Demon Slayer Season 1 (VIDEO SCRIPT)

Today on Anime Saturday, I take a look at Season 1 of Demon Slayer. Let’s begin.

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/Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba is an action-adventure anime adapted from the 2016 manga created by Koyoharu Gotoge. It tells the story of Tanjiro Kamado, a kind-hearted boy who sells charcoal to help provide for his family in a post World War I Japan. When he returns home from a trip, he finds that his entire family has been murdered by a demon and that his sister Nazako has been turned INTO a demon. After meeting a demon slayer named Giyu who was on the trail of the demon responsible and convincing him to NOT kill Nazako, Tanjiro seeks out his master in order to train to become a demon slayer himself, in order to track down the demon responsible for murdering his family and to turn his little sister back into a human./

Readers, I first heard about this anime through Tristan of YouTube’s Glass Reflection through one of his first impressions video back when the season was only about a few episodes old. Which, considering how I initially heard of the anime The Promised Neverland and other modern anime that isn’t initially introduced to me by my friends, should come to no surprise to you.

Nowadays, I have a few more online sources regarding finding out about anime shows I should probably watch. My current favorite is the channel Get In The Robot

Now considering both Demon Slayer and Fire Force were what was hot and new in the streets at the time, I knew that I was only going to be able to commit to probably one of these shows at a time considering my schedule

That, and the fact that I was starting to really get bored of multiple genres of anime at the time; shonen and isekai being a couple of them.

I saw what Fire Force was about, read the premise and saw the character designs and pretty much went:

“Oh. It’s an anime...about supernatural...fire...fighters... Welp, Demon Slayer it is, then!”

No shade to Fire Force, I should state. Mostly because it’s...it’s already casting shade on it’s own; it’s literally an anime about fire

But considering what was relevant to my interests at the time Demon Slayer was beginning, and it being on Tristan’s recommendation list of new anime to check out, I decided why not?

And Readers, I am SO glad I decided to give this a shot; this has a lot of things I’ve been wanting in shonen anime for quite some time.

It doesn’t have EVERYTHING that I want, which I admit, is kinda impossible considering my tastes and the current state of Japan when it comes to some stuff, but it gets pretty damn close

And a lot of things that helped when it came to my overall level of enjoyment with this anime; specifically the overall story and arcs that were covered, how they helped mold Tanjiro’s personality and how it subverted my expectations when it came to the secondary characters Zenitsu and Inosuke

But before I talk about the overall story of Demon Slayer, can I just talk about the animation first? Because that shit was beautiful.

Everything flowed great on screen, even when the characters were standing still.

/And while it was pretty easy for me to tell which background characters and renders of the main characters that are far away were 3D renders, it wasn’t OBVIOUS-obvious. It was more along the lines of how the 3D model of Goblin Slayer in Goblin Slayer was used for walking animations and whatnot. The work smarter not harder mentality with the 3D models didn’t cheapen the overall hand-drawn animation, which is usually my main concern when it comes to this animation hybrid that eastern studios and some western studios utilize when it comes to animation./

Sorry, I just REALLY needed to say my peace about how Demon Slayer utilizes 3D models in its anime. I’m not the biggest fan of 100% CGI anime, so I really appreciate seeing how they dealt with it here.

But there are definitely a couple of things I appreciate about the anime a LOT more.

A few of the things I really enjoy about Demon Slayer -- specifically season 1 -- is how it dealt with pacing.

/Yes, the beginning of it played to the beat of a lot of predictable tropes (play the loving scenes of Tanjiro’s family and say “Yeah, y’all gonna die...), but in order for the story to play out the way it was going to, it kinda needed to happen./

As I’ve stated time and time again, there’s nothing wrong with utilizing familiar tropes when it comes to storytelling, since there’s no such thing as an original idea.

But you do get bonus points if you use the tried and true tropes while also finding a way to have your story stand out on its own, and I feel that Tanjiro’s origin is a good example of finding that uniqueness in familiarity.

/Also, the way it both montaged and didn’t montage Tanjiro’s 2-year long training and initiation into becoming a Demon Slayer I thought was pretty much the perfect blend of not doing too much and not doing too little. It found that “just right” balance of letting us know all of his struggles in learning his sword techniques, fighting demons and learning the severity of his new profession, and how quickly the society of Demon Slayers work when it comes to new recruits./

Couple this with his overall origin in regards to what drove him to become a Demon Slayer in the first place, and you have a very solid first five episodes of a 26 episode season, and honestly the rest of the season’s 21 episodes are just as impressive with how they tell their tales.

With each of the demons associated with them that aren’t the Billy Jean-ass “Big Bad” of the anime as we find out over the course of Tanjiro’s journey, revealed to not be the horrible human-killing monsters at heart that we thought they were.

/Except Rui. He doesn’t deserve that compliment. You really gonna use the words of that Smooth Criminal ass bitch to free yourself from taking responsibility for killing your family, and then terrorize OTHER demons into joining your cult just because you forced yourself to believe that the lie you’ve been living was real?

/Every other demon that got an epilogue DESERVED Tanjiro’s compassion; you were just bitch-made until you realized at the last minute that you fucked up and tried to pull some OG trilogy Kratos shit to keep yourself from feeling bad. You don’t deserve Tanjiro’s compassion; you deserve to have your kimono stepped on after Giyu decapitated your “we live in a society” havin-ass. Fuck Rui.

/Also, Tanjiro? Why didn’t you collect his blood, my guy? Lady Tamayo gave you one job, bro; collect the blood of all these Organization XIII-ass demons in Moonwalker’s Twelve Moons club.

/You had enough strength to pat his bitch-ass on the back before his body disappeared. Why couldn’t you do the only thing asked of you that would result in helping the baddest bitch in Tokyo develop the Demon equivalent of a Greater Restoration potion so that you can do what you joined the Demon Slayer Corps to do in the first place and turn Nezuko human again? HIS BODY WAS RIGHT THERE. And instead of using that hot-ass knife needle to collect his blood and give it to her invis-o-cat, you pat his back instead after watching him try and force your sister into his cult on some “I know that feel” shit?/

It might sound like I’m complaining here, but I assure you I’m not. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, but what he did during that instance is probably a good representation of one of the main things I enjoy about his character

Tanjiro is such a breath of fresh air compared to other protagonists I’ve seen in modern day anime.

/He’s smart, he takes no bullshit from whack-ass worthless bitches, and he’s pretty much on par with Deku from My Hero Academia as far as male anime protags that are unafraid to display their emotions while still being badass, which means a LOT to me nowadays. His resolve to always want to help others -- even when the perpetrator is from his own circle of friends -- never giving up and properly thinking about proper and efficient ways of doing things, and seeing his overall drive and display of personal morality over the course of his adventures helped me really take into consideration why I consider him one of my favorite protagonists in modern-day shonen anime so far./

Along with one other thing.

/From what I’ve heard, it was Tanjiro’s battle with Rui in episode 19 that made people realize that Demon Slayer was the best shonen anime of 2019. But for me, it didn’t happen that late. It happened during the middle of episode 7, when Tanjiro did this./

This one scene was what made me realize that I was really gonna enjoy this anime.

/The sincerity, the comfort and the very tenderness of the smile alone just gave me so much of what I’ve been wanting to see in shonen anime for quite some time, let alone a protagonist. Any other protag would’ve either tried to give this guy who just lost his fiance to demons a speech to get him out of his funk with traces of “man up like I did” thrown in for good measure. But all Tanjiro did to successfully let him know that he walked the life he’s just now started YEARS ago was hold his hand and smile./

While I do value smart protagonists that take multiple things into consideration when it comes to things like fights and decision making -- common sense being one of them -- I rarely see characters in Shonen anime make decisions like the one Tanjiro did in episode 7 to help reassure someone a protag is helping that things are gonna be okay.

And the fact that Shonen anime are doing a better job at properly portraying that male protags don’t have to always be this narrow-minded definition of what it means to be a man nowadays is incredibly refreshing, and isn’t just a one-time thing over the course of this season, I’m glad to realize.

/Yes, be badass. Yes, be diligent. Yes, continue to spread the message of never giving up in the face of adversity. But you can also show how much you care. You can also cry when you need to. You can also toss away this hardened depiction of what people expect you to be like and show the features others may think are too soft. Male shonen characters don’t have to be a constant source of dated descriptions of masculinity, even in period pieces like Demon Hunter, and the way Tanjiro’s character is written proves it./

I kinda got that feeling from both Zenitsu and Inosuke. But like I said earlier on in the video, I found out that my expectations were HIGHLY subverted.

To better explain, lets talk about the side character I THOUGHT was gonna be my favorite, Zenitsu

The reason why I thought he was gonna end up being my favorite was mostly due to how everyone began to meme Tanjiro’s initial meeting with him outside the Final Selection

The cell phone one still takes me out. Like, what is he looking at? WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LOOKING AT??

/I was kinda expecting the Shaggy scaredy-cat angle from seeing him in the opening credits, so it wasn’t that big of a surprise when I saw how cowardly he truly was. That’s mostly due to my own expectations of him; I was hoping that over the course of the season it would get better and it could bud into something greater./

I always imagined Tanjiro being the person that Zenitsu strived to be like because of the type of person that he is.

Looking to Tanjiro as an inspiration to get out of his cowardice, to become a better person and the two forming a stronger bond because of the ever-changing lights the two see each other in. Y’know, kinda like how they handled Persona 5’s Ryuji Sakamoto and the main protagonist codenamed Joker

Or as I like to call him, Scooter McDooder

And despite how the anime introduced us to him on the way to the drum demon, it kinda felt that they were going that way. Especially when it came to him protecting Nezuko’s box from Inosuke’s attacks.

/The anime went about explaining Zenitsu’s overall depiction of Tanjiro in the first half of that episode in a way that I thought was really touching and said so much about Tanjiro’s character that even a dude who’s only been around him for about an hour or two can easily tell that he’s someone that people want to be around just by osmosis alone. So much in Zenitsu’s case that he knew Nezuko was a demon inside that box thanks to his heightened hearing, but actively made the decision to protect it from Inosuke because of Tanjiro stating to the children that what was inside meant more to him than his own life. Not only is this a great skeleton to create a solid friendship body on in my opinion, but shippers THRIVE off this shit./

But every time the anime does something to help establish that being Zenitsu’s role, it just doubled down on the foolishness for the sake of keeping him the comic relief.

/For every attempt to understand why Tanjiro was carrying a demon, more time was spent showing that he’s a womanizer-in-training. While I understand why it’s the case, at least 5-10 variants of “Like, Zoinks, Scoob!” are displayed before we ever get any proper presentations of the only two instances of his Hidden Badass trope whenever he fights on screen./

And for every bit of actual development for Zenitsu, we get-

(Zenitsu yelling at Tanjiro and Inosuke for not taking advantage of being around girls, followed by me facepalming during certain cuts)

I have no doubt in my mind that Zenitsu eventually DOES become the character I was hoping he would be in season 1 later down the line if I read the manga. What surprised me however, is that in season 1, Inosuke actually filled that role.

/Also, the fact that they pulled a scene from The Shining to introduce him was fucking PERFECT/ Inosuke’s intro scene accompanied by Shining Music

The best way I feel to explain Inosuke is through D&D terminology. So, excuse me non-D&D players, but this needs to happen.

/Inosuke is a 5th level Path of the Berserker Barbarian. His second highest stat is in Charisma for some strange reason because HOLY SHIT LOOK AT HIS FACE, he’s proficient in athletics, perception and survival, and the fact that he’s capable of comprehending 75% of what’s told of him throughout the anime shows that he barely has a Plus 1 bonus to his Intelligence./

I can tell from watching him throughout the anime, from this one-sided rivalry he developed with Tanjiro ever since he got his rib cage shattered and his head caved in, he lives for competition and finds it almost everywhere involved with Tanjiro.

/Even when even when said competition is spawned from unintended Reverse Psychology/

(Burial scene accompanied by “Did you rub my lamp” dialogue from Aladdin)

The best part about it is that Tanjiro doesn’t pay it any attention. If anything, it’s used to their advantage by the time they deal with Rui and his “family” on Mt. Natagumo.

Some might consider that to be a bit boring, considering how one-dimensional Inosuke sounds on paper.

/However, what separates Inosuke from Zenitsu when it comes to Tanjiro is that while sometimes it feels like whatever closeness Zenitsu and Tanjiro develop over the course of the season is played up for laughs, Inosuke finds himself feeling a certain kind of way whenever someone -- ANYONE -- pays him even the smallest bit of affection and kindness. Including Tanjiro. Those scenes where Inosuke has those balls hovering around his boar mask? That’s not to signify “dumb-bitch cricket” moments. Those are “I’m blushing under this mask/senpai noticed me” moments. And despite whether it was intended for comedic purposes or not, it comes off as pretty genuine and helps better establish their relationship by the time Tanjiro and Inosuke are on Mt. Natagumo, despite Inosuke’s rivalry with Tanjiro being one-sided as hell./

Another thing that Inosuke does better than Zenitsu in this season is progress.

/Because of what’s going on within his headspace regarding his relationship with Tanjiro, finding himself WAY in over his head when he fights Father one-on-one, and watching Giyu finish Father off before leaving him tied up for the medics to carry him to safety, the near-death situation causes Inosuke to forcibly humble himself because he realizes that he’s not where he needs to be -- both physically or mentally -- in order to handle threats like this. So much, that by the time the trio is at the medical ward in the Demon Slayer Headquarters, he’s not trying to pick a fight with Tanjiro upon his arrival or goat him into starting one. Insead, with barely a voice, he says THIS/

(The first “Sorry I wasn’t strong enough”)

Not only did a genuine smile come across my face when I first saw this scene

/But the fact that him watching Tanjiro grow stronger during their rehabilitation training lit a fire under his ass to get just as good instead of just constantly challenging him to fights to either prove he’s better or just because he likes fighting was just...beautiful to watch. In 16 episodes of the first season, Inosuke underwent an entire development arc, came out better because of it, and didn’t lose a single bit of his personality that people find themselves loving about his character from his initial introduction; you just LOVE to see it./

(Growth scene from Insecure)

Of course, there are a couple of gripes I have with the anime.

/There are a few scenes that try to reinforce that “be a man” mentality and throw a bit of underhanded sexism./

But considering how much progress the anime made with establishing Tanjiro and his band throwing that toxicity to the side, I just chalked it up to being that this anime is based in Japan a bit after World War 1 and not everyone is as progressive as they are

Also despite one or two scenes of Zenitsu declaring himself and being a pervert, there is little to no fan service in this bitch at all when it came to how the female characters presented themselves, and bitch I was THRIVING

/And the fact that some of said characters actually checked Zenitsu on his bullshit before the three left for their next mission after getting healed up from Mt Natagumo and finishing their training was hella refreshing to me./

So while it’s not necessarily EVERYTHING I want in a Shonen anime, because I highly doubt something like that exists over there in Japan as a shonen anime, Demon Slayer is not only pretty close when it comes to showing that the traditional shonen tropes can be utilized with characters that don’t cater to the rules of toxic and fragile masculinity, but it’s also just flat out fun to watch and I highly recommend you do so if you haven’t.

Right now you can stream Demon Slayer on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu.

But if you wanna catch the official dub of the anime on local cable television, you can catch it when it airs Sundays at 1:30 am on Adult Swim

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So with that being said Readers, your homework assignment for the day. Write in the comment section what you thought of Demon Slayer: Season 1 if you’ve seen it.

Also, if you have any suggestions for any more “progressive” shonen anime, leave them in the comment section below as well. Because now I’m curious.

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But until then, this is Readus 101. Class dismissed.