ANIME: Kimetsu no Yaiba // Demon Slayer (2019)
Disclaimer: Spoilers of Kimetsu no Yaiba, but only after the warning. All of this is just my opinion based on my experiences reading it. I hope you enjoy!
- Studio: ufotable
- Source: Kimetsu no Yaiba (manga by Gotouge Koyoharu)
- Episodes: 26
- Genres: Action, Demons, Historical, Shounen, Supernatural
Summary: Tanjirou Kamado lives with his impoverished family on a remote mountain. As the oldest sibling, he took upon the responsibility of ensuring his family's livelihood after the death of his father. On a cold winter day, he goes down to the local village in order to sell some charcoal. As dusk falls, he is forced to spend the night in the house of a curious man who cautions him of strange creatures that roam the night: malevolent demons who crave human flesh.
When he finally makes his way home, Tanjirou's worst nightmare comes true. His entire family has been brutally slaughtered with the sole exception of his sister Nezuko, who has turned into a flesh-eating demon. Engulfed in hatred and despair, Tanjirou desperately tries to stop Nezuko from attacking other people, setting out on a journey to avenge his family and find a way to turn his beloved sister back into a human.
(From MyAnimeList)
Intro and Short Review
Of course, I had to do a review about the big hit that was Kimetsu no Yaiba back in 2019. As the continuation, Kimetsu no Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Train, is coming out soon and we're still bored in the middle of a pandemic, I believe the anime's popularity will grow again. So this is a perfect opportunity to show my love for this series, and how it wormed its way into my heart without me expecting it at all.
In terms of narrative and overall structure, KnY is nothing we haven't seen. The main character is an underdog with a tragic backstory, that is trying to achieve a somewhat impossible goal with the help of his friends, etc etc. Some might say they found it boring for that same reason, and that's ok, but for me it ended up being more than that.
The catch of Kimetsu no Yaiba is that, despite not having a completely original element or a polemic concept or whatever, it executes the basics impressively well. The story is emotional and engaging, the characters are well made, the pace is not too rushed nor to dragging, and the fantastic animation and soundtrack are the icing on the cake. And after seeing so many shounen series crash and burn along the way, trying to bite more that they can chew, watching a kinda-cliché anime with great execution is actually very satisfying.
Even the small details are very well done. From the little interactions between characters to the underlying messages and the historical setting, it's hard not to fall in love with this universe. The characters are also very captivating, and even if you think Tanjiro is just a basic protagonist or Zenitsu is just plain annoying, you will end up rooting for them each episode.
I also have to dedicate a paragraph to the animation. I will wax my poetry about it below, but honestly, it is a big part of why KnY is so good. Sometimes I get the urge to watch gorgeous animation, and I just rewatch episodes 19 and 20, and maybe the selection one. The music is a great bonus too, and I love to listen to it while studying.
So in the end, while Kimetsu no Yaiba might not be a masterpiece or a complex anime that makes you rethink about life or something, it is very enjoyable and an overall fun experience. It's great for when you want to relax and just not think too much while watching good animation.
I recommend it a lot, and will give Kimetsu no Yaiba a 9/10.
Warning! Spoilers below!
Characters
As I said above, there's nothing very new to the archetypes of the characters of Kimetsu no Yaiba. They follow basic premises and all have their little share of development, but there's not a lot past that.
Which is nothing bad, don't get me wrong. I personally think they still nailed the most important characters, and while some like the Hashira haven't really been explored until now, we'll probably see more of them in future seasons (if the anime still follow the manga, that is).
But let's talk about our main trio. I absolutely love the interactions between Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke and sometimes even Nezuko. They complement each other very well, and have such a domestic and fun dynamic. We can clearly see that, despite being basically soldiers going in suicide missions against supernatural beings, they're still teenagers in the end. So the little moments in between fights of them just travelling and resting together are so sweet!
I also love very much the relationship between Tanjiro and Nezuko. It's not everyday that you see a healthy and loving relationship between siblings in shounen anime, and to see the two of them being protective of each other is very refreshing. Nezuko of course is the cutest thing you'll see in this anime, and I want to protect her with all my might. She doesn't do much besides making cute noises and fight, but that's expected considering her current predicament. But I would love her to be more developed in the next seasons, she deserves it!
Now onto the side characters. I don't have much to say about Tamayo and Yushiro other than that they were really cool, and that I hope they appear again in the future. Urokodaki will always have a spot in my heart for treating Tanjiro and Nezuko like a father, and Sabito and Makomo broke my heart in the best way possible.
The Hashira, despite appearing so little except for Tomioka and Shinobu, are honestly so cool I like to come back to their introduction episode just to marvel their design and personalities. Every one of them is unique and so interesting, I really hope we can see more of them in the future! Ubuyashiki is also a great mystery I can't wait to unravel. Why is he ill? Why is he the leader of the demon slayers? What's the deal with the little girls he has with him? I don't know if they're his daughters but they're kinda creepy so I'm very curious.
Speaking of uniqueness, a strong point of Kimetsu no Yaiba was the character design. They really nailed everything with this one, from the physical traits to the clothes and acessories, everything was perfect. I probably will say it more than once, but I absolutely live for the haori (the traditional japanese jacket used over the uniforms) designs. They say so much about each person, and are so colorful! I specially love the contrast between the more dull and dark backgrounds and the explosion of color of the characters.
Changing our topic a bit, let's talk villains. While most of the demons encountered by Tanjiro and co. don't have a whole lot of personality besides "kill people" they all still have their griefs from when they still were human. And it's a cruel duality that we as the audience are made aware through Tanjiro's choices and beliefs: while the demons have to be killed because there is no other choice, they still have a bit of humanity left.
People do extreme things in order to survive, and the demons are no different than humans in this aspect. Even after becoming powerful creatures, they live in a cutthroat world, being controlled by each other or directly by Muzan. In the end, their deaths by the hands of the demon slayers are the only way they can truly rest, and are the atonement for their sins. Tanjiro knows this, and his gentleness towards them even after all he's suffered made me very emotional. One scene in particular that struck me was his fight against Spider Mother. The way she so desperately wanted to be free and embraced death, and Tanjiro's kindness to her, was very bittersweet.
We get some different perspectives with the main antagonist of this first season, the Lower Moon Five, Rui, but in the end he also just wants to be at peace. Still, his twisted ideas about family and love lead to the most amazing fight of the whole anime, and a great proof of Tanjiro's and Nezuko's bond.
Our overarching antagonist for the series, Muzan, is not shown that much during this first season. As I've already read the manga as well (look out for a review on that soon), I'm not worried for this lack of development, and the mysteries surrounding him are very alluring. While we don't know much about Muzan's story and goals for now, we got glimpses of his capacity here and there, and oh boy is he frightening.
(On a side note, oh my god the memes and edits comparing Muzan to Michael Jackson are amazing.)
I guess in the end the characters have a pretty strong foundation. As the anime is more focused on Tanjiro and his battles we haven't seen much development from the side characters, not even a whole lot from Inosuke and Tanjiro, but that's forgivable. We're just beginning to see the world of Kimetsu no Yaiba, so there's no need to worry about lack of depth for now.
Story and Worldbuilding
As stated previously, the narrative of Kimetsu no Yaiba is pretty simple. During the first half or so we have a "monster of the week" formula, pretty common to a lot of shounen anime, where we see Tanjiro tackle his foes one by one without a lot of overarching conflicts.
The main events are well structured and well paced, going from a domestic setting to a large-scale battle, and finishing with the promise of an adventure in a place even farther from home. Each episode has an interesting conflict, and even in the less frenetic ones we feel some kind of progress towards either a climax or Tanjiro's goal. The fight scenes and dramatic moments are intercalated with some innocent and funny episodes, that let us rest and absorb everything that's happened until now, something that a lot of animes fail to really do well. I don't remember ever feeling boring while watching this anime, that you can be sure.
The world of KnY has a nice mix between historically correct and fantasy, and even though we haven't seen that much of it yet the attention to detail is very nice. I'm by no means a specialist in japanese history and culture, but I've read a bit about the Taisho Period (from 1912 to 1926, which the anime is set in) and it was so cool to watch it animated!
First of all, we have the contrast between the big populated areas like Tokyo and the small rural villages where most of the anime takes place on. Despite the former having advanced technology at the time, most of Japan was still clinging to tradition and living in the old ways, mostly because a lot of the population was poor. This difference is accentuated in a funny way in episodes 7 and 26, where Tanjiro, who's lived his whole life in the countryside, was considerably frightened by the amount of people and advancements of the big city.
And we also see very clearly how lonely and isolated rural Japan was. There are lots of forests, empty roads, abandoned houses. The perfect place for demons to hide. With villages so small and poor, without good communication and defense, it makes perfect sense that the demons can proliferate without being considered real by many. After all, onis are very well known creatures of the japanese folklore.
The blood demon arts and the breathing styles were kinda confusing to me at first, not gonna lie. It took me a while to understand that the water dragons and lightning strikes were just representations of ways to fight with a katana, and weren't happening for real, while the blood demon arts were (with of course some visual representation as well). But still, the power balance between demons and humans makes sense. It's established early on that fighting against demons is basically a suicide mission, and that even those who can take a huge toll in their bodies. It's especially clear the difference between lowly demons and the Twelve Moons, considering that they've had centuries to get more powerful. We still haven't seen the full potential of the breathing styles, but hopefully the next seasons will dive more onto that.
I liked the details of the demon slayer equipment, going from the material of the swords to their uniform and of course, the crows for communication and directions. The mix between design choices and in-world logic was very satisfying, and calmed my ever present urge for well tought worldbuilding.
Technical Details and Final Thoughts
I'm very appreciative of beautiful things, so of course the animation of KnY captivated me. I loved the colorful haoris, the stunning movements and the sharp lineart. There's something about the style of Kimetsu no Yaiba that's just so beautiful. While I also like the original design and art of the manga, with its unique and more "cuter" style, they took everything to the next level with the anime. I'm really happy that they did such a good adaptation, and I hope the next movies and/or seasons keep up the good work.
Some people didn't like the CG of Kimetsu no Yaiba, but for me that's kind of a difficult topic. CG is very hard to do right in anime, and only recently we're seeing it blend better with the 2D. But that still is hard to achieve and costs a lot, and sometimes the more you try to make the CG unseeable the more apparent it becomes. That's why I think it was clever of the production to create kind of a style(?) for the sword techniques' effects. Of course, watching it in any resolution lower than 1080p can make it really wacky sometimes, but it's a small price to pay for in my opinion.
Speaking of sword styles, I really enjoyed their representations of real actions through symbolism. The butterflies of Shinobu's insect breathing style, for example, are a beautiful way to represent her quick incisions with her needle-like katana dripping with poison. And of course, without them we wouldn't have fight scenes so cool.
Also quick highlight to the fight against the taiko drums demon and the scene with Muzan and the infinite rooms, that shit with the rotating rooms is not easy to do in CG, and it was so satisfactory to watch!
Of course, I can't not talk about episode 19. What a masterpiece! Even almost two years after watching this scene for the first time, I still get chills every time. I haven't seen an episode so well done like this in years. The music is emotional and fits perfectly with the tone of the fight against Rui, the cuts are amazing and of course, the animation is fantastic as always.
The opening is sung by LiSA, who is also responsible for some of the most iconic anime songs ever (yes, she's the one from Sword Art Online), and while the song is obviously pretty good, the animation is very basic. It's mostly parts of the anime and static shots showcasing the most important characters, but still greatly executed. The ending song is very good too, and we get some nice extra shots of Tanjiro, Nezuko and their family.
(Yes I'm only using gifs cause honestly this anime deserves it)
So to wrap up everything, Kimetsu no Yaiba is a pretty solid anime, that despite of following the traditional shounen formula can offer a great amount of entertainment. Of course, it could be improved (as everything can) with some more interesting fights at the beginning or a little more originality in some concepts, but it's still a must watch for anyone wanting to delve into the anime fandom.
The manga is already finished and we're getting a continuation this year, so I think we can expect good things from this series.
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