I guess it fits the pattern. For me at least Kimetsu is a mixed bag, so it’s going to seesaw back and forth between strong episodes and weak ones a lot. Last week’s effort would have been in the top two or three of the run for me, but the slices of bread on either side of it weren’t as tasty as the filling. What fits the pattern too is that the more somber and dignified Kimetsu no Yaiba is, the better it will tend to be. Which I guess makes this episode about a half-success.
It’s almost as if whenever I find myself start to get a little enthusiastic about it Kimetsu reminds me of why I struggle with it in the first place. This episode had all of the reasons. Sloppy writing – how easy is it for Tanjirou to find the demon any time with his super sniffer, so why do we need all the song and dance building up to it? Moeblobs. The tortured attempts at comedy (those mice, seriously). And a random bit of clumsy exposition by explanation – compare the demon slayer ranks (did we even know that many existed?) to the way Togashi laid out Nen.
That said, we did have Sawashiro-sama vamping it up delightfully. And no Zenko whatsoever. After the moeblobs the bits with Koinatsu were decent enough, though the into was an obvious setup for what was about to happen next. This is all a pretext for showing off how Warabihime’s power works, through her obi (if you have an obi with dogs on it, is it an obi-wan?). The question is whether someone trapped in it like Koinatsu is already dead and just in the process of being consumed.
What we’re left with, then, is Tanjirou facing off against a demon he now knows is theoretically much too strong for him. He’s the hero, so I guess that’s how it’s going to work out – but just what he should do here is an interesting question. Should he rely on Nezuko for help, or – as he does – tell her to stay hidden (surely Watabihime can smell her in there)? Should he attempt to flee and seek out Uzui or face Warabihime head-on? He can’t really win or it blows the series’ entire power dynamic out of the water, but of course he can’t die either. I can do without his constant heroic monologuing, but that’s as much a part of Kimetsu no Yaiba as all that stuff mentioned above.
Marty
December 28, 2021 at 8:32 pmTanjirou should definitely not be able to take her out by himself. If I remember correctly, he was barely able to defeat a lower moon in Mugen Train, and that was WITH Inosuke’s help. On the one hand, I’m afraid their training montage earlier in the season will be used to justify bridging the gap in power, on the other it would be kind of meaningless to have a whole-ass Hashira and not have them take on the arc’s big bad.
While I’m not as much of a stickler for power scaling like I used to be, authors going too far in giving characters undeserved wins DOES break any type of suspense the story might have.
l0ken
December 28, 2021 at 9:10 pmWell,if we talking about “undeserved” wins and “power scaling” I would say Kimetsu avoids this problems rather well through the whole series,Upper Moons are legit terrifying and hard to deal with,even if they fighting with “just” Upper 6.Regarding this particular fight,t’s among my favorites in the whole series,twists and turns with rising actions until the climatic end.
BluBlu
December 29, 2021 at 12:12 amNot that it will be revolutionary, but the many ranks were stated in episode 5 of season one, immediately after they are done with the final selection (enumerated by weird eyes little girls or moeblobs). Funny enough, in the manga, the girls in that episode are shown only when they leave the oiran. Yes, there is a draft panel in the bonus page where it is stated that the oiran is kind with the girls but this is not part of the main story as they made in that episode.
If I believe other websites, that episode was the first one not storyboarded by Suhara. Don’t know if that was the reason why for me too, the atmosphere was off. But I should state that even though I have already repeated many times how I enjoy that series, that particular arc is not really one that I appreciated (at least, regarding introduction and balance). Or at least, to me, this is an arc where I have always had the strongest uneasy feelings of a struggle between the author’s idea and editorial guiding. In a sense that I always thought that it oscillates between the directness of Kimetsu (which I agree with you, is for me one its strength) and doing like the “others”.
Anyway, I am eager to see how Ufotable storyboarding will handle that shakiness (again, my personal opinion). And I should say that the title of the next episode is already something interesting.
Guardian Enzo
December 29, 2021 at 9:01 amInteresting point about the tension between the editing and the author’s instincts.