I recently finished watching an anime which I put on hold for some time, even after watching my first Anime series called Fire Force Season 1. To be honest, I watch Anime and live action anime but not on a regular basis, those that piqued my interest only. Like I started watching Fire Force coz I thought it seemed like an interesting premise but then apparently, it became more than just fighting against infernal demons. The more you watch it, the more complicated the plot becomes and each character is unique on its own, whether as the good guys or the bad guys.
I know that Demon Slayers or Kimetsu No Yaiba is an immensely popular Manga and anime on Netflix but when I first watched it to see what was the hype, I couldn't wrap my head around it yet. Because it was set in feudal Japan or Tao Sho era so the people were mostly wearing old style clothings such as kimono, haori and in the modern part of Japan, they were wearing I think 19th century outfits. And it started with a family story line of the main character, whom I didn't know if it was a boy or girl as he or she was wearing a pair of dangling earrings and the hair was long and tied up. The voice sounded like a teenage boy so I was assuming that he was a boy. I watched it a bit and then got bored. However, I decided to give it another go and with each episode, I got more and more hooked and suddenly, I was like Fire Force, who? lol..
That young boy was the main protagonist and his name is Kamado Tanjiro. So the happy family that I saw at the start of the episode, they were tragically murdered by a mysterious figure, when he came back from town after selling charcoal to support the family after their father's passing. His younger sister, was the only survivor but as he was carrying her through the dense snow in the forest, she slowly turned into a demon and started to attack him.
However, Tanjiro managed to awaken her consciousness and she started to shed tears but at that point, a Demon Slayer, the first one that we see, came to save him but was surprised that Tanjiro tried to deflect his attack on her. Impressed by Tanjiro's amateur but emotion driven fighting skill to attack him back as the Demon Slayer held his sister in arm lock, and then the sister protecting Tanjiro when he was knocked unconscious by him, he began to see that this pair of siblings was unique.
When they woke up, Tanjiro was instructed to go look for a particular person at the foot of a mountain, while putting a bamboo gag in his sister's mouth to prevent her from eating humans for it was the demons' form of survival.
I could write a long essay about this anime, lol..but I try to keep it short. So the whole series was about Tanjiro battling demons as he became a Demon Slayer himself in the quest to find the mysterious killer who turned his sister and could possibly turn her back to human.
So that guy who spared the pair of siblings, was a Hashira named Giyuu (one of the most handsome anime characters, hee) or one of the 9 pillars in the Demon Slayer Corps, a group of extremely skilled and top swordsmen. By the way, sparing a demon was against the Corps rules, but he put his life on the line, as well as his trainer's life, for them.
Tanjiro passed the Final Selection to become a Demon Slayer and within that group of 20 something hopefuls, only 5 passed. Another 2 became his travelling companions after other chance encounters with them later on. However, these 3 when together, are like three chaotic idiots, lol. Inosuke, the boar mask wearing young man with a buffed body, a feminine face and growly voice, who grew up in the forest alone and was extremely short tempered, strong and agile. He was always taunting people to fight him especially Tanjiro who then reciprocate in kindness which he couldn't fathom coz he wasn't used to such nice feelings. By the way, he always couldn't get Tanjiro's name right and also Zenitsu.
And then we have Zenitsu (my favourite!), a cowardly low esteem demon slayer, who become stronger..in a state of unconsciousness when he faint from overwhelming fear. The two demons that he slayed were initially doubtful of him to fight against them coz when he was scared, he would cry and scream in fear. I just find him really cute and relatable like I would be mad scared if I am in a jungle full of demons or facing one in front of me. I loved him both as a scaredy person and a bad ass, but just irritated by his womanising way, haha.
Besides being trained to fight using different breathing techniques, that would enhance their physical abilities and awaken supernatural abilities, the Demon Slayers use a Nigirin sword that could kill Demons.
The demons were once human, like the Demon Slayers, and through unfortunate encounters with the Demon Lord, Muzan, they would crave human as food. They become stronger and their memories as human would start to fade. However, when Tanjiro kill them, and of whom he showed kindness and compassion as they were disappearing after being defeated, they got glimpses of their lives as humans and it was the saddest thing ever. While he showed no mercy in killing them, to give the victims peace, he said that demons were shallow creatures with a sad past. The first demon whom he showed compassion for, was a Hand Demon, stuck in the forest where potential Demon Slayers would go for their Final selection.
He was huge and mutated as though his body was made up with many grotesque looking hands, and had killed many young trainees of the Demon Slayer who had captured him and put him in that forest. However, in his past life, he was just an innocent young boy who killed his older brother in the alleyway after becoming a demon. As he was fading away to death after being slayed, he became that small boy again who chased his older brother in the rice fields and asked him to hold his hand. Tanjiro could sense his sadness from his acute smell of emotions, held the demon's hand as his eyes shed the last remaining tears before dissipating, and Tanjiro prayed that he would not be reborn as a Demon.
The pair of siblings, Tanjiro and Nezuko, while they sometimes fight together, in one particular scene where they were battle weary from a strong Demon opponent, their combined strength with newly discovered fighting techniques managed to throw that Demon off guard.
While the Demon was hard to kill, as he was one of the lower Moon demons, supposedly the stronger ones, he was finally killed by the Demon Slayer, that we initially see in the beginning, in one swift move. He then realised that this pair of siblings that he saved was the same one he met 2 years ago. He saved Nezuko, the Demon sister, from being killed by another pillar or Hashira to her surprise, again breaking the code of the Corps.
So many levels of emotions, so not just the Demon Slayers that had a sad past, but the Demons as well, and the animations were superb especially the fighting skills. I keep replaying various fav episodes, especially Zenitsu's scenes, when he changed from fearful to fearless. The comedy scenes between the three travelling companions, as they rested after their first battle together, and during their rehab training when they got seriously injured, they were really funny. Zenitsu and Inosuke, while ops (Strong) in fight mode, they were also the show's comic relief.
Overall, every episode was engaging, end off in a cliffhanger and beg you to watch another episode to see what happens. Some scenes were a little scary for me to watch, and I mute the sound, haha. I'm like Zenitsu, haha. I heard the manga is more intense and dark. The anime brought the characters to life and the Manga readers, though they know the plots, I think they would thoroughly enjoy both versions but of course, they can't help but make comparisons between both mediums. There is a movie coming out focusing on one of the major arcs from the Manga. I am more excited to know if there would be a Season 2 with more character developments, such as how Zenitsu manages to overcome his cowardice to begin fighting while conscious.
Yay, so happy that I decided to watch Kimetsu No Yaiba (Demon Slayer)!!!
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