Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 6: The first mission
Published on May 13, 2019
I'm still curious to see how Tanjirou will progress, but I get the sense that there's something off about this series. While I'm happy to be learning more about the world of this series, I feel like the information generally trickles in at random times. As I've said before, I like how the fights look and feel, but I have trouble following Tanjirou's thought process while he's fighting. He reacts to things, but I don't have a strong sense of what he's trying to accomplish or what he knows.
As far as explanations go, the one for the black blade was alright for me. I like the idea that the rare sword color is treated as an unknown and downplayed as a result. Typically, you'd see the opposite, where the rare occurrence gains a special sense of value. That being said, I don't really get what the colors are meant to contribute, so there's much left unknown.
Tanjirou's investigation generally makes sense, but I think it would have been cool if the initial scenes in the town gave a better sense of how Demon Slayers are regarded. Perhaps I'm just meant to conclude that no one generally cares. Tanjirou could also be the type of person who wouldn't want to take advantage of his position. If that's the case, I'm okay with it, but the series doesn't draw much attention to that concept.
As I've said before, context often feels missing in this series. Going into this fight, Tanjirou mentions the heightened demon activation that he sees in his foe, but I as the viewer have no idea what that means. Sure, the enemy is more dangerous, but what part is even the indicator? Is it just another magic smell thing? Does it give the demon the ability to split into three?
I guess it's not completely surprising that Tanjirou's ultimate goal involves finding the oldest demon in existence. It sounds like we'll learn about this demon named Muzan Kibutsuji next week, since it's the title of the next episode, but that's a crazy escalation. I suppose there was no way this was going to be easy, huh?
I'm looking forward to seeing Nezuko help Tanjirou next week. I think it would be cool if the two were to work together in the upcoming battle, since it would play into their previous bond.
This scene was probably the weirdest moment in the episode for me. The series has spent the past few episodes establishing that Nezuko is different from other demons, so saying that Urokodaki has somehow hypnotized her to help humans kind of cheapens that internal struggle. I guess it depends on how it's used, but it feels strange to me. I don't see how this is okay.