Tag: Spring 2023

Welcome all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week sees yet another twist to the combat, as well as a bit more backstory for Tokito. A good bit worth talking about this week, so lets dive in!

So, starting off with my overall impressions of the episode… It was kind of mid. There was nothing particularly noteworthy about the episode, nothing that stood out. At least not in a positive way that is. Rather, I’m kind of getting tired of the constant “twists” in the conflict. Part of this is probably due to the Upper Five fight really not doing anything yet, leaving the Upper Four to stand on it’s own. But even that doesn’t seem right, as by this point the Upper Six fight with Daki and Gyutaro was still going strong. Part of this was the presentation, last season was just overall more visually engaging. But I also think it has to do with the villains themselves not being near as interesting. As squandered as Daki and Gyutaro were, they still had something going for them. These two? Not so much.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 7 [Awful Villain]” →

Welcome all, to what I believe to be the half-way point for this season of Kimetsu no Yaiba! You know what to expect at this point, so lets cut the chatter and just dive right into it.

The main thing I want to talk about this week is flashbacks. On their own, flashbacks are fine. Not everything can happen in the now, especially not if it’s part of a characters backstory. So they aren’t intrinsically problematic. The issue though is how Yaiba uses, which is usually mid-fight. Again, this isn’t an automatic deal breaker. Stuff like the Hinokami Kagura flashback back in season 1 was fine. But if that was the high end for Yaiba’s flashbacks, then this week was the low end. Coming between all of the action, a sort of “Life flashing before your eyes” thing, it felt really out of place. Like a complete tone shift. I’m not even talking about the details yet, just it’s placement in the episode felt… rough. Yaiba really needs a new way to exposit, or to better set these this up before hand, because this wasn’t good.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 6 [Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?]” →

Welcome all, to another episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week is same as last week, as well as the week before: Combat! Lots… of combat. Some of it is good! Other bits not so much. What do I mean? Well lets dive into the episode and find out!

So the cool action. It exists! Unsurprisingly, Yaiba has a couple of pretty fun action sequences. There’s a combo move, Kanroji shows up and kills some demons, it’s a good time. Yet for some reason… I can’t help but feel like there’s less hype, less “Wow” factor, then Season 2. And I think it boils down to the location. The entertainment district was bright and colorful. It lent a sense of spectacle and hype to an already bright and colorful action sequence. Season 3 however takes place in a forest. A dark, ominous forest, with a sense of foreboding and danger. Yeah the atmosphere is more tense then Season 2, that’s true. But Yaiba isn’t a series that uses tense very well I feel. It’s a battle shounen, we aren’t going to be afraid. And it’s this difference in location that I think makes the action feel… not as fun?

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 5 [Bright Red Sword]” →

Welcome back all, to another week of Kimetsu no Yaiba! This week continues the fight, shows us just how large the power gap is, and tries to give us a ray of hope in Kanroji. Does it succeed? Let’s dive in and find out!

Starting off I want to give some credit where credit is due: The fish demon things actually don’t look to bad. Their models, and how they were composited into the scenes, was a bit rough at times sure. But the way they moved was actually really nice! I loved how the flopped around on screen, scrambling up walls and generally acting like uncoordinated fish. After the weirdness that was the Tentacle Train from the movie, I was worried that Yaiba would double down on that same sort of process. But it looks like Ufotable has genuinely learned and improved from their past works, and that’s pretty cool. It won’t be able to replace any of the real sword-based action, sure. But it makes me a bit less apprehensive about some of the CGI shots we saw in the OP and other marketing.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 4 [Thank You, Tokito]” →

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.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 3 [A Sword from Over 300 Years Ago]” →

Welcome back everyone, not only to a new season but to another season of Kimetsu no Yaiba! I was a bit harsh on the previous season, rightfully so I feel. While generally well produced, it felt like the season missed the mark emotionally. So the question going into this season is: Can it avoid the same? Lets dive in and find out!

After that spectacle of a pilot, Yaiba has decided to drastically slow things down. And you know what? That’s probably a good thing. As was said in the discord, the previous arc suffered from severe blueballing. It constantly set us up for some kind of emotional payoff, only to continue the fight again and again and again. This season seems to be trying to avoid that, setting up not only multiple fights with multiple Hashira but also investing us in the characters early. For instance this week we meet Kotetsu, a young Swordsmith child desperate to protect his families legacy. We learn about his home, what he holds dear, all that jazz. Nothing has really happened with it yet, mostly just pushing Tanjiro to train more. But that’s fine! If Yaiba wants to take it’s time with this stuff, I’m happy to let it. Just give me that payoff later.

Continue reading “Kimetsu no Yaiba S3 – 2 [Yoriichi Type Zero]” →