 Once every couple of years, there's a shonen anime that captivates an entire generation and becomes legendary. Let's just list a few. In 1989, we got the absolute classic, Dragon Ball Z. In 1992, Yu-Yu Hakusho. One Piece and Hunter Hunter in 1999. 2002 and 2003, we get both Naruto and Full Metal Alchemist. 2013, Attack on Titan. 2016, My Hero Academia. And finally, in 2019, Demon Slayer. Why did this happen? It really wasn't hyped up at all. And it kind of became a hit overnight. It was like, one day, Small Nezuko was just all over Reddit. And whoever hadn't heard of the anime before, definitely had now. Demon Slayer came straight out of left field. Season 1 maintained a solid 8.7 average rating per episode. The highest rated episode, Hinokami coming in at 9.8. Its season finale left everyone in the collective audience in baited breath waiting for the sequel. And boy did it deliver in a big way. For 19 years, Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away was the highest grossing movie in Japan. It seemed like nothing could topple it. Not Avengers, not Titanic, not Frozen, no other Ghibli movie. Not Weathering With You, and not even the critically claimed your name could usurp the throne of Spirited Away. That is until October 16th, 2020, when the Demon Slayer movie was released. And currently it has earned 5 billion yen more than Spirited Away. In fact, it was the fourth highest grossing movie that year in the entire world. Beating out big name movies like Sonic the Hedgehog and Christopher Nolan's Tenet. And I think this one is funny. It's the highest grossing R rated animated film of all time. It goes to show that in contrast to the rest of the world, Japan believes that animation is not only for kids. And the crazy thing is, it's not even out in the US yet. There's just so much that can be said about this anime that has already been said, but I'd like to add my thoughts to it as well because, well, it's just such a great anime. Demon Slayer is a pretty unconventional anime, especially for a shounen, in that it doesn't waste time establishing its dark tone, especially with the main character's family dying at the very beginning of the very first episode. Everyone except our boy Tanjiro and his kid sister Nezuko, who has turned into a demon. And right off the bat, we can see what the focus of this anime will be, the bond between family members. Everything Tanjiro does, he does it for Nezuko. And everything Nezuko does, she does it for Tanjiro. Tanjiro's desire to cure Nezuko is what kicks off the journey. And although most of Nezuko's memories have all but disappeared, she still remembers her family and she instinctively does whatever she can to help and protect Tanjiro. And that's what I love about Nezuko especially. She's not a supporting character who sits on the sidelines. She's not a damsel in distress. She's as much of a main character as Tanjiro is. Their relationship is sibling biotic. I mean symbiotic. And this relationship is the driving force of the entire anime. This familiar bond is such a beautiful thing when done correctly. And we see this beautiful relationship develop over time during their journey as we see them transform from young, innocent, and naive kids to efficient, well-trained, and fearsome Demon Slayers. And despite all this, they never lose their kindness and hopefulness. We especially see Tanjiro's growth personally. Despite his youth, he's been through a lot. And we see that maturity manifested time and time again. Tanjiro doesn't join the Demon Slayers for fame or prestige. He only believes that it will set him upon the path to save his sister. In fact, despite both the anime's title and his job title, he finds no joy in slaying demons. He does it remorsefully or I might even add reluctantly. He realizes that, just like his sister, the demons he faces often had no choice in the matter. Victims of circumstances. The anime does a great job driving home this point, with each demon they face having their own backstory of when they were once human. The villain of the weak trope being turned on its head. And it feels less like Jojo, where you just want to see him get punched in the face. And more like Detective Conan, where you actually feel sympathy for the bad guys. And watching Tanjiro fight never gets old. The fact that he's not all-powerful. With only a few exceptions, Tanjiro is kind of an ordinary guy and all of his abilities are gained through intense training. We get to see his growth, his hero's journey. And because of this, every win feels deserved. As the abilities he uses is just enough to tip the scale in his favor and defeat the enemy. And like I said before, he isn't alone in this journey because we see Nezuko grow alongside him as she discovers her newfound abilities as well. And perhaps no analysis of Demon Slayer can be complete without mentioning Episode 19. This is where the anime really shines. And this is the episode that exploded on Twitter. It currently has an IMDb rating of 9.8 and sets itself firmly at spot number 78 of the highest rated TV show episodes according to IMDb. This is like the hero episode of Demon Slayer. And it's none other than Tanjiro vs Rui. Tanjiro is down and out, exhausted. His sword is broken. Nezuko is about to be killed by the big bad guy. And in one moment of clarity, the Shonen anime protagonist has a flashback. And whenever that happens, you know the bad guy is screwed. Tanjiro remembers his love for his family and his love for Nezuko. Then the outro music starts playing. Reaching inward to harness the very last bit of energy left in his body, he makes a mad dash towards the enemy for one desperate final attack. He ignores the intense pain of the barrage of attacks that Rui sends his way. With only a broken sword, he strikes the edge of his blade against Rui's neck. And together with Nezuko's help, the blade penetrates and slices through. There's so much to unpack here and honestly I could talk for hours about this fight. But I want to focus on one thing especially. The beautiful animation throughout this entire anime. But especially the fights. The gorgeous swordplay combined with each character's unique abilities makes every fight fresh, distinct, and quite honestly, breathtaking. Add to that the great sound design. And each strike packs even more of a punch. Tanjiro's waves, Zenitsu's lightning, and Shinobu's insects. It's just to point out a few. All of these factors come together to produce this masterpiece of an anime. And finally, Lisa. No, I'm not talking about this Lisa, even though I do love that Lisa. Lisa is probably the most well-known individual singer for anime OPs. She's worked on so many different anime. Angel Beats, Fate Zero, Sword Art Online, even My Hero Academia. Add to that list probably her best song. The Demon Slayer OP, Garengae. This song is peak high energy and never fails to get me hyped right before an episode. In fact, we're blessed with Lisa on both tracks, the OP and the ending. What's insane to me is that Demon Slayer was relatively unknown until recently. It's been around since 2016, but only in late 2019 did it really get popular, and it really only became popular through word of mouth. It was a slow burn that culminated in a pop culture sensation. Just how big of a sensation, you might ask? Well, it was the highest selling manga in 2019 and 2020. It beat out One Piece at the top spot, the number one spot that has been consistently held by One Piece nearly every year since the year 2000, with the exception of Death Note in 2006. In terms of sales, the franchise has garnered nearly 4 billion in revenue, putting itself on the list of one of the best-selling franchises of all time, right below the Song of Ice and Fire series, Fate and Zelda, and even outselling long-standing franchises such as Terminator, James Cameron's Avatar, Godzilla and Dragon Quest. And remember, all we have so far is the anime, it's Blu-ray and DVD sales, the manga, and of course, the movie. There's no doubt that in a few years, Demon Slayer will be numbered among the classic must-watch-shown-anime, akin to Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, or where it looks like Attack on Titan's going. And as I'm writing this, Demon Slayer is currently trending at number eight on Netflix. Netflix. Guys, it's on Netflix now. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. If you don't have Netflix, go buy Netflix, or go visit a friend who has Netflix. Actually, do that. Go watch it together. There's no better time. Though we don't have an exact date for the release of the movie in the US or the UK, sources say it's scheduled for sometime in February. The official release date in Australia and New Zealand is February 25th, 2021. We can expect it to be somewhere around then. So, if you haven't, just get on the bandwagon and watch this anime. Get all caught up for the movie and the eventual season two, because it's only gonna get bigger. Hey, if you liked this video, give it a thumbs up. And hey, why not buy us a coffee? And as always, thanks for watching.