overall lasting effect, still manage to hit their mark in the moment. Just take a look at Tanjiro. Off the bat, he's got a motivation, goal, and a straightforward character that works very well in the kind of anime that Demon Slayer is. Given the smaller scope of Demon Slayer's story, Tanjiro's grounded goal to just save his sister and turn her back into a human helps compliment this aspect. Again, the simplicity of the anime is its main strength, and Tanjiro _is_ a simple character, but also doesn't feel bland or boring. I also think the rest of the main cast fits well in this regard. Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu all work well off of each other and they make for quite a decent trio. They're quirky and weird, and have some pretty lighthearted and silly interactions with one another. Of course, none of them are particularly deep or complex, but they're fun enough to keep me satisfied. That being said, half the time he's on screen, Zenitsu makes me wish he'd end up on the end of a rusty gardening rake. He has all the grace of a morbidly obese figure skater. His screams have given me an ulcer. I want to curb him straight into the pavement. Every time he opens his mouth I fear that I'm going to yet again fall victim to one of his grating screeches. He is the epitome of irritating. He definitely has his cool moments, but whether these make up for the amount of pain one must go through before he finally shuts up is up for debate. Of course, when discussing Demon Slayer, it is obligatory to bring up its stunning animation. Simply put, Demon Slayer would not be nearly as good without the blessing of Ufotable's talent that it received. The animation elevates its fight scenes to incredible levels, making them feel smooth, dynamic, energetic, and stylish. ~~~img400(https://media1.tenor.com/images/8c45a59c9a6239012787c3cbb50f6f24/tenor.gif?itemid=14394969)~~~ It's just...cool! These moments are, for lack of a better word, unbelievably hype, and just get my blood pumping thanks to the absolutely stunning visuals. Demon Slayer is full of fights like this, and the animation compliments them perfectly. A lot of these fights are also quite emotionally charged. Each demon that Tanjiro fights usually has some sort of backstory that delves into their life before they turned into demons, meant to drive in the point that demons are merely unfortunate humans who ended up in the wrong circumstances and are trying to survive. It isn't much, and these backstories can feel a little forced as they're ham-fisted into the viewer's eyes right before the demon perishes, but it adds a tiny bit of depth into the story. Also, I believe it's worth mentioning how masterful episode 19 is. It's an incredible display of animation and music, packed with feeling and emotion. It's tense, thrilling, and pure hype, culminating into the ultimate climax. The anime does suffer from some issues, slowing down at points with some parts feeling a bit stretched out, and it can get a little cheesy at times. It might hit a bit of a ceiling, since pure spectacle alone can only get you so far, but I still believe Demon Slayer to be a damn fun watch. It isn't some fancy $75 steak served with red wine sauce cooked by a gourmet chef, but it doesn't need to be. It's a simple, wholesome, greasy burger that anyone can indulge in.
I’m of the opinion that 2019 was a particularly dismal year for anime. To be fair, I haven’t seen all the hugely praised stuff yet, so it’s possible I’ll warm up to the year as a whole once I get a fuller picture of it. But from what I’ve experienced thus far, it’s been really miserable. Disappointment after disappointment, promising show after promising show failing to live up to its potential, and even lots of the 2019 anime everyone fell in love with really didn’t click with me. Fire Fore wasted oodles of talent on some of the worst writing and directing I’ve seen in a long time. Dororo was pretty great at its best, but also uneven as hell from start to finish. Dr. Stone won everyone else’s hearts but I couldn’t ignore the obvious flaws in its presentation, and honestly, I think my opinion on it has only soured as time’s gone on. One Punch Man’s second season was probably the biggest second-season downgrade since Psycho-Pass, and then Psycho-Pass one-upped it right back with its worst installment yet. Not to mention the conversation and marketing hype that made a smash hit out of Shield Hero, one of the most viscerally unpleasant, harmfully selfish occurrences I’ve seen befall this community. Even the still-reliable My Hero Academia feels like it’s downgraded substantially after its masterpiece of a third season. And, of course, there was the utter tragedy that befell Stars Align, a potential masterpiece that could have truly placed a new landmark for anime, crippled by corporate bullshit and forced to air only half-finished. You couldn’t get more existentially depressing if you tried, especially after the utter triumph of a year that was anime in 2018. So in a way, Demon Slayer letting me down too makes a very sad kind of sense. The biggest breakout hit of anime in 2019, a massively popular show with everyone’s well-wishes and the efforts of an absurdly talented studio behind it, a shonen smash that’s promising to become just as much a mainstay of the popular conception of anime as MHA in the modern era, that only just last night went so far as to win Anime of the Year at the Crunchyroll awards? Of course it was never gonna live up to the hype. Of course it would fall short of truly being special time and time again, stumbling over its own two feet every time it looked like it was actually gonna pull through. I’ve wondered in the past if I’m turning into an anime hipster, but man, I’ve never felt as disillusioned with the state of the community at large than I have with Demon Slayer. I can only hope this feeling doesn’t last, because I don’t want to ever stop loving what this incredible medium is capable of. To be clear, I wouldn’t go so far as to call Demon Slayer a bad show. Far from it, in fact; the only reason it’s able to be such a crushing disappointment is that you can easily see all the ways it comes so damn close to working. The action is consistently kickass, with killer kinetic camerawork and eye-poppingly gorgeous stylistic effects that make each clash of steel and blood feel like a painting in motion. Plus, the extra visceral kick from the body horror of the demons themselves can be giddily nasty, loading each fight with a real sense of tension and menace. Ufotable’s crack team of animators keeps the production consistent all the way through, with few dips in quality to speak of. And at its core, the story of Tanjirou’s incredible empathy against the forces of darkness is really fucking solid. There’s genuine gravitas to his journey, powerful emotion behind his determination to never give up on reaching out and believing in the best of everyone, no matter how painful it gets or how difficult it is to believe in. Sure, the mechanics of the story are fairly boilerplate shonen- A kid in early-20th-century Japan has his family slaughtered by a demon and trains to become a demon slayer to fine a cure for his now-demonified sister- but as shows like Blue Exorcist and My Hero Academia have proven time and time again, a well-worn formula done well can still delight and amaze you no matter how many times you see it. There are all the making of a classic in Demon Slayer, all the potential to be something truly special that would earn its astounding popularity a million times over. But as much as I want to love this show, as many of its pieces speak to me, it just doesn’t hold together with the polish it needs. As beautiful as the action is, the disconnect between Ufotable’s photorealistic backgrounds and the hyperstylized characters and effects never truly goes away. The moment-to-moment pacing can be awkward and stilted, making the already-unnatural dialogue feel even less genuine. There’s no marriage between its light and darkness, no moment where the over-the-top attempts at comedy, snarling villains, and pop-art sensibilities exist in the same world as the sorrow of Tanjirou’s empathy and the sadness he fights to overcome. As a result, you’re constantly getting tonal whiplash, thrown between moments of genuine pathos and attempts at gags so poorly integrated it feels like they take place in an entirely different show. Every scene is full of a million little distractions that add up and cripple your ability to truly immerse yourself in this world, and the writing on its own just isn’t strong enough to cover for that deficiency. And when it sucks, it really fucking sucks. I still can’t get Zenitsu’s mind-numbing screeches out of my head no matter how hard I try. And all that wonderful emotional work and haunting spectacle can only crash up against this impenetrable wall of imperfection, trying so hard to break through but never having enough power behind its punches to truly do so. Demon Slayer isn’t a bad show. Compared to some of the worst shows of 2019, it might as well be a masterpiece. But it’s perfectly indicative of what a sorrowful dead zone for anime 2019 was, a mediocre attempt at greatness that just can’t pull together no matter how hard it tries. Thankfully, it ends strong enough to give me hope for the franchise’s future: maybe there’s still a chance for it all to matter in the end. Maybe as we leave 2019 behind and step into the already-lightyears-better 2020, this show can finally come into its own and become what it always had the potential to be. Frankly, far stranger things have happened in the anime world, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I end up genuinely liking Demon Slayer as a whole when all is said and done. For now, though, its first season remains a frustrating, tentative, almost-remarkable experience that leaves me eternally sad at what might have been.
#~~~ __A story wrapped in a gift that hasn't been open yet...__~~~ This is my point of view of the show at the __moment__! I say __moment __ cause it is really shallow in storytelling as in the first season which is understandable. I'll say truthfully that I was on the hype train of demon slayer anime adaptation myself and say that I wasn't disappointed but not amazed. Although! That doesn't mean I do not like it. It has a few bad areas where it is and a few good areas for itself to carry itself as an anime. Let's start with a short description of the show : ~!There's a boy. Family dies. He becomes a Demon Slayer.!~ Looking at the Pros and Cons __Pros __ _Art Style_ The Art Style itself tells a tale itself being very astonishing, to having to never to disappoint me to amaze me! In parts that I may think that these parts may be boring but adding a lot of detail to the action and characters it really shows what "you" the viewer should be focusing on in the action! _Voice Acting_ Now I love listening to Japanese voices compared to English Speakers not gonna lie but these voice actors are really good at their roles expressing their emotions to what happening and what it feels to be in that situation that occurs during this season. Sound Track Without the Sound Track in any anime, I think it'll be very awkward watching the anime itself. This really builds the tension between scenes that happens during the action. As it plays the roles greatly using in times that really trying to inspire the characters in parts that are needed most! Which really wanted me to cheer on what's going or cry when the times comes it really shows that Sound can enchant the experience of enjoyment if used right. __Cons__ _Story_ I do not doubt that the anime story is good or bad but I can say it has its shallow points and missing points towards itself when I watch it like character building for example. There was a lot of potential towards the story being a lot different, how? Well, I think maybe it'll try a different take but yet. I can't lie but it was straight for me all the way when I watch it. I would agree with others that it has an amazing story but yet I can't because I have seen so many anime like this common trope of it. _Characters_ Character building was really bulky and bland, it didn't really explain as much as I imagine. I wanted the characters to interact with the mc more though I can't say they don't but I wanted to be more noticeable as characters instead of side characters. Agreeable that all the characters have been great. Thank you for reading my review! Please leave feedback on what I should reflect on! __Conclusion __ I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me and agree with me but this is my opinion on it. I enjoyed the show as much as everyone else I just wanted to see what feedback I'll receive, wanting to write a review for a show that's quite cool for itself. I also notice when I was reading the review myself that it wasn't clear... But I just want to start off with Demon Slayer as my first Review on Anilist. Stay Safe out there :)
“Feel The Rage. The Powerful, Pure Rage Of Not Being Able To Forgive Will Become Your Unswerving Drive To Take Action.” The word over-hyped is definitely not an exaggeration in conversations about this anime, but I believe that a very usual side effect of any show that does something new and or exciting in an already well-established genre. Prior to starting Demon Slayer, I had not seen a shounen in years. I had grown tired of the genre and its usual formulae and tropes, which is why I had my reservations about the show during the first half of my watch-through. The beginning of this series is the necessary and painstaking setup that every shounen-watcher must endure. Tanjiro's training arc is far from inspiring but does set up a decent story when it comes to his skills actually being tested for the first time. It was very easy to see why this show had been given the praise it had received. Even during episodes where I felt like I was reading the next monster of the week chapter, I was still somewhat drawn to every demon Tanjiro comes across, as every single one is interesting in its own right. The villains are very basic but what makes them so fun to see is Tanjiro's interactions with them as well as any other character we see in the series. Tanjiro is a very vanilla protagonist. Good Guy Tanjiro: Kills Demons, Protects Lolis. But his one most admirable trait is his ability to see the good in every enemy he faces. This is mostly due to what has happened to his sister and I think it is a very nice change of pace from the typical hero of justice trope in shounen. Especially because his actions are not necessarily seen as right by his superiors and serve as a very good driving force for him as a character. This series is no stranger to flashy fight sequences and ufotable spares literally no expense in any shot. Every single episode is beautifully animated and done extremely well. Tanjiro's form and attacks are particularly beautiful to look at and compliments the show's unique, manga-adhering art style. The climax of this season in particular is one of the best-animated sequences I have seen in recent memory. Overall, I believe that even with the hype that this show gets, I still think it is worth the watch for any fan of anime. Especially if you are like me and have been away from the shounen genre for a long time. This show is refreshing and should serve as an example for the genre down the road, It's success has proven that even the same old formula can be adapted into something exciting and I am extremely excited for what is in store for the movie and any further adaptations. Even if I had to wait 20 episodes for my waifu.
___Story - 8/10 The story starts off with our main protagonist Tanjiro, who one day finds his entire family killed, with his sister, Nezuko being turned into a demon. Some other stuff happens (don't want to give spoilers) which eventually leads to him becoming a part of the Demon Slayer Corps. Some typical shounen tropes happen with one such being a training arc, but to be honest nothing too out of the ordinary. There were some parts that felt boring and felt some stuff was dragged on a bit too long, and there's a time skip as well, but otherwise, it's a pretty solid plot and I'm excited where they'll go with this. Art and Animation - 9/10 Adapted by the godly people at Ufotable, I had high expectations on their artwork, and well, they delivered. The animation is crisp, clean, and fight scenes never fail to get me hyped, even if there is sometimes a bit too much talking. One thing that I absolutely love is water effects on Tanjiro's sword, they look so good, and I appreciate the visual style they're taking with this. Background art looks really nice with lots of detail put into it. 3D looks stunning, and I feel like they're one of the only studios that can really capitalize on mixing 2D and 3D animation. The only complaint that I have is that they'll have a 3D model of Tanjiro walking and it looks pretty jarring but other than that, it's great. Sound - 10/10 The soundtrack was composed by the famous Yuki Kajira and a lesser known producer, Go Shiina, and can I just say that it sounds amazing? Each action scene that they play this soundtrack on I feel like is more memorable than the fight scene itself, yeah it's that amazing. On top of that, you have one of my personal favorite artists, LiSA, and you have a recipe for success. Both the OP and ED were sung by her, and they're also really good. If you have the time, I highly recommend you listen to the OP and ED by itself. Character - 7/10 Tanjiro is your typical shounen protagonist, optimistic, wants to protect a lot of stuff, which normally would be a complaint, but to be honest, I can't really hate him. Along with that, his special "trait," we'll call it is also pretty unique and its executed in a great manner. Additionally, six episodes in, we're already getting some character development, as more episodes pass on, the stronger he'll eventually get. Nezuko is our other main character that has been introduced so far, and while she doesn't really get any dialogue, she's sometimes just adorable to watch, but other than that, I feel as if she's just kind of there as a plot device, but she does have her moments. Enjoyment - 9/10 I have been enjoying this anime a lot. From the awesome visual effects to the absolutely amazing soundtrack composed by two talented people, and you have a highly enjoyable time from the beginning of the episode to the end of the episode, but seeing that it's a stereotypical shounen tropes kind of made me roll my eyes a bit. Still very highly enjoyable, even if this might not be for you___
it's just trash.... ridiculously written, disgusting plot conveniences, bad and inconsistent character design, unanswered questions and lots of power disparity and world-shattering power-scalling issues, and some idiotic waifus to make some losers briefly forget they will most likely die a bunch of miserable virgins... good animation and soundtrack aren't everything, weebs! don't you weebs think it's weird only the relevant characters happen to have colored hair!? and back stories worth listening to!? imbenciles writing mangas like Demon Slayer should learn a thing or two about character design from the likes of Hunter x Hunter and FullMetal Alchemist authors! whoever is the author of Demon Slayer, he is a lucky man for getting so much success with such a childish eye for design! demon-slayer finds out magic hidden mansion of a good willed demon in his first day of work in the capital, when the greatest demon-slayers have failed to find this same place working in the capital for DECADES!? or maybe the irony that exactly the three only special cadets were BY COINCIDENCE put together in a party, while every other demon-slayer cadet party is pathetic and dies by the hands of demons like water flows through rivers!? some sweet plot conveniences i just can't have it! the anime is filled with those! if they don't bug you, then enjoy whatever childish garbage fencies your tasteless preferences! power-scalling and power-disparity between characters is already a known issue with shounen anime few manage to solve like Hunter x Hunter and Boku no Hero Academia or FullMetal Alchemist, i hate Dragon Ball for that fact, and i grew up with it, despite not being a nostalgic person, i should at least like Dragon Ball... Dragon Ball is enough, i don't need another "shatter the universe" or "only two or three persons in the world could defeat this guy" bullshits! how do they even got to discover that "black metal" kills demons specifically when beheading them!? how do they even discovered those purple plants are poisonous to demons!? where did the demons came from!? why only Japan if it's happening in the 20th century right before the world wars!? how was that group of super demon-slayer with hyper-collored hair even put together!? how the f* do they even manage to keep all those absurd things a secret from societies, and why!? why no other army in the world have discovered those revolutionary "breaths styles" that makes a man capable of cutting a giant boulder in two perfect halfs with a fragile katana without as much as scratching the blade!? __i can stay here all day telling why Demon Slayer didn't deserved all that Ufotable budget!__ someone should teach Ufotable a better method of avaliating a manga's potential as anime! the only thing Ufotable's chain of command (that knows nothing of anime or manga apparently) could see when they decided to make a manga of Demon Slayer was the numbers it already had, and because of luck and their own marvelous animation and soundtrack, they must be now thinking the success resulted from the manga's already existing numbers/popularity, when it fact the anime's success is thanks to their ~~Unlimited Budget Works~~ great work! they could do it with Claymore, Spice and Wolf, Gantz, Btooom, and so so so so many forgotten others, mangas of all kinds that got cancelled after 12~24 episodes produced by a petty studio that never had the intention to give the animation a continuationn! Demon Slayer didn't deserved to be ahead of all those jewels!
Demon Slayer is a masterpiece! Story: 10/10 Demon Slayer story does something never done before. The battles they fight in and the variety of skills and moves is something that no other anime rivals. There is just way more to Demon Slayer in just the simple battles than many other animes can even hope of. Some anime they just use one ability throughout, while in Demon Slayer Tanjiro's abilities are always developing in new and exciting ways. The story keeps you engrossed and you even begin to sympathize with the demons. This type of interaction with the "bad guys" is not something many anime can do, and certainly not as well as Demon Slayer. Characters: 10/10 All the characters are lovable. First there is Tanjiro who everyone loves because he is a great person, levelheaded, and even sympathizes with the enemies. This makes him an interesting and lovable character as well as a unique character because most main characters would just hate their enemy. Then there is Nezuko who is a pretty complex character even though she doesn't talk. Through her communication with Tanjiro and what she does it's clear that she is a great person which also makes everyone like her. Then there is Zenitsu who is really awesome and even though he can be scared, he will use his abilities for good which is good. Then there is Inosuke, who has a very unique character design that not many other series come close to in uniqueness. His attitude and ways he fights are unique only to Demon Slayer and helps illustrate Demon Slayer's greatness. Art/Animation: 11/10 This has the best animation of any anime ever. Period. The animation in every episode shines and is way better than pretty much every other anime. Now when I watch other animes I cringe at how bad they look and can sometimes barely stand watching the episodes. Demon Slayer is truly in a tier of its own. Its art style is also unique because the way they draw the characters and environments is something that hasn't really done before especially in this setting. The author truly made an idea of his own and executed it perfectly. The environments feel real and it almost feels like you are in them. The animation shown in this will only be rivaled by the movie and the coming seasons. In conclusion, Demon Slayer has shown us how truly great anime can be. The author in his next works I hope will continue to break the old rules of anime and deliver something that can be as amazing as Demon Slayer. Demon Slayer has cemented its spot as the #1 Anime with over 100,000,000 manga sales, much more than any other series in recent years. It's crazy to say, but we are witnessing the greatest of all time series releasing and I couldn't be more hyped for what's to come!
~~~__Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba__ is a historical, action-shōnen, supernatural manga written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotouge. Adapted into an anime series by the immensely talented __Studio Ufotable__. The studio behind the successful anime adaptions of Type Moon's: Fate and Kara no Kyoukai.~~~ ~~~img220(https://cdn.myanimelist.net/images/voiceactors/3/57359.jpg)~~~ Demon Slayer has taken the world by storm, the series has exploded in popularity, with manga sales exceeding 100+ million within a year's time. While the anime is being recognized as a _classic_. Set within the Taishō period of Japan, young __Kamado Tanjiro__ inspires to become a "Demon Slayer", pursuing a path of vengeance for the murder of his family committed by a demon, while also trying to find a cure for his younger sister Nezuko, who turned into a demon. ~~~img620(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/88/eb/5c/88eb5cc2fcebaeb2bd76987a4ca4ad2b.png)~~~ If you __hate __ shōnen troupes and shōnen anime in general, this series won't really change your opinion. But if you look past that you will find an anime with a simple, but wonderful story, great episode direction, some of the best animation you will ever see, and some of the best voice acting and music. Ufotable’s adaption is the best anime adaption I have ever seen. An adaption few authors could ever hope to receive. An adaption that is not only better than its source material, but it also enhances the experience in a multitude of layers, ways the manga was never able to achieve. The manga still has a solid story, but suffers from less than impressive artwork, direction, and page layout. While the adaption improves upon the content of the manga while enhancing every other quality. At its core, it is a battle shōnen. The fights featured are wonderfully animated, superbly directed, fluid, and contain an appealing art style fitting the series. The strength of the fights lay behind the main antagonists, the demons. They are simply monsters that go out of their way to kill a multitude of people, to feast on their flesh while having no remorse or humanity. Or so that is how you are supposed to view them. But demons were all originally human, turned demon against their wills, suffering from painful hunger, turning violent with their humanity fading away, being portrayed as misfortunate people. ~~~img620(https://pm1.narvii.com/7156/7f5193a5c52bae484a5106b3c05e1f060a9eec18r1-940-529v2_hq.jpg)~~~ __Tanjiro__ is a very standard shōnen protagonist, he's the hard-working type, has an unusual great sense of smell, and has a variety of comedic quirks. The main aspect of his character is his incredibly kind nature, despite this, he shows no mercy towards demons, and makes no exceptions to beheading one. He essentially kills them in order to "save" them, as funny as it sounds. The Demons he cuts down reveal details about their past lives, eventually coming to regret what they became. While Tanjiro can never forgive their actions of killing innocent people, he still shows sympathy and sends them off to rest. Generally, to deliver this type of message, you would need an overly kind character like Tanjiro, as not many characters could reasonably show sympathy to a cannibalistic monster. While his character is very cliche it is perfect for the themes in the series. Tanjiro has an immensely strong bond with his younger sister __Nezuko__. One of the themes pushed by Demon Slayer is family, their relationship feels genuine and sweet throughout the anime. The other characters have room to grow, but seeing as only 1/4th of the source material has been adapted, there is still plenty of growth to come. They have their share of quirky personalities and great designs, while each having an appropriate amount of screen time. I am excited to see how they progress, as well as other minor characters. ~~~img620(https://talkiesnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/6ec71-1_j5dbpojhwxju3dmayk_fmg.jpeg?w=1024&h=495&crop=1)~~~ ~~~Demon Slayer has been one of the most enjoyable anime I have watched in a while, for what it is, it's amazing. A great blend of great animation and music, with a simple but fun shōnen story that tackles it's themes with great execution.~~~
__If you see any grammatical errors sorry, I did all this with google, English is not my mother tongue__ I want to let off steam a bit about this anime. __I DONT READ THE MANGA__ By now, everywhere we see people LOVING and LOVING this Anime, saying it is spectacular and the characters beautiful, better than any other anime that has ever come out, saying it surpasses the levels of naruto, that was created in 1999, so it seems a bit difficult to get over an anime of those years. Let's think for a moment ... I am a very, very judicious person on Anime, I hardly ever dwell on a tearful scene if it does not make logical sense, for example. From the various comments I've had on this anime I really thought it was a beautiful anime but it left me with a: .... ah beautiful, on the train, that's cool ok, so? ____ __Story__ It could have been better, I liked this thing about demons a lot as an idea, I love the classic things that then go on particular points, this anime I liked a lot on the cultural fact of many things, but apart from this, the story is balanotta, the classic protagonist who must help his sister to become a human again as before. Cute but mundane story, it can't surpass many other anime ____ __Characters__ A disaster. The characters are perhaps the thing I hated the most, they are very beautiful as they are physically structured but how they are placed there with their characters that they have ... I hated them. Tanjiro: classic character who must reach his goal, boring character and does not excite anyone. Nezuko: Adorable but it's only made for lolicons. Useless and also a dead weight for the protagonist, he rarely does anything in the anime. Inosuke: he is one of the few that I loved, but only because he was funny in certain places. He is randomly placed there, joins with Tanjiro at random and has no valid reason to be there. Zenitsu: same as Inosuke. Made for fanservice and just to make people laugh, but it is useless. Secondary Characters: They have nothing, literally. Villains: strangely they are quite well done, I got very excited seeing the spider family, I even started crying sincerely. But if we surpass this, they too are a bit without characterization. ____ __Graphics__ I liked it from the first moment, I love that they put every little detail, even in the backgrounds with messages and statues that mention the Japanese culture of the time. I'm talking about the artist that I am, every little stroke is pretty good, I like it. ~~~img220(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/ac/eb/ba/acebba83bec6c157f5ebb778080887de.png)~~~ ____ __Music__ I am a lover of music that calms but above all also those that give a lot of emotion in the moment of the scene, they are beautiful, I approve of them ❤ ____ __In conclusion__ Demon Slayer it's nice because it's nice to follow, I'm not a fan of this anime for these reasons that I have listed. I am more a person for anime who are original and innovative, this did not arouse anything to me, some even said that it is perfect and I sincerely would like to kill those people, but in the end they are made of tastes and opinions. This review is not done with a lot of care, at least I tried, I just wanted to share my thoughts and what I think. Do I recommend it? if you want something simple obvious, see this but please don't tell me it's innovative or original...
~~~_~Mainstream and predictable doesn't mean bad, at all_~~~ #__Premiss__ I never thought I would write a review about anything, the hate on Demon Slayer pushed me to say what I thought as an average Anime fan. So this should be a good read to let you have an idea on what the anime can offer, mostly from the point of view of a non-hater nor fan that enjoyed watching it. You can consider this a review and an aswer to all the hate, _both is good_. I want to have a different approach on this review, and I'll try to be keep this as easy to read as possible, without 1000+ words paragraphs. I will try to give reasons to love the anime, and reasons to hate it, nothing is perfect, but you should be in power to decide whether you can like it or not. ~~~img220(https://media.tenor.com/images/a17b40377d32935d3ee0cde1541d22ca/tenor.gif)~~~ #__Review__ You can hate the anime for a lot of reasons, the story is pretty much obvious since the first episode, Tanjrou (main character) is nothing special and very plain, you will like him not because he is something special, just because he is there and there's nothing you can hate for. You can feel the disparity between the visuals and the actual content, a lot of the budget is clearly flushed down into visuals and sounds to take an average story and make it epic. I bet you could read a book (a book, not a manga) about Demon Slayer and it would have less than half of the impact it has. Well, now let me destroy everything I said about what you can hate about the anime with some sweet logic that a lot of people seem to have forgotten. __Be honest with yourself:__ __Do you care if an anime would be good even with only the story to read?__ No... You are watching an anime, visuals are part of the content and are a part of the anime itself, you can't remove the visuals just because ThYRe The oNLy gOOD Thing, they may be depending on your taste, but still they are very good and should be considered! So the whole argument falls, so damn fast I don't know why people still talk about it. __Do you care about the main character being normal?__ Honestly, why? Why do you even think that? It really sounds like trying to pinpoint to something worthless. Yes, the main character is normal, then what? Tell me 10 anime you like and tell me why the main character is different and not normal in what he does. You can dislike it but it's not a reason for the anime to be less enjoyable. __Do you care if the story is obvious? Does it make the anime bad?__ No... Not at all. You can have the most painfully obvious stuff in front of your eyes but if the way they deliver it is good, you will love it! And let me say, they did it, they made it epic. If I have to add anything to this dumb point, if you can make something like Demon Slayer out of something this obvious or boring, it's nothing but something to brag about! Honestly incredible, you never feel like it is heavy, you get curious, you stay hooked and at the end of the day, you're there full of joy when you realize you didn't see much about the story behind; yet, it is incredible. I have to say it, it is again something GREAT not bad, you leave the anime with the urge to watch the rest of it that has to come out, you want to know more because in this season you felt so good and saw so little that the potential is incredible! ~~~img220(https://media.tenor.com/images/3897f6b71a602d80b90c5eddce5145cf/tenor.gif)~~~ #__Conclusion__ A great shounen, you should watch it. ~~~img220(https://media.tenor.com/images/7b91f5303a7727bd196dd1b2d820b578/tenor.gif)~~~