First Impressions: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Please don’t be scary. Please don’t be scary. Please don’t be scary.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is an anime based on a manga of the same name. It follows the efforts of Tanjirō Kamado, a young boy trying to save his sister, after she’s been turned into a demon in the same attack that killed the rest of his family.

Though not a happy show, by any means, Demon Slayer is nonetheless highly enjoyable and interesting. Tanjirō is a good boy who’s making the best of a horrible situation, and as such is easy to root for. The animation is beautiful, and the music equally so. The demons (or, rather demon, as we only see one in this episode) is a real threat without being overdone or entirely inhuman – I especially like the fact that her growling sounds like a noise a human is actually capable of making, rather than being overlaid with animal growls or something similar. It provides a realism to an otherwise fantastic subject that allows the anime to maintain a solid grounding in reality. Instead of being purely horrific, as one might expect from a show about killing demons, it is surprisingly poignant, ensuring that these events feel as horrible, sad, and realistic as possible. That is to say, the viewer is hard pressed to forget that this is a show about a young boy desperately clinging to the only family he has left, following a brutal massacre, and against seemingly overwhelming odds.

This is something I would absolutely watch again, and I highly recommend you check it out.