The new anime and manga thread! [Use Spoiler Tags!]

[bob]

I've yet to watch Season 4, but I read the manga up to what's probably mid-Season 5 last year, so I know what happens. I was actually concerned about the show's potential pacing in S4 after reading the manga and having an idea of what it might cover, down to the season starting with the longest arc in the manga and likely having to end with some substantially shorter (and completely different toned) arcs. I watched the first few episodes of this season and it was absolutely unnecessary filler, and I think they should've just dived right in, because at a quick glance, there's a lot of stuff to drag out the Shie Hassaikai Arc too, I'm guessing to give us a mid-season cliffhanger? Again, haven't seen it yet, so idk. 
I quite liked the Remedial Exam Arc in the manga, but even there the U.A. School Festival Arc was a bit light and oddly paced. Ideally, I think it's something that you want early- to mid-season, because it's no way to or end a season, at least from what I remember.
Was also concerned a bit about the animation quality potentially taking a dip too because they've been stretching themselves with the films, but I've yet to see anything that gives that impression. 
Glad to hear you enjoyed it on the whole, though. I'm probably going to wait until the dub is finished next month before catching up. 

Yeah i watched the first three seasons as dubs and the fourth as subs, and think that in this case the dubs are better. It felt weird hearing All Might have a weird weedy little voice. (Its the opposite for me with One Punch Man, the Japanese voice actor sounds like a total dork, which fits the character, while the dub gives him a heroic american accent which just sounds off)

I might wait to watch season 5 dubbed, but it means a much longer wait!

[Happenstance]

I got about half way into season 2 of My Hero and ended up getting a bit bored. It was good for a while but I just kind of stopped caring.

[Jonnas]

On 10/04/2020 at 12:44 PM, bob said:

Finished season 4 of My Hero Academia. Pretty good on the whole, but what is going on with their season pacing?

Basically have a season finale 5 or 6 episodes from the end, and then have have a dozen filler episodes to run down the clock of them putting on a concert and thwarting a B-level paedo criminal. Just bizarre.

The real reason is that the plot is adapted from a weekly Manga publication, which doesn't care for season placement. It's clear the author likes short arcs (with the Overhaul arc being an exception), which can lead to weird pacing when divided into seasons (hence why All Might vs. AFO was a mid-season event, and why the Overhaul arc started two episodes from S3's end, instead of starting with season 4). On top of that, the author had some health issues when writing these chapters, which might explain why the pacing felt erratic (I personally think the Overhaul arc was the one with some pacing issues, despite the great conclusion).

That said, I disagree on the Overhaul fight being the best way to end the season. Considering the lengthy aftermath, it leaves a few things unresolved. The school concert fits more as a thematic finale, what with everything that happens.

But then they had two more episodes anyway!

22 hours ago, Julius said:

I've yet to watch Season 4, but I read the manga up to what's probably mid-Season 5 last year, so I know what happens. I was actually concerned about the show's potential pacing in S4 after reading the manga and having an idea of what it might cover, down to the season starting with the longest arc in the manga and likely having to end with some substantially shorter (and completely different toned) arcs. I watched the first few episodes of this season and it was absolutely unnecessary filler, and I think they should've just dived right in, because at a quick glance, there's a lot of stuff to drag out the Shie Hassaikai Arc too, I'm guessing to give us a mid-season cliffhanger? Again, haven't seen it yet, so idk. 

I quite liked the Remedial Exam Arc in the manga, but even there the U.A. School Festival Arc was a bit light and oddly paced. Ideally, I think it's something that you want early- to mid-season, because it's no way to or end a season, at least from what I remember.

Was also concerned a bit about the animation quality potentially taking a dip too because they've been stretching themselves with the films, but I've yet to see anything that gives that impression. 

Glad to hear you enjoyed it on the whole, though. I'm probably going to wait until the dub is finished next month before catching up. 

To me, the Overhaul arc has a lot of build-up, and an even lengthier aftermath (I think there are two entire episodes dealing with the direct consequences, and then the main point of the concert is to cleanse Overhaul's influence), so to me, it makes sense to structure it the way they did. My problem is that the hideout raid is interrupted by League of Villains flashbacks that bring the pace to a halt. The isolated slice-of-life stuff doesn't bother me that much in comparison, because it's not supposed to be build-up or payoff to anything else (nothing immediate, anyway).

I don't know how the concert felt in the Manga, but how it came off in the Anime (with proper music, choreography, colourful special effects, etc.) was amazing.

Regarding controversial animation decisions, there is one moment in the Overhaul arc that came off as really weird. I don't think it had to do with the movie (because it wouldn't make sense for it to be the cause), it was just a weird creative decision, I think.

[Julius]

Taken a break from watching anime these last few months to focus on games and other hobbies after watching Haikyu!! S1 & S2, K-On S1 & S2, HunterxHunter and Anohana for the first time, as well as revisiting some of my favourites: Steins;Gate (2nd time) and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (3rd time). 

Got back into the swing of things today with Haikyu!! S3 on HIDIVE, watched all 10 episodes in one sitting and absolutely loved it. The animation is incredibly fluid, I've learned a lot about a sport I would otherwise have little interest in (volleyball), the music is great and the characters are incredibly likeable! Imagine it's going to be a while before S4 is dubbed, but I'm happy to wait, and would heartily recommend the show to just about anyone who wants a bit of a longer, ongoing series to dig into; for anyone interest, both the dub and sub of S1 and S2 are on Netflix!

Looking forward to catching up on some of the seasonal shows when they finish next month, might dig into a few shorter ones for now until then 

[Julius]

Just finished watching Beastars on Netflix. Damn, what a show! Really interesting use of cel-shading on 3D models - takes an episode or two to adjust to the art style, but once you have, it's delightful. You can pause almost anywhere and it mostly manages to give the impression that it's a 2D anime, which is pretty incredible in itself. Great and compelling story, a main character who is hard to not grow attached to and see yourself in, and some excellent meta-commentary on society as a whole. It's worth knowing ahead of time that there are certainly one or two moments which might make you feel awkward. At face value, it is super awkward, but that's actually kind of the point, and they nail it.

Also, big thumbs up for a great OP (which reminds me a lot of Cowboy Bebop's at times...) brought to life with an interesting blend of 2D graphics and stop-motion animation. 

Absolutely worth your time if you're looking for something short but with substantial depth, and different from an animation perspective. Also has a pretty good dub. 

Going to give this a 9/10, I can't wait for the 2nd season, which is currently scheduled to come next year! 

Edited April 25, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

Started my second viewing of Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion yesterday with a 15 episode binge, and finished it today 10 episodes later. R2 (the second season) wasn't really available at the time when I first watched the show a few years ago, but now that it is, I can finally check it out after rewatching CG. 

Lelouch Lamperouge is an incredible character, and though there are loads of great characters in this, he undoubtedly steals the show - reminds me a lot of Light in Death Note in that way (besides a similar core concept driving the show, though I think the scale is more suitable for that sort of power in Code Geass than I found it in Death Note). Watching the dub again, and it's very strong overall. Awesome mechs. Compelling narrative. Political intrigue. Explores deep and interesting themes and topics like discrimination, lineage, and control. Really interesting character philosophies and gripping motivations. Some of the twists and turns are both shocking and heartbreaking, in a way which lifts this show up - it isn't afraid of consequences and challenging your expectations. Great strategy to the way some battles play out, and a very rich depth and history to the world. Really cool soundtrack, a lot of moody trumpets. 

Only downside, as has somehow become even more noticeable this time around, is the level of fan service. Some unnecessary nudity, in that it doesn't really add or take away from a scene, it's kind of just there which takes you out of it a little - it hits you when you realise people went out of their way to animate those scenes, when it doesn't really vibe so well with the rest of the show, and is clearly just there for a certain type of fan. There's also a scene which will undoubtedly make most viewers pretty uncomfortable. And way too many butt/cleavage shots, some even in the middle of battle sequences - again, it just takes you out of it, and doesn't serve much of a purpose. 

It's a bit of a shame, because this show is as amazing as I remember it being when I first watched it a few years ago, and it's the only sour note in an otherwise excellent anime. 

OP3 has a great song, but somewhat poor presentation, and is filled with major plot points, so I won't put that here. But yeah, it's a great song. OP2? Not so much. COLORS on the other hand, the first OP, is without a doubt one of my favourites: 

I'll give the show the same score I first gave it: 9/10. It's incredible. 

Onto R2. 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Julius

[Julius]

Well I wasn't planning on getting onto this until next weekend...but I started Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2 yesterday evening, and just finished it tonight. 

To keep it short, it does pretty much everything that I can think of better than the first season, as it feels like it's capitalising on everything that the first season sets up from practically the very beginning. It's funny, creative, intelligent in its storytelling style, the dub is great once again, as is the animation, has an excellent soundtrack, great characters and development, and excellently placed and executed foreshadowing. And I was very nearly crying at the end.

Man, that ending 

The fan service unfortunately is still very much there (arguably worse than the first season at times?), but it doesn't at all get in the way of the show. It didn't in the first season either, but I considered it less of a nuisance this time around, perhaps unfortunately because I was used to it, but maybe also because there's very little downtime when things like that are going on this time around. Definitely one of my least favourite tropes in the medium, but hey, I'm sure someone enjoys that. 

10/10. I'm sure someone's going to notice my scores are pretty high, and admittedly most of my scores are split between 8/10 and 9/10 scores, but this is only the fourth anime TV series I've scored a 10/10 on MAL (for those curious, the others are Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Steins;Gate, and Hunter x Hunter), and I've only given two films this score too (Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away).

So make of that what you will 

And okay, so maybe the OP isn't as good as in the first season, but hey, I think World's End gives COLORS a good run for its money!

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by Julius

[Shorty]

Code Geass is a weird one for me, I never ever understood what people liked about it, how it ranked among all the best series. The art style is like some weird 90s throwback and the main character so unlikeable... and it seemed to constantly hop between relying on grim, unsettling misfortunes and weird school anime tropes... I tried a couple of times but could never get more than a couple of episodes in.

I'm not trying to trash something you've just given high praise to I just never got it. Should I have given it a better shot?

[Happenstance]

27 minutes ago, Shorty said:

Code Geass is a weird one for me, I never ever understood what people liked about it, how it ranked among all the best series. The art style is like some weird 90s throwback and the main character so unlikeable... and it seemed to constantly hop between relying on grim, unsettling misfortunes and weird school anime tropes... I tried a couple of times but could never get more than a couple of episodes in.

I'm not trying to trash something you've just given high praise to I just never got it. Should I have given it a better shot?

I was the same. Watched at least the first season but never really got it.

[Sheikah]

Code Geass is a weird one for me, I never ever understood what people liked about it, how it ranked among all the best series. The art style is like some weird 90s throwback and the main character so unlikeable... and it seemed to constantly hop between relying on grim, unsettling misfortunes and weird school anime tropes... I tried a couple of times but could never get more than a couple of episodes in.
I'm not trying to trash something you've just given high praise to I just never got it. Should I have given it a better shot?

It's a decent anime but not exactly one of the best. Mind you, I think that Naruto at its best was leagues ahead of My Hero Academia, so I don't think I'm the "norm" so to speak.

[Julius]

2 hours ago, Shorty said:

Code Geass is a weird one for me, I never ever understood what people liked about it, how it ranked among all the best series. The art style is like some weird 90s throwback and the main character so unlikeable... and it seemed to constantly hop between relying on grim, unsettling misfortunes and weird school anime tropes... I tried a couple of times but could never get more than a couple of episodes in.

I'm not trying to trash something you've just given high praise to I just never got it. Should I have given it a better shot?

I'm not sure how far you got into the show, but I do think that it helps to view Lelouch not from the perspective of the actions he takes or the words that he says, but from the perspective of why he's doing those things. There were multiple times where I thought he was coming across unlikeable, but it's worth remembering that he's wearing a lot of masks, and his actions/words don't always make his intentions clear. 

I hear you on the school anime tropes, I'm not usually the biggest fan of them either, and there's way less of that in R2 in general. Again, it's kind of one of those masks that Lelouch wears. Some of the best character development and setup for plot points are related to his school life, though, so I think the show is better for it. 

And no, it didn't come across like that! Definitely a case of different strokes for different folks, I didn't have the best time with Death Note for example (but still saw it through to the end, and there's still leads to enjoy) and probably have a few opinions about the medium that some anime fans would think make me a heretic. I think if I thought about it enough I could probably poke a couple of holes into the plot, or suggest things that could be better, but I prefer to just experience anime rather than think of it too critically, like I might games or films. 

I'd recommend trying it again, for sure, because it'd be awesome if you enjoyed it, but I'm saying that from the perspective of someone that really liked the show. It's one of those rare cases where I think that if you're not in after the first episode, you might not have a good time with it, and I don't think there's anything I'd ever recommend forcing yourself to get through 

 

[Hero-of-Time]

Glad to see you loved Code Geass, @Julius. It's one of my favourite anime shows and I class it as a much better version of Death Note. 

One of my mates had the same problem as Shorty, in that he couldn't get into it and dropped it early on. I do think the early episodes of the series don't really do the show justice. For the first 8-10 episodes there's a lot of high school antics ( the cat stealing Zero's helmet comes to mind ) that doesn't really represent what the show is all about. Thankfully, these episodes fade away and a more serious story takes the centre stage. They still do pop up every now and then but no where near as much as they did at the start.

[Kav]

On 29/04/2020 at 12:38 PM, Sheikah said:

On 29/04/2020 at 10:52 AM, Shorty said:

Code Geass is a weird one for me, I never ever understood what people liked about it, how it ranked among all the best series. The art style is like some weird 90s throwback and the main character so unlikeable... and it seemed to constantly hop between relying on grim, unsettling misfortunes and weird school anime tropes... I tried a couple of times but could never get more than a couple of episodes in.
I'm not trying to trash something you've just given high praise to I just never got it. Should I have given it a better shot?

It's a decent anime but not exactly one of the best. Mind you, I think that Naruto at its best was leagues ahead of My Hero Academia, so I don't think I'm the "norm" so to speak.

In full agreement with this!

[EEVILMURRAY]

I saw the first season(?) on Netflix of Code Geass and loved it, the girl fingering herself at school was an unusual twist. It ended on a bit of a hanger and I've been waiting for the next set to come up 

[drahkon]

Started reading Record of Ragnarok.

It's...insane. I'll leave it at that

[Julius]

Found myself not really in the mood to dive into a video game yesterday, so I decided to start and finish Baccano! instead. 

I think you get a great feel for the show just from its OP, which features some great transitions, and has an awesome, jazzy track (which, you know, of course I'm going to be a fan of). 

On more than one occasion the middle section of that OP is stretched out with a short recap of the last episode and some filler instrumental, then seamlessly runs back into its original flow. It's wonderful. 

It's just a typical train heist turned murder mystery in early 1930s New York. With a gang, led by Ladd Russo, one of the sickest and most sadistic characters in anime. And the mafia. Two hilarious robbers. A mass murderer, who is just as sick and twisted as Ladd in many ways. A supernatural tormentor known as the Rail Tracer. And a little dose of alchemy, and a whole lot of immortality. 

This show starts off a little rough in the first three episodes, and it's hard to come to terms with its pacing early on. It jumps between three timelines, each roughly separated by a year, and often seamlessly, so it's easy to feel a little lost. 

But it all clicks by the fourth episode, and charges headstrong towards the end. It has such a great and diverse cast, with an excellent voice cast (off the top of my head I recognised Alphonse, Winry and Ling Yao from FMA:B and Okabe from Steins;Gate) and I was laughing out loud at times, tearing up at others. There are some truly disturbing moments. This show just shouldn't work, and yet it does. Heck, the jumping around in the first three episodes clicks so well by the end of the show that it takes full liberty in freely jumping between years by the end. This show is about life and all of its links and perspectives to take, I was floored by how much I loved the show by the time it ended. 

I loved it that much by the end that I immediately looked up the three Specials/OVAs, which sort of cap off the show and tie up any loose ends. It's not quite as powerful as the show's ending, but still, it's more time with these great characters and in this awesome setting. 

What a blast of much needed joy. Definitely one I'd recommend!

[Happenstance]

Love this

[Sméagol]

Is that My Hero Academia film watchable as a standalone? I'm prepared to hate it, but I kind of want to see it for the novelty factor. We don't get a lot of anime here, certainly not in the cinema, I watched that last Dragonball Z film for the same reason.

[drahkon]

Looks like The Promised Neverland will end next chapter.
A manga that went from absolutely amazing to complete bullshit in 181 chapters.  

Such a shame that Record of Ragnarok is a monthly release  Same with Dragon Ball Super. And don't get me started on One Punch Man. 

[Jonnas]

18 hours ago, Sméagol said:

Is that My Hero Academia film watchable as a standalone? I'm prepared to hate it, but I kind of want to see it for the novelty factor. We don't get a lot of anime here, certainly not in the cinema, I watched that last Dragonball Z film for the same reason.

Is it Heroes Rising? I haven't watched that one yet, but it should be self contained. And I imagine the most complicated part will be the specifics of how One For All (the main character's power) works. I know OFA was the only part of the first movie that required additional explanation.

As for the setting, the majority of the world is born with an X-Men style superpower ("Quirk" in English. Don't know how it is in Dutch), and "Hero" is a legit law enforcement job. That's all you need to start.

[Sméagol]

No actually, it seems to be the first, "two heroes". Though apparently heroes rising is slated for later this Summer as well.

[Jonnas]

4 hours ago, Sméagol said:

No actually, it seems to be the first, "two heroes". Though apparently heroes rising is slated for later this Summer as well.

Great. I can confirm it's a standalone story. The easy part to explain about the main character is that using too much strength injures his body. The hard part to explain is in the first 3 episodes of the show itself (well, two episodes and the first few minutes of the 3rd)

[Ike]

10 hours ago, drahkon said:

Looks like The Promised Neverland will end next chapter.
A manga that went from absolutely amazing to complete bullshit in 181 chapters.  

Such a shame that Record of Ragnarok is a monthly release  Same with Dragon Ball Super. And don't get me started on One Punch Man. 

Been enjoying the current arc of Dragon Ball Super, Morro feels a bit different compared to previous villains. But yeah, sucks that it's monthly.

[Julius]

Started catching up on Season 4 of My Hero Academia on Tuesday now that the dub is finally complete, and just finished it tonight. 

Overall, ended up quite enjoying it, though I do feel it's probably the most inconsistent of the three longer seasons we've had since Season 1 in a number of ways. 

This was the first time I was watching a new season of an anime knowing full well what happened after reading the manga into what I assume would roughly be around halfway through Season 5 last year, and to be completely honest, that first cour I feel was kind of rough and poorly translated to the screen.

The animation and art quality on the whole felt like a step down from Season 3, which itself felt like a step down from Season 2, but it certainly shows in some of the fight animations and choreography in the first half of the season, and there were a bunch of decisions made by the director which I think turned out very poorly. Medium shots and those positioned even further away just looked so poor in terms of quality, almost laughable at times to be honest considering this is one of the biggest anime at the moment, but that was always bound to happen considering that Toho has undeniably been stretching Bones on that front with having production on Heroes Rising running in parallel (thankfully there don't seem to be plans, at least for now, to continue churning out movies, so I have high hopes for a step up in quality in Season 5). 

As for the arcs themselves, as I alluded to before, I feel like the Shie Hassaikai arc just wasn't directed that well, especially when compared with the later episodes in the season. It was quite poorly paced until the last couple of episodes, and seemed to jump around with little rhyme or reason a lot of the time, and though one or two fights were handled quite well, I feel like a lot of key moments were handled as haphazardly as they could be. I'll dig into that a bit further and some of the other moments I want to talk about from this arc in the spoiler tag:

Spoiler

So, namely, even though I quite enjoyed Kirishima/Red Riot's standout moment, I couldn't help but notice that it was censored when compared with the manga, which I felt softened the seriousness of the situation quite a bit - there was blood everywhere as Red Riot hardened over dried blood which got pierced, and again and again. We didn't really see that here, or in many of the fights this season when compared with others (heroes struggling through tough moments with ailments is honestly something I feel the show tackles quite well), and so it just didn't feel as epic as I felt it did in the manga, and especially not as epic as I had hoped it would be translated to be when animated. I know it might be to make it more palatable as a kid's show, but remember, Overhaul eviscerated Magne in bloody fashion earlier on, so I don't think that would necessarily be the reason - I do feel like that was a directorial decision which wasn't handled very well. 

Another moment would be Mirio's/Lemillion's fight with Overhaul after he loses his powers becoming a slideshow. Honestly, I thought that was disgraceful. In the manga, sure, they cut away and we get "this continued for five minutes" before returning to see a clearly battered Mirio, but a slideshow of still-frames, which aren't even stylised in any different way? I get that it would be difficult maybe to argue how that scene would be made better just seeing Mirio struggle for five minutes, but the slideshow we got was the least effective way to handle this in my opinion.

And I love Mirio so yeah, that one hurt.

What made this even worse for me was the fact that we had a much more effective slideshow during the U.A. Festival arc just showing how 1-A spent their time at the Festival. Oh dear. 

But that's not to say that this arc didn't deliver well on some moments, because I think it did, but notably much closer to the end. Namely, I'm thinking of Deku/Eri vs Overhaul (Might being a rearranged You Say Run with vocals from the great Makayla Philips gave me chills), Nighteye's last moments, and of course the last moments of the arc when Shigaraki and the League of Villains ambush Chisaki and get even. 

The Remediation Course arc was a good laugh, but I was much more pleasantly surprised by just how well the U.A. Festival arc translated to the screen from what I thought was an interesting but weirdly paced arc in the manga. I loved it, from how Gentle Criminal and La Brava were handled to 1-A's concert and everything else. As @Jonnas mentioned previously, the animation, music, choreography, etc, were all excellent here. What an uplifting arc! Also, Eri is adorable and another character who I think translated really well to the anime and in the dub. 

Lastly, the Pro Hero arc. I knew from the manga that this would either end up capping off Season 4 or be our intro to Season 5, and I am so glad it was the former. Now to dive back into the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

Loved Shoto and so was interested in Endeavour from when I first started with My Hero, but after reading this arc in the manga and seeing him finally prove himself worthy as the new #1 against High End, as well as his honest want to change from from his previously abusive ways and reconnect with his family, mainly Shoto, I've been a big fan of the character. This arc was excellently translated to the small screen from the manga, still concise but effective enough to drive home everything the manga did such a great job of conveying. Hawks was awesomely realised, great VA work. 

Only downside I would say would be one or two moments where Endeavour looked off and a 3D model was clearly being utilised. But otherwise, loved it.

Lastly, the music. Not quite as varied as OST's from previous seasons, a lot of moments where they kind of cheaply go for the ethereal choir sound, but there was some good stuff in there. Namely, as mentioned previously, Might, as well as Eri, Kimi no Chikara, the jazzy stuff for the Shie Hassaikai, Overhaul's theme, and the remixes and rearrangements we heard throughout the season of All for One's theme. 

Overall, think my ranking of the seasons is now S2 > S3 > S4 >>> S1. Might pick up some copies of the manga and get caught up again 

Oh, and I also got caught up on the manga for Hunter x Hunter after picking up the volumes which follow the end of the anime and then finding the other chapters online. Loved it, honestly have a hankering to watch the show again soon. But anyways, now to start the long and painful wait for new chapters from Togashi... 

[Julius]

Started watching the first (and so far only) season of Demon Slayer quite late on Saturday night, and finished it today. 

Damn, what a show. 

The first thing I need to share to give a taste of the show is it's OP, because it showcases above all else exactly why you should watch this show:

The animation. The animation in this show by ufotable is out of this world. It's not quite perfect, with some medium and wide shots looking a bit rough if focusing on character models, and a few times when in close-ups the use of 3D can distract from the scene, but their overall blend of 2D and 3D animation techniques is a site to behold. These thick black lines accentuating characters and weapons with a depth which nails the look of the manga allows for the anime to soar well beyond what the manga was capable of, because they utilise CG in a way which most times organically enhances a scene, whether it be the shots which would be near impossible to animate by hand with where and how the "camera" behaves, or the absolutely gorgeous fight sequences. It's not something conveyed accurately enough in that first episode but is in the OP shown for the first time at the end of the first episode. 

It starts off as a pretty typical shonen: inciting incident involving these evil demons (which leaves the main character's younger sister a demon), a lot of setting up the world and the rest of the season, and fleshing out the characters. Honestly, the first 10 episodes or so are pretty paint by numbers for a shonen in a lot of ways, with a training arc to quickly bring the main character, Tanjiro, up to pace so that he can become a demon slayer. Once qualified, the show transitions into a bit of a "monster of the week" vibe, with this talking crow turning up at the end of each arc to lead Tanjiro to the next lead. There are a couple of times too where the tone can be a bit hard to keep track of, with some deadly serious and perhaps unsightly moments (especially by what I would call "typical" shonen standards - probably closer to Hunter X Hunter in terms of how far it's willing to go than, say, My Hero) offset by some comedic bits which don't all land. 

It's not until the rest of the main crew is assembled that the show really picks up its pacing around halfway through the season, setting up this dramatic arc which punctuates the season with a massive exclamation mark at the end of Episode 19. Holy smokes, I cannot understate how good the end of Episode 19 is. Beautiful animation, a gorgeous song and such a vibrant use of colour just completely left my jaw dropped. Oh, and this show has some ridiculously good sound design too. The slicing sound of a sword matched with the crashing of water is just one example which lends a weight to the combat in this show. 

The animation, moments with Nezuko, soundtrack, and sound design are more than enough for me to hold off on reading the manga (which recently finished, tempting as that may be). The movie coming later this year will be covering the next arc before we hopefully get a second season next year, though I won't be surprised if that's been delayed to early 2022 at this point. 

Like I said before, it takes a while to assemble our main crew, and while that means the story takes a little while to pick up in terms of pacing, it allows us plenty of time to spend with Tanjiro and Nezuko. So Nezuko is one of the most adorable characters in anime, and that's just about all that needs to be said there. As for Tanjiro, he's akin to a lot of his shonen protagonist peers in a lot of ways, but in my almost objectively opinion sets a better example for his audience from the very start: where you might think his sister being turned into a demon would cause him to be blinded and seek revenge, his journey is instead aimed firmly at finding a cure for his sister and helping everyone that he can along the way.

He is empathetic to other humans, yet despite having the role of a demon slayer, the sympathy he shows to demons in their final moments - and us being allowed to understand more about these demons' pasts, whether turned by their own overwhelming emotions or through being attacked themselves - is something I think everyone can take away from this: the importance of empathy, and showing sympathy to other humans where we reasonably can, regardless of their wrongdoing. Tanjiro respects and instills a humanity to the demons that he meets, something which never failed to put a smile on my face, and his willingness to help others is as always a great message to put across (and the show smartly conveys that putting others above yourself all the time isn't necessarily the best option, too - for instance, it's what results in Tanjiro running late and his sister becoming a demon in the first place). 

Demon Slayer ends up being a fantastic show despite some missteps early on, spearheaded by some of the best animation in the industry, a wonderful soundtrack, and a beautiful message. 

Edited June 30, 2020 by Julius