Swordsmith Village Arc Review P1
Warning!!! Not spoiler free!!
Since the anime wrapped up, I thought I would do a long review on how I personally thought this arc was, mainly looking at the plot an not necessarily at the animation.
So, let’s be real here, the Swordsmith village arc, despite its conclusion, was not great at all. It could have been a lot better, had there been more efforts put into the writing.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not calling anyone out or insulting the creator I am just trying to give constructive criticism and nothing else.
A big issue here to me is Tanjiro. We spend a lot of time showing his skill set and power-up which is hardly believable. The arc starts after he has been in a 2-month coma. I don’t know how much time has passed until he goes to the village but that hardly can explain his insane amount of progress. His strength feels more plot convenient rather than well presented.
We spent little time on fleshing out and showing the skills of the hashira. Unlike in previous arcs, where we got lots of insight on how strong a hashira can be, with rengoku and Uzui, both Mitsuri and Muichiro are heavily sidelined. On top of that the upper moon Muichiro is battling is hardly any kind of threat, and more efforts went to the upper-moon Tanjiro was battling.
I don’t know what reason was behind the fast pacing, but because of that there was little time spent on a major foe. When all upper-moons are hyped up as hashira killer and being in their position for more than a 100 years then the writer should put some efforts into delivering.
In the end since Tanjiro is the protagonist, he needs the more fleshed out antagonist.
This is another issue. While the idea and concept is actually very interesting it is only used on Tanjiro and conveniently enough he sees just the right ones.
Since Kotetsu can guess what he might be seeing it is safe to assume that it does happen to multiple people and therefore make it odd that only Tanjiro has them.
There are multiple characters with ancestors that knew and interacted with Yoriichi. So again, the inherited memories feel just convenient rather than a well thought out concept.
It is aside from this very ridiculous that Muichiro did not destroy Yoriichi Type 0. All he did was rip off an arm. We established that he is much stronger than Tanjiro, not only through his hashira title but also showing that he is physically stronger. We also know that he does not care about breaking it or not. Yes his sword breaks during training, but he must have still done a ton more damage to that thing.
(I don’t really see much for a reason in Kotetsu crying over this because Yoriichi type 0 is not going to be relevant after this arc, and since the nice kindhearted Tanjiro destroys it. It is fine.)
On a side note, I have watched lots of reactions to this season and I must say it is ridiculous how negatively people thought of Muichiro just because of his bland nature. Like to me Kotetsu was just annoying, you know the typical annoying children animes tend to present you as cute or likable whereas they just are not.
(Besides, I might be the only one but when Tanjiro tried to interject and be again that ‘amazingly’ nice person to stand up for Kotetsu and then got knocked down by Muichiro, it was very satisfying. Since this is the point where I am getting very tired of the endless ‘oh look how nice’ Tanjiro is that the series forces constantly on us.)
Furthermore, this arc while seemingly being about the two hashira is relatively little about them and much more about Tanjiro’s progress. Which is another big issue. Of course, he is the protag and all, but occasionally, focusing on others and giving them time and interest is not a bad idea. It adds a lot of depth to a story.
There is nothing wrong with taking your time and properly showing other characters and what they are like. Your Protag does not make a whole story!! All the characters and concepts added around him is what truly make a story.
Another big issue of this arc is the sword that Tanjiro will receive. It is Yoriichi’s sword but at this point, we don’t know much about him at all and why his sword would be so special. There is no connection that would make us understand why the sword would be so important.
Furthermore, Tanjiro was doing completely fine with the sword he had the whole time, making it even more questionable why he needed the other one. Had there been much more background on the sword one would understand the connection. And had Tanjiro struggled a lot more with the sword he already had one would understand why he needed the other one. In the end, I kept forgetting that he needed a sword at all.
Another issue of this arc is a common Shounen issue and that is writing the arc in a way that the protag finishes off the enemy. For most stories, it hardly makes much sense. there is always a lot of effort put into justifying why the stronger ones cannot do it and too much focus on the mc. This is the second upper moon he decapitates.
Please keep in mind that all this is my own opinion and how I feel a story would be more interesting if you don't agree with this it is completely fine and there is no need to be upset in case you don't like my opinion.^^
vaporwave
izzy806
kianamaiart
2087
andulkaphoto
pixelskylines
