He’s Got Some Moves
Demon Slayer Episode 9
We may have slipped into even more standard shounen territory this week on Demon Slayer as the battle with the two demons extends the length of the episode and we end with the battle as yet unresolved. Not that it was bad. In fact, the fight has been pretty interesting so far and some of Tanjiro’s attacks are bordering on spectacular even if they’ve yet to actually do significant damage.
One criticism I will make of the episode is the amount of reused sequences. We get a flashback to them discussing collecting demon blood and a replay of a sequence within the same episode. Not to mention the opening sequence is essentially a replay of the end of the previous episode. While the new material we got looked great, there was definitely some padding in this episode that just didn’t sit right and definitely felt like a cost cutting measure.
However, petty criticisms aside, it was difficult not to get swept up in the fight this week. As Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the demon doctor and her body guard go from cowering from attacks and getting beaten down to moving onto the attack. Even knowing three out of the four of them are demons and can regenerate, there’s still substantial weight behind the situation as characters lose heads and limbs alike (though they are going to have to explain why losing his whole head didn’t kill him).
As for Tanjiro, he’s being pushed harder than ever before (not that previous battles have been easy). He’s pulling out all the moves he’s got and for once his sense of smell showing him the winning move didn’t decisively and more or less instantly end the battle. Equally, he hasn’t pulled out some new secret move or gotten a mysterious power up. He’s combining the skills he’s shown the audience he has in new ways to fight a foe more powerful than any he has faced and while he’s taken a battering he isn’t down yet.
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I do love the water effects when he’s fighting though. Early on it seemed a little odd and slightly intrusive, but honestly it is beautiful and makes his attacks so much more dynamic and interesting to watch. Plus they continue to change up how he uses these attacks allowing for a variety of appealing visuals.
The fight goes on and while I am still hoping this doesn’t end up being the kind of show that drags on fights for episodes at a time, there’s very little to complain about in this episode other than the fact that the fight is yet to resolve and a little too much repetition in between spectacular attacks.
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Karandi James
Have you missed a review from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba?
Images from: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Dir. H Sotozaki. Ufotable. 2019.
Yeah, that replay of the fight after the flashback from the previous episode annoyed me and it’s one of the things that really grates with shounen series. It’s as if they don’t trust us to remember stuff. Otherwise, it was a lot of fun. I’m loving the designs of the demons so far.
Yep, I get recapping stuff if it happened a lot of episodes ago or seasons ago and it is suddenly important (and they don’t trust the audience), but recapping stuff that happened literally last week at the end of the episode just seems like filling the run time for the sake of it (or insulting to the audience).
That said, it is a standard for the genre so I’m rolling my eyes and moving on. The rest of the episode was pretty fun.