Best-Animated Demon Slayer Episodes, Ranked (2024)

The hit shonen anime Demon Slayer boasts some of the best animation in the industry, and famously so. Of course, it takes more than dazzling visuals to make a good action anime, and Demon Slayer also features some wonderful characters, action, and emotional resonance. But if anime fans focus on presentation, it becomes clear why Demon Slayer is an industry titan despite its modest length compared to My Hero Academia and Attack on Titan.

Studio UFOtable's staff worked incredibly hard to bring the Demon Slayer manga to life, with a gorgeous, distinctive visual style with smooth animation and expert camera angles. It's astounding on a technical level, and this is most apparent in ten particular Demon Slayer episodes that are a treat to watch. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these ten episodes involve well-animated fight scenes with fluid, elegant movements and precise timing to make the action feel so real.

10 "Temari Demon and Arrow Demon"

Even if Season 1 of Demon Slayer featured some of the anime's tamer fights, it still boasted some cutting-edge animation to make every battle sequence exciting and visually enticing to watch. The mildest example is the 2v2 battle that the Kamado siblings fought against Yahaba and Susamaru, a pair of powerful demons who cornered them in Tokyo.

Tanjiro had just met the demon lady Tamayo to find a cure for Nezuko, only for Muzan's minions to muscle in, and a fight ensued. It was a delight to watch Nezuko finally fight for real and develop her kick-based fighting style, and this episode also showed exactly how Yahaba's arrow-based blood art worked, which still remains one of the most unique demon fighting styles seen so far.

9 "A Forged Bond"

By the time Episode 18 launched in Season 1, Tanjiro's trio of heroes was in trouble in Mt. Natagumo's demon-infested forest. Tanjiro and his friends fought as hard as they could, but they couldn't defeat the spider family's most powerful members, namely the nightmarish father demon and the Lower Moon 5, Rui.

In Episode 18, Tanjiro engaged Rui in a fierce duel that featured some of the anime's best animation up to that point, with Tanjiro being pushed to the brink like never before. Unfortunately, Tanjiro didn't stand much of a chance in that intense and well-animated duel, but at least two members of the Hashira, Giyu and Shinobu, were already on the way to save the day.

8 "Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito"

When Tanjiro met the youthful Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito, the latter was an aloof airhead who merely fought for duty's sake, not to protect the innocent. Tanjiro didn't like that, so he encouraged Muichiro to fight for the sake of others, and Muichiro soon embraced that idea, giving him an entirely new motivation for his job.

In the episode "Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito," the Mist Hashira gathered all his strength and prepared to take down the noxious Upper Moon 5, Gyokko, once and for all. In a delightfully animated fight focusing on hues of cool blue, Muichiro unleashed his strongest moves at last, taking down Gyokko's strongest form to score a stunning solo victory. Fans should also note that this was one of the few times the anime showed a demon slayer mark in use.

7 "Bright Red Sword"

Season 3 of Demon Slayer featured some astounding animation with a rich variety of colors as the heroes battled the Upper Moons 5 and 4, including Nezuko Kamado's use of her trademark pink flames. She, like her brother Tanjiro, had a fire theme, because her pink flames matched Tanjiro's use of Hinokami Kagura. "Bright Red Sword" was a good example of that.

In that episode, Tanjiro was astounded to see his sister power up his weapon with her fire, giving Tanjiro an edge when fighting Hantengu's multiple bodies. The episode's visual flair reached another level entirely when Tanjiro used Hinokami Kagura to behead three of Hantengu's bodies, since Hinokami Kagura is always amazing to watch.

6 "Gathering"

During the mission to the entertainment district, Tanjiro's trio teamed up with the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, to hunt down an Upper Moon. They soon found their target, a cruel himedere named Daki, who commanded the rank of Upper Moon 6 alongside her protective brother Gyutaro. Soon, a multi-episode battle unfolded, featuring some of Demon Slayer's best animation yet.

"Gathering" and a few other episodes in that battle used top-notch animation to show Zenitsu and Inosuke fighting back against Daki's belt weapon, which could rapidly extend its tendrils all over the place, making Daki fight like a bizarre octopus of sorts. It was all Inosuke and Zenitsu could do to cut away Daki's belts and try to get closer to her main body to finish the fight with decapitation.

5 "Move Forward!"

The episode "Move Forward!" was one of the best-animated episodes in the Mugen Train story arc, and ranks in the middle among the best-animated episodes in Demon Slayer overall. By that episode, the fight against Enmu the Lower Moon 1 was well underway, and Tanjiro's team had already broken free of Enmu's dream-based powers to fight back.

In "Move Forward!", Nezuko herself joined the fight aboard the Mugen Train, and it was Zenitsu's plesaure to save her from Enmu's attack and fight by her side as a teammate. Then, after more struggling, Tanjiro finds Enmu's exposed neck and attacks it with Hinokami Kagura, causing the entire Mugen Train to derail, skidding and crashing to a halt at last in an exciting sequence.

4 "Something More Important Than Life"

Even if the stakes weren't really that high in the episode "Something More Important Than Life," that episode still featured some of Demon Slayer's sharpest animation, pound for pound. In that episode, Tanjiro and Zenitsu were partway through their battle in Kyogai's secluded mansion, a maze of hallways featuring terrified captives and deadly demons. Tanjiro, for his part, was busy fighting Kyogai himself.

In this episode, anime fans were treated to incredible 3-D animation as Kyogai used his powers to rapidly rotate the entire room where he fought Tanjiro. Over and over, the disoriented Tanjiro felt himself thrown around as the room kept rotating at random, which was bad news for him but a memorable visual for anime fans as the fight reached its bloody climax.

3 "Akaza"

The episode "Akaza" was the penultimate episode of the short Mugen Train story arc, and ranked among the arc's most brutal episodes, too. In that episode, the Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku was already fighting the terrifying Upper Moon 3, Akaza, who was eager to test his strength against a powerhouse Hashira like Kyojuro. Tanjiro, for his part, could only anxiously watch.

All of the animation in "Akaza" was next level as the Upper Moon and Hashira traded countless fierce blows in a tense battle to the finish. Fans got to see Akaza's Destructive Death fighting style up close, all while Kyojuro kept up the pressure with his fierce Flame Breathing fighting style, increasingly desperate to find an opening to deal the final blow while there was still time.

2 "Hinokami"

As soon as it aired, the episode "Hinokami" elicited a massive and enthusiastic response from Demon Slayer fans, leading some to say that "Hinokami" broke the internet. That well-animated episode featured Tanjiro's first use of his powerful Hinokami Kagura move, which would go on to become a staple of his that gradually replaced Water Breathing.

Tanjiro couldn't defeat Rui with his own fighting style, but as a true shonen hero, Tanjiro seized a stunning new power in his darkest moment to turn the fight around just in time. The dark battlefield was suddenly awash in dazzling red and yellow light as Tanjiro used Hinokami Kagura for the first time, seemingly defeating Rui at last with his newfound power.

1 "Defeating an Upper Rank Demon"

The best-animated episode in Demon Slayer, "Defeating an Upper Rank Demon," featured even more of what made episodes like "Gathering" such a joy to watch. In this episode, Tanjiro's team kept up the pressure on the Daki/Gyutaro duo, starting with Tanjiro blending Hinokami Kagura and Water Breathing in an amazing move to rescue Hinatsuru from Gyutaro.

Then, Tengen resumed his fierce battle against Gyutaro, allowing him to demonstrate even more of his flashy Sound Breathing style, but the situation was turning dire. Meanwhile, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu took the fight to Daki in a well-animated battle, finally breaching Daki's defenses and behead her, but the battle wasn't won yet. Gyutaro was ready to defend his sister, having already dealt with a mortally injured Tengen Uzui.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

TV-MA

Animation

Action

Adventure

Release Date

January 22, 2021

Cast

Natsuki Hanae , Zach Aguilar , Abby Trott , Akari Kitō , Yosh*tsugu Matsuoka

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

4