VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
MANGAKA: Koyoharu Gotouge
TRANSLATION: John Werry
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Steve “Stan!” Brown
LETTERS: John Hunt
EDITOR: Mike Montesa
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1113-0; paperback (June 2020); Rated “T” for “Teen”
192pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 U.K.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Koyoharu Gotoge. The manga was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020. VIZ Media has been publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a paperback graphic novel series under its “Shonen Jump” imprint since July 2018.
Demon Slayer is set in Japan's Taisho era (1912 to 1926). It focuses on Tanjiro Kamado, a kindhearted boy who sells charcoal in order to support his mother and four siblings. After one particularly taxing trip to sell coal, Tanjiro returns to his home in the forest and finds his family slaughtered. He discovers that a younger sibling, his sister Nezuko, has herself been transformed into a demon by the unknown demon that killed his family. Tanjiro becomes a Demon Slayer in order to find and destroy that demon, Muzan Kibutsuji.
As Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, Vol. 13 (Chapters 107 to 115; entitled “Transitions”) opens, Tanjiro is up to his … neck in demons. While recovering from injuries he sustained in battle, Tanjiro traveled to the mysterious and hidden “village of the sword-smiths.” There, he would get his damaged katana repaired by Haganezuka, the man who forged the sword. But once Tanjiro arrived, he started having strange experiences.
Now, Tanjiro is in a battle with the strange, shape-shifting demons, Upper Rank 4: Hantengu and Upper Rank 5: Gyokko. Joining him in battle is the “Mist Hashira,” Muichiro Tokito, who struggles against these demons even with all his power. Suddenly, only Tanjiro and another Demon Slayer, Genya Shinazugawa, stand against seemingly unbeatable demons. Can the two Slayers handle a demon that can split itself into four separate bodies and regenerate almost instantly?
THE LOWDOWN: The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba manga has become one of my favorite graphic novel series. It is, however, hard to keep up with the series as VIZ is currently publishing it on a monthly basis, for which I don't blame them. Demon Slayer is a huge bestseller on both sides of the Pacific Ocean.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Graphic Novel Volume 13 joins Vols. 7 to 12 to create a fantastic run of superb shonen dark fantasy action-adventure storytelling. Creator Koyoharu Gotouge ended a long and intense story arc in Vol. 11, but he put his readers right back into the thick of things with another demonic mystery. Simply put, Demon Slayer is great because Tanjiro's struggles and battles are hard to ignore once you start reading, dear readers.
John Werry's translation and Steve “Stan!” Brown's English-language adaptation deliver an engaging read, as always. In Volume 13, their work captures Genya Shinazugawa's conflicts and internal battle in all their full dark and bitter glory. And since that is the case, why stop reading now?
I READS YOU RECOMMENDS: Fans of demon-fighting heroes will want to read the Shonen Jump title, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
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