Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

𝘋𝘦MID 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 Ha. But in all seriousness, this new season truly lives up to that title in much too many ways for such an acclaimed series. If you have criticisms, though, you're labeled as a mere elitist. "𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 is about the simplicity, not everything needs to..." or "it's just a shounen, what did you expect?" Well, what I expected was a coherent experience, which is what I recall the previous installments of 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 to have provided at the least. When season 1 came out, it was easy to ignore what many called poor writing and characters, but as time goes on, the excitement ofwatching 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 slowly gives way to disbelief, as the latest season shows you exactly what critics of the series must have been seeing from the beginning. Hype doesn't diminish poor writing, and this was clear to me every step of the way as the Entertainment District Arc was airing. Annoying and shallow characters and motivations (paired with some of the worst, most useless, and dare I say unironically cringiest dialogue I've heard from any anime in this genre), contrived and sometimes even reused plot conveniences, a bafflingly lackluster power system, irritatingly unnecessary levels of plot armor, episodes on end of nothing really happening, and good production apparently gets you a spot as one of the highest rated anime of all time.

This season was so poor, in fact, that it even made me skeptical of my previous ratings and thoughts on 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳, and some reassessment was necessary. Maybe I was wrong about what this series could achieve, especially considering some people really believe this arc to be the supposed best the manga has to offer. I'm still holding out hope for something to change next year, though. It also doesn't help that the Entertainment District Arc was airing alongside some of 𝘈𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘯 𝘛𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘯's best, and this definitely impacted how I experienced 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳's newest addition.

Currently, 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 is positioned to be the next 𝘔𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢, but even less so, with its only merit at the moment being arguably more polished and pleasing visuals. Yet with most it seems to have lived up to the hype just fine, while 𝘔𝘺 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘰 𝘈𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘢 has been a source of constant ridicule from the anime community, though actually being more ambitious than the current 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳.

At the end, the one word which summarizes the latest installment of 𝘋𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯 𝘚𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳 is this: Disappointment. I hope this will change with whatever comes next.