October 13th, 2020 
Charles Solomon 
One of the big hits of 2020, the supernatural adventure Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba began as a manga by Koyohara Gotouge. It’s sold over 100 million books worldwide and been adapted to three light novels and a stage play, as well as this 2019 broadcast series.
The story is set during the Taisho era (1912-1926), a time of lively cultural and political activity before the militarism and war of the 30’s and 40’s. But teen-age hero Tanjiro Kamado (Zach Aguilar) has no time for politics or culture. A charcoal seller who travels between his home in the high mountains and a nearby village, he works diligently to support his widowed mother and younger siblings. The filmmakers quickly establish him as a sympathetic figure: A helpful, modest, industrious young man.
After a blizzard forces him to stay away for a night, Tanjiro returns home to discover his family has been slaughtered by demons. Only his younger sister Nezuko (Abby Trott) survives, and she’s been transformed into a demon. Tanjiro vows to do whatever it takes to restore her humanity.
When he seeks help, Giyu Tomioka (Johnny Yong Bosch) recruits him for the Demon Slayer Corps, a cadre of gifted warriors who battle the ghoulish monsters. Over the next two years, Tanjiro undergoes a merciless training regimen. He hones his physical skills, develops his reflexes and learns to sharpen his sense of smell, eventually earning one of the enchanted swords that can behead demons—the only way to eliminate them permanently.
Tanjiro is both a formidable fighter and unusually gentle character. He slays demons with grim determination, but he also prays for the repose of their souls: They were people before they were turned into monsters. Aguilar’s nuanced vocal performance conveys both the formidable warrior and the young man with the sorrowful heart, making Tanjiro the most sympathetic anime combatant since Alphonse Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist. His dedication and warmth win the respect and affection of his masked instructor Sankoji Urokodaki (Brook Chalmers)–and the assistant trainers who have left this life for the spirit world.
Much of the show’s popularity can traced to Haruo Sotozaki’s sophisticated direction. He and his crew skillfully blend CG elements and camera movements with high quality drawn animation to give the action sequences an electric punch. They’re exciting moments, rather than jarring combinations of imperfectly married elements. Or, as a teen-age friend who’s a fan of the show told me, “It had some of the best animated fight scenes I’ve seen in a very long time because they’ve found a way to integrate 3D modeling into sorting out their camera angles, but still keeping the overall proper look.”
Sotozaki and his artists further plus the battle scenes with imagery adapted from older media. When Tanjiro unleashes his “water surface slash” attack, the blue and white forms that curve around his blade echo the work of the great printmaker Katsushika Hokusai.
Tanjiro’s journey will not be an easy one, but it’s worth following. Fans are eagerly awaiting the second set of discs, due out in November. And a theatrical feature, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Movie: Mugen Train is slated for release in Japan later this fall.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Season 1, Part 1
Funimation: $35.99 3 discs, Blu-ray
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