Kimetsu no Yaiba Katanakaji no Sato-hen – 03

「三百年以上前の刀」 (Sanbyakunen Ijou Mae no Katana)
“A Sword from Over 300 Years Ago”

The Swordsmith arc of Kimetsu no Yaiba finally starts seeing its first action set pieces as a pair of Muzan’s more fearsome demons find the Hashira Mansion and go in for the attack. But unfortunately for Tanjiro and the crew, one of the two demons is actually several demons.

EMBEZZLE!?

To be frank, it’s a bit cumbersome to write about the Swordsmith arc because it develops at such a slower pace. The episodes come and go and the animation is still nice when they stick with 2D animation, but I can’t help but feel like there isn’t anything compelling about what they’ve shown us about this arc so much.

The swordsmiths lean into the series’ brand of wackiness which can be a turn-off sometimes. Like when you see overly exaggerated goofballs throttling Tanjiro in overbearing fury once, then you’ve seen it every other time they’ve done it. And because this is the arc that fleshes out most of the abrasive Hashira, they haven’t given us enough Mitsuri to balance out the negative energy that Tokito and Genya bring to the arc.

It forces Tanjiro to spend most of the arc having to grin and bear some of the most difficult, hot-tempered allies he has. Not that it’s the worst thing since Tanjiro is a precious boyo who takes all of their negativity with stride as he concocts any plan he can to thaw out their frozen hearts with a well-timed pout or an enthusiastic burst of joy. But it means we’ll have to deal with Tanjiro meekly slinking about as he tries to find the chance to make Tokito, Genya, or Haganezuka remove the sticks from their rears.

I suppose that’s why the biggest takeaway from the episode that everyone wanted to talk about is that the giant koi fish is a giant blobby CGI monster. Compared to the other more detailed and lush attack animations that Ufotable’s had to offer, it’s a low-hanging fruit to make fun of the koi fish demon. I wouldn’t say it looks terrible, especially since there have been far worse instances of CG I’ve seen lately, but it is funny to see a goofy CG blob comically flail about in the same universe where the animations for every attack bask in the elements of each breathing technique.

THE BLICKY

To be fair, many of the characters they’ve shown have plenty of potential, as seen by how Tokito changed in this episode. Tokito constantly wavers between hot and cold because he’s unsure of whether Tanjiro’s words resonate with him or not. It is nice to see that there’s that hidden potential for kindness within the colder disposition Tokito carries, but I’ll allow it since Tanjiro has gone through too much with the Hashira to still need to prove himself any further to them.

The double whammy of negativity with Genya is also challenged when he is also on the receiving end of Tanjiro’s invasive yet kind side. He’s still resentful about getting his wrist broken for hassling a girl but seems to have his mood switched away from the harshness of why his tooth is gone to comically scolding Tanjiro for even having it in the first place. Him firing his guns at Karaku and Sekido as they multiply also shows that he’s got a lot more going for him than we think. Hopefully, it sticks with the momentum of showing off why Tokito and Genya should be taken more seriously, and treated as something more than troubled Hashira for Tanjiro to rehabilitate.

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