Guardianes de la noche - Katanakadži no sato hen

A 5-star experience and the best season of Demon Slayer is not going to happen this time around. Entertainment District Arc remains the pinnacle of the series for me, unbeatable. Ironically, both the first and last episodes, those wild, almost hour-long segments, merit the highest rating, but I have several reservations about the rest. What tarnished the impression of this season the most for me? The expected answer might be CGI, or more precisely, anything executed with 3DCG animation — specifically, the fish (the wooden dragons were perfectly fine). These fishy minions appeared notably subpar by Ufotable studio standards; their movements felt weird and unnatural, and rather than being terrifying, they came across as somewhat laughable. Complaints could also extend to moments before the plot unfolded, where boredom occasionally set in. My overall impression was saved by the storyline around a mysterious man from the past, adorned with the same earrings as the main character and his sword. However, the tale involving the swordsmiths didn't quite hit the mark, with the standout moments being those unrelated to the swordsmith village (the mysterious samurai from the past, Nezuko and the sun, Muzan's backstory, and motivation). But my primary issue with this season wasn't the swordsmiths or the plot — it was the villains. The first episode introduced the missing members of the upper demon circle, including new, more terrifying demons than the well-known Akaza. Upper Rank Two and Upper Rank One were so well introduced that they genuinely scared me, prompting the thought, 'If Upper Rank One is this formidable, what the hell is Muzan?' Yet, alongside these impressive demons, there were 'Pot Boy' and 'Coward'—the antagonists of the new season. The creators failed to sell them to me. Compared to the other upper demons, they seemed weak and uninteresting to me, and Pot Boy with his vases and fish, and Coward, who seemed like a crazy Matryoshka, simply couldn't convince me that I should be afraid of them. They didn't evoke as much respect from me as Daki and Gyuutarou, which shouldn't be the case given the hierarchy of demons. Even at the very end, they couldn't evoke anything in me. Surprisingly, both Hashiras received better and more detailed treatment than Tengen in the previous season. However, the problem is that Muichirou, who got much more space, is ultimately no more interesting to me than Mitsuri, and in the end, I couldn't like them as much as Tengen and Kyoujurou in the previous series. The animation is stunning in some moments; for me personally, the most impressive moment of the whole series was probably the graceful entrance of Mitsuri (the scene with the backflip under the moonlight) or all those beautiful colors when Tanjirou used one of his techniques, especially in the last episode. Unfortunately, there were hardly any longer uninterrupted passages. These cool animation moments only came for a while and sporadically, nothing like the long fireworks displays of color in the previous season, which would give me an animation orgasm. The same goes for the dynamic camera, which I love about Demon Slayer; it appeared quite often only in the first (Infinity Castle) and the last episode (the chase in the forest), and then during the fight with the dragon heads, which seemed less frequent than what I'm used to. On the bright side, the music stood out, contributing well to certain passages. Despite falling short of a 5-star experience and not being the best season, this season earns a 7.5/10 compared to other anime series. (18.06.2023) (menos) (más)