Taking the mainstream audience by a storm, Kimetsu no Yaiba pulls its influence from its shounen predecessors to create a riveting tale set in feudal Japan of a brother fighting to the ends of the earth against demons in order to find a way to restore his sister who has also turned into a demon. The significance and importance of familial bonds do not extend only to the main characters Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado, but to a diverse side cast as well. Gotouge sets up dramatic arcs that are filled with action and tension, keeping many readers like myself heavily drawn in. The art style greatly compliments with the dark aesthetic the story takes place in, periodically juxtaposed with a very cute, charming doodle quality in lighter moments.

Kimetsu no Yaiba unfortunately leaves more to be desired in many aspects of its storytelling, pacing, and character development. While I adore and find the character designs Goutoge has created very charming, the potential of characters and their and personalities usually fall short. The main problem behind this is the sputtered pacing. Kimetsu no Yaiba does a great job establishing end goals and objectives, but fails to successfully create the payoff and development towards said goal. The development of certain characters can thus feel somewhat jarring with the lack of coherency. I found in many instances I was frustrated with deaths of significant characters in the story rather than feeling grief as one would usually feel. I'll try to not to spoil any particular characters, but several were underdeveloped in the time of their death, thus rendering their conclusion in the "meeting in the afterlife" sort of shallow.

One thing I'd also like to mention is the "meeting in the afterlife" motif that is recurrent throughout the manga. While I did initially find it very emotional and touching for the first couple of characters, it eventually became redundant. I don't like the notion of a character's conflict or arc being resolved in the "afterlife" that we frequently see throughout the manga when characters die. Death shouldn't absolve problems or conflicts. I feel if we got to see these characters live and make peace with these things, it would have been more emotionally resonant. This motif thus makes character arcs feel too conclusive and isolated from a seamless, holistic story.

Aside from these flaws, holistically Kimetsu no Yaiba is still a fun and entertaining read. Unfortunately these flaws also simultaneously leaves me wondering how the story would play out differently if things were changed. It leaves a weird conflicting feeling in me I can't really describe. I really love several of the pillars, but I feel the story sometimes does a disservice to their development in many ways. I'd still love to see how things conclude, knowing we may very well be in the final stretch/last arc of the series. Tanjiro's unfaltering resolve and motivation is very admirable to see in a very dark and bleak world. It gives the reader's hope that maybe even despite these impossibilities, there's an undying will of the heart that gives us hope.