I haven't finished Demon Slayer, (idk why, I started it, it was good, life just got in the way, lol) but I got the feeling like he was the Naruto Kishimoto was trying to write. An untarnished hero.
But...Kisihimoto always made Naruto the but of jokes too. Stupid or falling behind as a kid/teen/young adult, then a terrible dad as an adult. And not much of a hokage either. (I didn't watch Boruto. Just. Can't. Do. It. So, let me know if my opinion is wrong about that.) He was supposed to overcome his terrible past to become the hero, but Kishimoto just kept screwing him over.
Maybe it's just me. Anyway, when I watched Demon Slayer, Tanjiro felt like Naruto, without Kishimoto tripping him up all the time.
Demon Slayer is sort of what Naruto should have been and kind of was until Yahagi left.
What I mean by that is. Demon Slayer doesn't really slow down and it doesn't try to be super deep. If I had to describe it in a word its lean. It doesn't waste any time and is constantly progressing its story, every chapter has a point.
Its arcs once it gets going can be sum up as, the main cast is sent on a mission to kill a powerful demon, after their victory they under go training, and then they are sent out against even stronger demons. Rinse and repeat until they are facing the Big Bad's Elites.
The goal of the main character is simple; he wants to find a cure for his sister and avenge his family who were killed by the big bad. The message of the story is; no matter how traumatic an event you can't become trapped in it and need to move forward and live your life. All the demons are trapped in their trauma because of the big bad and the only way to move forward is to be killed the the protagonist and the other slayers. This simplicity allowed the mangaka to keep the story constantly focused and moving while still exploring their characters.
One of the problems with Naruto was that Yahagi had Kishimoto on a lean story while he was editor. Once he was gone, Kishimoto decided to make his story deep to justify its length. The problem was that it didn't have the build up/framework to be deep. It was an especially bad idea to start it on the final arc of the story.
It also didn't help that Kishimoto never focused on Naruto's goal or had a clear theme/message for the manga.
Naruto's goal is to become hokage but that was waylaid by the chase after Sasuke for so much of the story it doesn't matter because it never got focused on.
The message? If it had stayed on message we are people not cog in a machine. Or something like that. Maybe never give up which most would claim, but then Naruto gives up at the end. Cycle of Hatred, since that became the message for the chase after Sasuke though it doesn't really work for Naruto.
Edited by Bail o' Lies, 10 October 2025 - 09:34 PM.
