Another year of Anime comes to a close and 2021 is finally over, although better than 2020 (at least I went to school and got to spend time with the boys and the rest of my friends). Still not as good as the pre-2020 years (is that what we're calling those days? I hope somebody destroys every wet market in China so this never happens again). You may be wondering why I'm talking about the year? Well dear reader I want to take a moment out of your time and discuss the incredible OP we received this season. Is it better than Gurenge? Honestly, I couldn't tell you if it is, what I can tell you is that the OP is amazing with some hints in there about who our villains are. The OP itself feels very much a celebration of Chinese New Year? Even though it's Japanese, I'm pretty sure their cultures intertwine a lot given the location proximity. Hopefully, I don't get canceled for that comment. This makes sense given the Christmas-themed Taisho special at the end of episode 3 and obviously, New Years' comes after Christmas, I believe this is DS's attempt at trying to gain some hype to overpower Attack on Titan which if they are, they pulled it off. The ED and OST aren't anything too special though they get the job done.
Animation - 10
As for the animation I don't have much to say it's done by ufotable do you need me to say more? They blow pretty much every other anime studio out of the water with the exception of MAPPA (in the current era).
Characters - 5
Every episode is hyped up by the non compos mentis (that's a real word) fans and we got a 46-minute special first episode. If you were a hater of Demon Slayer, even after the movie then I doubt the second season will convince you to fall in love with the show as everything is the same. Although (and this is a massive although) Zenitsu has gotten a lot less annoying compared to the first season, he doesn't bawl nearly as much. Yeah, he's still for the lack of better words: a coward, a pussy, and a crybaby but everything has been dialed down a lot. We see some noticeable and some subtle character growth from each of the characters. The Hashira guy is super flamboyant and has 3 wives which isn’t surprising if any of you guys knew the history of Japan (which some of you haven’t) or pretty much any nation in Asia.
Still my biggest issue with Demon Slayer and something that has remained an issue for quite some time; the characters. Tanjiro is fine but he’s your goody two shoes; “I wanna avenge my family” character that you see in half of the Shonen protagonists. Inosuke is the insane psycho that beats the living hell out of anything that stands in his way and Nezuko is the cute girl used to sell merchandise. And Zenitsu is… bad. I don’t expect every character to have some kind of Shakespearean type of polish to their character. I’m just not invested in any one single character apart from the Tengen Uzui. I'm fully invested in his character and his character design is totémo yuh huh deshita (excellent). Even the red and green painted nails work somehow.
Story - 7
The story isn’t anything to write home about though it is interesting enough to keep me invested. It’s been a while since an anime has kept my attention and this season of Demon Slayer isn't incredible. This isn't an anime trying to be the next Code Geass, Steins; Gate or Re; Zero it's not one of those sophisticated stories in which you can find yourself losing 10 hours of your life watching 26 episodes in one sitting. It's alright in the story department and a lot more interesting than My Hero Academia but that isn't a high bar to overcome.
Enjoyment - 9
I haven’t read the manga so I’m eagerly awaiting each coming Sunday. This season appears to be slightly worse than the first season which isn’t uncommon in Shonen action series so don’t freak out on me.
Overall - 8 (rounded down from an average of 8.4)
It’s a little early to be making a review so in fairness to both the show and the person reading this I will come back and add a couple of paragraphs or maybe I will have changed my opinion and the show ends up being hot garbage who knows? Though I’ll be signing Demon Slayer’s praises to the day I die, the show doesn’t have enough deeper meanings or unique attributes (apart from the art style) from your other generic Shonen Jump animes to justify a 10 and as the great Anime Man once said: “Reserve your 10s for only the anime where you love so much you can overlook any fault.” I think that’s something Joey said. though I don’t have enough time on my hands to show you which specific “Reviewing MAL lists” video he said it in. Wow, I got sidetracked. Hopefully, I didn’t scare you off like all those demons in the show… See what I did there? Pardon my wisecrack the demons aren't scary at all; this is a Shonen show after all.
