Category: Finished Series: Action

Welcome one and all, to the penultimate week of Kimetsu no Yaiba. It’s an odd week I feel, though not a particularly negative one. Just the difference between “fine” and “good”, as this week covers more training, Kanao’s backstory and some actually good comedy. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

Starting off, let’s talk about this week’s structure, as the episode opens up on more training for Tanjiro. It’s funny, because this training arc almost feels longer than the initial one of the series. Most likely do to the subject matter at hand. The montage part just wasn’t as interesting as the whole mountain sequence. That isn’t to say it was bad, it had its moments. Tanjiro’s little fan club were always cute. As was seeming him slowly gain progress on Kanao and such. My major complaint though is that it all just feels very… subdued for what is the penultimate episode. Later one we get some new stuff, such as a flashback and an intro to next seasons first arc. And Yaiba is seemingly building up some mysteries in regards to Fire vs Flame breathing. I just didn’t find the first half of the episode particularly engaging.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 25 [Tsuguko, Kanao Tsuyuri]” →

Welcome all to another subdued week of Kimetsu no Yaiba everyone. This week is rather quiet comparatively, as we focus in on a few specific characters. Exploring Shinobu’s motivations, Tanjiro’s effect on others and Yaiba’s breathing techniques. So without further ado, let’s dive in.

Starting off, Zenitsu is really losing a lot of the good-will he earned recently. It’s not that the voice is bad, I think Hiro Shimono does a great job selling it. The range is impressive and his ability to be this god damn annoying is… impressive. But the character himself seems to have turned the dial back up to 11. Screaming about women, whining about medicine, and just seeming to take umbrage with every little thing. It’s not that I don’t believe such an individual can exist, more that I just detest the archetype in the first place. The sad thing is that we don’t even really have Inosuke to balance him out. Previously in the Wisteria House, Inosuke sort of reined him in with his own antics.Yet right now Best Boy is, rightfully, morose and subdued. A shame that one characters arc sort of takes away from another’s.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 24 [Rehabilitation Training]” →

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.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 23 [Hashira Meeting]” →

This was a rather slow week for Yaiba. As we meet the rest of the Hashira, the Master of the Slayers and the whole thing takes place in one scene. Still, there are things worth talking about, so let’s dive in!

Right off the bat, this was a very slow episode. Little actually happened this week, and the whole thing took place in effectively a single scene. Yes, a number of important things are/did happen during the scene, but a large chunk of it felt… dull. This isn’t surprising though as a majority of the scene was just introducing new characters. This is of course a historical problem for Yaiba. The series tends to ramp their eccentric personalities up to 11 on first introduction. We need only look back at Inosuke and Zenitsu’s introductions for evidence of this. The exact same issue occurred this week. With each of the Hashira coming off very strongly, pushing a singular character trait forward over anything else. This is decent for establishing the basics of a new character quickly. It’s just not particularly interesting or fun though.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 22 [Master of the Mansion]” →

This week in Kimetsu no Yaiba is, for the most part, a calm one. As we wind down this arc Yaiba shows us the cracks in the Demon Slayers, Rui’s backstory and more of Muzan’s manipulative side. Let’s dive in!

Starting off, the flashback opening. As much as I was dreading the possible empathization of Rui, I think this was actually pretty good. As it focused more on Muzan than many of the previous flashbacks, mostly likely because Rui was a Moon. I will admit it was rather confusing to open an episode with it, as I was lost for a moment. But once everything was established the content managed to stand on its own. I am still not the largest fan of these, as using them to bookend every single arc has started to get old. I felt it could have been delivered as we went through Rui’s family. But getting Muzan in this one burst really helped it. Splitting the focus from an already defeated foe with our ultimate big bad, continuing to build him up. Sadly, with the manga still ongoing, we probably won’t get him though.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 21 [Against Corps Rules]” →

After last week’s episode, I had high hopes for Kimetsu no Yaiba this week. Sadly, I think I came away from it with more criticisms than complements. Perhaps natural, since living up to last week was nigh impossible. But I wasn’t prepared for Yaiba to undercut its best episode either. Welcome to Yaiba, episode 20, lets jump in.

Normally I start this off with production stuff, but at this point you know what I think about Yaiba. It’s a good looking series, the OST is great, nothing to complain about there. Instead I want to get right into the meat, start with my concerns. The first one being, I don’t like the return of Rui. I feel like his revival completely undercuts the fantastic emotional highpoint of the last episode. There are arguments that Tanjiro shouldn’t be able to defeat a Moon this early, and they are valid. The Moon’s are supposed to be the big bads right below Muzan. However, that doesn’t change how Yaiba presented these last two episodes. If Tanjiro isn’t supposed to defeat a Moon, then don’t make their confrontation so final. With all the fanfare and emotion of a series finale. Basically, don’t break your series only rule for no good reason. Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba – 20 [Pretend Family]” →