Am I nuts, or is this series just not funny? Maybe it just doesn’t click with my sense of humor, I don’t know. That’s not normally a huge problem as long as Zenitsu and Inosuke aren’t around to drag things into the quasi-farcical. But this was one of those eps that spent much of its time trying to generate laughs. And “trying” is I think the operative phrase here, because the biggest issue I have with Kimetsu’s humor is that it’s always trying too hard. Way too hard. I mean, there’s no sense of letting the absurdity of the moment carry the comedy – with Kimetsu you get everything but the rimshot.
Alright, rant over – this is nothing new. Fortunately there was some substance here eventually, as the slice of life mode the series has been since the cold open of the premiere gives way to the meat of the season’s plot. There’s that little matter of the old sword in the dummy’s neck to deal with first. Kotetsu wants Tanjirou to take it, he wants to but tries to refuse, and eventually Haganezuka arrives and tries to take it off both of them (which they resist). It’s a rusted out drainpipe after three centuries, but it seems safe to assume it’s eventually going to be a major MacGuffin.
Finally, though, the crisis of the moment asserts itself. Two demons have arrived to take out the village, Gyokko and Hantengu (who we met in that cold open). They’re no slouches either – upper rank #4 (Hantengu) and #5. They’re cannon fodder here, presumably – ultimate the role of every demon in this series is to die (with one major exception, at least until the end). But given that the demons always have the most interesting stories attached to them, their arrival is certainly welcome. I assume we’ll be getting their full backstories at some point, otherwise Tanjirou won’t feel bad about killing them.
Hantengu is quite the interesting one. His original form, as we saw, is perpetually terrified and proclaiming himself the victim. But when he’s cut (which happens rather quickly here) he seems to split into multiple forms, each one with a considerably more belligerent personality than the main body. Gyokko appears to be much more straightforward villain-y, with his vase and his ravenous appetite and his snarky demeanor. One would assume that even with a hashira present, two upper rank demons would be too much for the village to fight off. But undercutting the declared strength of its villains is a problem KnY seems to visit upon itself repeatedly, so I’ll be surprised if either of them survive this season.
Speaking of hashira, Tokito is fortunately still around. And for reasons I’m not entirely clear on, he seems to be taking life lessons from Tanjirou. Or at the very least Tanjirou is rubbing off on him, as he “wastes” the time to save Kotetsu despite their being no logical reason to do so, thinking back on Tanjirou’s words. Don’t get me wrong, Tanjirou’s way of interacting with the world does make more sense, and I’m just not sure why Tokito would have been so easily influenced…
allen
April 24, 2023 at 8:36 pmAs someone who has read the manga, I can confidently say that the problem with the humor in the anime adaptation is that it misses the timing every single time. This has been a gripe with me since the very first season honestly, and haven’t seen much people commenting on it.
The manga comedy panels come in fast and unexpected, adding flavor to each scene and moving as quickly as they came, but the anime always seems to drag each funny bit way longer than it should somehow? I can’t fully explain it but to me that’s the main issue.
I gotta say tho, after going to the screening for the preview of this season, and seeing how much people were cheering in laughter with Zenitsu’s antics, to my surprise, I sadly say that the sentiment isn’t largely shared amongst viewers.
Guardian Enzo
April 24, 2023 at 8:58 pmI haven’t read the manga so I can’t speak to that, but I know what you mean about the bits seeming to drag on forever.
Kurik
April 25, 2023 at 6:27 amI am with you on the forced humor. I roll my eyes every time they waste time on these moments as I find them very unfunny and pray to the anime gods they would stop tainting my enjoyment of this show.
All in all though, the solid bits were good and it went dark fast. Would love more explanation how the demons ended up finding the hidden village in an instant as they were told to find it.
Stöt
April 25, 2023 at 6:37 amThe fast forward button was invented for gags like these.
L0ken
April 25, 2023 at 7:45 amDuring my read of the manga it was a wide consensus that comedy was a major part of the KNY charm and worked really well with audience, people were worried that adaptation will get rid of them. We got them, but Ufotable translates them into anime without much adjustment to the medium meaning the timing and delivery of them feels different, so that were you got divide for some part of anime-only audience… But even in anime interpretation it still seems to be working with broad audience and I admit myself to often chuckle, so they won’t go anywhere.
Also what do you mean “undercutting the declared strength of its villains “? This was always the aspect KNY get praised amongst other shounens, since it takes a lot to defeat an Upper Demon who always overpower human opposition and requires a team effort and specific conditions, even last season weakest UP6 took Hashira from strongest generation, 3 middle-level slayers, ninja wifes and the battle lasted 6 episodes with very narrow battle with consequences of said Hashira retiring and cast getting major injuries. While this arc in particular isn’t the best example, the big final arc is especially extensively brutal by shounen standarts.