Demon Slayer’s third season featured the Swordsmith Village arc, where protagonist Tanjiro Kamado journeyed to the hidden Swordsmith Village to get a new weapon and learn more about how Nichrin blades are made. There, Tanjiro met new allies, including two Hashira, and fought some of his scariest and strangest enemies yet.
Season 3 had plenty of thrills, twists, and humor to provide a full Demon Slayer experience, and fans were reasonably satisfied. However, Season 3 didn’t reach the same heights as the groundbreaking first season, and definitely missed some opportunities to be truly great and dominate the Spring 2023 anime season.
10 Mitsuri Kanroji Didn’t Win A Fight
The love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, made a strong impression in Demon Slayer’s third season as the strongest and kindest Hashira yet. She is a deadly fighter with enormous strength and a whip-like Nichrin sword, and she fought well against Hantengu that night.
However, Mitsuri merely survived her fight against Hantengu, and she didn’t land the finishing blow –Tanjiro did. Mitsuri wasn’t disappointed, since she only meant to buy time for Tanjiro and Genya, but it’s still a letdown to realize that Mitsuri hasn’t won a major on-screen fight yet.
9 Gyokko Was Defeated Too Easily
In Season 2, the brother/sister duo Gyutaro and Daki represented the Upper Moon 6, the deadliest demons whom Tanjiro had fought yet. Expectations were high for the next villains in the Swordsmith Village arc, but one of them, Gyokko, dropped the ball.
Gyokko did have cool and powerful techniques for offense and defense, such as teleporting between his vases and using aquatic attacks. Still, he lost to the mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, and it wasn’t quite the nail-biter that was Tanjiro and Tengen vs Gyutaro.
8 Muichiro Tokito Felt Like Basic Shonen
Muichiro Tokito was the breakout star of Demon Slayer’s third season, and fans are reasonably impressed with what they saw. Muichiro almost single-handedly took on the Upper Moon 5, Gyokko, and scored a stunning victory after slashing off Gyokko’s head.
Nothing about Muichiro felt very fresh, however, since he is a pretty conventional shonen hero who follows the formula. He had a tragic flashback during his fight, which inspired him to turn around a losing battle and deal the final blow, a paradigm shonen fans have seen too often already elsewhere.
7 Inosuke & Zenitsu Didn’t Do Anything
In the first double-length episode of Demon Slayer’s third season, Tanjiro’s friends Inosuke Hashibira and Zenitsu Agatsuma only briefly appeared, and then the show found reasons to get rid of them both. That meant Tanjiro was journeying to the Swordsmith Village with only Nezuko for company.
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke make a great shonen trio, and it felt like such a shame to set aside two of the three heroes for an entire season like that. Inosuke’s and Zenitsu’s off-screen adventures weren’t even interesting, so they won’t have much catching up to do with Tanjiro when the squad reunites.
6 Season 3’s Worldbuilding Was Minimal
Many of the best shonen anime series do some serious worldbuilding, which can span an entire nation or even the globe. One Piece set a new standard for worldbuilding, while My Hero Academia also has a compelling future world of Quirks, but Demon Slayer is lagging far behind.
Season 3’s premise could have done some much-needed worldbuilding concerning the Swordsmith Village, but it didn’t. This adventure did little more than show the village and its masked inhabitants before Gyokko and Hantengu attacked, which took over the entire narrative.
5 Tanjiro’s Training Was Brief & Forgettable
Tanjiro underwent a training sequence in Demon Slayer’s third season, which introduced new technology. The Yoriichi Type Zero is a tough combat doll with six arms and swords, and only Hashira-caliber slayers like Tanjiro and Muichiro can properly train with it.
That was a cool idea, especially with a centuries-old sword hidden in its mechanical body. In the end, though, Tanjiro’s training with the doll felt generic and routine, and aside from Tanjiro getting faster and stronger, not much changed. His breathing style is the same as ever for both water breathing and Hinokami Kagura.
4 Tanjiro Didn’t Blend His Fighting Styles
Tanjiro Kamado started his adventure as a water breathing practitioner, a flowing fighting style that saw him through Season 1’s many fights. Then Tanjiro started using Hinokami Kagura, a stronger technique that helped him stand up to the Moons, including Hantengu.
Season 3 didn’t show Tanjiro blending water breathing with Hinokami Kagura, but it could have. That would have been fascinating to see, and Demon Slayer needs a way to make sure Tanjiro’s water breathing isn’t totally obsolete with Hinokami Kagura around.
3 Hantengu & Gyokko Lacked Interesting Dialogue
The demons in Demon Slayer sometimes have fascinating dialogue that reveals a lot about them and their backstory. Akaza, for example, tempted Kyojuro Rengoku with demonic power to escape the frustrating weakness of humanity, and he even made it personal. Gyutaro and Daki also had some interesting things to say about their backstory and each other.
Hantengu and Gyokko fleshed out their personalities with their own dialogue, such as Gyokko’s boasting about his art. However, these two demons didn’t comment much on humanity and demons, and nothing they said was memorable or quotable, which is a shame.
2 The Heroes’ Victory Came At No Cost
Season 3 had the happiest ending yet in the Demon Slayer franchise, compared to how the first two seasons and the Mugen Train movie ended. The heroes certainly deserved a clean victory where no one died or even got too badly hurt, but it also felt anticlimactic.
Kyojuro’s death in Mugen Train upped the tension, and Tengen Uzui survived his fight so narrowly, he had to retire. Meanwhile, Muichiro and Mitsuri took a beating from Gyokko and Hantengu but otherwise had it easy, which helped make Gyokko and Hantengu feel even less threatening as Upper Moons.
1 The Plot Barely Moved Forward
Each season and movie of Demon Slayer is expected to rapidly advance the plot, given how this is a tightly-paced series that won’t have hundreds of episodes to its name. Season 3 did get some things done, such as establishing Nezuko’s new sunlight immunity, but little else.
Otherwise, Tanjiro is pretty much where he started, since his training was unremarkable and protecting the Swordsmith Village is simply about keeping things the way they are. The only plot development concerns Muzan Kibutsuji seeking Nezuko’s sunlight resistance, and that’s not saying a lot.
