First review! Totally gonna get lost under the sea of demon slayer reviews from fanboys and haters alike now that s2 is over but oh well. I love this show a lot, but I recognize that there are a lot of problems with it that can get in the way of others enjoying it. Here I'll try to break down this season, compare it to the previous one, and talk about why I really enjoyed it as best I can with my amateur writing skills.

Characters: Better!

One of the weaker elements in the first season was the characters, and while this season doesn't change the game entirely in that department it does get a bit better. Zenitsu and Inosuke are actually cool more consistently and less annoying overall. Tanjiro is still just as pure and kindhearted. The Rengoku arc was wrapped up nicely and we get some closure with his asshat of a Dad which is nice, and probably the best you're gonna get from Demon Slayer in terms of character writing.

Uzui Tengen, the new Hashira introduced, is great. He's cool, full of personality and loads of fun to watch on-screen. I didn't have much of an attachment to Rengoku, and Tengen completely blows him out of the water in terms of enjoyability. His interactions and dynamic with his three(! what a chad) wives are fun and cute and I'm glad they didn't shoehorn in a half-assed, predictable and boring "polygamy bad >:(" storyline.

The wives themselves are pretty one-note but they're entertaining enough to watch. The demons are cool but not because of the character writing, the obligatory human backstory given at the end was pretty generic and boring and didn't do much for me.

Demon Slayer's characters were never gonna win any awards and I totally get finding them totally boring or unenjoyable, but I personally think they do the job perfectly fine and are quite fun to watch.

A big part of the show that seems to be one of the biggest reasons people don't like it is, of course, the childish humor. It was there in season one, it was there in Mugen Train, and its here in Entertainment District. Sometimes its funny, most of the time its obnoxious, but I'd still rather it be here than not.

As a comparison, another show that, like Demon Slayer, has meh writing but good animation made by ufotable is Katsugeki Touken Ranbu. But I love Demon Slayer and dropped Katsugeki after two episodes, and one is the biggest thing in Japan while the other is practically unheard of. Why? Because Katsugeki was boring as shit. Demon Slayer at least has personality. It has style and flair. Sure, its a divisive personality that not everyone's gonna love, but it at least has one. I'd rather a show have some childish moments backed by great animation than just a load of boring uninspired nothing backed with great animation; at least its not boring.

But I guess that brings me to another issue with this season specifically, that it can't decide whether its target audience is 8 year olds or 16 year olds. Childish humor can be somewhat charming in a cringy, goofy way. Big titty thick thighed ninja wives with a lot of exposed skin and a sexy prostitute demon can be enjoyable in a guilty-pleasure sort of way. But if you're flipping between the two every 5 minutes than it becomes a little jarring.

Like as I'm watching the first half of it I imagine a Japanese family watching this season, with middle aged salaryman parents and 2 kids, one in high school and one in elementary school and it switches back and forth between half naked women fighting and Zenitsu crying his eyes out after getting bullied by Inosuke and it just seems like no one in this family is having a good time. Taking darker, sexier and more adult themes and wrapping it in eight-year old jokes just feels a bit weird. Thankfully that problem goes away near the second half as the show becomes a 2 hour long rollercoaster of a fight scene stretched over several episodes

__Animation: Even Better
Fights in General: Less Good
__

Despite ufotable somehow managing to step up their animation game even more, the fights other than the climax felt less impactful and realistic. The animation is consistently flashier and more dynamic, and while sometimes CG models stand out as a bit strange looking for the most part they look flawless. The biggest problem with this season's fights is the power scaling. Tanjiro's HInokami Kagura that he uses only once in the biggest moments of season one and Mugen Train he now uses again, and again, and again,

and again,

and I get that that's demonstrating how much stronger he's getting over time but it just doesn't feel as impactful anymore. He keeps getting his ass beat to the point where he should've died already but nope, don't worry he can just set his heart ablaze and pull another Hinokami out of his ass again, but this time even stronger! This isn't even the worst offender:

and yeah its goofy as hell that they can get every bone in their body shattered and fix it by "Recovery Breathing!"

The Climax

Up until now, this review has been largely negative, but I still enjoyed the show immensely. Even without the unbelievable moments this show brings, even if it wasn't blessed by ufotable's godlike grace it would still be an enjoyable 7, maybe 8/10 from me because there's still good fun to be had here.

But the reason I keep coming back to this show, why Demon Slayer will always be one of my favorites, is that one moment. After entire episodes of action, twists and turns and shocks and hype, all just a prelude to that one moment, where everything leading up to it, the music, the rising tension, the entirety of ufotable's Unlimited Budget Works, all of it comes together into the one, incredible, breathtaking moment, and

leaves you in awe.

Season one had episode 19. Mugen Train didn't have that moment for me. The entire time I was watching this season, through all the rest of the hype and rediculous animation, I was waiting for that one moment to come.

And then episode 10 hits, and everything was worth it.

The final fight was just as incredible as Episode 19, but for completely different reasons. Episode 19 is a beautiful, elegant and serene 2-person dance accompanied by soft, intimate music. The visuals are bright with broad strokes of fire over a background of darkness, and watching it felt like looking at an oil painting in motion. Episode 10 of Entertainment District is a raging, chaotic, messy brawl filled with screaming, explosions, blinding fast attacks, and bright, sharp slashes of clanging blades with a dark, moody and extravagant symphony roaring over the action. This isn't a vibrant renaissance oil painting, it's a crazy dude with paintbrushes throwing paint onto a canvas as hard as he can. And it's gorgeous.

Everything about Episode 10 just worked. It's one of those episodes I can go back months from now and rewatch again and again and again, my jaw dropping onto the floor just as hard each time. It's moments like this that make me go, "Holy Fuck I love anime so god damn much." Because months and years in the future, when I look back on Demon Slayer, it's not the weak writing I remember or the plot holes or Zenitsu and Inosuke being annoying. It's moments like this. It's Season One Episode 19 and Entertainment District Arc Episode 10, the moments that are immortal.

Some people resentfully say that these moments are wasted on what they see as an otherwise unremarkable show, and would be much better utilized in some other show with higher quality writing or characters. While I won't dispute that claim, I will say that I for one am perfectly content with the fact we got these moments at all.

Conclusion

Despite being the biggest thing in Japan, the highest grossing anime film of all time, and one of the most popular anime internationally, Demon Slayer is not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend it to friends who don't watch anime. I hold no grudge against anyone who can't forgive its flaws or hates the characters or thinks it's overrated garbage because yeah, it totally makes sense why you would think that. But I for one had a great time watching everything this show has to offer and I'm excited to see more. Even if it means waiting another 2 fucking years.