This a continuation from my last post about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (I'll use 'KnY' from now on to simplify).
At the moment I'm writing this, we still haven't got any news on when the KnY movie will be released. The movie trailers didn't give any information either. I'm sure a new trailer will create another hype, just like last year where the Hinokami Kagura scene was adding maximum heat for this anime.
Hinokami Kagura, that epic scene
This is the scene where we see KnY animation art at its best. Epic. Sure, it takes more than gorgeous animation for such an epic episode. Let's take a look at that scene.
My opinion on this anime remains unchanged. KnY is a shonen with a thin plot, and I need extra effort to root for the characters. Tanjiro Kamado, the main character, was not growing enough. Yes, he got stronger, but not so many challenges for his characteristics. This is my personal bias. I always love a story when the characters grow, like proper coming-of-age stories. Getting stronger is different from growing IMO.
Yet, I found this Hinokami Kagura scene was so satisfying to watch.
This scene is well planned, designed to be the perfect final battle for the main characters in 1st season. The built-up was smooth. To get at this big battle, we need to watch the previous two episodes (episode 17 & 18).
TL;DR In episode 17, 18, and 19, we see all of our boys suffer and heavily wounded, nearly died.
In episode 17, the story is focused on Zenitsu Agatsuma. The situation was so bad for him. This coward boy had to face an evil spider demon. Tbh the demon spiders didn't look too strong, except that this demon could spread poison to make people transformed into a spider. The drawing for this human-spider was creepy. Zenitsu is easily cornered as he is weak. The backstories of his rigorous training were quite cute but rather a cliche one. A memorable remark from this episode would be his final slash for the spider monster. It was cool.
The scene ended with Zenitsu is dying from the spider poisons. And he struggles to control his breath to slow down the poison spreading in his body. At this level, every Zenitsu's fans would be proud of him.
In episode 18, we see Inosuke's battle. This loud and reckless boy is facing an enormous monster. For the first time, we see how Inosuke gives up in a fight. His blades were broke. Same with Zenitsu, the scene ended with him dying. The big monster crashed his head. He is saved by Giyu Tomioka. This is the episode where KnY shows Giyu's fighting style for the first time, also showing how strong he is compared to the 3 boys. Giyu slays the Demon with a single strike.
"He cut the monster like tofu," says Inosuke.
At this point, Giyu's fans were heating up.
These two episodes serve their purpose to heat up the final battle, Tanjiro vs Rui.
Rui is a kid demon but he is the strongest one on this arc. The formula for this episode is classic: "get the main character up a tree, and then once they are up there, throw rocks at them."
In this episode, Tanjiro's blade broke. His sister has taken as a hostage by the little demon. But he keeps building the momentum for the final strike. He almost wins. But Rui the little demon has one more trick up his sleeve, his attacks have sent Tanjiro to the verge of death.
A splash of memories before death, this is a typical KnY moment. On the verge of death, someone will recollect their memories, as if it gives a chance to search all experiences and memories to find a way to escape death. And oh my god how beautiful the visual artworks of Tanjiro's memory here.
And the epic sequence begins.
Tanjiro remembers his father dance, a ritual dance from his family, the Hinokami Kagura dance. The scene is planned carefully, you could hear the intro music here coming softly. The emotion starts to hit as this scene calmly showing how humble their family was, how happy.
And the dance was beautifuly animated.
Remembering this, Tanjiro steps up his game. Ignoring all the pains and wounds he goes to maximum attack, combining Hinokami Dance with his own blade technique. Successfully change his style form water to fire. At this point, the heat was already at the max level.
There are so many questions left unanswered, one of them is about the Fire Breathing technique. There's a little hint in earlier episodes that Fire Breathing is the ultimate technique to defeat the big boss demon. Fans went crazy. The music is building up too. The soft verse turned into a refrain.
The sequences are so beautiful, and the song is awesome. For these aspects, KnY already set its standard. It's a very high standard. Fans will crave for more like these sequences in the upcoming season/movie. Viewers will easily guess that this will be the climax, but hold on...
Suddenly the song went into a softer tune, like a coda, or bridge. The camera moves into his sister, Nezuko. And this is a great surprise, for the first time, Nezuko released her hidden power, The blood demon art, Blood burst.
Nezuko's blood demon art
As Nezuko's blood demon art explode, the maximum excitement of seeing Tanjiro turn into a fire god has exceeded at this point. The emotion though, their strong bond as brother and sister, beautifully crafted in a super awesome animation, sounds, and song.
The scene ends with the heavily wounded Tanjiro successfully cut the demon head.
The song didn't stop though. It keeps playing as the screen showing pictures of Tanjiro's family. It's a nice touch, really soft and smooth.
Kudos to ufotable for creating such great animation. I read the manga, and this episode, in particular, is one hell of excitement. I love this sequence so much.
The next installment for KnY will be the Infinite Train story arc. It will be a movie. I already know the story, I know what to expect. I really hope they will give us their best and surpass the great work of the Hinokami Episode.
Infinite Train arc is one of the best arcs from KnY (to me personally, it's their 2nd best). The boys are growing a little bit here. Actions are awesome, and there are a lot of inner thoughts going on. It has a big emotional moment too (bring a lot of tissues if you're a KnY fan). I can't wait to see how they will make it an animation.