I feel like I’ve staked out a position as something of a moderate on Kimetsu no Yaiba (if it needs moderates – it doesn’t seem like anybody really hates it).  And from that position, it seems to me as if we should just come right out and say it – this Swordsmith Village arc hasn’t been Kimetsu’s best work.  I can’t say that it’s been awful for the most part or anything (with an exception) but there’s not much drama to it for me.  And the pacing seems really, really slow.  Like this whole thing could have been done in dusted in three or four episodes (i.e., a movie).

One issue for me is that when KnY whiffs with a character, it’s hard-core.  I won’t rehash Zenitsunosuke – we’ve hashed it ad nauseam.  But Gyokko had a similar effect of making most of his scenes unwatachable.  He’s gone now (in the most routine fashion imaginable), so things take an upturn based on that alone.  But it’s still not really compelling stuff.  Hantengu is a much less obnoxious and more statured enemy, but there’s not much sense that he could possibly lose this thing (or enough background on him to feel really bad if he does, though both his weakling and little drummer boy forms are sort of semi-sympathetic in different ways).

That brings us to Kanroji.  Sexism in a battle shounen is hardly new and it shouldn’t really come as any surprise (even when the mangaka is a woman).  Still, the stark difference (“the Love Hashira”) in the way she – and her abilities – are portrayed from all the male hashira who’ve come before is pretty striking.  At least her backstory is not a carbon copy of their family tragedy templates.  Kanroji has (?) a nice family who love her – her problem is that her distinctly unfeminine appetite and strength and bizarre hair color make it hard for her to live a traditional life.  The way that issue is presented in the flashback is much more forward-thinking than the way it’s presented in the present.

Her battle with Hantengu comes down to Kanroji keeping the L.D.B. occupied while Tanjirou, Nezuko, and Genya head off to deal with the little coward.  That crest which pops up on her clavicle is interesting, in that Hantengu notes that it looks like a demonic one.  And we learn that Genya can take on demonic traits “temporarily” when he consumes demon flesh (which explains some, though perhaps not all, of his peculiar attributes).  This is actually kind of an interesting turn – especially when you consider that Nezuko is part of the team too, there’s a lot of usage of demon power to fight demons here.

Next week’s finale, it seems, is going to be triple-length – a prospect which, if I’m honest, I find a bit harrowing.  It’s hard to imagine this storyline really needs 70 more minutes to wrap up – or indeed that it needed 13 episodes to begin with.  Hopefully Kimetsu has been saving up the good stuff for the end and stretching out the material building up to it, because three episodes like the last few at one sitting would be a bit tough to get through.