Demon Slayer is what I’d call a modern shounen. Just like My Hero Academia, it takes the standard shounen tropes, and deals them straight. But with enough minor subversions that it doesn't feel played out. It doesn’t try to subvert the genre is any meaningful way, but it still feels fresh, which can be attributed to the amazing job Ufotable did with the adaptation.

The animation is beautiful, the camerawork is incredible, the sound design enhances the strong moments, and the special effects that Ufotable adds to the motion as gorgeous as they ever were. A lot of the time the manga completely pales in comparison to the beauty of the show. They really went the extra mile to make sure that this is the best adaptation possible.

The story feels like it’s constantly moving forward at a solid pace. And the power progression also feels solid. But this unlike a complete show is only meant to setup the pieces rather than tell you the whole story. At the point in time we have main characters with a lot of room for growth. So one can somewhat feel where the story will go from here, but it feels as if it really hasn't really started yet.

There is one thing that Demon Slayer does really well and that’s how the villains are characterized. Because while they are currently unrepentantly evil, they are all victims of their circumstances, mainly that the big bad turned them into Demons. But they can’t be forgiven for their crimes and as such, should be culled before they are able to inflict more harm to the world.

That’s not unique to Kimetsu no Yaiba. A lot of the modern shounen really lean in of their sympathetic villains. For another very recent example Fire Force treats its infernals as more of a consequence of life, rather than a force of Evil. And considers their removed a sacred ritual. While older Shounen also tried to do that as well, a lot of time it was contrived as an afterthought, and even worse it tried to make them completely devoid of loyalty to “EVIL” and they’d just join the MC after a beatdown.

After this slight tangent I’ll say that at its core it’s a very simple show. It’s about a boy that beats up demons, who has a cute sister with him. What makes it good, is the heart of it all. It doesn’t try to completely bend the rules of the universe to fit a completely broken OP protagonist. It doesn’t try to make him completely oblivious to the reality of the world, but it does try that he hasn't really lost the spirit of a shounen MC, which is compassion and perseverance.

The side characters all feel likeable (except Zenistsu, but even he has some good moments). Even the most one off people like the non-fighters in the Demon Slayers corps were memorable and felt genuine. They are currently a bit one note, but that's par the course for a start of a long running series. It doesn't waste too much time in dwelling on their current conditions, but rather characterizes them on the go, while they are evolving. It's just the start of their journey, but you can imagine how much they'll improve. And that's always fun.

Overall there isn’t much wrong about the show. It certainly doesn’t push any boundries, but it does what it does well. It’s hypest moments were on par with the best of the genre, but only visually, it still needs some more time for the heart of the show to solidify, because the bad guys so far were randoms, so it didn’t feel personal, it still has a long way to go for it to be considered a true modern shounen classic. Because as of right now it’s just a very solid groundwork.

Some side notes, I feel like I repeated myself a bit too much in this review, but there really isn't that much to say about the show as of yet, the themes are just said and not really explored. Some of the powerups felt as if they came out of nowhere, but I expect them to be explained well.

I will be following it with great anticipation, a very solid 7.5/10, with the hopes that it’ll rise up a lot more with coming Seasons.