Let me tell you something, Montreal only exists in wave and snaps. Heat waves and cold snaps. That’s it. OK, here are maybe 4 days in October which are quite nice but the rest of the time… waves and snaps. We are currently in the former although I don’t think I have any right to complain considering what’s happening in Europe. But it’s all good when you have a cool anime to chill with on the weekend! How has your week been Crow? (Crow is bold, like brass!)
So I’m brassy bold? I like that! I’m going through a wetter than typical Ohio summer, which means 90+ (Fahrenheit — I know, we’re behind the times here in the States!) and humidity that exceeds the theoretical maximum! But your point about Europe is well-taken! No complaints here!
Let’s jump into it, shall we?
As you may recall, last week ended on Tanjiro interrupting Boar Boy as he was about to skewer Zenitsu for protecting Nezuko’s box. We got the few last seconds of episode 13 as an opening tag to get us in the mood and I must say, a bloodied Zenitsu desperately holding onto the box may just be my spirit animal!
I love your summary! Great word economy and it got me all caught up!
After the opening credits, we finally get the payoff to Tanjiro’s lunge and it was impressive. You could really feel that impact…for about half a second. Boar Boy is brash and difficult to take. He’s a violent dumb caricature that seems to be played for laughs, but when you are actively attempting to murder most of the main cast (in a series that has not been shy about killing off people), it’s not as funny as it could be.
This said I liked the fight.
After having a few bones broken by Tanjiro’s punch and listening to a speech about how Demon Slayers don’t draw swords against each other, Boar Boy takes the most direct approach possible and decides to attack Tanjiro bare handed right then and there. There was a slight subversion of expectations at the beginning as Boar Boy seems utterly unphased, even unbothered by the situation, simply switching from one sparring partner to another. This made the character more interesting to me.
Moreover, the fighting choreography was beautiful. Boary has an unorthodox low fighting style that incorporates a lot of leg sweeps, kicks and impressive flexibility. Paired with ufotable’s great animation, it was just fun to watch. Which is good, cause this fight lasted a while. Did you enjoy it as well?
I did, for the same reasons you mentioned. I liked how it showed Tanjiro with a little more inner conflict than usual — he didn’t want to fight, but he was still really steamed about what Boar Boy tried to do to Nezuko. Also, we got another example of Tanjiro analyzing his opponent’s style and trying to adapt. I love those little insights.
Right at the end of the fight we finally get a Boar Boy reveal. We see his face I mean. Everyone in the show says he looks like a girl but I would not have noticed. Did he seem feminine to you Crow?
Honestly, no. Maybe I’ve seen Working!! too many times (remember how Souta Takanashi often had to dress as a woman to keep from triggering the crazy training Mahiru Inami’s dad had given her? Guess I kinda got used to the idea that features aren’t binary!), but he just looked like he had delicate features. I loved Tanjiro’s reaction to Boar Boy’s challenge asking if they had a problem with his face. “”We don’t have a problem with your face! It’s quite petite, fair-skinned, and therefore attractive!”
Could he be any more diplomatic? I think Tanjiro is weaponizing “nice,” which we see several times later in this episode!
For all intents and purposes, Tanjirou wins the fight and we have a few quiet moments as Zenitsu, Tanjiro and the kids make good on their promise to bury the victims as Inosuke (Boar Boy) recovers.
I thought it was sweet how both Tanjiro and Zenitsu used their kimonos as makeshift bedding for Inosuke.
It really showed their character, didn’t it? Despite the beating Inosuke tried to give them, they still didn’t want to leave him lying unprotected on the ground. I’m warming up to Zenitsu more and more in this episode! Of course, we expect that level of consideration from Tanjiro.
As soon as Inosuke wakes up though, he goes straight back to aggressive jerk mode, demanding to fight everyone. It’s here that we get the origin to what becomes a running joke throughout the episode (and I suspect the series). Namely, Inosuke almost obsessively trying to taunt Tanjiro into lashing out just to have the latter respond with oblivious kindness and compassion.
Sure that’s in line with Tanjiro’s character, but when you have small traumatized children and *Zenitsu* embarrassed for you, you may want to take a step back!
Even as I laughed at Tanjiro’s reaction, I had to wonder if nice raised to the level of obliviousness is a self defense mechanism? Or is there a small piece of Tanjiro that realizes how incensed his niceness is to Inosuke?
Since Tanjiro won’t fight him, Inosuke decides to headbutt threes at full speed instead, something else he will be doing for the rest of the episode. I’m not sure if this is a long-standing habit of Boar Boy’s or he is simply trying to toughen up his skull since Tanjiro won by headbutt.
Not sure that fracturing his skull will in any way toughen it! And besides, Tanjiro’s forehead apparently had Legendary Hardness(™). I really don’t think Insouke is going to be able to catch up!
Before they can finish properly giving their respects to the dead, Tanjro’s crow shows up and tells them it’s time to leave the mountain, which they do. Along the way, the kids decide to head home, leaving the three Demon Slayers on their own and oh boy….
Zenitsu goes back to being overzealous in his fantastic fear of everything, only now, he has a loud obnoxious character in the background. On more than one occasion Tanjiro looked like he just wanted to beat them both up right then and there. With everything that’s happened so far, I think this is the first time Tanjiro truly regretted joining the Demon Slayer corp!
Tanjiro’s expressions reminded me of a day care worker on their 12th hour of the day. Just ready to go home and sleep, but the screaming children still need to be supervised!
In a bit of almost ex machina luck, it seemed the three of them had been close to a private estate to serves as a Demon Slayer sanctuary due to an old family debt. And so, our three stoo… slayers now have a place to rest and heal up before continuing their adventures.
I see how you almost slipped there! Kinda thought the same thing myself. One saving grace? I think the Crow was leading there (always trust Crows — we’re innately trustworthy as a matter of professional pride!), so I don’t think it was random.
However, the Crow leading them somewhere pleasant? I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop!
And that’s pretty much it. A series of shenanigans take place as all three boys show comical extremes of their personalities. It was like an intermission or a random slice of life episode thrown in and I have to admit…I didn’t really like it.
When you exaggerate them like that Zenitsu is annoying and Inosuke is obnoxious, while Tanjiro is just kind of boring. I wouldn’t call it awful, but it was my least favourite episode so far. And the backstory and development we get on Inosuke were so basic that they could have skipped it all together without much consequence. But you are usually a fountain of positivity, what did you think Crow???
No pressure! If I had to rank these first 14 episodes, this one would likely be at the bottom. What kept Inosuke from being a complete chariature was how Tanjiro’s weaponized politeness gradually wore him down. Before dinner, for example, Boar Boy was on the constant attack. At dinner, he even snatched foot right off of Tanjiro’s plate and obnoxiously chewed it right in his face! When Tanjiro offered him another bowl of food, saying Inosuke must be really hungry, I expected Boar Boy to slap away the food. Instead, he just glowered. That’s progress!
The TL;DR version: Tanjiro’s Legendary Kindness(™) might just transform Inosuke.
It’s really the last minutes that brought what I’ve been waiting for, for a few weeks now. Nezuko’s glorious and adorable return. I was so thrilled to see her. And just before she got back, there was a quiet and touching moment between Tanjiro and Zenitsu. It was lining up to be the best scene in the episode and… Zenitsu completely ruined it again.
He wasn’t very easy to follow but I think he was implying that Tanjiro joined the Demon Slayer Corp so that he could get a cute demon girlfriend and carry her around with him which is a weird conclusion to jump to, at best…
But it’s the kind of conclusion a male of Zenitsu’s temperament would jump to! In high school, within my group of friends, if one of them managed to get a girlfriend, the rest would hassle him about it. Heck, look at Issei Hyoudou’s friends from High School DxD! They caught one glimpse of him with Rias Gremory and threatened him with bodily harm!
But you’re absolutely right: Seeing Nezuko emerge from the box was a beautiful moment. Given how terrified Zenitsu was of the opening box, when she emerged looking all adorable and stuff, all I could think was “Behold the terrifying demon! Tremble in her presence!”
In a wildly sarcastic way, of course.
As it stands my favourite scene is the opening tag, which was a recap of the last episode so that should tell you something. I’m going to pretend that was a recap episode and just move on to the next one. On the upside, it still looked great!
Reviews of the Other Episodes
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 01: Cruelty
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 02: Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 03: Sabito and Makomo
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 04: Final Selection
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 05: My Own Steel
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 06: A Friend fo All Humans
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 07: Muzan Kibutsuji
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 08: The Smell of Enchanting Blood
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 09: Temari Demon and Arrow Demon
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 10: Together Forever
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 11: Tsuzumi Mansion
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 12: The Boar Bears Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Episode 13: Writers are A Pain
I’m liking slideshows lately…
I actually don’t mind the comedy since it’s subjective. Also there gonna be a new OP next week, same song but difference visual. The next arc is the point where the manga really pick up steam. It not the best arc or anything ( in my opinion it rank 2nd to 3rd among the arcs). Also next week we probably see a old character return.
Regarding Inosuke, you can see some thing off about him from how he talk about burying people. Just think of him is a mix of Tarzan and Cubone.
I agree comedy is very subjective. This one isn’t my preference though. It’s the tonal shift that is getting to viewers I think.
The tonal shift i think mostly to create contrast. The more light-hearted and comedic stuff help the dark and disturbance stuff stand out even more, especially in the next arc.
Boar boy and Mr. Z are too exaggerated for my taste. My rating of the series has suffered. And they need to get that stupid looking muzzle off her.
I think the nuzzle stays. All the art I’ve seen has it
Yeah, those three personalities on full display without even a demon to break it up was a little hard to take. This was also my least favourite episode so far but I do agree that Tanjiro may just have managed to weaponise being nice and I kind of had a lot more respect for him when he didn’t rise to any of the provocations along the path. Clearly trying to attack Nezuko is about the only thing that will actually get under his skin. Wonder how long until the boar guy figures that out.
I wonder how boar uy will react to Nezuko at all. He hasn’t seen her yet
Totally agree. The three stooges comparison is wildly appropriate and the second half of this episode felt like a bad joke. I’m sure things will resume once they’re back on a mission and have a serious demon to defeat. It’s just a little disappointing after they seemed to tone down Zenitsu only to ramp him back up again and throw in Inosuke too.
It felt like a big step back to me