Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc
Studio Ufotable has KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK again with the cinematic-like quality of the animation in this season of Demon Slayer, surpassing its predecessors for sure in that front. Many episodes felt like a movie. Pure enjoyment value is very high up there, but does animation and soundtrack alone erase what was the lacklustre plot? For many people, I'm sure it did, but for me, I only wish they focused on things other than the flashy fight scenes, which were the highlight of this season for sure, and some fo the best animation in the medium. My grading criteria: Story: /25 Art: /10 Music:/10 Characters: /20 Enjoyment /15 Thematic Execution /20
*Spoilers below
STORY: 12.5/25
The story begins where it left off from the Mugen Train arc, and facing the death of Rengoku, Tanjiro and his companions Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu grieve for their Hashira "mentor", but soon find themselves on another journey to the Entertainment District. Initially, when they arrive, the main characters go "undercover" into three courtesan Houses to find the Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui's three wives. Then they expose the darkness within each house and find a demon, Daki, residing in one of them. Yeah, and then for the rest of the show, everyone engages in a long fight to the end of the season.
The story started out as very promising, and I thought there'd be some mystery in finding what the darkness behind the Houses was, but it got resolved all too quickly, and became a long fight scene of a good half of the series, which is great and all, but a bit underwhelming, plot wise.
The characters that were at the start of the series, like the children in the Houses, the staff as well, don't play a role at all in the latter half of the season, which was rather disappointing as well.
Everyone knows there are plot conveniences, and a whole lot of them. Injuries have virtually no consequences, and new powers come out of nowhere. Zenitsu somehow stays asleep for most of the fighting, Inosuke can just shift his organs to prevent severe injury. There are NO STAKES, even though they advertise it to be a high stakes narrative.
ART: 10/10
PRAISE UFOTABLE! I give full credit to them for such beautiful and immersive fight scenes, with wonderful colour, angles, just a full-blown master-class of animation, and potentially the best I've seen in this medium.
MUSIC: 9.4/10
Opening and ending themes are pretty good this season as well, and their soundtrack overall was very enjoyable for me as well.
CHARACTERS: 9.5/20
That sour feeling when the villains were developed better in one episode than the protagonists got developed in the entire 11 episode run... Most of our beloved protagonists felt like stock characters compared to the first season and Mugen Train, though I'll give credit to them being funny and likeable, but that was middling to say the least.
ENJOYMENT: 13/15
At heart, I still enjoy my battle shounens, and I'll never say I didn't enjoy this show, even with all its flaws.
THEMATIC EXECUTION: 11.5/20
The battle and demonic themes were executed very well, but don't you find it the least bit annoying when they crack a joke at a serious point, like a character on the verge of death, or in the middle of a hype fight scene? That would be the thing that really took away my immersion at some points.
OVERALL: 6.59/10
With all its simplicity and accessibility, I can see why this show has become popular, it's able to satisfy many watchers, and it's not really anything niche, it's just like the superhero cinema we've grown to love, but we also don't remember a lot of the little details.
While production value was insane, and the animation was out of this world, surpassing previous seasons, the story and characterization virtually disappeared. I do hope this improves in future seasons of this series, and my final thing to say would be, enjoy the wonderful experience, but don't get too high on the flashiness!