I see people claiming that this season is, without a doubt in their minds, the worst Demon Slayer season out there. People like to say that Demon Slayer is carried by its animation, or that its animation doesn't cover for its mediocre story. I'd say Demon Slayer doesn't have a mediocre story. However, what I will tell you is that Demon Slayer is missed potential at its finest. Not completely missed potential, but the potential is still there, being unused.

SPOILERS FOR THE ENTIRE SERIES. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

Demon Slayer's production values have taken quite a downgrade, at least, compared to the Entertainment District Arc. It's absolutely undeniable that the final episode of the Entertainment District is definitely the highest grade animation Demon Slayer has ever had. However, because the animation was so unprecedented and astonishing, people suddenly gave it a high score due to its production value alone, now giving it a way lower average score from 87% with the Entertainment District to 83% with the Swordsmith Village Arc at the time of writing this. That's the lowest rated season of Demon Slayer tied with the TV Version of the Mugen Train Arc.

Demon Slayer's story has never been its strong suit, as I just listed. However, the story's flaws become extremely apparent here, as there is so many nonsensical events that left me with more questions than answers. One example I can list off the top of my head is Zenitsu apparently telling Tanjiro how to use Thunder Breathing off-screen so he can catch up to the smaller Upper Four demon and cut his head. This is dumb for a multitude of reasons, with Tanjiro somehow mastering it first try, along with his Hinokami Kagura. Oh, and, remember the Hinokami Kagura having side effects? Yeah, it's gone now! Genya eating demons was also something that really stood out to me. Genya somehow eating demons really confused me the first time, but it was most likely the scratch he received from his demonized mother that likely caused this, as we've seen an example of the claws of a demon being able to turn humans into demons, but that is pure speculation.

Demon Slayer's villains have always stuck out as extremely weird to me, and these ones are not only no different from the rest, the author didn't even bother giving Upper Five any semblance of a unique character, other than he likes art and is kind of a sadist. Upper Four's backstory felt extremely forced and felt like the author forgot to put his backstory in, so they rushed it in at the last minute. One thing I will appreciate is that Tanjiro felt absolutely zero sympathy to Upper Four. He just slashed him, and moved on with Nezuko... Oh, Nezuko...

Nezuko is absolutely STUPID in this Arc. Not her personality, but now, she feels like she has no reason to even be here. Tanjiro had to choose between saving the 3 villagers or saving Nezuko. Due to it being sunrise, if Tanjiro leaves Nezuko, she dies. Nezuko ends up kicking him to save the villagers, and Tanjiro slashes Upper Four's head, before we get his backstory. One thing I'd like to note about Upper Four's backstory is that it not only felt forced, but it wasn't even a good backstory. It was unique, but the most mediocre and forced backstory thus far. When Tanjiro finally wins and slashes Upper Four, he sits in defeat as he realized his entire reason for setting out on his journey has been demolished. He cries, knowing that his little sister, the person he's been trying to save since the first episode, is now dead. Or is she...?

Nezuko, for some reason, "conquers the sun" and manages to talk like a normal human in the sun. This was the moment I realized Demon Slayer was not going to get much better. There is only 2(or 3) arcs left to adapt, and I feel like it won't hit another peak after this. Nezuko being able to conquer the sun MIGHT be explained, but I feel like there's going to be no proper explanation on how this possibly could've happened. This makes any sense of danger with Nezuko completely nonexistent, but if there was any point to introduce this seemingly out of nowhere ability, I guess it's now. Considering Demon Slayer is approaching its final arc(surprisingly), I guess if the author wanted to do this at some point, now was the best time to do it. I will admit though, the music they used for this scene specifically was really good.

Overall, your takeaway from this review should be that Demon Slayer was always a story that tried to tug on your heartstrings, while also presenting a story with a decent idea, followed by a mediocre execution. Demon Slayer's animation hasn't really "decreased", I'd say. More rather, they're saving it for the final arc that's approaching at a very rapid pace. The final arc will definitely have better animation than every other arc preceding it, because they're going to make Demon Slayer go out with a bang. Right now, they're going to adapt the Hashira Training arc, which isn't a very significant arc, so it's most likely gonna be a Movie style, like they did with Mugen Train, or decide to mush it in with the final arc.

Also...

YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS, FISH!

5.5/10.
(I hate this review in retrospect)