English Dub Review: Demon Slayer “Sibling’s Bond” ; “Mt. Natagumo Arc” ; “The Hashira Meeting Arc”

 

Overview:

Condense the twenty-six episode first season into three movies. Skipping some pretty major plot points for newcomers.

Our Take:

With the movie’s release coming up Funimation decided to bless us with these specials that recap the series. There’s some new footage sprinkled in here and there. Let’s find out if these specials are worth it or should they be skipped?

We should start with what’s done right, which there is a lot of. First off, the animation that Ufotable brings is just amazing. Their work here and on the Fate series really cements them as one of the best animation studios around. If you want to see the best example go to episode 19 or the second of these specials. Specifically, the fight between Tanjiro and Rui, if you want to try to get someone into anime just show them this scene.

This series also has one of the best soundtracks around as well. The openings and endings are used better in the series proper but you still get a taste of them here. “Gurenge” by LiSA is the opening and “From the Edge” by FictionJunction feat LiSA is the ending. LiSA is no stranger to the anime scene, she has a ton of openings and endings under her belt and they are all bangers. FictionJunction is no stranger to anime either, but their collaboration with LiSA was my first time hearing them. These are some of the best anime tracks around and they get mixed into certain fight scenes expertly.

From a dub perspective, the cast here is really well done and everyone does such a good job it’s hard to single anyone out. The easiest paycheck award has to go to Abby Trott who plays Nezuko. Outside of the first episode and like one line later on she doesn’t speak. Abby is a great VA so I hope she gets a chance to show it more in either the movie or later seasons. Zach Aguilar is our main hero Tanjiro Kamado, and man has Zach been busy lately.

Seems like everywhere I turn he’s voicing a new main character, but he does a great job so I can see why. I watched a bit of the sub of Demon Slayer when it first came out so I can’t say Zach was who I pictured but he really does a great job. Tanjiro is a kind and caring protagonist who is thrust into a world of darkness. Zach really does well with all the different emotions, Tanjiro will kill demons but you can tell it hurts him to do so. He speaks to them very kindly and even wishes them well in the next life.

Tanjiro can’t do it alone however and eventually gets two friends to join him. The weirdo wearing a boar head Inosuke Hashibira and the coward Zenitsu Agatsuma. Inosuke is played by Bryce Papenbrook and if you know Bryce you know he can do screaming and yelling really well. This is exactly what Inosuke likes to do a lot of, there are some more quiet moments and he does those well too. I especially love how he messes up everyone’s names.

Aleks Le plays Zenitsu and I had to do a double-take on this one. This guy’s range is INCREDIBLE, the first thing I heard him in was his portrayal of Anos Voldigoad in The Misfit of Demon King Academy, and let me tell you the difference is night and day. Zenitsu is actually my favorite character and I hope he comes to realize how awesome is like us the audience has seen him.

If you thought I wasn’t going to mention Billy Kametz you don’t know me very well. Billy played Rui of the Twelve Kizuki, the main antagonist of the second special. He really did an amazing job with the quiet terror Rui is known for, all of his “family” truly fear him and that comes across in how he speaks. When he flips the switch and gets angry we get some classic Billy yelling and I love it. One thing I do have to nitpick is there were a couple of scenes of crying and they did not sound the greatest.

I really wish the character Giyu Tomioka was in the show more because I am a huge Johnny Yong Bosch fan. If you have ever watched a dubbed anime ever you have probably heard him. His most popular role is probably as Ichigo Kurosaki in Bleach. I really loved his character here especially in the latter half cause we got to see how badass he is but that he also has a softer more insecure side. His character paired really well with Erika Harlacher’s Shinobu Kocho.

This is a really well-balanced show, you got moments of pure action and hype, but it’s not afraid to slow things down either. It really delves into family and those bonds but also touches on handling loss. I really like Tanjiro because like Deku from My Hero Academia he shows it’s okay to cry and show emotion and you can still be a badass demon slayer. I’m not ashamed to admit I teared up quite a bit during this. This show can get really emotional and I really think it has something for everyone.

If you want sympathetic villains this show has them in spades. It also doesn’t take itself too seriously with a good amount of comedy and moments of levity sprinkled in so you don’t get too depressed. If you don’t like when anime gives the characters chibi characteristics and makes them look funny you might not like this. The show does it quite a bit, not enough to distract you but it happens frequently. At least with Nezuko there is an in-universe reason for it and makes sense but not the others.

On to the negatives, and unfortunately, it’s a rather big one in my opinion. If you have never seen Demon Slayer before I can’t really recommend these specials as your foray into the franchise unless you are willing to do some research on your own. There are some pretty big plot points and characters that get introduced that are just outright skipped. Between the end of the first special and the beginning of the second is where the main issue lies.

You don’t get to see how Tanjiro meets Inosuke, and outside of the final selection, you don’t see his meeting with Zenitsu either. The term “The Twelve Kizuki” gets thrown out but without the arc that discusses them, it’s hard to care, which makes finding out that Rui is one lose all of its importance. You also will miss Tanjiro’s meeting with Muzan Kibutsuji who is essentially the main villain which is a huge mistake in my opinion. The whole plot is about Tanjiro wanting to turn Nezuko back into a human, so it makes little sense that the demon who offers to help him is removed from the specials. Tamayo is this demon and she has said that she might be able to make a cure using Kibutsuji’s blood. Removing these two from the specials is really detrimental to newcomers.

So are these specials worth it? Well, that depends on who you are. If you are someone who just wants a refresher before the movie comes out and remember most of the important parts it’s fine. The new content isn’t really a draw in my opinion cause there isn’t much of it. Now if you’re a newcomer I really can’t recommend you start here, there is still enough time before the movie that you can catch up watching the series and that is the best way to experience it in my opinion. These specials are good but not great. If you want great watching the series is the best way to experience this franchise.