Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Why Demon Slayer May Not Have 'Slayed' This Season
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Oggers
 Posts: 374 Location: Ontario, Canada |
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I decided to stop watching Demon Slayer after the Entertainment District Arc, and judging from what I've heard about this latest arc, I'm glad I did. The anime is certainly very nice to look at, but the more I looked past its nice visuals, the less enthusiastic I felt about pretty much everything else it has to offer. I haven't read the original manga, but if the anime is responsible for taking a (comparatively) short, straightforward shonen battle story and trying to make it into this epic masterpiece by dragging it out as much as possible, then it makes sense why I haven't been able to engage with it as much after its first season (though I think part of it is also because I just can't get into hugely popular Shonen Jump series anymore like I did when I was younger).
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PumpkinMouse
 Posts: 82 |
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This season in particular has been such a love-hate relationship for me.
On the one hand, the fights are so much clearer, and I definitely feel like Nezuko gets more screen time here compared to both the manga and the previous seasons, so I appreciate that. And Kanroji’s backstory was a breath of fresh air compared to pretty much everyone going “All (or almost all) of my family was murdered by demons and now I want revenge”. Like, I sympathize, but I also want some variety! On the other hand, it dragged out Muichiro’s fight and flashback way longer than it needed to (though admittedly Muichiro’s backstory was always my least favorite among the protagonists). Also, the visual clarity applied to the manga’s sometimes vaguely-defined fight scenes was missing from non-action scenes, like Genya’s for-audience-benefit explanation of how the latest incarnation in Hantengu’s fight was formed, which even in the manga felt like it could’ve been shortened with less internal monologue. Ditto on Tanjiro constantly reminding the audience that Nezuko can burn demons with her blood. I really enjoyed this arc in the manga, partly because of Kanroji and the arc’s breezy pacing compared to the previous arcs, and definitely because of the potential I saw in a plot beat that’ll come up in the final episode for this season spoiler[before it got squandered], but all of the stretching of a thin source material’s pacing has really tried my patience for this arc. I suspect it’ll feel much better binged, but it’s a shame it’s turned out like this. I think I would have much preferred that this arc have been handled differently—maybe as an OVA—to allow for a more brisk pacing while still telling the whole arc’s story and showcasing all the bombastic action scenes. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5499 Location: Iscandar |
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For me it has been the other way around. Aside from the first 5 episodes of season 1, I have never been a fan of Demon Slayer. But I am actually enjoying the current season.
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TheSleepyMonkey
Posts: 952 |
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This arc would've been infinitely more enjoyable if Kanroji was the big highlight throughout, instead of tossing her to the sideline and making someone as laughably bland as Tokito the main focus for 90% of the season.
I do think Zenitsu and Inosuke not being here at all actually hurt it a lot, because when you have such a basic protagonist as Tanjiro, someone like Nezuko who is pretty much more of a plot device than an actual character, Genya who just feels thrown in there, and a Hashira who doesn't have even a quarter of the charisma and presence of Rengoku and Uzui, it really just makes the repetitive nature of the series sting that much. Oh, and I have nothing much to say about Gyokko and Hantengu. Kohsuke Toriumi is one of my favorite seiyuus, so it's a shame his talent is wasted on such a lame antagonist. |
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whiskeyii
 Posts: 2266 |
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Anime-only viewer here! I binged all the way up to episode eight or so, and yeah, this season has been painful in a way that the Entertainment District Arc was not, somehow. It does work better binged, btw, but not by much, because it actually highlights how little happens each episode, and I just ended up grateful for not needing to wait each week. ^^; Also, Muichiro was a TERRIBLE character to hang an arc on when Kanroji is just way more fun. Heck, I think Genya shot up into my “I like this dude” list purely by virtue of having a short flashback.
If anything, I think Demon Slayer is made worse by comparing it to its peers like MHA, which lets sooo much happen across multiple episodes that Demon Slayer just feels like a slog by comparison, and for seemingly no good reason since Demon Slayer is already completed. |
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nargun
Posts: 930 |
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Tanjiro shouldn't even be in this arc, or most of the proceeding honestly. St's an anthology series with each arc telling the story of a different member of the squad; tanjiro is purely an observer, and a confident editor and creator would have cut him out and let the stories they were actually telling stand by themselves.
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WizardOfOss
 Posts: 89 Location: Oss, Netherlands |
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Never read the manga, but I quite liked the first season. It wasn't perfect, but a decent straightforward shonen story combined with the Ufotable treatment made for a very solid 8.
But I think things already very much crumbled with the movie. First it stretched a story that would at best be two (rather mediocre) episodes quite a bit beyond that, and when the big villain was defeated....o wait, here's another one! I honestly think the extra episode they added for TV was more interesting than the movie itself. And then the Entertainment District Arc. Which started mostly ridiculous, and humor has never been the strongest point of this series. But at least, after a few episodes things kicked into high gear, and for a moment I really enjoyed the series again. But then that dragged on waaaay too long indeed. It should have been great but felt mostly just annoying. So going in to this season, I wasn't so sure if I should keep watching. And the double length first episode was probably the final nail in the coffin. I have tried to watch it, but it felt like a chore and I just couldn't be bothered. And reading all this, I'm kinda glad. There's too much good new anime this season to keep watching something that long overstayed its welcome. Last edited by WizardOfOss on Fri Jun 16, 2023 9:38 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Cryten
 Posts: 1128 |
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I have enjoyed myself, but the gimmicks are too gimmicky for me to feel fully comfortable these days. Especially Tanjiro's latest power up, that felt so half arsed that they would bring up ancestor memories just before it and then make it into a new body changing transformation. My writing sense just rejects it.
Oh and I am very tired of every boss since season 1 having multiple fake out deaths. How can I have any belief in the story telling when a climax is making me look at the episode count to judge if it is real. But I can let myself have fun with it still despite these gimmicks being tiresome. I do wish the females would have actual time to be people though. |
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Araki
Posts: 395 |
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This season has been awful. Maybe it's because the enemies are so bland, but truth is, it's totally failing to convey any sense of danger or tension, unlike the major battles from the movie and the past arc, even though 70% of the former was boring. Also the two Hashira involved are a huge yawn, and that's a big issue. I find even Genya has a more interesting backstory. Bring Tengen back, please.
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L0ken
Posts: 81 |
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My experience of Kimetsu was first watching the the first season, then read the manga ( that I surprisingly liked a lot ) and obviously both movie and anime season. As much as I appreciate anime adaptation it has it's weakness like pacing stretching, comedy timing being quite off, sometimes going too extra on things, but all of this issue unfortunately is amplified in this arc, that is less fit in the anime format they are doing. Gyokko and Hatengu were deliberately designed as more of "filler demons" compared to other Uppers, so the fun should be on fighting their gimmicks and fleshing out human characters this time. I actually like Tokito quite a lot, especially for his role in the final arc, but spoiler[ they made his flashbacks way too stretchy with combined with opponent makes it a quite tedious to watch.] Genya best moments also come in last arc, but he is still handled better as well as Kanroji who doesn't overstay her welcome.
Still I mainly excited for final arc and hope they give it better treatment, plus put more effort into pacing. |
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