Posted by  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「隊律違反」 (Tairitsu Ihan)
“Against Corps Rules”
After Tanjirou’s first kill, I thought his blade was the reason demons rekindled with their past lives as humans. But turns out, it doesn’t matter who slays the demon. Giyu cuts down Rui who, in his final moments, remembers his human life. Kimetsu no Yaiba is so good at creating complex enemies. As a viewer, my perception of Rui is conflicted. I spent most of this arc hating him. It didn’t matter if his search for a ‘true bond’ was legitimate or not, I didn’t think he should get a swift death after what he did to Nezuko. The audacity to knick at my girl! But then, a third of this episode depicts his life as a child and suddenly I’m ready to forgive and forget. I mean he lived such a tortured life and he’s just a young boy with low self-esteem. Screw it. I have. I’ve forgiven and forgotten. I’m happy he finally found his happiness even if it means going to hell with his parents. Everybody wins.
Moving on, Giyu recognizes Tanjirou. I’d forgotten how much time had passed. Obviously his thoughts weren’t focused on the pair he led to Urokodaki two years ago but I thought perhaps he’d have inquired about them. It wasn’t the reunion I expected but it was nice to watch him defend the siblings from Shinobu, who by the way has a thirst for killing demons as strong as the one demons have for human flesh. Nothing will soften her, will it?
And is this her sister? Who is she? Don’t tell me. I know she survived the Final Selection alongside Tanjirou but how has she already been employed by the head of the organization? She has to be related to Shinobu. It’s taking every inch of me to resist looking it up. Also, small theory here: Tanjirou and anonymous knock-out end up together in their late twenties.
Aside from that, I don’t have much to say about this episode aside that it cleaned up the arc nicely. We’re in for a whirlwind in the next episode. I can only guess what will happen to Nezuko and Tanjirou now that they’ve been brought to the main house. We have 5 episodes left and only now is the Demon Slayer world truly expanding. This is so unfair. We need more!
tiny nezuko chouu kawaii
I was afraid Shinobu might attack Nezuko on sight, but she might soften up when she hears Nezuko even as a demon never attacked anyone (other than demons that is).
Anyway I loved interactions between Giyu whose social skills are severely lacking, and Shinobu whose wit is as poisonous as her blade.
https://randomc.net/image/Kimetsu%20no%20Yaiba/Kimetsu%20no%20Yaiba%20-%2021%20-%20Large%2028.jpg
that scene was enough for me to start shipping them
Also chibi Nezuko running away was absurdly high level of cute…
When, after Shinobu told Giyu that people don’t like him, he made that conversation a priority over saving Nezuko, I almost choked on my food LOL.
Yeah, didn’t expect him to be so dense. ^^’
I didn’t really enjoy the Rui backstory. For me, fleshing out villains after they’re dead makes for a lame waste of screen time. It’s made worse in that it tried too hard to garner sympathy for a pretty unsympathetic character. It’s fine for Tanjirou to care as he does but it’s kind of weird considering how much effort they put into making Rui a most monstrous creature. Given that this storyline began in ep.15 and that many of the intervening episodes dragged, it would have made the show better if they’d incorporated some of that earlier. I guess that would have destroyed the image which they presented of him though so it had to wait until his demise. It was also disappointing how in his redemption, he neglected to show concern for anyone but himself. All in all, kind of awkward.
Kind of weird thinking too, when he commented on his parents not liking the trade-off between his having a sickly, weak body versus being strong, hiding from the sun and devouring humans.
The rest of the episode was fun though. I liked how the clean-up crew poked Inosuke with a stick, just to be safe.
I wonder what the deal is with Shinobu’s eyes. Are they a mask of sorts?
Also on the plus side, Tanjirou was willing to actually pick Nezuko up and run with almost no foolishness, which is really rare for this type of show.
Giving villains some kind of backstory how they become like this or such similarities, is coded in anime DNA telling. There is no real Back and white. This is a long tradition in animes
Sure there are exception, but are they popular?
I’m not (very) opposed to backstory but as you say, anime is addicted to it. The use of it here was particular weak. They spent a lot of time making this demon out to be the worst one yet (other than the kingpin). Then, once he’s been heroically killed, the show changes direction and tries to remake him into a sympathetic victim — as though none of the preceding episodes had any meaning. Because of this bizarre decision, they couldn’t provide the backstory when it might have had at least a bit of meaning. Plus, it was a pretty dull story. The whole conception of the character is a fail.
@Mockman
I want to add that because this series handles the sequence of events for every major villain in exactly the same way, it becomes routined, the poignancy is lost and it feels completely pointless. The first time it happened with the demon at the slayer exam was really effective, the demon is slayed, we learn about its tragic past and sympathise and it perishes. Then after the second and the third time, I’m thinking, ‘ok, so what?’ There needs to be a sort of resolution. It is also weird that so much effort is spent on garnering sympathy for the demons that killed so many, but you’re not made to think twice about the demon slayers that died so needlessly.
This was a typical cleanup episode after a major battle. I wasn’t thrilled by it. Maybe I shouldn’t have read the manga because it was obvious for me where the episode was going to end, so it felt like it was dragged out.
Good point on the lack of effort when it comes to sympathy for the non-demons. I’ll add that previous victims, such as the rest of Tanjirou and Nezuko’s family, also didn’t get the warmth and consideration that Rui just received. But it’s awkwardly handled how the villains are made to be incredibly vicious and awful until the moments of their death and then all that effort is whitewashed. If they’d integrated that complexity earlier during the storyline, I would have been more impressed (even if they’d tried but didn’t execute it well).
I’m fine with the cleanup episode (especially when there’s a professional cleanup crew 🙂 since there are loose ends to tie up and ‘new’ characters to bring to the fore as the next storyline gets underway. As someone who doesn’t read manga, it was really the prior two episodes which felt dragged out (along with the first half of this one). I think they could have easily cut one episode between 15-21 (and probably two).
Well, with this Episode they show how they care about their “Red Shirts” Members
Some moments are really heartbreaking.
Okay so this scene was so heart breaking. I think we should stop sleeping on this show now. it’s amazing