Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc

I tried to be patient during the first season and the movie. Now Demon Slayer plagues me again with another season of little progression glossed over with pretty animation. Season 2 for the most part was a recycled and worse version of season 1 because it still has the same problems but made even worse. Season 2 never came close to topping the greatness of episode 19 in season 1, and the last episode was terribly disappointing. The most impressive animation scenes are the only hollow like enjoyment I could get out of this. I can't give it praise. At most it's a guilty pleasure.Giving poorly written and developed demon a flashback was a mistake. How about the author write a good villain instead of preying on the viewer's emotions and forcing them to care this way? I waited for Nezuko to grow and instead she is still mindless and lifeless from within the plot box. To make it worse, they gave her random abilities with no further explanations. Honestly, that box should have been smashed long ago during one of Tanjirou's fights. What is it made of? It can't be wood. What is Zenitsu? When are they going to explain and make sense of his odd battle abilities? He's a powerful character written with cheap and convenient restraints. When he's not asleep, he is still obnoxious and unfunny. What is this author thinking? Inosuke may have the personality of a rhino, but I can't deny his character has been the most entertaining with a great voice actor and spirit. Who is the master? Why should I care? Why should I care about anything in this series?

if this is a series where you are looking for character growth, you are in the wrong series. Even when Tanjirou was teased at being a coward I felt something because at least his character was deviating and going somewhere else from the norm. Every character failed to grow from the first season. There is nothing meaningfully new I can add about Tanjiro this time.

The fights continue to be bizarre. Now characters receiving mortal blows can shift their organs around to avoid getting killed? Explosives that can destroy upper ranks? How? Sure, the fights look nice. Still, I'd rather be moved by a compelling story with great characters rather than lifeless tropes and pretty flashing lights and CGI crows. I've explained much of my position on Demon Slayer in my past two reviews of the series, and feel no need to repeat most of those points that painfully still apply to this series.

And what was that last episode? Almost nothing happens because once again I need the ultimate sad sob story shoved in my face to care again about poorly written characters. Even the execution of this is terrible. Badly written characters being redeemed by sad sob stories every single time is some of the worst writing I have ever seen.

There are many characters still left in the dust. Shinobu got seconds of screen time once again. I can already feel how this might drag on for endless amounts of seasons. That's the weakness of Shonen anime: it drags on endlessly with mostly mediocre episodes with a hit rarely in between. They are dependent on animation rather than story and characters. The music and comedy went downhill from there also. You can say I am being harsh. Still, if you look at what has influenced me you'd see I've been given a ruler of very high standards by them. I know what I am looking for in a series and Demon Slayer failed time and time again.

Now, if you enjoy this, that's fine. I am just stating an opinion.

This series has gotten progressively worse. That's not to say it had it's moments. There were at least a few times I was entertained and shocked. Still, this painfully reminds me about the mediocrity of shonen anime.