Like everyone else in the world, in 2020 I jumped into the Demon Slayer series. First I was intrigued, then yanked by my heart strings into the dark abyss that are these feelings I now have for the series. I would love to say that this series was recommended to me by a friend, but that would be a downright lie. I was recording the episodes to this new show when it started airing on TV, not having watched it or really knowing what it was about but interested in starting something new. Then a guy from work kept going on and on about this series and was on my case constantly about it, and kept giving me a mass amount of recommendations. I would love to point out that at the time this guy was one I wanted to stab repeatedly because of his wrong opinions about the series Naruto, which I know I’ll have to talk about later. Anyway, to shut him up I binged the TV series and then the manga in its entirety.
I feel like I looked into the anime/manga abyss too long, because it seems it took my look as a “hey, surprise me with something that will kill everything inside me”, and ran with it. My god, this series. There is just too much to talk about and just not enough air to get the words out for this series, I mean… Where do I even start? Screw it! Let’s do a breakdown of the show. Okay, Demon Slayer is about a young boy, Tanjirou, who returns home to his family to find them killed by a demon, only finding his young sister Nezuko still alive or so it seems. Learning his sister is now a demon, Tanjirou goes in search of a cure for her, by becoming a demon slayer and bringing down the demon who condemned his family.
First off, that summary pulled you in, I know it, you know it, just admit it. Even though the main protagonist has a tragic story and uphill battle, spoiler sorry! We are able to see him grow and develop, along with getting some really great funny moments too. The strange extended cast of characters is also a big help for this. Meeting fellow new slayers, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, both of which are insane in their own ways. Zenitsu is the biggest coward you’ll see, but also an amazing badass. Then there’s Inosuke, who runs around with chipped blades and a boar head on. You know, your typical gang of main characters. These two are just naming a few, season two introduces so many more that we just barely get to meet in this first season.
The last two parts I’m going to talk about for this anime are the animation and fight scenes. The animation in and of itself is stunning, there are so many moments throughout each episode that will just leave you breathless. All of which goes hand in hand with the fight scenes, because with each new technique learned with Tanjirou’s blade, or any other, we see them reflected in the blade swing. An example of this is when water style is used, as the blade is swung or released from its sheath it literally shows waves of water in the motion as if it were the blade itself. This is why Demon Slayer quickly became one of my top five of 2020, it just pushes all the buttons to have you keep watching. See? With this one review of season one of Demon Slayer, I’m really pulling you all back into your anime phase.
Demon Slayer: Kimestu no Yaiba Season 1 is now streaming on Netflix, Hulu, and Crunchyroll.
