Welcome all to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This episode see’s things kick off as demons finally arrive! Are we in for another 10 episode long fight scene? Probably! Will it be any good? Let’s dive in and find out!
Before we get to deep into the action I need to get something off of my chest: Yaiba’s comedy sucks. This isn’t unexpected, it’s a battle shounen not a dedicated comedy manga. And even if it was, base level Japanese slapstick comedy really isn’t my thing. But my god did this stuff suck. Not just the structure of it, though repeating the same joke over and over again with funny chibi visuals certainly wasn’t going to help it, but the very jokes themselves sucked. What, having Haganezuka show up and repeat “Give it to me” and then being upset that was misunderstood is supposed to be funny? Or his weakness being tickling because he’s big and strong? None of this is funny! Thank god that we jumped into the action this week because if we hadn’t this would have been the worst episode so far.
Getting into the fights themselves, that’s right fights since this one has 2 Upper Rank demons, let’s start with the Upper Four. My initial impressions of this guy were… not great. I thought Yaiba was just reusing Daki and Gyuutarou’s shtick of 2 demons in 1 body. Luckily as the fight went on, this proved to only slightly be the case. Rather then 2 demons in 1 body, it’s 1 demon that splits into multiple bodies. Sounds like just a straight upgrade to me, but there is one thing Yaiba did that might make this interesting: Cutting of their heads doesn’t kill them. Not even when you cut them off at the same time. Instead it seems like his vital point, his “heart” so to speak, is somewhere else and that finding it will be the main goal. Not bad, I think it has the potential to be interesting.
The other demon meanwhile, Upper Five, we don’t get to see much of. We know they live in a pot, and they struck the first kill of this conflict on some random poor swordsmith. Judging by the large fish demon, they are able to summon minions. Are they stored inside the pot? Or do they transform those they eat/suck in into monsters? Until we learn the mechanics of it, I can’t really say if it will be interesting or not. Judging by the two of them together though, this is going to be a numbers-centric arc, one where our leads are outnumbered. That could work! The previous arc our heroes outnumbered the villains, a 5 to 2 split. Here though the fight just started and already its 3 heroes vs 5 villains. Of course Kanroji will appear making it 4 vs 5, but I imagine it’ll only get worse.
Our villains out of the way, let’s talk about our heroes. First up is Tokito, the Hashira. This guy is… I still don’t really like him. He’s the standard “Stoic genius” that anime loves, unlike his counterparts such as Sasuke he doesn’t have anything particularly motivating about him yet. Of course that’s not completely fair, Sasuke was the Deuteragonists of his entire series while Tokito is just an arc-based supporting character. But the idea is still there, he doesn’t have much of a personality. If Yaiba can make this arc about him gaining one, as he appears to be as he steps in to save the kid from the fish despite talking himself out of it just before, then he might be interesting. For now though? He’s just a pretty lights generator with those Mist Breathing effects.
Genya however, our other arc-based supporting character, is much more interesting. Yaiba has already spent a few scenes this arc establishing that something is weird about him. And it wouldn’t do that if he was going to get killed off almost immediately in the fight. So judging by that wound, and his regrown tooth, I’m going to assume he has some sort of healing factor. And the only healing factor we know of in the series comes from demons. So is he half-demon, spawned from a weird romance? I don’t know, but I want to learn. Especially because, as a demon slayer, he probably hates himself for whatever he is. I also believe he’s the Wind Hashira’s brother, who probably hates him for it to, making it the cause for all the trouble in their relationship. Suffice to say, Genya has way more going on than Tokito.
Finally we need to talk about Kanroiji as well as the magical special new sword. Kanroji is the other Hashira present for this arc, and she’s no doubt going to reappear soon. You don’t just put her in all the marketing and introduce her in episode 1 and not include her. Marketing betraying the narrative there. With Tokito squaring up against the pot-guy we can thus assume she’s going to be fighting the Upper Four and his multiple forms. Now I believe, from the OP, she has some kind of segmented whip sword so this could be pretty cool. But only time will tell there. As for the special sword Haganezuka is working on, let’s not jump around the bush, we know it’s going to end up winning Tanjiro his fight. The real question here is just how long Yaiba will drag out him getting it.
So anyways, yeah, this was a fine episode of Yaiba. The comedy sucked but the fact that we jumped right into the action was nice. Let’s not lie to each other, it’s the primary reason we’re watching the show. Between pretty lights, sakuga action sequences, and Yuki Kajiura music, the adrenaline is the primary driving force of the show. And it seems like Yaiba knows that, because it spent 2 episodes setting up the characters before jumping right into what we all came for. Assuming the action is on a similar level to the previous seasons, at the very least, the very least, I expect to have fun. Pretty lights go brrrr. Whether or not I remember Yaiba by the time yearly awards comes around will be entirely dependent on if it can make Tokito, Kanroji and these demons interesting.
P.S. Braided Nezuko hair is cute.
Dude you obviously haven’t watched Gintama if you think comedy in Shonen is bad.
I have seen Gintama, and it’s actually a large part of why I dislike Shounen comedy! The long and short of it is that I don’t think Gintama is very funny nor did I really enjoy it.
That’s your opinion and Frankly it just shows you don’t have a sense of humor. Gintama is one of the best anime comedies I have seen and unlike Demon slayer, the comedy is actually FUNNY and doesn’t annoy me every 5 minutes.
You are correct, it is just my opinion, just like everything else I write on my blog. Personally, I don’t find Gintama funny. Has some decent dramatic moments, but those weren’t enough to make me stick around. Its jokes are about as loud and slapsticky as Demon Slayer is, relying primarily on physical gags, reactions and straightmen not reacting at all. Another example is Saiki K, which I absolutely despise. That’s not my brand of comedy.
My preferred brand of comedy is gallows humor or improv humor. Things that arise out of a situation rather then being setup in a clearly constructed manner. There are some exceptions to this, the Golden Era of Simpsons and South Park have some stellar jokes, as do some comedy specials. By and large though the comedy I like is generally dark and built off of either a situation or wordplay. That isn’t something Japanese comedy really does a lot of, at least not that I’ve seen in anime. I’m sure they have their fair share of it in the larger comedy scene. I’d also say that me not speaking their language makes the nuances of that kind of comedy much harder for me to grasp and understand, so it’s not entirely on them. Overall though, I don’t find anime very funny. Any of them.
Your lost dude. Gintama is hilarious and actually more clear than you think of you just stop being so fucking negative and really pay attention instead of just brushing it off and comparing it to trash like Demon slayer. Also next lose the fucking condescending tone next you respond to me!
I’m sorry you feel so strongly about that. I didn’t think I was being particularly negative, it’s just not my brand of comedy. If you like it, awesome. Everyone has different tastes and laugh at different things. There’s a reason I’ve been binging South Park on HBO Max for the last few weeks.
As for the tone, I don’t think I’ve been condescending. I was just explaining what kind of comedy I do like and giving examples. If you find that to be condescending well… I don’t really see what you expect me to do here. Nod my head, lie and say I enjoy something I don’t? Say that my taste is shit just because I don’t like a show? Well… no.
You’re free to disagree with me, I love discussions about this stuff and I’d love to hear what about Gintama’s comedy in particular you find so engaging. But I’d appreciate it if you held back on the swearing and attacks. I want these comments, as lightly as they are used, to be welcoming.
Dude, you’re the one throwing ad-hominems, and you actually have the audacity to talk about someone else’s tone? lol.
lenlo has been nothing but civil to you, but you’re losing it just because he doesn’t like Gintama.
This is not to say I find Demon Slayer good. I find it very mediocre with a paint-by-the-numbers shounen formula and too on-the-nose tropes and too much use of said tropes. Its animation is the only thing I rate above mediocre with its animation being excellent.
I don’t like Gintama-style humor either with the characters screaming what the gag is to me. lenlo and I both have the right not to enjoy that, and you trying to start a flame war is not welcome here.