Demon Slayer's loss of horror elements is its greatest downfall
Demon Slayer has been one of the biggest hits in the anime industry in recent years, but most fans agree that the series' horror elements slowly faded away as the story progressed. The manga had a knack for horror, shocking moments, and a lot of graphic violence, with the story slowly moving away from that for a more classic battle shonen approach.
This is evident from how the tragedy of Tanjiro Kamado's family is portrayed at the beginning of Demon Slayer and slowly gets removed as the series becomes even more battle-focused. There are different ways the other arcs could have been developed with these horror elements, probably raising the quality level of the stories in the process as well.
Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers for the series. Any opinion expressed here belongs to the author and not Sportskeeda as a publication.
Maintaining horror elements would have kept Demon Slayer very fresh and a bit more original
The nature of the horror elements of the series was quite notorious from the moment that the main villain, Muzan Kibutsuji, slaughtered protagonist Tanjiro Kamado and how it played out. There is a slow build-up to Tanjiro coming back to his house and realizing that his mother and most of his siblings were massacred, which is something reminiscent of the storytelling tools of the horror genre.
The protagonist then faces several demons who are grotesque and very graphic with violence, which is something that this Ufotable production loses after each arc. Arguably, during the Mugen Train arc, author Koyoharu Gotouge moved on from horror to a more classic battle shonen approach, thus leading to a more divisive formula in the fandom.
Ironically, something such as the Mugen Train arc could have been a mystery murder where Enmu's actions and tactics could be a bit darker and manipulative, showing the extremes he could have gone to win. On the other hand, the Red-Light District arc could have had Daki as an urban legend in the area and slowly showed the different men she murdered, building up the tension before the confrontation.
More reasons for this
There is no denying that the Upper Moons are the most compelling villains in Demon Slayer, and the Swordsmith Village arc has some horror elements, such as Gyokko displaying the several people he has murdered and tortured to the Hashira Muichiro, elevating said character's horror status.
Hantengu, on the other hand, was a more straightforward opponent despite his varied skill set and could have been shown murdering innocent people from left to right to highlight his ruthless nature.
The Hashira Training arc focuses on the heroes developing their abilities, so it doesn't have a solid set to add horror elements, working more as a "calm before the storm" moment. Douma proves to be one of the stand-out villains of the Infinity Castle arc, mainly because his casual demeanor directly contrasts the awful crimes he has committed.
Body horror is something that Gotouge showed time and time again in Demon Slayer, and could have shown more of that, especially during the final arc. Kokushibo's demon mutation, Muzan's several bodies, and Douma's multiple crimes should have gotten even more graphic imagery to up the ante in that last battle arc.
Final thoughts
As mentioned earlier, Demon Slayer has been a major success, but losing horror traits causes the story to lose some of its charisma. It would have been a bonus and could have also improved some of the flaws later.
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