C&C - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - "New Mission" [SEASON FINALE] [5/2]

Space Cadet

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To be continued in "Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train"!

...Which of course Toonami won't be able to air because it's a movie. *grumble grumble*

Maybe they'll pull a Tree of Might and split it into episodes.
 

Yojimbo

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Whoa, that was brutal. He just culled nearly half of his Kizuki for not improving. The biwa demon reminded me of that one with the drums, teleporting all around the mansion but with greater mastery.

Oh, that jerk from final selection.

Tanjiro sure is pure all right, heh.

lmao, the girls told Zenitsu to be more considerate and respectful towards women.

Ha ha, Zenitsu's "stop embarrassing us!" was the best. Makes sense Zenitsu might have been the only one to know about trains since Tanjiro and Inosuke grew up kinda remotely. And there's the caveat from Zenitsu, the government doesn't officially recognize the Demon Slayers.

Welp. Do I wait until probably next year for the English dub of Mugen Train or do I start reading the manga?

Muzan had a sex change? What does his wife think of this?
It's whatever it wants to be.

PRN3pDr.gif
 

Light Lucario

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I thought that this episode was pretty good. I wasn't expecting Muzan to be that brutal and kill off nearly half of his Kizuki. It fits with his characterization, but it was just so intense and gory. I didn't expect one of the demons to survive, but it leads into the setup for the next arc, or I guess in this case the movie. I'm also not sure if killing off almost all of the lower half of the Kizuki is a quick way to reduce the number of fights Tanjiro has to win or if is a quick way to increase the tension since he'll have to deal with the upper ranks sooner rather than later. It might be a bit of both since Tanjiro's training might have made it easier to defeat the lower rank Kizuki.

I wasn't expecting them to run into that other Demon Slayer from the Final Selection. I guess he'll have a role down the line since they bothered to give him a new muscular design. It was pretty nice how Tanjiro was understanding and reassuring with Aoi. Given how intense and brutal Final Selection was, choosing to not go into battle was understandable and she is still able to use her skills to help other Demon Slayers too. Tanjiro's interaction with Kanao was also quite sweet. She finally decided to talk to him, but he wanted to help her decide for herself by flipping the coin. It was by luck that it landed up on head the first time, but it was pretty sweet how Tanjiro was willing to try multiple times until he got heads. It might be a sudden change to how Kanao has lived for the past few years, but being able to decide more for herself will hopefully help her to be a happier person. It might also help her to emotionally recover more from her traumatic childhood, so it will be interesting to see if she has changed by the next time she meets Tanjiro again.

Those girls telling Zenitsu to be more considerate and respectful towards women was so darn satisfying. I don't think it's going to change anything when he is the comedy relief of the group, but it was still so amazing to see Zenitsu called out for that behavior. Inosuke thinking that the train was a monster and then Tanjiro thinking it was the guardian spirit of this land were pretty funny moments. It also makes sense considering that they were raised pretty far away from any major cities. Honestly, I completely forgot that there were more modern technology or police officers in this universe. They've been in remote forest areas for a long time and even then, they've barely showed any large scale cities. The idea that Nezuko would be safe at Headquarters was a bit strange. She wouldn't have to fight other demons, but it would also be easier for other Demon Slayers to kill her. They probably wouldn't when their master deemed that Nezuko wasn't a threat to humans, but there would still be a chance for that to happen.

Overall, it was a pretty good season finale. It gave most of the characters a nice sendoff while also setting up for the movie. As for the series itself, it was pretty good. Initially, I thought that there was more style than substance to Demon Slayer, but I don't think that's particularly accurate. I think it's more of a case where the style stands out more than the substance. There has been a lot of praise for the visuals of this series and for good reason. The animation during the fight scenes have been consistently good and quite impressive. But I don't think that's the best aspect of the series. I think its strongest aspect is the message of sympathy and compassion. Despite losing nearly his entire family, Tanjiro pretty much always has some sympathy and compassion for these demons as they're dying. They regain some semblance of their humanity in their last moments. They're still monsters who need to be killed to save innocent people, but they're also victims at the same time. It's possible that most of the demons that Tanjiro kill are able to find more peace in their deaths than it is typical for other demons as a result. That sense of compassion towards his enemies really helps to give the fights more emotional weight and makes Tanjiro more of a compelling lead than if he did treat demons as just monsters. I'm still worried that they'll go the whole let's befriend demon route and forget that they are ultimately monsters, but it's still the strongest aspect of the series for me.

While I do generally like the series, I also think that the hype factor backfired on it quite a bit. Demon Slayer is just firmly on "good, but not that good" level for me. It wasn't just the new popular series of the season at the time. It was hailed as a new classic or masterpiece practically. Outside of maybe the visuals, I don't really see it. It's just not that off the scales amazing to me. It also doesn't help there are only a few characters that I like. Tanjiro is a good likable lead, Shinobu is pretty cool and maybe Inosuke works for me, but that's about it. Outside of Zenitsu, I don't hate the other characters, but I don't feel that much attachment to them either. Nezuko is one of those characters that I wish I liked more than I actually do. She was a bit more active with the fights at first, but even then, she was often outmatched by the other more experienced demons. I didn't want Nezuko to just be an action girl, but I kind of wish that they could do more with her. They are limited in a sense given that she can't talk and they tried to back peddle on the whole hypnosis spell to give Nezuko more agency like she she chose to not attack that other Demon Slayer, but I do wish that she had more to do, especially when she is pretty much the only prominent female character in the main cast at this point. This might have been a bit less of a problem if both Tanjiro and Nezuko had been able to defeat Rui together. It still might have felt too convenient, but there would have been good emotional weight to the victory. The bond of love and trust that Tanjiro has with Nezuko and his family overpowering the bond of fear and abuse was terrific on a thematic level. Instead, they throw it all out the window just to hype up Tomioka's strength. That was easily one of the worst decisions in the show and it kind of made me question more as to why episode nineteen is put on such a high pedestal. It is arguably the most visually impressive fight scene in the series, but it ultimately didn't mean anything. The bond between Tanjiro and Nezuko wasn't strong enough to kill Rui, so Tanjiro screaming that their bond can't be broken during that scene feels more hallow than it honestly should have been.

I've already said how much I loathe Zenitsu in other threads and I still stand by that. This show is overrated with or without him, but he does significantly drop it down for me even more. It's almost impressive considering it's usually multiple characters that bring down a show for me as opposed to just one. I'm mostly indifferent towards the other characters, especially when most of the Hashira felt too one-note to me, but there is some promise with Kanao. I assume that she'll play a bigger role later given her backstory and Tanjiro wanting her to listen to the voice in her heart instead of using that coin, so that could be neat. While I still maintain that this series is overrated, I also don't think it's the most overrated series Toonami has aired. I'm still able to enjoy most episodes and I generally find it engaging, which is more than I can say for other shows Toonami has picked up. Demon Slayer doesn't live up to the hype for me, but to be fair, it's pretty rare when that happens for me anyway. Plus, it isn't a bad show just because I think the hype factor backfired on it. It's still pretty good as opposed to being a new masterpiece. I don't know when the movie will be dubbed and it might even be delayed in theaters in Japan, but I'll probably watch it whenever it's available. I'm sure that a proper season two is inevitable, especially when I believe that the manga is almost done, but that will probably be longer to come out too. Still, I'll probably check that out as well.
 

TheVileOne

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For better or worse the writers did ease out of the season. It was a slow cool down walk to the finish line rather than a bang.

Unfortunately, we have no idea when we're getting a second season. Considering the movie won't even be out in Japan until later this year, we won't be getting a second season until 2021 at the EARLIEST.
 

Yojimbo

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And if anyone else was curious, this episode leaves off part way into chapter 54 (collected in Volume 7) of the manga and the Mugen Train arc concludes in chapter 69 (collected in Volume 8).

It also looks like the current tankobon collection is Volume 20. I think up to Volume 11 has been released in English.

The latest chapter in Japan is 203.
 

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