Long story short, Kagurabachi 62 is not what a lot of fans were expecting. Everyone had their theories. I wasn’t actually expecting a slice of life arc with Chihiro trying to court Iori and Hakuri as his wingman, but a guy can dream.

What we actually got was the expedited version of what I thought would happen. The Hishaku and the Masumi were in the school looking for Iori at the same time. Except it wasn’t a sneaky race to the girl with disguises and acting.

I thought the Hishaku would try to be covert and let Iori reveal herself slowly based on what they said in the last chapter, but they just burst through the window and started attacking people. They planned to taste every girl’s blood to match it to Samura’s? Really? Is that really the best plan they had?

In the last chapter they said, “if we wait, they’ll reveal the goods.” This chapter they said, “if we taste, they’ll reveal the goods.” That causes the Masumi to move, and the rest is history. They already have Iori. Obviously, I know it’s not going to be that easy to get away but that was quick, wasn’t it?

We got a little info on Iori’s life. We saw her mom, her daily routine, her friends. I would’ve liked to see some of the curriculum and how they are taught about the Seitei war and sorcery.

Chihiro was framed for the kabuki performance incident so he’s a murderer to the public. Much like real life, even murderers have admirers. I wonder why the Kamunabi let that footage get out. Chihiro is their main asset right now, so it doesn’t make sense to let him be a person of public interest.

The Kamunabi also went ahead and said it’s okay for civilians to go outside. Everyone is super chill about the sky being blocked out and that’s weird to me. Perhaps it’s a cultural difference. The United States would not be going about life despite a giant owl in the sky.

We would be rioting, looting, bunkering down, and hurting each other. People would say it’s the end of times, Christ is returning, aliens have invaded, or Russia has new technology. We get stressed out about drones. You think we’re going to work during a potential apocalypse? If the sky is blocked out for three days, I’ll tell you what I’m not doing: going to school.

I get that they know sorcerers exist but nothing like this has ever happened before. Maybe Japan is just a chill country, and I wouldn’t understand their reaction.

Iori’s seal is being affected by Samura’s technique. Not that it truly matters, as they had to capture her for her own protection regardless of her intel.

Chihiro may fight Kuguri here but that would be quite dangerous because they are in the middle of a school. So, they may relocate.

I know some people didn’t like when I said Kagurabachi is moving too fast a little over a month ago, but it still stands. This time I’m not looking at it from the perspective of the main goal. I’ll talk about it from a character and impact angle.

The first time I saw a character rush out the door was Uruha. We did not get nearly enough moments with Uruha to make his death impactful. If the Hishaku or any of the Masumi members die in the next few chapters, we may need to have a conversation about character building.

I’m not the biggest fan of Demon Slayer and I’ve never read the manga but one thing I feel like it does better than many other stories is it builds characters up in a short amount of time. The arcs are short, but you learn a lot about the main players and when something happens to them you really feel it.

I see some people reacting to the criticism that the story moves fast and saying “Takeru knows what they are doing” or “Maybe the story is supposed to be short”. Both those things can be true. I believe Takeru knows what they are doing. I’m not sure if the story is intentionally short but I do know a short story can still have impactful characters.

To put it plainly, I want Kagurabachi to be that type of story. I want to get to know characters more. I feel like since Kyora we haven’t lost anyone of importance, and I’d love to grow attached to some new characters.