Nov 5, 2019
This review will contain mild spoilers.
Kimetsu no Yaiba is an anime released in 2019, made after a manga from Shounen Jump. It's a standard battle shounen that was helped a lot by the fact that the studio responsible for the animation is ufotable (Fate/Zero, Fate/Stay night unlimited blade works, Tales of Zestiria etc).
The problem is that the animation quality is the only really good aspect of the anime. When you have a higher score on MAL than true masterpieces like Monster, Gurren Lagann, The Monogatari series, The Tatami Galaxy, Ping Pong The Animation or even Fate/Zero from the same studio it's clearly that something
...
is wrong.
The story is as basic and plain as they come, nothing really original, nothing really interesting, the arcs are repetitive, just like in My hero academia. The main characters are annoying, and they have a massive armor plot, almost at the same level of things like Fairy Tail. The main character Tanjiro at one point is given the help of his father's ghost and he learns a new technique on the spot, a completely unannounced thing, no foreshadowing at all, it just happened just for Tanjro to survive. And that is not the only ghosts that helped Tanjiro, earlier in the series, 2 ghosts of former apprentices of his master appeared and helped Tanjiro to get more powerful. Maybe it's a Star Wars reference and Tanjiro is Luke Skywalker, who knows.
Basically when the author created the world in his work, I don't think he thought too far, like how to properly apply the rules of the world he created which is a shame because he breaks the very rules he created so he can get his characters new power-ups and save their lives.
The design of the characters is also pretty basic, the worst being that of The Pillars who seem like they are directly recycled from certain characters from Bleach or Naruto.
As for the comedy, although I think comedy is subjective in general, I can't help but find the so called comedy, cringeworthy in this anime. Zenitsu in particular I think was written as a stress relief character, but in the end all he brought to the table was pure cringe. Inosuke at least is better in that aspect.
The handling of the drama is also poorly made. Basically drama in this anime translates to Tanjiro and co. almost getting killed, plot armor generated powers coming in, so the demons can finally get killed.
The animation is great, one of the best this year, I don't really have any complaints here and the soundtrack is good but pretty forgettable
This anime has become quite popular just because anime as an entertainment medium is becoming quite mainstream and Kimetsu no Yaiba acts like a gateway to anime for many new viewers, just how many of us have started with anime like Gundam, Cowboy Bebop, Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Naruto, Bleach or My Hero Academia. The difference between all these shows is that some are well written, some are not. Kimetsu no yaibase falls in category two unfortunately.
Also the argument that some give that it gets better in the manga, as the first season covers only the beginning of the story is a completely illogical and irrelevant because I only judge the anime here not the manga here and I don't judge based on future events in the manga, I judge on what happened in season one of the anime. The bottom line is that season one, which is just the beginning of the story, is nowhere near as great as some people make it seem.
My final rating is 5/10, which according to MAL ratings it means average or mediocre, and that's what I really think it was. Great animation and a nice soundtrack does not save this anime from the fact that all the other aspects are modest at best.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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