My Goodreads Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 21: Ancient Memories

This review was written on Oct 29, 2021. I think this volume and the volumes before and after it was the series at it's peak. I know the trilogy of anime movies ending the franchise are covering manga volumes 17-23, but I think the last volume is one of the big let-downs and it makes me nervous for the final Demon Slayer film. By contrast, I am hype for the penultimate film and hope the studio gives it the same treatment they gave the last movie.

  Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 21: Ancient Memories by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume picks-up right where the last one left off. The most powerful Upper Moon demon is defeated, but he takes some crucial folks with him, and the ranks of the heroes are further thinned out...just in time for Muzan to break-out of Tamayo's hold and we lose her as well. Despite that the last Upper Moon Demon to die was actually No. 4 who was controlling the battlefield and she is used to push Muzan outdoors (as he can only be killed by sunlight), unfortunately it is still an hour and a half until dawn and given the casualty rate, it seems impossible for the Demon Slayers to hold out for that long. This is truly one of the great genre reads I've come across in the last few years and I can't wait to read the last volumes. Happy Halloween!

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My Goodreads Review of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 18: Assaulted by Memories by Koyoharu Gotouge

I decided to post the rest of my reviews of the six remaining volumes of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba to the blog. With the movies coming out over the next 2-3 years I thought I might as well share these.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 18: Assaulted by Memories by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This volume was a bit more heavy on plot-contrivances and back-story, but it was still really good on the art. One battle with one of the main antagonist-lieutenants finally comes to an end. This guy was one of the most notorious villains of the series besides the big bad since the end of the Demon Train-arc. Meanwhile, the most hated of the Upper Moon lieutenants since this final arc began is still giving one of the protagonists a hard time, but then my favorite of the protagonists and the best child shows-up ready to rumble. I hate that Gotouge had to concoct a contrived backstory between Inousuke and the demon to give some motivation to the heroes (this is a meta-problem with Demon Slayer that I may comment on further when I review the series as a whole for the last volume, but safe to say that the concept of "women in refrigerators" plot-laziness that was so well articulated by Gail Simone is in full-effect throughout this series—sometimes justified as a part of the world of the story, but often not). Besides that, this volume is still really good–if not as strong as the last volume–and I can't wait to read the next volume.

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Read on Dec 26, 2020

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 19: Flapping Butterfly Wings by Koyoharu Gotouge

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 19: Flapping Butterfly Wings by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Need to start the year off right with a good manga. Well, with the Upper Moon 2 demon defeated by a very long gambit, it only leaves 2 more lieutenants before the big bad. Upper Moon 2 was truly the most purely evil of the Upper Moon demons, the narrative doesn't even give him a post-death woobie sympathy scene like with all the other demons. The Upper Moon 4 is controlling the actual setting of the battlefield and Upper Moon 1 is pretty-much Mike Tyson-ing every one who he goes against (view spoiler)[which is understandable since it is all but confirmed that he is the first Demon Slayer swordsman turned into a demon—he even uses Demon Slayer sword techniques aka "breathing" instead of blood-demon-art (hide spoiler)]. The last part of the manga has 4 different Demon Slayers (3 of them "hashira" aka Demon Slayer generals) trying to just put a dent in him while he is dog-walking them. We got until at least August 2021 until the last English translation wraps up and it will be wild from what I can guess. The art is as good as it has been since I have been reading the manga (the anime really excels in this department).

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Read Jan 1, 2021

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 20: The Path of Opening a Steadfast Heart by Koyoharu Gotouge

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 20: The Path of Opening a Steadfast Heart by Koyoharu Gotouge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is one of the best volumes of the book and Tanjiro & co. are not (really) in it. The battle with the Upper Moon 1 demon (view spoiler)[who turns out to be the second swordsman to use demon slaying techniques taught to him by his twin brother: the first demon slayer (hide spoiler)]. This volume is interesting because we learn just how long the big bad has been doing his thing and we learn the origin of the sword techniques of the demon slayers. The effort used to fight this guy was just amazing. I can't imagine what will happen next.

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 Read Feb 15, 2021

My Wrap-Up of the 2025 Spring Anime Season

This season was on the short-side for me which is fine given all the anime I plan to watch for the Summer 2025 season). I did binge-watch these shows in the last week of June, so that may play a part in how I view these anime. Of the 7 I have completed (I dropped one that I had actually been curious about: Kowloon Generic Romance), I will give my Top 5 below and do a little sum-up on each:

1. Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2
2. KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World! Season 3 OVA
3. Lazarus
4. A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof
5. Fire Force Season 3

So "Aharen-san" season 2 was my pick of the season and was a nice way to wrap-up the anime franchise. It brought back the space-brained, but sincere humor of season 1 with all the surrealism and heart that I remembered with the twist of our couple being officially a couple.

I feel like I am cheating by including an OVA, but this is my list in my blog so I make the rules lol. KonoSuba OVA s3 gives you the comedy of the regular season 3, but in two episode specials. One downside was that the animation was noticeably downgraded from season 3, but the writing is what you come to expect from the franchise.

Lazarus was a mixed bag for me. I feel like if it was 24-25 episodes, it would've got its message across better. I think Watanabe was saying something profound about the healthcare industry and human nature, but 13 episodes was not enough time to say it. The aftermath of Luigi Mangione should've made this anime connect a lot more. Still it was not a bad anime: just incomplete by Sinchiro Watanabe's standards. I will still always be anticipating any project he comes out with.

A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof is an anime about amoral lesbian contract killers doing slice-of-life/CGDCT stuff. It was a lot funnier than I thought given how it started-off for me and would actually do a little pathos in between the killer-shenanigans. Unexpectedly solid yuri comedy.

Fire Force season 3 is the penultimate anime season of the franchise and one of the last (new) action shounen anime I plan to watch along with My Hero Academica (and I guess Demon Slayer, though I have completed the manga). I have really outgrown that particular genre of anime now given that I started watching DBZ around 1996-97. It was a bit of a chore to get through this season (the first time I have felt that way about FF) and I will be happy when I complete the last season. This and Lazarus were the two anime I watched dubbed in English.

Well that is my look at this season. It may feel like slim pickings, but given the amount of anime I watched in 2024 and the anime I have to look forward to in the second-half of 2025—I am not complaining at all. I may do a write-up of my first impression of Summer 2025 at the end of the month.

2025 Mid-year Anime Watching Update

 I have not done a post on any anime in a hot-minute, but I will try to bring folks up-to-date here. I tend to regularly choose between seasonal watching shows as they come out each week or binge watching a anime for a season if there is not a lot of shows I am interested in. In 2024, I think I spent most of the year watching shows as they came out from the spring season onwards (note: Anime seasonal airings are done within' the calendar year in the usual 3 month division with the winter season beginning in January). During 2024 I also was on an anime website and forum for the first time in 10 years to see what the online anime community looks like in 2024 and it was interesting how much more Zoomers are afraid of each other compared to the millennials of a decade ago. I had to leave the forum after I ran afoul of a moderator over my "controversial" take that the Endless Eight arc of season 2 The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya was bad. They weren't fans of that take and nearly ran me off the site over it. I decided to go back to just using that site to track and went elsewhere. It was an interesting interacting with others over a hobby, but in that case it was not meant to be—though I had fun while it lasted. 

I did a seasonal watch for winter 2025 and completed 9 anime. Of those 9, my top 6 were: 

1. Season 2 of The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You
2. This one is sort-of cheating, but I will list Blue Box even though it technically is a Fall 2024 anime, but it ran between years because it was 25 episodes.
3. This is a three-way tie between Flower and Asura, Honey Lemon Soda, and Re;Zero season 3
4. I Have A Crush at Work

I decided to binge-watch the Spring 2025 season sine there wasn't a lot that I was particularly interested in. I caught the KonSuba season 3 OVAs which were ok story-wise, but the production was noticeably on the cheap (even for that franchise). I actually kept-up with Lazarus since it was airing on Toonami and it is a Sinchiro Watanbe joint. I may talk about it if I decide to do a wrap-up of Spring 2025 after I catch-up on everything. Besides Lazarus, the three anime I was most looking forward to from this season were Aharen-san wa Hakarenai Season 2, Kowloon Generic Romance and Fire Force season 3. I am currently catching up on Aharen which I am enjoying as much as the first season (it is a solid absurdist slice-of-life romance that is just post-modern enough without loosing its charm). KGM was a series I was very curious about, but besides from its art I am more mixed on it. I decided to watch Fire Force season 3 through the English dub so I may catch-up to it before it ends. I have 2 more anime that I may or may not watch.

Thoughts on John Q (2002) directed by Nick Cassavetes starring Denzel Washington

 

Ever since I first heard the news of ol' Luigi Mangione, this film has stayed in my mind and so I decided to watch it again. It is amazing how even in a world after Obamacare that the United States lags so behind in the basics of healthcare. That Cuba, under one of the most destructive economic embargos this side of Gaza, still has a better healthcare apparatus than the United States is incredibly sad and depressing. I suppose that John Q and Luigi may have different political leanings, but they are celebrated folk heroes all the same. Their respective martyrdoms as much products of civil and political negligence and corruption as anything else. 

This movie may be one of the few I have seen where James Woods isn't the final boss villain. As corrupt as his character is as the fancy doctor, The hospital represented by the character Rebecca Payne and the health insurance company are the true villains of this film. The continuing inequality of healthcare in the USA is the true villain of this film. 

Ray Liotta as a cop will never not be jarring as he will always be Henry Hill to me😄