This was a very strong episode. I wouldn’t say it’s the strongest of the season, but it did very well in everything it set out to do. It’s a nice balance between narrative and combat.
As the battle continues, Tengen reflects on his past with his siblings and wives. When one of them is threatened, will he or Tanjiro be able to save her in time? And even if they can, will they be able to stop the two demons?
I love all the stuff with Tengen and his wives. The scenes aren’t just adorable, they add some actual stakes to the battle. Seeing Tengen’s desperation when Hinatsuru is placed in danger hits hard, in no small part thanks to his incredible voice actor.
Inosuke finally gets some actual narrative development this time around. And not just because he finally used Tanjiro’s actual name! We see his strategies, his worries, his doubts, and we see him push himself beyond. We even get to see his serrated swords come into battle!
Which leads well into a very dark cliffhanger ending. This is executed extremely well; our heroes are pushed to the lowest point they have ever been at in the entire series, with all hopes of victory seemingly dashed. It’s that classic shounen moment, like Freeza surviving the Spirit Bomb. Hopefully they can pull off an effective come back and not simply pull some random helping boon out their ass.
Once again, the choreography of the battle is absolutely insane! Not to mention it has tons of fan-servicey pay-off moments! Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke all team up at once for the first time! Tanjiro combines both his breathing techniques into one! Each combatant, human or demon, uses every single unique aspect their fighting style has to win, and it creates a wildly enjoyable and unpredictable push and pull flow to the battle!
Oh, and the animation is gorgeous. I feel like that should go without saying at this point. It doesn’t quite reach the insane peak the last episode did, but this one still looks damn good. Especially when our three main heroes team-up. That shit is *chef’s kiss* gorgeous! And it’s accompanied by some really strong music, as per usual.
This was a strong episode. It’s a fine balance between narrative and action and both aspects blend together extremely well. It isn’t quite the peak of the season, but it’s damn good.
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