Sorry Demon Slayer Fans, But These 10 Anime Are Better

At the moment, the Demon Slayer franchise feels like the hottest topic in the anime world. The recent release of the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie turbocharged this franchise with the first act of the Infinity Castle arc, and once again, the anime wowed fans with gorgeous visuals along with powerful emotional resonance. It’s true that the Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle movie is a fun time in theaters, but it’s no reason to think Demon Slayer is untouchable.

On the upside, Demon Slayer lives up to its reputation with its stunning production values, lovable characters, and emotional core, but otherwise, the Demon Slayer anime is more of the same for shonen action fans. Demon Slayer is good, but not great, and it lacks the creative twists and philosophical depth that make other anime so impressive. Demon Slayer can be unfavorably compared to quite a few similar anime, and a few radically different ones, to give fans a better perspective on Demon Slayer‘s actual merits.

Jujutsu Kaisen Has Higher Stakes and Even Scarier Villains

Demon Slayer has a handful of direct competitors floating around in the shonen sphere, and it doesn’t always compare well with them. Demon Slayer has a slight edge over Fire Force and Dandadan, but it won’t overtake Jujutsu Kaisen anytime soon. Even if the ending of Jujutsu Kaisen annoyed some fans, Gege Akutami’s hit shonen series is still stronger than Demon Slayer in the rest of its story.

Both of these anime focus on fighting monsters, and even if Jujutsu Kaisen doesn’t make curses sympathetic, these villains are gripping in other ways. Mahito has genocide on his mind, for example, and Kenjaku is a schemer hiding in Suguru Geto’s body while Choso switched sides to fight alongside Yuji. Also, the constant deaths and gore in Jujutsu Kaisen help raise the stakes and suspense, making each battle twice as exciting as anything Demon Slayer offers.

Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is Brutal, Epic, and Has Titanic Stakes

Demon Slayer is a spiritual successor of Bleach, with them sharing the idea of sword-slinging heroes fighting monsters. The original Bleach had bigger and better content than Demon Slayer, but was held back by constant filler episodes, a sluggish pace at times, and a weak Xcution arc that saw the anime canceled. Now, the Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War anime is here, shedding all of the previous anime’s weaknesses.

This means the new Bleach anime matches Demon Slayer‘s production values and pacing, while still benefitting from the original manga’s robust content. Now more than ever, Bleach feels like a “big three” anime, and it can now beat Demon Slayer at its own game with its refined narrative. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War also has meaningful themes of the dangers of complacency and enormous stakes as Yhwach approaches his cosmic endgame.

Gurren Lagann Honors the Mecha Genre in True Style

From time to time, parody and subversive anime may outshine the genres they’re imitating, such as Konosuba in the realm of isekai. In the mecha genre, meanwhile, fans can’t get enough of Gurren Lagann, which both honors and satirizes the likes of Gundam with good-natured comedy. Despite that, Gurren Lagann has enough serious content to make it an excellent mecha anime, subversions or not.

This means Gurren Lagann has more layers to it than the straightforward Demon Slayer anime does, and its visuals actually compete with Demon Slayer‘s to a reasonable degree. Anime don’t have to break all the rules to excel in a genre, but Gurren Lagann makes a good case for it, and fans love it as both a flamboyant mecha anime and as friendly satire, giving it broad appeal.

My Hero Academia Explores the Impact of Superpowers on Society

My Hero Academia tops Demon Slayer in several arenas, starting with the combat system’s design. My Hero Academia‘s Quirk-based combat system is one of shonen’s best, featuring a stunning variety of abilities, not to mention creative combos. This anime also has a broader cast of characters, many of whom get strong arcs even if the anime spreads itself thin among so many heroes and villains.

On top of that, My Hero Academia went deep with the profound themes of Quirks and the meaning of being labeled a hero or villain. My Hero Academia took a little longer to flesh out those themes than it should have, but later seasons made up for lost time. Now, fans are getting mixed feelings about a society run by self-appointed heroes who unfairly condemn countless people to be villains or monsters just because they were born with the “wrong” Quirk.

One Piece’s Worldbuilding and Combat System Are Miles Ahead of What Demon Slayer Does

On one hand, the One Piece anime definitely suffers from sluggish pacing at times, a direct contrast to Demon Slayer‘s snappy and smooth pacing. Then again, fans can treat themselves to the One Pace project and/or check out the original One Piece manga to enjoy Luffy’s adventure with more moderate pacing. Most importantly of all, One Piece has slow pacing for a good reason: its expansive lore and worldbuilding.

One Piece goes big, much bigger than most modern shonen series do, and it keeps paying off in year after year with no sign of slowing down. What is more, One Piece has a much more robust combat system than Demon Slayer could ever manage, and it has plenty of emotionally powerful moments to rival Demon Slayer‘s own in various arcs.

Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Has a Whole Other Kind of Demon Slayer

True to its name, Demon Slayer is all about skilled fighters who dispatch demons, and the anime did well to make that endeavor a bit morally fuzzy at times. Demons like the Hand Demon, Daki, Gyutaro, and even Akaza had their sympathetic side, and it’s little wonder Tanjiro cried for some of them. Meanwhile, Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End has moral fuzziness with the heroine rather than the monsters.

Frieren the elf became notorious for dispatching demons like Aura the Guillotine with extreme prejudice, refusing to believe demons could ever be innocent or sympathetic. Now, fans are debating whether Frieren is being properly cautious with dangerous monsters or setting a scary example for demonizing others, literally or otherwise. Moral grayness aside, the Frieren anime also outdoes Demon Slayer with its combat system, featuring mostly wizardry but also some great physical action from monster claws and Stark’s axe.

Oshi no Ko is Full of Surprises and Powerful Drama

In most ways, the highly subversive anime Oshi no Ko is quite different than Demon Slayer, with it being a grim idol anime with elements of slice-of-life, drama, and even romance mixed in there. What connects these two anime series is the theme of people trying to overcome grief and make the most of whatever comes next. Tanjiro Kamado only grew kinder and stronger after losing his family, but loss had a different impact on Aqua and Ruby Hoshino.

First, it was a dark yet exciting twist for Ai Hoshino to perish in Episode 1, throwing open the doors for her son and daughter to grow up without her and figure out how to handle that loss. Ruby both impressed and concerned fans by trying to follow in her mother’s footsteps, while Aqua is getting the plot moving by seeking revenge and the truth about Ai’s murder. It’s definitely more powerful than Demon Slayer‘s own grief arcs with Tanjiro, Gyomei, and Shinobu.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure Reinvented Shonen Combat With Stands

In terms of combat design, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure easily has Demon Slayer beat, mostly in the Stardust Crusaders arc and later. The first two arcs had their own monster hunter elements of Hamon vs vampires, but then Stands took over, and they far exceed the Breathing Styles and blood demon arts of Demon Slayer. Stands reward creative thinking, and most of the victories feel truly earned.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure may not focus too much on sympathetic villains, but it does tug on the heartstrings almost as well as Demon Slayer, and in more varied ways, too. Jonathan’s sacrifice when fighting Dio Brando was memorable, and fans were blown away by Reimi Sugimoto’s arc as a ghost girl who finally got closure when her killer met his fate.

Across the board, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood can at least compete with Demon Slayer, if not outshine it. Production-wise, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood looks and sounds great as a late 2000s anime, even if studio UFOtable wasn’t involved. The visuals are strong and the OST is even better, and then Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood completely overtakes Demon Slayer as a must-see shonen anime.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood has incredible drama, comedy, and philosophy to get fans thinking, and it all goes much deeper than the moral ambiguity of fighting demons like Daki and Akaza. Father is also a more impressive progenitor of monsters than Muzan the demon king, with Father shedding his deadly sins to become stronger, only to be revealed as a puny creature merely playing God.

Vinland Saga Delves Into Grief and Loss in Better Ways Than Demon Slayer

Vinland Saga is another seinen anime that tackles the topic of post-grief life better than Demon Slayer does. Those two anime, plus Oshi no Ko, all kill off someone close to the hero, then challenge that hero to move on and find meaning and happiness in life. Tanjiro did it by becoming a demon slayer, while Vinland Saga‘s Thorfinn Karlsefni learned a harsh yet vital lesson about the futility of violent revenge.

Losing his father Thors was a terrible blow for Thorfinn, but fighting fire with fire simply made Thorfinn the victim of a hopeless and painful cycle. After learning wise lessons from Askeladd and being humbled, Thorfinn was able to meditate on the meaning of his life and defied the Viking Age’s brutality with a noble vision. Now, Thorfinn will heal himself and the world by building Vinland, letting go of anger and bloodshed to create something new. It’s far more profound, and less predictable, than fighting demons to make sure no one else has to suffer like the protagonist did.