#kozo kanamori | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

petitelepus · 9 months

Text

Haganezuka? More Like BAKAnezuka!

Summary: You are a new resident of the Swordsmith Village and you are already on Haganezuka’s bad side. Not that you mind it, it’s the opposite but he is pissed.

Warnings: None

A/N: Female Reader, Reader has a fake name, enemies to lovers, very brief nudity, good old knife chase

Haganezuka had a pretty good life. He worked hard in the hidden Swordsmith Village, creating Nichirin swords for those brave people who so valiantly fought against demons plaguing the lands of Japan.

Mainly to this young promising Demon Slayer called Tanjiro Kamado, but he made swords for others also. Though very few swordsmen could stand him, due to his bad temper, but he didn't let it bother him one bit. People's opinion of him meant very little to him. All that he cared about were his swords.

Or so he thought until the fated day.

The man was just enjoying some of his precious treats mitarashi dangos on the veranda of his shack, listening to wind-chimes play in the soft breeze when he heard his longtime friend and colleague Kanamori calling his name from the other side of the shack, "Haganezuka? Are you here?"

If the man had been in the middle of sharpening a katana, he would have ignored his friend, but he wasn't working on his swords but enjoying some peace and quiet. Or so he was until Kanamori's masked head popped from the corner of his shack.

"Oh, there you are! Listen, I have someone I would like for you to meet." Kanamori looked over his shoulder and called someone to step up. Haganezuka groaned, not appreciating his break being disturbed but just as he turned to glare at the disturbers his eyes landed on a brand new mask he hadn't seen before in the village... A mask that you were wearing.

Who the Hell were you, wearing big and baggy haori and looking at him like that through your mask? A client? Impossible, only residents of the Swordsmith Village wore those masks.

"Haganezuka, may I introduce you to Kiseki." Kanamori politely pointed at you with his hand, "They are a new resident of the village and wanted to meet everyone, as they will be working alongside us wordsmiths at the hot springs."

"So he isn't even a wordsmith? What use do we even have for someone like him?" Haganezuka grunted as he scowled, not even one bit excited about meeting any new person that he would most likely not be in any contact with.

Kanamori raised his hand, ready to say something, but you gently grabbed his hand and lowered it, taking the chance to speak for yourself.

"So you're the great wordsmith behind the black blades?" You asked, your voice disoriented by your mask. Haganezuka's scowl didn't go anywhere as he nodded, "Yeah, so what about it?"

"And your name is Haganezuka?" You repeated and before the man could reply you laughed out loud, using one hand to hold your stomach and the other one to point at him, "Ha ha, more like BAKAnezuka!"

"What was that!?" Haganezuka totally forgot his delicious dangos and the gentle chime of the wind-chimes fell to deaf ears. "I dare you to say it again!"

"Like, how old are you, can you even make proper swords anymore?" You just didn't know where to stop, only taunting the ill-tempered man more and more. Enough for him to slip his mask back on and use his other hand to reach behind him and grab one of his sharp knives.

"Oh, crap!" You yelped as soon as you saw the knife and deadly aura emitting from the swordsmith holding the said knife.

"I'm going to kill you!" Haganezuka shouted as he bolted at you and you cackled like a maniac as you turned and made a run for it.

"As if you could catch me, BAKAnezuka!" You laughed and that only set him off more. The man was screaming as he chased you down the road towards the village, leaving Kanamori shouting after you two, "Haganezuka, please wait up! They are not- Ah, and they are both gone..."

Haganezuka chased you down the village and he would have chased you until nightfall if you hadn't made a disappearance act and vanished into thin air. He tried to get other villagers to spill where you had hidden, but no one knew. So he begrudgingly let you go this time as he returned to his shack to focus on his work.

Little did he know that you were looking after him from your hiding place, thanking any God there was that you had managed to lose him before your stamina had run out. Something that came dangerously close to happening. You decided to wait out at Kanamori's place, his loving wife serving you tea while you waited for her husband to return.

Soon enough, Kanamori returned and turned to look at you, with your mask off and your pretty face out there as you chatted with his wife.

"Ah, Kiseki! You managed to lose Haganezuka?" He asked as he removed his shoes and joined you and his wife on tatami. You nodded as you sipped your warm tea and smiled at the man, "I got damn lucky."

"I can see that. Not many can escape him when they get on his bad side." The man nodded but you could tell that he had more to say. You smiled, "I can sense you want to ask me something?"

"Ah, yes," He nodded again, confirming your thoughts to be true. "I can understand that you want to keep your real name hidden behind your alias Kiseki, but why would you let Haganezuka believe you are a man? Even more, how come you teased him so when you were in fact excited to meet him?"

"Well..." You averted your gaze, a small grin rising to your lips, "He just looked like someone really funny."

"Funny isn't what most would describe when being chased with a knife."

"Oh, let her be Kozo. This is women's reasoning here, right?" En, Kanamori's wife smiled knowingly at you and you tried not to smile, but you couldn't stop the wobbly smile that rose to your lips when you tried so hard not to. You had to cover your mouth with your hand so you could smile as widely as you wanted.

You really had a good reason for wanting to meet Haganezuka, but you couldn't help yourself or your damn mouth. He was so handsome, you were taken aback by his good looks and your brains had short-circuited, resulting in you insulting him. Not that you wanted to, but his reactions were hilarious even if possibly lethal.

You lowered your hand that was covering your mouth and smiled at Kanamori, "I think I'll enjoy living in this village."

Following the weeks and a couple of months to come, every time Haganezuka would visit the village he would always see you there somewhere. You were either running errands, helping the visiting Demon Slayers to find their way to the hot springs or just being right there when he just happened to come over.

He was annoyed, yes, and even infuriated because each time when you would notice him approaching, and would call him BAKAnezuka before laughing and taunting him until he would lose his nerves for good.

Haganezuka could say that he did not like you one bit. The guts you had, even young Kotetsu had some survival instinct as in not to taunt the hot-tempered man like that every time they met.

It got so bad that poor Haganezuka couldn't visit the hot springs because he would get mad by simply imagining you and your smug tone of voice when you would laugh at him. So he crafted a master plan to visit the hot springs when you would most certainly not be there.

It was early morning just before sunrise when he approached the hot springs and Haganezuka was sure that even you wouldn't be there anymore. Not after a long day of serving and guiding visiting Slayers, no, you were certainly resting at your own place already.

So the hot-tempered swordsmith came to the hot springs when there wasn't anyone anymore, but he was confused when he noticed that all the lights were on. Had you left them on? How careless of you, he would make sure to mock you for it the next time the two of you would see each other!

Once in the hot spring, Haganezuka undressed completely, leaving his clothes by the rocks surrounding the hot water with healing water. Slowly, he dipped his legs in first and sighed in pleasure as he sank himself all the way into the water that massaged his tense muscles and washed away the layer of sweat on his body.

The man sighed as he relaxed, leaning his back against the wall and resting his arms on the rocks... He had missed the hot springs so much...

Haganezuka groaned as he stretched his tense muscles, letting the water do its miracles on his weary body... But that is when he heard someone humming a soft tune somewhere nearby.

The man tensed as he listened the voice come closer to his location, but Haganezuka couldn't say anything. That voice... It was alien to him, yet somehow familiar... Like he had heard it somewhere before but he couldn't pinpoint where he could have heard it before.

"Is someone there?" Came a soft voice and Haganezuka felt himself freeze when a figure approached him from the other side of the hot spring and he-!

"W- Woman!?" He shouted as his eyes landed on a woman's bare body. Your bare body, but not that he knew it was you. As far as you knew, the swordsmith still thought you were a male.

You yelped as you noticed Haganezuka resting there in the same water as you, but before he could do or even say anything more, you turned around and rushed away, moving like a snake in the water.

"Oi, hold it-!" The man called after you, but you were gone just as fast as you had appeared. No matter how he looked, the woman was gone. Haganezuka growled as he hit the water's surface with his fists. Just who was that woman and how she felt so familiar to him!?

When the sun rose from the horizon Haganezuka made sure to be by the hot springs until you would come there. If there was someone using the waters then you should know about it.

"I keep telling you, there was a woman there!" The man shouted at you and he could tell you were frowning behind that mask of yours as you crossed your arms.

"And I keep telling you, there was no one else there but you!" You huffed stubbornly, "Geez, are you that old that you see things already?"

"I'm 37 so call me old one more time and I'll kill you!" Haganezuka shouted at you furiously and you snorted, "I'd like to see you try again."

"You little..!" The man growled before shouting, "I'll kill you!"

"Hotaru! Kiseki!" A strict voice came out of nowhere, making you both flinch as you turned to look at the short old man who had shouted at you two. "That is enough!"

"O- Old man?" Haganezuka grunted while you bowed lightly in respect to the old man, "Chief!"

"Enough with this constant bickering between the two of you. It's time that the two of you sit down and talk things through!" The chief of the Swordsmith Village shouted and the two of you glanced at each other before stubbornly looking away.

The old man sighed, "I hate to see you children arguing so much... So I'm making you two talk, no matter what!" The chief snapped his fingers and suddenly three villagers jumped on you two. Two men grabbed Haganezuka while one came up behind you and gently placed a hand on your upper back.

"Oi, let go!" Haganezuka shouted as the men started to drag him away and one holding you escorted you behind them as you didn't put up any fight, unlike a certain man did.

Finally, the men holding you two got you two into Haganezuka's small humble home and threw him inside while you followed him inside. The door was shut tightly behind you two and the chief's voice came from the other side, "You two aren't coming out until you have talked things through!"

And just like that, you were alone with each other. You looked around, taking in the small house and its minimum decoration while Haganezuka growled by himself.

"Damn old man...!" He grunted, "Making me talk with you...! It's like talking to a mule!"

"Oi, show some respect for your elders." You snapped at him, "No matter what, Chief is a kind man. I'm sure he means well."

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Haganezuka shouted, reminding you that you weren't exactly following your own words as you disrespected him nearly every day. You frowned behind your mask, "Also, who are you calling a mule?"

"You, you damn mule!" The man growled as he turned towards the doors and slid his shirt's sleeves up, "I'm going to break through that door no matter what...!"

"Hold it, we are supposed to talk and-!" You turned, but just as you did that, you accidentally stepped on your loose pant leg. You yelped as you tripped, falling face first into the floor and there was a loud crack as your mask cracked.

Haganezuka turned to look at you and he was about to shout at you, but his voice got caught as you got up and rubbed your bruised forehead.

"Shit, that hurt...!" You cursed softly as you rubbed the sore area above your eyes. It hurt, you were sure you would later get a headache because of it.

"It's you...!" Haganezuka whispered as he pointed at you with his finger, "You're the woman back at the hot spring!"

You blinked confusion clear on your pretty face before the realization hit you. You didn't have your mask on. You looked down and around in panic until your eyes landed on the broken pieces of your clay mask before you.

"Fuck fuck fuck!" You shouted as your hands reached for the pieces and tried to push them together as if they would stick to each other but to no avail. Your mask was broken and you had no way to hide your pretty face or conceal your feminine voice anymore.

"Crap, my mask...!" You whispered under your breath. You glanced up and saw Haganezuka staring at you. You flinched at the attention, averting your gaze and covering your face. You were suddenly so bashful, not wanting the man to see you so vulnerable.

The wordsmith stared at you before he finally grunted and pulled his own mask off. Not that you noticed since you weren't even looking at him, but then you felt something nudge your arm and you carefully peeked over your arm... And saw Haganezuka offering his mask at you.

"You can wear mine since yours broke..." He grunted stubbornly and you blinked, stunned by his kind gesture.

"I- I don't need-!" You were about to object but the man pushed the mask harder against your arm. Slowly, you accepted his mask and Haganezuka looked away while you put the mask on, covering that pretty face of yours.

Somehow things seemed to have calmed down between the two of you so you both took off your shoes and sat across each other on the tatami.

"Old man wanted us to talk." Haganezuka frowned, "So let's talk."

"Fine, let's talk." You parroted him. The two of you stared at each other, Haganezuka's orange eyes staring right at his own mask on your face as wind chimes rang just outside the small house. Finally, you grumbled and took off the mask, offering it back to the man.

"I changed my mind, please put the mask back on!" You cried out, much to his annoyance, "Why, what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, just, put it back on!" You cried as you pushed the mask back harder and the man scowled as he used his hand to push the mask back to you instead, "You wanted a mask so wear it!"

"I told you, I changed my mind!"

"Wear the damn mask!"

"No, you!"

It was a fight, but in the end, neither of you wore the mask, but like said earlier, it was a fight, leaving you breathless and Haganezuka feeling angry. The two of you took a short breather and finally, the man broke the silence, "Why?"

"Why what?" You blinked and the man groaned, "Why do you hate me?"

"Hate you?"

"I understand if swordmen hate me because of my temper, but what reason do you have?" The wordsmith asked and you blinked again in confusion but then his words sank in and you panicked, "I- I don't hate you!"

"Don't play dumb! You're always calling me stupid and making fun of me!" The man bit his lip as he looked at you, "So I want to know... What did I ever do to you?"

You were taken aback by his questions. Slowly, a blush rose to your cheeks and a smile threatened to break out on your lips, your nervous habit. You raised your hand to cover your mouth and nervous smile as you carefully looked aside.

"It's not like I hate you or anything... It's the complete opposite..."

"What?" Now it was Haganezuka who was confused. "Why?"

"Because..." You swallowed nervously as you tried to speak but your voice was small and weak and disoriented behind your hand, "The sword..."

"What? Speak louder!" Haganezuka snapped and you yelped, before lowering your hand and turning to look at him.

"The sword you made was used to save my life!" You exclaimed, shocking the wordsmith into silence. He blinked, but before he could say anything, you continued telling him your side of the story.

"I was about to be devoured by a demon when a young man with a blade dark as night came and saved me."

Tanjiro Kamado. The name immediately popped into Haganezuka's mind because the description fit him perfectly and he was maybe one of the only people who still used the swords made by the wordsmith.

"Of course, I was thankful. I was thankful for him and when I heard that there was an actual man behind that gorgeous sword that was used to save my life, I knew I needed to thank him also..." You sighed softly, "So I came to live here and left my life outside the village behind me."

"You came... Because you wanted to thank me?" Haganezuka asked, baffled and you nodded, "I wanted to pay my respect to the man who created that sword..."

"I see..." Haganezuka nodded but there were still so many things he didn't understand. "Then why the Hell did you lie about your gender?"

"I didn't!" You protested quickly, "You just assumed that I was a man! I got pissed and ended up saying things I didn't mean, like calling you stupid and-!"

"You called me old also, don't forget that!" He quickly added and you nodded, "And then you started chasing me with a knife and..."

"And?"

"And I had so much fun, being the center of your attention..." You blushed as you tried your hardest not to smile, but you couldn't help that wobbly smile from rising to your pretty lips. "I heard from villagers that you wouldn't care about anything else but your swords... So I started to tease you to get your attention."

Haganezuka felt like shouting, but for the first time maybe ever during his long lifetime, he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. You glanced at him every now and then, smiling nervously while waiting for what he got to say to you.

"You had been acting like some brat with a crush." He finally said as he crossed his arms over his chest, "How old are you anyway?"

"Ah, you should know not to ask a lady her age," You said, but there was no bite or signs of offense in your voice. "I turned 27 just before I got here."

So there were 10 years between the two of you. Haganezuka nodded but before he could ask anything, he noticed that you were staring at him with unblinking eyes. Oh, what pretty eyes you had.

"What?!" The man snapped and you tilted your head in a questioning manner, "So...?"

"So what?" He snapped and you hummed thoughtfully, "Earlier, chief called you Hotaru. Is that your name?"

"Not by choice..." Haganezuka grumbled in embarrassment and you smiled again, bringing a hand up to hide your smile again, "Pfft, that is an awfully cute name for someone as burly as you."

"What about you, huh, Kiseki?!"

"Oh, that's not my real name." You said as you waved your hand lazily, "I just adopted that name since I didn't know if I would stay here or not."

The man scowled and growled by himself before shooting you a glare, "Well?"

You blinked in confusion, "What?"

"Are you going to stay?" Hanagezuka asked and you hummed thoughtfully, "I've lived here for a couple of months already and I admit, I have grown fond of this place, but ultimately, it's up to you I guess?"

"Me?!" The swordsmith shouted, "What do I have to do with your decision?!"

"You know now about my feelings towards you. Hell, I basically told you how I like you. The question is, how do you reply to my feelings?" You asked as you pouted and bashfully looked aside, "If you don't like me back, just say so and... I'll stop calling you stupid and let you be."

"And what if I told you that I'd hate that?" Haganezuka boldly asked and you blinked in shock before looking at him with your eyes wide, "W- wait, what?"

"It's none of my business," Lies, all lies, "But I'd hate to see you leave when everyone likes having you around... Me included, despite you being a little brat about your feelings."

"I..." You didn't know what to say. Despite teasing him and being a total pain in his ass for the whole time you two knew each other, he was willing to put all that behind you two? You blinked, not knowing that there was kindness like that in this world.

Finally, you smiled happily and nodded, "Then, I would love to keep on living here."

"Great, now that we've talked, I think that old man might let us out...!" Haganezuka growled as grabbed his mask and got up on his feet. You nodded as you followed his example and got up, but before either of you went anywhere, he turned to look at you.

"Oi!" The man snapped at you, "Don't get me wrong, I think you owe me something!"

"I guess that is fair," You nodded humbly, "What is it that you want from me?"

"Your name." Haganezuka grunted, "Real name, not some alias. I want to know what to call my lover."

The two of you stared at each other and the man scowled in embarrassment when you didn't react to his words fast enough. Finally, you flinched.

"L- lover!?" You stuttered as you blushed violently and that nervous wobbly smile rose back to your lips, "I- I never dated anyone like this, not with these feelings-!"

"Me either..." Haganezuka grumbled stubbornly as a soft blush rose to his cheeks, "So let's try to get along and get to know each other better..."

"I..." Your smile shrank, but it wasn't a nervous smile any more but a sweet and genuine little smile of joy, "I'd like that."

The wordsmith nodded, satisfied with how things had turned out. He reached for the door, but stopped when he heard you call his name, "Hotaru?"

Oh, how wonderful the name he so hated sounded so sweet when coming from your mouth. The man scowled as he blushed being his mask and glanced at you over his shoulder, "What?"

"Thank you for giving me a chance, even if I was a total bitch to you."

"Your words, not mine." He grunted but before he reached for the door he muttered silently, "And you're welcome..."

"What was that?" You blinked as you smiled, "I didn't quite hear you?"

"Nothing!"

To Haganezuka's surprise, the door slid open without any resistance. The two of you stepped outside and to your surprise, chief Tecchin, Kanamori, and his wife, alongside a couple of other villagers were waiting for you there. As soon as they saw you two step outside, they all cheered.

"Finally, the two of you made up! I'm so happy for you," Kanamori said happily and while you two stared at the audience you had, chief noticed the dark spot on your face.

"Dear, there is a bruise on your forehead!" Chief Tecchin gasped and turned to look at Haganezuka standing next to you, "Hotaru! You didn't hit her, did you?!"

"Oi, I would never hit a woman!" Haganezuka shouted furiously, and you giggled lightly beside him as you brought your hand to cover your smile, "Yet you had no problem chasing after me with knives?"

"That's totally different!" He shouted yet you just kept smiling as you gently leaned your body against his and Haganezuka grunted as if in annoyance but he still allowed the small gesture of affection.

The friends and villagers shared knowing glances behind their masks. It took a moment, but finally, the two of you were together.

#haganezuka #hotaru haganezuka #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #reader #reader insert #kozo kanamori #en kanamori #tecchin tecchikawahara #writing #my writing #story #my story #fluff #Enemies to lovers #Enjoy!#Trying a new style to post things

50 notes · View notes

ecargmura · 10 months

Text

Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc Is Good! (Anime Review)

I’m unsure if I am qualified to write a review of Season 3 since I haven’t reviewed the previous seasons, but I did watch them. Since I have screenshots and I am a writer, I am going to write a review! I do want to write a thorough review of the previous seasons too! Anyways, don’t worry. I’m not one of those anime snobs that say “mid” or “cringe” all the time. I’m concise and fair.

While the Entertainment District arc is still the best season, I cannot deny that the Swordsmith Village arc has its own flare that makes it stand out from the previous season in both good and bad ways.

I’ll start with the good points about this arc. The characters are the highlights, honestly. Both main and minor characters are very memorable here. This season, Zenitsu and Inosuke take a backseat. Genya, Muichiro and Mitsuri are the prime characters for this arc for they fight alongside the Kamado siblings. I really like them.

Genya stands out for being the only slayer who does not use a Breathing Technique. While he still uses a sword, his main gimmicks are his gun (memed as American Breathing) and his demonic transformation that he gains from consuming demon flesh (these powers are temporary). He serves as a bit of a foil to both Tanjiro and Nezuko in a way. He’s not as talented in sword fighting like Tanjiro and he’s a lot prickly compared to him. However, they’re still strong fighters. In regards to Nezuko, he’s a foil to her in the sense that he’s also the second oldest of many siblings. He and Nezuko both survived a demon attack, but Genya is traumatized for life while Nezuko transformed into a demon. Genya has a bad relationship with his older brother Sanemi while Nezuko has a good relationship with Tanjiro.

Speaking of which, Genya’s past is the same as the Kamado family’s, but R-rated. Unlike Tanjiro who wasn’t present to witness his family being slaughtered by Muzan, Genya saw his siblings die right in front of his eyes and when he was chasing after Sanemi who grabbed the demon and charged off into the forest, he saw that the demon Sanemi killed was his mother who had changed into a demon. He wasn’t aware of this until a bit later and by that time, his relationship with his brother became sour. Because Genya had no talents in swords and couldn’t use breathing, he had to rely on unorthodox methods like marksmanship and demon consumptions to get by. I just feel like the people who probably had bad or no impressions of Genya eventually developed a better one for him. The same applied to me.

Muichiro is the first of the two featured Hashiras for this arc. Like in his first appearance, he’s air headed and blunt, but this arc shows that he’s not doing it out of animosity and that he has amnesia due to trauma. He’s extremely skilled in sword fighting, however. He has faster reflexes than Tanjiro, especially shown in Episode 3 where Muichiro immediately picked up his sword and tried to cut Hantengu. It showed how much more combat-prepared he is compared to Tanjiro. I also like that his skills don’t lie. He’s a talented Hashira who’s younger than Tanjiro.

I do like how human interaction is a strong catalyst to Muichiro’s development. His personality would rub some people the wrong way, which is shown with Kotetsu. With Tanjiro, he did believe he was mean at first, but realized he’s not truly hostile. Tanjiro is still nice to him and when Tanjiro said “When you do something for someone, it will come back around,” it did shake something in Muichiro that eventually tapped into his potential. It’s only when he saw Kotetsu saving his life after he had saved his earlier that he finally recalled his repressed memories of his father who had said the same thing Tanjiro had said to him years ago. The repressed memories also contained his sad life of how he lost both of his parents on the same day and how he and his older twin brother Yuichiro dealt with it until the tragic demise of Yuichiro at the hands of a random demon.

This backstory was as sad as Genya’s. The fact that Muichiro lost his parents at ten years old and then his brother at eleven was quite tragic. He’s currently fourteen, which means it was four years since his parents died and three since his brother died. Seeing how Muichiro came to be the person he was made me like him a lot. He’s probably my second favorite Hashira right now as Shinobu is still the first. Also, I do like that Muichiro is the first Hashira to slay an Upper Moon by himself without the help of Tanjiro or any of the Kamaboko Squad. He’s extremely popular in Asia, and I can see why.

Mitsuri is so cute and sweet! The big sister figure everyone needs! I can’t help but to smile every time she appears on screen. There’s something about her that gives off an infectious, happy vibe. Compared to Muichiro and Genya, she actually gets the least amount of screen time, but she is a scene-stealer every time she comes out.

I think she’s Ufotable’s favorite because she is so well-animated. I was wondering how they were going to animate her given that she’s full of flips and turns. They did her so splendidly. Episode 10 is just animation beauty—a literal chef’s kiss. Her fight against the Fish Demon in Episode 4 was also perfection!

Unlike Muichiro and Genya, she didn’t have a tragic past. Her life was still sad of sorts. She was a victim of sexist societal issues in a way. Because she’s different from other girls in terms of hair color, appetite and strength, she felt like she’s unwanted. Fortunately, she has parents who love her dearly. However, what she sought was someone to accept her as her true self. She tried dying her hair and being someone she’s not but she couldn’t handle it. I admire the fact that her backstory revolved around conformity. It doesn’t have to be another rinse and repeat of parents dying due to demons.

The side characters were great too! Kotetsu, Kanamori and Haganezuka were essential to the story. Kotetsu was definitely as important as the main characters in this show. He’s the one that managed to get Tanjiro his new sword; he’s the one that Muichiro saved after listening to Tanjiro’s words about helping people; he’s the one who helped Muichiro in return. Without him, Tanjiro and Muichiro would’ve struggled a lot. Kanamori was helpful in a way that he forged Muichiro’s new sword for him to defeat Gyokko and the fact that he’s friends with Haganezuka to the point that he knows his weaknesses. Haganezuka was actually the focal point of this arc. Tanjiro went to the Swordsmith Village to find him, only to get caught up in the demon mess. That’s all it was—the arc was Tanjiro trying to find Haganzuka to get a new sword. Haganezuka’s face reveal was amazing though; he’s super hot.

The villains were a bit of a hit or miss, honestly. I liked Hantengu, but he was very annoying in the sense that he just won’t die. His clones were awesome, though. The emotion clones and Zohakuten were awesome in design and in the fact that they were pure menaces to Tanjiro, Nezuko and Genya. Zohakuten’s appearance in Episode 7 was purely amazing, especially with the way the dragons were introduced and his intimidating presence. However, the fact that he kept having insane reasons why he cannot be cut down immediately felt asinine, but there is a reason why he’s Upper Moon 4 in that he’s too tenacious to die.

Gyokko felt underwhelming. While he didn’t have much screen time in combat compared to Hantengu, he at least showed how despicable he was when he showed off his art piece of mangled swordsmiths. Other than that, he proved less of a threat as Muichiro soloed him after awakening his marking. Like, Gyutaro by himself was more of a struggle compared to him. That’s insane, isn’t it? The Muichiro vs Gyokko fight was underwhelming in itself because Muichiro was too OP for him.

The music and animation were as great as always. I feel like the music quality improved a lot this season. Mitsuri’s theme was a pure 20/10 in terms of amazingness. Yuki Kajiura doing her magic again. Muichiro’s theme was great too. Also, everything about episode 11 was Go Shiina greatness. I cannot praise that man enough. The remix of Nezuko’s theme was another 20/10 too. The fact that there was emotional aspects that came with the remix is enough to make anyone cry. Especially when the piano portion starting hitting as Tanjiro started tearing up at the realization Nezuko sacrificed herself for him to save the villagers. I’m glad she’s okay. I legit teared up during that entire sequence. That also ties in with the animation. I love Mitsuri’s fighting style and the way it was animated. I also really like the animated water that was in Muichiro’s backstory. That’s some high quality CG water. However, I do think that the CG fishes were a bit wonky.

And here’s where the bad parts come in. I’ve got a few things to say about this season in terms of things I don’t like. The main thing I didn’t like about this season is the pacing. Because this was a bit of a shorter season compared to the previous season, some episodes ended abruptly. From what I’ve seen, some episodes animated only two chapters and had to add a few anime only scenes in order to squeeze in the time frame.

The fight pacing was fast and too abrupt. This season went straight up with the action starting Episode 3 as the demons invaded. The remaining 8 episodes were just fighting scenes. They don’t get any rest. They just fight. Remember that these fights take about a few hours as they can only fight demons in the evening.

Since Tanjiro and Muichiro have to fight Hantengu and Gyokko separately, the pacing between the two fights were very weird. In one episode, it was mainly Tanjiro, Nezuko and Genya fighting Hantengu and then a scene of Muichiro being stuck in the pot was shown for five seconds and then the episode transitions back to Tanjiro.

Other than that…I don’t think I have anything else to vent about. I just really dislike the pacing. Everything else was passable for me to not care too much about.

Overall, while this season is good, but not great. There are still a lot of memorable moments worth seeing in this season. However, I do advise watching it all at one go so that the pacing won’t throw you off. Props to most of the main characters fighting without shoes in this arc. Also, Season 4 got announced, so I am excited.

How was this review? Do you want me to review the previous seasons? Please let me know!

36 notes · View notes