Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Remember how I said 2019 was the year of Shonen Jump last year? You have to understand 2019 gave us a total of 9 animes that were properties of Shonen Jump. That is an impressive number of animes and all of them were hits. Of course the anime that managed to wow everyone was Kimetsu no Yaiba. Also known as Demon Slayer, this was hands down the best anime of 2019 and one of the best mangas to come out in the last decade. The series was written by Koyoharu Gotōge from 2016-2020. While adding nothing new to the shonen formula, I can’t think of another series that does the shonen formula as well as Kimetsu no Yaiba and tells it in such a beautiful way. The series had a moderate run for most of its life, but all that changed when the anime came out in 2019. The anime blew everyone away and made fans out of everyone. The series managed to get so many new fans that the manga out sold One Piece in 2020. Yes, this series dethroned One Piece the god of manga for years only for it to end when the fandom was at an all time high. The anime was produced by Ufotable a studio I’ve never reviewed an anime from so I’m excited to talk about this anime. These guys are known for producing Fate/Zero and Unlimited Blade Works so I already know the animation is gonna be top tier. Let’s slay some demons and take a look at this masterpiece of animation, this is Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “Gurenge” BY LiSA. Hands down one of the best openings of 2019 (and there were a lot of good openings that year). LiSA just kills it here. The song is intense, beautiful, and feels you with hope that no matter how bad things get as long as you keep pushing forward they’ll get better. This song was such a hit that it even closed out the Olympics this year and honestly, with everything going on in the world this song is more powerful now than it was when we first heard it.
The ending is “from the edge” by FictionJunction ft. LiSA. When I first watched the anime I wasn’t a big fan of this song, but coming back to it now I realize that this song is very good. The beat, tone, instrutmental is very good as well as the voice of LiSA and the lyrics are very deep and meaningful. The song also does a good job describing the relationship of our two main characters.
Episodes 1-4
Alright, so the anime starts off at a slow and steady pace setting the mood and introducing us to the setting and characters. We meet our main character Tanjiro voiced by Natsuki Hanae (Qwen from Heavy Object), a young boy who works as a charcoal seller to provide for his family after his dad passed away. We see that he’s the oldest of his siblings who love him dearly, they live on a mountain, and even though they don’t have a lot of money they manage to get by. He goes down to the village to sell charcoal where he manages to sell it all but it becomes too late and an old hermit he knows invites him to spend the night so he won’t be eaten by demons (couldn’t you have just said it’s dangerous to climb the mountains at night?). Tanjiro takes him up on that offer and spends the night only to arrive home the next day and see that his family has been brutally killed (damn, it’s like the set from Dragonball Evolution. (Isis): A complete disaster? (Nitsuj): Yes). Thankfully, Nezuko (his young sister) survived and Tanjiro tries to carry her to the doctor but along the way Nezuko regains consciousness and tries to kill him. Somehow, Nezuko has become a demon and she thirsts for human blood. Just when Nezuko’s about to devour Tanjiro (and I do mean that in a bad way), he gets saved by a demon slayer named Giyu who captures Nezuko and explains that Nezuko’s blood was exposed to demon’s blood which is why she transformed into a demon (man that is some vampire logic right there). Giyu is about to kill Nezuko but Tanjiro begs him not to kill her saying that she still has her humanity (sure didn’t seem that way when she was about to rip your head off 20 seconds ago) but Giyu refuses to listen and even finds his groveling pathetic and pointless (Giyu: I’ve seen better groveling from an ant about to get stomped). When words don’t work, Tanjiro attacks Giyu and gets knocked out but almost wins with a surprise attack by throwing his hatchet at Giyu before getting knocked out (Giyu: He stood up to me and my badass sword all for the sake of his sister. Responsibility: A). Nezuko breaks loose and rather than attack Tanjiro, she instead tries to protect him and fights against Giyu who doesn’t kill her and instead just knocks her out (scene here: https://youtu.be/47eDlsbTnBg). When Tanjiro regains consciousness, he sees that Nezuko is still alive and Giyu tells him to go see an old man at the foot of the mountain named Sakonji and not expose Nezuko to sunlight as it will burn her (are you sure it wasn’t a vampire that killed the family?). After Tanjiro buries his family, he and Nezuko (with a wooden gag over her mouth which seems to pacify her) make their way to Sakonji’s place with Tanjiro determined to find a cure for Nezuko, save her, and get revenge on the demon that killed his family.
In episode 2 Tanjiro makes a basket for Nezuko so that he can carry her around during the day and keep her safe from the sunlight (it’s. . .kind of adorable. Scene here: https://youtu.be/B3kKo0DFB9I). They come across a temple which is occupied by a demon who attacks them. Tanjiro gets tackled to the ground only to get saved by Nezuko who penalty kicks the demon’s head straight off (holy shit having a demon sister is awesome). Despite getting his head kicked off the demon still fights as the head takes on Tanjiro while the body fights Nezuko (this anime is becoming intense and funny at the same time. How is that possible?). Tanjiro pins the head to a tree with his trusty hatchet (he’s getting a lot of mileage out of that hatchet) and goes to save Nezuko where he shoves the demon’s body off a cliff where it dies from the fall. This now just leaves the head where Tanjiro shows sympathy for the demon and is hesitant to kill it (it’s a bloody demon! Kill it! Kill it with fire). Sakonji shows up and watches Tanjiro hesitate to kill the demon saying he won’t be cut out to be demon slayer because he’s too nice (I agree. Now I like that characteristic, but this is a matter of life and death here). The demon eventually meets its end by sunlight (scene here: https://youtu.be/TY0yZc86s2k. Again, are you sure we’re not dealing with vampires here?) and Sakonji slaps Tanjiro for his hesitation. Despite this setback, Sakonji decides to give Tanjiro a test to decide if he’ll train him or not. The two men climb up a mountain and Tanjiro has to get back down all by himself before daybreak (sounds fair). The problem is the mountain is full of traps, the fog is thick, and the air is thin (I don’t climb but even I know these are terrible conditions for climbers). Despite all these obstacles Tanjiro is able to make it back to Sakonji’s cabin by daybreak not because his drive for vengeance keeps him going but rather his drive to protect and save Nezuko (scene here: https://youtu.be/IUm6TSbSN8I).
In episode 3 they managed to fit Tanjiro’s 2-years of training into one episode (you may think this is rushed but do you really want to sit through episodes of him training?). We do get to see a majority of the highlights from his training such as climbing down the mountain where the traps keep getting more dangerous, learning to wield a sword, deep breathing exercises, and becoming one with water (empty your mind, and be like water). There’s also Nezuko falling into a deep sleep and not waking up all this time (scene here: https://youtu.be/YFcMc0amTUM). After a year of training, he comes to his final test which is cutting a boulder in half with just his sword (a rite of passage for every swordsman). He spends 6 months all by himself trying to cut the boulder but has no luck (this is as far as he can go) and eventually a boy wearing a fox masked named Sabito comes to fight him where he points out all of Tanjiro’s faults and knocks him out with a wooden sword. Tanjiro wakes up where he’s greeted by a girl named Makomo who points out the defects in his fighting style and tells him about Total Concentration Breathing a technique that accelerates the blood circulation and heart rate to give you the power of a demon (it almost sounds like Luffy’s gear mode). The trick is to expand your lung capacity and the only way to do that is to train to death (ah~, the Saitama light course). For the next 6 months Tanjiro trained to the death with Sabito stopping by every now and then to fight him and beat him. Finally, in the coldness of winter, Sabito and Tanjiro (with his hair grown out. He looks good) fight each other where Tanjiro’s blade is able to reach Sabito for the first time and he wins. Sabito and Makomo vanish and in their place was the boulder sliced in half (scene here: https://youtu.be/0qffQXRb8Ok. Okay, either Sabito and Makomo were real, Sabito and Makomo were figments of Tanjiro’s hallucination bought on by frustration and seeking answers, or Tanjiro is just crazy).
Episode 4 opnes up with Sakonji revealing that he had intended for Tanjiro to fail the boulder test (you dick) but after seeing Tanjiro’s accomplishment he has no choice but to let him go take the final selection. Sakonji gives him a hardy meal (it tastes like accomplishment) and gives him a new kimono and fox mask. The next day, he travels to the spot of the final selection (geez, look at all the poor souls who will either die or fail) where all the candidates are greeted by these two creepy twins (they’re making the twins from The Shinning look normal) who tells them that their test is to survive on a mountain filled with demons for 7 days straight (and people said the mountain training was stupid. What say you now?). Tanjiro’s first night on the mountain is very action-packed. He takes out 2 demons by himself where we see his sword style is water based (that’s new. Usually it’s fire, lightning, dark, light, or wind based) and he’s able to perform perfect strikes thanks to his enhanced smelling abilities. He describes it as seeing a thread showing him when and where to strike (it’s interesting and something new to the whole aspect of sword fighting). After killing the two demons, he runs into an even stronger demon who we find out was captured by Sakonji 47 years ago and has been on that mountain ever since. Wanting revenge, the demon went out of his way to find and eat every pupil that Sakonji ever trained. The last two that he ate were Sabito and Makomo (so Tanjiro is crazy after all. I knew it) who fought the demon and were killed. Tanjiro attacks the demon and gets a knock out punch that sends him flying into a tree (oh~, that’s gonna be a few broken ribs) but gets back up, controls his breathing, and attacks the demon where he gets close for a fatal strike. The demon, believing that its skin is too thick to be cut through allows Tanjiro to attack (big mistake) and he slices through the demon cleanly to end the episode (scene here: https://youtu.be/S5f7FEAx8K0. He sliced a boulder man, your neck never stood a chance).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 goes by surprisingly fast. We start off by finding out that the demon actually used to be a human. He was a scardy-cat and had an older brother who he loved and relied on. That is until he became a demon and actually ate his own brother (https://youtu.be/fVeAEwrL1Ts). After Tanjiro defeats the demon he continues fighting other demons in the hopes of trying to find a cure for Nezuko and staying alive. 7 days pass and Tanjiro along with 3 other candidates survive and become official demon slayers (which means they get bragging rights). As their reward for becoming demon slayers they get a messenger crow and get to choose an ore that will be crafted into their demon sword. The sword will take 15 days to make (basically the delivery time for a non-prime Amazon member) and Tanjiro returns to Sakonji’s hut where Nezuko has finally woken up and he receives a warm welcome back with even Sakonji shedding tears at his return (he finally didn’t lose a student). 15 days soon pass, and Tanjiro receives his sword which turns into a cool black color on him (scene here: https://youtu.be/3LHP8U6_myY, he has a promising future). He also receives his first mission which is going to a village to eliminate a demon that has been abducting young women in the area (I’ve read enough doujin to know what’s happening to them).
In episode 6, Tanjiro travels with Nezuko in a new box to the village where women have been abducted. He finds a young man not much older than him whose girlfriend was stolen right in front of him (https://youtu.be/hvW33wqBZZk?t=4). Tanjiro is able to pick up the scent of a demon and when nightfall comes he manages to save a girl from the demon who can hide in shadows using mystical powers. Tanjiro fights the demon that splits into three separate beings (and give the guy credit, he fights very good for someone who has to carry his demon sister on his back) where he’s landing hits but he’s not cutting deep enough. Nezuko finally enters the fight (I think she was just tired of all the rocking) where we find out Sakonji did a little brainwashing on her. He convinced Nezuko that all humans are her family and that she shouldn’t forgive any demon who harms them (that might come back to haunt him).
We start episode 7 with Tanjiro diving into the shadows to fight two of the demons while Nezuko protects the two humans. Tanjiro manages to defeat the two demons and then returns to the surface where he chops off the arms of the last demon and begins to interrogate him on the whereabouts of a demon named Muzan the man who turned Nezuko into a demon and slaughtered his family (he also looks like a male version of Nezuko. (Shizuku): Really boss? That’s what he looks like? (Nitsuj): Yep. (Seras): You sure he doesn’t look like no one else? (Nitsuj): No. Nobody comes to mind. (Yume): You sure? Because he looks like someone very familiar with that hat and clothing choice. (Yin-Yang): Yeah, somebody very popular and iconic wore clothes similar to what he wears. (Neo): Someone so popular that even his music still influences people till this- (Nitsuj): Alright! Alright! Muzan looks like Michael Jackson from Smooth Criminal. (Seras): Really? We were thinking he looked like a Japanese version of Bob Marley, but now that you mention it he totally is Michael Jackson). The demon is too terrified of Muzan to say anything and in an act of desperation tries to attack Tanjiro only to die at his hands (scene here: https://youtu.be/rAF_yf21dN4. First mission successfully completed). With his first mission over, Tanjiro heads off for his next mission in Tokyo (the big rice bowl. Also, what time era are we in? We’ve got trains and cars so it’s gotta be the late 1800s early 1900s). Seeing how this is his first time in the city he’s naturally overwhelmed by the sights, people, and culture that he has to sit down and eat something. Just before he can enjoy his udon, he catches the scent of Muzan in the city and finds him in a crowd of people. Tanjiro comes face to face with Muzan and is about to fight him right then and there but stops when he sees that Muzan has a human daughter and human wife who are completely unaware that he’s a demon (it was a different time, he was lost and confused). As the episode ends the anime does a good job in establishing just how overpowered and dangerous the guy is by having him turn a human into a demon by just scratching them (https://youtu.be/qjBRNqwDPrU).
At the start of episode 8 Tanjiro puts the needs of the people above getting Muzan. He tackles the man Muzan turned into a demon and has bitten his wife meaning she’ll turn too if something isn’t done. The police arrive onto the scene (late as always) and believe Tanjiro is assaulting that man and try to pull him off. Thankfully, Tanjiro gets saved by a woman and a young man who just happen to be demons and want to help Tanjiro save the couple (demons helping humans. The world is strange). The demons introduce themselves as Tamayo and Yushiro. Tamayo is a doctor and Yushiro her loyal assistant (and obsessed admirer). They all go back to Tamayo’s secret hospital where she’s able to save the woman but the man will be a different story as he’s chained in the basement. We find out that Tamayo became a demon 200 years ago but thanks to medically alternating her body and Yushiro’s body they’re able to live among humans peacefully. They don’t have the same lust for blood as others thanks to their alterations. All they need is just a little bit of blood and they’ll be fine (or in Yushiro’s case, just stare at Tamayo and he’s fine). Tanjiro asks the big question: is it possible to turn a demon into a human? The answer, possibly. Tamayo has been researching this for quite some time and wants to study Nezuko’s blood as it’s nothing short of a miracle that Nezuko hasn’t gone on a rampage after going 2 years without consuming blood. Tamayo also wants the blood of demons that are on the same level as Muzan called the 12 Kizuki and ask Tanjiro to retrieve their blood for him should he come across them (this is almost sounding like a side mission in a video game). Tanjiro agrees to do this and as they continue talking, the place gets attacked by demons working under Muzan who wants them to kill Tanjiro as he has earrings that belonged to a demon slayer that almost killed him in the past (well we might know who Tanjiro’s father is and what he did in the past. Scene here: https://youtu.be/EbS8QEVCUPA?t=253).
Episodes 9-13
Episode 9 is very thrilling as Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Yushiro take on the two demons and get their blood (you know, the concept of this series would make a great video game). The first demon is a psychotic girl who has 6 arms and likes to throw temari balls at people (she was playing dodgeball before it came to existence. That girl was ahead of her time). The other one is a boy who is a neat-freak and has eyes on his hands (washing his hands must be painful) and can create arrows that send his opponents flying in whatever direction he wants. The fight against these two demons takes place throughout the episode where we get some good CGI animation (seriously, the CGI is hands down some of the best CGI I’ve seen in anime), a little bit of comedy to get a chuckle out of us, and an excellent ost to go along with the scenes just makes this episode a real treat to watch. The only real downside to this is the self-reflection dialogue of Tanjiro (he does it a lot in this episode). I get that they’re showing him analyzing what he’s up against and trying to formulate the best strategy so that he’ll win, but show don’t tell (you’re bringing us out of the action). At the end of the episode Tanjiro manages to defeat the neat-freak demon after taking a barrage of attacks and slicing his head off (give me your blood). As for Nezuko and Yushiro they take on the temari demon where Nezuko loses a leg (you’re out) and has a slow time regenerating it.
Nothing much to say about episode 10. After Tanjiro chops the neat-freak demon’s head off, he slowly dies but he refuses to die alone as he tries to use the last of his powers to kill Tanjiro. He sends Tanjiro flying in all directions but Tanjiro keeps countering with his own moves one after the other until the demon finally dies. We then return to the temari demon where Nezuko is back on her feet and gets into a soccer match with the demon to see who can kick the ball the hardest (spoilers, Nezuko wins). Tamayo finally steps in and unleashes a curse on the demon which allows the demon cells Muzan put in her to go berserk and destroy her from within (scene here: https://youtu.be/IQzJatbxFhc). This is interesting as Tamayo later on says that it’s pointless for demons to fight because they can’t kill each other but for some reason Muzan can. When the break of dawn comes, the demon dies where we unfortunately find out they’re not at the same level as Muzan but Tamayo takes their blood anyway (after all we went through you better). Tamayo and Yushiro decide to leave the region in order to escape Muzan’s attacks, and they offer to take Nezuko with them to keep her safe. While Tanjiro thanks them for the offer he politely says no (family stays together) and they take their leave where Tanjiro receives his next mission to the south.
Episode 11 starts off with Tanjiro meeting our annoying character for this episode Zenitsu voiced by the always funny and talented Hiro Shimono (Aki from Baka and Test), another demon slayer who was one of the only survivors after the exam Tanjiro was at and just a straight up coward (imagine Usopp from One Piece if they took everything likable out of him and gave him Asta from Black Clover’s annoying screaming that made your ears bleed every time he talked. You would get Zenitsu). So long story short the two are assigned the same mission which is eliminating a demon that has been capturing people and dragging them to a mansion. When Tanjiro and Zenitsu arrive at the mansion they meet two kids whose brother got captured by the demon and is now inside the mansion (yeah, he dead). Tanjiro and Zenitsu enter the mansion where the kids follow after them and they get separated into two teams by the mansion that keeps on changing whenever the demon beats a tsuzumi (Japanese drum). Tanjiro winds up with the girl while Zenitsu gets stuck with the boy (who is already a more likable character then Zenitsu). As Zenitsu begins to panic and tries to find a way out, he finds a room where a strange swordsman wearing a boar’s head comes charging out of the room. Back with Tanjiro he comes across the demon and tries to fight it, but the demon changes up the room by turning it sideways (check it out, Japan’s first funhouse). The episode ends with the boar head swordsman charging in prepared to fight the demon.
In episode 12 we actually get quite a number of things. For starters, we find out that the demon named Kyogai used be one of the 12 Kizuki until he got bumped down by Muzan for not devouring enough humans (must have been vegan). He now seeks to devour more humans and return to the 12 Kizuki. We get to see Zenitsu display his powers which are lightening based attacks (scene here: https://youtu.be/N_PDjHF_jWo. Oh my God~! I take back everything bad I said about this character. (Yin-Yang): Ohh~, I think I can learn a few things from this guy) and find out that the boar head swordsman is Inosuke voiced by the ever popular Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Souma from Food Wars) a demon slayer who loves to fight, is short-tempered, and grew up in the mountains thus he really doesn’t know how to interact with others so he comes across as someone who only cares about himself (just like a wild boar. Hey, now I get the mask). Despite all of this, he has displayed incredible instincts in battle as he easily chops down another demon in no time flat in the episode. Anyway, the episode starts with Inosuke trying to fight Kyogai but keeps making the room shift. When Tanjiro starts to figure out the pattern of his drums, they all get separated into different rooms. Tanjiro and the girl make their way through the mansion and manage to find her older brother. After he was captured and dragged to the mansion, the demons started to fight over who was going to eat him. Apparently, the older brother is known as a marechi, a person with rare blood and considered a feast for demons as a marechi is worth 100 humans (AB- blood. (Mira): That or Rhnull blood. (Nitsuj): Excuse me? (Mira): Rhnull blood, it’s the rarest blood in the world. It’s blood that completely lacks any antigens in the RH system and has been nicknamed the golden blood. It’s so rare that only 43 people in the world have it). As the demons fought amongst themselves, Kyogai lost the drum on his back and the older brother grabbed it and hit it which put him and everyone else in different rooms, so all this time he’s been the one shifting up the house. Tanjiro senses Kyogai near and heads out to face him where even though Tanjiro has figured out the pattern of Kyogai’s drums, the attacks and room shifts are too fast and Tanjiro is still recovering from his wounds which are holding him back from going all out as he’s afraid of the worst possible outcome (if you have time to worry you have time to act, kid).
In episode 13 Tanjiro takes my advice and takes time to act. He’s finally able to catch his breath and unleash an attack to defeat Kyogai by chopping his head off. During their fight, we learn that Kyogai used to be an aspiring writer, but they said his writing was boring and never praised him for anything. During the fight, Tanjiro not only avoids stepping on Kyogai’s writing, but he praises him for having an amazing power (which is true, his power is amazing). With this, Kyogai dies with happiness as someone finally praised him (scene here: https://youtu.be/g1xE-7UiMcg). After Tanjiro picks up the kids, they make it outside where they see Inosuke beating up Zenitsu who is protecting Nezuko. Inosuke can sense the presence of a demon in the box and wants to kill it but Zenitsu protects the box with his life. Even though he doesn’t know what’s in the box and is fully aware that Tanjiro is traveling around with a demon thanks to his amazing hearing (one has good smelling, the other has good hearing. What’s next, good sight?), he knows how important that box is to Tanjiro and does everything in his power to protect it. Once Tanjiro sees what’s going on, he lunges at Inosuke prepared to kill him to end the episode.
And that’s the first half of Kimestu no Yaiba. An awkward point to stop that, but I’m doing it anyway. Tune in next week for the second half. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj for the conclusion of Aniween. MUHAHAHAHAHA~!
(???): Penalty kick!
*A soccer ball hits Nitsuj in the groan*
(Nitsuj): OHHHHHHH~.
*Nitsuj collapses on the ground*
(Nitsuj): And people wonder why I hate soccer.