Anime 38000 Kimetsu No Yaiba Reviews

Oh boy, the seasonal battle shounen that everyone raves about, what does it do right? Well to be completely honest, nothing, the only thing it got going for it is the production quality from ufotable.

Story: 2 (contains spoilers up to ep 19)

There's really nothing special here, the series starts out with Tanjirou's family got devouvered by demons and his sister Nezuko got turned into one. In order to save his sister and turn her human again he set out to find Muzan Kibutsuji the original demon who surely has some way of turning Nezuko human again. In order to get to him he needs to ... be strong and fight a lot of demons thus he becomes a demon slayer. After this set up he just fights demons every episode and honestly it gets tiring fast. They decide to fix this repetitiveness by introducing two other main characters who are extremely obnoxious and later by introducing a spider demon who's several times more powerful than Tanjirou and the demons we've seen prior. However the way they handle this demon is done in the worst way possible, first to showcase how powerful he is when Tanjirou goes to cut his spider thread it is the sword that is cut instead and after getting destroyed by the demon, he has a flashback and pulls out a breathing technique called dance of the fire god from his ass, he then oblitirates his opponent with his sword whose blade is now half the length of the hilt. After this I completely gave up on the series, Fairy Tail has better writing than this.

Art / Animation: 8

The reason this series got popular in the first place, I have to admit it's beautiful and the fight scenes are fantastic, I do have a minor issue whenever I see CG Tanjirou walking around but it's otherwise fantastic.

Sound: 6

There's really nothing to complain about but there's not much to praise either. The music is solid and gets the job done but it's also unmemorable. The've assambled an absolutely fantastic voice cast but their roles don't alow for them to shine, the only exeptional voice performance is from Saori Hayami as Shinobu.

Characters: 0

The absolute worst part of the show, pretty much all the characters are as flat as a piece of cardboard with a single character trait, for many of them this character trait is also extremely obnoxious. Tanjirou is your standard shounen protagonist, overly righteous with a strong sense of comradery, honestly a really boring character that we've all seen a hundred times before so that he still ends up being one of the best characters in the show is speaking volumes about the rest of the cast. Nezuko is cute and that's it, apart from protecting Tanjirou a handful of times she hasn't done anything apart from looking cute she's also one of the better characters in the show. Inosuke is stupid, loud and obnoxious and tries to solve everything by beating stuff up, that's it there's nothing else to his character. Zenitsu is one of the worst characters I've seen in any medium, he's the biggest coward ever and his constant screaming makes you want to tear your hair off. Giyuu seems like a passable character on par with Tanjirou but I haven't found a reason to actually like him. Shinobu would be the most intersting character so far but she appears too robotic in her mission ''demon bad, gotta kill demon''. If she actually listened to Giyuu but still come to the same conclusion I wouldn't have a problem. Also she's a woman so of course she has to be too weak to sever the head of a demon, her sword and poison is cool and all but come on, find a better reason, it's pretty clear that strength is not the key component in severing the head of a demon in this universe. The rest of the pilars hasn't had much screentime but they've made an awful first impression, they've all been shows to have a single exaggerated character trait and nothing else.

Enjoyment: 0

Boring plot with obnoxious characters that drive you insane leads to an absolutely abysmal level of enjoyment on par with staring into a wall while listening to a screaming baby for 10 hours.

Overall: 1

To me this is the perfect example of style over substance and goes to show that as long as something has flashy fight scenes it's very likely to be loved by the anime community. If you're not already a big battle shounen fan who's able to watch a series for the action sakuga alone stay far away from this series.

Ah ufotable, the studio that keeps on giving. Before Kimetsu no Yaiba aired, news broke out that we’d get them animating the show. And to my delight, it’s a studio that earned its praise for its high caliber animation and consistently delivering quality content. Being their first 2-cour show (without a split cour break), Kimetsu no Yaiba is a special gift not just for the manga fans but anyone ready to experience a world of demons and dark fantasy.

With over 170 chapters and counting, manga artist Koyoharu Gotouge made this series as a dark fantasy-adventure about demons. With 26 episodes, there are some concerns about ... how much content we’d actually get adapted. For statistical references, each episode adapts about 3 chapters. Most of the episodes follows these chapters by the letter and to manga fans, I think this is a special treat. Not too manga series follows this trend and some unfortunately decides to jump off the rail and follow its own path. With that being said, Kimetsu no Yaiba is a series that I recommend and there’s plenty reasons to see why.

The experience of watching this show goes beyond the realm of its visual quality. Ufotabe applied their cinematic style to bring the characters and story to life but it’s important to realize what the author wanted to bring from his work. From the start, the show had a vision. It sets up a state of tragedy that deals with life and death. The demons in this show are devices created with the purpose to generate fear, the type of feeling that viewers needs to experience when watching a dark fantasy. Often these days, I find myself feeling bored when watching dark fantasies when it relies too much on relationship developments. Instead, Kimetsu no Yaiba elegantly tells a story that’s straightforward yet meaningful to deliver its premise. We meet main protagonist Tanjiro Kamado, a determined demon slayer who stops at nothing to help find a cure for his sister, Nezuko. The first few episodes establishes their important character relationship as even with Nezuko being a demon, he refuse to kill her. In return, Nezuko uses her own skills to help Tanjiro when he is in trouble fighting demons on his own. Early episodes also shows Tanjiro learning the ropes as a demon slayer. The anime makes it clear about the reality of their world where death is common and can happen in the brink of an eye. If you don’t believe me, just take a look at what happens to Tanjiro’s family. With such a tragic setup, the anime seeks to bring hope for Tanjiro and his journey to make things better for his only remaining family.

In remembering the past, Kimetsu no Yaiba is known for showing the importance of family. Known for showing rather than telling, it should be easy to see the close relationship Tanjiro has with his sister, mother, and father. Throughout the show, Tanjiro is also known for his duty to eliminate demons although he doesn’t truly hate all of them. Rather than having a black and white philosophy, he also feels sympathy for some of the demons he faces. However, there is one demon he both fears and despises – the mysterious and powerful Kibutsuji Muzan. As the primary antagonist of the show, he is also the catalyst of tragic events in Tanjiro’s life. Let’s face the reality here: he killed Tanjiro’s family and is responsible in making Nezuko into a demon. How can Tanjiro not hate this demon? As a cold-hearted and manipulative personality, Kibutsuji is one of Tanjiro’s main obstacles to overcome during this dark fantasy adventure. Unfortunately, we don’t get too much inside scoop on Kibutsuji’s character besides what he shows on the surface. The anime limited itself with adapting his story but it’s still shown that he is one, if not the most dangerous antagonist in this show.

With the premise of demon slaying, there’s plenty of room for other characters to get their own spotlights. Some of the more prominent names include Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, and Genya Shinazugawa. The author made these characters with conflicting personalities to bring more value to their roles. For instance, Zenitsu is initially portrayed as a coward but over time, he conquers his fears and learns to accept his role as a demon slayer. Inosuke is known for his fierce personality and competitive persona. While the show doesn’t develop his character as much as the others, he brings a unique form of fighting and charisma. And we shouldn’t forget about Genya since he first appeared in the show. Known for its foul mouth and killing desire, one should wonder how much he can really fit the role as a demon slayer. It helps that Kimetsu no Yaiba features a diverse cast of characters who are all unique on their own. On the other hand, the same principle may not apply entirely for the demons. Truth to be told, most of the demons in the show has a rather one sided personality. Most of them are known for their bloodlust and urge to kill. It’s a primary factor that can make the demons more forgettable compared to the human characters. Outside of Kibutsuji, it’s really hard to say any of these demons are actually worth remembering for this adaptation. If in the future when this gets more animated episodes, they could be worth mentioning.

Yet, ufotable is well worth mentioning again for their stellar animation and character work. It seems throughout the show, there isn’t one instance where an episode suffered quality. It manages to consistently adapt battle scenes with stylistic and cinematic choreography. Character movements aren’t wasted but instead used to showcase the different fighting styles of the cast. The show also uses a realistic environment of snow and mountains to show the harsh conditions of surviving in the wilderness. The demon designs are made with menacing elements from their aggressive nature to their killing expressions. At the same time, the anime also has room for humor with over the top character emotive performances especially from Zenitsu. Even Tanjiro himself has moments where you can’t easily forget. If there’s something to take away from this show, it’s ufotable and the director’s impressive work. They earned this praise. If you don't believe me, watch episode 19 and see for yourself.

And it’s not only that either. Music and the soundtrack used in this show creates a thrilling atmosphere. In early episodes, I could feel the show being able to tell its story by its melancholic soundtrack alone. When you take the fact of the cast being able to make the characters into life, it really sends a strong impression. The OP song “Gurenge” by LISA carries a sensational aura with its visual storytelling while the ED theme “from the edge” contains a feeling of serenity and loneliness.

Kimetsu no Yaiba is like a love letter to dark fantasy adventure fans. Based on financial reports, the first week had sold over 11k copies while the manga also enjoys a decent success. It’s not too often to see this type of series succeed but I’m so glad it’s on this road. With ufotable behind the wheels as its studio, this is no pushover when it comes to technical quality. The characters and storytelling are meaningful to its premise while maintain an aura of mystique. We really need more adaptations like Kimetsu no Yaiba.

This is your typical Shounen anime but done damn right.

The story is somewhat new in a sense and character location or setting I would say is also kind of new to me in shounen anime, I am saying this because now days shounen anime always start in a city or suburb areas. Its nice to see this anime start the story from middle of nowhere kind of setting (given this anime takes place in past, its not new but different in my opinion).

The action scenes are jaw dropping and are something you would rewind the few seconds of that scene to see again. Tanijro as ... a character is also breath of fresh air in this shounen setting, because he do not have lofty goals like becoming king of pirates or something like that, he just wants to turn his sister back to human form once again and he do not rely on friendship power or activating his fourth gear on or going ssj 3, nope he trains like any other human being to earn his power. Directing on this anime is also fascinating, you can tell that director cut no corner for fight scenes(like one other anime I know, looking at you OPM S2) and he went with full force to animate those gorgeous fight scenes.

The only tiny bit problem is that occasional use of CG models of characters when they are far in the view or are fast moving, but this use of CG is ten times better than what we got for goblin slayer. When its comes to using CG studio Ufotable is leagues ahead in the competition and it shows here.

This is only anime I am enjoying, which is doing action scenes right. Give it a try you will enjoy it.

[Spoiler Warning]

I'm sorry I won't be able to review everything, but I'm at the 7th episode now and I can't keep watching. I convinced myself to keep watching just to laugh it out, but the show is so inconsistent and poor that it drove me mad.

Kimetsu no Yaiba starts out with the carbon copy shonen "failproof" formula. Tragedy that fuels progress for the protagonist. This time, it's demons attacking and slaughtering most of his family. In his state of despair upon finding the corpses, our MC Tangerine is coldblooded enough to check whose body is still hot enough to be alive, potentially. he doesn't need ... a second to process everything. Screw that. He picks up his sister, who happens to be that. As he's on his way to the village, his sister jumps up, and much to Tangerine's surprise, the sister was converted to a demon. After their battle, the sister, Nezuko, hesitates to deliver the finishing blow. So Nezuko still has some consciousness. It fits in with the formula, perfect. Then a Demon Killer arrives at the scene to kill Nezuko. Tangerine stops him with a smart trick since he apparently knows that he can't beat the Demon Killer. Smart protagonists are cool, nice. Or so I'd say, but he actually isn't one.

You see, Tangerine has a few special abilities. One is to be smart only at certain situations. Other times, he's not so bright. Another ability of his is the ability to smell. He seems to have a great sense of smell, so great that he can smell out openings in an enemy's posture, and visualize it to a line connecting his blade to the enemy. His final ability is to breathe. Yes, breathe. He can breathe to improve his body's healing rate, his muscles strength, and his speed. Oh sorry, I might've disrespected the show here. He doesn't JUST breathe. He breathes deeply, so that... *checks notes*...the air reaches all the cells in his body. Yup. Deep breathing, people. It's a superpower.

Tangerine is also established to be "empathetic towards demons". How different! He is able to be empathetic towards them since his sister is also one, wow! Or so I'd say, but we are able to see that he has no problems slashing a Demon's both arms in combat even though he knows that a demon isn't killed until he slashes the neck. The demon then talks about how little girls are tasty, and Tangerine also has no problems slashing the demon's tongue then. Great empathy! Great job, Mr. Justice!

Another thing that amazes me is how quickly Tangerine acknowledges that he must slay demons to heal his sister. He must fight powerful demons of nightmares, the beings that he somehow has empathy for even though they killed his entire family, but then again the show said "fuck go back" to that empathy. Why doesn't he chicken out and just try to look for a way to heal his sister, and then realize that he must be a demon slayer to do so? That is the most normal response. But of course, Tangerine, Mr. Justice, xXxDemonSLayer3169xXx needs to time for such emotional garbage. So much so that when his master tells that he brainwashed Nezuko to hate demons and love humans, he shows no response. Okay, cool. Just brainwash my sister, yeah.

You sticked this far? Great! Because here's a shock, Tangerine actually has a fourth special power: the power to see the undead. He saw, talked to, and trained with his master's dead disciples. How cool! Great job, Tangerine! I wonder how the story will cover that up! Here's a guess though: Their will was so strong that they had to watch over the next disciple to make sure he didn't die to the demon boss of the training arc. I bet 50 Turkish Lira for that. It's a dying currency, but whatever.

And, that is all that I remember about to talk shit about in Kimetsu no Yaiba. However, the studio did a well job drawing and animating the show. While the soundtrack is sometimes out of place, the drawing is breathtaking. It's sometimes CGI-ish in the first few episodes, but following tht is awesome animation with an aesthetic that fits the show's time period and aesthetic perfectly, since waves are used a lot in Edo-Meiji Japanese culture.

Overall, the show is extremely poor. The characters are also bland and inconsistent, However you get used to that after trying to keep up with the story, which is also of similar nature. But of course, that is just my opinion. Please watch a few episodes yourself before arriving at a conclusion. Here are my Ratings of everything;
Story: 3/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 6/10
Character: 2/10
Enjoyment: 6/10
Overall: 3/10

I've just watch 6 episodes but I think it's necessary to do a review of this.

Kimetsu no Yaiba has a great story. In a nutshell, it's about a guy named Tanjirou with a sister who was the unique survivor to a massacre of a demon to their family but she turned into one and it's Tanjirou's mission find a way to return humanity to his sister.

The art is really AWESOME, we can see this in every episode with the detailed desing of the characters, the background and landscapes. The draw style is outstanding even in the little bonus at the end of every chapter.

It ... has a strong and stunning opening that goes according to the story and an OST which remarks every important scene. The ending is remarkable too.

Every character have their inner story, Tanjiro and his family and the others with their past.
I really enjoy every episode of this. Although it sounds exaggerated it makes me feel alive with every sensation it gives to me.

In overall I give this anime a 10/10 because is perfect in every way. Probably the best of this season.

Watch it! I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Only cynical criticism can save us from the gooey sentimentality and naivete, but sometimes rarely a series too precious to deserve this treatment appears, offering nothing but genuine entertainment to a point where its own shortcomings start to seem very insignificant compared to its strongest merits. I may have a soft spot in my heart for this series, but all the things I found to be problematic within the work are still covered here in this review and explained why I think they can be forgiven, because even with all of its problems, this is -in its own way- one of the greatest series seen ... in the era of modern anime.

The story itself is nothing to write home about. Boy experiences a dramatic event which entirely rewrites his life, after which he starts walking this path that is the combination of ongoing rescue arc and revenge tale. I wrote this sentence in about 6 seconds, and I assume the writer did his version in the same time. If you remove the script, what is left is quite an awful idea on paper. Had the show been done by any other studio, it'd have great potential to be unwatchable. But it's made by ufotable. And they remind us of one of the basic philosophies of anime that goes as follows: Anime is exactly as good as its execution. Which, in this case, is something that very accurate matches the definition of "epic". This is one of the rare series where the obscure statement "doing it right" can have universal meaning, because from artistic point of view, there is not much room for different interpretations.

A lot can be said about the animation and art, but perhaps the most essential part is how immersive they are. The visual style can be absorbed to such extent that there is no room for multitasking or side-tracking. Every frame is like a painting, and every sequence and scene delivers because they have been polished beyond belief. Due to this, the series deserves 100% of its viewer's attention. This is the type of content that makes it hard to look away from the tv screen, because if you do, you're likely to miss something amazing. Overall, the quality combines things from 3 highest peaks of anime art. From it's color scheme and art design, Yaiba, at its best, can be compared to Katanagatari (which, I personally consider to be the highest peak of raw art in anime, and I don't compare anything to it lightly). From its fluid animation during action scenes, it's not far from the best of the best AKA One Punch Man. And from the small/even subtle details, its level of polish comes close to Mahou Tsukai no Yome. Seeing all of these combined and come to life inside a series that follows the classic shonen formula and maintains its quality for two continuous cours is something I never expected from this industry: it's simply not realistic to await something this outstanding/this beautiful to come, and because of this, the series is not less than a masterpiece from its artistic side - and becomes one of the rare must watch titles from 2019 for this reason alone.

Yaiba's music and the use of the music in action scenes is simply stunning. I wouldn't change really anything from this department. OST choices are uncommon, yet efficient and highly fitting. Among the better things from this department is not really even how good the songs sound as standalone pieces, but how well and to what extent they are used in the series. Sound mixing stands out because the job is done in such respectable manner; beats play loudly, adding to the tension and atmosphere, and further serving the immersive effect and making the series captivating. OP and ED are praise-worthy as well. As a person who owns LiSA's entire discography, I cannot be but pleased to hear her twice in almost every episode. They have been setting me in the right mood/mindset and fixing it before/in-between each episode (I marathoned this series in 2 sections instead of watching it weekly). I don't think voice acting really deserves an analysis here because the seiyuu industry is very tight and talent is consistent there, so I will just say that seiyuu choices have been smart. Most of the time the voice goes well together with the character in question, maintaining a certain harmony where the person behind the character does not stand out but, rather, fits in.

To sum up the production: Yaiba is among the highest peaks of audiovisual achievements in anime, but it doesn't only have godly production values: it also never falls into doing compromises. Moreover, anime, as a medium, has widely entered the zone of advertisement platform where original works are becoming scarce and ultimately adaptations based on manga are just a side product of the original. But Yaiba itself is an improvement over its sauce, and for this reason it has all the rights to exist and is deserving most of the praise it gets. This is very clearly a work driven by passion and love for the animated medium, and that makes all the difference in the world.

Our cast itself doesn't do anything too great at any point. Their charm really lies within what they don't do instead. In every way, the cast is non typical for a series that follows classic shonen format. Tanjirou, our main lead, is a kind soul whose lawful "good guy traits" are not pushed to the realism of annoying moral soldier but limited so that it only happens to a respectable, genuine extent. This dude has some chill in him, but also totally different, down-to-earth type of serious side of him exists and it can best be seen in forms of the strong bonds he has for his own sister and the friends he makes along the run. What makes following his adventure and role as the main lead so pleasant and different from the usual is his inner balance which makes scenes that resolve around him appear rather neutral, keeping the focus in the events and visual art instead of being affected by Tanjirou's personal ideals. In many ways, he seems like a nameless video game main character thru to whom the viewer (player) experiences the series (game). I found this type of character approach to offer incredible entertainment value in Yaiba's case, because the series can be its raw self instead of being a reflection of the so called "heart" that many shonen series are famous for.

For readable length, I will not go in depth with the other cast members, but I have found none of them annoying. Zenitsu is kind of a fujoshi bait, a real cowards and a whine even, but the way he acts out/how his personality is delivered made him my 2nd favorite character in the series. Inosuke (the boar head dude) is what Kacchan from Hero Academia should have been. Nezuko (the sister person) is just criminally cute. What I really appreciate about her is how her entire character -with its traits, behavior and personality- is told visually. Let me repeat what I already said: It's all about the execution, and it even makes the characters come alive. To briefly also cover the villains: after the beginning, lots of planning has been put into them. Not all are super memorable, but some still will be bound to be used as an example of good design by me in the future. Outside very few expectations, all of them were still enjoyable to follow in the given moment.

Since Yaiba's writing itself is not super stellar, to put it lightly, the next two paragraphs will be covering some of its major problems as promised, and commenting on to what extent they are a problem and how&why they can be forgiven.

The first impression is incredibly bad and off putting; The first 5 episodes are hideous, the build up phase literally sucks, the prologue should've been a backstory narration at later point in time, how the story starts rolling onward rises more questions than answers, episodes 6-7 are still subpar. The start is slow and very far from impressive, the story kinda just has to exist for the events to play out, otherwise it's highly meaningless. The main character has a superpower that works as a deus ex machina thru the first cour. The comedic reliefs and strong personalities of the assisting main cast can appear impossible to tolerate for some viewers. There is a long list of reasons to not find this show as enjoyable as I did, but even when acknowledging these issues, I don't think any of them are severe enough to actually make this anime any less than great. The beginning is hard to forgive, but most of the other stuff not. After the start, the author clearly does not even attempt writing a solid main plot for the series, but instead utterly focuses on polishing these fight scenes and his characters, which essentially are the entire point of the series, writing-wise. When the series so heavily centers around them while the main story itself is a secondary factor, it doesn't become hard to actually appreciate the things that are mastered here instead of complaining about things which are besides the point when taking in consideration the bigger picture and the approach of the show. The assisting lead characters are more preference based question, but even comedic reliefs centering around these personas are more of the sort that come from within the characters, being part of their genuine personality instead of purely existing as an attempt to make the audience chance their mood/laugh, which so many similar series fail to do in genuine/believable manner. In this case, I didn't have any problems with the approach of the comedic scenes due to this reason. I could complain that some of them are unnecessary, but they still were not badly made.

The directing itself is a mixed back and inconsistent at times. It's like there is a respectable concept, but no solid means or ideas on how to deliver it, so they just kinda throw it in there without any type of build up and hope that the visuals will do the rest/carry it. For example, almost every single character introduction is just a teleportation. Dude/girl/monster appears from nowhere and be like sup. Then they fight or have a chat. That's it. There is very little vision and continuity to be seen, in fact, there is almost no content prior the main event (fight) at all. Another poor thing the series uses specially in the beginning are cheap devices that exist in purpose of adjusting the story or lead it to preferred direction. Literally NPC's appear and lead the way. They try to give an explanation, but it don't even matter, because the explanation could as well be "literally NPC's" and it wouldn't make a difference. These may seem like small things, but this is how the entirety of the story is constructed, developed and moved onward. It's simply not very solid way to lead the story and needs to be taken into consideration. Action-wise, the flow is splendid thanks to this very same attribute covered above, but story-wise, these events are based on coincidences, and that level of writing surely doesn't get my appreciation. As was already said: It's clear that the series doesn't even try to offer a substantial story where these events would be standing on more solid ground, and I do have to say that when there is no attempt, it cannot really be seen as a fail either. For example [[coincidence-based story events]], our mc literally just runs into a forest and meets people and monster because, for some reason, all of them are dwelling in the same place. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure gives a magnificent explanation why this happens in its story; stand users attach each others, and at the same time, there is always a possession of something physical or even mental (knowledge) that is of interest and therefore gives legit explanation why randoms meet each others in this manner. You can call it bs and not buy the explanation, but it still makes perfect sense and follows the series' own inner logic. Here it's like a bar gag. "Soo, you come here often?"

These complains are something that I hanged onto during the worst parts (in the beginning, specifically), but after that, the series became pure art and entered the zone of genuine entertainment, having little to no annoying problems at all in the later episodes. In short: Kimetsu no Yaiba is not a flawless anime that's based on flawless writing, but it is pretty damn close to flawless art and flawless execution of its own flawed story. While appreciating imperfections may be a hard task, it's not hard at all to enjoy Yaiba for the few things which it does so incredibly well, especially when those are its main event. Now I hope that 122 episodes later, this can have its place as the 2nd best shonen anime. As a final verdict: No matter what you think of shonen anime in generally, I highly recommend giving this series a go, because Yaiba is not just a shonen done right, it's an anime done right: Art done right.

Welp...I'm late to this party! Time to review the most overrated shonen garbage of the last 5 years! Demon Slayer is an anime that absolutely EVERYONE watched last year. Except for me of course, because I was watching bad hentai to make comedy reviews on the internet! I went in with pretty damn high expectations. As of January 2020, DS is rated one of the best anime of all time on MAL and the #1 anime of all time on Kitsu. I'm dead serious! The kids on Kitsu truly think that this is the GOAT. Galactic Heroes? Ping Pong? Lain? Ashita no Joe? No! Fuck ... that shit! Demon Slayer baby!

I went in expecting an action series SO epic that it blows your balls off and shoves them up your ass! I expected the love child of Hellsing Ultimate, Fist of the North Star, and Berserk with maybe some Shigurui and Violence Jack thrown in for good measure! The anime with SO much testosterone that Woody Allen could watch it and go into a Norse Berserker rampage, repeatedly bashing his head against a wall just to calm down!

What did I get? A very average shonen that looks pretty but is horribly written. At least RebelPanda tried to warn me about this. I just didn't listen. He's now made me a sad panda too!

So, what is Demon Slayer about? They certainly don't slay any demons. That's just a shitty translation into English. In Japanese the enemies are called Oni, but they're actually vampires. They're undead, fanged humans with vampire powers that can transform other humans by biting them and are immortal unless exposed to sunlight or decapitated with a holy weapon. They're fucking vampires! I'm going to call them that for the rest of this review.

The story starts off as shonen as possible. The main character is named Tanjiro and he's a young coal miner/charcoal merchant from a small, mountain village. At least he's a country bumkin, so he's not in middle school! One day, an old man randomly warns him that vampires exist! Later that night, his family are slaughtered by vampires. The old man wasn't a vampire BTW, that was pure coincidence because this show is horribly written. However, Tanjiro's adorable little sister Nezuko has survived and turned into a vampire! A vampire hunter immediately shows up to kill Nezuko, but Tanjiro fights against him and desperately tries to save her. While all other vampires immediately turn evil, Nezuko is able to avoid killing her brother and retains her goodness because the power of love. The vampire hunter is very impressed by the strong bond between these siblings, so he spares Nezuko and sends Tanjiro off to train under an incredibly generic kung fu master and become a vampire hunter.

As you would expect, Pai Mei is a hard bastard and puts Tanjiro through the wringer. He trains for a year and gains superhuman strength, speed, and techniques because this is a shonen. Now it's time for the vampire hunter test! The final exam involves surviving for days against hordes of high-level vampires. The test is so EXTREME and BADASS, that only 2 people have survived it in the last 50 years! The vampire hunter test has killed over 100 potential vampire hunters and thus has actually produced more vampires than hunters. Now that's what I call efficiency! Tanjiro survives of course because he's the main character and that gives him the power of plot armor!

Let's stop the plot summary and talk about world building. Something that Demon Slayer forgot to do. I mentioned this in my review of Shiki, but vampires are fucking bullshit! In most vampire fiction, they're immortal and it takes 50 villagers with luck on their side to take down a vampire. The vampires can turn other people into vampires and increase their population exponentially, but somehow there aren't that many vampires and normal people don't believe in them. There's an amazing scene in the Witcher novels in which the comic relief bard talks to a vampire about how they reproduce. The vampire replies, "Of course we can't bite other people and turn them into vampires! Do you comprehend basic math? Let's assume a founding population of just 1,000 vampires that came into existence 500 years ago. Each vampire attacks remote villages and kills only 1 peasant per month. Just 20 percent of those bitten turn into vampires. At the end of the first year, there are just under 2400 vampires assuming a couple fucked up and got killed. At the end of year 5 there are 79,000 vampires. After 500 years, do you really think that vampires would be so rare that you've never seen one?!"

The only way for humans to stand a prayer against vampires would be to design a highly effective weapon that's mass produced to the point that everyone has one and can use it. How about a crossbow that shoots blessed silver bolts? In Demon Slayer, the only thing stopping vampires is the guild of vampire hunters, who designed a test so EXTREME that there are 10-15 vampire hunters at any one time and that's being very generous. In order for the vampires to not overrun Japan, Tanjiro must be putting up INSANE kill numbers. We're talking Soviet state executioner Vasily Blokhin numbers. 7,000 vampires a week! His life is eating, shitting, and killing vampires on an assembly line! In season 2, we're going to be introduced to 3 vampire hunters that by themselves have somehow been running Vampire Treblinka in the middle of Tokyo! Jesus, that rant got dark. I apologize for that highly offensive joke, but I just hate this show so much!

Next, we're introduced to some annoying side characters that add nothing and piss me off. We do get some cool fight scenes though and Tanjiro carries Nezuko around in a basket as an homage to the 1982 B-movie Basket Case. I just wish it had referenced the Toxic Avenger instead. I'm more of Toxie guy!

The art and animation is the only reason this show got a 5 and not a 3 or 4. Demon Slayer followed the My Hero Academia formula to make shonen great again. Rule #1 No filler #2 Fuck character development. Just have non-stop action! #3 SAKUGA!!! MOAR SAKUGA!!!!

The music was a huge letdown for me. An action scene for me lives or dies by its music. If you want to have non-stop ass kicking, you better have a pulse pounding, AMAZING OST. Demon Slayer got the composer of Idol Master and 1/10th of the Tekken 5 OST. What's wrong with you Ufotable?! You're based out of Japan! You could have hired Michiru Yamane, the goddess who wrote all the awesome Castlevania music over her 30 year career at Konami! She made a whole career out of orgasmic, badass music about beating the fuck out of vampires! Even I would probably give this series a 7 if Yamane had been given the OST. Instead, I'm left having to deliver the sad report that the climactic battle scene from Season 2 of Netflix Castlevania was better than any single scene in Demon Slayer. Yes, the Netflix Americanime with that obnoxious Indian director who said he comes from the future. That show is better than Demon Slayer! Because Bloody Tears!

So in conclusion, if you enjoyed Vampire Slayer...that's cool with me! It just wasn't my cup of tea, but I'm glad other people had fun with it. Those guys on Kitsu sure are overly generous though! If they loved Demon Slayer so much, I can't wait to read the praise they wrote about my favorite anime!

(Browses Kitsu) Let's see here...series rank 1,983rd. The top rated review by a longshot simply reads: "u might enjoy this if u re a stupid, horny 12 y/o. LOL!"

(channels George Costanza rage) " You know we're living IN A SOCIETY! WE'RE SUPPOSED TO ACT IN A CIVILIZED WAY!"

I think this is the last time I ever browse Kitsu.

I don't usually write any reviews for anime, cause it doesn't really matter to me that much to share what I saw, but this time I am making an exception.

Demon Slayer starts off semi-generic as a story, but is executed well, and that's sort of what I care about. I don't look for the most original things, just any story that is executed well and enjoyable to watch. And at first it's doing a pretty good job. You usually need time to get used to the setting and see if the story itself will start picking up speed as it goes. But around episode ... 10, the whole show gets ruined. To me, it is absolutely ruined, after watching the next episodes and i'll explain why.

Up until that episode, there was just a bit of humour that wasn't great, but whatever, put some to be a bit lighter even though it wasn't required. Then one of the first side characters is introduced - Yushirou, who is the type I quite despise - the type that always has to butt in because he "loves" a certain character and needs to assert his annoying behavior over others, because they wanted to show affection towards that character as well. And it's not once, so that we get it - it is every.DAMN.TIME. It just kills the story, kills the pacing and while you have an awesome combat, you have to deal with that crap. But whatever, side character, he'll be gone soon.

But then.........two "main" characters appear that pretty much made sure I won't continue watching the show. Because I know they won't change. You have the absolute pantsy Zenitsu and the absolute block-head Inosuke.
Zenitsu is terrible. He kills the shows. I am not joking. He literally killed the show for me, because all he does is cry, weep, comment in fear on everything that happens and just doesn't shut up. I don't understand how the writer could have written such a poor character - he's not funny. He's just not. He's like Usopp and Sanji combined, but just their most annoying parts. And he goes on, and on, and on - and I know it won't change, because it's shonen. And shonen characters do not change much. This character kills the setting and the mood completely.

And the other one, Inosuke, is the same caliber of annoyance - only he just keeps screaming how he'll beat the shit out of everyone every. DAMN.TIME. With regards of this character archtype, I feel that maybe Bakugo from MHA is the best example, because at least he has some aura to him and intelligence. Bakugo keeps quiet and doesn't want to deal with the crap of others. But this guy keeps butting in and again kills the setting, which in this show is pretty damn important!!

So yeah, I had to do this, because I am tired of shows being destroyed by poor written characters and no story can save them, if I have to listen to 10 minutes of a guy screaming and weeping everytime. As far as the main character, he's alright, he might change over the show in some interesting ways, but not those two. Anyone giving this show more than a 7...I don't understand how they can stand for those characters. I know I sound harsh, but I feel like one has to be speak up in cases where you feel how something with a lot of potential can be ruined by something that could have easily been avoided or developed better. As far as the story goes, it really has a lot of potential to grow in areas I can't imagine and that's what makes it really strong.

From the studio that brought you “Fate/Zero” (Ufotable, Inc.), comes another visually stunning ‘eye-gasm’ of epic proportions. In an age where shoddy 3D animation has run amok, it’s refreshing to see a studio get it ‘right.’ With its unique character designs, fluid action sequences, and gorgeous landscapes. Weaving a tapestry of eye-gasmic beauty!

Where “Kimetsu no Yaiba” excels in the animation department, it lacks in its unoriginal story and dearth character developments. While the former shortcoming can be overlooked due to the exhilarating, well executed plot points, the latter cannot.

Tanjirou Kamado, a trained Demon Hunter set to hunt down the ... Demon who murdered his family, is a self-insert protagonist who is tediously prosaic. Thus far, his only known traits is his determination, his protective nature of his younger sister, and his good natured spirit. These character qualities can be seen in any number of action-oriented shows, and given the unfortunate circumstance of Nezuko Kamado (Tanjirou’s sister), her character will probably be relegated to an ‘unforeseen’ plot twist to stymie Tanjirou in his quest. A quest that feels somewhat predictable given Tanjirou’s motivations; however, an exciting one, nonetheless.

Despite intermittent moments of silliness and a formulaic plot, “Kimetsu no Yaiba” is an action spectacle that electrifies your senses for 24 minutes of heart-throbbing carnage.

HOLY SHRIMP THIS ANIME IS GOOD.

To be completely honest, even though this anime has been doing really well, I still think its under-rated. Let's break down the quality of each aspect of the show shall we? I'll keep this relatively short and summarize the quality of each aspect without spoiling anything!

Story (10/10) : Not only is this anime setting and story line a relatively unique idea, it's also paced masterfully. Some may say the beginning is slightly slow, but if you continue to watch past those parts, it only adds to the experience. It allows you to understand what all those slow paced parts were ... building up to. The story also has a deep meaning, each encounter, showing the story and reason behind the demon's life and existence. This is one of the few shows which makes me actually pity the villainous race, and at the same time wish for their epic deaths.

Art and Animation (9999/10) : Holy crap is the art and animation NEXT LEVEL. Demon Slayer has a relatively unique style of art, especially compared to modern anime. The art style was taken directly from the manga, and transformed into something beautiful. The CGI in this show is also the best I've seen, not only are the effects top tier, the CGI and frame by frame animation quality is absolutely breath taking. I swear you'll jump out of your seat, screaming "LET'S F***ING GO TANJIRO" As he spins a water sword animated with perfection, chopping off the heads of demons.

Sound and Music (10/10) : The sound in this show is the exact model that every single shounen show should have. The effects, ambient sound, all merge seamlessly with the smooth animation. The music effectively hypes you up or change your mood when necessary, AND BOY IS THE MUSIC TRACK AT THE END OF EPISODE 19 SICK, HOLY FU...

Character (10/10) : While reading the manga previous to watching the anime, I really did not like the characters and the character development phases. Each character had a troupe personality, and were relatively cringe to read. Though the anime surprised me, it changed the characters personality into something that was either funny, exciting, or just generally interesting. The character development was outstanding, and at some parts were really emotional and touching.

Enjoyment (9/10) : Although I loved the show, and think it's a masterpiece, I just don't really have a deep connection with it. Sure each week i'd be eager and stay up till 12am to watch the latest episode air, but I just don't have the same attachment to the anime as I do with some of my other favorite shows. That being said, everything was done to perfection in my opinion, and there is just one small aspect which I have overlooked which might've made this show not as good as it can be.

Overall (10/10)
WATCH IT, HOLY CRAP THIS IS THE BEST SHOW THIS SEASON

Maybe it’s just because I’ve gone old and crotchety, but I’ve been really disappointed with ufotable lately. Maybe even that is too harsh. I’ve just felt so out of touch with them for the past three and a half to four years since they seem to have completely abandoned their old selves. Whether it be the astronomical success of the Fate/Grand Order mobile game, or the fair success of their own Tales of Symphonia OVA BD sales, ufotable has apparently honed in on game adaptations. All they’ve made for TV following their 2014 re-adaptation of Studio Deen’s Fate/Stay Night, Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, has ... been game adaptations. God Eater, Tales of Zestiria the Cross, and Katsugeki/Touken Ranbu, with their only projects outside of TV animation being limited to even more Fate. The ONA series, Today's Menu for the Emiya Family, and the film trilogy, Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel. It just feels like it’s been so long since I’ve seen them put their phenomenal production values towards something other than a glorified advertisement for some game I have no interest in whatsoever. When I heard they were adapting Demon Slayer last year, I was excited for two reasons. For one, the manga itself had been selling big-time on its own rights and was extremely hyped up, and more importantly, because it was finally something I could latch onto as a real, self-contained, genuine story. However, I naively forgot a story itself has to be good enough to latch onto in the first place, no matter whose adapting it into animation.

If I had to describe Demon Slayer in one word, it would be “expected.” Best seller in Shounen Jump? Okay, well it probably has a really bland main character for all the young boys to project themselves onto. Chapters are released weekly? Okay, well the narrative is probably really slow to give the author time to draw it consistently, with overwhelmingly drawn-out action scenes to keep the kids and teens engaged. Author is new to the industry? Okay, well then I’m sure it sells on stellar art design alone, much like its contemporaries who’s visuals obfuscate their aimless writing and vapid theming. I could keep rattling off my judgmental criticism all day, but the point is, no matter how crude I’m being, I’m not wrong. The main character Tanjiro is, indeed, an uninspired and unopinionated self-insert; the narrative is painfully slow, plodding, and directionless, but not in a way which comes across as intriguing or mysterious at all, just boring; the screenwriting can be frankly incompetent at times, like the time it followed up a scene of the main villain graphically murdering a young girl with a scene of Tanjiro boisterously bickering with a street chef about the unreasonable price of his udon bowls; and while the artwork is extremely unique, well-drawn, beautifully colored, and honestly just pretty to look at, the character writing is brain-numbingly insipid and archetypical. Any assumption you could’ve made about its source material translates identically to the adaptation, and while I mean that for both positive and negative points, the negative is quite pronounced.

However, if the show’s blowout success didn’t make it obvious, the positives are very easy to boast, since the issues with this show—much like the issues with any pop-media bestseller which relies on the patronage of the disproportionally large casual masses—are all hidden under the surface, and while it doesn’t take much thought to peel back the layers and see the emptiness inside, it takes even less thought to just sit back, relax, grab yourself some popcorn, and indulge in the mindless spectacle before your eyes. The action sakuga is outstanding, with the likes of Go Kimura, Masayuki Kunihiro, Mitsuru Obunai, and any other ufotable veteran you can name going all out with their ever-impressive animation extravaganza, and the studio even outsourced some even greater talent in a few godly freelancers like Nozomu Abe to deliver on easily the best cuts of the entire season. And I don’t just mean the best cuts of Demon Slayer’s first season, I mean the best cuts of all concurrently airing anime running alongside it. The artwork is utterly gorgeous and fit with the same sharp, crisply digital, deep color design which ufotable has come to define their aesthetic with, only now with the most unique and attractive character designs and downright badass costume design they may’ve ever had the privilege to work with. Set in a magical take on feudal Japan, everyone wears these beautiful kimonos and yukatas with their own characteristic patchwork designs which take complete advantage of the phenomenal coloration aforementioned, and it all looks wonderful.

Outside of action, the characters are unapologetically switched with CG models in tracking shots, and inside the action, the backgrounds are all 3DCG and frankly fail to copy the camerawork of WIT Studio—which they were obviously attempting to do—but the animation overtop was always bombastic enough to distract its desired casual audience from the cost-cutting, so taking issue with it is pointless. The voice acting was competent, with the exception of Hiro Shimono’s ear piercing performance as Zenitsu which sounds nothing like his best of work, and the sound design was at least existent, which is a hell of a lot more than you can say about most of its genre contemporaries who’ve realized how lazy they can be with their young audiences who couldn’t care less about quality sound design. But speaking of the soundscape, it’s time to stop bitching and start gushing, because I must complement the one person behind the production who outshone everyone else on staff despite said staff already bringing their all, the composer who I’m sure many of you love with all your heart even if you don’t know her name, Yuki Kajiura. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you still probably know her from her iconic gothic soundtracks for some of the most famous anime of the last decade, from Fate/Zero to Magical Girl Madoka★Magica, and while her work on Demon Slayer was a collaboration with Go Shīna, the combination of his brass with her strings was a match made in heaven. Kajiura was a prodigy to begin with and has only continued as a full fledged musical genius for the past decade, and she and Shīna made this show so much more than it could’ve been, even with its already full staff of talent.

Since Demon Slayer supplants its intellectual emptiness with tireless action sequences, she had more than enough room to work as many high-tempo tracks as she wanted, and they all fit their scenes like a glove. For BGM, she went a direction she hasn’t gone since .hack//Sign (if a little less experimental) and integrated traditional Japanese melodies and chants which complemented the feudal setting magnificently. Shīna has made some solid music before working with Ghost Oracle Drive and their insert songs in God Eater, but the insert songs he pulled off in collaboration with Kajiura are seriously something to behold, because everything I’ve discussed up until this point is all factored back in to the visual spectacle to breathtaking effect. The beautiful artwork is made utterly bewitching by the action wherein the characters’ designs and color aesthetics are artistically incorporated into their fighting styles in the most visually memorable ways imaginable, like Tanjiro’s bright blue scarf flowing off his neck like waves only to be enveloped in the tangible waves flowing out of his blade or his best friend’s striking yellow yukata lighting the entire screen up like fireworks in combat when he himself becomes a raving bolt of lightning. The 3DCG environments are shaky, and the action is what carries this otherwise innocuous show, but I personally found the meandering to sometimes be just as engaging as the show’s biggest and best flair thanks to the god tier hand-drawn background art from the art director who’s work with ufotable was so renowned, Production IG themselves reached out to have him do the backgrounds for Psycho-Pass, the highest budget and most ambitious TV animation production of the 2010s.

But I need to make clear the fact this review sounds overwhelmingly positive only because applying critique to something so vacuous is a brief process. It’s boring, even if someone as seasoned and jaded as myself did manage to find some semblance of entertainment in the experience. I mean, its TV rating was R15, so it gets to be super edgy. There’s this one episode where he fights these two guys underwater and shreds them to pieces like they’re in a blender, so I guess that’s pretty fun. The show got a couple of good laughs out of me, if only for the sheer ridiculousness of the silly gore like that time this guy’s head popped like a ballon when he got hit with this weird CG volleyball. But that’s all the personality I have for you. Tanjiro, the main character, is just another Kaneki Ken, Igarashi Ganta, Midoriya Izuku, Kirito stock standard shounen self-insert. Zenitsu, the token secondary, is just another Uchiha Sasuke, Gray Fullbuster, Kuwabara Kazuma, Yukine stock standard shounen best friend and rival. Inosuke, the guy with the boar mask who literally does the Naruto Run everywhere he goes, is just another Excalibur, Albedo, Darkness, Osamu Dazai stock standard shounen one-note-meme character. Nezuko, the cute imouto waifu with a bamboo gag, is just another Kuroyukihime, Moriyama Shiemi, Elizabeth Liones, Lucy (Nyu) stock standard shounen pet girl. And worst of all, Tomioka, the Dutch uncle whose about as much fun as he looks, is just another All Might, Reigen Arataka, Ichinose Guren, Isshiki Satoshi stock standard shounen superficial senpai. If you liked any of the shows I just referenced, I highly recommend Demon Slayer since it’s the same thing, just much prettier. Not bad, not bad by any stretch of the word, but nothing beneath its eye candy.

Thank you for reading.

This is going to be a shorter review compared to some other ones that I've written since I didn't write this one in advance as compared to my other two reviews, so this is probably much more disorganized but nevertheless, I wanted to share my opinion on this so far.

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, which eventually leads to him becoming a part of the Demon Slayer Corps. This immediately establishes a goal, and kind of makes the goal ... probably somewhat predictable, but I could be wrong since I haven't read the original source material. 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 studio 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. I'm only taking off one point because there were some moments that I personally thought were boring, and seeing that it follows a bit of the stereotypical shounen tropes kind of made me roll my eyes a bit. Still very highly enjoyable, even if this might not be for you.

The anime was pretty lit before the yellow kid and the pigman got introduced.



Their character design is horrible, the constant whining of the yellow kid and the irrational behavior of the pigman is hurting me. One or two times, fine. But they just kept doing the same thing every single episodes. The story also dragged on at the same place for a few episode of useless scenes.


Soft spoilers below
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The fact that the yellow dude did almost ABSOLUTELY nothing makes me feel like he shouldn't be in the show, instead, character that looks like they have more potential, for example, the girl at ... the spider web, having more meaningful lines than the yellow kid is not being introduced as a part of the show.

I wish they don't drag on this for any longer and get them to start doing legit stuffs rather than fooling around with the crybaby

Ahhh, Demon Slayer. If I were to describe you in very short terms, it would be "a show with decent to mediocre content overshadowed by its own technical achievement."

Firstly, the positives of this show.

Without a doubt, the main intrigue and appeal of this show upon first inspection is the art, and for good reason. Ufotable, the studio previously mentioned, is responsible for this shows adaptation into anime, and has overall done a fantastic job at keeping a consistent and unique artstyle incorporated throughout the show's airtime. Not only ranging from the shows beautifully rendered backgrounds, cool ... ass powers, and character designs, but the translation of each element into animation is executed to great measure. Sure, there are admittedly a handful of scenes in which some CGI is incorporated into the foreground, such as character models and moving objects. However, as the show progresses, the use of it altogether is noticeably reduced, and even so, never looks particularly bad when incorporated either, especially considering how awful other shows can look in comparison when attempting this same fate. This is all encompassed and reflective of the fact that Ufotable has seemingly become masters in their craft of aesthetic presentation. The use of gradients, shadows, and contrasts in colors make many scenes, be it moving or standstill, a visual splendor to behold in this show. Previous examples from the same studio such as the Fate franchise and Kara no Kyoukai series impressed me on all levels with their visual presentation, and it doesn't fail to impress me here either. It all has a certain polish to it that I absolutely dig and can't help but worth mention.

Visual direction, especially amidst action scenes, flow impressively well together. There are a plentiful amount of cool action sequences, ranging from fights with other demons to simple conversation scenes in which we as an audience can get a real feel of our characters' surroundings. Of course, it would be impossible to get away from this review without mentioning the infamous ending of episode 19. Despite the amazingly fitting soundtrack and incredible animation during that final stretch, what pushes it forward is the all impressive visual direction, as we witness a full view and experience of fast-paced movements and a consistent following of our MC flying through the air, swinging at every direction. Speaking about the soundtrack in that scene, the musical score of the entire show couldn't be understated either. Much of the music by Yuki Jajiura and Go Shiina aids to the overall tone of the show. From traditional instruments and vocals to intense orchestras and piano playing, I couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome and overall impression the show's music presents to me. Whether it be in times of a calming relaxed scene, or an actioned packed showdown, the score always seemed to find a way to fit into the mix of it all, enhancing and accompanying the overall atmosphere.

Well, that essentially wraps up the immediate positives I have to praise about the show. Now onto the mediocre and downright awful aspects.

Regarding its mediocrity, its stories main idea of fighting against demons after the sudden entire slaughtermen of your family by one isn't particularly special to me and happens to come off as a bit generic, however, nothing much was to be expected there anyways. The protagonist himself, Tanjirou, isn't necessarily that bad, but just underwhelming in terms of depth and personality, as much of it is lost while dedicated and fixed towards another individual, his sister Nezuko, who is admittedly pretty great. The pacing is decent at best, considering events throughout the story flow in such a way that I at least don't feel like I'm being dragged along certain events for too long. However, it is worth mentioning though that the casual time skip implemented, that being of Tanjiros training period, was executed pretty badly, as powers and techniques weren't capitalized on properly, and felt more or less in the end just poorly explained and brushed over. Other than that, the flow of story events was done at a decent speed, with the exception of some scenes.

Regarding its downright awful aspects, there are a couple of major ones. First and foremost, the comedy. The comedy that makes up this show is genuinely horrible and unfitting and is the biggest offender this show has to offer by far. I'm not sure what the authors intent was of incorporating such childlike and overly annoying immature humor, as I am sure the studio had to translate it one way or another into animation, but it's annoying as hell and I hate it. As I would like to coin it, as incredible as episode 19 was with its action scene, an abomination likewise was met in episode 11 with its introduction of Zenitsu begging a random pedestrian girl to marry him, followed by a rejection. Because of this rejection, what now plagued this show was a continuum of loud, obnoxious, and irritating screaming that ensued throughout the rest of the second half of this series. Secondly, in general, the main supporting cast of characters, that being Zenitsu and Inosuke, are inherently offenders of this show altogether, especially being the main tie in of its comedy. I had actually enjoyed the first half of the show to a decent amount, as there weren't any inherently jarring annoyances and issues that had come up. However, never had I once felt that these characters added anything necessarily positive to the show since their introduction, and instead rubbed off more on me as an annoyance and hindrance to the series than additional entertainment value. They served as failed comedic relief, with some background insight later on Zenitsu in an attempt to develop this already one-dimensional character, but in failure, never gave me any reason to care in the process. The chemistry between the three is unendearing and empty of any real bond. Hell, even the demon lady and boy introduced earlier in the show, with their personal attempts to fit into society and help our main cast with their future endeavors were more interesting and genuine than Inosuke and Zenitsu, but alas they were tossed aside. Thirdly, the whole family aspect never resonated with me, which the show seemed to allude to a lot as well. Callbacks to the family members in times of desperation or despair often occurred, but it always tended to feel like a weak link and a failed attempt of connection with myself as an audience member, since I was never given any experience or personal attachment to this family in the first place.

Overall, I personally find it hard to call Demon Slayer a genuinely good show. Sure, it can be full of beautiful art and animation, with a great soundtrack and some nice action which I did appreciate and enjoy along the way. However, this is all mainly to praise upon, once again, its technical achievements. Beyond that lies a lack of depth and originality. A disconnect with an audience member such as myself was truly apparent because clearly inhabiting mature fight scenes and story elements amidst a constant regurgitation of 5-year-old humor can paint an unbearable and inconsistent experience for me. Its highs in the show can be pretty high, but in contrast, It's lows can be glaringly low too. It would be a lie for me to say that I hadn't been entertained with the show at certain points in time, however, amongst all of it, it would also be inexcusable for me to disregard the personal annoyances and abundance of issues I had along the way.

I’ve been obsessed with Japanese anime for more than 20 years. I’m such an otaku that I’ve watched (or heard of) almost every anime out there. But never have I been as moved or awed by any anime, as I have by Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. I rarely write reviews, but I’m making an exception here because this anime is just too remarkable.

Watching this anime, from Ep 1, has been an exceedingly emotional journey. The combination of flawless animation, gorgeous music and magnificent storytelling puts Kimetsu no Yaiba right at the top.

Have I mentioned the animation? Have I? It’s bloody fantastic, pun intended. Obviously, ... with better technology, there has been an increase in the number of stylistically beautiful anime over the years (e.g. Violet Evergarden, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works etc). But frankly, I think this anime surpasses them in the way it highlights movement and how it melds different angles and perspectives. The animation style used is so unique. I love the combination of the bright and (sometimes) garish comic book-like effects in the foreground and the more typical and subtle soft landscapes. It’s stylistically brilliant and an absolute joy to watch.

Let’s talk about the audio effects. In most anime, music is used as an accent to the animation. Excellent song-writing is prevalent and memorable. That’s why we have iconic theme songs and instrumentals (think Studio Ghibli). However, what makes this anime stand out, is the way the audio pairs with the animation. Beautiful music aside, I can no longer imagine the animation without the audio effects. They can’t be separated; such is the perfection and appropriateness of the use of sound.

Finally, storytelling. Let me clarify. The story itself (primarily about family, love and perseverance), isn't particularly fresh or new. However, it's how the story is told that makes it so very compelling. I’m not going to give any spoilers, but the writer has done everything right. Unless your heart is made of stone in the manner of Dr Stone, your heartstrings will be wrung. I’m usually very critical of storytelling and character development but this anime has done those so well that my expectations soar with each episode. And every week, I continue to be impressed and delighted. Especially today’s Ep 19. Gosh. What a revelation. What an experience. Truly.

Also, having watched countless anime, I’m rarely surprised by most story developments. The way this story is written is so incredibly creative that I literally can’t predict anything. I mean, it's a fantasy anime, so there's a lot of room for creativity. However, what I think this anime has done best, is how it makes you feel about the characters. Many might have realised it, but I think how we (the audience) feel about the characters (demons included) mirrors how Tanjiro feels about them. As it goes along, the anime introduces characters and we're left wondering who they are, why they behave a certain way. With more information, our bond with these characters grow as well. Certain behaviourisms (those who have watched more recent episodes will totally get this) start making sense and it endears these characters to us. And of course, I think Tanjiro is a decent main character because he somehow always successfully makes me root for him. He's driven by a very clear purpose and the decisions he makes stem from that. I love his empathy; it's an ideal and frankly, quite refreshing because it allows us to see things from different perspectives. The writer somehow managed to do all that, all the while maintaining a logical and cohesive storyline. This, is what I call top-notch storytelling.

The anime hasn’t even ended, but I can truthfully say that I’m positive that this is going to maintain its place as my favourite anime of all time. If you want to experience the very best of Japanese animation, look no further. This is the anime to go for. You won’t regret it.

(SPOILERS:)
And yes this was taken down but now that i've watched 6 Episodes here is my review: If you want the overall here it is: Demon Slayer doesn't do anything new or ground breaking. The characters feel reused from other Shonens and the plot is like if Full Metal Alchemist and Tokyo Ghoul had a baby but that baby lacked drama, subtleties, or nuisanced characters. If you like Shonens, you'll like this show. It is entertaining but there's not much to it here.
If you're tired of the Shonen genre and hoped this show had even a little more depth to it's characters, world building ... and how it's presented you'll be disappointed and my review will consists of these faults.

Some more good (because I'm trying not to be a complete Debbie Downer eh!):
The use of mystery to introduce every monster of the week is entertaining. When Episode 6 began I was getting flashbacks to The Witcher 3 and Claymore and it was genuinely enthralling. Well...it was until it showed how he solves the mystery. Much of it gets boring when Tanjirou constantly says things that are obvious and not needed to be said and it contributes to this anime's over use of narration but at first it was nice.
There is fun action. If you're watching this show just to watch some sword fights, you're golden.
Art is nice. Animation is stellar, not much to complain, you may get a few ugly CG moments but it passes quickly.
With that said and BTW SPOILERSSSSSSSS.....lets go















Episode one wasn't good in my opinion as Demon Slayers is one of the most generic animes I’ve seen in a long time. Everything that it does has been done a thousand times and then some in other shows, some even more competent than this one. However I don’t really downscore an anime on the uniqueness of its story because every story has been told before. Without looking at the story what we are left is the presentation and in my opinion, presentation and execution matters more. You can have a beautiful, poignant story filled with love and anguish but if it’s presented sloppily, the plots don’t hold together, or characters don’t feel believable then….who gives a shit. And well, Demon Slayer is presented rather poorly.
Let’s talk about the good. The art and animation is fairly competent in their style and use of CG. The art direction is genuinely beautiful and subtle. Showering white snow and the faint puffs of warm breathes dissipating from characters really brought to life this fantasy world and it’s themes of the icy cruelty that the world befalls its citizens. Even though we don’t yet see this cruelty aside from the rumors of Demons roaming about, which we don’t even get to see. That’s about the only thing I found good in the first episode. I really wished this subtly was put into EVERYTHING ELSE in the episode.
The protagonist’s family’s sole purpose is to garner pity from the audience. They show how happy Tanjirou’s family is but this is immediately contradicted with Tanjirou narrating “We still are struggling to survive even though we look like a happy family”. This problem doesn’t just stem from this anime but it’s within the anime industry in general: they have the unfortunate habit of telling and not showing. Without Tanjirou’s narration we would have no idea that they are poor and in dire need of income. Most of them seem fine in terms of health. They all wear rather colorful clothing that’s clean and none are starving or seemingly depressed about their situation. We don’t even see a clear divide between how people look in town compared to his family, how am I supposed to believe that they are struggling to live? I know that the reason why they don’t explore this is so that it’d make the audience feel even sadder when they die because it’s much more dramatic in terms of how the situation has now changed. From “look at us, we’re all one big family “ to “look at how horrible and cruel everyone has been massacred, aren't you sad?!!!”. I know I'm not being subtle here but neither is the anime. This does not do well for the believability of this struggling family and above all this doesn’t make me feel anything for them, as this plot device is very predictable, melodramatic, and done to death. What contributes to family’s lack of believability is their on the nose dialogue. Everyone in this story talks straight out and says everything that’s right on their mind. If they’re not doing that they’re narrating it for us, the audience because the writer (whether it’s the original author or the scriptwriter for the episode) doesn’t understand real human communication. Again, it doesn’t have to be real but because this is a story about people, even if they are exaggerated by anime levels they should be believable. People rarely speak what’s on their minds. We have our own goals, hidden agendas, wishes and so on. Because of that we don’t usually just say things straight out. We euphemise, lie, and avoid the truth to spare others or ourselves. When characters start speaking on the nose, it shows a lack of good characterization and demonstrates how lazy the writer is being. All the characters just start sounding the same. We as an audience like to have a sense of discovery about characters and formulate why a character says something. When it’s said straight out, the audience has nothing to hold on to. In essence, it’s BORING. Anyone could write stock characters like the family members of Tanjirou and Nezuko because there is no real character in them. If you don’t believe me, then tell me what each of their personalities are without resorting to vague cliches? You can’t. The mother is motherly and caring, the siblings are sweet and cute and cheer on their big brother, the slightly older but still younger brother to Tanjirou is sort of rebellious but still loves his big brother. They are all stock characters. Nothing more. So? Even if I am right, how does this negatively impact the story you ask? Well, who really gives a damn that they died? We had no attachment to them as they literally were introduced and killed off screen less than 9 minutes later. WHO CARES. And when the audience doesn’t care about one of the main drives that starts the hero’s journey, you’ve clearly done something wrong. We can’t identify with the motivations of Tanjirou (at least emotionally) and so why should we cheer him on. I’m not expressing that more time spent on characters would necessarily make them more developed although there is something to be said about that however how they are presented and established matters most. You can develop and make characters feel believable in a short amount of time but that takes subtly and showing not telling. For example in Star Wars: A New Hope we are introduced to Luke and his family and their deaths would eventually serve a similar purpose for his hero’s journey. However it’s in how they are portrayed that’s the most important. While Luke’s family wasn’t the most developed characters they were written with much more nuisance and conviction than the family in Demon Slayer. For one thing, Luke’s aunt and uncle do have goals and worries for their nephew that they do not express forwardly to him. They worry about him and if he would grow to be like his father. They care so much for him that they make the excuse that he still has work to do on the farm in order to prevent him from enlisting in the Imperial Academy. As I’ve stated they are not the most developed characters but they are good and do have solid believability for their roles. They don’t play up the “we are a happy family trope” in order to set you up for the tragedy. None of the other Kamado family has this nuisance in them. Nothing for us the audience to grasp onto, because if they did, their loss would be much more tragic. Instead they do the cliche thing in which they play up the happy moments in order to create even more of a dramatic shift when shit hits the fan. It’s lazy.
Lack of subtlety isn’t just affecting the character writing but the music as well. The score is very on the nose with the emotions it’s trying to get out of you. If it needs you to feel sad, it plays this high strings sad violin. If it’s intense action it’s this pulsing orchestra. Nothing that really stands out but in fact creates a lot of melodrama within the scenes that’s not needed. The scene where Tanjirou discovers all the mutilated bodies of his loved ones could have been much more effective without music at all because if done well we should have already been feeling sad for him. In fact no music would have set this scene apart and would have made it much more memorable because throughout the rest of the show music plays everywhere. However because the of the poor characterization and pacing they have to play up the music for the feeling to come across. It’s not good storytelling when you have to rely on something as a crutch to tell your story.
Speaking of crutches, the narration is terrible. Narration can be justified and done well such as in Oldboy (2003). Dae-su is captured within the first 10 minutes of the film and as he’s banging on his captor’s door he narrates “If they had told me it was going to be fifteen years, would it have been easier to endure.” What Dae-su says here is justified as throughout the sequence he seems to be losing his mind and contemplating such a thought gives him a false sense of hope, maybe even relief in his situation. We as an audience can participate in this too and even believe the opposite. “Had I’d been in his position and I knew i’d be there 15 years it’d kill me inside”. This narration also serves a purpose in providing exposition that doesn’t feel forced as it’s provided through a conflict in the story. Demon Slayer’s narration is out of control and seems like the only story telling device the author knows how to use. We even get narration from Giyuu who’s introduced in the same episode and starts having this minute long monologue in his head to the audience while he’s fighting Tanjirou. This is problematic for a few reasons. One: we don’t even know Giyuu, he was barely just introduced. WHY ARE WE SWITCHING OUR PERSPECTIVE TO ANOTHER CHARACTER ALREADY WHEN OUR MAIN PROTAGONIST HASN’T YET BEEN ESTABLISHED? Two: why does he care that Nezuko seem human enough to leave alive? This is more of a plot hole but it’s still a valid one. He’s a seasoned, demon hunter he should know how dangerous these things are and by letting Tanjirou have his way he’d be putting more people at risk to Nezuko. He even admitted that most of the time human-turned demons turn on their loved ones in a second’s glance even if they seem docile at first. The reason why he lets Nezuko live isn’t believable for the character that they set him out to be since he’s supposed to be this righteous type that serves the greater good no matter what. It’d make much more sense if maybe he was a crazed morally ambiguous demon hunter who’ve experimented on demons before and grew a fascination toward Nezuko since she seems to have kept some humanity. He let’s her and Tanjirou go because he wishes to see the outcome of their journey or whatever. You may not agree with my version but it’s a stronger reason for him letting them go than just optimism. Three: his monologue becomes a crutch for subtly and nuisance in the character. Maybe we don’t even need a reason why he let them go at first, we can hint at something in his past but not give in to it all the way, like maybe he’s had a similar experience or something but we do this in the moment of when he’s confronting Tanjirou through his interactions NOT INTERNAL MONOLOGUE. Let us see the anguish and horror on his face as he realize that the two survived a family massacre to tell the story and his reluctance to give Tanjirou answers. We can play off his character with these moments and give mystery to him and why he lets them go. This will create tension and internal conflict for his character and promises a character arc for him in the future. Already, by doing this he’d be much more interesting and plot progression won’t feel cheap.
Episodes 2 and 3 doesn’t do much to alleviate the problems with the show, although they are generally better now that we’re out of the beginning and heading towards the “meat” of the show. These episodes are adequate but they still suffer from that constant expositioning and narration. For no reason Tanjirou and other characters just keep saying things that we already know or can infer. The demon that slaughter the family in episode 2 is a prime example of what I mean. In the episode he clashes with Tanjirou and gets hacked in the throat. He states “Oh I can heal this is no time” and it heals. Why would he say that? It brings me out of the supposed tensed moment more than anything when I have to questioned what was gained from that response. A better way to handle it would be this:
(Tanjirou gazes from his fallen position to the demon before him. Its eyes widen with fear and pain as it clutches for its throat, a gaping crimson slit spitting blood everywhere. For a moment a wave of relief washes over him, believing that he had won the fight. The demon’s lips curl upwards into a sadistic snarl and his eyes fill with amusement. He cackles uncontrollably as he releases the grip on his throat. To Tanjirou’s surprise the wound is gone, only remaining is a faint line that keeps disappearing till it’s no more. The demon meets Tanjirou’s quivering eyes once more before pouncing onto him, with beastial force.)
It works better when you don’t treat your audience like idiots.
The fights lack tension. I don’t find the demons particularly threatening as they don’t really seem all that capable. Aside from a strong healing factor, humans seem like they can handle demons pretty well. Tanjirou is still a teenager but he’s managed to grapple with TWO demons without so much of a scratch. He even head-butts the demon and OF COURSE we get narration from the demon which says “ Urggh! His head is really hard!”. HIS HEAD IS REALLY HARD. He literally says that…..(it reminds me of: "Ow! Heat was Hot!" Kudos and cheers if you know the reference ;) )
It hurts the world building when we question the main threat of the whole series. If the author wanted Demons to come off as terrifying beasts he should be very exact in distinguishing the differences in power levels between humans and demons. The line gets pretty blurred in the OP as everyone is unleashing “Bankais” and doing superhuman feats and again later on during training when Makomo says you can become as strong as demons when you just “breathe” a certain way. The anime/manga Claymore does this significantly better by outright stating that humans are nowhere near the level of even a basic Yoma. Killing one would take years of training and understanding Yoma as seen with Raki and even then Yoma still have the added benefit that they are totally undetected by human means, which again puts them at a disadvantage. Even if the first demons they meet are supposed to be “low level” or whatever they should still be a huge threat but the he defeats the Ep 2 demon pretty easily. Later on many of the other Demons he encounter act like third rate Bond villains. They stop their attacks and go on a minute long monologue telling Tanjirou who they are, what they've done, and their plans for eating him. It's silly more than threatening. You remember how menacing Titans were in Attack on Titian? They didn't say or do any of that, it was all in their actions and what they did. Or like in Kabaneri of The Iron Fortress, again the zombies in there were threatening and horrifying without having to go " Roaarr, roarr, I'm gonna eat cha little boy!". I'm not saying they should be mute, but they should be scary because they're doing scary things, not telling it. It also doesn’t help that he’s already got one on his side so every time he’s in even a little trouble she can bail him out. (And this is one of her only 2 purposes, the other is to be MOE as FUUUCCK!)
Also a point that never gets addressed even up to episode 3 is Nezuko. Why does being turned into a Demon apparently make you a mute? I mean she’s human enough not to attack and eat Tanjirou shouldn’t she be able to say something or communicate in some manner if you want to make the argument that the BDSM pole is preventing her? It's not a magic seal or anything, it's literally something Giyuu just shoves in her mouth thinking that she can't just hulk out and rip that thing off. If being turned into a demon makes you a raging animal with no conscious thought then how did that demon in episode 2 talk to him and even seem to have a banter with him? Or any of the other Demons later on. I’m okay with any reason just give us a reason that makes some sense. You’d think that Tanjirou would have tried something, anything, in order to communicate with her as she was the only who survived the massacre. If this is not possible then it’s important that it’s addressed or else it becomes a plot hole. I know it was stated that Nezuko is saving her energy by inducing into a comatose state so she doesn't feed on people but I find this reason faulty and boring in terms of what could have been an alternative exploration into character dynamics of the two. The master says she's inducing this sleep but why hasn't any other demons done this then? I'm sure there have been others who've loved their siblings enough not to want to eat them but I guess their love wasn't as special as Nezuko's love for Tanjirou? I guess other demons didn't love their siblings enough to try this. And this method seems to work flawlessly without any problems because she still saves him whenever the author deems it's necessary and the anime doesn't show any drawbacks aside from her sleeping a lot. It's a bit hard to believe.
When they showed the bodies of the family that was just murdered I thought Tanjirous was going to do the smart thing and hack pieces off to feed Nezuko, maybe even save some for later. It’s brutal but he loves her and it’d SHOW the lengths he be willing to go for her. But that doesn’t happen.
The training montage is not good because we are constantly being pulled out of the moment by Tanjirou’s narration. Tanjirou writes in his journal about every single aspect of his training after he has experienced it already and this creates a disconnect with the audience. We can’t experience the training with him because he’s already done in in the past since he’s recalling everything that happened in the past tense. It’s hard to actually see his growth when he just says he’s getting stronger instead of the anime taking the time to show us that. Again we don’t need narration of the things he’s learning and in fact it’d be much more impactful if we were kept in the present with Tanjirou and learning along with him and his master. We’d be able to create a connection with the master as we would be with Tanjirou learning the ways of Demon Slaying with him as it happens. Such as in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back we are in the moment with Luke as he trains with Yoda. Because we are in the present with him and Luke is not taking a step back to narrate for us we build a connection with Yoda. Everyone remembers Yoda despite being introduced and put into only one movie of the original saga. Can you even imagine if Luke had narrated to the audience and said: “ I told Yoda I wouldn’t be able to lift up the X-Wing even if I tried and then he told me: ‘Do or do not, there is no try’.” We see Luke’s failures throughout the training, and these failures are rooted with his character. I don’t really see an internal connection between Tanjirou and his training and how it relates to one another. Sabito later says that he’s not “man enough” but how does that have anything to do with his character? When was Tanjirou’s arc that he’s not “man enough”? Yeah he didn’t “finish” the demon in episode 2 but he didn’t hesitate to slit its throat with an ax. If this was his arc then shouldn’t the proper conclusion to his arc be that he slains a demon all on his own? But instead he has to split a rock in two. I know he kills Morph Demon but that part isn't part of hid training arc. The master even said that his training is complete and that he's accepted to the Final Night now. I understand the reason why the training was so rushed but because of that it lacks believability. Another example is My Hero Academia the first season. I’m not the biggest fan of MHA but it does Deku’s training a whole lot better than Tanjirou’s. Deku is accepted by All Might as an apprentice and a similar training ensues but the difference here is that Deku rarely exposites for the audience, it’s used scarcely and visual changes of Deku is put at the forefront without a lot of narration. We don’t hear Deku saying “ OMG this fridge is so heavy” and “All Might told me I have to be as swift as the ocean so we’re going swimming”. No it's all shown and we can infer it all. The ending of the montage is a climatic pan of Deku, screaming with all his might, bruised and batter, as he stands tall on top a mountain of collected trash, his tone body against the roaring winds. NICE!
The fight with the Morph Demon was narration galore and it's ridiculous. I'm tired of writing the same thing over again so if you like Shonens you'll be fine with this fight.
Tanjirou's mercy he shows to it is really inconsistent even within the same episode. If it's in his character to show mercy to Demons then what about the others he killed in the same Episode or the Gloop Tripplet Demons in ep 6 where he gets pissed that they told him they like supple young 16 year old girls. He charges at these with no mercy but the Morph Demon was the one who got the soft attention because he missed his brother? I'm fine if this is part of his character but the way it's portrayed is not believable especially when they try to justify it by trying to make you sympathize with the Morph Demon in a cheap flashback, as if he didn't murder and enjoy the fleshy bodies of little kids...seriously...who really feels bad for him. There's a serious disconnect of emotions when you can't identify with what the Protagonist is doing because it makes no sense and you wouldn't ever see yourself doing that same thing. This angelic mercy he has is a contrived trope that has been already done to death in other animes. Sure the opposite reaction is also a cliche, having raging hatred towards them. However one feels justified while the other feel forced in order to make sure you know Tanjirou is such a good guy.
I do agree with the Morph Demon on one thing though:

Yeah, that master literally did send those kids to their deaths...i don't care how "sorry" they make him to be, he still did it. I laughed because they even pointed this out with no self awareness. If the Demon Slayers are truly in control of the Final Nights then they should know exactly what's going on. It's a plot hole when they allow the demons to get that strong without any safeguards. You're Demon Slayers right? Aren't you supposed to be protecting kids? That's like if in My Hero Aca, the entrance exams was to fight a whole city filled with unsupervised super villains, and one in particular had become so powerful he's survived multiple trials for years and if they get killed or whatever it's whatever. Young boys , young girls...whatever right? This actually makes the Demon Slayers Corp outright inept or ruthless with no repercussions. If they're this merciless, shouldn't villager and people outright despise them, why isn't Tanjirou angry at this. His character is that he wants to protect people, SAVE PEOPLE, yet the final nights seem like they're just sending kids to their deaths for no good reason and he doesn't bat his eye? In Full Metal Alchemist Edward is constantly at odds with the State because of shit like this and he's interesting and well fleshed out because of it. Edward seems real, while this seems contrived.
Also I was right, Nezuko is a Deus ex machina. She's cute and I'll admit her character design is very attractive. SUE ME!
Overall, Demon Slayer doesn’t do anything new or particularly well. The characters are dull and overused, the story is riddled with plot holes or just contrivances, and the world doesn’t feel very well- fleshed out. At the heart of all the problems with Demon Slayer is it’s lack of subtlety and overuse of “telling rather than showing” to convey it's story. Like I said if you like Shonen, this anime will be just right for you. For anyone else, it's a flashy trip that unlike the devoured children in the show, lacks any meat or substance.

In life sometimes you get bored of the hobbies you used to have as a child. Anime is one of them in my case. After being disappointed season after season with countless fast food adaptations. I decided to put a stop at my once favorite hobby.

Of course after a short 2 year hiatus you cant possibly ignore that even in that time frame at least something decent had to come out. Generally speaking most popular anime could be considered decent if only viewed on a surface level, but you're in for a surprise.

Naturally after having thoughts of going back to watching anime. I decided ... to check what was fairly popular these last months. Spotting Demon Slayer want difficult at all, since it had such an bulked up mean score here in MAL making it into the top 20 ranked anime in this page, So of course I was interested.

Overwhelmed in excitement and interest I went onto crunchyroll, paid a monthly subscription, and without any doubts I dived right into this series. (6PM)

After 12 hours of binge watching anime like in my old days, having completed Demon Slayer, with tired eyes, weak calves (after only having snacks for half a day) I turned off my pc, got off my chair and opened up the windows, After letting the air get in my living room I went ahead and prepared myself a meal.

After 2 hours of reflecting on what i just watched, I could only find myself with nothing but sheer disappointment and deep regret. Feeling the same way just like 2 years ago. Reminiscing on why I even went on hiatus in the first place.

Such a generic and mediocre title. with nothing new to offer is seriously being tossed around with amazing titles like Berserk and HxH? Is this the standard for an 8 and 9 nowadays? Generic writing and mediocre plot points? The soundtrack is mediocre at best, the animation is subpar, characters are so generic and forgettable.

OVERALL A FORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE FROM START TO END.

Welcome to my review of Kimetsu no Yaiba!! Minor spoiler warning!!



The Kamado family lives happily in peace in their seclude cabin high up in the snowy mountains .After the main protagonist Tanjirous father passing away some time ago, he have taken over he's responsibility and providing for he's family .One day after selling some coal in the village nearby and coming home later than expected, he stubble through the door and are met by a gruesome and horrifying sight! He's family have been brutally slaughtered .Hes ... mother and siblings are laying dead in-front of hes feet,but in this tragedy life still existing and breathing, hes beloved sister Nezuko have survived the macabre attack.But as a cruel and terrible twist of fate she is now a demon herself and hunger for humans flesh to devour! Tanjirou refuses to give up and swear to avenges the death of his family! But mostly to restore humanity back to his sister!



The story itself especially early in, may feel extremely simplistic uninspired and boring .Village boy get family or village killed and sets out for seeking revenge.Never heard that one before. But with some good twist drama segment and fast even pacing,Combined with some interesting female characters and great side story's it have some interesting factors as well. And the way it being told is pretty entertaining rather than feeling slow and tedious .Its noting special but it works overall



The animations are just stunning from time to time.The action flows like the mighty river and are a grand spectacle to watch .This anime have gorgeous flashy action scenes with great lightning effect that are really enjoyable to watch, and makes me looking forward to the next fight!



Sadly I think the design on the males in this anime got little attention, and is very dull plain and noting to remember it by.But the demons and females on the other hand have great attention both in details and design, that defiantly are memorable and made a great impacted



When it come to characters this anime total fails again with the males . They are as interesting and deep as a kiddie pool. The main trios are the most uninspired stereotypical predictable and boring set of reused anime characters i have ever seen . Tanjirou is overly good and wants to help, Inosuke wants to be strong and like to fight, and the last one Zenitsu wants to cry and are afraid of fighting or getting seriously injured.But for some odd reason he joins a society that are in war with the demons!,, Doesn't that make sense?,,NO it doesn't. There are no complexity no deeps to be found .Alone they are horribly and boring enough but together they are a irritating deadly force of chaos! That destroys everything I like in this anime . It's like a five-year old was in charge over those so-called humour segments.All they do is run around screaming ans chasing etch other like five years old do. I'm sry but I don't find that very funny. More irritating and infuriating, the Biggest problem is the character Zenitsu nonstop whining and crying .Complaining seems to be that characters main trait, As soon he is in picture the crying and bitching start and never stop! And with a very high-pitched voice which gives me a headache! Don't you just love the things in life that give you a headache? I don't. I want to kill it with fucking fire!



Again the females come to the rescue. They are lifting this anime up and opposite from the male, The female characters are interesting and don't act like misbehaving children all the time .They are beautiful and very alluring. Main character is a little interesting conundrum and I thirst for more information about her.The butterfly girls that get introduce later in is also a huge plus for the story. And with all the good female characters, at-least some enjoyment are to be found in this mess



My experience in the whole was extremely inconsistent .The action was incredible and i love every second of it.But the male trio especially the cry baby make some scene unbearable and they are mains so they get a huge amount of screen time,,Running screaming in your face or crying! In the end its hard to judge. I hate it! I love it! I hate it! I love it! So I give it 5/10



This anime is trash but its kind of shiny and flashy trash that are nice and fun to look at. When it doesn't piss you off with its poorly written humour or infuriating characters



I dedicate this review to every female in Kimetsu no Yaiba, Thank you for making this anime at-least acceptable

Once upon a time, the anime industry came up with the perfect formula to create highly acclaimed shounen one after the other; however, as time passed, this pattern became repetitive and, while a few next-gen shounen have been able to achieve their objective following this predetermined path, most of them have faltered along the way.

Kimetsu no Yaiba is not your typical shonen anime but at the same time it is. It does not have your archetypical main character that accomplishes all his goals through the power of friendship and/or by activating his hidden power -which is never revealed until the plot armour established is not ... life-saving enough-; instead, Tanjirou is a run-of-the-mill guy who does not become a one-of-a-kind swordsman overnight, but spends months training, shedding his blood, sweat, and tears, showing the story of struggle and how it has molded his character.
It does not attempt to build a story based on a main protagonist who wants to become stronger justified by the simple fact of being the strongest or proving the world wrong, but for a much deeper motive.
It’s also not afraid to deviate from the standard path taken by most shonen of advancing as little as possible in each episode, mainly done to extend the journey –and the money raised- as much as possible. Speaking about this, Kimetsu no Yaiba solid pacing makes the show advance energetically, although it does not forget to catch some breath when the situation justifies it –as in ep. 19, if you know what I mean…-.
Still, it follows the standard battle shonen familiar-hero’s journey plot of: member(s) of family killed fuels progress, finds someone who trains/instructs him, passes an exam to become part of a faction, and, after becoming strong enough, ends up in an expedition where he makes friends and forges bonds, while at the same time encounters people (either comrades or villains) that change his way of thinking and acting towards life. However, if it’s done correctly, who says this is a bad thing?

As you can see, the plot is rather simple and straightforward, as nothing really stands out story wise speaking, though it doesn’t change the fact that the show is remarkably enjoyable. Despite a pretty slow start where some parts felt quite boring, the story came up to be really attention-grabbing, and these first episodes turned to be important for establishing a solid, well-paced plot -so please wait a little bit for the action! -. Also, the power progression pace is nicely done too, making it quite satisfying to watch them apply their training to the battles. Besides, the way different situations are expressed through narration is pretty noteworthy, transforming this shounen-type anime into a really good piece of story exposition.

Ufotable is just flexing on other studios right know. Digital era has given studios the opportunity to develop in so many different ways, though Ufotable has seized the opportunity to improve as much as or more than anybody else, and Kimetsu no Yaiba represents a good case in point.
With a unique art style, they’ve achieved to display an outstanding hack-and-slash action-packed animation really eye-catching to the viewer. That’s mainly thanks to a really fluid and lifelike animation, which pays close attention to even “minor details” such as rendering, moving backgrounds or characters’ portrayal. I mean, who would not love to see humans slashing demons, demons crushing humans, in short, both fighting against each other in a life-and-death struggle with flashy action sequences full of intense colouring, smooth shading and outrageous use of angles that enhances the experience?
Additionally, the way which music and voice acting has been used on this 1st season has been amazing. Without going into comparing its OST to that of other shows, we could say that it’s a soundtrack that it neither will remember for the ages nor would get stuck in replay on your mind for weeks, although when watching the show it’s pretty noticeable and makes a lot of scenes much more enjoyable and mesmerizing, making it pretty obvious that both the piece itself and the moments chosen for the OST to be played were extremely well thought-out.

Last but not least, characters. Some think Zenitsu is irritating; some think he’s hilarious. Some think Tanjirou is a light-hearted, kind, strong person; some think he’s too trustful. BUT WHO THINKS THAT NEZUKO IS NOT WORTHY OF WORSHIPING? NONE. Jokes apart, characters play an important role in KnY, as they carry the whole series in a team effort, meaning that most of the characters with some screen-time are important, as they play a part in the development of the story and/or our protagonists; they do this quite well, making most of them really likeable and relatable –even though we are talking about demons and swordsman- as, their feelings, goals and states of mind are much like our own, as well as their abilities –speaking exclusively about the human union-, which are obtained via loads of effort, and not magically.

However, all is not yet rosy either, as there are diverse subjects, mainly with regard to the story –and I won’t talk too much about it in order to avoid spoilers-, where I sensed -at times- hurriedness and lack of strategic and operational thinking, like in the sequence of different events or with CGI’s utilization. And we can’t forget about that really slow start…

Nevertheless, all these “complaints” are something minor and end up being ostracised by all the positive points of the series, making it impossible to deny that this anime is one of a kind.

Never thought that I would ever write review of any anime or manga...
But I am surprised how low can be people's taste.

I was happy when I see 9 score, I thought I got chance to watch masterpiece and thats was total disappointment, bullshit.

Maybe I would give 8 or 9 score to Demon Slayer when I discovered anime for the first time, when I didnt see any bloodshed before and it was absolutely new world for me... I dont believe that any Veteran anime lovers will give that anime more than 6 or 7 points.

hmm... mal asks me to write longer review, so
Story is most ... likely good, buy story telling is total bullshit, you always know what happens, for example evil says "heh I am so strong his katana wont manage to cut me" and you know that that evil will die by that strike in next second, also too much talking, too unnatural expression, I want to vomit when I watch it, so why I still watch? because 9 score got me, I was like "hey maybe in next episode something amazing will happen, otherwise how that anime could get 9 score? it must amazing". thats how I watched maybe 8 episdes, but I am not going to watch Demon slayer anymore, I mean I finished all animes which I ever started, even when I disliked them I always finished. and yet I cant bring myself to finish watching Demon Slayer, total waste of time, and its shame how it is on 18th place. total shame