Demon Slayer Season 4 Teaser Promises More Demon Slaying In Hashira Training Arc
"Demon Slayer" is arguably the biggest anime of the moment. This is a global phenomenon that outgrossed Christopher Nolan's "Tenet" when the "Mugen Train" arc was adapted into a feature film, a show that earned the fourth spot at the box office earlier this year with just the first episode of the third season, and a franchise that is virtually everywhere in Japan right now.
It's easy to see why, too. The manga, by Koyoharu Gotouge, follows all the familiar tropes of classic Shonen Jump titles but delivers them in a fast-paced, compact format that knew how to deliver an exciting story without overextending its welcome. The anime adaptation by studio ufotable manages to take relatively basic art into something gorgeous, with every frame looking epic, and every fight turned to 11.
The plot follows Tanjiro, a young boy living in Taishō era Japan whose family is killed by demons, with his only surviving sister getting turned into a demon herself. He decides to become a titular demon slayer to try and find a way to bring his sister back to normal.
With season 3, "Swordsmith Village Arc," having just wrapped up over the weekend, fans are already looking forward to the next chapter of the story. Fortunately, "Demon Slayer" season 4 has now been confirmed via a teaser that introduces "Hashira Training Arc."
A whole lot of training
The teaser is little more than just character posters reminding us of the surviving Hashira elite warriors we've met across the three seasons of "Demon Slayer." As fans may remember, however, there is an open slot following the tragic death of Kyojuro Rengoku, which is probably a good opportunity for our boy Tanjiro.
Now, the idea of spending an entire season of TV on just a training arc seems rather ill-advised, particularly after this past season felt absurdly long. As mentioned, the "Demon Slayer" manga stood out because of how short it was (just over 200 chapters telling its entire story), so to spend 12 episodes on just a handful of chapters is to betray the core of the source material. Worse yet, the vast majority of "Swordsmith Village Arc" was just devoted to a single fight scene, which is literally what fans used to complain about in shows like "Dragon Ball," or "Naruto," describing stupidly long and repetitive fights as "filler" — you'd think they would have learned by now.
Regardless, this is still a hugely popular show, and surely fans will be excited to see more of the story. It's just that after the great and rather lucrative decision to turn the short "Mugen Train" arc into a film rather than stretch it into a season of TV, to keep making overly long seasons based on very short story arcs is rather disappointing.