Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba | First Impressions | Episode 1

I remember when I first laid eyes on Demon Slayer it was during a panel that Viz was holding at AnimeExpo where they announced that they would be printing the Demon Slayer Manga volumes. When looking at the art for this series, I never would’ve thought that Ufotable would be the one animating it. When I think Ufotable I see the Fate Series and all the other video game adaptions they’ve done. So I was surprised to see them take on this Jump series and see how they put their well-polished animation to work.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a supernatural shounen series that takes place in ancient times. This is during a time where Demons are rumored to roam the night and hunt down anyone in their path. We follow Tanjiurou Kamado, the traditional main protagonists as we are introduced to his large family that live on top of a mountain. After returning from a nearby village, Tanjirou finds his family slaughtered and his sister being the only survivor. Unfortunately, Tanjirou’s Sister, Nezuko has now become a Demon and he must find a way to turn her back.

When I first saw the PV for this series, I knew I was going to be into it and I had so many friends that were reading the manga. I almost instantly added it to my list when it was announced. So far, it looks like it has met my expectations. The animation is pretty good up until this point and it does a great job of complementing the art style of the manga. I’m also a big fan of the music choices that were made. They weren’t anything crazy but just added to the experience.

In this episode, we were given everything we needed to know at the right time. We were introduced to Tanjirou’s family members and they made sure the last person we met from the family was his sister. There was a ton of foreshadowing as to something grim happening especially after being introduced to him via that first scene of Tanjirou with Nezuko on his back. One thing that may be expanded a bit later is his father’s death. As we know with many shonen series, there is going to be more to this. IF he was killed, was it due to a Demon? Was he ACTUALLY killed? or maybe he is also a Demon Slayer? Hm. So many questions.

We do not learn about the Demon’s until Tanjirou runs into his neighbor on his way home. I’m a fan of how all this information was spaced out but a little concerned that maybe this guy knew this was going to happen and I also wonder what kind of importance will his role play moving forward since Giyuu told Tanjirou to go see someone down the mountain with his sister.

The thing that annoyed me about Tanjirou was how long it took for him to realize that it was demons that slaughtered his family. After sitting on it for a bit, I think it’s probably because at this point, he only looked at it as a legend, or so it seems. Other than that, I feel that he reacted to everything how anyone would, he lost his family and did not want to lose anyone else. Giyuu has seen potential in him and his sister but I’m more curious of Giyuu’s past. There must be more to him. I feel that the weaknesses he sees in Tanjirou must be something he can relate to or just from what he has seen as a Demon Slayer. There’s only so much we can speculate at this point without reading the manga.

I’m very excited to see where this journey takes us. The opening did shine a bit of light on what’s to come and it looks like we are in for a wild ride. Also a big fan of the OP being performed by LiSA.

What did you think of the first episode? Going to give it the good ol’ three episode test or are you already sold on it?! Let me know in the comments below!