Another one that feels like it being on my list is a little of a controversial pick in my own mind. But I try to base these lists on my levels of personal enjoyment more than any level of quality. Because my brain has become dumb to any of that at this point, I either like something or I don’t. And this is an anime I like, very much so.
You might notice that I’m doing this one a bit later this year. Well, part of the reason for that is the damn way anime season run. The past couple of years I wrote one of these lists, I ended up feeling weird about putting shows on from the Autumn season when they were only half over.
So this time, I decided to at least wait for that last Autumn season to be finally over so I had a better sense of my feelings on those shows. That, plus I ended up really packing my schedule full at the back end of the year and decided to watch a lot of shows right at the end.
Number four on my list:
#4: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Season 2)
Originally aired 10th October 2021 to end of 2021 | X Episodes | Based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge | Action, Supernatural, Demons, Historical
Demon Slayer is another anime I feel pretty bad about putting so high on my list considering the fact that, not only are we part way through the season, but most of the season we’ve seen so far has been dedicated to rebroadcasting the Mugen Train movie again with a few alterations.
I can’t help it though, I love this anime so much that watching the new episode on a Sunday evening and then immediately drafting my review of it has become one of the highlights of my weekend.
I’ve been watching this on Crunchyroll, and rather than bunch the whole thing into a single banner under “Season 2”, they’ve decided to actually split the series into its individual story arcs, which is something I don’t see very often. But even with just that one new Episode 1 and the handful of episodes we’re into The Entertainment District Arc, I’m already remembering what made me adore the first season as much as I did.
The characters are so well realised, I’m not sure I’ve liked a main character in a shonen as much as Tanjiro, maybe ever. Plus the art is so damn clean, characters are rarely off-model and the show’s integration of CGI into traditional animation is nearly always seamless. To the point where is produces some absolutely gorgeous shots during action sequences.
I swear, whenever I am collecting images for my weekly reviews, I’m totally spoilt for choice with how many fantastic looking frames of animation I could pick from. Had this entire series ran throughout 2021, I could very easily see it topping my list again, like the first season did, but the release schedule saves other anime yet again.
As I write this, we’re only what feels like part way through the Entertainment District Arc, but the whole experience of this show, including writing about it has been a treat ever since it came back. So I feel like this spot is a fair one for it, considering there is a lot of this season yet to go.
Demon Slayer is in the running for being one of my absolute favourite anime since I started watching anime again a few years ago, and I’m very happy to say that this second season picked right up where the first season left off. Literally and figuratively.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 