Surprise! I Attended the DEMON SLAYER SEASON 3 PREMIERE and All I Got Was A Rather Fun Time (Patreon)

I know I keep saying it, but writing about anime for the last few years has been a real joy. It’s not just the constant sense of discovery, learning, and playing catch up, it’s the fact that the vast majority of stuff I’m getting to watch is very, very good (but I suppose that happens when you haven’t seen much of a form at all). It’s like this constant, delightful surprise. And every once and awhile a fun thing comes up and you just decide to jump in no matter what. Such is the case when the good folks over at CrunchyRoll invited me and other press folks to the third season premiere of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - To the Swordsmith Village, which just so happens to be one of the hottest shows (and now movie franchises) on planet earth.

Of course, I had to bring Landon.

THE ARRIVAL

The event was held at Los Angeles’s famous Orpheum Theater, which just so happens to be my favorite of the Downtown Historical Venues (The Palace and The Theater at The ACE hotel, formally The United Arts Theater, are the others). It first opened in 1926 (and they would note in the pre-show that it felt like an appropriate location because it was built during Demon Slayer’s own setting of the Taisho and early Showa period). The theater itself has a lovely Beaux Arts facade and probably has my favorite interior in the whole city. Simply put, there’s a lot of history here and you’ve probably seen it because it shows up in movies all the time, from Last Action Hero, to A Mighty Wind, to Transformers, to The Shape of Water, etc. (it’s also in Guns & Roses’s November Rain video). Most of my experiences there have been for concerts and other live events, but it’s particularly funny to think that I’ve been coming here for 18 years? I mean, I freaking saw Bright Eyes on the I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning / Digital Ash tour there and then I recently saw Pavement there this very year. Few places bring up more memories, let alone a general affinity than The Orpheum.

Anyway! Landon and I put on our finest jackets (with business casual dress code) and arrived to all the chutzpah that usually surrounds the a big premiere event - which is to say it reveals one of my favorite things about Los Angeles, which is how 70% of people don’t give a shit because this crap happens every day and it’s just blocking the sidewalk / making more traffic - while the other 30% looks on with confusion asking “what the heck is this for?” That’s usually a necessary question because very rarely do you see a mega celebrity walking by at an event you can physically get close to (as the big events at Mann’s or Westwood are way more blocked off). But in this specific case, every confused onlooker was wondering why there was a giant cute mascot with a creepy green cylinder in her mouth. Meanwhile, there were a hundred MASSIVELY excited people clamoring in to get a look at all the folks behind one of their favorite animes. As the big black SUV’s drove up to the curb and the stars arrived on the red carpet, a number of people shouted in excitement. Naturally, there’s also lot of native Japanese being spoken in the crowd, likely because the three biggest celebrities in attendance are Natsuki Hanae, the lead Japanese voice actor of the main character Tanjiro, the show’s producer Yuma Takahashi, and the musical artist Aimer who sings the opening and ending songs to the show’s Entertainment District Arc (plus some other folks we’ll talk about later).

(cc Getty Images)

But honestly, the ones who probably got the most attention on the carpet were the giant cute mascots of Tanjiro and Nezuko. I’ll admit that the country’s Mascot Culture, sometimes known as Yuru-Chara https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuru-chara  is probably one of my favorite bits of ephemera in Japan’s pop culture. There’s a lot of details in that article supposing why it’s gotten so popular, but I particularly love Jun Muria’s three main requirements for what makes good Mascot characters: “1. It must convey a strong message of love for one's hometown or local region 2. The character's movements or behaviour should be unique and unstable or awkward 3. The character should be unsophisticated or laid-back (yurui) and lovable.” Particularly that use of the word unstable just gets me. But Yuru-chara culture has gotten so big that now there is apparently a grand prix competition with over a thousand entrants competing to be the best mascot. Anyway, these two are adorable.

I would have gotten more pictures than this but 1. I’m letting professionals do their job 2. I’d prefer to let the big fans get close to the stars over me and 3. I’m afraid of getting run over by the car’s running perilously close to the sidewalk… but because of this I ended up missing seeing Nia Long and I am VERY rightfully upset about it. Also, for people who like wrestling, apparently Zelina Vega was there?

(cc Getty Images)

Anyway, we head inside and avoid all the mega lines for food and drinks and are delighted to discover these neat little swag bags in our press sets. And soon, the show will start. But I’m delighted to realize that is not your standard press crowd screening. No, the audience for this is all super fans who bought tickets for the premiere and I’m telling you this audience is AMPED for it. And they proceed to be one of the better crowds I’ve ever seen for one of these things (albeit with one odd wrinkle I’ll ask about later). But before it starts, we’re treated to…

THE PRE-SHOW

So. I have a very specific kind of social anxiety that’s gotten worse with time and it’s “live event anxiety” with speakers. Like, I genuinely can’t even watch Award Shows on TV or anything like that. It’s particularly anything that skews into a public interview and Q + A’s are the worst. It’s not just when awkward things happen, it’s even true for the things that go pretty good! But the best I can hope for is kind of this neutral feeling, when most likely I will be in my own personal hell. Why does this happen? It’s sort of hard to explain (especially given how these things are logical), but the reason it’s hard is because I just instantly feel like I’m BOTH in the seat of the person interviewing and the person being interviewed and I project all this inner-response into the proceedings at all time constantly. Like I’m not a person who is separate and watching it. I’m STUCK in it. And it’s not just the fact that I am very not good at those “talking” kinds of things, it’s also the complete lack of control - particularly if things are not going well, feeling awkward, or going on too long. Or if I feel that people are putting up stock answers and just being polite, etc. It’s just a whole social nightmare for me.

But it was fun for Landon, who got to see the pre-show he was looking forward to AND get to see me basically have a little quiet breakdown in the seat next to him :)

Anywho, the event begins and the bilingual moderator from (whose name I can’t find!) does a very good job navigating the whole proceeding and talking to the crowd. Again, this would be a literal nightmare for me, but they’re doing a great job introducing the english-speaking voice cast in the seats and getting call and response cheers from the audience (PS I’m gonna have a big aside about anime dubbing rates at some point, but I’ll find a spot for that somewhere else). But the big moment comes when the big three come to the stage. That would be the lead Japanese voice actor, Natsuki Hanae, the show’s producer, Yuma Takahashi, and the english voice actor for Tanjiro, Zach Aguilar. They are greeted to thunderous applause, but it’s not just the audience’s fervor that makes the pre-show work, it’s that there’s something specifically endearing about the proceedings that follow. But it first takes dissecting why the modern American interview style has become an interesting beast.

Because with so much media now, the press opportunities for a movie or TV premiere’s promotion is putting the talent in these tight windows where they do as much media as possible in the 48 hours leading up to it and the week that follows. In the pre-social media days, this meant every local station or site would send someone to a hotel to interview and get the sound byte from the talent. Meanwhile, that talent would slowly go insane as they got asked the same question again and again and again. But now things have changed slightly in the age of viral-ity. Oh don’t worry, they’re still doing A BILLION interviews, but it’s like every outlet or influencer or whoever knows they need to shake things up to NOT get the stock answers that used to go to different local markets. Now they’re all in competition. This often means trying to get a nugget of realness or oddness. Which often means taking on a super informal tone, citing some deep cut fact about the talent, or having some kind of gimmick that puts the interview subject out of character (Hot Ones is sort of the best possible form of all these tactics), but there’s a ton of other people doing their little version of it. Again, the whole idea is to get that little raw nugget of a star’s personality that somehow pops in the infinite noise. And if you, as a talent, create enough of them during a press tour, it creates this kind of modern likeability for a given celebrity in modern social media culture. It is both calculated and completely chaotic.

Anyway! While I know there are a number of Japanese TV shows that turn much more silly as well, the overall Japanese media style is a throwback to something much more formal. Perhaps some of that is the added translation element in these American locations, but this interview captures a lot of that sense of formality. The answers to all the queries about their excitement for the show / being in Los Angeles all tow the party line in that they are traditional, glowing, respectful, etc. They also have fun with the call and response of saying famous lines in the show, with which everyone is a good sport. But a few unique personal things really stuck out to me amongst the press-friendly answers. For one, Aguilar talks about how this show changed his life and you really can sense it. Also,, Producer Takahashi gave a rather tongue and cheek answer about how his job is so “easy” because he has such a talented crew that he can just sidle up and be like “looks great!” (when of course, there’s much more to it than that). And lastly, Natsuki had an adorable anecdote about his suitcase being mostly empty when came here, but now it’s all full of new clothes he bought to bring back to his daughters at home. Again, I’m a special case in that the length of the Q+A sent me into anxiety mode, but most people in attendance were there to see it and seemed to enjoy it greatly.

For me, things get much less anxious when Aimer came out to perform her two songs from the Entertainment District Arc. Sadly, I don’t have video or pictures because it was not allowed, largely because the performance was live streamed. But the first she played was the opening song “Zankyou Sanka” and it’s a banger and then she plays ending ballad of “Asa ga Kuru,” which also rules. Honestly, I could have just kept watching her perform for way longer, but hey, there was a television premiere to watch! Which brings us to a whole fun thing...

I had never seen Demon Slayer before.

THE PREMIERE EPISODES!

So normally if I had an event like this I’d be sure to get caught up, but I just didn’t have room in the timetable leading up to it. But this allowed me to uphold one of the great TV audience traditions of “just jumping in in the middle.” I always like to remind people that this is a completely fine thing to do. In fact, growing up IN THE OLDEN DAYS it was the only way to really watch TV. You’d hear something was good and so you’d just have to, like, start watching the latest episode when it came on. That was the only option. If you wanted to catch up, that meant somehow finding repeats (if it was syndicated) or if you were crazy lucky, someone had taped episodes with their VCR to borrow (but that was rare because tapes were bulky and weren’t cheap so most families reused the same tapes again and again). But the point is, you really can just turn on a show and start putting the conflict and plot things together. It’s like, okay that guy is fighting that guy. Those people are a team. Using that thing is how you defeat that demon dude, etc. It really is pretty easy to get the relative gist of a story a lot of times, particularly in a show like this.

And this is where I tell you I also kinda liked Demon Slayer?

To be clear, they showed the final two episodes of season 2 AKA “the entertainment district arc,” followed by the new season premiere of “To The Swordsmith Village.” And first off, I have to say I really like it that a lot of these shows just outright call it “the ____ arc” because I don’t know, it just feels like a weird respect for storytelling in that there should be some kind of arc in shows, beyond the larger overarching conflict. But as far as general impressions of the show itself, I admit that there are many ways that it plays into my general apprehensions about the story tropes of Battle Shonen (particularly the similar problems I had with FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood). Namely the de-emphasizing of set-up and pay-off and instead worshiping at the altar of out-of-nowhere surprise combined with retro-active explanation. I mean, not once, not twice, but three times did the characters “come back from the dead” with some kind of half-hearted justification to re-participate in the battle. Did the audience enjoy these moments? Of course! The problem isn’t that they don’t “work.” The problem is that they work in a cheaper way. And that all the dramatic moments of a show that are ten times more satisfying are achieved through set-up and payoff. So I will never not have a problem with these kinds of tactics being the backbone of a show’s storytelling. And I genuinely wish more folks could engage with difference.

And yet! There are many things that stick out for me on the positive side. For one, the show is pretty beautiful, huh? It’s not just that it has an appreciation for bold color, but I particularly like the way it uses close-ups and positions the camera between the subjects to emphasize relationships, often through body language. It’s really classic cinema stuff that provides a good foundation for all the abstract razzle dazzle that I know people like because it’s so much more noticeable. Again, you can do that razzle dazzle stuff, but you gotta have that baseline cinematic language down  to really make the base action storytelling function, all so that those moments can pop like exclamation points. And Demon Slayer really seems to have that balance down.

Moreover, the show is genuinely funny, which is a trait that was obviously more present in the resetting third season premiere (I particularly love the animation gag of the girl flying off the bed of Inosuke lands from the ceiling). But again, it really is easy to jump in and understand the methodology of what they’re doing. Like in the second season finale, I could tell the show likely used the device where after they defeated the demon big bads they then remember “who they were” in their former life and we get a different kind of catharsis with each demon we rooted against. And while I was less moved by the Demon Twins backstory (though I really like the voice actors), I was far more moved by the moment that comes just before.

In the opening Q + A the stars talked about how Tanjiro was not your typical Battle Shonen protagonist and from what little I watched, I have to say almost everything about Tanjiro is literally the most typical Battle Shonen protagonist I’ve seen yet? But there was one moment where I could see what they’re really getting at. For It’s in that last moment where the twins where the Demon Twins were fighting with each other and about to die (literally fading into ash) and Tanjiro quickly covers one of their mouths and tells them to stop it. He then offers this genuine moment of insight and empathy, where he reminds them that they had no one else. That in this world where they were reviled and hated and did terrible things to so many, the only actual mark of care and love they had in this world was for each other - and that they shouldn’t turn their back on that in the last moments. And I was like, all right damn Demon Slayer, you’re gonna do a real empathy thing, that’s good! And while the reveal of the ensuing backstory wasn’t quite as moving as that singular moment, I really did appreciate the whole of the effort. And moreover, it speaks to the most important thing for any show like this…

Which is that I like the main characters. While I don’t like The Little Mermaid-ing of the main female character, I admit that Nezuko is pretty adorable, particularly as she skulks around under tables and clasps onto the other female characters like a shy little kid. But when it comes to the rest of the party I imagine the big thing you are wondering about is the same thing my friend immediately needed to know - which is whether I was “more of a Zenitsu or Inosuke stan” to which I say I love my Surly Boar Head Boy. 

Like, literally within the first moment of him talking I was like “oh he’s THAT guy” as in the kind of brash, thin-skinned, comically–egotistical gruff dude in the Gimli tradition. And honestly, it’s enough to make me want to go back and see how this misfit party came together. As for my insight into the new episode itself? I’m sure a more familiar watcher would have all sorts of reactions as it seemed to be largely setting up the Demon’s yet to be slayed, but the audience was going nuts with every shot and reveal of the new upper rank folks -  along with a bunch of other revealing details that seemed more steep in the lore (all of which I’ll get caught up on). Again, at this point, all I really needed was the affinity for the characters in question.

Lastly, as far as the audience goes, I experienced an odd thing that I want your help with. Because during the final two episodes of season two, the audience was super respectful and cheering with all the moments they knew well. But the second the new episode started? I could not get over how many people were just literally having outright conversations DURING the episode, ABOUT the episode. Like not just the people near me. I was looking around and it was all over the theater and I was just kind of like, huh? Again, they were watching the older episodes with barely a peep, but this new episode brought full on, like, not-even-whispering conversations about what was happening on screen. That person is X. The thing must mean Y. I hope Z shows up, etc. And I was genuinely taken aback? Like is this a thing? Or an anomaly? Or is it just maybe simulating what they’re doing at home? I can’t even really imagine watching any piece of media like that, let alone seeing a public crowd do something like that, but… I have questions? Particularly with the ways this might play into various storytelling styles of shows like this?

Anyway! I liked the show! Yay! But next it was time for…

(pictured: the calm before the storm)

THE AFTER PARTY

So I’ve been kind of stupid lucky these last two decades in that I’ve gotten to go to a lot of premieres and screenings and a whole variety of even things that I feel so absurdly fortunate about. Especially back when I was working at marketing at a big network and there would be like four or five of these things a year. And unfortunately, there’s a kind of cynicism that affects the culture of everyone in attendance when you start getting to go to a lot of these. Because *gasp* they become normalized. And the whole point of these events is that they are anything but normal. But it happens. You start going oh, I like this venue over that venue, or this one has better food, that one has a weird awkward party space, etc. You just end up turning it all into this canny thing that fits into our own hierarchy of preferences. And people have to keep reminding themselves again and again and again that all of this is really amazing. And I had no such problem reminding myself at the after party here.

Because, as most of the audience ran out of the theater and into the merch line, I could instead walk right into the afterparty at Club Orpheum, which is really just the space within the theater where they hold private events such as this. These things always have an odd air about them. There’s bouncers, designated sections, and the whole playlist going on (if not a live DJ). But what I always love is how there is always a quick hierarchy established with all the hors d'oeuvres and which ones start going fast because this is people’s dinner. You can never judge on sight alone, everything must be tasted. There’s usually sliders, which go fast because they’re the most filling. Tuna tartare is obligatory, this time served on crispy rice. There’s usually a bevy of vegetarian-friendly options like mushroom tarts, empanada, and these surprisingly good little cauliflower tacos. But the absolute standout of the evening was the Chicken Karaage with spicy mayo, which didn’t come until later and I feel like most missed out on. Again, these are the insights of the cynical, food-loving pro. Meanwhile, this was Landon’s first premiere ever and he was amazed by virtually all this and asked how we pay for drinks. When I asked for a quote on his over experience with the After Part he wrote, and I quote: “There was SO MUCH FREE FOOD I GOT FREE TEENY TACOS and I also got to take pics with nezuko and random YouTubers A++ would premiere again.” Which once again proves that Landon is our most precious resource and must be protected at all costs.

But the whole point of the open bar / yummy food / hospitality of the setting is kind of three fold. The first is that this is genuinely a celebration. There are people who work all year or longer on these shows or movies and then finally get a whole night to lose and celebrate all that hard work with some free vittles, finally outside of the work setting. But also there’s this big sense of relief and release. Because you’ve likely had it in your head / been looking at it for so long and now you can FINALLY stop working on it, even though you’re often going right back to work on the new thing already happening on Monday morning. But that’s all the more reason to mark the occasion with a grateful celebration. The second element of these premieres is the business networking element. I hate using that word, but it’s necessary here. Because believe it or not a lot of times you don’t often see people in other departments and these things become good opportunities to get to know each other better, or with other business partners from other companies, or with people from other shows or movies all together. But third is of course probably the most important (or at least why there tends to be a lot of money behind these events) and that’s the promotional element, which brings us to some of the attendees in question.

Again, I am positively kicking myself for not seeing Nia Long, who seemed to be there with her hoodie-wearing, Demon Slayer-loving son? I have to say, I hope this trend of celebs coming to Anime events with their kids gets even more common. But there’s also Vine Star turned YouTuber King Vader, whose whole deal I’ve always liked. And this is also the space where I took note that there seemed to be six high school age-ish boys dressed in their finest tops and shorts and sandals. What the heck? “Oooh it’s the Anime Boys!” Someone shouts. To which I will quickly learn they’re called the Anime MEN, which is ten times funnier and more awesome.

(cc Getty Images)

Anyway, turns out I also like their whole deal, too, but I still kept telling Landon he should sneak them alcohol to be cool and see what happens (note: not he, nor anyone, should not do this. Let the Anime Men be). But once again, everyone is mostly excited to take pictures with the mascots and I’m now convince that everything in American should have cut mascots too. They’re the REAL celebrities.

But honestly, the thing I enjoy most about the after party is that everyone is open-hearted, wide-eyed, and kind about everything. Believe me, in all those past premiere parties I have SEEN SOME FUCKING BEHAVIOR (particularly from stars on the downswing) and you feel the decades of entitlement in all of it. But not here. No one’s skulking off to the reserved table section the whole time. Everyone’s taking time for one another, whether it's taking pictures or autographs. Plus, it’s just refreshing to be at a largely bilingual event, which helps create more niceties. But at the center of this celebration is the earnest feeling of appreciation, which is perhaps in line with the fact that Anime is booming into a cornerstone of the industry. And who knows, maybe with time it will take on the heir of entitlement too, but in an entertainment industry where so much is taken for granted, it’s nice to be in a space that feels in bloom.

Also, there was also a funny point where I made a joke that the next anime poll would be Hentai and Landon in an ironic response said, “See the thing about Hentai is…” only it happened to correspond with a weird, random hush in the crowd, which meant that he said it VERY loudly in comparison and everyone heard him. A few people close by even walked away.

We could not stop laughing about this for three solid minutes.

THE FINAL THOUGHT

Yes, in the end, I know the real point of premieres is not just about the celebration, but to market a given show or movie. Such is the nature of modern corporate life. But the thing about an event like this is that it works. I mean, who knows when I would have gotten to Demon Slayer otherwise? But I had good enough sense to know this was a fun opportunity so I took it. And now I’ll be watching the show and writing about it. And this works in tandem with so many others likely doing the same. This is how an audience grows and solidifies and becomes part of something that doesn’t just have momentum, but genuine meaning.

Sometimes, it’s just good to be a part of the moment.

<3HULK