Spoiler alert: This article contains spoilers for those who aren't caught up on Season 2 of Demon Slayer, as well as spoilers from the manga.
We all knew it would happen eventually, but unfortunately, the Demon Slayer Season 2 finale is on its way. So far, a lot has happened with Tanjiro Kamado and his demon sister Nezuko. We've met new higher-level demons, the most accomplished Demon Slayers (the Hashira), and more advanced powers. Now we know for sure that we're getting a Season 3, but before then, we've got to see how the current season wraps up. But when does it air?
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According to Anime News Network, the second season of Demon Slayer consists of 11 episodes with the final one airing on Hulu and Crunchyroll on Feb. 13, 2022. But the good thing about this one is that instead of being the typical 30-minute watch time, it will be 45 minutes long.
The 11th episode is called "Nando Umarekawatte mo," which is said to translate to "No Matter How Many Times I Am Reborn." This could be a good indication of what to look forward to in the finale.
Based on the context clues from the 11th episode's name and things that have happened thus far, we can guess what's happening in the finale. The name of the 9th episode is literally "Defeating an Upper Rank Demon." So we had context clues that Daki, who was the main antagonist of Season 2, and her brother Gyutaro are finally defeated after fighting against Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke Hashibira, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Hashira member Tengen Uzui for about half of the season.
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Source: UFOTABLE
On top of all that, you know if you've seen the 9th and 10th episodes of Season 2 that Uzui is down for the count and looks like he's on the brink of death. The battle with Daki and Gyutaro cost him both his left hand and his left eye. In the end, he does survive and defeats the two demons with help from not only the other Demon Slayers but from his wife, Hinatsuru, as well.
In the manga, we find out that because of his injuries and Hinatsuru's wishes, Tengen retires from the Demon Slayer Corps altogether.
Demon Slayer as well as the movieMugen Train are available on Crunchyroll and Hulu. The movie is also available as a seven-episode season of its own.
And just like that, Demon Slayer Season 2 is already over. The latest season of the popular franchise was pretty inconsistent in many ways, but it did guarantee a ton of fun for the time it was there. Let’s see what the entire season was like in this review!
Demon Slayer Season 2 Overview
One of the most popular anime of our time, Demon Slayer, was back on our screens with the Entertainment District Arc. The newest series followed the 7 episode retelling of the Mugen Train Movie, which you can read all about here. The arc followed Tanjirou, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, aided by the Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui, as they travelled to Yoshiwara red-light district to hunt down a demon terrorising the town.
Ufotable is the studio behind Demon Slayer’s anime adaptation, and Haruo Sotozaki directed the series. It is to be noted that only the first episode was a double-length episode, followed by standard episodes for the rest of the series, including a slightly longer finale. You can read our review of the Mugen Train movie while you’re at it or our review of the last episode of this arc if you’d like. The series is also known as Kimetsu no Yaiba Yuukaku-hen in original Japanese.
– Demon Slayer Entertainment District Arc Review does not contain spoilers –
Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba Season 2 Review- The Plot
If there’s one element of the latest Demon Slayer Season that deserves to be complained about, it is this one. The season started out with extremely high expectations surrounding it, as it was following a universally well-received movie and TV anime series. Anything worse than perfection would net at least some criticism. This is an unfair ask but unfortunately, exactly how hype works in this day and age. This season was never going to be perfect, but was it at least good enough?
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Where the plot is concerned, not really. The series started in an extremely weird way, where a Hashira of all people was kidnapping a girl to be used as an espionage tool, and Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke just happened to be there at the time and volunteered to go in the girl’s stead. A girl, who for all we know didn’t even know how to fight, was to be taken into the den of a Demon who has killed several thousand people. The coincidental nature of the plot was bad enough on its own, but that start didn’t do much for the first impression of an important character.
Believe it or not, the series got even weirder from that point. How the show tried to acclimate the characters to the Red Light District was weird at best and off-putting at worst. The show wanted to be sinister and jovial simultaneously, and the combination of both didn’t work as intended. The result of this ended up being that the show didn’t hit its stride until it dropped the hilarity towards the end and became serious, which has always been a strong aspect of the show and one that Demon Slayer should use way more than it is.
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However, we did see some fantastic episodes in the end stretch, but the plot wasn’t what made them good. One can even say that the plot held that excellent stretch down, as the final battle was full of powers that came out of nowhere and the almost always useless villain history exposition. Demon Slayer Season 2 explored some nice parallels between Tanjiro and Nezuko alongside the villain of the series, Daki. That and the exploration of Tanjiro’s weird powers saved this season’s plot from being a complete miss, but only barely so. If we had a Demon Slayer Season 2 Episode 12, maybe things could have been better explored.
The biggest culprit in the plot not being good might just have been the weird length of the season. Casting how you feel about the (cash grab greedy corporate trash) Mugen Train Anime Arc aside, making this season just 11 episodes was an extremely weird decision. The way it ended also reminded one more of a mid-season break rather than a full-on “see you next year”. The Demon Slayer Red Light District Arc wasn’t a good enough arc to carry an entire season, and it needed a supplemental arc to be acceptable. Imagine if season 1 ended just as Tanjiro met Inosuke and Zenitsu. That’s how this felt, and it wasn’t good.
Demon Slayer Season 2 Review- The Characters
This season was also a mixed bag in character development, but the balance was much better than the plot. Demon Slayer Season 2 managed to resurrect one of its dud characters spectacularly. Inosuke was a revelation in this entire season, being one of the best things about it. He has grown up a lot from his annoying roots to become a solid character than can handle his own, and it is awesome to see it happen. Tanjiro and Nezuko’s relationship was also a huge part of this season, and it worked really well.
Zenitsu is still the worst character in the show, and it isn’t close. He remains just as annoying and unwatchable as ever. The new characters introduced are Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira and his three wives, alongside the villain Daki. Tengen is as generic as they come, as he’s the usual flamboyant character trope that many anime have. Him being a ninja alongside that is unique, but the show doesn’t do enough with the fact to make that anything but a footnote. You will probably forget about his wives as soon as Demon Slayer Season 2 ends, and no one will blame you. Generic is the word.
Daki, on the other hand, is a pretty solid villain and one of Demon Slayer‘s better ones so far. As already mentioned, there are some great parallels in Demon Slayer Season 2 with her and the main characters’ story, and the show explores them enough for it to feel substantial. She is also strong enough to make the fights against her extremely exciting, which is what really matters in a show such as this. The show did do the “Boohoo Demon Life Sad” trope in this season, but it worked better here than it did earlier.
Demon Slayer Season 2 Review- Animation and Music
We are getting near the levels of perfection in these aspects, and no one would be surprised if Demon Slayer Season 2 was the show that took us there. This season looked like a dream in how high quality it was. The animation in the series has always been tremendous, as are most other works by Ufotable, but this was on a level of its own. The environments, the colouring, the lights, and most of all, the battle sequences looked phenomenal. Animation doesn’t get any better than this.
The music of Demon Slayer Season 2 was also great. The OSTs sounded beautiful and fit the entire vibe of the Entertainment District very well. We have seen Red Light Districts done well in many anime, and while Demon Slayer‘s interpretation was nowhere near the best version, it was still very good. The opening saw somebody other than LiSA do insert music for the show for the first time, and while Aimer did a great job with the opening, the show was still missing something without LiSA. The animation in the opening sequence was breathtaking, however.
Verdict
Demon Slayer Season 2 was too short and incomplete for it to be able to be as good as what came before, but the mind-blowing animation, music and fight sequences did a lot in softening that blow. It was a good season, just not as good as it could have been. Let’s just hope Demon Slayer Season 3 is a full length one.