By Shubham Singh
“No matter how many people you may lose, you have no choice but to go on living – no matter how devastating the blows may be.”
Tanjiro
This dialogue hits you hard in the face, whilst also reaching into your heart.
I was already up-to-date with the manga of this series, but then, to my pleasant surprise, I discovered it was going to receive an anime adaptation!
After watching the first episode, released by Koyoharu Gotouge, I thought it was fantastic! From the animations to the sounds and the canon, it was all just amazing and I couldn’t wait to watch more of the series.
Demon Slayer takes basic Shonen tropes and wraps its own kind of unique aesthetic around them. I like how the main character, Kamado Tanjirou, isn’t fueled by revenge or an incentive to “be the best” at something. His drive is more touching, as he goes through the episodes trying to find a cure to restore the humanity of his sister who has been turned into a demon. The selfless kindness of this persona is admirable, especially in the way that he remains sympathetic and unsettled in the events where he is left with no choice but to do something cruel.
After, for instance, a demon is killed, there is so much more to the action than just ridding the world of evil. Upon death, the demon’s stories are revealed – we learn as a viewer why the person became a demon to begin with, about their rights and wrongs, and we also get to see reflections of their gratitude. Nothing here is mindless, giving depth to the show’s narrative.
I ended up watching this series after a friend recommended it to me. For a long time, the thought of starting it stayed in the back of my mind as I assumed it would be similar to many other Shonen shows I have watched before. Though this definitely wasn’t the case, and many other anime fans seemed to agree with this – for the past ten years consecutively, the anime ‘One Piece’ had remained the most popular of its kind. Selling over 470 million copies to date. However, once ‘Demon Slayer’ appeared on the scene, it’s ten-year reign abruptly ended as it seized the top spot with both hands.
Demon Slayer carries a ‘Game of Thrones’ sort of vibe, but without giving spoilers, I’ll tell you that no one is safe. It will make you laugh, cry, obsess over your favourite characters (mine are Tomioka Giyu and Akaza!) and it will leave you frequently hanging in suspense that will drive you crazy. If you have read the manga prior to watching the show, you will appreciate the way that Gotouge has made the series as similar to the source material as possible, especially given the short duration of each episode.
So what are you waiting for? Well, I know how I would answer that – I’m waiting for the movie to be released in October 2020!
You can find more of Shubham’s artwork on Instagram.
The Ruskin Journal 