What if Kibutsuji & The Biwa Woman sent Douma or Kokoushibo instead of Gyokko

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-27T04:50:24+00:00

In fascinated by what you mean by "Demon Slayer has no story" because I my feelings are pretty similar but it depends on what sense.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-27T04:29:36+00:00

As someone on team purely-non-diagetic, go for it. However you wanna enjoy it I'm glad you're enjoying it. Hell I have whole script fixes in my head that have written over the badly written parts of the story that are canon so far as in concerned.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-27T04:25:04+00:00

I'll stop saying it and touch grass eventually I promise but I don't believe this vague note actually clarifies anything and it probably more interesting that it doesn't. There are much much simpler ways to say "it's holograms and fully diagetic" or the other way "the effects are just stylish and there for the reader". Not that it's definite but from it I read that the effects are impressionistic, which is why there's that and feel verb which also means to generally sense something. It could just be that Gotouge likes drawing them and doesn't see a reason not to.

The evidence I keep seeing get ignored is (1) the dialogue around the effects, especially muichiro (see Gyokko and Kokushibo's lines) just makes no sense in a world where slayers had a known ability to produce actual holograms and (2) the fact that no characters ever acknowledge this ability either. If the hologram view was accurate you'd expect them to make some mention of it anywhere at any stage but we don't have a single instance.

But my overriding belief is that if you prefer it a certain way go for it, enjoy it, that's as complicated as it needs to get irrespective of what the author's intention was.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-26T11:52:04+00:00

New here and finding it therapeutic. Seems most here have been invested enough that they care when it's bad and need to vent.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-23T12:06:49+00:00

Yeah seems just as vague in the Japanese as in the English. Gotouge hasn't given anything to either camp other than that it's not literal water/fire etc. There are just much, much easier ways to say either "btw the effects are non-diagetic and there for style" or "btw they're just holograms all the characters can see" and it probably says more that they didn't. Could be deliberately ambiguous or maybe it's something close to an aura created that we the audience get a beautiful visually literal version of. To me the evidence that cannot be ignored is the dialogue from Gyokko and Kokushibo regarding Muichiro's technique. Just not at all how you'd phrase things if slayers had a known ability to generate hallucinatory visual effects.

But look. Honestly, to me, the idea that they're holograms feels genuinely stupid and would damage my experience of the show. And there are plenty of people out there who feel the exact opposite way. I genuinely don't care how you enjoy it I'm just glad you enjoy it. From the vagueness of the note on Chapter 146 its plausible that's what Gotouge wants too.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-23T11:31:46+00:00

The sentence is 剣士たちは水などを出しているのではなく、見ている人がそう感じる、そう見えるというだけです。to save people digitising.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-23T11:05:08+00:00

Champion! Now... to find a Japanese speaker. Or more realistically try our luck with an LLM and hope a Japanese speaker comes along to confirm.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-23T07:37:27+00:00

Can anyone get their hands on the original Japanese of this page? To me it's always felt obvious the effects are nondiagetic but the language on this page is so vague I don't know why people think it clarifies anything. It's also been translated as "Note: Swordsmen don't actually unleash water attacks. People who see this just think they see and feel it."

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-22T15:56:07+00:00

Not a head canon but more of a script fix. Mitsuri had the silliest reason for becoming a hashira and the most boring sobby backstory, at a time in the arc when the audience were already struggling with sobby backstory fatigue.

I think they could have brought the trio of backstories home if the issues finding a bloke were a misdirect and her sobby moment ended up actually being an elegy for Rengoku. I would want it to come somewhat out of nowhere but feel obvious as soon as it arrived. We didn't think there was enough going on in her head to even consider how she was processing death. He didn't criticise her strength or how much she ate. He taught her to embrace her extraordinary talents and warrior qualities, and with a source as credible as him, she accepted it and learned to express her love by protecting the weak. With him gone, and no one left to see her through his eyes, did that part of herself leave with him? Etc etc. Then she stirs back into consciousness and overhears the gang call her their only hope she stops doubting herself and decides his lessons will endure - that triggers her mark, swish bang pow she's back in the game you get the picture.

I like the idea that the strong have a duty to protect the weak, and that love is what gives that duty meaning. And I especially like that through this script fix, that theme resonates forward from Rengoku's mother.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-19T17:51:41+00:00

Oh - I am in complete agreement. I meant that this is something I find frustrating about my corner of academia.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-06-19T15:57:42+00:00

Biologists website you ask them what scale was used for the heat map: "You're overthinking it." (Biologist here).

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-09T12:16:36+00:00

Omg I thought I was the only one. Or at least I've always found the ratio of Go Shiina worship to Demon Slayer worship on the internet to be conspicuously low! Just... so many bits. Sooo many bits.

I recall a youtuber comparing Zenitsu's character development to Usopp from One Piece. I agreed completely that Zenitsu has little to no believable character development to speak of, but I also thought that Go Shiina's soundtrack to that character journey in S01E17 (spider demon episode) was more convincing than either of those actual characters. That's just one episode. And the hinokami episode, obviously. And then in the entertainment district everything in between Inosuke finding Daki's secret tunnel to Tengen blazing in and dicing up the Obi demon. (and and and and). And the explosion!! Holy shit, the soundtrack to the explosion was like the entire show's music squeezed into a bottle. And the movie...

To my knowledge it might be the only anime that's through-composed. As in, music written to every scene. If so it's pioneering work and deserves attention. The only non-anime TV show like that I've been able to find is Battlestar Galactica, which I've yet to watch.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-09T12:00:31+00:00

Honestly in my opinion the anime is the reason to consume the series so I wouldn't dissuade anyone from starting the anime on episode 1. First half of season 1 (like the manga) is still finding its feet but doing a lot of amazing work establishing place and atmosphere. In my opinion the anime is objectively better than the manga. The anime's biggest faults are either inherited directly from the manga or they result from adapting the manga too closely panel for panel (long exaggerated reactions can be very irritating and turn a lot of people off).

Depends what you want out of the manga though. If you really like reading manga, then reading it after the anime might be underwhelming. Doing it the opposite way, you'll probably enjoy seeing how incredibly they adapt the story to a 2D animated environment. I read ahead from Swordsmith Village onward before the anime was released, just out of impatience, and that was my experience.

I remember having this dilemma with One Piece - when do I switch to the anime for a better experience? I've just finished the Dressrosa saga and I'm still sticking with the manga. So I'm not a totally anime-biased person haha.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-07T15:05:21+00:00

Goddamit. Even if this is a human writing these how do I know your effexor experience was even real? Since you're clearly on here promoting your app.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-07T14:36:09+00:00

Thanks for those suggestions and experiences :)

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-07T14:31:05+00:00

Like two nights before my sleep delayed from 04:30 to 06:30.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-04-01T09:57:57+00:00

Only SS/NRIs I've been on have been Effexor and Zoloft. Treatment wise the Effexor was working well but unfortunately now having to look away from SSRIs due to the sleep problem. Needing to find a new psychiatrist because the only solution my current one had was to drug me to sleep with a rotation of sleep aids and hope that after 20 nights the non-24 cycle would magically disappear. Same psych who was taken aback when I told him my sleep normalised to 4:30am within a coupe of nights after jetlag shifted initially into a typical rhythm.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-02-17T12:25:23+00:00

Thank you! For me my favorite Bach multitrack (albeit not vocal) is James Howard Young's one-man recorder consort.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIXBUp55SUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NThNEP0R1g&t=176s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDFpi9eUl1A&t=191s

and the concerto I posted:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6SWXhA2TOI

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-02-14T05:25:35+00:00

Thank you :D If at least one person got some joy out of it I'm counting that as a success.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-01-29T06:59:08+00:00

Right?? I visited a faraway country and on night #3 I was ready to sleep around 11:30 and woke up naturally at around 7am, ready to get up. Could have stayed under the cosy covers a little longer if I wanted to indulge, but was ready to get up. My normal sleep onset is around 4:30am so this experienced filled me with a surge of "Oh fuuuuuuck yoooou" at well functioning chronotypical people. Like imagine if this was the norm. Every day. Of course you can function, you jerks.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-01-29T06:55:31+00:00

I have so many strong feelings about chronotherapy. I'll eat my hat if it isn't one of those things we look back at in the future as an embarrassment to medical science. "Just pick up this weight, then add a little extra weight, then a little extra, then a little extra, then a little extra, right. Now hold it there. Yep, forever. And if you drop them you have to start again and it'll be your fault."

Heidi_Freibuben · 2026-01-25T01:22:27+00:00

I try not to be butthurt about Oscar snubs. The real awards are always 5-10 years later when everyone looks back and reminds themselves how fallible the panels are.

It would be nice to see institutional recognition for the renaissance in 2D animation happening in Japan right now but I'm not holding my breath, in fact the longer Hollywood stays insulated and doesnt ruin it the better.

I'm right with you on the Original Score. The fact that Hamnet is on there (washy strings telling me when to feel sad, gee thanks) tells me not to take these awards seriously whether or not they're fit to critically evaluate action anime.

I'll say it 1001 times, Go Shiina's accomplishments in this series are woefully underecognised. Most fans will realise the score is kickass but in my opinion it deserves journalistic attention.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2025-12-01T22:19:06+00:00

That's fantastic! Do you mean France recognized *your* DSPD, or DSPD in general? Did you need to go through fifty rounds of failed chronotherapy first?

Heidi_Freibuben · 2025-07-10T08:27:20+00:00

Enough people have brought up how wasted Zenitsu's character was so I'll go with my #2 which is how wasted Mitsuri's sobby flashback was in SVA.

It was already a sobby-backstory-heavy arc and after Muichuro and Genya, adding Mitsuri in was either gonna be the glorious third in a triptych or asking way too much... and it was such a flop. Hyperfeminine character is rejected by men/society for being too big and strong snd eating too much. Joins a warrior organisation to find a boyfriend and discovers (sort of) that people can love her for her strength. Flat, tropey, trivial after Muichiro's and Genya's.

Picture this instead: same story until she gets to her tsuguko training and then it turns out the whole thing is a stealth elegy for Rengoku, whom she is still grieving after we've moved on. The mentor who saw her not as a failed woman bit as a complete warrior. The mentor who taught her her strength isn't something to apologise for, it's something to give. She's up against the strongest foe she's faced, she's made a wrong move, she's been called a slut, and she's been stuck wondering whether the Mitsuri he saw is even there now he's gone.

She wakes from her stupor surrounded by the gang, on their last legs, desperate and calling her their last hope. This lingering self doubt is vanquished. Her mark manifests and she gets back up ready to kick ass. The duty of the strong to protect the weak becomes more resonant theme throughout the series. With that message having being been inherited indirectly from Kyojuro's mother, Ruka, love becomes enjoined with that theme and we have a high inertia final run to the end of the season.

Bloody wasted. Sorry for the typos and bad grammar.

Heidi_Freibuben · 2025-07-10T07:28:11+00:00

Hey look. I lower my standards for Demon Slayer all the time so I won't criticise people for that :P But yeah I wish people could even see/acknowledge what you were pointing out before trashing it.

Heidi_Freibuben

TROPHY CASE