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TheWonderOfYou
Joined: 30 Jan 2021
Posts: 33
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:28 am
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NeverConvex wrote: |
I mean -- she could develop the ability to use words in fits and starts, showing her struggle with sentience and being a 'moral demon'? I don't think it's all that hard to imagine writing her as a character with a bit more depth. |
Let's say she learns to speak during a battle. Why would that mean her character "developed"? She could express herself more for sure, it could be entertaining, but would her core character traits change, improve? I don't think so.
So the argument between the lines feels like the real issue is Nezuko taken out of the battle, not that her character didn't develop. Even though she already did wonders and she only didn't help a single bit during two boss battles so far, one which was the Final Selection.
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Hal14
Joined: 01 Apr 2018
Posts: 708
Location: Heart of africa
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:40 am
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TheWonderOfYou wrote: |
NeverConvex wrote: |
I mean -- she could develop the ability to use words in fits and starts, showing her struggle with sentience and being a 'moral demon'? I don't think it's all that hard to imagine writing her as a character with a bit more depth. |
Let's say she learns to speak during a battle. Why would that mean her character "developed"? |
Yes. A character learning to do something they couldn't before, or regaining that ability, can be a form of development. In Nezuko's case, the bar is set that low. And the idea that her being able to express herself would only have entertainment value is part of the complaint that the series treats her like a pet. Look at series like Pokemon and Digimon. The ability to talk in the latter series is one of the ways a digimon can come across as more like a character than a pet or wild animal. That said, even pokemon express themselves more than Nezuko, and are allowed out of their containers for reasons other than battling.
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NeverConvex
Subscriber
Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2485
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 9:42 am
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TheWonderOfYou wrote: | Let's say she learns to speak during a battle. Why would that mean her character "developed"? She could express herself more for sure, it could be entertaining, but would her core character traits change, improve? I don't think so. |
I'm more interested in her speaking generally, but she could speak during battles too, I guess. It could give a clearer view into what she is or isn't struggling with, and into how she views other characters and developments -- you know, the sorts of things characters speaking are usually used for.
Maybe she could also yell a lot. Kimetsu does like characters who yell a lot.
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James_Beckett
ANN Reviewer
Joined: 23 Nov 2015
Posts: 283
Location: USA
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:10 pm
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Gina Szanboti wrote: |
tintor2 wrote: | So I'm not sure if Gotoge is trying to expand something about the dead characters and finally explain why is it that Muzan didn't kill Nezuko. |
I've always been under the impression that he wanted her to kill Tanjiro and eliminate the threat he posed (the same threat his father did). He keeps sending others to do the job as if he's afraid to face him, though it seems he could easily kill him at this or earlier stages of his growth. And having his sister do the job would appeal to his sense of macabre irony. Now he's just frustrated that she's not functioning as planned and all his minions keep failing too.
"...he threatens Uzui with an imminent disembarking..." He did what now? |
That ought to have been "disemboweling" - sometimes Google likes to play havoc with autocorrect when I transfer these reviews over from their original documents. Should be fixed now; thanks.
Also, for anyone that insists on thinking that I don't like the show, I am begging you to go back and reread the reviews in full. I haven't given any episode of the Entertainment District Arc lower than a 3/5 (which is a positive score), and last week got a 4.5/5. Just because I have criticisms of Demon Slayer doesn't mean I "hate" it. It's a good show; I've been saying that for years, now. It's just got a lot of recurring issues that I'm going to address in my reviews because, y'know, it's my job.
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CrowLia
Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:24 pm
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TheWonderOfYou wrote: |
NeverConvex wrote: |
I mean -- she could develop the ability to use words in fits and starts, showing her struggle with sentience and being a 'moral demon'? I don't think it's all that hard to imagine writing her as a character with a bit more depth. |
Let's say she learns to speak during a battle. Why would that mean her character "developed"? She could express herself more for sure, it could be entertaining, but would her core character traits change, improve? I don't think so.
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I mean. Maybe if she spoke she could, i dunno, interact with other characters in meaningful ways, express her thoughts and feelings and give depth to her struggle against her demon urges versus her existence being a vehicle for Tanjiro's suffering. If she was able to think there could be an internal struggle of wanting to become human but also wanting her demon powers to get stronger so she can help her brother, and that could cause real human tension between the siblings and lead to changes in their relationship, instead of Tanjiro having to shove her into a box every time.
Nezuko is the main female character and supposedly one of the "main four"; episode 1 had her and Tanjiro tag-team to fight back against Giyu, is it really that strange that people expected this dynamic to continue instead of Nezuko only being let out of the box when Tanjiro is unconscious? That we expected her to be treated like an actual human being and not a cute little puppy that gets angry when its owner is in danger and cries because it wants headpats?
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KarlFranz
Joined: 17 Jun 2019
Posts: 184
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 1:46 pm
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CrowLia wrote: |
TheWonderOfYou wrote: |
NeverConvex wrote: |
I mean -- she could develop the ability to use words in fits and starts, showing her struggle with sentience and being a 'moral demon'? I don't think it's all that hard to imagine writing her as a character with a bit more depth. |
Let's say she learns to speak during a battle. Why would that mean her character "developed"? She could express herself more for sure, it could be entertaining, but would her core character traits change, improve? I don't think so.
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I mean. Maybe if she spoke she could, i dunno, interact with other characters in meaningful ways, express her thoughts and feelings and give depth to her struggle against her demon urges versus her existence being a vehicle for Tanjiro's suffering. If she was able to think there could be an internal struggle of wanting to become human but also wanting her demon powers to get stronger so she can help her brother, and that could cause real human tension between the siblings and lead to changes in their relationship, instead of Tanjiro having to shove her into a box every time.
Nezuko is the main female character and supposedly one of the "main four"; episode 1 had her and Tanjiro tag-team to fight back against Giyu, is it really that strange that people expected this dynamic to continue instead of Nezuko only being let out of the box when Tanjiro is unconscious? That we expected her to be treated like an actual human being and not a cute little puppy that gets angry when its owner is in danger and cries because it wants headpats? |
The problem is that that is the version of the story you want to read, not the story that the series is trying to tell. A major theme is that been a demon is a curse, not a blessing. If the story don't give been a demon any drawback, it make the goal of turning Nezuko back less important. Nezuko having a mentality of a child is the draw back here since you can't make her actually eat people which is the main moral objection to been a demon. The story isn't about balancing between Nezuko demonic nature and her human side, it's about keep her away from the demon side as far as possible. Also I don't get why it's hard for people to understand that Tanjirou and most of the cast don't want Nezuko to fight since fighting mean putting her closer to her demon side. Also Nezuko herself don't need words to express herself, she mostly does that through her actions, like it this episode where she expressed that she can't control her demon side yet. In fact Nezuko regain her ability to talk is a major plot point later on.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1440
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:13 pm
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KarlFranz wrote: | A major theme is that been a demon is a curse, not a blessing. If the story don't give been a demon any drawback, it make the goal of turning Nezuko back less important. Nezuko having a mentality of a child is the draw back here since you can't make her actually eat people which is the main moral objection to been a demon |
Sure, but there are a million ways to write in a "drawback" to her using her demonic powers that doesn't involve taking away her narrative agency and making her little more than a prop in Tanjiro's quest.
Off the top of my head, instead of Nezuko starting out as a feral toddler, you could have her be mostly her usual self at the beginning, who is sometimes overtaken by a desire to eat people, but is mostly able to contain it. Then, as she utilizes her demon powers to help Tanjiro in battle, the thirst for humans gets more pronounced, as she's forced to rely more and more on her "demon side" to keep herself and her brother alive.
Then you still have an urgency for curing her - the longer she's a demon and the more she fights, the more inhuman she becomes, resorting to the kind of anger- and instinct-driven fighting we see here. And as that happens she gets less coherent/human when she interacts with the other characters, and we see how much this hurts her and Tanjiro. That also give Tanjiro an even more personal reason to get stronger - not just to defeat the Upper Moons, but to be able to fight on his own so he doesn't risk Nezuko losing more of her humanity.
Obviously this is something that would have to have been written in at the start of the series, but it's a scenario that puts a more immediate reason to why they'd want to keep Nezuko out of a fight, make any fight she's a part of more tense since it raises the stakes of the ongoing story, and most importantly would let Nezuko express herself and build relationships with the rest of the cast. All while preserving a drawback to keep her from just being all-powerful.
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Shenl742
Joined: 11 Feb 2010
Posts: 1524
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 2:46 pm
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There's tons of ways you can express Nezuko having an ongoing internal struggle to regain her humanity, which the series just doesn't bother to go for.
And I think dynamic between Tanjiro and Nezuko is also really damaged by all the things being discussed.
Because Tanjiro wants to see Nezuko as a human, but doesn't really put a lot of trust in her humanity. And that could be an ongoing thing! Make Nezuko gradually develope as a character and Tanjiro has to learn to have faith in her ability to do the right thing.
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CrowLia
Joined: 24 Feb 2012
Posts: 5528
Location: Mexico
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Posted: Wed Jan 19, 2022 4:00 pm
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KarlFranz wrote: |
The problem is that that is the version of the story you want to read, not the story that the series is trying to tell. A major theme is that been a demon is a curse, not a blessing. If the story don't give been a demon any drawback, it make the goal of turning Nezuko back less important. |
One could argue that being unable to stand under the sun is already quite a drawback, but as Lossthief and Shenl742 there were many ways to write the story that would keep the goal and urgency of rescuing Nezuko without taking away her agency as a person, which in turn would almost certainly improve the overall quality of the story because it would impact all characters and their relationships to each other
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Zagnaphein
Joined: 29 Sep 2014
Posts: 86
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:54 am
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Does the reviewer dislike the show? Did that person actually wanted to review it? If not please Next season whenever it comes put someone else or even for the last few episodes..It's a pain to read such an insulting review from a person who clearly has no idea what a character motivation is and how this character progression happens.
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Oggers
Joined: 29 Nov 2017
Posts: 373
Location: Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:12 am
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Zagnaphein wrote: | Does the reviewer dislike the show? Did that person actually wanted to review it? If not please Next season whenever it comes put someone else or even for the last few episodes..It's a pain to read such an insulting review from a person who clearly has no idea what a character motivation is and how this character progression happens. |
The reviewer has said in this week's review that he does like the show, and at numerous other points as well. But you can still like something while also being critical of it. I personally do like the series, but I've come to accept that when you look past the excellent visuals and animation, it's still a pretty standard Shonen Jump story.
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LuffyTDS
Joined: 21 Nov 2015
Posts: 18
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:12 am
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Zagnaphein wrote: | Does the reviewer dislike the show? Did that person actually wanted to review it? If not please Next season whenever it comes put someone else or even for the last few episodes..It's a pain to read such an insulting review from a person who clearly has no idea what a character motivation is and how this character progression happens. |
Well he literally clarified in today's review that he likes it, so there ya go. I thought he worded it well enough so that there wouldn't be any more comments like this, and yet here we are. It may be helpful if you attempted to argue specifics of any kind. What was insulting? What did he misunderstand?
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Everlasting Coconut
Joined: 22 Jul 2019
Posts: 315
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:56 am
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Demon Slayer is not very good at fleshing out its characters. Tengen's inner monologue narrating his tragic life story in under a minute felt so quick and contrived it's kinda hard to sympathize with the guy. I still like him cause he's fun, and I love me some good ol' dual sword wielding, but that's about it.
The show's still entertaining though. The characters are colourful and the fights are cool. I also really like Gyuutaro's VA.
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tintor2
Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 2068
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 1:17 pm
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Uzui has one of the dumbest tragic stories. He is basically:
"I have nothing. I had my dangerous relatives killed. Became one of the strongest Hashiras ever. Was accepted by a lot of people including the leader and married three ridiculously hot chicks who barely wear clothes. I have nothing"
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MF65
Joined: 14 Dec 2017
Posts: 91
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Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 2:00 pm
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Zagnaphein wrote: | Does the reviewer dislike the show? Did that person actually wanted to review it? If not please Next season whenever it comes put someone else or even for the last few episodes..It's a pain to read such an insulting review from a person who clearly has no idea what a character motivation is and how this character progression happens. |
OMG!!!!! BESTEST SHOW EVERRRRRRRRRRR! 100 STARS OUT OF 5!!!!!!!!! OMG OMG OMG! DID YOU SEE THAT FIGHT? THE ANIMATION... OMG! TANJIRO IS THE GOODEST BOY AND THE BEST PROTAGONIST TO EVER BE THE MAIN CHARACTER IN THE HISTORY OF ANIME!!!!! UZUI IS SOOOO STRONG! HIS WIVES ARE SO IMPORTANT! LOOK AT NEZUKO LOOKING SO CUTE IN HER BOX! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT SHE DOES NEXT! ZENITSU IS SO KEWL! AND INOSUKE IS THE FUNNIEST LOLOLOLOLOLOL AND WHO CAN FORGET ABOUT RENGOKU? BEST WRITTEN AND DEVELOPED SECONDARY CHARACTER EVER. PERIOD. NO ONE ELSE CAN EVEN HOLD A CANDLE TO HIM!!!!! HAS THIS BEEN WRITTEN BY ANGELS? CAN'T BELIEVE A SINGLE HUMAN BEING WAS ABLE TO WRITE THIS WORK OF ART!!!! EVERYTHING IS SOOOO PERFECT! GIVE IT ALL THE AWARDS! NOTHING WILL EVER COMPARE TO KIMETSU NO YAIBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOOOODDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEE!
Apparently, anything less than this isn't good enough. I'm not a reviewer for ANN, but I hope I was able to match your feelings
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