I know, Given is one of those anime for BL lovers, and the plot —at least in this first episode— was pretty straightforward about it. However, I’m not afraid to say I can keep watching this show just because of the music. Am I the only one?

Even if I couldn't care less about bishounen and the shipping potential of Mafuyu Satou and Ritsuka Uenoyama, and even if the basic premise has been done to death, I honestly enjoyed all those little references to rock music. For me, however, the best part of the episode was that brief jamming session, a moment when most of us watching Given probably felt as amazed as Mafuyu was in front of his new role-model. I mean, we have all been in Mafuyu's place before, ecstatic to see someone doing what we like most and wishing one day to become as good as them, right? In Carole & Tuesday, just to name another music anime on air, you know the girls are going to make it to the top, and the intro itself mentions it; here, it's just a bunch of boys playing in a random band, trying to impress another guy with their skills while he tries to cope with all his feelings. Pure magic.

Given (pun intended) the context, I can't but hope that we can see more scenes like that and not just another love story with nothing new to bring to the table. Can this show be the next Kids on the Slope, or will it end up forgotten in a sea of tropes just like Fuuka or Fukumenkei Noise?

Following last week’s success with finding an elixir to cure those encased in stone, Senku and Taiju have a big decision to make. Who gets to be unstoned next? Obviously Taiju decides on Yuzuriha but when they are about to undo her petrification he realizes that she would be naked and backs out immediately. When the duo decides to take her back to their home, lions that Senku believes escaped the zoo ages ago attack them and they are forced to run for their lives! Luckily the two survivors find the statue of the high schooler known as the primitive student and use the elixir to break him free from his stone prison. Without missing a beat, our new warrior punches the lion--yes punches the lion--and kills it proving to be a being of pure brute force. Tsukasa--the primitive student--shows that he can help with gathering meat and food due to his pure power, but Senku seems wary and for good reason. We quickly learn that our powerhouse seems to not care for adults due to a previous incident as a child and decapitates one of the stone figures he sees at the ocean. Episode two ends with Senku claiming to not care about the past failings of man and only to un petrify all humans and reclaim the world. Episode 2 shows that this new world won’t be an easy one, especially if people like Tsukasa try to change if in their own vision.

After fully recovering from their wounds, Tanjirou, Zenitsu and Inosuke are sent to Mount Natagumo together. Upon arriving, they find they were not the first to be sent up the mountain - another troupe of 10 Demon Slayers arrived before them, but most of them fell prey to the numerous spider webs and powerful demons residing on the mountain.

Inosuke finally proves he is smarter than he seems in this episode by showing off his Beast ability, which apparently allows him to sense everything in the general area. He finds the demon controlling the spiders fairly quickly, so it looks as though we’re headed for another epic fight in the next episode!

The animation in every episode of Kimetsu no Yaiba has been incredible, but I thought this episode deserves a special shout-out, thanks to ufotable’s use of CGI. When we see CGI in an anime, it can sometimes distract viewers, and it usually has more of a negative connotation, especially if used more frequently in a series. However, Inosuke’s Beast ability was animated so seamlessly that I spent no time thinking about the fact that it was CGI, and all my time thinking, “Wow, Inosuke is actually pretty amazing!” The first-person sequence when they first entered the forest was also quite unique and well done. I am so impressed by this anime every time!

Now that our intrepid team of stranded high schoolers has charted a tentative course for home, their first stop is the rainforest-like planet of Vilavurs. You’ve got to love the creative design of the whimsical wildlife – trampoline trees, parachute mushrooms, weapon-shaped bamboo, and berries of all shapes and sizes. But trouble strikes when little Funicia gets trapped in a tall tree and a massive bird creature tries to snatch her away!

This second episode does a great job of fleshing out some of the main members of the group. Kanata utilizes the athletic training forced upon him by his dad for his own goals, Quitterie apologizes for her harsh tsundere attitude and grows closer to her adoptive sister, and Aries drops a few hints that she may be more than the ditsy anime girl she seems to be. Her photographic memory, bizarre seagull-like laugh, and social ineptitude all give off vibes that she’s an alien or some other extraordinary being. Could the mysterious teleportation ball be targeting her specifically? Who intentionally sabotaged the ship’s communication module? Why have Busty Girl and Emo Boy been so quiet this whole time? Hmm... maybe there’s more to this fluffy little show than there seems at first glance...

An epic showdown between a man made of water and a youkai. After using his powers to drown many people around town, a former human turned into a youkai, finds himself being chased down by the police and by a justice-seeking trio of youkai who hope to fix the corrupt city they live in. The leader of the yokai group, Bem, tracks the water youkai down and starts to fight him. Bem is able to hold him off until a police officer named Sonia Summers arrives. Upon seeing Sonia and the other police officers, the water youkai proceeds to cut three of the police offices in half using his water powers, forcing Bem to transform into his full youkai form to finish him off once and for all.

The first episode of Bem was a real mixed bag of quality. Most of the episode followed Sonia, and it wasn't that interesting, but once we got to the fight between Bem and the water youkai that is when things got really exciting. The turning point in the episode was seeing the police officers get cut in half on screen. This moment really set the tone for the anime, showing that it was going to have blood and action that matched the dark and gritty tone it had shown off up to that point. Going forward I hope we get to see a lot more of Bem and his crew in their pursuit to become human and less of Sonia.