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 Kimetsu No Yaiba (Blade of the Demon Slayer) is a 2016 manga in Weekly Shonen Jump. Mangaka - Gotouge Koyoharu  This is Koyoharu's first published work in Weekly Jump, and if you're reading this as of 2020 it has exploded to the point of eclipsing One Piece in sales in 2019 and 2020! Premise - In Taisho Era Japan (a very short-lived era that lasted from 1912-1926) Kamado Tanjirou makes a living making and selling charcoal with his mother and 5 siblings. One day Tanjirou ventures into town to sell charcoal and ends up accepting a kind offer from one of the villagers to stay the night when a snowstorm passes through. He returns to find his family slaughtered, with his sister Nezuko being the only survivor. Unfortunately for Tanjirou the perpetrator of the slaughter was a demon and having survived being mauled Nezuko has now become one herself! A mysterious swordsman appears and attempts to slay Nezuko to save Tanjirou, but Tanjirou interferes to protect his sister and in the fracas it turns out Nezuko hasn't fully become a blood-starved monster. The swordsman directs him to a strange mentor- where Tanjirou decides on his quest: Become a proper Demon Slayer, and return his sister to her human form by slaying the source of the demonic blood corruption. Characters:  Kamado Tanjirou is a very good boy. On a quest to destroy the source of all demonic blood to free his sister, he is a new recruit to the ranks of the Demon Slaying Corps. Tanjirou is possessed of impressive stamina from his training and lifetime of lugging baskets of coal up and down a mountain, a nearly preternatual sense of smell, a cast-iron skull, and an impossibly kind heart that holds a deep empathy for all who suffer- even the demons he slays. All demon slayers are trained in a "breath", which is a particular breathing and sword combat style that tends to reflect their personalities and lets them empower themselves to be able to trade blows with immortal, inhumanly strong demons. Tanjirou has been trained in the Breath of Water style.  Kamado Nezuko is Tanjirou's sister and the only survivor of the demon attack that claimed their family. Still possessing a human heart, Nezuko has overcome the desire to consume human blood and flesh that plagues all those turned into demons. Her utter refusal to harm her brother or indulge in her hunger has oddly seemed to have made her stronger; she is possessed of titanic strength and speed that matches that of high-class demons which she uses to great effect in utterly pulverizing them with her bare hands and feet, as well as the ability to set her own blood ablaze with a cleansing flame. She has to spend extensive amounts of time asleep (in a special box Tanjirou carries on his back to stay out of the sun) between her exertions however, and wears a bindle to both hide her fangs and help restrain any lingering desire to consume blood.  Tomioka Giyuu is the Pillar of Water for the Demon Slaying Corps. Pillars are the strongest and highest ranked Demon Slayers for their particular breath style. While seemingly cold and aloof, Giyuu decides to spare Nezuko when he realizes she was able to resist the urge to consume human flesh and blood and sets Tanjirou on his quest to become of the Corps.  Agatsuma Zenitsu is a flighty, neurotic, girl-obsessed coward. Essentially dragged into training as a Demon Slayer, Zenitsu is constantly wailing about how his days are numbered in the face of the incredible dangers of the gig to the point everyone questions why the hell he's even a Demon Slayer at all. When pushed into a corner to the point his rational mind gives up and his unconscious ability takes over, Zenitsu demonstrates power and speed that borders on the god-like using his Breath of Lightning. Despite being so eccentric Zenitsu is also kinder than he looks, and has fallen head over heels for Nezuko despite the fact she is a demon herself. He also possesses perfect pitch and hearing on par with that of an animal. He travels with Tanjirou partially out of his obsession with Nezuko but also because of the fact that Tanjirou tolerates his presence and is particularly reliable to hide behind.  Hashibira Inosuke is basically an animal in human skin. A wildling that lived on his own in the mountains until being taught the bare bones of basic civility and language by a couple villagers who live near his mountain, Inosuke likes nothing more than a good fight and what can provide a more enjoyable fight than literal inhuman monsters? Inosuke uses a self-taught Breath of the Beast style and fights with dual katana with intentionally ragged edges to simulate serrated blades. He is never found without wearing his favorite article of clothing- a boars' head mask which he uses to conceal his face, which is beautiful and relatively feminine by the standards of most everyone who manages to see it and live. He follows Tanjirou partially because he considers Tanjirou and Zenitsu his underlings, but also because they seem to be a reliable source of enjoyable battles with powerful demons.  Kibutsuji Muzan is the progenitor of all demons and his abilities surpass the inhuman and preternatural. Possessed of seemingly endless human forms he uses as disguises he has existed for hundreds of years. His goals are shrouded in mystery, and being possessed of an odd paranoia he surrounds himself with the most powerful demons in creation- his Demon Moons; demons who have managed to withstand tremendous infusions of his corrupted blood and having consumed great amounts of human flesh. Why Read It? While the premise checks all the cliche boxes short of being set in the warring states period, Kimetsu no Yaiba is just solid as hell. Good pacing, creepy villains (Muzan is legitimately one of the most terrifying villains in the magazine currently), great monster designs, funny comedy, solid action, strong emotional moments, and very strong character writing. Kimetsu's world is grim and there's plenty of body horror, but it never feels flat out depressing or oppressive. Gotouge somehow utterly nails having a protagonist that is lovable, kind-hearted, and empathetic but also believably badass, and the supporting cast is great too. The series manages to pull off a "monster of the week" feel where there's always a new enemy to fight while also maintaining character and plot development- each conflict feels important and progresses either the plot or character development. There's not a lot of fat on the bones of the story, even with its digressions like training/recovery arcs. The art is pretty stylized but if you keep on reading you'll see how talented Gotouge is- Give it a shot!  KIMETSU NO YAIBA HAS FINALLY BEEN PICKED UP BY VIZ AND OFFICIALLY TRANSLATED VOLUMES STARTED DROPPING JULY OF 2018. IT'S ALWAYS GOOD TO BUY STUFF TO SUPPORT THE INDUSTRY AND THE CREATION OF SERIES YOU LIKE! https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Slayer-Kimetsu-Yaiba-Vol/dp/1974700526/  
Fabricated fucked around with this message at 18:04 on Apr 24, 2020 |
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May 21, 2018 05:41
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There is now an anime! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3886585 It's being done by UFOtable, so unless they suck at scheduling/staffing this go around (which is NOT looking to be the case) it's gonna be good. Fabricated fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Apr 7, 2019 |
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May 21, 2018 05:41
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Mraagvpeine posted:You called Nezuko Tanjirou's brother in the OP.
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May 21, 2018 17:49
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Muzan is a pretty cool villain because he feels a lot like an actualized person despite checking a ton of cliche boxes. His paranoia and mood swings feel very...real I guess? Incidentally- the "Tanjirou is a good boy" thing isn't a joke. He's legitimately one of the nicest, most likable protagonists I've ever seen in WSJ. It's nice to see because generally WSJ protagonists are basically sociopaths with thankfully decent moral compasses. Tanjirou is so nice it's essentially almost a super power. Fabricated fucked around with this message at 01:27 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 01:21
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Dungeon Meshi's mangaka is a woman as well. As is the mangaka for Beastars, which just won a Taisho award. Fabricated fucked around with this message at 19:58 on May 22, 2018 |
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May 22, 2018 19:55
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https://twitter.com/YonkouProd/status/999558378186620928 I'd be a bit surprised if it was an anime given that Himomaru Zoumo and The Promised Neverland just got announcements recently but hey.
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May 24, 2018 15:04
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Pierrot is probably out as far as studios go. Your primary fear is Toei think.
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May 24, 2018 18:32
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Kimetsu takes time to spin up imo but after the main crew gets together it gets really good. Also Yonkou says we've got an anime announcement coming.
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May 30, 2018 14:32
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The opening really sets the tone for sure.
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May 30, 2018 16:25
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The monster designs are pretty top-notch creepy too.
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May 31, 2018 04:13
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Manatee Cannon posted:something I appreciate about the fights is that it always feel like the good guys only win by the skin of their teeth. it helps keep the villains threatening The first real arc after the full crew gets together has the creepiest demons in the series IMO but that's mostly because I loving hate spiders.
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May 31, 2018 04:47
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Alder posted:Kimetsu no Yaiba Anime is being produced by Ufotable. Key Visual from Yonkou: https://twitter.com/YonkouProd/status/1002129022925524992
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May 31, 2018 11:40
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Manatee Cannon posted:it's really hard to imagine ufotable botching the job as hard as studio pierrot did with black clover I'm surprised at Ufotable getting this series since don't they usually do game adaptations?
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May 31, 2018 14:32
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Wark Say posted:Ok, goofy-rear end speculation time: Who would be the best VA choice for Inosuke?
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May 31, 2018 20:50
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First PV coming out tonight. https://twitter.com/ufotable/status/1003445281113845760 I'm really interested to see how the anime turns out. Ufotable if anything, can do sword combat.
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Jun 4, 2018 02:19
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Rigged Death Trap posted:Appaeently he sounds very manly
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Jun 4, 2018 11:54
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https://twitter.com/pkjd818/status/1003592684550815744
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Jun 4, 2018 22:32
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I couldn't decide if the Ninja mice should be in the OP or not because seeing their reveal in the manga is so great.
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Jun 5, 2018 18:28
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 The mice rule.
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Jun 5, 2018 23:01
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Didn't the mangaka suffer a grave injury or illness or something?
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Jun 9, 2018 00:38
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This is the previous week's chapter: https://mangadex.org/chapter/387796/1 Genya is part of the "new torso holes" club from last week. Also apparently part demon somehow?
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Jun 29, 2018 22:46
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Rigged Death Trap posted:No more weird than the sound pillars who become weird vein and muscles monsters when they do their thing.
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Jul 3, 2018 14:13
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Good boy count: +1
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Jul 14, 2018 18:00
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Gotouge does a pretty good job of making you feel bad for most of the major demons. The spider kid is pretty heinous but the ending after he dies and his parents' spirits literally come to comfort him and willingly go to hell with him is really affecting.
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Jul 29, 2018 04:32
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https://twitter.com/YonkouProd/status/1025208239254720513
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Aug 3, 2018 03:36
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Wark Say posted:I like Tanjirou's design, but isn't Nezuko supposed to be both very beautiful and somewhat unkempt? I think she generally looks less kempt in the manga but it could be simplifying her design for the anime. I really want to see what ufotable does with the series.
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Aug 3, 2018 15:34
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Autonomous Monster posted:I wish Nezuko could lose the gag and start talking some.
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Aug 4, 2018 19:48
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gimme the GOD drat candy posted:she hasn't kicked it, though. whenever she taps deep into her instant regeneration demon power nezuko gets closer to chowing down.
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Aug 4, 2018 20:43
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A few new chapters! I need to start watching mangadex instead of other sites. https://mangadex.org/title/18198/kimetsu-no-yaiba bottle moon goes down kinda easy but the insult battle was still fun.
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Aug 22, 2018 04:46
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Yeah I kinda stopped messing with km because it randomly gets really bad ads. Mangadex is cool but I figure it'll run it of money and die like most of the better intentioned readers.
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Aug 22, 2018 17:39
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The pillars we've gotten real development on are all great. I wonder if this guy will go down as easily since we got so many people together.
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Aug 27, 2018 22:49
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Everyone is pretty good. Also the face faults in this series are all amazing
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Sep 5, 2018 14:28
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Ah finally, someone typeset the chapter. Demon-eater dude is cool. Also, I wonder what'll happen with Tanjirou's original sword if he ends up getting this new one?
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Sep 11, 2018 11:43
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The breath of the sun is said by the fire pillar's dad to be the originator of the other breaths, so it's possible.
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Sep 11, 2018 21:01
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It'd be kinda cool if just being a demon isn't what gets you destroyed by the sun, but rather just what you DO as a demon. I.e. if you're evil/eat human flesh the sun annihilates you, but if you don't it doesn't do that.
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Sep 15, 2018 18:49
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Rodenthar Drothman posted:Isn't there the whole thing about killing an upper Moon and getting its blood in order to heal her? If so, didn't he just kill an upper Moon?
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Sep 15, 2018 19:13
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Mraagvpeine posted:Which Upper Moon was this guy again? Gyokko: 5th Upper Moon (Vase-Maker) Hantengu: 4th Upper Moon (The guy that just got killed) Akaza: 3rd Upper Moon (Melee guy who killed the Fire Pillar) Douma: 2nd Upper Moon (Creepily cheery dude) Kokushibou: Upper Moon 1 (6-eyed Samurai) Fabricated fucked around with this message at 19:46 on Sep 15, 2018 |
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Sep 15, 2018 19:41
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KoB posted:Just recently binged through this and I didnt want to just emptyquote
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Sep 28, 2018 01:29
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The downtime chapters with all of the facefaults and simplified designs are really fun and really needed considering how insanely grim it gets when everyone starts fighting.
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Oct 1, 2018 11:56
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I think it was incidental? Gyokko brags to Muzan that he thinks he has a lead on the Blue Spider Lily he needs for his medicine and the swordsmith village just happened to be there.
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Oct 3, 2018 11:46
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