Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen

Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc is probably high up on a lot of people's watchlist this year and for good reasons. The franchise has amassed an enormous fanbase. Helmed by one of the most famed animation studios today, there's no short in terms of expectations for this season. At least that's what it looked like from the surface because prepare yourself, those expectations aren't what truly holds up this season.

Coming straight from the previous seasons, Swordsmith Village Arc immediately features a host of characters ranging from the main cast, the Upper Rank demons, and among characters that we may or may not ... care about. As a pilot episode, I confess that upon rewatches, it did not truly hold up to its standards. Perhaps my expectations were a bit high but I can't deny the fact that the season premiere featured far too many characters. Some of these include supporting characters that seems irrelevant or beg us to ask why we should care about them. On the other hand, the Upper Rank demons are a fascinating side with their unpredictable natures. We should remind ourselves that they are the elite among the elites, and likely serves as the main antagonists for the rest of the season. Still, we do also have the familiar cast rejoining this season such as Tanjiro, Nezuko, Genya. New faces among the cast includes the charismatic Mitsuri Kanroji and the mysterious Muichiro Tokito. Brace yourselves because this season is more than just about Tanjiro's life and his adventures.

The first few episodes tries its hardest to appeal with entertainment by throwing in humorous gags and comedy. Demon Slayer has been a serious anime from the start but it also loves to have fun with itself when given the chance. However, fun doesn't come easy as Tanjiro trains his hardest. With its cartoony segments, we are also introduced to cartoony characters such as Kotetsu. As Tanjiro trains, we are reminded ourselves the harsh life of a demon slayer. Luckily, he's given the chance to be part of the Swordsman Village. Without going into spoilers, it is a setting where weapons are forged and is a prominent part of demon slayers' society. The arc focuses this location as it also becomes a central battlefield between the demons and demon slayers.

One of the more fascinating element of this anime is the antagonist Hantengu, with a very unique ability revolving around emotions. To be honest, he has potential to become one of the most dangerous antagonists of the franchise, given what he's capable of. Watching his battles against the demon slayers shows the testament and capabilities of the upper ranks. They are no pushovers as Tanjiro quickly finds out the hard way. Meanwhile, we also do have some of the other prominent supporting cast playing their roles. Muchiro is perhaps he most interesting for his background story and his unorthodox way of dealing with problems. On the other hand, we don't get to see much of Mitsuri in action until later on. By the time she does get the highlight, the arc seems to have its climax and peak. And to be honest, I think this is a problem with the season. It can be described in one simple word: pacing. The first episodes had a slow awkward way of introducing us to the Swordsman Village while trying to progress Tanjiro's training. The mid-season focuses more on the battles themselves with some background storytelling thrown in between. Structured in the format as an "arc", I suppose they were focusing exclusively on events at the Swordsman Village. The main supporting character known as Muchiro managed to outshine majority of the cast with his characterization. Meanwhile, Mitsuri becomes a source of attraction or distraction, depending on how you perceive her character. Nonetheless, 11 episodes designated that the season had to start and conclude with events in this village. Even with the finale extended to more than 1+ hour long, it's a questionable decision. The season deserved more episodes or part of something bigger than 'arc'. It tried to be too safe and lacked the character development compared to previous seasons. Knowing this season, it felt like the arc tried to just be fundamentally sound as possible with its pacing. Don't get me wrong though, it's still a watchable season for sure and among one of the most extensively chereographed anime of the year.

And of course, we can't forget about Ufotable being the force of bringing this anime to life. Watching Swordsman Village had its explosive energy and chereography with jawbreaking cinematics. Every episode did have its movie-like feel that captured the height of its action elements. Still, don't expecting much different compared to the previous seasons. As I said before, this season played it too safe.

The question we should ask ourselves is not whether this season is enjoyable but if Demon Slayer can truly exceed our expectations. It felt like the first season was its absolute peak while now, it just feels the anime is more or less on autopilot mode. There's no doubt the anime community and Internet will talk about this season for years to come. But compared to the first season, this one missed the mark.

Demon slayer is back again with amazing production as always. However, this season feels the shallowest out of all of them so far. There is very little effort put into the build up of the arc at all and it just felt like after the demon castle scene that the show was trying to get to the fight scene as quickly as possible.

The plot is just somehow with zero explanation or link from the previous season the antagonists get here and somehow the protagonists just happen to be in the exact same place. Without a good plot and build up the arc is up ... to the quality of the characters and fight scenes to carry it. Unfortunately, the fight has been poorly written so far with almost no palpable tension at all and the pacing plays a role in this. The demons just don't feel threatening: they even do the cliche batman villain stereotype of I've hit u with my trap card and then proceed to walk away without killing the hero for free. The animation and choreography is as amazing as always though so its still a relatively enjoyable watch.

Overall demon slayer's character cast and plot have always been extremely weak, but in this season it felt like absolutely no care went into the narrative at all. A setting was made just to create a reason to fight and that's it. The worst season yet but if you enjoy brainless shounen fighting it's still a fun show

The major problem about Kimetsu no Yaiba has always been that its quality can be observed in two extreme ends.
On one hand, the visual design of the characters (obviously by the mangaka) is sublime - the costumes and overall aesthetics of the them are a couple notches above an average shounen title. This is also coupled by the choreographics of fighting scenes, as canonically most if not all "breathing" moves are inspired by natural phenomena - and as such their visuals are followed by bright and vibrant overlays of what I understand as their representations. Add in ufotable as the studio which is handling the ... animation of all such scenes and you get a seriously stunning animation.
On the other hand, the series is constantly dealing with narrative constipation. The characters are shallow beyond belief - if you'd ever complained about a shounen title's lack of depth and poise in its narrative, you'll be surprised how much better they will seem in contrast to the slop you're served with... this. Every character in this series is built plainly upon a single quirk, with absolutely no development into their personalities. They will always have one-dimensional responses to anything they experience to a comical extent.

If you are reading this, it's highly likely that this kind of a review isn't new for you as you've watched the other seasons as well. However, it just gets worse with this season. 5 episodes in, what we get is a highly elevated visual feast accompanied by a bland, soulless development of a story which could be worded by a character in less than perhaps a minute per episode in full detail. I'm not expecting anything better into the season in this regard. What keeps me watching is just the absurdly good audiovisual quality. What makes me nauseous on the other hand is Tanjiro growing ever shallower, accompanied by the very existence of Mitsuri whose existence is just comedic at this point (just why)

While Tanjiro keeps giving every demon PTSD we can sit back and enjoy PDST (Peak-Demon-Slayer-Theatre)

Unfortunately however, we’ve come to a point when we got a “weak season” of Demon Slayer.

Let me start by saying that Demon Slayer is like family for me. The story of siblinghood between Nezuko and Tanjiro is something that makes this series absolutely heartwarming and just wonderful in my eyes. Just as all the characters backstories and their development is splendid to watch. It’s not a secret that this series isn’t mastermind deep. Even though it uses cliched traits, it has amazing little details just as its historical aspects ... and essences which makes it a unique and pleasant experience to watch.

In conclusion, this series is an easy reach of an interesting and charming story, extraordinary fights and family like cast. While it has so many memorable life quotes and inspiring moments. Which also makes it simple to enjoy and for me personally more valuable that it would be a deep, but an empty anime.

So with that being said, Demon Slayer is a show that people will either love for its little details, or hates it for its greater mistakes, which is totally fine.

This season was surprisingly slow. It could have been the reason that the manga didn’t had enough source material to make it fast paced like the previous season Entertainment District had. However, I don’t feel that to be the case.

What Ufotable did last year was absolutely insane. You could have put every frame of season two into an art gallery and they would be the most impressive pieces, but what it made it incredible crazy was the overall direction of the show. So many things happened and events were pretty much unpredictable. Situations could have turned from terrifying to an upper edge then again even more helpless in a instant. It was a rollercoaster of hype and emotions.

While this season was not just slow, as for the reasons I’ve mentioned, but also motionless. So many times characters where standing or saying a dialogue before doing a single action. Which made it quite uninteresting, therefore it losed all its suspense.

In my opinion they could have done this season within 8 episodes instead of prolonging an already short source material to add more episodes that will serve nothing to the watcher just makes it less entertaining and gives it a more static sense.

“Just because you can, it doesn’t mean you should”

The CGI wasn’t that bad overall, however.. I don’t think that we have to take this route and I’m talking about using CGI in general, but especially when we are talking about a studio like Ufotable. Which is other than blessed with incredibly talented people, they’re also has only a single project to focus on (other than Genshin Impact). And I strongly believe that they could have hand drawn everything significantly better than rendering it by computer. It takes more time I know, but I would have waited one more year instead of getting a “fine” level of CGI fish demon or wood dragon. Just take Akaza’s entrance as an example.

It’s fair to say that there was a distinguishable amount of inconsistency throughout this season which is simply unlike to the standard of Ufotable’s work we know them for. It seems to me that the directors underperformed this time, although they were absolutely spot on with the previous seasons. As for example Tanjiro’s rage against Daki was hands down one of the most wildest moments in anime, just as they were pretty much able to give this unique work a gorgeous and genuine adaptation. With this season, they just missed the mark. Or did they set the bar way to high last year(?)

Finally, but not least let me also mention and appreciate the stars of this season.

Kanroji, the awaited Love Hashira’s aesthetic really gave me the old Sailor Moon vibes, mostly due to the nature of her personality.

What I really liked about Muichiro, the Mist Hasihira is the resemblance between him and Tanjiro’s.

It was also cool to see Genya in action, which brought some unexpected moments with his character appearance.

Overall, Demon Slayer is a work of art. The aesthetic of the manga art style and the genuine sense and composure brought to life by its adaptation is truly remarkable.

However, this season was only 6.5 in my book, which is a whole 2.0 score lower than the previous seasons. (It’s also my personal score, which can be slightly differ than what the anime core value reflects). In spite of this fact we have to remember that this isn’t an Indian soap opera, but the most refined and the best action based Shounen of the current generation. So it should be treated as such.

Therefore, I believe in Kajiura Yuki, one of my favourite composer and each of the staff members of Ufotable studio that they can enhance and deliver greatness once again. On a par with the level of the first and last episode’s quality.

At least, I really hope that they will take their time and don’t rush it, because they have to.. They *MUST ANIMATE* the remaining arcs using 200% of their skills, summon it by force!

Maybe, with this season they just take a deep breath before infinity castle and sunrises.

I really do hope!

Thank you for reading!

This season has been disappointing. The pacing is the biggest issue. Unfortunately, every tv show, book, or movie that tries to put too much into one season, chapter or ~2hr film, will always have pacing issues. Too many characters, plots, flashbacks, and scenery shots to fit into their respective time slots. The problems this creates, in this season, are obvious. Characters feel shallower because we get less time to feel the emotions they are going through or know who they are, fights feel boring despite being flashy because our brains haven't been given a reason to care about the fight since it's been thrust upon ... us so fast. Each episode feels like 5 minutes and feels like nothing actually happened because if we stay on one character for too long we alienate the other plots and characters that are happening at the same time. And if you do try to slot them in, the little bit you end up showing isn't enough to make the audience feel like anything actually happened. The quality is still there and there is enough of a plot to still keep fans of the series interested in what happens. However this season is definitely a downgrade.

Yea, this is far the worst season if Kimetsu no Yaiba.
I am not joking. I loved all the previous seasons

The story is pretty mid (I am not sorry). The only thing I can find interesting is they put 2 hashiras instead of 1. Oh, and genya. Blud didn't do anything in this season, so I am very disappointed in his return. If they want to add more supporting chars, they should've at least let us know their personality, characters first, but no. They introduced them like in 3 episodes and then they went into a full fight from episode 3-11. The way how they're tying ... to kill that demon is fucking annoying.

Tanjiro : I sliced ur head haha
Demon : Sike bitch, you have to slice all of my heads
Tanjiro : Well I sliced all of ur heads
Demon : Sike bitch, you only need to slice the real one
Tanjiro : I sliced ur real head
Demon : Sike bitch, I am actually a mecha lmaooo
And those bullshits are continuing for 8 episodes straight

The animation is very inconsistent. I liked kny's prev animation quality, but this season's quality is a downgrade. Some effects looked very very rushed in some scenes. Some scenes looked very blurry cuz they use too many fogs efx.

The music is good, I have no comment on that

The direction feels really really boring. Some scenes are just full of monologues, inner thoughts, flashbacks, etc. Some dialogues are really really cringe. Some jokes aren't funny. This season has executed very poorly from the last season.
The only good thing from this season is that last episode. The last ep os kny s3 that is the Kimetsu I've always known. The rest are shit

If only the last episode isn't that good, I would give this season a 4/10

Since the last episode is actually really really good, I give this season a 5.5/10 -> 6/10

Let's do this one last time...

My name is Demon Slayer. I'm one of the most hyped anime of all time but today, I've become most overhyped mess.
First off, I've no complaints regarding animation. This is demon slayer, alright. I watch this show only for that sakuga however small and I bet a 1000 that 90% people are the same. Also, I have some respect for the staff because they're really working with a poor story. So there's that. On to the opinions!

Season 1; no upper rank demon. Had a hype moment.
Season 2; one upper rank demon and a Hashira. Had a flashy hype moment that ... well exceeded previous season.
Season 3; 2 upper rank demons, 2 Hashiras and Muzan Jackson backstory. There wasn't a single hype moment.
Why Ufotable? Why I am asking?
See, for the amount of annoying character interactions, predictable plot, nth backstory of a demon as human or whatever crap it had thrown, I've never felt dissatisfied completing a Demon slayer season. But this season is whole another level. Because now, it not only lack hype moments, it also filled a lot of new flaws.

Tokito vs Fish Demon (Idc about its name). This is a Hashira and upper rank demon going face off. Comparing this with Uzui vs Gyuu fight, this almost feels like cheating. The fight felt just how Giyu slayed Rui from S1, unexpected and dissatisfying. For the amount of superfluous sympathy it created with his backstory, the way he just killed him made me really really disappointed. Like that's it?
And then there are these 4/5/6 demons? (I lost the count and again, idc) It's just so dull. I feel like a 10 year old crying for chocolates, but that has been the show's demographic anyway. My reaction while watching this season was anything from "idc" to "idc but oh look flashy lights". The only moment that I vaguely remember being kinda epic is the "Dragon Dance" moment, where Tanjiro slays all 4 heads. Especially, the sound effects in that moment were satisfying to ears.
And then there's Mitsuri's backstory, about her strong body or something. Like, if you compare backstories we've seen so far, in every Hashira's backstory there's at least someone being dead. And her backstory is like, "Oh my God! I'm stronger than all the guys and now they hate me", like sorry for the offense, but that's like "I'm noT lIkE thE other GirLs" backstory I've seen lol.

Excluding all that, what's with the final episode? I'm not talking about Tanjiro thunder clapping his thighs, we've seen enough asspulls already, but why the heck Nezuko' (spoIler)? If anything, the moment where Tanjiro couldn't decide was a very engaging scene and by far what truly felt like a moment for some honest character development. But then, the show throws a happy ending... I really don't know why I'm so infuriated over something with low expectations but this is not what I'm expecting.

Conclusion
Sorry if my rage spoiled your mood.
I'm dissatisfied, disappointed and I'm about to go to sleep so you could say my day's ruined, but still, I don't hate this show. That might sound like hypocrisy, but I really don't. I stopped hating fictional things for a while now, because now I'm busy hating real things. Anyway bottom line,

Animation still carried the show but the weight of a poor story is too heavy.

Demon Slayer has a problem.

I want to preface this first by saying that I do like Demon Slayer. I think it’s a fun series with great, choreographed action, likeable characters for the most part and fantastic animation, regardless what people say about the CG. It is a fun series to watch that I do look forward to each week. It does do things right to make up for its shortcomings. The problem is that those shortcomings are starting to become more and more noticeable as we get more seasons/movies. This season in particular has made it reach a point where it’s becoming near impossible to ... ignore.

Demon Slayer has gotten into a comfortable pattern with its storytelling where it’s starting to become too formulaic. The story goes like this. The first couple of episodes sets up the scenario. Tanjiro and Nezuko meets the Hashira or Hashiras that will be featured in this arc. There is a strong Demon that needs to be dealt with and they fight the Demon which will encompass the rest of that arc. Now tell me which arc I am describing? You should because I basically described all of them since halfway of season one. It’s getting too repetitive as to how the show structures each arc the same, only really changing the scenario and what Demons they fight. There would be some flashbacks that unlock some secret potential or they get intervened. Tanjiro would give it his all until he gets bailed out by a Hashira. You see where I am going with this? THEY . ALL . USE . THE . SAME . FORMULA. It just gets annoying how much the same story structure gets recycled over and over again.

This season in particular is where I need to stress it because it doesn’t di anything interesting with that formula. Especially coming off the Entertainment District arc where it was able to maximize this formula to the fullest. With great, emotional action and nice twists to keep it interesting and to freshen things up. Don’t get me wrong, this season does try to spice things up, it just doesn’t do them as effectively. As such, it makes the show’s problems more obvious because it doesn’t do enough to mask it.

Then there are the characters. Now I do like the characters in Demon Slayer because they are easy to route for due to having likeable personalties. Except for Zenitsu which, side note, THANK GOD his screentime in this season is minimal. Nice to have some peace and quiet without him screaming from the top of his lungs every chance he gets. But a problem with Demon Slayer’s characters are that they are uninteresting. What I mean by that is while they have personalties that make them enjoyable in the moment to moment scenes, they are uninteresting once you get to know them. To use a description, “They are nice looking rivers, but they are so shallow that there’s little point standing barefoot in them.” What doesn’t help and what I think is the deciding factor, is when they decide to drop their backstories when it looks like they are about to die. It’s just poor timing because you ain’t interested in right now into who they were, no, your interested in seeing if they make it out alive because the action to that point has been intense. Dropping these backstories at a pivotal point just breaks the pacing. This season in particular does it three times, so it just gets incredibly annoying. “Now is not the time to get to know them, save that for when the pace is slowing down. Right now, I want to see cool sword action.”

One thing that hasn’t taken a dip in quality is the animation. There aren’t any complaints when it comes to the show’s animation. It is sill well animated, the fights are still awesome, the colours used are still vibrant, character designs still look great, even though Gyokko design looks so out there for a daemon. Daemon designs in Demon Slayer (If you think I’m spelling daemon wrong, I’m not, that’s how it’s spelt in England), have always been great because you can still see aspects of their previous human form despite looking daemonic, but Gyokko looks really silly and just doesn’t fit with the other daemons. The CG is still well used when it comes to panning shots, giving it a faster feel and I do think the hate coming towards the fish monsters is overblown. I mean, how often do you see a CG monster have reflective eyes? Again there isn’t anything to complain when it comes to the animation. It’s always been consistently great and this season is not different.

Soundtrack as well is also just as great as ever. I do like the new character themes as I do think they are thematically appropriate with their personality. There is also the OSTs that play during the action scenes and they still elevate the action as well, helping you get pumped and more engrossed into it. Again, much like the animation, there isn’t really much to complain because it’s still consistently great with the other seasons. Same goes with the OP as well. They are, as well, consistently great openings and "Kizuna no Kiseki" by MAN WITH A MISSION and milet is no exception. I am a big fan of MAN WITH A MISSION and their songs in OPs are generally good but milet adds so much to this. Both artists bounce off each other really well and the animation is still great, giving is a preview for what’s to come in this season. It is defiantly one of the best OPs of the year so far, which shouldn’t be shocking given past Demon Slayer Openings. The ED though, not so much. They really couldn’t replicate the collab in the OP and they produced such a weaker song compared to the OP. It is not helped by the visuals are basically slide panels and they while they look nice, they aren’t particularly interesting. So while the OP is a slam dunk, the ED is very much a whimper.

Listen, I may seen quite a big negative towards Demon Slayer but I want to iterate again that I do enjoy watching Demon Slayer. If it’s able to keep me coming back to watch the next episode, it’s clearly doing something right. But the problems I have with Demon Slayer seem to only get more noticeable and the fact I didn’t enjoy this season as much as previous seasons only made things worse. The story is really my biggest gripe. It’s just so bare bones and too formulaic for its own good. The Entertainment District Arc has really felt like the peak as to how effective this formula can be but this arc just hasn’t done it effectively in my opinion. This is a problem that can only be masked for so long. My Hero Academia had this problem with it’s own story structure for a while until season six remedied that. The characters as well have got to get more interesting to know about. Tanjiro is a character to root for but he is so boring and the other characters that the arc focuses on are not interesting despite having likeable personalties.

That right there is the thing. While, there are things I like, there are some things there to counteract that and brings it down. Not necessarily to hamper my enjoyment but how much freaking praise this series gets despite its flaws. Guys, this is a good series but it’s not anime of the year worthy. There is just so little meat to cover all these strong bones. You can’t look at the strong animation and cool fight scenes and call it anime of the year. If that was the case, then show’s like The God of High School would’ve been considered masterpieces. Yet again I’ll say, I do enjoy Demon Slayer, I do like watching, I just don’t think it’s as good a people say and this season in particular just felt like the breaking point for me just to write this up and say how I feel

It does not not help that this season really is the weakest arc in the series so far because it really is more of the same but not adding anything that makes it special. While the fight scenes are still excellent, the constant breaks in pacing due to the backstories, the bare bones story once again and the fleshing out of characters just still continue to be not interesting just brings this season down as a whole.

“High quality animation and sound can only carry you so far before your story and characters have to hold up their own weight”, is a phrase I’ve used in a few of my reviews and it really does apply to this particular season of Demon Slayer.

Does that mean you should not watch this season? No, of course not. It’s still enjoyable and the show’s strengths are still in full effect here, but it’s flaws are more noticeable than before and why I just haven’t enjoyed it as much as previous seasons. I will still come back to watch more, but the grievances will remain for now.

Story: 4/10
Characters: 6/10
Animation: 10/10
Sound: 8.5/10
My Personal Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Overall Score: 7.0/10
Recommendation: Basically continue what you want to do, but I will say watch it.

Midslayer review time!
Demon slayer is as always, all style over substance, extremely repetitive and boring , monster of the day madness with pretty animation and a frankly undeserved music score…..

I still feel all things considered Demon slayer season 3 is actually a very huge improvement over the previous season in all honesty.

Last season was such a slogfest , each episode we got hit with the “HAHA you thought you got me ? this aint even my FINAL FORM” and it dragged on and on for eternity , Sure the animation is jaw dropping , but you don't sit around for a show that is basically ... the main character monologuing “ think tanjiro think, the infamous tanjiro KANGAERO ” in every goddamn episode. This time around the side characters get more of a chance to be explored and the fights are more rigid and interesting rather than moving around in an infinite loop of ‘sword hits sword with pretty colors’ kinda situation.


Plot (4/10)
Demon slayer just has the plot of a shitty repetitive game , where we are introduced to the same elements over and over and somehow supposed to give a shit.
There are severe plot holes in demon slayer that have been essentially abandoned for an easy to understand tier based enemy team system and a similar one for the home side , this is probably and intention move by the author to simplify and make it as easy as possible without any nuance for the less sophisticated viewers , while also maintaining a little bit of substance by having backstories some tragic , some that give you “wait I have heard this some…” and a instance in this season where , sorry for the lack of context but those who watched will agree with me .….

All he had to do was tie his arm up and he acted like a realist and died a dumbfuck.

No explanation is ever given about what exactly is the regular life of a normal person , it goes through a more gamified route where other than the demon slayer corp and the demons the rest of the characters are NPCs with some of them having small roles like calling nezuko cute or tanjiro kind or sometimes serve as family to the important demon slayer characters or their counterpart.the plot is basically explore a new beautiful and culturally significant part of the Map … no sorry japan and fight there with the enemy have a new side character hashira join the fight , gib hashira backstory make us care for hashira , then rinse and repeat the plot is basically that of A COMPLETELY REPETITIVE RPG GAME.


Characters (3/10)
“I am a nice guy so I pull respect and girls every time from everyone , I make no mistakes , I am full of potential and don't even have flaws in my moral character. My only real challenge was my sister being a demon but you know what I don't really care about that since last season”. This is the most hollow inhumanely idealistic bullshit of a protagonist that I have ever seen! I bet he would even make the goddesses of his universe blush. Seriously with a main character like this it's no wonder even most demon slayer fans agree that their favorite character will never be tanjiro. It makes even Goku look like a good lead. The classic friends / rivals of tanjiro the MC are not much better , zenitsu is a pathetic excuse of a “hidden talent” who is usually just a simp for nezuko while croaking and sleeping through most fights , inosuke is the comic relief attempt whose name mistaking bs joke has already been beaten dry to a pulp . Most of the hashiras have their backstory ripped off from other anime is the feeling I usually get because none of them are unique in any way or form and just serve as motivation to go attack mode or some sorta powerup or like a performance drug rather than have any emotional or psychological impact on them.Mitsuri had a decent bit of backstory which was a welcome change from the usual sobstory for every hashira. And well about muichro , he did a complete 180 character wise after the usual sad guy moments.


Art and animation (10/10)
Yes i admit it , this and the sound design is probably the only reason i keep torturing my poor brain to keep going ufotable knows what the majority of the audience is here for, and delivers it fabulously , amazing and unique art which is further enhanced by the best of the best the japanese anime industry has to offer in animations. The Op and ED were also gorgeous , the art and animation remain immaculate as always and need no new introduction or critic so ill leave it at that.

Sound and VA (8/10)
The ost has always been incredible in DS . most of it is unused and new and always adds nicely to the atmosphere , the impacts of attacks and slicing of swords have a surreal sense of force in em because of this ost ,OP and ED are both amazing but i cant help but feel they cut some budget in the ED since its mostly still frames. The VA of tanjiro has evolved and is no longer cringe the rest of the newer cast do a good job too.


Well its Demon slayer , whether we critic it or not and even if we point out the obvious not much will change , I can appreciate that the stakes in DS are atleast less shounen and there is a real sense of danger since rengoku. But after the cashgrab of a movie (which is a shame the first movie was quite good and had me rooting for the series) the series is mostly going on a nosedive which we saw just a slight glimpse of hope in s3 in terms of plot . all that as it may be , every anime fan should definitely watch Demon slayer it is the bridge that connects us to the general audience after all.

Much like the prior season the characters are still stupid and unrealistic, and the shockingly bad comedic timing still kills EVERY emotional scene. That being said the show is carried by 10/10 animation, and awesome action scenes. When the pacing is good this show is great. When it slows down, and the dialogue plus """"hUm0Ur"""" rears it's ugly head, the series becomes a real struggle to watch. Recommended for: Fans of the previous series, or those who don't mind terrible characterisation.

The characters are genuinely invincible... This classic shounen trope has NEVER been abused as much as in Demon Slayer, and it causes every fight to ... have 0 tension - much like the previous arc, the final fight intentionally baits the viewer by generating hollow dramatic moments. The comedy is distracting and is CONSTANTLY used to kill all form of drama or tension, it feels like the writer has two personalities: One who wrote the interesting world, cool martial arts, and nice action set pieces; The other whom writes hack jokes and terrible characters.

But hey, the characterisation, story, and falsified drama doesn't really matter when they're throwing hands - or well, swords.

I'll try to keep this short and sweet.
I was very pleasantly surprised at the beginning – especially after the last arc (ouf) – but my excitement waned towards the end. The jokes really landed for me and the characters felt good, or at least not so chauvinistic and sexist lol (looking at you Tengen).
It actually made me laugh out loud a couple of times, which is very unusual for me. Of course, that's very subjective.

What is less subjective is the pacing problem this series has had since the Mugen train arc, and unfortunately this is still the case here. The character arcs feel incredibly ... rushed and as a viewer you don't really have time to feel as emotionally invested as the dramatic backstory recaps want you to be. The last three arcs feel like they were all written to the exact same formula, which didn't work for me in any of them. While there's nothing inherently wrong with having a formula for writing arcs, this whole systematic approach to character development really alienated me more than it made me feel for/with the characters.

[the following section contains information that some might consider spoilers]
The story also hinted at some sort of moral complexity in the human vs. demon conflict, but did not follow through, which was really disappointing. To remind the viewer that there could be a lot more depth to the antagonists, and then just do a 180 on it, is like saying: "Here's how the story could take a clever turn and stop being so black and white, but that's not this show 🤷‍♂️". It's so stupidly bold. I almost respect it haha

Stylistically, it can't be repeated enough how good Ufotables' production is. They have really mastered the use of 3D and post-production to create a truly unique blend of techniques. Not for everyone though! Personally, I preferred the look of the series when it first aired, where it was closer to the manga, but you have to give credit where credit is due.

Overall, the season started strong for me, but went a bit downhill towards the end.
It's a good watch if you‘re in for the effects, epic battles and occasional laughs, but it's certainly not a must-watch. Unfortunately, that's what the whole series turned out to be imo.
But I'm just a guy who said something on the internet. Watch it for yourself and enjoy it, or not, who's the right to judge? :)

"Life is like a demon slayer's sword. It's sharp, it's shiny, and sometimes, it just doesn't cut." - A Hashira throughout this entire show

Welcome demon slayer stans, to the rollercoaster ride that is, your apprent greatest story ever, Kimetsu no Yaiba [back at it again, for that one show every year]. It's like a demon slayer who forgot to sharpen his blade - it's still deadly, but it doesn't quite hit the mark, and by missing i mean, absolutely haymaker slashes. It's not a disaster, but it's a solid, disappointing 6. It's like the rice ball that's been left out too long - still fills ... you up, but leaves a stale taste in your mouth. Not even a sakura rice cake would help us here, trust me.

The story is like a demon with a bad sense of direction - it's going somewhere, but it's stumbling around in the dark. The characters are like a group of slayers who forgot their uniforms - they're trying their best, but they just don't look the part.

The direction is like a blindfolded Tanjiro trying to find Nezuko with his smell - it's aimless and confusing, and very very weird to process cause thats weird. The sound is like a snore fest - it's just loud, and the best ost's are the ones from previous seasons, great , excellent creativtiy there.

But it's not all doom and gloom. There are moments of brilliance, like Inosuke finding a perfectly ripe melon in the middle of the wilderness, oh wait sorry that didnt happen, wish it did, i would have given it an 8 then at least. This arc, seriously makes you get instilled with thoughts like we can or we will be soon finding a demon who doesn't want to eat humans, oh wait, we did didnt we, okay why then, why do they not eat humans [question ignored subtly by subduing journalist with silence the breathing second form].

So, should you watch Kimetsu no Yaiba: Swordsmith Village Arc? Well, if you're a die-hard fan who's willing to sit through a few dull episodes for the sake of the story, then yes. But if you're looking for the same level of excitement and quality as the previous arcs, then you might want to lower your expectations.

In the end, we're all just viewers trying to find our way in the dark. And sometimes, we stumble and fall. But we get up, dust ourselves off, and keep going. This is just that one fall, now we gotta dust this shit off before it infests.

Thanks for reading, you beautiful demon slayer. Until next time, stay sharp.

As in previous seasons, Kimetsu No Yaiba is being carried by their animation and fighting sequences, although during several sections, CGI animation has been atrocious. We cannot deny the fact that most of this fighting scenes are exquisitely choreographed, to the point of each episode feeling like a movie in some regard, but the truth is that Kimetsu no Yaiba is decorative marvel, but with no substance at all.

The story lacks any meaningful depth, and it does not try to innovate in any aspects regarding modern action shonen. We are thrown over again into a story of killing several monsters in order to get to ... the big boss monster, to save the world. This is something that has been seen since the 80s, or even before that. This is already the third season of the show, and according to the manga, we are already 3/4 into the story, nevertheless it feels like our main characters have had no progression at all, except for Tanjiro. The world feels stale and Ufotable is trying to extend the lenght of each arc for the sake of getting 12 episodes out each season.

Some side characters in this arc are a nice addition to the overall dull cast this anime has, especially Tokito Muichiro, with a backstory worth exploring and telling. But the rest of characters are just there for the sake of the plot alone.

Soundtrack and music are another high point in the series, with each episode being elevated with beautiful songs and beats, even tho I am not a huge fan of the Opening song, the Ending song is great, in my opinion.

In conclusion, I feel like KNY is a decent show with some great moments in animation, but with mediocre characters and story. It has a great technical work behind (if we ignore the CGI). I would recommend this show to anyone that has just started watching anime, but for if you have been in this world for a fee years now, I would say: look for something else to watch, or just read the manga.

Demon slayer is a series with goods and bads that balance each other... at least before this season. The swordsmith village arc is the latest season in demon slayer, but sadly it has been quite disappointing. Don't worry, I am well aware that this is widely considered to be the weakest arc in the whole series, and that the other seasons are still really enjoyable. To me, demon slayer is a show with many flaws that are covered up perfectly with its magnificent animation, which very few shows are able to replicate. However, this season is where its flaws start to show up even more ... and many of its good points start to disappear.

Let us start with everyone's favourite thing about demon slayer, how the show looks like. While the show still looks great, there were undoubtedly points with jarring 3d animation that killed immersion. However, that is not the main issue here. My biggest problem with this season is its lack of colour. Other than the last two episodes, the show has been using a dull, grey background, and when there were even less fights in this season, many parts of the show just felt like watching paint dry. For comparison, the last season was full of colour, not only because of the vibrant colours of the entertainment district, but also because of there being more fights, which made many of the cool breathing effects appear more. Thankfully, ufotable was still able to make the finale look beautiful, which was the saving grace for this season.

Animation aside, the elephant in the room is the story, dialogue and pacing of this season. These parts were never the strong points of demon slayer, but this season is where we can see the flaws becoming more apparent. This season has been moving at a snail's pace, with very little fighting and utterly pointless dialogue in every episode until the last two to three episodes. With so many moments where nothing happens, the show kind of becomes a snorefest. The story has never been strong in previous seasons, with many formulae that they keep repeating, such as the flashbacks or 'baiting' viewers into thinking someone has died. However, most of the excitement from the fights are also gone in this season. Compared to season two's fights, this season's fights felt.. disconnected. In the previous season, there was something, a common goal, that connects all the main characters together to overcome the challenge of defeating the demon. In this season, all the fights were separate, and honestly I don't even understand the point of having some of the hashiras or upper ranks being there. It felt like the author wanted to show the character, but at the same time they served zero purpose in the arc. Throughout the season, you can feel that ufotable is trying their best to stretch the season to a full cour, causing this awkward and messy pacing. They shouldn't be afraid to change the number of episodes for their seasons, similar to attack on titan or other shows.

In the end, demon slayer is still a show that many will enjoy due to its fancy surface, but very few are willing to acknowledge its hollow inside. Despite that, knowing that this is known as the weakest arc of the series, I have confidence that ufotable will do their best to make the last few seasons the best they can be. Here's to a better next season 🥂

Swordsmith Village Arc is the third season of the ever eminent anime Demon Slayer. Coming right off the back of the Entertainment District Arc, this third season has quite the expectation to live up to. So does it? No, not really, but it's still pretty decent. Speaking of which, I will be doing a lot of comparisons to the previous season as this third one picks up exactly where we left off.

This third season takes place at a swordsmith village, believe it or not, and focuses on the two main characters, Tanjiro and Nezuko, as well as two Hashira, Kanroji Mitsuri and Tokito Muichiro. Unlike ... the last two seasons, Inosuke and Zenitsu have no significant role in this season.

Moving onto the actual review portion, I give this season a solid 7 out of 10. It's a fairly good and competently made show and shouldn't be a waste of anyone's time, granted that they are already invested in the show from the last two seasons.

Pros:
- As is expected from Demon Slayer and UFOTable, the art and animation are second to none here compared to the competition. Comparing it to the last season however, I will say it lacks the visual spectacle and jaw-dropping final fight scenes of the second season. Fights and attacks look as stunning and spectacular as ever but lack the scene choreography to really sell the action.
- The sound design and music continues to be at the top of its game and remains just as good as it's always been. The detail of the folly is incredible and highly immersive and the soundtrack catapults you to the stratosphere.
- The characterization of Muichiro and Genya really bring them to life. Their backstories, albeit somewhat derivative, are tragically dark and really serve to endear the audience to their character when they've come across as unlikeable or underdeveloped before.

Cons:
- The story in Demon Slayer has never been anything to write home about and such is the case with this third season. The story just really isn't anything special and merely serves as a good enough foundation for cool action scenes to take place in.
- The pacing throughout the entirety of this season was particularly slow. Certain scenes dragged on for much longer than they needed and it sometimes felt like the only thing the characters were killing was time with the way they'd converse in the middle of a battle.

Overall, Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc is a pretty decent anime season, and still stands above average compared to most anime, but ultimately fails to live up to the expectations set up by the previous season. I think Demon Slayer is going to have a tick-tock content cycle where one season will be UFOTable conserving money and resources for the next season so that they're able to go all in just like in the Entertainment District Arc.

Episode 6.
Well it was good and it had some deep moments that proved to be actually sad and tragic but that was already pretty much expected .
Here we had some nice fights but not on the level of previous episode but thats a good thing in some sort of way.
We also learned about history of Genya and Sanemi and it will probably put some tears in eyes.
Animation was once again clean and nice to look at.
So I think how some of you may found this episode good but there are some of them who will find it little slow.
Anyway , I am looking forward for ... next one.

Personal Short Review
Let me keep it simple & minimal spoilers:
- Story is ass (for an anime rated this much & with this much popularity)
- Characters introduced are generic and could be considered annoying; the only character that was realistic is Muichiro's brother
- Comedy is absolute worst

The good things about this show is only Ufotable's effects & art (Fight scenes reminds me of Fate's with one of the OST being similar)
Sound design is great but the opening isn't as great as the previous seasons


Really don't get it why Demon Slayer uses cringe childish comedy - which isn't funny at all - when the show's filled with ... blood. (Seems like they made it for literal kids even though the ratings on Netflix is 16+ & includes blood every fight scenes as well as designed Mitsuri with revealing breasts)

This season is probably the weakest DS season as of now.

Conclusion: Fan service season probs, I guess ppl only rate high for Mitsuri & are hardcore DS fans. If you like Demon Slayer & do not watch anime to see great story, then this is for you. Watching this show requires being braindead for me atleast.

In this season we get vase breathing bubble boy and Oppai breathing cleavage girl.

To be real tho, imo this season falls pretty flat compared to the Entertainment District, the pacing is very sluggish.
We just be getting backstory after backstory, to the point that even vase breathing bubble boy decided to hang out upside down for 3 years contemplating life.
It’s been 8 episodes and we’ve seen like 3 Hashira breathing techniques, and only 1 of those was Oppai breathing. Speaking of which, Oppai breathing cleavage form hasn’t gotten her backstory yet, so that’s probably gonna take up another episode.
On the up side, the fight ... scenes that do exist are well animated, and the OP slaps. If they go all out and do some really impressive stuff in the last 3 episodes, I’d give it an 8.

When I first embarked on the journey of watching Demon Slayer, I held onto a glimmer of hope that it would eventually improve and captivate me but my dreams were crushed and flushed away in the Holy Ganga after this lackluster season.

Let's start with the subpar CGI. It felt out of place and poorly executed, detracting from the overall visual appeal of the anime. It's disappointing to witness such a drop in quality, especially considering the stunning animation that was prevalent in earlier seasons.

As for the story progression, or lack thereof, it was a repetitive slog through uninspired backstories of demons and Hashiras. Each revelation ... felt like a recycled narrative that failed to captivate or engage. Boredom seeped through every frame, leaving me questioning why I bothered to invest my time in the first place.

And the fights? They were an exercise in tedium. The once-thrilling battles were reduced to a snail's pace, devoid of any strategic brilliance or captivating choreography. It felt like a desperate attempt to stretch out scenes, sacrificing substance for mindless action. It was a sad and mind-numbing spectacle.

It was overall a mid experience for me.

The Swordsmith Village Arc is a bad sign for anyone who was concerned about issues that Demon Slayer has been presenting since Season 1, mostly concerning the overall plot from the larger down to the smaller details. This show is absolutely in love with presenting many new plot elements, and then choosing when, how much, and indeed whether they will explain anything about these elements. Information explaining Wisteria, the Demon Slayer (Nichirin?) Swords, the strikingly similar appearance of several characters, the abilities of characters, the history and motivations of characters, etc etc is given to us almost completely at random if it is given to ... us at all and sadly to say, in these 11 episodes we see a lot but learn very little.

Now the reason I have Mixed Feelings is because I think in some twisted way it's actually good to want to learn more. The fact that we care about these plot points now even in Season 3 means that we are still hopeful but it's looking a bit shaky. This season gets a 7 because the narrative is a mess. Only 11 episodes is not enough to explain what we just saw in a way that is satisfying. Sure, there were some tearful moments, and happy comedic moments, and some great fight scenes as well, but you don't really get time to breathe at the end and sit with the different characters about what just happened. Maybe this is an issue inherent with the Arc style that they are firmly committed to at this point. The first season felt like it had more flow and when we jumped to the next thing it didn't feel as jarring because our MC was just as confused about it as we were. Now that he is more confident and everyone seems to be on the same page it's more uncomfortable as a viewer to feel lost because it feels like we shouldn't be. When there's too many questions about how things work in this world and we've gone so long without explaining some of them it starts to turn confusion into frustration, and that's what may unfortunately end up killing this series in the long run.

There is a lot to be excited about with this series, but will it ever actually deliver on the promises that it makes? Will it put its money where its mouth is and actually explain these concepts, commit to the characters and the world it has created, or will it leave us out in the cold at the end like so many shonen before it? These are the questions you will likely be asking yourself at the end of this season. Overall it was still a fun watch. Definitely only watch this if you're a Demon Slayer fan and if you are, then it's a must watch. They've got us invested now but this does need to improve narratively to enter into the pantheon of Shonen Greatest of All Timers.