Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba‘s success is due to a combination of two key elements: Koyoharu Gotouge’s incredible storytelling and fascinating characters, and Studio Ufotable’s adaptation, without forgetting the heartfelt voice acting from the cast, and top-notch animation. If the Demon Slayer anime was a recipe, Gotouge provides the high-quality ingredients and Ufotable blends them all together symbiotically, adding meaningful creative liberties here and there, and elevating it all to greatness with smooth and incredibly stylistic animation.
This year, the anime adaptation of the Entertainment District Arc finished airing, and it’s almost needless to say that the eleven episodes did not deviate in quality from the rest of the series thus far. If you read chapters 67 to 97 of the manga then watch the corresponding eleven episodes of this Arc – or vice-versa – you can observe the ways in which the studio brought the original story to life on the screen and how it added extra content to complement the overall narrative and enhance the viewing experience.
Let’s start by going over Ufotable’s inclusion of anime-original scenes. In the Entertainment District adaptation, there are numerous cuts, from establishing shots to whole sequences, that are exclusive to the anime. Even in what we can consider to be the first half of Season 2, the Infinity Train TV adaptation, the entire first episode is anime-original. Why would Ufotable do this? Well, these additions are not squeezed into the story for no reason. In the case of Episode 1 of the Infinity Train Arc, it allows the audience to get to know more about Rengoku’s (Satoshi Hino) character, which in turn contributes to forming a deeper emotional tie to him.
Ufotable gives Uzui (Katsuyuki Konishi) and his wives a similar treatment during the Entertainment District adaptation. If the series will be having one or two Hashira as the focus for each new Arc, it should not feel like they are disposable or two-dimensional stepping stones. One example of the Studio giving viewers more time with Tengen like they did with Kyojuro is the flashback scene at the beginning of Episode 9, “Defeating an Upper-Rank Demon”, wherein he, Makio (Shizuka Ishigami), Suma (Nao Toyama), and Hinatsuru (Atsumi Tanezaki) visit the Uzui family grave. This flashback goes deeper into Tengen’s ghost, in other words, the thing in his past that still haunts and influences him in the present. Consequently, we have a more comprehensive understanding of the roots of Tengen’s motivation. In addition, we get to see more of how the married quartet interact when they are together, something that the manga left room to explore. Another anime-original moment was towards the end of Episode 11, “No Matter How Many Lives”. We are shown Tengen leaving the battlefield together with his wives. This is much appreciated as it gives them a proper send-off and wraps up Uzui’s contribution to this Arc.
There are multiple other anime-exclusive scenes sprinkled throughout these eleven episodes. Two examples not directly related to the Sound Hashira and worth mentioning are in Episode 1 and Episode 3. In Episode 1, “Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui”, there is an anime-original sequence with Tanjiro (Natsuki Hanae) and Nezuko (Akari Kito) on a mission that fills in a gap the manga left open. Ufotable slowed down the sequence of events just enough to showcase the results of the trio’s four months of training, giving a point of comparison between Tanjiro’s level of exertion in taking out the average demon in Season 1 and at the beginning of the Entertainment District Arc.
In Episode 3, titled “What Are You?”, the end-credit scene reveals how Zenitsu (Hiro Shimono) went from the moment he was knocked out cold to being imprisoned inside Daki’s (Miyuki Sawashiro) food locker. On top of being a mostly wholesome scene, in the end, it shows him being snatched up by Daki’s obi. This scene served to erase some questions the manga had left unanswered, particularly “how and when did Daki abduct the blonde boy without anyone noticing?”. In addition, it also left fans on one of the multiple cliffhangers that left everyone itching for the next Sunday release.
A fundamental storytelling device that is featured in different forms in every medium is exposition. In Gotouge’s manga this expository writing comes in the form of narration that can sometimes encompass several panels. This narration either comes from the characters’ first-person inner monologues or from an omniscient third-person narrator. Ufotable employed a couple of different strategies to make the narration translate well to the TV medium. One such strategy is original illustrations that accompany the narration. These illustrations serve to grab our attention and emphasize the main ideas being communicated. In Episode 8, “Gathering”, Tengen’s internal monologue disclosing some details about his past as part of a shinobi family is combined with picture-book style animations which creates captivating stylistic hybridity. Moreover, in this instance, Ufotable makes the creative decision to design a visual metaphor that paints the picture that most of the Uzui siblings were killed as a result of their line of work. This striking picture-book animation technique is one Ufotable uses with moderate frequency but always to delightful effects that advance the narrative.
Conversely, there were moments of narration that did not make it into the anime. In Episode 6, “Layered Memories”, between the moment Tanjiro’s deceased sister Hanako pleads for him to breathe, and when Nezuko kicks the living obi out of Daki, there are a couple of narration bubbles that were not featured in the anime. The gist of it was that humans have a stamina threshold that demons are unaffected by; in forcing himself beyond that limit, Tanjiro nearly died. During this narration, Gotouge through the anonymous third-person narrator makes a poignant point that refers back to the themes of the larger narrative: “If people were able to win with the emotion of anger alone, demons would no longer exist in this world”. The story then moves on to the epic moment Nezuko sends Daki flying with a roundhouse kick to the head, made doubly as satisfying by the anime’s use of sound and repetition. Before Nezuko and Daki start duking it out for real, the manga introduces the dichotomy between Tanjiro’s and Nezuko’s anger, and the limits of a human body against that of a demon’s. We can justify the exclusion of this interesting information as a conscious decision for the sake of pacing and not breaking the immersion.
Regarding action sequences, Ufotable undoubtedly went above and beyond this season. For a start, the studio is masterful at creating an atmosphere. The scene composition during Tengen and Gyutaro’s fight in Episode 8, with all the burning rubble and clouds of dust, certainly adds to the ambience and accentuates the intensity of the exchange. The lighting from the surrounding fires illuminating them both creates a much more climatic setting, something that we witness again in Episode 10.
Another aspect the studio nails, and has nailed since Season 1, is the graphic effects associated with the slayers’ breathing techniques and the demons’ blood arts. They are vivid, smooth, and overall impressive as if they come out of an entirely different animation which creates a striking contrast. For some attacks, Ufotable intermixes hand-drawn animation with CGI to create the effects, such as the water droplets resulting from Tanjiro’s Water Breathing attacks, or even more impressive and new to this season, Gyutaro’s (Ryota Osaka) sickles and blood demon art attacks. The overall use of CGI in action is so seamless, that is nigh impossible to distinguish it. During this latest Arc, we are also introduced to the Sound Breathing techniques for the first time. Ufotable made Tengen’s Breathing forms in action look like the flashiest firework show, which could not have fit better with the Hashira.
The creative liberties Ufotable took in animating the action sequences do not end here. In the manga, the moments of pure action can be a bit confusing at times; we do not always get a clear idea of the precise movements we’re seeing on the page. Although Ufotable remains faithful to most aspects of Gotouge’s work, the studio does not hold back in modifying the action scenes so that they translate best on the screen.
Most fight scenes are extended or altered with anime-original choreography. Daki’s fight against our main trio in Episode 9 is a good example of this. It showcases how much the three boys have grown as demon slayers and how great their synergy in battle is, while still granting each their moment in the spotlight. When they work together to behead Daki, their synchronized attacks take up two whole pages of the manga so, naturally, Ufotable saw that as an opportunity to go crazy with their own depiction of the moment. Not only is the dynamic camerawork astounding in this scene – as it is throughout the season – but Ufotable made Tanjiro, Inosuke (Yoshitsugu Matsuoka), and Zenitsu’s attacks coordinated and easy to follow along without allowing for viewers to get lost in the multiple things happening in tandem.
There is no way to end this article without mentioning the greatest fighting sequence of the Entertainment District, which also corresponds to the climax of the whole arc. In Episode 10, “Never Give Up”, Ufotable perfectly captured the rawness of the panel where Tengen comes back from dead to one-handedly parry Gyutaro’s strike and save Tanjiro. But unlike the manga, the anime explores how Uzui wields his twin blades after losing an arm, having him use his armpit, and even at one point, holding both handles between the fingers of his only hand.
The anime takes about 7 manga panels and transforms them into what is likely one of the most mind-boggling fight sequences in the history of Japanese animation. The 3D animation for Tengen’s Musical Score is entirely original to the anime and provides an arresting visual representation for this surprise technique. The 3D animation does not end there, and like the rest of the season, the blend of 3D and 2D is seamless.
Ufotable visually transformed the vague and unclear fighting of those few panels into a choreography that perfectly captured the essence of the frenzied combat. Despite the fast pace and rapid camera movement, we can still follow along all the way until it all culminates in an adrenaline-filled mind-blowingly fast exchange of blows. The arc shot that accompanies this frenetic moment centralizes our focus on the two opponents and further accentuates the intensity of this fight, while progressively zooming out to show us the collateral aftereffects of Gyutaro’s and Tengen’s strikes on their surroundings. This scene also makes use of the anime trope of having characters screaming at each other mid-fight, but being the pinnacle of the 5-episode-long battle, the fervent voice-acting coupled with the harsh lines zipping diagonally across the screen and the astounding sound design, makes it feel far from a cliché.
Ufotable’s efforts to do justice to the manga are evident in everything from the substantial elements, like the sound design or the pristine animation, to less noticeable details, like adding lines of dialogue or fixing the occasional continuity mistake. Unlike some studios, Ufotable shows respect for the source material without being limited by it. There is no doubt that Gotouge is deserving of such reverence, as the author created this story, with all its depth, feel, and resonating themes. The artist conceived these beloved characters and weaved this narrative in a way that fosters an urgent desire to know what will happen next. Ufotable understands this and instead of usurping Gotouge’s story, the studio treats it with care, like a parent whose only wish is for their child to grow healthy and reach their fullest potential. The Entertainment District Arc once again raises the bar for the next season, setting expectations for how Ufotable will give a new life to the Swordsmith Village Arc.
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