Nobody loves their mid-battle flashbacks more than Kimetsu no Yaiba, boy. And if it’s brink of death, that’s even better. I am rather used to it by now, but it still throws me. It takes quite a toll on narrative momentum to just stop like this, over and over, right in the heat of the action. But I guess it must work for most people, or else Kimetsu wouldn’t be one of the most popular anime and manga ever made.
As a rule I’ve found the demonic backstories more interesting than the human ones, and Tokitou’s is no exception. Though perhaps I should call him Muichirou, as that’s what he goes by for most of the episode. Once Kotetsu-kun frees him from his watery grave, it takes Muichirou a bit to get his mojo back – he’s been pierced by dozens of poisoned needles after all. Every after ripping them out he’s still almost out on his feet, but absent a Nezuko power-up (those are generally reserved for Tanjirou) the next best thing in KnY is a dead relative’s voice.
And this series has plenty of those, of course. I think one major reason the demons have more interesting origin stories than the slayers is that the latter are kind of same-y. Let’s be honest – is Muichirou’s really all that different from Tanjirou’s? The details change but we kind of know the drill. Poor woodcutter living in the mountains, parents die under tragic circumstances, demon attack kills the brother. Yes, Muichirou has a twin brother, Yuichirou – who’s as stern and cold as his brother is compassionate and idealistic. The irony of course is that the Tokitou we first met seems to resemble the late older brother more than Muichirou as we meet him here.
The funny thing is, Yuichirou is kind of right about Kagaya wanting to use the two of them. We all know what the average lifespan of a slayer is, after all. But after the demon, there’s not much else for Muichirou to do, and the rest is history. So in the moment Tokitou gathers himself and heads out to protect Haganezuka (and Kotetsu to bleed out, presumably), who’s still pissing Gyokko off with his powers of concentration. As for Kanroji, there’s still no sign of her apart from the ED and the omake, and with the season trickling away I kind of wonder if she has any meaningful role here at all.
Snowball
May 29, 2023 at 10:52 pmI thought the brother was a pointless character as much as the ‘mu’ in his name.
Kurik
May 30, 2023 at 2:37 amHmmm…I am not enjoying this season as much as the last couple and that’s surprising as the two most annoying characters aren’t here but the story just feels slow and familiar. It would be good if they showed the breathing technique somehow slows down poisoning of the body or something but seeing all these characters near death and then getting back up like john wick takes the wind out my sail. Best to have had kanroji appear to help.
Guardian Enzo
May 30, 2023 at 9:50 amI have looking forward to having a female character who actually talked and didn’t stay inside a box most of the time, and can kick ass to boot. But that’s been a complete wash-out so far.
I’d even go so far as to ask – why are we supposed to find these omakes so funny, when we barely know who this character is? It’s context-based comedy without any context.
Archaon
May 30, 2023 at 11:27 amWhile the backstory between Tanjirou and Mui are similar, the differences are in the details. Both family lost their parents and the eldest son have to take over the role of man in the family but howTanjirou and Mui’s brother deal with their new role are completely different. Tanjirou embrace kindness and compassion while Mui’s brother became cynical and believe he has to be tough for his brother. And Mui clearly subconsciously take on his brother personality even though he can’t recall his brother. Like one of the theme that KnY like to tackle is different sibling dynamic. In fact the theme of “I have to be tough and cruel for my sibling” is a theme that mirror Mui and Genya in this arc.
BluBlu
May 31, 2023 at 3:55 amI really wonder who between Minamino and Shirai had the main « content control » of that episode. As Shirai likes to take huge freedom with the manga content and put his own interpretation, I won’t be surprised if it’s him.
But anyway, I won’t complaint about having that combo here, even though I was expecting Shirai somewhere else. While I was not a fan of its over-the-top reinterpretation of the Tengen-Gyutaro finale, nothing to declare about that episode. Happy that Muichiro already got such a treatment and I cannot even imagine what lies ahead (even though I find funny that nex episode title is the first original one).
At that point, when I was reading, while I had totally forgotten aout what Tengen said about Muichiro, what the crow of the latter said to Tanjiro always resonated in my mind as was it a lie or not ? Of course, Ubishayiki’s wife is (might be?) another confirmation but…anyway
Still so much to chew in that season but after that episode, I have absolutely no doubts that Ufotable knows what they are doing with their marathon.
For the rest, to each one his masochism…