Here we are again, another edition (though not the final, surely) of Demon Slayer.  I’m in an interesting place with this series.  I came back to it in part because it was so freakishly popular (by some measures, the most popular franchise in animanga history) that I felt I owed it to myself to try and understand it.  Especially understand that popularity, which –  in full acknowledgement that the anime is pretty good – I always found utterly mystifying.

Since I finally came to an answer that more or less satisfies me (basically, an unerring radar for fanservice and a complete dedication to providing it whether it makes sense or not) in a sense my motivation for sticking around is gone.  Or rather, my extra motivation.  Oh sure, there’s still a sense that I probably should be covering a show this popular, but that’s never been a major factor before.  In short, it now comes down mostly to whether Kimetsu no Yaiba is good enough by my reckoning to merit covering it.  And that comes in the midst of what looks like the busiest season in years to boot.

At this point I can only give it the eternal “we’ll see”, a phrase that’s getting quite a workout this season.  There have always been enough elements to Kimetsu that I like to make we want to follow it.  The issue is the other stuff, that I don’t like.  This premiere (again, originally theatrical) offers a glimpse of both sides of Demon Slayer.  It’s really no surprise that the best part of it – by far – was the intro sequence (which ran a good fifteen minutes), because the demons have always – always – been way more interesting than the humans in this series.  It’s such a core element that I expect nothing else at this point.

There was too much CGI in that sequence for it to be really stunning visually – all in all there was more not-great CGI here than I expect to see in Kimetsu – but it was still impressive.  I find myself wanting to know these demons better in a way I almost never do with the good guys.  I’m obviously not the best reference but it seemed to me that their were Upper Ranks we’d never seen before.  Most important presumably being #1, Kokushibou.  It’s a familiar face, Akaza, who stands out most for his willingness to openly challenge the pecking order even in the presence of Muzan himself (who remains a great, screen-commanding presence I sure wish we saw more of).

Once that was over and focus shifted to the humans, my interest level dipped considerably.  It can’t be said too often – Inosuke and (especially) Zenitsu are truly awful.  Just, like, astonishingly bad for a series this popular.  They absolutely grind everything to a halt and take me completely out of the moment.  What gives me hope for Katanakaji no Sato-Hen is that both are barely in the premiere, and seem likely to play minor roles at best.  That’s an obvious positive, but characters you say that about wouldn’t even exist in a better-written series.

To be blunt, this double-length episode had a lot of chaff in it.  The entire middle sequence dragged on forever, and the whole thing would have been much better at about 33-35 minutes in my opinion.  Kimetsu not being funny is a problem when it tries too often, as it did in this episode.  Things improved once we got to the swordsmith village, though it still wasn’t as interesting as the Infinity Castle sequence.  There was another parade of faces I don’t remember (some of them new, surely).  One who seems to be important is this guy, since the comatose (for two months) Tanjirou saw him in a flashback with his father (and baby Tanjirou), and the fact that he’s played by the great Inoue Kazuhiko makes me hope he’s going to play a major role.

Above and beyond that, well- we’ll see.  No Zenitsu means I don’t have to check out right at the beginning at least, and the last couple of major arcs have actually done a decent job of holding my interest.  I don’t know enough the village yet to know if it’s going to provide an interesting setting and cast of characters, but it does seem as if we’re finally starting to focus on the main conflict in the story, which will hopefully provide some weightiness to the “Swordsmith  Village Arc”.  Kimetsu no Yaiba is almost always better when it’s trying to be weighty.