Welcome to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba, where we finish up another little arc. This time we get a lot of monologues and some brutal deaths closed out by some wholesome Nezuko. Let’s dive in!
Like always, Yaiba looked nice this week. Some may complain about CGI and such, but I think Yaiba is pulling it off quite well. It’s still obvious but Ufotable is leaning into it. In particular I enjoy the smoke effects and such, they work without being to campy. However Yaiba’s big problem this week in my opinion were the monologues. They really hurt the pacing, cutting between moments of action. Combined with last week, it feels to me like they could have combined most of the two into one. Cutting out a lot of the spurious dialogue for the same net result. Because what surrounds it is good fun mostly, I can look past it for the most part. However it does show that Yaiba isn’t free of all the usual Shounen tropes. That said, onto the contentious meat of the episode.
My first major gripe with the episode, and Yaiba in general now, are the combat moves. I was accepting of them at first. They were just sword techniques with some flashy animation placed over them. Granting some visual flare to otherwise simple swordplay. However this episode Yaiba has started to grant them traits beyond that. Using them to mechanically counter Demon techniques and the like. Once you start applying these techniques like this, more solid rules begin to be required. To ground them and make it less of an ass-pull when used to defeat an opponent. Take this week, where Tanjiro uses his techniques to counter the force of gravity. Falling/being thrown downwards, using a technique to counter the damage and survive the impact. Suddenly, these techniques are not just sword techniques, but something more. Personally, I would like some ground rules for all this.
That said, Susamaru was still good fun, even if the demonic kickball match felt out of place. Somethin about her VA and design just makes me happy. The kickball match though felt odd compared to other fights. Did Nezuko not lose a leg to this ball just last week? I suppose what I am getting at, between this and the sword techniques, is Yaiba is starting to feel arbitrary. The worst thing a Shounen can do really. It causes the fights to lose their weight, as everything becomes a DBZ shouting match kind of fight. Still, for all the plot armor around our leads, at least the villains got a great ending. Before I get into the detail, I thought it tied back nicely with the last Demon Tanjiro fought. Showing a real consequence had he spoken Muzan’s name.
On Muzan, I have to say though, this was a rather shocking end. Mostly because of the brutality. Yaiba did not hold back when it came to Susamaru’s death. Even not showing the worst of it, the sound effects did plenty of work. I can understand if some people don’t like this level of violence. Some can find it grotesque and unneeded. Personally, I didn’t think Yaiba went to far. It sold the brutality of the combat well enough and most of all, it sold us on Muzan. For a lot of villains, this kind of thing doesn’t work. However, since we have already met Muzan and know about him, we have someone to attribute this to. Not some nebulous entity, but an established character. Because of this, I think it works better than it does in your average Shounen.
My favorite part of the episode however is near the end, with Best Girl Nezuko. I still find the spell placed on her to be a bit cheap. However it did lead to a sweet scene with Tamayo and Yushiro. Wanting to be human once more, finally getting acknowledged as such by another person. It was a sweet scene that, aside from the interruption by a snippet of Yushiro’s backstory, did its job. Most of it I attribute to Nezuko though, as she really is just adorable. Falling asleep after Tamayo’s power and running around after the fight. If nothing else, Ufotable has given us Nezuko, and I am glad for it. It was a nice wholesome moment to close out the arc on. Sure, I find Yushiro himself a bit annoying, his jokes/obsession with Tamayo dull. But the arc as a whole was a success.
So, all in all, how was the episode? Good enough. It wasn’t my favorite but neither was it the worst. Had the monologues been removed, I would put it in the upper half. As is, the wholesome moment at the end really picked it back up. Long story short, i’d give the episode a 6/10 overall. The lost marks being the monologues and Yaiba completely forgetting Tanjiro supposedly had a broken leg the next morning. Still, I think we have something to look forward to next week. As it appears we are, finally, meeting the first member of the MC posse. A yellow haired whining demon slayer obsessed with… marriage. Oof. See you next week when we find out if this is any good.
I don’t think Tanjirou actually have a broken leg. We all have that moment when it hurt so much we though our legs is broken all something but actually something less and Tanjirou isn’t a doctor. Still, Tanjirou did suffer a number of injuries, it just not bad enough that he can’t walk.
Well, the CrunchyRoll translations at least said broken leg. If its as you say, the Crunchyroll screwed up. Its a minor gripe at best of course. But still there