Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

Synopsis: Demon Slayer follows Tanjiro Kamado in Taisho-era Japan, a kind-hearted boy who lives with his family in the mountains. Then everything changed when his family was slaughtered by a powerful demon. His sister Nezuko was the sole survivor of the incident, having been transformed into a demon herself. This kicked off the beginning of Tanjiro’s epic quest for vengeance against the demon who killed his family. More importantly, Tanjiro won’t rest until he finds a cure for Nezuko’s demon state.

On July 4, 2020 (The Floyd of July), I started the “Sunrise Countdown Arc”—the second half of the “Final Battle Arc”—and finished on July 5, 2020. I have read the entire Demon Slayer manga (205 chapters). What a great way to celebrate the holiday weekend. It was a beautiful series until that lackluster ending, but I’d still recommend reading Demon Slayer. Before I dive into the ending though, let’s discuss everything else that was pretty satisfying about the arc.

The second half of the “Final Battle Arc” picked up where the first half—the “Infinity Castle Arc”—left off. All the surviving Demon Slayers had escaped—and destroyed—the Infinity Castle with the same common goal: Kill Muzan Kibutsuji! Everyone had to stall Muzan until sunrise, which would eradicate the demon leader—and all his other demons—once and for all. Tanjiro and the others couldn’t let their comrades die in vain.

So many deaths happened in this arc, showing how everyone valued each other and their mortality. The chapters were filled with emotional payoffs, as we learned more about the Snake Pillar Iguro and his secret crush on the Love Pillar Mitsuri Kanroji. Even Muzan Kibutsuji was humanized to a certain extent.

Muzan’s backstory was explored further as he reached new levels of desperation, revealing he valued surviving more than anything else in this world. Muzan was truly afraid to die, and his whole existence was centered around living forever. Learning this backstory tied into Yoriichi’s past and his connection to Tanjiro’s family, which opened a path for victory in the end.

Overall, I enjoyed the ending in chapter 204. However, like I said at the start of this review, the ending—chapter 205—was kind of lackluster. The only aspect I enjoyed was the reincarnated characters being around and living peaceful lives. Otherwise, I thought the ending should’ve shown the actual characters’ endings and not their descendants living their best life.

The ending felt a bit like Boruto, but at least Demon Slayer committed to their major theme of believing in past lives. Regardless, the ending wasn’t terrible. It just could’ve been better. I still loved the Demon Slayer manga series, and I can’t wait for the movie to come out on October 16, 2020.

Thanks for reading my manga reviews! My next set of manga reviews will be on My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. So, please keep a look out for those reviews in the coming weeks. I really do appreciate you all for keeping it reading with me this entire time. Until we meet again, everyone!

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