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**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS**

In the past when anime fans used to have standards, Kimetsu No Yaiba would have never gotten as popular as it did. Every season there’s always an anime that’s visually pleasing that fans really seem to enjoy whether well written or not. Unfortunately, Demon Slayer is heavily praised for the sole reason that is its animation and soundtrack. None of its other aspects are even talked about by its fans because- well there’s nothing to praise.

Story: 1
The story starts out very strong, which only adds to the disappointment. A boy comes back to his house only to find his entire family ... killed by a demon. This has rarely been done before, and if presented well, it might have actually been interesting. We get to see Tanjiro’s family for about 3 minutes total and when they die and his sister turned into a demon we’re supposed to care? No we aren’t, because there wasn’t any build up that could have possibly made the scene as intense as it was portrayed to be. The story resets every 5 episodes with a very similar premise “kill the demon with a different attack”. It’s like watching Scooby Doo where every episode (or arc in this case) is continuously repeated with minor changes. Not to mention the way it is presented is far from perfect, or even good. Some parts of the story are dragged out (Rui), some are too short (Swamp demon). They rarely manage to make parts of the story interesting, and when they do, they completely ruin it with a horrible fight that contains no strategy whatsoever. The training and exam arc are so indescribably bad. The exam lasts for 2 episodes and only has one fight scene that was won with the power of friendship and determination. The training arc was the most cliché shonen arc ever. A hinted message that the trainer told their student, and achieving something (slicing the boulder) for the test to be over.

Art: 10

Studio Ufotable always manages to bring out some of the highest quality of animation. This is really the only thing going for Demon Slayer and the sole reason it even got this far. The animation is very fluid, it’s very hard to spot a badly animated frame. The fights are very well animated as well. Even when a room is constantly rotating, none of the same shots are reused. The character designs are astonishing, they’re very colourful and there’s a lot of emphasis on facial expressions. The hair and clothing is very well detailed, not to mention the bright, stunning eyes. CGI is almost never used; most of the fight are very fast and use a variety of different angles, yet it isn’t used.

Sound: 4
As a musician, saying that I am insulted at this series’ soundtrack is an understatement. I believe that what makes an anime’s soundtrack good is how well it fits the story’s atmosphere. Now Demon Slayer, greatly fails at doing that. The soundtrack sounds very modern, it doesn’t sound like samurai fighting demons, it doesn’t sound like serious battle music, it just sounds very insipid. Sure, the music is catchy, and for an average watcher probably sounds very good and fitting. But would you want to watch a western movie with K pop playing in the background. “Tanjiro No Uta” (the soundtrack played in episode 19 during the fight) especially fails at incorporating the show’s theme into the music. It starts off with a piano in a minor key, which is already a problem for a fight that’s supposed to be action-packed and intense. As it continues, it transitions to a female vocalist singing, accompanied by an orchestra in the background. This never will fit Demon Slayer’s fights because it’s very bland. It lacks emotions and it doesn’t draw you into the scene because it doesn’t fit the anime’s theme. When you think of fighting demons, you probably imagine intense or loud music, not a slow-paced, sad cadenza that suddenly becomes louder, but still remains slow. This is done numerous times throughout Kimetsu No Yaiba and it’s intolerable.

Character: 1

Here we go, the weakest aspect of Demon slayer: its characters. Every character has one personality trait and no development whatsoever. Inosuke’s only personality is being overly aggressive. And Zenitsu’s only personality is being a cowardly pervert. The characters are not interesting, nor are they funny. Nezuko is the most annoying character in the entire series, she doesn’t have a backstory or any development throughout the show, so it’s very hard to care when she’s about to get hurt. The main character is the most typical shonen protagonist that has every cliché I can name. A good-hearted kid fighting to save other people. The demons have no personality or motive whatsoever. The only actual interesting demon (Rui) who’s motive is to have a family like humans do, was presented so badly, the creator had to find a way to write him out. The main villain Muzan, only has one scene that I could never take seriously because he didn’t get a proper introduction. Giyuu, who doesn’t have a single personality trait besides being serious all the time, only properly appears once in the entire show and then for some reason, the creator thought it would be a good idea that he kills the demon they spent about 5 episodes building up. With no strategy or anything close to that whatsoever, he calmly approaches Rui and slices his head off.

Enjoyment: 1

Boring and cliché story. Nothing interesting besides animation which is the least important aspect after sound. Same fighting constantly repeated with no strategy, characters don’t have a personality. Rushed arcs, rushed fight scenes, no backstory to the characters and the soundtrack is insulting. You might be able to enjoy this if you don’t care about storytelling and just want mindless action which in any case, most other shows do better at that.

Overall: 3

A lot of people think this anime is a masterpiece and to be fair, you probably will too. Frankly, I feel bad for the people who actually thinks it’s well written and has good characters. Did anyone actually talk about this series before the anime came out? No, absolutely not. It’s carried by animation and fan service for action-thirsty fans.