There’s nothing in Demon Slayer Season 3 Anime’s first Episode that’s even remotely repulsing. And in direct contrast to this, there are a lot of things to be attracted to, such as Mitsuri Kanroji’s bulging bust, but that’s a topic of another day (cultured men be disappointed).
Ufotable has done a terrific (and I mean in the positive indication of this word) job in animating Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 1, and not even a second of it felt like an episode – if anything, it had all the valor and grandeur befitting of a film. But will it continue this quality in the coming episodes?
What do I mean by an Anime episode?
But first it helps to define what I mean by an Episode. An Anime episode generally consists of certain dynamics –
- First, it has an opening and ending song.
- It does not make great epic logo entrances of the series with great orchestral music (for the most part).
- It does recaps of the previous seasons (mostly).
- And it continues like the series never stopped.
None of this is performed by Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 1. It has both an epic orchestral soundtrack and the Demon Slayer logo presenting itself like its Twentieth Century Fox, we have epic entrances of the Upper Moon six which feels like an introduction of villains in a film. It knows its a movei and lives up to it, without pretension.
Will such dynamics be continued in the coming episodes then? Will each new episode feel like a movie of its own?
Why the Demon Slayer Season 3 Anime Premiere feels like a movie
It feels that ufotable has hardly left any stones unturned in picturing a crisp-perfect animation when dealing with the season 3 premiere.
The beauty of the infinity castle opening scene
The infinity castle has been a near-perfect visualization. The sound score that Ufotable has deployed with the beginning scene where all the Upper Moon demons gather at the precipice of Lord Muzan is stunning.
- If you have watched Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 1, you might have noticed how the episode begins with Akaza being summoned to the infinity castle. This is followed by different frames and visuals of the infinity castle, much more vividly and invigoratingly than it is shown in the Manga itself.
- The scene is also accompanied by a whooshing buzz in the background score (such booms and vibration sounds are common in Hollywood films). Such theatrics (if I may use the word) are not that common for a single Anime episodes.
It makes sense because the first episode is indeed released as a movie all throughout the globe
- The episode has been garnered perfectly to be a movie-isqe one, and it makes sense when you know that this episode was released in conjunction with the previous final two episodes of the last season into one film – To The Swordsmith Village.
- This theatrical gimmick may have allowed the first episode, which is one hour long, to feel quite movie-like. At this point, a remaining question is whether such ‘movieness‘ will be carried forward in the coming episodes.
Now upon knowing that this first episode was intended to be released as a movie, it makes sense why it has such theatrical dynamics. Usually, Anime episodes are quite different from Anime movies. It’s difficult to carry what I mean with words, but here’s an example –
Will this Movie-like grandeur be carried forward in coming Demon Slayer Anime episodes?
The point I’m trying to raise is, is such film-like theatrics only because this first episode was indeed meant to be a film? Or will this be continued in the coming episodes?
- After careful consideration, it feels to me that it should. Because what we are talking about is Demon Slayer, not some new anime.
Usually, if it was just any time with a one-hour special movie premiere, then I would have expected it to have a movie-deserving first episode, followed by episodes that will feel quite lacking in comparison to the premiere.
But anyone who has witnessed the Demon Slayer Season 2, to The Entertainment District arc, would know that such grandeur in animation, sound score, and visual presentation, are part and parcel of what Ufotable is trying to do with this series. It feels viable to say that, they will not let their animators take it easy after the first episode.
#DemonSlayer Season 3 Episode 1 gave me chills. I missed this. 😍
— Geode (@trvrblmnt) April 10, 2023
But I still feel that some of the parts that made the first episode feel truly like a movie, will not be followed in the coming episodes. As the coming episodes will not be one hour long, and will have the usual systematic opening and ending songs – following a usual episodic format of visual presentation.
