Fantastic first episode, ufotable just can't make a bad looking anime.
Interested to see where the plot goes, and to see more of those epic sword slashes.
Great start to the season.
Cruelty is quite a fast-paced introduction. Initially, it intrigued me, but after a while, my attention faltered. With such a short runtime, the episode moves through each plot point with little time to breathe. If the episode had an extra 10 minutes, I think it'd benefit its condensed plot. Not only that, but I believe that the inciting incident should've occurred in episode two. By making this change, we get time to explore our characters, get to know who they are and why we should care about them.
After a brief clip, we begin with our protagonist (Tanjiro), leaving his family to sell charcoal in town. We see glimpses of his time there, but not for long. By the time he's finished, it's already dark. As he's making his way back, a man tells him to stay for the night, away from the demons. The man informs us, and Tanjiro, about the demons who roam at night. Before I continue, I want to highlight my scepticism towards this exposition dump. By looking at Tanjiro's interactions with the townspeople, it seems like he's been there for a long time. He's also the eldest sibling in his family, so I find it hard to believe he hasn't heard of demons until now.
Before he goes to sleep, Tanjiro asks if the demons could break into one's home. The man believes so. In the morning, when he returns home, guess what happens? His family's dead. By foreshadowing his family's death so soon, its set up seems redundant. With only his sister left, he carries her, hoping to get her some medical attention. As they walk along a cliff edge, she awakens, grows fangs and causes them to fall off a snowy cliff. They both survive, but his sister lunges at him. Soon after, a demon slayer appears! He talks about how sure he is Tanjiro's sister will kill him, yadda yadda yadda... before he insults Tanjiro for being weak? Ok, sure. After that, Tanjiro proves himself to the demon slayer by using his wits, and the demon slayer analyses his attack—wow.
In the end, the demon slayer lets Tanjiro's sister go, and when he thinks she'll eat him (the demon slayer rendered him unconscious), it attacks the demon slayer instead—wowza! The demon slayer thinks to himself, "could these siblings be different? I've never seen this before!" and he tells Tanjiro to find someone and dashes away.
So, yeah, it's a quick episode. Quite a lot happens in such a short time that I'm already sceptical of how the rest of the series will turn out. Not bad, but so far, I'm unimpressed. But then again, it's only episode one. Who knows what the next one will be like?
TECHNICAL SCORE & ENJOYMENT SCORE: 6/10
Woah ! First episode and im out of word. The show is very beautiful !
I'll continue to watch it to the end.
Pretty character design, backgrounds, art style, and animation!! Some parts, particularly Tanjiro saying goodbye to his family and the action scene, feel a bit over the top though. Giyu Tomioka kinda reminded me of Levi with the "no regrets" thing.
Shout by DiegoBlockedParent2019-09-29T15:03:21Z
This series has great potential to be a very good show.,It is edgey unlike most popular anime at the time. I also like how you can easily figure out which each character's motives are In a fight which most animes fail to achieve.
Overall, this show is now one of my favorite new series and I will continue to watch this show until the end.