Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 1 Review (2024)

Posted in: Anime, Crunchyroll, Review, TV | Tagged: anime, Crunchyroll, demon slayer, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Review

Crunchyroll's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba is back with the Swordsmith Village Arc "Someone's Dream," and it is breathtaking.

Crunchyroll's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba is back with the "Swordsmith Village Arc," and the first episode, "Someone's Dream," which was truly breathtaking. The animation was beautiful and so detailed it was pretty mind-blowing. Not too much happened, but the episode did a fantastic job in setting up the characters we will be following this season and also in starting to lay a foundation for it as well. It felt like coming back home to some of your favorite people and cousins.

The episode starts off with the Upper-Rank Demons being called into the Infinity Hotel for a meeting by a very angry Muzan after a big change: finally, an upper-rank has been killed by a Demon Slayer. Clearly, Muzan does not take well to that kind of change as we get some insight as to what got his underpants in a bunch, so far the upper ranks have failed to obtain the two things he has asked for, the death of the Ubuyashiki family and the Blue Spider Lily. I am more than ever curious about this war between Muzan and Ubuyashiki, especially after the comment he made about Muzan being a stain in the family name.

I have to admit, as much as I hate the upper-rank demons, I was very excited to see Akaza, Gyokko, Hatengu, Doma, and Kokushibo… especially Doma and Kokushibo. I was so excited to see them animated, and it did not disappoint. Their character designs are just so aesthetically pleasing. I think this was a wonderful way to start the episode, and I kind of wish it would have kept the same level of urgency and seriousness that this scene had. As much as I loved the episode, it did have a lot of silly moments once we moved away from Muzan and his demons. That said, it did not make me enjoy it any less. I just favor the serious tones, and now even more so after everything our little fledglings have been through.

Before fully moving on to our main story, we get to see Tanjiro's dream of a man that looks a lot like Kokushibo and a man that looks a lot like Tanjiro with the same checkered pattern clothing; however, it was the other man who had Tanjiro's earrings. Is there more to this man and this interaction? Was this more than a dream and more of a memory instead? This season definitely holds a lot of promise and had introduced really intriguing characters to continue for this arc and later on.

We get to see Tanjiro finally waking up from his coma and the estate rejoicing to have him back. Despite the change in tone, it was very nice to see them. As always, Inosuke is always my favorite, and I wish we would have gotten more of him. I love seeing that there are times they each take separate missions, even if I wish to see them together 24/7. However, it was the meat of the story that piqued my interest most: Tanjiro sets to the Swordsmith Village to seek forgiveness from Haganezuka for damaging his second sword, but once he gets there, we find out Haganezuka is missing, and they are looking for him, too, to atone for making a faulty sword in the first place. At the village, however, Tanjiro comes across three characters I have been dying to see in action: Mitsuri the Love Hashira, Muichiro the Mist Hashira, and Genya. Insert fangirl scream. I cannot wait to see what this season of Crunchyroll's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba will bring and to see some of my favorite characters in action.