Demon Slayer – Kamado in chief

Full transcript of Demon Slayer – Kamado in chief.

0:00KT: It's another week in the For Your Reference household, and it is another addition to the reference bibliotheca colon weeb edition. Can you believe Oti? Of all the anime that we watch, this is really the only second entry on our main podcast talking about anime. Yeah. It's wild. In our first year of podcasting, friends and lovers, go and check out Naruto. We also had a bonus episode with Anime Nerd and Savage Itaku talking all things anime. And we also talked about Demon Slayer, I believe, in that episode as well. So

0:38KT: buckle up friends and lovers or not because no one's coming over and you're sitting in your dark corner just like us. Let's get on with the show. Konnichiwa, friends and anime lovers. Welcome back to the For Your Reference podcast. You got your host, KT.

0:38Oti: And Oti.

0:38KT: Initiate the slayerdex and choose your main character between bleeding heart brother, only useful when unconscious creepy best friend and model in the face and muscle in the streets. Prepare for battle with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, this week. Woo hoo. Woo hoo.

1:38KT: Let's get into general stats and information, Oti. This series now has 40 plus anime episodes, obviously based on a manga. Oti, I'm not sure if this is where you've dabbled.

1:38Oti: I have not.

1:38KT: Yes. But he will always tell you without prompting that he's read Kingdom. May I ask a question? And really, this is just going to indulge those that read manga and understand this particular reference. Is the animation in the manga like the anime for Kingdom?

1:38Oti: Kingdom is drawn nicely in the manga.

2:10Oti: I think I think with all the CGI announces that it did with the anime is what made it a bit weird to look at. But once you get over that hurdle, it's quite enjoyable. And that's what the one things that I couldn't just stop after watching an episode. I had to go and just I wanted to conceive everything that's Kingdom because it was so expansive and I loved the character so much.

2:35KT: Alright, bro. That that's as much as you'll get on the main podcast talking about Kingdom as well as as well as Vinland. Those are some boulevards you need to walk alone, sir. Going back on topic, friends and lovers, turn your page away from the Oti chapter. Demon Slayer was directed by Sotozaki Haruo, and the series characters were designed by Matsushima Akira. The show is written by various ufotable staff members and produced by Kondo Hikaru. In way of cast, we have Hanae Natsuki, Shimono Hiro, Kito Akari, Matsuoka

3:13KT: Yoshitsugu. Noise. Noise. Noise. Noise. Generally, all around a great anime. I guess before we get into how we feel generally about the series, I would say not to the level of Kingdom, but the animation style were they were all like roided up chibis. And it took me some adjusting to get used to really muscley looking chibis. It was like Rock Lee and the ninja pals all roided up.

3:46Oti: That would be something special.

3:49KT: It'll definitely be something to look at. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Well, let's talk about first impressions, Oti. And I guess for the weebs, just to satiate you that little bit more, Attack on Titan is finishing up as well, so we do have it penciled in. But let's talk about Demon Slayer. How did you come across it? How do you feel watching it? It started from 2019, and here we are in 2022.

4:11Oti: I think when it shot to popularity in MAL, I was I was like, okay. This is something we can definitely have a look at.

4:17KT: Thank you, friends and lovers, especially to those that haven't watched what we're discussing in each particular episode. But for those non anime friends and lovers that are nasty and they wanna sit on our bean flicking couch, what does MAL stand for?

4:17Oti: MyAnimeList.

4:17KT: Yeah. And apparently, Oti has a login for it too.

4:37Oti: Ridiculous. Login train. Yeah. So when I finally convinced you we watched the first episode Smooth. Very smooth. I think what took us aback is the detail. It's it's drawn very vividly. The animation is amazing. It just encapsulates everything. And apparently,

5:02Oti: it just looks quite as amazing in in in the manga. Uh-huh. And for them to be able to translate it and to have such depth and field in in everything they do, and it's so vivid. I think in all the animes we've watched, I don't think that we've seen color used like this in this So great beautiful. Yeah. And wow, I was just taken aback by everything and I think it just stuck. Yeah.

5:02KT: Tanjiro was giving Toshiro a run for his bankai money.

5:30KT: We're going to give you lots of proof that we don't understand sexual relations but we can assure you friends and lovers, apparently there is a Venn diagram and Oti and I are very much snug in the ass crack Mhmm. Or in the Matsumoto cleavage crack. That would be the best place to be. And that's a double Bleach double plug special. And we are looking forward to the upcoming season of Bleach as well. Yeah. Sometime in October this year, and I think that will be one of the best things we cover this year. Oti's ready for some action.

6:00Oti: Get some satisfaction.

6:03KT: Genuinely, probably the only English worded anime songs that I really enjoy. But again, we're going back to Demon Slayer. How do you without being too controversial and without going too far away from the topic, where do you think Demon Slayer lies in regards to the greats? Do you believe it can even be in the conversation of the greats?

6:03Oti: I don't think story wise it can be in the conversation of the greats.

6:03KT: Because it's not anything new?

6:03Oti: It's not it's not anything new. It's it's it's nothing that I think that it it takes

6:38Oti: us down a journey of, oh, wow. This is fucking amazing. I think we've seen a lot of better stuff story wise but it still has a niche it's different in its own way in terms of how it shows and how it portrays itself And I think that's where it comes in. In Tanjiro, we have a very lovable character as do we have in all other animes.

7:03Oti: But I think

7:03KT: He's no Naruto is what you're saying.

7:03Oti: He's no Naruto. And and it's not that he has to be Naruto for it to be great. Uh-huh. I just feel like if you're asking me to talk about the greats, I don't think this would register. It will be one of the one of the best I remember in terms of how it's just animated. But other than that, I think that's where I'll draw the line. I think it's good. I don't think it's great. But it also doesn't deserve the hate of

7:33Oti: in the chat during the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. No. It's and this is one of the things that because it's popular, you'd get people slandering it as as a baby anime as

7:45KT: and you're one of those people. No. But were you present at the Matrix recording, sir? Are you saying that it doesn't belong to the fans?

7:53Oti: It does. It does. You know, you can consume whatever it is you want, but I think a lot of the time, anytime anyone shows hate for Demon Slayer, it's more in terms of just how popular it is. Yeah. And once you start going against that grain, you become that guy in the parties. Not liking something because it's popular cannot be your own fucking personality.

8:18KT: What are you? Some kind of anime pussy?

8:21Oti: Yeah. And to me, at least, I understand that it's not the best thing ever written. And just because it's bloody shonen, it has that connotation that it can't be good, you know. A lot of people also bring out Naruto as being the basic formula. You know? You have Naruto and then Shonen just do all the other stuff that relates to that. You have a kid. He's troubled in some way, conflict, and then he finds a way to beat adversity.

8:48Oti: And that's pretty much it. But when you take a step back and you look at Demon Slayer in in sort of forget all the fucking Shonen nonsense out there, it still stands by its own. And I think the the aspects of ranking isn't new. We've seen that a lot. Even bloody Bleach, you know, it's Yeah. It's always there. But

9:13Oti: but I think it's more about endearing us to these characters that we we come to love and we come to get endeared to. Even if you're not Zenitsu's biggest fan, you'd have someone else to cling onto, you know?

9:13KT: He was one of the sort of qualms

9:28KT: that I have. But let me quickly go into my first impressions and sorry friends and lovers, you know, we've been like Nezuko-chan and we've been in the box for too long and we've needed to talk about anime for a long time. But let me capture off my first impressions and we can go into characters because naturally we'll discover all of it. I would agree with myself that Entertainment District is the best arc.

9:51KT: Even though the first of the Obviously the first sort of initial offering is one of the best, but I think just generally pure enjoyment, Entertainment District was my favorite sort of arc so far in Demon Slayer. In regards to first impressions, we're all connoisseur anime wankers in the For Your Reference household. I tend to gravitate towards more feudal Japan settings in regards to anime. Anything that feels too modern, I don't necessarily latch onto. So, we gave the examples of Naruto, Bleach,

10:29KT: Dororo is a very good one, it's a short one. I think it is coming back as well. And I guess Dr. Stone to a certain extent, but that's obviously the starting of civilization to a certain extent. And also Demon Slayer, like I don't get into Hunter x Hunter. I don't get into My Hero Academia, but I am partial to Rent-a-Girlfriend and I'm not going to turn off Prison School either.

10:57Oti: He loved food as well.

10:59KT: Oh, we're all horny for food, are we not? Yeah. I'm surprised we don't have a Splooshies award category sexually associating with food. But remember Oti, the urethra is in the front. That it is. So I guess that's a lot to say, just to say, I really enjoy Demon Slayer. It doesn't necessarily bother me that weebs are dunking on it and they think they're doing something. The animation, like you said, is absolutely beautiful.

11:30KT: In the anime awards, I'm pretty sure it won over Captain Levi versus the Beast, right? It did. Which I felt away, but I've got a really soft spot for Captain Levi in Attack on Titan. But yeah, visually, aesthetically, it is so colorful, it is so vibrant And there are moments that Demon Slayer in general can make you forget how dark heavy themes it has interwoven into the anime. Not to the level of Promised Neverland, but there's definitely some dark themes in Demon Slayer.

11:58Oti: It is. And I think when you brought up the the fight that it won an award for, I think part of that was just basically how visually detailed it was and how exciting it was in that regard. But emotionally, Levi's fight hands down. It meant a lot. Like, it built to the story. It's

12:24Oti: and that's why you have to take these things with a grain of salt. At the end of the day, it's people just judging shit based off their bloody preferences. But when you look at it from a story perspective, which I think is pretty much what we should be doing when you're analyzing this shit or even giving a WhatsApp, Levi takes it hands down.

12:42KT: Oti, you are giving me whiplash. You were giving me J.K. Oti Simmons Whiplash on your takes about Demon Slayer. You love it? You hate it? You're lukewarm? You're not sure?

12:48Oti: It's good. I said that. I'm not saying anything against it. I'm just saying when you compare it, it won't That particular a Watt for scene that I thought, yeah, it looks cool and all, but the emotional turmoil payoff was not even there at all. You know, when we just barely got into Notenjiro and all his bloody troubles compared to Levi's journey up to that point where everything yeah. It's just I don't know. Like,

13:21Oti: I get it. And I and I think this is one of the hates why people hate it so much or love to hate it because of its popularity, and they feel like it's just getting awards undeservedly.

13:33KT: Say you were the annoying weebs in the chat without saying you were the annoying weebs in the chat. I see your tentacle Discord, Oti.

13:33Oti: Oh, I I I like Demon Slayer. I'm not even bugging on it.

13:33KT: Alright. Well, listen to yourself when you edit this, sir. Let's get into characters. Well, I guess before we even get to that, what was your favorite sort of arc?

13:33Oti: I'm with you. I think Entertainment

14:00Oti: District was by far the best. Yeah. Because we get to see Tanjiro push himself.

14:07KT: We get to see him Past his limits. Captain Yami. Yeah. Black Clover. Yes. Don't worry about us. We do have relations, friends and lovers.

14:16Oti: He he he had to push himself. The first season was good. Fine. We accepted it. But entertainment Well, it has to be good. So we The Entertainment District just went a level above.

14:28KT: Can we also say hashtag justice for Kyojuro? Because he he was kind of reminding me of that family in Black Clover. The Vermillion family. Yeah. Maybe a shame on me for lumping together fiery looking hair anime characters, but they talked about him having a valiant heart and how he was really out in these streets trying to prove himself, trying to, you know, clean up his family name and help his younger brother. Like, there was so much depth that was being built around Kyojuro.

15:03KT: And we just like like, I get it that we're going to have a lot more arcs. And I guess that also informs us that potentially Tanjiro isn't strong either because as the stories progress, we're going to get more, you know, more worthy sort of rivals, harder sort of rivals. And the power hierarchy, Oti, we we love talking about power hierarchy, and I wanna come to that in a second because a lot of it was confusing.

15:30KT: Right? Where you had a lot of the Hashira not being able to hold their own, but Tanjiro will headbutt them into oblivion. Like, there were moments in the power hierarchy that didn't make any sense to me. But I guess, generally, I'm glad we can agree that Entertainment District. And I think it was obviously because it was a bit more adult as well. Yeah. That it was up to the power hierarchy stuff.

15:55Oti: I do see your point. I think seeing Kyojuro battle and lose in that way, I think part of it has to do with Tanjiro and the gang not being fully fit, being vulnerable, and he had to put himself in a land not to put to protect them as well. Yeah. Whereas in Entertainment District, Tanjiro and the gang were actually part of the fight.

16:13KT: But how does that make sense? If we're getting to progressively harder battles, that doesn't make any sense.

16:23Oti: No. Because Tanjiro was pretty much taken out of the battle with Kyojuro, so he couldn't do anything. And I think that's why he drove himself so hard into Entertainment District so that he could he could not lose another Hashira. He could be useful. He couldn't feel like a ball and chain as a Sakura likes to say.

16:23KT: Man, we were having such a good time until you mentioned that cherry blossom.

16:47KT: But let let's get into characters. We've already started talking about Tanjiro. I think he he fits the bill in regards to a protagonist that has a bleeding heart that wants everyone to get along. I think he ticks all of the boxes. I'm not sure why I don't emotionally

17:04KT: latch onto him Because all of all of the ingredients are there. Like every everything is there for me to love him or want to care for him, but it did feel a bit passion of the Christ in the way that like his family got slaughtered. And then every time they do a flashback, it's a different scenario, not just a different camera angle. Like it's like showing us five seconds before and then they show us the whole scene again. Like it was definitely

17:31KT: like we had no choice but to support him. And I think maybe that was something that I kind of recoiled at, but they definitely laid the groundwork and it this show tonally is very confusing to me because we'll get some really gritty

17:48KT: meaty sort of episodes, which is what the ones that I prefer. And then you get three episodes of Zenitsu sniffing around Nezuko. Like, it's too much. Like Zenitsu, I think is my biggest qualm tonally. But that's the nature of the beast. We have to have fillers, we have to have lighter stuff because it gives animators time to do their shit. Well, that's a whole conversation. If we're going to talk about animators having to chase their tails in the anime industry, that's a completely different story.

18:19KT: If we wanna talk about animation of MAPPA in Attack on Titan, I've got a lot of time for that. So slide into my DMs, friends and lovers.

18:19Oti: And it's one of the things that made us even appreciate fillers in the first place. We always got ninja level? No. We always got annoyed at fillers and the extent of it until we saw the nature of the beast and how much pressure the animators are on and how much little time frame they have.

18:19KT: Bro, I don't think Zenitsu sniffing around Nezuko is is part of filler. I think that's part of canon.

18:53Oti: They have to add ridiculous stuff. It's it's just you you accept the nature of the business, you just go with the flow.

19:03KT: Well, as much as I am uncomfortable with a gag, Dinesko, and I'm pretty sure that's part of the appeal for Zenitsu, I prefer that over the always appearing as a small little girl, Raphtalia in Rising of the Shield Hero.

19:03Oti: Yeah. I see that. You're you're going into the Paul territory of animation.

19:03KT: Yes. Paul from Filmbusters and anyone else that wants to open their mouth in regards to the potential admiring of young girls in anime, I turn to all of Western cinema. And again, friends and lovers, I do have time. Come and fight me in these DMs. Spacey,

19:43Oti: Oh, fuck it. Hell. I guess I guess you have a point. You're not even gonna touch it. No. I'm not gonna touch her. But just bringing it back to Tanjiro, I think I'm with you. I I don't feel overly connected to him Yeah. Even though I support. Like, I feel like, oh, yeah. I just wanna see him getting stronger on his journey. I'm not rooting for him as if I was rooting for Naruto or even or even Ichigo. You know, Ichigo didn't have, like, a a depressing background storyline,

20:15Oti: you know? No. He was kind of the good looking guy in high school. Yeah. But you couldn't help but root for him. Yeah. He he was an underdog, but he didn't have this he didn't have the weight of the Tadokage just pretty much ignoring him, you know, despite knowing the bloody background. It's all of those things that just gets me, I think. All in all, I just wanna see him progress, and I'm not overly fussed as to, oh, I'm

20:41Oti: emotionally rooted to this character because I'm not. Yeah. I wanted to see more of probably Nezuko who I think would have had a better storyline in this.

20:49KT: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. And if we're going to touch on power hierarchy again, I would say Nezuko is stronger than Tanjiro. And I know it's because she's a demon, but I also feel like even before she was a demon, she would be stronger than Tanjiro.

20:49Oti: Nah, doubt that.

20:49KT: Why? Because the patriarchy pushes her down as a woman? Yeah.

21:10Oti: Oh, did you expect something different? Commit to no woman. No. I I think Nezuko would have been different. I think that's one of the angles where you'd break free from the generic Shonen story sort of, you know. We we get an outlier in Nezuko. We got like a Dexter sort of row, you know, serial killer who fucking only kills bad people.

21:33KT: Surprise, motherfucker. Yeah.

21:36Oti: But anyway, yeah. And I think that's one of the one of the hardest things for me is caring too much about Tanjiro. Even though I like him as a character, don't I'm not feeling overly fussed over him or even emotional towards anything that happens to him.

21:55KT: I would say a really triumphant moment that I really enjoyed and I was cheering like verbally cheering him on is when he headbutted Kyojuro's dad. Yeah. He deserved a good headbutt. Yeah. And we all deserve a good headbutt friends and lovers. And if Oti is nasty and he's welcome, he'll get a butt in the head.

22:13Oti: I think you're doing those wrong, mate.

22:15KT: Alright. I'll keep him to myself then. I don't wanna spend a lot of time on Zenitsu, but is there anything you wanna say?

22:15Oti: I want him to be in his bloody state all the time.

22:15KT: But like, I think and and I guess comparing to, you know, sidekick pals, Rock Lee from Naruto, like, he was powerful on his own before he had his drunken master. He doesn't have the chakra. So I guess my point is, already,

22:45KT: like he didn't fall into pity and he already had his own sense of strength and then you add the layer that he brought like his final, not necessarily Lotus skate form, but his final sort of form. And I guess, can we also acknowledge and take some time that Sasuke and then Naruto kind of beat his barrage finishing move. And I think that's what's frustrating to me about Zenitsu. Like I'm all about the tonal changes and bringing some levity

23:14KT: into really dark sort of storylines. But what was annoying to me about Zenitsu, everything was back at Square 1 with him. Right? As soon as he woke up and he was conscious again, everything went to fucking Square 1 and he wasn't useful anymore and I want us to get either we get to a point where he's more, not more but he's useful while he's conscious or we just don't show him as much.

23:14Oti: Yeah. And I think this is why I think also we appreciate Entertainment District

23:41Oti: that much more because we didn't have that sort of Zenitsu all the time. Yeah. In season one, we got the awake Zenitsu all the time, and it became a problem because most of the time you started rolling your eyes, and I'm like, yeah, it's bothering me too. You know? We we he was just too ridiculous over the top, and he was shown all the time. Yeah.

24:03Oti: That's one of the reasons why this is not even I wouldn't even consider this the great. Like, Rock Lee had his levity moments. He was chasing after Sakura all the time, but he he didn't do it as as a fucking perv and and Zenitsu's attempts to probably be with every other woman that he sees. Yeah. Anyway, yeah. I I don't I don't really like him. He's fine. He's

24:27Oti: fine in his dazed state. I think that's when we get to see him being serious. And the weird thing is, I thought in his dazed state, he doesn't really know what's happening. But in Entertainment District, we get to see him bloody talk and in his state of being like instructs Inosuke on what to do. He's fully aware. So I'm like, okay. Let's get this guy Yeah. All the time.

24:44KT: I think that might be him building on his skill. I don't think he had that in Mugen Train. He did it. Yeah. So Zenitsu, if if if that last point is proof, I hope they continue to develop his character. I get it's kind of part and parcel of who he is as a character,

25:07KT: and he's always gonna be sniffing around. I understand that. But give us some sort of reason why we have to enjoy those sort of scenes. Make him worth it. Yeah. Agree.

25:18Oti: And I think this will be the perfect segue for Inosuke, isn't it? Inosuke is my fucking fave.

25:23KT: He's the best. I recently bought us some key chains, but I didn't wanna have to explain in the office why I had a bald headed shirtless man on a key chain at work so

25:23Oti: Oh, like why shame yourself?

25:37Oti: Just just get it. Who's so set to judge?

25:40KT: What sort of key chains do you have? Got a Raphtalia key chain? Yeah.

25:46Oti: With the tail all the way up, mate. Oh my.

25:52KT: That is going to hopefully confuse all of you or maybe excite a few of you.

26:00Oti: Yeah. He's he's solid. I think he's go get attitude. He's sort of like Naruto light, you know? In the sense that

26:10Oti: it wasn't necessarily that Naruto was talented, he just had a lot of fucking stamina and he was really fearless. I don't know if fearless is the word or stupidity, but he would go into battle without any sort of plans

26:10KT: And exactly what you're saying, that's Inosuke. Yeah. Away get to the scene in Entertainment District where he gets stabbed

26:30Oti: and he's like, I moved my inner body parts.

26:35KT: He's fucking great. He's immune to poison. He didn't get hypnotized by the eye. Like, he's fucking great. And like, actually, I never thought of it that way, but he kind of is Naruto.

26:46Oti: He is. It's In essence. He's the go getter fusset in this, you know? He he doesn't take anything lying down. He'll try his hardest Yeah. To overcome whatever's in front of him. Motherfucker doesn't die. Yeah.

27:03KT: My orgasm, get out of way. You know, he is And then him and the muscly mice

27:08Oti: Yeah. Love it. Love love love. Even his levity moments in the show are are fun. Yeah. You know, because he he he doesn't get overly ridiculous. No. And I think that's where the we have to strike a balance with Zenitsu when you're coming to that sort of thing. Yeah. You know, it's not always ostrich ninja all the time with him. Yeah. So let's scale it back, let's be more story oriented and then let's just appreciate on, let's develop characters that we wanna root for throughout.

27:37KT: Yeah. And I I think Inosuke kind of makes no apologies for who he is. He literally just heads into battle and he's always going to be there. And I think that's something that, like he's hands down my most favorite character in this anime. Facts, man. Who do you wanna move to next? Is there anything else you wanna say about Kyojuro?

27:37Oti: Yeah. It was sad seeing him die.

27:57Oti: Nothing too emotional though because I I felt away. No. I I I saw it coming. There was only one way that thing was gonna happen. And he's a valiant sort of leader, so he would sacrifice himself. Yeah. Yeah. And to me, knowing that it was gonna come sort of maybe took a wave, weight maybe I would have felt. Yeah. It's not Jiraiya level of,

28:22Oti: haven't they're not gonna do that. Surely they're not gonna do that. Even if you're saying you're coming, you're hoping and hoping and praying because it's because it's bloody anime and you don't want it to be like that. But anyway, I just hoped for more feels when it come when it came to that, but I didn't get that. But if you did fair play, I think maybe maybe more people did feel emotional when he passed.

28:47KT: Well, no. I I think it's more just that I was really digging his character. I was really enjoying him and they he was literally the first Hashira they teamed up with. Right? So it was it was quite a milestone and it was sad that he left. That's all. Yeah.

29:06Oti: Even when they're introducing the Hashira in the past season, I think he's the one that stood up. But we still have a few more that we sort of like that we're yet to get to. Uh-huh. And hopefully, we get to see them be more powerful, be more useful in helping Tanjiro harness his power and become that much stronger.

29:22KT: And I guess while we're here, shout outs to Mugen Train in the film breaking box office records. I really didn't like the big bad. I didn't like the big bad in Mugen Train. I didn't think it was worth all of the buildup.

29:42Oti: Oh, yeah. I I didn't that dream sequence thing, I don't know. Maybe maybe it's the sheer overuse of that sort of storyline, but it felt I felt tired.

29:52KT: I felt like, oh, is dragging too much. It was murder on the Mugen Express, if you're pardon the pun.

30:00Oti: Yeah. And Tanjiro had to had to kill himself over and over to wake I thought himself

30:06KT: that was really like, that was a really gangster move. Yeah. It felt very Taye Diggs Day Break. Oh, no. Idris Elba, in American Gangster.

30:19Oti: But you know what? To be beaten by that enemy who was supposedly not even that strong.

30:26KT: Yeah. Actually, I think so for me, it's it's it's twofold, at least so far. The first one, the reason why I'm not necessarily latching onto Tanjiro the way I would with other anime protagonists is the passion of the Christ element. Like he's absolutely tortured himself, but just externally as well. He is tortured by his past and it's a passion of the Christ and we have no choice but to feel sorry and want to root for him. But it's also the fact that there aren't really that many high stakes because they

30:58KT: obviously at the end of every arc, there's the final level boss and none of them are that compelling. Even in the initial season, like even with the beautifully animated spider web, blood spider web, Katara would be jealous in Avatar: The Last Airbender. But I really like, I didn't really think that big bad was that interesting. And then Mugen Train was less interesting than that. And even the most recent Entertainment District big bad wasn't that interesting to me either.

31:32Oti: Yeah. I think we're to see a big bad where we we we truly feel his his plight or even care to an extent. They tried to show his they tried to show Gyutaro's sort of background after he was defeated. And I was like, okay. I understand it. I understand what they're trying to do, but it didn't still sway me to to feel even though his background was sad Yeah. And I'm like, yeah, this guy deserved to feel the way he did, and he did, you know, kill everyone's buttock ass level.

31:59Oti: I get that. But I think the the takeaway from me usually on this is they try and do this, especially after the battle has already ended. Yeah. And they're either slowly dying or something like that. And they bring up all the background and whatnot. I'm like, okay. Let's let's maybe try it the other way around. Let's get to know them and their journeys fast before they battle. Then that way They touch you. Yeah. Yeah. Then that way we know exactly what's happening. Yeah.

32:31Oti: And he doesn't feel like, oh, now I'm being forced to feel sorry for him. He had a really horrid upbringing with his sister as well. And I think the best part of it for me was essentially they're still stuck together till the very end. Yeah. Know your place, Agos.

32:48KT: And I I guess because it's it's very on the nose. The moment we found out that she had a brother, we knew that they were going to try and have some level of resonance between Tanjiro and Nezuko. Like, it was very clear that they were going to make that a part of the emotional buildup. Right? And the fact that Nezuko is a demon, but, she's still hanging with the crew, she's still being useful. And she's a whole set of powers that we'll talk about in a second.

33:19KT: But again, yeah, you're right. There's no big bads that are interesting. And I guess just so we're spreading the nonchalance for big bad bosses. The fact that Aizen was the biggest bad in Bleach and it kind of all dissipated after that, That kind of fizzled for me, like in regards to Bleach, if we wanna talk about other big bads, Death Note didn't necessarily end the way that I wanted to either.

33:50KT: So I guess I wanna say that I do acknowledge that there are other animes that we do love that don't necessarily have a big bad that is interesting or compelling in any sort of way. However, this is zero out of three at this point, isn't it? I think even something like Naruto with Obito,

34:08Oti: I didn't really care for that. Yeah.

34:10KT: But there were lots of big bads along the way. Yeah. At Tamaru hot hot springs. Yeah. Pain or Tamaru Hot Springs. Even Pain kind of. No. I I like Pain's

34:19KT: sort of story and arc and I and I I was like, yes. I want it. I want I understood where he was going with. Yeah. But I guess there there are like you could have a couple of misses, but the fact that none of the big bads have been interesting to us yet in Demon Slayer. But I guess that's also credit to the storytelling because the storytelling is what keeps it together, but the resonance isn't there, which maybe we'll get to. But something that is surprising to me, friends and lovers is something

34:49KT: that I regarded that we would watch every morning just like in Australia every day before going to primary or high school, I would watch anime and then go to school. It kinda felt like that. Like we will watch Demon Slayer, have our breakfast, then go to work, pretending like we watched The Good Fight or something. Right? So I really enjoyed the ritual of but what's really interesting, you know, discussing this on the episode, and I guess it's also we don't we're not necessarily fanboy attached to this particular show.

35:25KT: We can dissect it, but I I am surprised at how soberly we're realizing how much we thought we didn't love it. Right? Yeah.

35:34Oti: And that's why we come into terms of accepting that it's alright not to to love something to the extent of being a fanboy or anything like that, but still enjoy its sort of weekly storytelling. And it's one of the things that we really look forward to on our Monday mornings is in watching Demon Slayer. Yeah. You know, like you said, it became quite a ritual. Just before work, we'd watch it

36:02Oti: and enjoy the you know, we knew what we'd get. We knew what to expect. We knew what Monday mornings would be. Yeah. And that's the charm of it. You know? We we we get to see, especially in Entertainment District, Tanjiro being elevated his demon or as I say, his demon slayer mark activating or some shit like that. But all that was interesting.

36:24KT: How do you feel about Tanjiro? Well, it's not necessarily his technique being passed down from his dad. How do you feel about Tanjiro leveraging a bastardized version from the Rengoku family that apparently was it's very reminiscent of Neji and Hinata, like a very noble family with their noble, untouchable, unblemishable sort of law. How do you feel about potentially the fact that Tanjiro is leveraging and bastardizing a pure sort of form.

36:55Oti: It's so different from you feel for it, Kakashi bastardizing. Sasuke's clan Sharingan. How dare you?

37:06KT: But according to your argument, Kakashi couldn't have done it if he was in hospital the whole fucking time, you motherfucker. Yeah. He'd fight and be in hospital the next minute.

37:16Oti: But to answer your question though, yeah, a lot of this is him getting this or trying to push himself farther or trying to remember his father's training or anything that he can grasp his hands on to just elevate himself and push himself farther, I think we're not getting the, oh, I need to train. I need to go to the depths to you know be better yeah you know yes he trains a bit and we get a montage of him training with his buddies

37:45Oti: but that doesn't translate to it's just generic training you know it's the sword fighting, it's the push ups and pull ups with Inosuke and Zenitsu. But I don't know, I just feel like it's feeling very Awkwafina like.

38:02KT: Woah. Oh, okay. You don't mean like recent No. No. No. No. You No. Mean arrow Awkwafina in

38:09Oti: It's some feeling, oh, I'm just gonna think deeper and shit will just happen. Yeah. You know? I'm not getting levels of Ichigo having to go to battle with his Zanpakuto

38:23Oti: Yeah. To to to get a bit of leg up or skill up. Yeah. You know? It's not that level. Maybe we will get to it. It feels more intrinsic in him having to, oh, mentally just fortify his fucking mind or some shit. Yeah.

38:23KT: I think it's also that if we're talking about like the big big bad, he just looks like like Smooth Criminal Michael Jackson.

38:23Oti: Oh, wow.

38:23KT: He's even got a pinstripe suit

38:50KT: with a hat to match. Wow. Alright, Oti. Let's finish on a high. Let's talk about Nezuko. I think she's one of the best things about the show.

39:02Oti: Absolutely. Very under utilized so far. Uh-huh. But we did get to see her level up in Entertainment District. Yep. And it just goes to show just how much happened in the last talk. Yeah. We get to see her transform herself into she wiped the floor.

39:20KT: Yeah.

39:21Oti: With a yeah. With a upper rank six. Right? Yeah. She she could not even understand. She decapitated Nezuko and she held herself with a bloody a coagulated blood or some shit. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

39:36KT: And I think it was also reinforced by the fact that she said it takes her ages to be able to regenerate but Nezuko did it in a second. Yeah. Instant regenerate. That's How does that bode for the rest of the upper rank six? Like, obviously, she's not the strongest one, but they made it very clear that she's devoured many Hashira. Always saying that she's leveraging her brother's powers. She can't leverage her brother's power. How how are the brother's power tied to her?

39:36Oti: No. Because he's inside of her the whole time until he manifests.

40:07KT: It's not that anime, Oti.

40:07Oti: Know. I know.

40:07KT: I look at your search history, it's not that anime. Oh, you could probably find something like that anyway if you wanted to. Yeah. And you do. Again, reference your Raphtalia tail up key chain.

40:22Oti: She doesn't consume human flesh. She sleeps to regenerate her power. She's a vegetarian demon like the vegetarian vampires in Twilight, you motherfuckers. Yeah. And that's probably making her more powerful than any other person because as we all know in animes, the the the better you can restrict and suffer in silence and, you know, because it's easier to just go and devour me. And Rock Lee took his weights off for the first time. Are you kidding me? Splish mountain. Yeah. So I don't know. But her power,

40:54Oti: whatever she's getting it from, is one of the things that we'll definitely look forward to. Absolutely. And whatever dynamic duo where she doesn't have to be in the box for the majority of the time and hopefully, be more of the Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart dynamic duo.

40:54KT: Wow. I was going to say the new Geoffrey in Bel-Air. Oh, wow.

41:16KT: She's going to fix all the plot holes. Friends and lovers, it has been announced that a third season will be coming out covering the swordsmith village arc. Oti, will you be reading the manga?

41:27Oti: No. Not for this. Okay. No. I'm no. I'm happy to wait for this to just come out. I don't think anything that interests me after I've watched it is only when I'll go and read the manga because I'm curious to see what happened. With this, I'm happy to go with the journey and with the flow.

41:51KT: You're almost forcing my hand to call this Demon Slayer manga wanker. Thank you so much, friends and lovers. Hopefully, you've also enjoyed stretching your anime muscles on planet Namek. We are going to finish off in a segment we call For Your Reference, Oti.

42:09Oti: I'm gonna reference To Your Eternity. Oh, very nice. I think it's one of the best animes we watched last year. Yeah. We get to see Fushi travel the world, you know, and just learn as much as humanly possible. And the journey and experiences that he faces as just some of the most heart gut wrenching and heartwarming things you'll see on TV so

42:34KT: what are you waiting for? And I guess if you're looking for a western extension if you've watched the first episode of Love, Death & Robots and you really enjoyed it, you'll definitely enjoy To Your Eternity. Nice. Talking about more animation, but in China that deserves more attention, Link Click. Nice and tight 12 episodes that will get you loving and caring so much for the characters. Hopefully, get a season two. Hopefully,

43:01Oti: surely there'll be a season two.

43:05KT: If you want to huddle onto hope on Twitter and Instagram, we're @ForYourRefPod. Write us an email at hello@fyrpodcast.com. We're also on sexualization of young girls happens all around the world, not just in Asia, you motherfucker podcast, if you like to leave a rating and review. And we'll see you guys next week. Tails up. Bye.