Demon Slayer or otherwise known in Japanese as Kimetsu No Yaiba ius one of the latest manga that has been translated or adapted into an anime. While I have yet to read the manga version, I have managed to watch the series on Netflix. The story premise is quite straightforward, at least for now – a boy named Tanjiro Kamado, whose family has been massacred by an unknown demon while his sister, Nezuko, is turned into a demon, signs up to be a demon slayer. Along the way, he meets some friends, Zenitsu Agatsuma and
Inosuke Hashibira, who are equally competent slayers, and they go through this journey of self-discovery as they recall their pasts while reflecting on life in general.
The manga itself has already been acknowledged with both critical and commercial success. Honya Club online bookstore has ranked the series #14 on the "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2017". The manga series has also ranked #3 in the Anime Hope division of the 1st annual Tsutaya Comic Awards in 2017. In 2018 and 2019, it has scored a spot in Kono Manga ga Sugoi!'s top 20 manga for male readers. The manga was nominated for the 24th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2020, while the writer went on to receive the 2nd Kodansha's Noma Publishing Culture Award. Commercially, they have sold slightly over 100 million copies as of October 2020, placing the manga in the league of Naruto, Bleach and One Piece.
Of course, with such massive critical and commercial success, it is only natural that the manga will be adapted into an anime. So far, the anime has run for about 25 episodes in season 1, adapting 6 volumes. The thing about adapting a book into an anime or a film for that matter is that the creators of the anime/ film tend to try to heighten the tension in the series or create higher level of excitement by removing or adding characters into the anime/ film. In many cases, the edits or changes made while adapting the manga or a book into anime/ film kind of butchered the whole plot altogether, creating a mess and a film/ anime that is a far cry from the original storyline. So I am glad that ufotable is part of the creative process in adapting the manga into a series. Most of the storyline remained intact, and so are their signature lines/ dialogues that are powerful reflection on life. One of the lines that remained embedded into my mind was - “Feel The Rage. The Powerful, Pure Rage Of Not Being Able To Forgive Will Become Your Unswerving Drive To Take Action.” This was said by the character, Giyu, when he first met Tanjiro. As Tanjiro tries to defend his sister from being slaughtered by Giyu, he tells him what happened and why his sister has turned into a demon. Giyu then advises him to find a man who lives near a mountain and tells him to avenge his family with that quote. But beyond the context of vengeance, I suppose the context is applicable to any form of situations in life. I always believe that if you are able to harness your rage, it will drive you to a point of focus and concentration that will give you ultimate clarity in what you need to do or decide to do. Then there is also the quote-- “If You Can Do One Thing, Hone It To Perfection. Hone It To The Utmost Limit” that was said by Zenitsu’s grandfather as a form of encouragement to him to master the thunder breath. A lot of the time, in life, we are told that we need to be able to do many things at one go. In fact, multi-tasking is a celebrated skill-- you are expected to be able to carry out multiple tasks and excelling in every one of them at the same time. This can be pressurising and stressful. So it was really a refreshing to have a manga/ anime that speaks otherwise, assuring you that it is okay if you only excel in one area.
I also love the pacing. While some viewers may feel that the pacing for the first 6 episodes to be a little slow, I feel that this is necessary to give an in-depth view/ understanding of the different characters. Anime characters are usually very complex and have a good mix of tension and duality in them, and if the pacing were to go any faster, some of the balances built in the characters may get lost, and audience may end up misinterpreting the characters. There is a good mix of fight sequences as well as quiet moments of reflection in every episodes, and that is something that I feel is a hard balance to strike, but somehow for me, the creators of demon slayers have managed this beautifully. Even in the fight sequences, especially the one with the mother spider-demon, have poetic elements about them—it was more of intricate artistry as opposed to a vulgar and violent bloodbath. The writing in both the anime and manga version is amazing in the way it captures life, and values that we hold dear, while at the same time, not sounding preachy. What I truly appreciate is the injection of humour—the creators are never stingy with their level of humour, which is cute, without being cheesy.
All in all, I remained captivated throughout the 25 episodes and I am now looking forward to the Movie continuation, as well as the season 2 of the series.
0 comments:
Post a Comment