Demon Slayer Completely Wasted Its Most Interesting Gimmick

When Demon Slayer‘s anime adaptation burst onto the scene in 2019, audiences quickly became obsessed with Tanjiro’s journey to save his sister, Nezuko, and put an end to the demonic violence caused by Muzan Kibutsuji. The first season introduced audiences to the world inhabited by demons, the Hashiras, and the other junior members of the Demon Slayer Corps, like Inosuke and Zenitsu. During his training to become a member of the Corps, Tanjiro not only gained incredible physical strength and resilience; he also learned some magical sword-fighting techniques. There’s just one problem… they’re completely useless.

Demon Slayer‘s new movie, Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- The Movie: Infinity Castle, is set to hit US theaters this September, and it’s bringing with it the biggest battles fans have seen so far. The Hashiras are now deep inside the Infinity Castle and are bringing the fight directly to Muzan. To defeat Muzan and the Upper Rank demons, they’ll need to bring all the tools in their arsenals. But the breathing techniques are probably better left at home.

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Demon Slayer’s Magic System Is Completely Unnecessary

In Season 1, Tanjiro trained under the former Water Hashira, Sakonji Urokodaki, to prepare himself for the Final Selection. As well as learning how to cut a boulder in half, Tanjiro also learned the basic Water Breathing forms. It’s a shame they’re about as useful as a Magikarp using Splash.

The members of the Demon Slayer Corps all use different breathing forms when they’re fighting. Inosuke uses Beast Breathing, Zenitsu uses Thunder Breathing, and Genya ignores it all and uses a double-barreled shotgun. But, I have a question for you, dear reader: What’s the difference between Water Breathing Form 2 and Beast Breathing Form 5? The answer is a slightly different animation, and that’s it.

Fantasy stories often use two different types of magic systems. There are hard magic systems, where the rules and parameters are clearly defined, and the author/director must find creative ways to stay within those rules (see Avatar: The Last Airbender as an example). Then there are soft magic systems, where the magic has a less thorough explanation and can do more or less whatever the author/director needs it to do (like in The Lord of the Rings). Some elements of Demon Slayer, like the Total Concentration Breathing and Zenitsu’s glass-cannon move: First Form: Thunderclap, fit within the soft-magic system bracket. But most of the breathing forms don’t fit either of the categories; they’re purely for show.

Tanjiro has used several breathing forms and techniques across the show so far. But ask even some die-hard fans to tell you the difference between them, and they’d be hard-pressed for an answer. That’s because the breathing forms aren’t a part of Demon Slayer‘s worldbuilding; they’re simply there to bolster out the action design. As a result, what could have been one of the coolest gimmicks of the series has, unfortunately, been wasted.

Fixing Demon Slayer’s Breathing Forms

What’s most frustrating about Demon Slayer‘s redundant breathing techniques is how easy it would be to fix them. The different breathing forms are modeled after different natural elements, with some being more niche than others. But the type of breathing form doesn’t have any given strengths or weaknesses against certain demons, or even the other Demon Slayers.

Something as simple as a Rock, Paper, Scissors-style magic system, where Water Breathing beats Fire Breathing, would add so many layers to the worldbuilding and open more possibilities for interesting action design and fight scenes. Not to bring up Pokémon a second time, but Nintendo’s best-selling series has long used a more complex version of this magic system to incorporate Ghost Type and other niche creatures, meaning the template is already there for Demon Slayer to do the same. That is, if it couldn’t at least feature a derivative of Fire Emblem’s own weapon triangle.

Then there’s the individual breathing forms. Each breathing form has a number of individual techniques within its umbrella. But, aside from the odd move like Zenitsu’s Thunderclap, there’s no discernible difference between any of them. Something as simple as making the First Form a weak technique for novices, and Fifth Form a master-level technique, similar to Mashle‘s magic system, would be far more effective and interesting on screen.

For a series that can be boiled down to humans and demons trying to cut the other one in half, especially as it relies so heavily on the hype of its fight scenes, the lack of a cohesive magic system is a wasted opportunity.