(CR) Kimetsu no Yaiba

[FlareKnight]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

But that is not a good selection method if your organization is understaffed (as we can deduce by how Giyu was late in saving Tanji's family and the many people who are still got killed by demons, probably on weekly basis). This is not Hunter Exam in which the hunter association is looking for best-of-the-bests by culling as many participants as possible because the world was already getting saturated by hunters. Unlike the hunter association, this demon slayer organization seem to still need all the help they can get.

Going to admit that it wouldn't have been my call to set up the test like this. I guess there's a limitation for the Demon Slayers in terms of material for their swords. Probably can't afford to just hand those off to just anyone. But otherwise I agree they need a lot of bodies out there. A pretty brutal method to leave potentially insane monsters in that space. Losing out on some good members. Just because a candidate can't handle this particular demon doesn't mean they couldn't mature over time to be able to handle guys at his level or even worse.

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

Did that demon look like that when it was captured alive, or did it just grow fat from examinees?

Also, poor Tanjirou. Nezuko's reaching an age where she thinks other boys are cooler than her big brother.


Sabito, at least, claims to have cut a boulder. Though it was smaller.

Yes, especially since a weak demon hunter isn't that much of a problem. Demons aren't starving, and will just eat civilians if you don't throw people at them.

I'd guess he grew fat on the examinees. Presuming the guy that ran away was correct then any demon dropped into this test ground only had a handful of kills to start. Must have been a crafty one to survive when he wasn't nearly as powerful and slowly pick off examinees one after the other.

Good point with Sabito. Too bad his training didn't involve that super boulder. A bit more time and he'd have gone into that test able to bring down that demon.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Going to admit that it wouldn't have been my call to set up the test like this. I guess there's a limitation for the Demon Slayers in terms of material for their swords. Probably can't afford to just hand those off to just anyone. But otherwise I agree they need a lot of bodies out there. A pretty brutal method to leave potentially insane monsters in that space. Losing out on some good members. Just because a candidate can't handle this particular demon doesn't mean they couldn't mature over time to be able to handle guys at his level or even worse.

If they don't have enough swords, it would help to have the Demon Hunters work in teams, with one sword per team. The other guys can weaken or hinder the demons, and pick up the sword if the guy who has it falls.

[p-kun]

Contrary to everyone here, I think the final selection is pretty lenient. Despite this is supposedly meant to mint new demon slayers, demon slaying ability is never the requirement to pass the exam, merely surviving will do. The participants seem to be free to run away, hide, or even gang on the relatively weak demons. Due to demons body clock, there will even be plenty of time to rest and forage. The exam original design seems to aim to weed out the people who cannot run/hide/protect themselves and ultimately very lenient since cowards like the one who left Tanjirou alone, may pass.

Despite the hand demon being stronger than the other demons in the exam, as pointed above his kill count is pretty low compared to the years he had roamed the ground and the number of participants in each exam, and he didn't even kill every Urokodaki's pupils (Tomioka survived after all and there are probably more of Urokodaki's pupils that survived). Sabito and Makomo's deaths are probably them being unlucky enough to encounter the hand demon.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

If they don't have enough swords, it would help to have the Demon Hunters work in teams, with one sword per team. The other guys can weaken or hinder the demons, and pick up the sword if the guy who has it falls.

Practically speaking, they could also just have reserves who get called to the "front lines" when someone kicks the bucket.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of needlessly cruel methods like this either but I suppose stuff like this can end up being stuck this way if they're driven by ideology rather than practicality so this strikes me as more (potentially) believable case as opposed to the retarded arbitrary ones I've seen in the past. Plus it was only after two World Wars and millions of dead that the world became less callous about the cost of a human life so maybe there's a bit of cultural relativism at play here.

And to be fair, the anime did at least show us one character that wasn't completely happy about the Final Selection method, though whether the story plans to go any further than that it still an elephant in the room at this point.

As for the episode, it was yet another solid one (I struggle to think of anything else to describe it). The exposition was a little clunky when it came to the backstories (and I don't think the anime has given any explanation at all on what Tanjirou's waterworks are) but I still appreciate the lengths this story goes to when giving focus to side characters. Makes them feel like actual characters rather than devices written only in relation to the main character.

And the animation is great as always. I think the scene that stood out to me most wasn't the fights but Tanjirou walking down the road with all those beautiful wisteria trees. I didn't even register that in the manga.

[p-kun]

Originally Posted by Haak

Practically speaking, they could also just have reserves who get called to the "front lines" when someone kicks the bucket.

Dead demon slayers are bad for the corps though, since demons will feed on them and get stronger. For the corps, it's better to have smaller number of high quality slayers.

[Haak]

Originally Posted by p-kun

Dead demon slayers are bad for the corps though, since demons will feed on them and get stronger. For the corps, it's better to have smaller number of high quality slayers.

Oh yeah that's a good point. There is a risk to the Demon Corps going quantity over quality.

But we also see that less Demon Slayers mean more demons can attack innocent humans (that they can also get stronger off) with more impunity so I still think it would be better overall. I appreciate that there's probably a balance to it though.

[alex_drian]

So the watersword of Tanjirou is a symbolic thing? not a elemental attack?

[James Rye]

That are a lot of final test students. But lets see how many of them still stand after a week on a demon infested mountain. Interesting that Wisteria can keep demons imprisoned, guess it either works like poison or a charm against them though then I would expect a whole lot of demon slayers to carry such flowers with them as some sort of protection ward. Or to have citizens use it to protect their homes at least those who believe said demons exist.

[Applehell]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I think the issue was more pure cutting power. Seems to me that Urokodaki didn't pick that test for every student and only chose it because he didn't want Tanjiro to pass his test. Even Sabito in that brief flashback managed to close in and take his shot. Smell is the key to Tanjiro's abilities, but I'd expect others could cut that rock without the power of smell. That's just where Tanjiro's strength is so he grew stronger in a direction that made use of that. No way to know now and no way to know if they could reach that level. But I think Sabito and Makomo may have had a chance to survive their own encounter if they hadn't been allowed to leave until they passed a similar test.

I guess that makes some sense, the two children could have been trained less longer than Tanjiro did too

Originally Posted by Haak

Practically speaking, they could also just have reserves who get called to the "front lines" when someone kicks the bucket.

To be honest, I'm not a fan of needlessly cruel methods like this either but I suppose stuff like this can end up being stuck this way if they're driven by ideology rather than practicality so this strikes me as more (potentially) believable case as opposed to the retarded arbitrary ones I've seen in the past. Plus it was only after two World Wars and millions of dead that the world became less callous about the cost of a human life so maybe there's a bit of cultural relativism at play here.

And to be fair, the anime did at least show us one character that wasn't completely happy about the Final Selection method, though whether the story plans to go any further than that it still an elephant in the room at this point.

There definitely a lot of value having the cadets got through a live test on one hand, but it is pretty rough and crude at least to just have any demon hangout in the trial grounds. For a first the battle those weaker demons Tanjiro fought earlier on and the condition of surviving in the trails grounds seemed okay. It's probably what they will be commonly experiencing out in the field. Throwing that much more powerful armed one the first go around looked like lead to unnecessary deaths rather than being a test of readiness in a controlled environment. At least if some died to weaker demons than they can unequivocally determine there weren't cut out for this.

That said from a story standpoint it's probably not as exciting without that unpredictable element.

Originally Posted by alex_drian

So the watersword of Tanjirou is a symbolic thing? not a elemental attack?

It only happens when he's doing those fancy techniques in deep breathing mode, while when he slashes normally it doesn't happen. So its probably an actual thing.

[Dark Wing]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I liked the irony that the masks Urokodaki gave his students to protect them instead painted a giant target on their back. I'm pretty sure Tanjirou will keep quiet about that. All it would accomplish is adding to Urokodaki's grief. He wouldn't want that, nor would the previous students.

Yea that part really got to me. If he ever found out the I'm sure Urolodaki would be crushed by the truth. Also fuck that demon fat piece of garbage.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Originally Posted by Applehell

There definitely a lot of value having the cadets got through a live test on one hand, but it is pretty rough and crude at least to just have any demon hangout in the trial grounds. For a first the battle those weaker demons Tanjiro fought earlier on and the condition of surviving in the trails grounds seemed okay. It's probably what they will be commonly experiencing out in the field. Throwing that much more powerful armed one the first go around looked like lead to unnecessary deaths rather than being a test of readiness in a controlled environment. At least if some died to weaker demons than they can unequivocally determine there weren't cut out for this.

That said from a story standpoint it's probably not as exciting without that unpredictable element.

If the writing is good, unpredictable elements and unknown thrills won't compromise internal logic of the story. For example, in Naruto, the Chuunin Exam became much more dangerous than what it was supposed to be because Orochimaru and his men infiltrated the village and disguised themselves as fellow participants. Now that is a well-written way of adding extra thrill to an exam-arc. Also, the Hunter Exam in HxH mostly went as planned with only minor incidents happened in it, yet the writing can still make us engaged & thrilled without going overboard.

Instead of that, what Kimetsu did is making the exam too hard to pass (for those unlucky enough who ran into the many-armed demon) and making the instructors rather-heartlessly not caring about the too-high-leveled threat who has been killing participants more than necessary all these years. I mean, the instructors & organizers do know about the many-armed demon, right? And they just let him be, right?

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Having just watched all of Reincarnated as a Slime, the scene where Tanjiro gets the mask was quite reminiscent. So those masks I get in RPGs as armor or accessories look like cute foxes and cats? Cool!

Kitsune mask is a very old cultural thing in Japan. It also has been used in anime since a long time ago. One easy example of past anime that has used it is, again, Naruto:

Images

Anbu Kakashi & Itachi

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[Applehell]

Originally Posted by Obelisk ze Tormentor

If the writing is good, unpredictable elements and unknown thrills won't compromise internal logic of the story. For example, in Naruto, the Chuunin Exam became much more dangerous than what it was supposed to be because Orochimaru and his men infiltrated the village and disguised themselves as fellow participants. Now that is a well-written way of adding extra thrill to an exam-arc. Also, the Hunter Exam in HxH mostly went as planned with only minor incidents happened in it, yet the writing can still make us engaged & thrilled without going overboard.

Instead of that, what Kimetsu did is making the exam too hard to pass (for those unlucky enough who ran into the many-armed demon) and making the instructors rather-heartlessly not caring about the too-high-leveled threat who has been killing participants more than necessary all these years. I mean, the instructors & organizers do know about the many-armed demon, right? And they just let him be, right?

Yep, I got what the author was trying to go for but it was executed rather clunky when you think about it. The sad thing is that scenario could still work with some tweaking. Shortening the amount of that armed demon had been there, reducing the amount of examines it has killed and mostly keeping focus on the armed demon targeting Urokodaki's disciples like now. Since the Final Selection is already known for it's harshness the plausibility of the examiners noticing the demon's presence for a couple years would be easier to buy. That if they knew and deliberately let it run loose.

[Nivek von Beldo]

Very difficult selection exam and yeah seems surviving was the main key but survive means at time you've to face the biggest threat too.

Nice one and the watercolour tsunami is something hit and miss..maybe later i'll get more used to it....

[p-kun]

Originally Posted by alex_drian

So the watersword of Tanjirou is a symbolic thing? not a elemental attack?

It's symbolic denoting the swordsmanship style/school.

Spoiler for Slight spoiler on demon slayers abilities:

No humans in this universe have elemental attacks.

[Dengar]

Idk I think this just paints a picture of the guys performing the selection in that they're not very sensical in the first place. Their hands off approach to the final selection seems to indicate that they care for nothing except for strong (or lucky) people to survive. This probably means that they're not in dire need of more manpower. It feels like they're not even taking it very seriously.

I'm not saying this as a criticism. Perhaps this organization is just that shady.

[Drake]

Spoiler for EP4:

Pretty cool ep, and Tanjiro got his new sword. I wonder what the black colour will represent.

[Haak]

Images

=o

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[Anh_Minh]

Man, can't Bakugo give it a rest already?

Also, what's the difference between the new sword and the ones used in the exam?

[SeijiSensei]

This episode felt rather disjointed. Tanjiro didn't look injured when he was at the rendezvous point. Why was he limping along on his way back? It's as if he encountered another set of enemies off-screen on his way home.

Was the scene at the beginning retelling the events that made Nezuko a demon? I admit to feeling a bit confused.

[Drake]

The scene at the beginning was a flashback of the arms demon being hunted and trapped. Tanjiro had to travel all the way home straight after the exam (which iirc was a week long ?) without treatment or food etc, so I imagine he'd likely be exhausted.