Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen (Season Two)
Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu are enlisted to help track down a demon that has been terrorising an Entertainment district. To complete the mission, they will need to go deep undercover…
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Yuukaku-hen (Season Two)
What did you watch?
If you’ve read any of my posts on Demon Slayer, you’ll know that I have a lot of mixed feelings about the show. It started out amazing. It was dark and gritty with some fun characters and some high stakes. Then, it got goofy… Too goofy. I found that it detracted from the serious nature of the show and impacted my enjoyment. Anyhow, I originally started watching season two when it aired and then stopped after the second episode. I wasn’t sure if I could put myself through that on a weekly basis. Then, once it had finished, I decided I would binge it, and it’s honestly the best way to watch this series.
What happened?
Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira recruited Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu to help him track down a demon that had eluded him. They would need to go undercover as girls in the three largest houses in the Entertainment District. Once there, they would need to track down Tengen’s three wives who had gone missing while searching for the demon.
It didn’t take long before they found the demon responsible, but she was the Upper Six demon and was far out of their league. It had been more than one hundred years since any of the Upper Kizuki had been defeated. However, if people are in danger, Tanjiro can’t walk away. This mission is going to push them to their limits and back again. What has Tengen gotten them into?
What did you think?
Overall, I enjoyed this season (although it was really just an arc). The animation was nice and the characters were fun. I was surprised to realise just how much I like Inosuke. He had some good development and is nothing like the character we first met in season one. However, this season was not without its issues. The overuse of cliffhangers was infuriating, especially when several of them were basically the same. There were a lot of ridiculous coincidences and a whole lot of plot armour. It was good, but far from perfect. Like a long way!
What was your favourite moment?
I think the real standout moment for me was when Inosuke charged Daki, leaving Zenitsu and Tanjiro to clear a path for him. It was an exciting moment and really showed how well these three have grown as a unit. Inosuke had complete faith in their ability to keep him safe and never waivered from his mission. With the obi sashes shooting toward him, it wouldn’t have been unreasonable for him to slow or rethink things, but his determination carried him through.
Then, after he beheaded Daki, he ran off with the head. It may sound ridiculous, but it was absolutely the right thing to do. As long as he had the head, they would be able to defeat them if the others focused on Gyuutarou. Unfortunately, Gyuutarou had beaten Tengen and was rushing to Daki’s aid. A thoroughly exciting series of events.
What was your least favourite moment?
There were at least three moments where Tanjiro and/or Tengen were about to behead Gyuutarou and they ended the episode there. In the next episode, Gyuutarou stopped them and then attacked with his Demon Blood Art. Every time was the same. There was no progression, no learning, just the same thing over and over again.
Then, there was the time when Tanjiro did it on his own, but he had to lure Gyuutarou to a specific place so that he could stab him with a poisoned Kunai. He had distracted him by throwing over sweet-smelling things at Gyuutarou. It’s a great plan and it almost worked, but it was reliant on Gyuutarou kicking Tanjiro throw a building and him ending up in the perfect spot to find those things.
And, I’m not even going to mention the fact that Tengen faked his death by using his muscles to stop his own heart or that Inosuke moved his vital organs out of the way of an attack he didn’t see coming. How did Tengen restart his heart? How did Gyuutarou work that all out while he was fighting? There were a lot of ass-pulls and it was ridiculous.
Who was your favourite character?
Tengen was actually a lot of fun and I was expecting him to become annoying with his flashy comments, so that was a nice surprise. His wives were also cool and I loved Daki (I don’t know why the demons are usually the more interesting characters). However, this season I realised that Inosuke is my favourite character in the series. We got to see him using stealth to search for the demon and exercising caution when he would have charged in before. He’s not a one-trick pony anymore and that was exciting.
Who was your least favourite character?
This is a strange one because Zenitsu made some funny and insightful comments at the beginning of the season. He even had some great moments for example where he stood up to Daki. However, it’s hard to ignore the fact that he was only useful in the fights because he was asleep. He was basically unconscious for episodes four to eleven, which is the best way for him to be. I have mixed feelings about it because it seems like a weird way to use a character. He wasn’t as bad as the last season or even the movie, but he’s still my least favourite character even if he has his moments.
Would you like some more?
I feel like I’ve seen enough now that I will definitely finish the story to the end. I will not be watching it as it airs though because that is just inviting frustration upon me. The cliffhangers will keep coming despite the fact that everyone watching season three will watch it to the end now unless they do something truly ridiculous. My expectations are significantly lower now than they were in the first season so that will probably help me enjoy it more. Maybe…
What have you learnt?
It’s not uncommon for a character to fail numerous times before they finally win. You’ll see it a lot in shounen anime. Just look at One Piece as a perfect example. The crew often fails several times before finally working out how they can win. The thing is that they try different things and learn from their failures. In Demon Slayer, they just keep trying the same thing until they win. No thought has gone into their strategy.
The point of a try-fail cycle is that you learn something each time you fail and use that to move forwards, to get stronger or smarter. If you just keep doing the same thing and hope that it will finally get you the result you were hoping for you’ll often end up frustrated. Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” This feels like Demon Slayer’s biggest flaw and I don’t see there being any change to the formula going forward.
Other Posts in the Series
- Anime
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Cruelty
- Episode 2 – Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki
- Episode 3 – Sabito and Makomo
- Episode 4 – Final Selection
- Episode 5 – My Own Steel
- Episode 6 – Swordsman Accompanying a Demon
- Episode 7 – Muzan Kibutsuji
- Episode 8 – The Smell of Enchanting Blood
- Episode 9 – Temari Demon and Arrow Demon
- Episode 10 – Together Forever
- Episode 11 – Tsuzumi Mansion
- Episode 12 – The Boar Bares Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps
- Episode 13 – Something More Important Than Life
- Episode 14 – The House with the Wisteria Family Crest
- Episode 15 – Mount Natagumo
- Episode 16 – Letting Someone Else Go First
- Episode 17 – You Must Master a Single Thing
- Episode 18 – A Forged Bond
- Episode 19 – Hinokami
- Episode 20 – Pretend Family
- Episode 21 – Against Corps Rules
- Episode 22 – Master of the Mansion
- Episode 23 – Hashira Meeting
- Episode 24 – Rehabilitation Training
- Episode 25 – Tsuguko, Kanao Tsuyuri
- Episode 26 – New Mission
- Movie
- Season Two – Yuukaku-hen
- Episode 1 – Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui
- Episode 2 – Infiltrating the Entertainment District
- Episode 3 – What Are You?
- Episode 4 – Tonight
- Episode 5 – Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!
- Episode 6 – Layered Memories
- Episode 7 – Transformation
- Episode 8 – Gathering
- Episode 9 – Defeating an Upper Rank Demon
- Episode 10 – Never Give Up
- Episode 11 – No Matter How Many Lives
- Season Three – Katanakaji no Sato-hen
- Season One
- Analysis
- Bonus Posts
- Manga
- Volume 1 – Cruelty
- Volume 2 – It Was You!
- Volume 3 – Believe in Yourself
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