Many of you will know of my long-running quest to figure out the magic formula behind Kimetsu no Yaiba’s success. Hell, I even did a video exploring that very topic. But finally, with this episode, with all its gloriously over-the-top animation and asspulls, I think I get it. I finally had the “Eureka!” moment. And as you’d expect, it’s something deceptively simple – “Just give ’em what they want, and don’t worry about the details.”
I can explain my thinking with that – and I will – but I think this week exemplifies the secret of Kimetsu’s record-shattering success better than any. Part of it – maybe as much as half – is indeed that it got a spectacular adaptation from ufotable. The manga was already a major hit – that’s why the production committee went with such a high-profile adaptation in the first place. But the role of the anime is the series’ quantum explosion was always the Occam’s Razor explanation, and I never doubted that it played a part. I don’t know what more you could ask in terms of shock and awe than this week’s ep gave you (though with the finale being 45 minutes, maybe ufotable wants to prove me wrong).
But there was always more to it than that – they had to be, plain and simple. And that’s the elusive part for me, defying easy explanation. But I think the truth was really under my nose the whole time. “Just give ’em what they want, and don’t worry about the details”. I think Kimetsu no Yaiba is as good as putting that into action as any series out there. That means being able to figure out exactly what will drive the fans wild, and having blinders on when putting it into action. It doesn’t worry about whether stuff makes sense or not – once it figures out what that gratification is, it’s gonna deliver it come hell or high water.
Really, for me, this episode was pretty preposterous in terms of writing. Tanjirou snapped out a funk by a flashback (always in the snow – his subconscious is like a cross-country ski resort) for what has to be literally the hundredth time. Not one, not two, but three characters who were supposed to be dead coming back to live to save the day at the absolute, exact, last possible microsecond. And each of them alive for reasons more ludicrous than the last, pulled pretty much out of the ether. Most mangaka wouldn’t have had the gall to ask their audience to accept that.
And that’s it – that’s the key. Gotouge Koyoharu doesn’t give a fermented fig about any of that – once she has that image in her head, that magic moment, she just does it. That sheer lack of giving a fig combined with ufotable’s stunning production values and a once-in-a-generation sense of timing (the pandemic came along at the perfect moment to amplify the manga’s explosion in sales and the movie’s theatrical dominance) all reacted together, catalyzed each other, and the result was the global phenomenon that dethroned One Piece and made all previous sales records moot. Any one of those elements would have made for a big hit. All three of them – perfectly timed in a way no one could have have engineered by design – made for Kimetsu no Yaiba. I knew two of them – now I finally have the missing ingredient.
Who am I to say they should have done anything differently here? It was a spectacle of the highest order – though my favorite part of it wasn’t the combat ballet, but Gyutarou’s taunting of Tanjirou (in no small measure because Ohsaka Ryouta is delivering a stunning performance). That was really, really great – one could almost feel the idea of becoming an oni beginning to appeal to Tanjirou, what with Nezuko’s situation. Then Gotouge pulled the one shocker of the episode that wasn’t an asspull but something really clever, Tanjirou’s deception to cover up his real intentions with the kunai.
Don’t get me wrong – the fights were great too, as long as you didn’t think about the pretext too much. I’m fascinated that I still find myself rooting for the demons in these battles – they’re just so much more interesting than the humans, probably the finest part of the series’ writing. There’s still the matter of the series’ power balance and how it will somewhat undercut if Gyutarou loses here, but that’s a problem for another day. I couldn’t ignore it, but Kimetsu can – and that’s why it’s the most popular animanga franchise of its era and I’m writing about it on a blog.
Marty
February 8, 2022 at 1:05 amYeah, I think , like u said, this Episode is what exemplifies what can make a shounen megahit vs. actual quality writing:
If u feed people the hype, then the details that go into making a good story and consistent world can go out the window. Between Zenitsu SOMEHOW being enough of a deep-sleeper that taking serious damage doesn’t awaken him, Inosuke SOMEHOW moving his organs around (I don’t care how flexible your limbs are, that shit ain’t possible), and Tanjirou somehow keeps tapping into a power that SHOULD incapacitate him multiple times in the same fight because the plot demands it.
This is almost a situation like Naruto and HxH:
HxH is CLEARLY the better series, but aside of controlled releases (Netero vs. Meruem, Gon vs. Hisoka, Kurapika vs. Uvogin, etc.) It doesn’t flood their audience with the over-the-top hype that is central to the action shounen series.
Naruto, on the other hand, relentlessly threw its budget in the biggest of fight scenes, regardless of the writing ignoring almost every single rule that was established in its universe being ignored, retconned, or broken.
KNY, however, learned the lesson of production value, and went the seasonal route instead of the continuous one, allowing them access to all the budget their fights demand.
At this point, KNY to me is like a really entertaining pulp novel; it certainly ain’t on the level of narrative masterpieces, but it’s dumb fun (as long as Zenitsu is quiet).
BluBlu
February 8, 2022 at 2:12 amBeing among the rare person thinking that the manga itself is good enough itself and that sometimes Ufotable over the top adaptation gives the series a DBZ atmosphere that the manga does not, I am obliged to bring some precisions for non-manga readers (while removing absolutely nothing to the beauty of the numerous lengthy additions of ufotable):
– Firs of all, there is absolutely no fire in the place. This is purely artistic choice of Ufotable
– Minor one: Tanjiro does not run from Gyutarou. Everything takes place at the exact place where Tanjiro wake up (so, close to Tengen)
– So, Tanjiro initially took the kunai from Hinatsuru, he didn’t find it miraculously somewhere with its smell of whatever
– When Tanjiro tries first time to decapitate Gyutarou, there is absolutely no fire whatever blade. This is pure “natural blade” and willpower (even though I should stress that the author already explained that all the elements that we see are not real elements, they are just there for illustrating or the fighting style/spirit looks.
My 2 biggest issues (which at the same time gives flashy things in the anime but again gives an atmosphere totally different from the manga, even though they are beautiful):
– When Tengen (which I repeat is close to Tanjirou and Gyutarou in the manga) saves Tanjirou, find it funny or not, but there is absolutely not all the crazy fighting ala DBZ that Ufotable added (again, this is nice, I am just clarifying for those thinking that this is how the manga is). This is almost immediately after blocking the attack of Gyutarou that we have Tengen injured again and eye-sliced and throwing himself out of despair to impale Gyutarou.
– Zenitsu is not flying forever with giving the feeling that Inosuke has a jetpack to follow them, all the Daki beheading takes place on a roof (and Zenitsu and Daki are already grounded on a roof when Inosuke appears with that ludicrous excuse, but which is also an “Inosuke excuse/bravado”).
Anyway, Ufotable found a material from which they can show their skills and decided to do it (and as a manga fan, I will never complain from an artistic point of view). The episode director is the same than for the episode 19 of season 1. Excepted that this time, he really really really went off.
As I like to say (and I take France as testimony), the huge difference in art style (even though me I like it), extremely extended fighting scenes, and narration (again, many explanations in Kimetsu are made through narration but Ufotable really do not care about them) between the manga and the anime would discourage anyone buying that manga just for the flashiness (because the manga has absolutely not that same level of flashiness). But well, people are free to believe…
Anyway, next week will be extremely insteresting considering that I have still not figured if it will be 45 min episode or 45 min broadcast (including ads). Because considering how (as I allustrated) Ufotable really like to extend things, that may change a lot regarding where the finale will end…
(oh yeah, little nitpicking: two characters only were supposed to be dead…XD)
Guardian Enzo
February 8, 2022 at 6:53 amYes, Zenitsu was only mostly dead.
Morg
February 8, 2022 at 11:43 amI think of demon slayer as that family recipe casserole. It’s got all the right things just tossed haphazardly in a dish together. It is never going to be on some fine dining menu, but it hits that nostalgic comfort food kind of craving. I think it was the right time for comfort food when it came out. Right at the start of My Hero burnout and before Jujutsu Kaisen exploded onto the scene.
Guardian Enzo
February 8, 2022 at 11:57 amI think that’s a pretty solid assessment, though for me insufficient to explain the scale of it.
It’s interesting, I hear a lot of talk about HeroAca burnout but the truth is, the series is still as popular as ever (massively), across all media, locally and internationally. Kimetsu and JJK may have eclipsed it but BnHA hasn’t seen its own numbers drop at all – it’s still huge (and bigger in some countries – like the USA – than Kimetsu). You can argue it’s hit a creative dry patch or that the TV anime has suffered because of the movies, but the franchise as a whole is uindiminished.