Demon Slayer Season 4 Faces a Huge Problem
Demon Slayer Season 4 is going to be adapting the shortest arc in the series yet!
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba will be returning for Season 4 of the anime later this Spring, and it's going to be facing an uphill battle with just how few chapters that will be available to adapt in the coming episodes. Demon Slayer's return for Season 4 of the anime is one of the most highly anticipated returns of the anime year overall, and it will be tackling the Hashira Training arc from Koyoharu Gotoge's original manga series. It's just that unlike most anime releases, Demon Slayer rarely offers original content for the anime's release specifically in terms of adaptation.
There are few and far between moments that Demon Slayer's anime has exclusive to its run, but we're looking at a season that's likely going to be more original content than not. That's the major problem that's facing this upcoming season as the arc itself has so little material it can bring to life that it could be an entire season of original stories. But this huge problem also might be the way that the Demon Slayer anime ends up much better than how the manga's final arcs played out. This weakness could become a strength.
Demon Slayer Season 4's Big Problem
Demon Slayer Season 4 will be adapting the Hashira Training Arc, which only lasts nine chapters in total as it runs from Chapter 128-136 of Koyoharu Gotoge's original manga. Now there could be a sneaky start to the Infinity Castle arc and the final fights from that point on as they start immediately at the end of Chapter 136, but it'd be wild for the anime to not lead with the fact that it's kicking off such a highly anticipated arc. So for the sake of the argument here, let's just take it at face value that it will be the Hashira Training Arc alone.
If that's the case, then there's honestly not much ground for the anime to cover. It's going to start with an hour long premiere, and that could knock out the first two chapters of the arc on its own. This could be a situation where the Infinity Castle Arc is announced a few weeks into the anime's Spring run, or it could be the anime's chance to flesh out the titular Hashira of the arc. One of the major issues from the manga itself is that we don't really get to spend time with these Hashira characters outside of fights.
This is even more egregious when the final arcs kick in as it's just one fight after another where characters are killed off in quick succession without much time for proper development. So while the lack of chapters to adapt for Demon Slayer Season 4 could be a major issue, this is also a time for the anime to explore its characters further and truly allow them to develop outside of the massive threats at their door.
But what are you hoping to see go down in Demon Slayer Season 4? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on X (formerly known as Twitter)!
