One thing about Kimetsu no Yaiba – it’s not sparing any expense when it comes to cast. The use of mega-famous seiyuu for bit parts is one sign (though not an infallible one) of a huge budget of course, but it also makes it a lot harder to figure out who’s going to die soon. Main character armor? Yeah, OK – pretty safe to bet on Tanjirou going the distance. But when even monster-of-the-week types get voices like Kimura Ryouhei, pretty much everybody else should probably avoid buying green bananas.
I’m starting to get what folks like Togashi see in this series, at least a little. While I have no doubt that ufotable has improved on the source material, there’s a bit more to Kimetsu than the by-the-numbers shounen template it appears to be. Situations, characters. details – they’re not revolutionary or anything, but just a little more than “good enough” – a bit of distinctiveness goes a long way in turning the mediocre into the very good, which is about where I’d place this series. And the move to Tokyo has been good for it, at least so far.
I continue to have a lot of questions – one of which is, is Kibutsuji Muzan responsible for turning every demon (well – except one) in Japan, as is implied this week? One thing we can assume is that Kibutsuji’s motive for turning the poor fellow we met last week was to distract Tanjirou and give himself a chance to slip away, and it was certainly effective. Tanjirou, as you would expect, chooses the lives of the gawkers (and the new demon himself) over his revenge, and is forced to send only threats after the departing Kibutsuji and his family.
Still, things would have turned out badly if not for the timely arrival of Tamayo (Sakamoto Maaya, apparently in everything worth watching this season) and Yushiro (Yamashita Daiki, stretching effectively here). Tamayo has an ability called “enchanting blood” which (quite spectacularly) allows her to spirit away both the demon and his victim-wife. This allows Tanjirou to return to his sister and a very irritated udon-peddler, and eventually Yushiro comes to collect him to go to the “cloaked” location where Tamayo has taken the couple.
Here’s where things get a bit fuzzy for me. Tamayo is a youkai and a doctor, and says she was the one who turned Yushiro into a demon. She says he’s the only one she’s turned in 200 years, but later talks about how she “only turns those who are terminally ill or injured”, and asks their permission first”. These two statements seem contradictory to me, but perhaps they’ll be reconciled at some point. For whatever reason Tamayo is fully coherent and sympathetic to humans, and she explains that she and Yushiro are able to survive on blood she collects ostensibly for transfusions. She also asks Tanjirou to allow her to experiment on Nezuko’s blood, and to collect blood from those “close to” Kibutsuji – in the hope of finding a way to change the youkai he’s turned back into people.
Meanwhile, Kibutsuji continues to be a pretty fascinating antagonist prospect. Why is he keeping up the charade with he wife and daughter (who must be under some kind of hypnosis not to realize the truth)? His chance encounter with a trio of drunks in an alley is interesting too – he’s prepared to walk away with an insincere apology after one bumps into him, but a little pushing is enough to see him off the three of them. Eventually he sends his two henchdemons (Fukuyama Jun and Komatsu Mikako – remember, green bananas) to bring back Tanjirou’s head, and they seem to have no trouble locating Tamayo’s hideout.
The whole thing with Tamayo did seem too cozy and too convenient for Tanjirou to last, but they got an awful lot of development (including Yushiro’s obvious crush on her) to see them offed this quickly, one would think. One thing we can say for sure is that Kibutsuji has a personal stake here – it seems Tanjirou’s father (or at least ancestor) bested him at some point in the past. The pieces are in place for an interesting long-term grudge match between Tanjirou and Muzan, but they seem like the only truly essential parts of the story at least so far – everything else is theoretically expendable.
leongsh
May 26, 2019 at 11:34 amIt’s likely Tanjirou’s ancestor. The question is if Tanjirou’s ancestor bested Muzan, how did he survive that encounter? There are still a few questions that need answering even up until where the manga has reached.
animealex
May 26, 2019 at 3:35 pmHm, with Kibutsuji Muzan I got the feeling, that it was the comments about his unhealthy look, which pushed him over the edge to commit another atrocit, not the physical touch. So, vanity or fear of death? If it’s vanity, it might explain why he keeps a family around. I rewatched his scene twice, because it was so intense and horrible (that poor woman!). The voice acting sent chills down my spine (“wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong”). It’s always good, when the antagonist is both frightening and interesting nuanced.
The fact, that some demons keep their humanity after being turned is an interesting one and if there are others like the pair we met this episode, it would explain, why some demon hunters are prepared to let Nezuko alive. (I was always wondering, why take a chance with her, when all other demons are monsters?) But why are some people capable to keep their personality? Exceptional willpower or goodness of their hearts?
Tanjirou passed my test for a truly good person. He decided to do the most good instead of trying to fight against the greatest evil. His compassion seemingly knows no bounds. I like him and think, I want to see, where his story leads.
Guardian Enzo
May 26, 2019 at 4:04 pmI don’t think it was the physical touch either, but I’m not sure it was vanity. I think it was just generally being mouthed off at and delayed.
bnbros
May 26, 2019 at 5:51 pmMaybe those comments about his unhealthy look is a painful reminder of him being near death at the hands of Tanjirou’s relative/ancestor in that flashback? At least, that’s what I’d guess seeing how Muzan himself is also particularly keen on going after Tanjirou too.
Ivan
May 26, 2019 at 3:52 pmI think Tamayo tried to turn other ill and injured, but so far only succeeded once, probably failing with death as a result in the other cases. That’s at least how I interpreted it. Let’s see if we get some more details about that later 🙂
Guardian Enzo
May 26, 2019 at 4:03 pmThat seems the most likely explanation, but it wasn’t too clear in the narrative.
GC
May 27, 2019 at 2:55 amWill be interesting to see if Kibutsuji Muzan really loves his wife and daughter or are they easily expendable? Just tools for him to appear human.
bnbros
May 27, 2019 at 3:35 pmOne other thing I just noticed in Muzan’s flashback was that Tanjirou’s relative/ancestor wielded a red blade. They’ve already explained before that Tanjirou’s black blade is a sign of an uncertain future, so it would be interesting to learn about the significance of a red blade later.
Guardian Enzo
May 27, 2019 at 3:52 pmHisoka certainly seemed fascinated at the idea of a red blade.
Yann
June 4, 2019 at 8:34 amI’m a sucker for well animated shows so this has been on top of my list from the beginning, but I’m glad to see the story is also getting better and better with unexpected little details thrown in here and there to add intriguing texture to an already solid but otherwise “by the number” general plot.
I was a bit worried during the initial training arc in the mountain, but this is really picking up steam!
I definitely think the baddy got ticked off by the remark on his looks more than anything due to some long standing insecurities. I also bet he’s in a real relationship with his wife and kid.
Looking forward to learn more about them… 😀