Kimetsu no Yaiba – 23 [Hashira Meeting]

This week Kimetsu no Yaiba picks up right where we left off last time. As Nezuko confronts her demonic side, Tanjiro doesn’t know when to quit while he is ahead and our two favorite boys return. Enough of that though, onto the episode itself.

This week was much better than last week, and I think I have identified why. Last week, Yaiba spent the entire 23 minutes in a single scene, the same location. However much happens in that scene, is established in that scene, it still left me feeling like we hadn’t really gone anywhere. Overall it gave me a feeling that things had slowed down, regardless of what actually occurred. Something to break it up would have really helped I think. As far as this week though, Yaiba does just that. Transitioning us out of the Hashira meeting as we follow Tanjiro. Then bringing us back at the end to close out the episode without really losing the thread of what was happening. Even if the same amount of things happened in both episodes, this one felt more progressive. Which I feel is important. Enough of that though, onto the meat.

Starting off, let’s focus on Nezuko’s inner confrontation. Once again Yaiba has managed to take what was a single panel in the manga, and make it so much more. I am actually impressed, because there was almost no dialogue at this point in the manga. To be able to take that single panel and expand it? Referencing back to some of the first scenes of the series? This is another example I feel of what an adaptation should do. Taking weaker or unexplored aspects of the manga and improving on them for the medium. It’s more proof for me that pure adaptations, 1:1 adaptations of a work, is the wrong way to go. That such an adaptation just limits a work rather than improving upon it. So yeah, good job on that one Yaiba. It was a touching scene within a scene.

After this, the rest of this opening meeting also taught us a good deal about the Hashira. For instance, Hashira are not elected or really chosen by anyone. Instead, a Hashira need only defeat one of the 12 Kizuki to become/be eligible to become one. For me, this information made the conflict with Muzan much clearer. Afterall if you have to kill a Kizuki, then that means that Kizuki are killed at a regular pace. Not regularly of course, but often enough for there to be 9 Hashira, plus all of the retired ones like Urokodaki and Zenitsu’s grandfather. This means the war between them is much more even, and that Muzan seemingly has to replace Kizuki at a respectable pace. We had hints of this with Kyogai being a past Kizuki and being removed. But this makes it clear that there are far more than 12 powerful demons.

Moving on from the meeting, I want to talk about Yaiba’s comedy this week, as we had plenty of it. In my opinion, I think it worked quite well. After Nezuko’s confrontation, Yaiba worked really hard to lighten the mood. From Nezuko’s tiny chibi forms, to the comedy of the situation. Even Zenitsu and Inosuke’s situations had some dark comedy to them in places I quite enjoyed. I only really have 2 complaints about the comedy this week. The first is Tanjiro butting his way back into the meeting. I didn’t find this particularly funny, and actually just extended what was already a completed scene. You won Tanjiro, take it and leave. The 2nd though was Zenitsu’s initial reintroduction. It was like, for 2 minutes, we had reverted to his same wound up self from his first introduction. I like the kid now, just not when whining that loudly.

Next up let’s talk about Kanao, another character we first saw back at the exam arc. This was a more than awkward reintroduction. The comedy effect was… alright? I didn’t hate it, as it gave us some characterization for her. How spacey she is, perhaps even mute since she has yet to say a word I think. The scene just felt awkward with how long it lasted is all. That said, her scene was quite pretty. I don’t know why, but I really enjoyed the imagery around it all. Ufotable just really made the whole thing… pretty. Not a lot of substance, but it had style. Makes me wonder if we are going to see the scared guy from the exam arc again as well. He has a rather prominent place in the OP every episode. But with how long it would be, that would be rather odd.

Finally let’s get back to Zenitsu and Inosuke, as aside from Zenitsu’s whining, this was good. Specifically I enjoyed what came from Inosuke. His broken voice, while making sense with what happened to him, was also fun and surprising. On top of that, Zenitsu misunderstanding his silence was a treat. Saying he is embarrassed by his voice, which he may be. But most likely he was still in contemplation of his weakness, as that was the first thing out of his mouth. Combine that with Zenitsu’s teasing and I think this was a fine scene. Really showing the camaraderie they have now compared to when they first met. The only question I have now though is, what are we going to do with the rest of the episodes?

What I mean by that is, we are now at episode 23, with 3 episodes left. What else is Yaiba going to cover, what kind of finale are we going to have? At this point, it seems like it will be more of a setup for a 2nd season than an actual strong finish. That said, Yaiba is almost guaranteed to have a 2nd season at this point, so I suppose it works out in the end. So with all that said, how was Yaiba this week? Pretty good, I think. Quiet for the most part, delving mostly into character motivations and such. But nice. I am curious where the series is going to go from here. How it will close itself up in these last 3 episodes. I just hope it manages to be more like this week, than last week.