Welcome all, to the penultimate episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba’s third season! This week is all about Kanroji, the premier waifu of the season, from her backstory to her fight with the Upper Four. We have a lot to talk about this week, so lets dive in!
So, Kanroji. This is her episode. And you know what? It’s not bad. Overall I’d call it an improvement over the last few Tokito-centric ones. And you know what I think the biggest contributor to that? Her combat style. Everything about it is simply far more visually appealing. Her ballet-like movement, the poses, the moonlight flashing off her sword and the patterns it draws in the air Even the after effects of her attacks on the wood, the little burn marks and ash left hanging in the air. Kanroji has all the flare that has been missing from the rest of the season. It’s a damn shame she has so little screen time, because I think she could have made the arc much more memorable on that front.
Of course this focus on her isn’t without it’s downsides. The two biggest ones being fanservice and flashbacks. The first is pretty self-explanatory, Kanroji is a girl and she has huge tits, so Yaiba is going to make sure we see them often. For most people I imagine that won’t bother you. It wasn’t a terribly big deal to me either, you could see this coming based on her outfit/design from a mile away. But some of my female friends found it a bit annoying when we were talking about the episode, and I wouldn’t be surprised if others felt the same way. It’s a shame her design is so… over the top, would be the kind way to put it. The watermelon hair, the unbuttoned shirt, the author being a coward and not drawing her with muscles matching her strength. Just a lot of missed opportunities here.
As for the flashbacks, this is a regular problem with Yaiba. It loves to shoves flashbacks that don’t fit the tone of a scene right in the middle of it. More often then not the flashback itself is fine. While personally I found the “A woman’s place is to get married” line a bit weird, Yaiba walked it back with the core of her character being pushing back against that and wanting to be loved for who she is rather than hiding it. That’s all fine, and I think it could fit well into Yaiba’s continued theme of found/chosen family. The issue is simply how it’s incorporated into the episode. Cutting away from a hype fight to a serene bridge is not how you transition to a flashback. I don’t see why this couldn’t have been fit into the first half of the season.
That aside, there were a few other small details sprinkled throughout the flashback. One thing in particular I took note of was her relationship with Iguro. This guy was initially presented as this edgy hardass. So getting hints of this softer side, whether it be a simple love of socks or a full on romantic relationship with Kanroji, is nice. It lets Yaiba build him up in advance for whatever arc he will be involved in. I’m actually kind of looking forward to where Yaiba goes with this, because a lot of the Hashira really haven’t interacted all that much. They mostly interact with our lead characters, and then we get flashbacks or momentary “I wish I could be like you” lines. the more scenes involving just the Hashira, without any of our leads, the better. I want these people to be built up, I want to like them.
The last thing worth talking about is what we can expect next episode. I’ll just lay it out there, I really really hope we aren’t about to get a long ass flashback for the Upper Four. It’s just far to late to make him a compelling character at this point. Dropping a few lines here and there, “I’ve never lied”, “I’m a virtuous weakling”, etc etc. Those are fine. In fact I think those are better then a flashback, because it lets us draw our own conclusion as to what kind of life he had leading up to this point. Something that fits him and is what we want from the story without breaking up the fight with pointless flashbacks. But if Yaiba decides to burn like… 20 minutes of this double length finale on a freaking flashback? Well that’s just gonna suck.
So yeah, all in all I think this episode was actually a step up from the last few. Kanroji is just a more visually engaging character, with far more emotions, and the Upper Four is just a cooler looking fight. Her backstory is quicker, less dramatic, but with how flashback-laden this season has been that’s really just a positive. It’s also nice to be back with our main crew. Tanjiro, Genya and Nezuko all working together to try and take out the main body while Kanroji holds off the merged one is simply more fun then Tokito being stuck in a water bubble. Hopefully Yaiba can manage to carry this energy forward into it’s double-length finale. If nothing else, hopefully we will at least get some rad fight sequences.
Dude calling the arthor a coward just because he won’t give a girl muscles is a bit harsh.
I apologize, maybe that joke went a bit to far. I didn’t mean it maliciously. Just a small poke of fun.
I’m definitely expecting a lengthy flashback for the Upper Four. If there isn’t one I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but it’s kind of the modus operandi for this series. And normally it isn’t even so bad (honestly, putting aside the fact that I’m really fed up with all the flashback for the moment, the Upper Four does kind of need one, because he’s barely even a character now): there were just so many new characters this season that it’s gotten really excessive. I wonder how they’re going to do that in future seasons, with so many Hashira and Upper Demons yet to be introduced. If they all need a flashback, that’ll be a real drag on pacing.
Anyway, personally I wasn’t a fan of this episode. I suppose it was better than the fight against the Upper Five (which was really anticlimactic – and the Upper Five itself was a joke), but that’s not saying much. Kanroji’s fighting style is indeed visually appealing, but I can’t really take her, or the fight, seriously when she’s constantly acting like a naive child instead of the seasoned fighter she should be. And the fight is really lacking tension. The Upper Ranks were supposed to be these terrifying monsters that have lived for centuries and have slayed countless Hashira, and yet Four and Five are both outclassed by a single Hashira – and probably relatively weak ones at that? It’s really disappointing. The fight against the Upper Six was at least a significant challenge, and their dynamic was sort of interesting, as a kind of counterpoint to Tanjiro and Nezuko. But here I’m really struggling to find anything particularly noteworthy to say about the fight, other than that it still looks very good. But I suppose there’s still an hour to go, so maybe the finale will give me some of the tension and stakes that I’ve been missing.
I definitely agree that these Upper Four/Five demons feel significantly weaker than the Upper Six. The power scaling is all over the place and sort of just whatever the author needs for the moment. Personally I think this is the weakest season of Yaiba yet.