Demon Slayer Season 3 Review: Atone for your Sins with your Life

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And to no one’s surprise, Ufotable knocks it out of the park once again with the third season of Demon Slayer. With stunning animations, an amazing soundtrack, and heart stopping fights, the third season of Demon Slayer doesn’t miss. If you’re caught up in the show, it is worth a watch, 100%.

So, with the third season of Demon Slayer wrapping up, it’s time to give my thoughts on the anime, and man, what a ride it was. Once again, Ufotable did a wonderful job animating Gotouge’s manga. Moving forwards, I’ll explain some of my favourite aspects of the show. Granted, there may be some slight spoilers, so be prepared. This was your warning.

First thing’s first, the animation. And oh boy, was it beautiful. Ufotable has been doing wonders for the series ever since the first season. I think what I appreciate most about the animation is that it’s unique to each season. The first season had Episode 19, which sent waves through the community. In season 2, all of the fights with the Sound Pillar were flashy, which perfectly reflected his personality. In this season, we get two new Pillars that join the fight.

I liked Muichiro’s Mist Breathing style animated. The flowing mist effects, combined with the stylized lines, the smooth animation was wonderful to see on the screen. Compared to Tengen’s style, Muichiro feels more serene, which also reflects his personality perfectly. Alongside Muichiro, the other Pillar introduced this season is Mitsuri.

Her Love Breathing style was also animated well. Using her unique whip like weapon, I liked the graceful, almost dancer-like form her fighting style reminded me of. Flashier than Muichiro, but less than Tengen, it had the perfect balance of smooth movements with powerful strokes.

Of course, when we’re talking about animation, it has to be said that Tanjiro’s fights were well animated on another level. Ever since he used the Hinokami Kagura, the flame like effects added to his style feel powerful and bright, like pure sunlight driving away the darkness. This season also featured Tanjiro using more of his breathing style in his fights, which made everything more pleasant to watch. 

Besides the actual fight scenes, the downtime between all the high energy scenes was smooth as well. I know there have been anime I’ve watched in the past where the budget was saved for bigger scenes. As a result, some frames had to be saved, which lead to PowerPoint styled pacing, where there were still frames everywhere. In the case of Demon Slayer’s third season, everything felt smooth and everything was still moving.

Now, besides animations, the characters introduced this arc were also great. We are reintroduced to Genya, who we haven’t seen since the final Selections. Even with such a short season, I liked how much character development was put into such a short time. Even though the time was short, the development was well paced.

I also enjoyed watching him in combat. Even though he can’t use breathing techniques, I liked watching his unique technique, which involves a gun with special bullets, and ingesting demon parts to temporarily gain their powers.

I know I talked a bit about the Pillars introduced in this arc in the previous section, but I want to go into them a bit more. First off, the Mist Hashira Muichiro was surprisingly a deep character. Even though he seemed an airhead since we last saw him in the first season, I’m glad we got into his backstory this season. Unsurprisingly, it’s a tragic one, but it gave so much depth to his character.

I also appreciate how he developed by the end, and overcame his amnesia to awaken his true power. On the other hand, I’m a bit disappointed with the Love Hashira, Mitsuri. On her own, she was a fun character. But I wish we got more screentime with her and her fights. Compared to Muichiro, her fight scenes feel much shorter, which left me wanting more. If I have any critique for this season, it’s that Mitsuri deserved more screentime.  

Alright, with the good guys out of the way, we should also talk about the villains this season. Upper Moon Five Gyokko and Upper Moon Four Hantengu are our demons the heroes must face this season. Once again, I appreciate how unique and deplorable each demon is. Gyokko’s technique using his vases to warp around and create his “art” was an interesting technique. It also set up some interesting parallels throughout his fight.

On the other hand, Hantengu was an annoying demon, which I think was the effect he was going for. For being such a pathetic demon, he’s a hypocrite, which makes it hard to sympathize with him. Compared to season one, where some of the demons had tragic backstories which made you pity them, Hantengu didn’t have any of that. He was a crappy human, which he paid for in his death.

Final thing to mention, plot was solid, of course. I loved the setting of the Swordsmith Village. Having such a specific setting rooted everything together. It also helped with the pacing of the arc. The fights were well animated, the backstories were interesting, and the overall plot moved forwards. The reveal at the end of the season sets up for the endgame situation for the series. Everything is coming to a close, which is exciting.

If you’ve been watching up to this point, you’ll have to watch season three. It’s not even a question. Once again, the animation is top tier, and the fights in this arc will leave you on the edge of your seat. If you aren’t sure if you should continue after the flashiness of season two, do yourself a favor and watch season three. If you’ve never touched Demon Slayer at all, then what are you waiting for? Start with season one, and embark on a crazy adventure, with some of the best animated fights ever.