Demon Sayer Corps: Kimetsu no Yaiba 9 – Spheres and Vectors

Hihi! Happy July. We’re slowly catching up with this show, isn’t that neat?

• Purple = Aria (Officially the team coordinator by now)
• Green = Plyasm (Passed out for some reason)
• Blue = Astral (Surgery recoveree and Nezuko slave)
• Red = Me (I got a [second] job! We’ll see how it goes…)

1. What are your general thoughts on this episode? [Mandatory]

I’m pretty happy with what I got, as always.

Any episode with action is a good episode in my book. The quality/intensity of fights only goes up from here on out, so there’s plenty to look forward to.

I’m not enthusiastic about fights with evil subordinates, so only a few moments got my attention. I fast-forwarded 5-10 seconds whenever a character started spouting unnecessary comments mid-battle.

2. Did the episode fit your expectations, and in which ways did it differ from it? (If it does) [Mandatory]

Yup. (It’s not a “see question 4”, so you can’t diss me for it…!)

Well, in a way yes and in a way no. I knew what was coming, but man, do those battle animations get me every single time…  So smooth, so colorful, and the style gives them such a unique appeal.

The fight was fairly predictable, but the brutal gore surprised me! Nezuko’s foot and flying heads (Yushiro’s head loss scene even got a recap within the same episode!). Good stuff.

Discussion:

• The Taisho Secret segment in the end was a pleasant surprise. I really like these instead of next episode previews, actually.
• Yeah, I like the Taisho Secrets too. They really flesh out the world around Demon Slayer. 
• I actually didn’t notice those my first time through the series, but I rewatched most of the episodes with my brother not too long ago, and discovered their existence. Short, fun, and OMG NEZUKO IS ADORABLE

3. What do you expect to happen from here on out? (and why) [Mandatory]

Still gotta slay them demons. Considering Susamaru mentioned she and Yahaba are on a higher level than the previous demons and Tanjiro acknowledges it, it might take another half or whole episode, but I have faith in him that he’ll defeat those two demons. The manga wouldn’t be ongoing if he weren’t capable enough, after all.

There are TWELVE of them? Goddammit. More fights, I guess…

Well, I can only say that things really start to spice up from here on out… especially when the 12 moons actually start showing up to play.

4. Which scene got the most reaction out of you? (If any at all)

When Tanjiro admitted Yahaba’s eyes are creepy. I guess we were all waiting for someone to say that…

Yushiro’s head getting blasted. I wanted to scream “oh no!” and cheer at the same time.

Watching Nezuko and Tanjiro having each other’s backs. That was super nice.

5. Which character did you like the most this episode? Have they done anything in particular/changed?

Strangely, Susamaru. She’s kinda static in her characterisation, but she seemed like the biggest threat, even if Yahaba was the one behind her temari (<-plural) moving the way they did.

6. What’s the high point of the episode for you and why? [Mandatory]

When Nezuko knocked into Tanjiro. This show’s good at foreshadowing, as I’ve mentioned in the past, but when Yushiro said “watch your back” to Tanjiro…that was a whole new level of foreshadowing…

The collaboration between Tanjiro and Nezuko was nice, this time more strategic than usual. I also enjoyed the small bit of strategizing on Tanjiro’s part near the end.

Honestly, the way that CG was used in this episode. It’s so hard to get those incredible dynamic shots during battle using only standard animation, since it takes so many immensely detailed drawings to make it look good. Ufotable are really masters at using CG in tasteful ways to accentuate action scenes, and it really showed in this episode.

7. What can be improved in this episode and why? (a.k.a low point) [Mandatory]

I know our demon slayer and his demon friends only put that man into the basement in the last episode, but does Tamayo have to point out she has a basement again…? I think I understand your gripes about the script now, Moya…

Is this a good time to air one of my long-standing questions about this series? The arms demon (the one who grew arms out of his head) was suggested to Tanjiro by Urokodaki as being able to be beaten if his head was smashed with a rock. But now we’ve heard that only sunlight or the special swords can kill demons? And Yushiro basically gets his head smashed but totally regenerates it afterwards. 

Susamaru being evil in the corny way. Also, the beginning of the episode chose to recap the most cliched villain lines ever – “we’ll kill them vindictively, of course!” And both Susamaru AND Yahaba take turns questioning each other and coming up with the same answer. In Japanese, it sounds slightly more clever because the word for vindictive is “zankoku,” which shares the sound “zan” with the name “Muzan” (*“merciless”). It’s still a fairly pointless line, but in English it’s just, ugh.

Discussion:

• I’ve been dismissing some of the “script problems” due to the fact this is a shonen and some of them due to the fact this anime is originally serialised on TV late at night (Demon Slayer airs at approx. midnight on all channels, if you’re going to refer to its TV schedule). There’s a fine line between “the scriptwriters think the viewers are dummies” and “we actually need a recap here”, though. 
• I wish I was better at dismissing “script problems,” but I just can’t.
• And Astral, that’s a very good question! I thought about it too in the first few episodes, but kinda forgot about the whole thing.
• It’s a good point…but maybe that was just a really weak demon…? At least, that’s what I think about the matter. (Interesting sidenote: the characters in “Muzan” (無惨) and zankoku (残酷) don’t match.)
• Well, I guess things don’t need to entirely make sense. After all, it’s a candyfloss shounen.
• Still think the synonymous zan is quite intentional regardless. Aria’s sidenote further supports how lame it is.

8. Pick a situation from this episode. If you were put in this situation, how would you have handled it?

If I were Tamayo, I wouldn’t stand around. I’d use that Enchanting Blood thingy and get my butt out of that scenario before Yushiro or Tanjiro were able to help me (because remember, Nezuko was busy protecting the lady and Tanjiro needs Yushiro’s skills to see the arrows, but Tamayo can fend for herself).

This is basically the first fight in the series where the demons actually stand on somewhat equal footing with the humans. What I mean is that, in contrast to the previous demons, these ones both use Blood Arts, and also strategize, which makes them a league more dangerous than their previous foes.

Discussion:

• ^That may just be me imposing 2019 ideas on the 1920s, but again, it’s that principle that “girls should be seen and not heard” thing coming into play…and then using Susamaru to contrast that, because she’s a villain.
• I think the interesting thing to note about Tamayo is that, while she’s a demon, she’s not a fighter at all. I mean, she’s a doctor, after all. So even with her near immortality, immense physical strength and her blood demon art, she’s not going to be outstandingly useful (or used to) battles in general. This in contrast with Yushiro, who’s taken on the task of protecting Tamayo, Tanjiro, who’s trained to fight, and even Nezuko, who doesn’t have a blood art and can’t really speak, and as such is kind of relegated to just trying to punch/kick things wildly.

9. Most beautiful scene?(screenshot) [Mandatory]

Say what you will about how sketchy that cloud looks, the cherry blossom trees are still really pretty and the house looks appropriately creepy.

Lil’ guy’s everywhere.

I’m a simple man. I see that water animation for the blade, I like.

Discussion:

• Bonus: I totally thought Tanjiro was going to bump it like a volleyball here.
• I’m guessing by “bump”, you mean “spike” or something that’s actually a volleyball term, yeah? (I’m no good with volleyball terms either…)
• No no no, “bump” is a thing! At least they used it in P. E. class…

10. In 10 words, summarise what you want to say about this episode. (A good joke question?) [Could also be a haiku or other things of that creative nature, Mandatory]

Demons on the attack!

Tanjiro’s sword cannot ward

Off vectors and balls.

Two down, ten to go.

Time to kill vindictively,

Like the bad guys do.

Mari and arrows

Invisible patterns fly

I’m bad at haiku

Discussion:

• Well, Tanjiro’s learning how to ward off those arrows and temari through trial and error with his sword attacks, but the haiku works better if I admit he can’t.
• Subordinate fights can get realllllly boring. But from another angle, if I think of them as Michael Jackson’s backup dancers…

 

That’s the end of the post! ~Cue ending song.~

Now it’s time for the Anibloggers’ Secrets segment! Today’s secret: *loud whispering* did you know that Aria already has a powerful harem planned for the day she gets hit by a truck and enters an isekai? All the power to her!

*Nezuko: nods and makes enthusiastic noises in support*