Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc
Once again, the only redeeming feature of this show is that ufotable is animating it, so all the fight scenes are beautifully crafted, especially the last couple of episodes. However, the flaws were glaringly more obvious after having just watched Shingeki no Kyohjin. Now, it's not as if SNK is perfect, but it at least tries to do something different for once. This show is just a rehash of every shounen trope and setting imaginable. Nothing sets it apart, whether it be the story or characters. Now, the characters are kind of funny. Zenitsu and Inosuke could have been kind of interesting characters to watch, but insteadthey're relegated to comedic relief and stuck with their one-liners and extremely predictable dialogue and personality. Especially so for Zenitsu, whose the typical character that fawns over anything female, with a "quirky" twist where he becomes cool when he's sleeping! Wow, so cool. Inosuke fares a bit better, but is limited because he's just portrayed as an aggressive, hotheaded guy that wants to become more powerful. Honestly, I have to admit that occasionally, some of the comedic scenes made me chuckle, but is butchering your main cast of characters and making them have little to no personality worth that cost?
Tanjiro is the most boring MC, with his only personality being that he is "kind," "strong," and "wants to protect his friends," for good measure. Now, I find Tanjiro to be funny because some guy defending the series on my MAL profile said that Tanjiro is unique because he "embodies Buddhist values," and that "he's extremely smart because his bio said so in the official wiki and setting." Well, if embodying Buddhist values means to be kind and protecting his friends, I gotta say, almost every other shounen protagonist fits the bill, and if being smart means having extreme plot armor, then yeah, most protagonists would also fit the bill as well. Tanjiro is said to not be that talented, yet he also is the type of guy to have "random" bursts of inspiration, it seems, considering that he's combining and blending sword techniques to OP limits, so I guess he could be smart if that's what you think what being smart entails. I also find it hilarious that in order for the author to introduce that Tanjiro has OP techniques, he had to insert a not-so-subtle exposition dump that Tanjiro's breathing technique is the progenitor and OP. I guess that makes him smart as well, for mastering such an OP, lost and forgotten technique.
There were no scenes where I thought that Tanjiro would actually die, since he's the main character, of course. How the hell is he going to die? Something is going to save him. Take the scene where he poisons the upper 6 demon and almost beheads him. Uzui, supposed Hashira and better swords practitioner than Tanjiro, also poisoned the upper 6 demon and tried to behead him, but the difference is that Tanjiro's poison lasted longer so that the demon actually got hurt, while Uzui's poison didn't even last long enough for the demon's feet to fall to the ground. Plot armor just hits different. Tanjiro just spits out supposed life threatening techniques that take a massive toll on his body like it's nothing, and even though his body is supposedly wrecked beyond repair, he gets up and fights until the demons die. Uh oh, Tanjiro manages to turn the tables because the demon goes on a rambling monologue for minutes on end for Tanjiro to recover. What a surprise! Same goes for Inosuke and Zenitsu. Both have pretty high plot armor, but since they aren't the main character, it's a bit more subdued.
Ok, but it's not just the characters that are extremely mediocre, it's the story as well. I mean come on, defeat the bad guy demons. I couldn't find a more bare bones storyline. Plus, there's absolutely no commentary on morality or whatever since demons are just considered to be 100% bad, and there's no need to think about it. These demons are baddies, humans are good guys, that's it. It's simplistic and really boring.
And all of these things are what a modern shounen should be dodged. Take Jujutsu Kaisen. Jujutsu Kaisen isn't anything special, but it is what I expect from a modern shounen. Just real quickly, the main character isn't even the focus of the story half the time, so that there actually some tension in the a lot of the battles. Plus, since there's less screen time on the main character, there's a lot more time for character development for the side characters and rest of the cast to breath and make you care about them. The show understands that breathing some life into these characters are what makes the viewer invested into the story. The enemies in the story aren't just the "evil bad demons," but something more subtle and thought-provoking, with the demons being a result of human emotions spilling over.
How does Kimetsu no Yaiba make you care about the enemies? How about we slap a sob story for absolutely every demon that is killed so you can tell that the big bad demons were living sad lives, and you should take pity on them. Oh wow, that really makes me sympathize with them!
What a train wreck of a story, if there was one. It's really just "killing the big bad boss guy." I wonder why I can't get invested.