Kimetsu no Yaiba
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

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Kimetsu no Yaiba is a series that is loved and hated in equal measure. The only manga to outpace One Piece, and not by a small margin. The manga received a tremendous boost from its anime adaptation by Ufotable, but even before that, its quality led it to become very popular.

I'll be honest, is it the most original work? No. Is it the best thing since sliced bread like those long queues in Japanese bookstores and the constant tweets on AniTwitter lead you to believe? No. What it is, is a really really good story, though. It does the little things right and does a ... decent enough job of world building, character development and growth.

While there are a lot of valid criticisms of the series like a subpar villain, less than stellar climax, final arc dragged on, etc. I'll mainly focus on the things I enjoyed. KNY is shonen done right. It's got all of the tropes and cliches you've come to expect from the genre, but they're executed in textbook fashion. The power ups, power of friendship, rivalries, etc. The Mangaka does a great job of blending them into the story in a believable fashion and creating an entertaining narrative.

From start to end, the manga remains fun, funny and engaging. The characters, no matter how much or how little time they get, make an immense impact on you. You genuinely do feel attached to the cast of the series and by the end, it feels you're losing a part of you by having to say goodbye.

The art is quite unique in my opinion and the expressions on characters' faces throughout the series enhance the experience by creating humorous situations. This is most evident with Tanjirou and Zenitsu throughout the series. I did find one weakness to be when the magaka depicted fights. At times I personally found myself confused and unable to discern what was going on due to the style.

Pacing wise, I had no issues with the series up until this final arc. I felt like I was reading the same chapter for MONTHS due to the repetitive nature of some of the chapters and panels. I think once Ufotable get their hands on it it will go much smoother, but in the manga format, I would have to dock points for the final arc.

I felt the ending was satisfactory for the most part, providing closure and resolutions for beloved characters as well as leaving the door open for more content later down the line.

Overall, KNY for better or for worse, is one of the biggest series of our generation. The numbers, hype and raving reviews all are evidence of that. While it's without a doubt overrated by many, it's also overly hated in equal measure. I found it to be a fun ride throughout and despite my minor issues with the pacing and art, enjoyed every moment of the past 4 years. Kimetsu no Yaiba gets 10 Spider Lillies out of 10.

As of the time of writing this review, I have yet to see the anime adaptation. Therefore, I’d like to offer you a point of view untainted by the ufotable hype. Note that this review might contain some spoilers, though nothing too specific.

“Why should it matter if you’ve seen the anime or not?” is what you might be asking, so I’d like to address that first. I suspect that the anime adaptation had a huge impact on the manga ratings. It’s understandable to an extent, sure, I bet ufotable did a good job with the animation of action scenes which are the core of this ... series. Should a source material be praised because of the achievements of the adaptations though? I don’t think so. And yes, I have some numbers to support my claim about the undeserved ratings boost. In 2017, Kimetsu no Yaiba had mean score of 7.46. A week before the anime started airing, it was at 7.92. During the time period when the anime was airing the score jumped from that to 8.50 (with the current mean score being 8.55). That’s a jump up of almost 0.60 which is something that pretty much never happens organically. Sure, you could claim that the manga suddenly got better (and coincidentally in the same time frame as the anime was airing). The manga arcs published during this period was Swordsmith Village arc and a training arc after it so no, there was no sudden spike in the quality of the manga content. You can check the scores on Wayback Machine, and learn that MAL mean scores aren’t always to be trusted.

Well, that’s enough of a rant, now to the manga-only experience review.

Now, I’m usually quick to complain about a slow story progression and unnecessary padding. This time, I’ll have to complain about the story going way too fast. Sure, at least there are no fillers, but in exchange Kimetsu no Yaiba goes with extreme on the other side of the spectrum. Reading it feels like the author is trying to do an any% battle shounen speedrun. Everything is happening so fast in this manga. Training? Nah, here’s two chapters, two year timeskip, the protagonist is now no longer a random village hillbilly but a stronk boi who can fight demons. Good job on smashing those big rocks kid, now you’re fully prepared to fight ruthless and almost immortal creatures. Sure, training arcs tend to be not that interesting, but not only they can be made interesting, they are also important to help establishing the power system of battle shounen, which Kimetsu no Yaiba fails at completely. More on that later, now back to speedrunning.

The worldbuilding is pretty much non-existent with the sole focus on rawly progressing the plot. The protagonist’s first assigned mission ever? Boom, here’s the main antagonist just strolling there, what an amazingly lucky encounter. Most of the characters feel just like a cannon fodder whose death are used for a cheap thrill. The cast dies off faster than you can create any attachment to the characters. What was probably supposed to be a dramatic character conclusion end with the impact of “Meh, another one’s dead. What was his name again?” The supporting cast dies like flies and so do the minor antagonists. It’s hardly a shock value when such thing is made a mundane occurrence. Oh yeah, also just slap some random tragic backstories for the demon in cheap attempt to not look so shallow.

Few minor happenings later the final arc starts, which makes up a whole third of the whole manga. That one’s a bit special. It’s at the same time way too long and keeping the whole speedrun spirit too. The cheapness of deaths become even way cheaper, as if the author said “fuck it, I’m almost done with the manga anyway, I’ll just kill of most of the characters”. And no, they still don’t die in any satisfying (for the reader) way. The stock of nameless characters seems to be endless too, as bunch of unknown demon hunters seem get mass-murdered with almost every attack of almost every demon, yet they keep flowing in right up to the final boss encounter. How many demon hunters are there anyway? Because I fell like hundreds of them died just in the backgrounds of this arc alone. The final fight is riddled with all of the cliché bullshits such as the power of friendship, trashed characters that shouldn’t have been able to even stand up by any mean suddenly rejoining the fight again, “this isn’t even my final form you fools”, asspulls, and revivals. Yes, after all of the slaughter the author is now suddenly too much of a coward to let some of the characters die. At least go all the way in if this is what you decide to do, don’t back up at the last moment to leave us with this lukewarm entirely uninteresting and artificial-feeling ending. The epilogue chapter is an absolute joke. Well, at least I wish it was just a joke. It’s more disappointing and laughtable than the finale and epilogue of Prison School, to give you an idea about this trainwreck. I had to doublecheck if this wasn’t just some fanmade chapter, that’s how much it doesn’t fit.

I have mentioned the absolute disaster of a power system previously, right? Let’s expand on that. Some sacrifices had to be made to make the speedrun possible and explanation of the powers was one of them. The last thing that makes any sense is the Total Concentration Breathing technique. Master the way you breath and do it consciously all the time to achieve a handy power-up for your stats. A bit of JoJo rip-off but sure, I’ll take it, with some suspension of disbelief it makes sense. How do we get from there to swords summoning fire, pillars of water, mist or a goddamn snakes? Fuck if I know, it’s some sort of breathing technique so you’ll have to make some shit up to make sense of it, because the manga sure isn’t going to help you with that. Tanjiro’s dad did ceremonial sword dancing, which made him a fire swordsman. Others just ripped of the fire technique to make their own breaths. How does remaking a fire technique help you summon butterflies with a sword slash? No idea. “It just works”, as they say.

The characters themselves are flashy but forgettable. The flagship Nezuko admittedly excels as being adorable while still having enjoyable fighting mode side, but that’s as far as likeable characters go. Tanjiro is a ball of screams and bruteforcing given a human shape. Zenitsu is an annoying idiot with creepy tendencies who is completely useless until the plot demands him to do something. Inosuke is a ball of even more screaming and bruteforcing also given (more or less) human shape. The hashiras have basically the personalities of their character design.

Honestly from some points I started to cheer for the demons instead. The protagonists are boring shounen templates with no depth. The demons at least have some motivations beyond “AAAAAAA DEMON REEEEEEEEE” and as ironic as it is, they have goals more relatable to actual humans such as just wanting to enjoy their lives. I don’t think this was intentional on author’s part though, the baddies are relatable only in comparison to the blandness of the other side.

One saving grace of Kimetsu no Yaiba is the artstyle. While I wouldn’t go as far to say that the art is great, it’s certainly distinguishable and original. At least one part of this manga that attracts the readers’ attention, at least one part of this whole thing that is somehow interesting.

Overall, if you’re a fan of regular battle shounen, this might be your jam. If you’re looking for anything with a substance, you would waste your time here. As pretentious as it might sound, ultimately this manga just feels… immature. 

This review will contain spoilers!!

If you are easily triggered. Then please turn away from this review since I will not be holding anything back at all. I've said my piece about the first season of Demon Slayer anime. It was rough around the edges but land and sea above the awful of a mess known as the manga depiction. No hard feelings to anyone who enjoyed this crap. I mean, I was one of you as well for a very short period. Then I woke up and saw that Demon Slayer is not the least bit deserving of all the hype and fame it's getting ... from a writing standpoint. After reading blindingly, ignoring my own feelings and letting the viewpoints of another affect my judgments and way of thinking. Just utterly throwing my own feelings in a circle of a pile of confusion, not trying to understand my genuine beliefs. I was able to come to terms with my actual views once I shut everything else out. I am not mad at the author, and quite happy they are selling millions on their work. But I can't say the same about the community. I am disappointed even if I do understand why Demon Slayer blew up as it did. We enjoy what we enjoy, and everyone is different. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Not to mention, it helped the manga community get more readers and prestige, and that's a big plus, no doubt.

That anime adaptation from Ufotable was a blessing and with it trending like mad everywhere. Curious newcomers, countless other individuals in the anime community, ate that shit up like it was cake. It's no doubt hard to differentiate the taste when you've not eaten or, in this case, read or watched something genuinely worth your attention because it's simply great. I am willing to bet any numbers of shounen such as Black Clover, which is like far better than Demon Slayer and deserves some actual attention. If that shit got a proper adaptation putting a strong emphasis on the production value and even making sure the experience in the anime flows smoothly like running river. It would totally blow up and sell like hotcakes. That goes for shit like Fairy Tail as well. Black Clover for one possesses most of the same elements as Demon Slayer. But the execution is far clearer and much more concise and decisive. At least it was when I read it. I need to get back on that. I will throw this out there. Noelle is a greatly written character with flaws and everything nice. She is properly written tsundere to boot. For me, that's a big fat cherry on top. Asta feels real and is not void of emotions or a sense of danger and all that.

The reason I think Demon Slayer doesn't deserve any of the fame it's getting from a writing standpoint - it's a mess with no lick of direction, genuineness in it's established themes and character drama. The impact feels so lackluster, and the deaths don't even affect my emotions a bit. It's so dull to read, and the pacing has no sense of balance or satisfaction. The cuts to events feel forced, half-assed. It's merely just damn random and is not running in paths without needless hindrances or broken roads. Even after all that, there's so much more I want to say and get off my chest. I would admit that Demon Slayer had the potential and elements to turn out as a decent shounen. If the author was not in a hurry or Weekly Shounen Jump didn't rush them to finish the story. I don't know if they were forced or not, but it has already happened many times. I don't want to open that can of utter worms, but it's obvious which shounen I am referencing, among others.

As for Demon Slayer, nothing about the story interested me whatsoever. Most of the characters were just happened to be a means to an end. But it had a good cast of characters with distinct enough personalities. Shinobu was like such a best girl, and for me, it is far more interesting than Kanao. She had this simple sense of complexity by putting on a facade behind her face when she is actually angry about lots of things. It's such a shame she was killed before her character's potential got fully utilized. Kanao is adorable and charming, but unlike Shinobu, which at least got somewhat fleshed out, Kanao's change was jarring and didn't sit well with me. At least it seems like Tanjiro and her got together. So that's good and gave me at least some sense of comfort. But they seriously did my girl Shinobu so damn nasty. Inousuke was by far the only interesting character out of the main trio. But just like more or less anyone else, his growth was sloppy and not well executed. I wanna say that each of the Hashiras deserved more build-up than they got.

Sadly, we only got something resembling a jittery backstory, and many were interesting, no doubt. Still, you could see that the author was in a rush to get back to the action. I think my favorite has to be Iguro's, which was seriously messed up. The way they tore his mouth to match that nightmare was a bit awkward and just a bit too much? But I definitely wanted him to bath in happiness after going through that tragic and scarring event. Also, that snake lady is damn nightmare-fuel. In just that one panel, she was much scarier than Muzan. I am not getting a wink of sleep tonight. I actually felt the chemistry between Iguro and Mitsuri. Sadly, once again, their relationship was not as sufficiently fleshed out or built-up like I wanted it to be. But it was by far my favorite ship. So unlike most characters. I felt their death but then that ending happened and my suffering was for nothing.

So let's talk about the big bad of Demon Slayer. Muzan so insufferable as a villain, and I cared little how the whole fight with him went. It was going places way too quickly. I didn't get enough time to absorb how much of a threat Muzan was since he was zig-zagging around places chopping up demon slayers left and right. But it didn't carry any weight or impact. It was obviously forced down upon us to make us feel frightened of Muzan. But I was like okay all the time. I have said it before that death is a pretty severe double-edged sword that can bite you in the back if one doesn't know how to use it well. This story throws that at us literally all the times like it's a tool to make the vibe heavy and tell you that the stakes are high. Anyone can drop dead, but it's pointless if you know it's going to happen, and when you barely have an emotional bond with the cast, it's not going to affect you. Plus, once it's used and the character dies.

We don't get time to process what just happened before we simply start moving to other things. It doesn't help either Muzan feels just like a joke with many loose screws in his already small brain. "I am like a natural disaster, so you shouldn't care if someone died" or something like that. I was seriously laughing out loud when those words came out of that freak's mouth. That's just a taste, so prepare to get your brain-cells eaten by Muzan stupidity. If you decide to read it. To make Muzan truly scary, the author should've given him common sense and some level of intelligence. Simply, flaunting your powers around will only work for so long. Just for like the first time, when you know nothing about said individual. This goes for many things. But in this case, a villain's appearance is not the only thing matters to make you respect or admire them. There are ideals, personality, and of course, flaws, and more. Not to the point, it's all over the place. Those things need to bounce off well with each other and not straight out devour each other.

What the hell happened to my boi Azaka? He was the best and the most entertaining villain in Demon Slayer. Too bad the guy's name, I don't even remember killed him, and I couldn't care less about him. Since he was just in that one arc and hardly felt well-established. We'll see how the anime does his introduction and all that. I already hear the angry mob consisting of the Demon Slayer out there. Azaka was the best among all the demons and had the biggest amount of potential. I would've liked to see him be replaced with Tanjiro as a main, to be honest. Now Muzan death scene was the most hilarious shit I have seen ever. There was a meme of how Muzan turned into a baby. I completely burst out in laughter. That shit was honestly GOLD. Then when he was such a manipulative jerk trying to control Tanjiro but it didn't work. So Muzan resorted to begging him and probably crying inside. That was good entertainment. We've waited a long time for Nezuko to turn to human, but man was that whole scene so bland and like whatever. I didn't feel any emotions coming out from that panel at all. Can we talk about how Giyuu and Tanjiro basically became the best bros? Still, it was never established with security or ingenuity in mind? It came from the left-field, just like most of the directions in this story.

Finally, I want to just say that regardless of all the death scenes that came from literally nowhere. Simply reincarnating them makes the situation much worse than it already is. Yes, those who died are not really alive, but calling it simply reincarnation and coincidence is not the best thing to say. It makes the already shaky story filled to the brim with all kinds of issues just crumble to utter pieces. Let's not get started on how Tanjiro time and time again. Became stronger without any clues that didn't feel wishy-washy, besides the obvious things like his hair and that mark on his head. The power system is really simple but effective and might be awkwardly written, but it does the job. That said, many of the characters' execution and how they went from zero-to-hundred was cheap and ineffective. I realized I have been simply focused on the character aspect, but the world-building was not there either. We don't even know many if any of the locations name. It all just seems so damn insignificant. One more thing I want to bring up is the author, Koyoharu, who uses tell and show at the same time. Most annoyingly, so it makes reading through Demon Slayer boring and lame. Since we already are seeing much of the things that are happening in the drawings, so we don't need to go all bananas about the details. Just a light touch be more than enough.

I don't like drawing most of the time, either. The action is rough, and I can't properly see what's happening. I mentioned already that emotions don't get conveyed properly through facial expressions or behavior most of the time. There are rare occasions when we get some good eye-candy with details in the background and character art. It's not in the slightest the best artwork I have seen. But the author can draw once they put their mind to it. So I wonder if the author truly enjoyed writing Demon Slayer? I sadly didn't enjoy it as much as I thought initially. It was all over the place, no sense of anything, and that final chapter was terrible. It simply focused on a new batch of characters and went nowhere with that. I would've liked to see some silver of world-building with how the world became after the demons were killed with details. Maybe see the public reaction to the events and properly tie all the damn loose ends. Being how the characters went from this to that and so forth. Btw, I think Nezoku lost something when she returned back to human. Did she seriously marry Zenitsu? Overall, Demon Slayer is probably the worst shounen I have read in recent memories, if not ever so far. I enjoyed bits and pieces of the beginning. It had the potential to become slightly more. If only the author wasn't set by being satisfied by mere cheap thrills that last barley a few moments.