Demon Slayer: Kimetso no Yaiba is objectively one of the most popular anime of all time. Based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge, the shonen series follows Tanjiro on his mission to save his demon sister Nezuko by joining the Demon Slayer Corp in their fight against Muzan and his demonic army. Even with its divisive later seasons, Demon Slayer is still a massive hit, as fans would tune in each week for the gorgeously animated battles and hilarious antics between Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, Zenitsu, and the rest of the Hashira. But the anime has one glaring flaw that many fans struggle to overlook.
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Most of Demon Slayer focuses on the physical battles between Tanjiro, his comrades, and the demons. Season 1 eased Tanjiro in as he fought unranked and lower-ranked demons. But since the Mugen Train Arc movie, he’s been facing off against the Upper Moon Demons and somehow prevailing. Being the kind soul that he is, Tanjiro tries to comfort the dying demons in their final moments. But, as they share their life stories from before they turned into fiends, audiences can’t help but groan at a poorly used anime trope.
Demon Slayer’s Flashbacks Are Notoriously Frustrating
The anime flashback is a trope that has already been memed into infamy. After a hard-fought battle, a character will lie dying on the floor with everyone around them crying. But before they move on to the next life, the episode takes a 15-minute-long diversion to recount their entire life story. Some anime use flashbacks incredibly well to establish their characters, the history of the world, or to recap past events if a series is particularly confusing. Shows like Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and even Attack on Titan use flashbacks well. Unfortunately, Demon Slayer does not.
While it is a trope for the medium as a whole, Demon Slayer‘s flashbacks have become a formula unto themselves. The trend was most notable in the “Entertainment District Arc,” after the Demon Slayer Corp finally managed to kill Daki and Gyutaro, with each character being given almost an entire episode dedicated to their flashbacks. But even the Hashira get a lengthy flashback when their lives are on the line.
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Why Demon Slayer‘s Flashbacks Are So Bad
The problem isn’t with flashbacks as a whole. As previously mentioned, some anime make great use of the technique. But, to put it bluntly, Demon Slayer‘s use of flashbacks is lazy and has negative consequences on the rest of the respective season. Fans now know that when a demon is close to dying, the episode will pause from the action to show their backstory. This expectation and the flashback itself drastically kills the frenetic pacing created by the intense battle scene that has likely lasted for the past few episodes. For a show that relies so heavily on the strength of its action, culling the pacing so suddenly for a flashback removes the energy from the fight. So, when we then rejoin the present to see Tanjiro kill the demon, it doesn’t feel as exciting.
Most egregiously, Demon Slayer‘s use of flashbacks is lazy from a writing perspective. Fans love an interesting and sympathetic character. But there are much better ways of making an audience care about an antagonist than info-dumping their backstory into a single flashback right before they die. To many, it feels like a cheap way to elicit sympathy and tears before they are killed. Demon Slayer‘s villains and complex Hashira would be far more interesting if their backstories were hinted at throughout the season, either through smaller, more incremental flashbacks that influence their decisions in the present or even through how they behave in the present.
The series has shown it can do this with Muzan, who has already been shown to be complex through his limited screentime in the past seasons. So, why is it so hard for the show to do with its Upper Moon Demons?
Fans are hoping that the upcoming Infinity Castle movie will move beyond this trend and layer the villains’ and characters’ backstories into the overall story rather than halting the present progress to throw a slow flashback at the audience. We’ll find out for ourselves when Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle releases in US theaters on September 12th, 2025.
