Anime: Kimetsu no Yaiba

Art & Animation: The art isn't that good tbh, but the animation department did a really good job on this one. Maybe a bit too much CG for my taste though. The characters look cool, but there's not much detail.
Sound: Nothing special, didn't strike me as either good nor bad. The opening theme was nice.
Story: A real train wreck. There're humans, there're demons, and there're demon slayers. Those are the basics other than that they don't really explain anything in this show, they just state ridiculous facts. Why some humans are ridiculously strong? They got the correct breathing techniques. Right... Only swords made of a special ore can kill demons, a bit like silver but you also need to decapitate them. Also there's people (and cats, even ghosts) appearing from nowhere all the time. There's backstory on most demons they slay, like anybody cares, right? I'm not exactly sure what story this show wants to tell.
Character: The protagonist was fine, except for maybe the part where he forgot about his family being slaughtered fairly quickly. Besides him, there's quite a few cool looking characters, but they are all really cliché and shallow. All the Hashira (the strongest demon slayers) are basically one-trait robots and probably lacking a brain. Then we have the obnoxious friends: Zenitsu and Inosuke, literary always screaming. One is constantly afraid and screaming, the other only thinks about fighting and screaming, this gets exhausting fast. There's little logic in any action any character takes except for the protagonist. Also the manuscript is super basic, nothing interesting being said, mostly feels like forced dialogue.
Value: I would skip more than half of the episodes and just watch the good (fighting) parts, so I guess there's not much rewatch value really. I'd only recommend it to hardcore shounen fans.
Entertainment: I enjoyed the action episodes, everything else was pretty weak. The comedy parts in particular are ridiculously bad. The show seems to target an older audience with all the blood, torture and decapitations, but the comedy seems to target kids in preschool.

Summary: It became clear to me after watching this show that the only trait that the average watcher these days care about is cool animations. People praising episode 19 made me think I was in for a real big twist, but it was only a few good fight scenes, not even that impressive. Was very dissatisfied with this show overall, it felt like it atleast could've been so much better if they only kept the serious parts and didn't do any comedy.

Demon Slayer certainly has a unique art style. That's why I bothered to pick it up in the first place.

Certainly the art was the most invigorating aspect of Demon Slayer. Everything from the character design to the animation of various attacks was drawn in great detail. In terms of the music, the flute is nice every once in a while, and it certainly fits with the theme of Demon Slayer, but it's not my thing. The one jarring aspect of the animation is when they switch from a still 2D image to 3D animation; it could be smoother but it isn't very noticeable in the first place.

Tanjiro's cause is noble and he seems determined (to a fault), but we could say that about a lot of shounen protagonists. Deku from MHA stands out; the two draw quite a few parallels, and not in a good way. Shounen of this style really seem to steer away from any significant character development, which of course requires struggle. Tanjiro certainly struggles in his training, but to me it felt glossed over and didn't really have an impact. On the other hand, if Tanjiro experienced tragedy in the sense of killing off characters, that would lend validity to his cause.

Nobody likes to see their favorite character die, but when you're trying to create a story with impact, tragedy is a necessity. There were multiple times when certain characters close to the MC came close to death, but they were all saved by some Deus Ex Machina "speak of the devil" sort of thing. Sure his family was killed, but they didn't have nearly enough screen time for the audience to sympathize with him. His other motivation, Nezuko, doesn't have much screen time either. Compare that to Inosuke and Zenitsu. The first couple of episodes (which didn't have those two characters) certainly encompassed the atmosphere one would expect of a drama. The introduction of those two broke decorum and changed Demon Slayer into more of a slapstick comedy. Those two are allowed to have their funny moments, but when it takes up more screen time than more important plot elements (eg. Nezuko) it becomes a problem.

The fights are also choreographed in a predictable manner. Most of them can be summarized (loosely) as such: MC encounters villain -> MC is initially knocked down -> MC has a revelation of some sort, or someone joins him -> MC uses this newfound power to defeat the villain. This predictability makes Demon Slayer come off as generic.

Demon Slayer has fantastic art and music, but its bland plot and poor character development don't do it justice.

Scoring:

Art: Definitely one of the best animated and drawn anime, no doubt about that. Character design and effects were both detailed and unique, overall making it a very pleasant anime to watch.

Sound: Has a great synergy with the art, but OP/ED are nothing to write home about.

Story: A plausible plot to be sure, but superficial and thinly developed, especially the main character's motivations.

Characters: Some characters have their quirks, but they all fall into certain stereotypes. None of them were particularly engaging for me; they all felt shallow and their creed was not backed up.

Value: The art is definitely beautiful and unique, but considering the writing I doubt it would go down as more than a noteworthy anime.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed it as much as I'd enjoy any shounen, which is to say decently but it's more something to take my mind off things rather than a really engaging story.

Demon Slayer was the hyped series of the season it aired in for one and only one reason: The colors were pretty. Ufotable was flexing in every episode and the result was a beautiful piece of work that envelops a mediocre shonen. If you seek anything other than cool animation, you won’t find something out of the ordinary. Sure, it may feel fresh because the main character is not a Naruto clone that constantly yells and wants to be the best in the world at something. There are no schools or academies or contemporary societies. But all that are surface level and don’t manage to change the completely simple plot and cast.

The characters are all defined by a single trait to the point of becoming caricatures. The protagonist for example is the definition of a boy scout. He is always being kind to everyone and wants to help out as much as he can. And that is all there is to him. His quest to cure his sister and avenge those who were killed by the monsters goes completely unnoticed because he was not affected by the tragedies he experienced and remained a vanilla boy scout.

The lead female has absolutely no personality besides being cute and emotionless. Without any depth to her character and by being brainwashed so she will forever be docile and obedient, she ends up being more of an object than a character. Not only that, she ends up being waifubait for the thirsty audience than a character you can care about or respect.

It can also get very annoying when the single trait of a character is presented in an over the top manner. Many viewers dropped the show when the scared stereotype named Zenitsu was introduced. The only thing this guy was doing was being obnoxious, loud, and terrified by everything and everyone. He completely shattered all sense of fear and seriousness the show was going for up until that point. Further damage was done by the introduction of the Pillars, as beyond their status as top demon hunters, they are cartoony when depicting the single trait that defines them.

Another problem is the very weak background stories. Nobody’s history can make you care more about them, partly because of how mundane it is, and partly because of how quickly it comes and goes. It’s especially laughable when it comes to the monsters, as their background stories are revealed to the audience literally a few seconds before they die. It’s impossible to care about any of them when there was no build up to their character.

Adding to the list of simplicity we have the battles. They have amazing choreography, but the way they play out is fairly typical and predictable. Most of them are won with the good guy losing, then remembering something out of nowhere that gives him resolve, and then using some fancy looking special effect that makes him win in a second. No amount of pretty colors can hide that simple fact.

Then there is a power system, a staple of most shonen, and despite being simple like every other element, they somehow managed to mess it up. It starts by telling you the only way to kill a demon is to decapitate him with a special sword. Then it proceeds to have demons that don’t die when you decapitate them, or that die with ways other than just decapitation. It takes real talent for managing to screw up something so simple.

And that brings us back to the actual main problem of the show. The only good thing about it is the cool animation, and even that could have been used better in a much more complex or nuanced show. There are lots of interesting themes, the atmosphere can be gripping, and the violence can get fairly graphical at several points. But because the characters have the complexity of the Smurfs, all that feel wasted because they are used in a by the numbers shonen that has nothing to offer beyond the barebones of a typical action adventure.

It’s like Kermit the Frog expecting from you to take him seriously as he talks about the meaning of life with that silly voice of his.