English Dub Review: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc: “Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji”

Overview: Mitsuri’s (Kira Buckland) trauma over her identity is revealed, battling Zohakuten (Ben Balmaceda) to protect Tanjiro (Zach Aguilar), Nezuko (Abby Trott) and Genya (Zeno Robinson) as they take another shot at Hantengu. (Christopher Corey Smith)

Our Take: Mitsuri’s time to shine is here and her battle thrills with how uniquely buoyant her sword style is. Although, as expected for a singular, self-contained episode needing to establish a lot of backstory, it comes with major drawbacks. 

The stereotypical notions of feminine behavior and etiquette are rough waters for Mitsuri to navigate in how confining they are. For what’s there, her of struggle being accepted with how little she conforms to those standards is harsh, tragic and utterly relatable. However, it leaves so much to be desired.

While her parents and Demon Slayer corps’ acceptance is heartwarming, it never feels especially earned. The societal issues Mitsuri faces never strikes as strong of an emotional cord as it could have, due to such a meager runtime. While her lack of gentleman suitors is saddening, the quick transition to her family and corps.’ dedication to her cushions the blow. As a result, her backstory fails to develop her pain or the systemic issue behind it too deeply. These are some big ideas that could’ve had some massive payoff. The key word being ‘could’ve.’ 

At the very least, she delivers a stunning battle with incredibly lively and flexible sword animations against Zohakuten. With Tanjiro and the gang attempting to take Hantengu’s head once more, hopefully it’ll make for a rousing final battle.