Kamado Tanjirou (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) Review

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Kamado Tanjirou (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) Review

Kamado Tanjirou
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Bandai)There's been a lot of Demon Slayer merchandise since it made the leap to anime, and given its massive popularity, it's not hard to see why. In the toy realm, there's been statues, plushies, action figures, and even Tamagotchis. Good Smile and Aniplex have been putting out some good figures in their respective Figma and BUZZmod lines, and while the latter's been too much for me, I've gotten a couple of the former, but they are held back a bit by finicky quality and joints. Now Bandai's given it the S.H. Figuarts treatment, and I've been wanting to cover the first and most crucial figure, Tanjiro, for a good bit now.

I've gone over a few SHF figures now, and packaging-wise, Tanjiro isn't any different. It's not big at all, but it's peppered with shots of the figure, and the green motif fits the character. The only thing you need to remove to open up the figure is a bit of tape on one of the sides, and inside the flaps are instructions (non-translated, though). The contents inside can be removed from the tray with no issues, and the plastic keeps them in place fine.

Just about every Tanjiro figure, action or static, has a spot-on likeness to the anime; heck, even the McFarlane one looked great. The SHF, however, looks to be the most accurate to the series. Being Figuarts, Tanjiro has plenty of face options, one stern, one happy, one shouting, and one pissed off with gritted teeth. All four expressions not only fit the character, but look great, partially thanks to the clean paint. The more serious faces have the hanafuda earrings flowing back, making for a more dynamic look, and the angriest head has a different-looking scar, resembling fire. Reading up on why that is, apparently it's his Demon Slayer mark (I haven't watched the anime in a while, and I've only seen season one so far). The hair looks great, partially thanks to the gradient at the tips, but be mindful of how pointy said tips are.

The young demon slayer stands about 5 3/4" tall, befitting a 7" scale that I've come to assume most Figuarts are in. In addition to the standard slayer uniform, Tanjiro has his checkered haori, with the pattern not only painted on but sculpted into it as well. There's plenty of other painted details onto the outfit, including some metallic areas where applicable, and the work is very clean, with little in the way of bleed and marks. The wrinkles sculpted into the haori and uniform help to give it a slightly more realistic look, and the articulation is blended into the sculpt very well. One thing to note is that the sheath is a separate piece, which plugs into a peg on the side of the belt. Being able to rotate it is a plus, allowing it to work with the haori in various poses.

The sheath is just one of the many, many points of movement on Tanjiro, and he's a very posable figure. The head is a barbell on top of a ball-jointed neck, and said barbell has a third ball peg going into the lower back part of the hair, allowing it to stay lined up with the neck. He has ball/hinge/swivel shoulders alongside revolver joint elbows and wrists, and the elbow joints are imbedded into the sleeves perfectly. There's also ball-jointed forearms, two parts of the sleeve that turn independently, and the shoulders are plugged into ball-jointed sockets inside the torso, allowing the arms to further go forward, back, up, and down. The chest is a ball and double-hinged joint, providing plenty of lean and tilt, and below that is a ball-jointed waist, swivel/hinge hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, revolver ankles, and hinged toes. On top of all that, the lower half of the haori is split up into three revolved-jointed parts, letting you pose it in dynamic ways. The joints all move easily and hold up great, and the posing possibilities are near-endless.

For accessories, Tanjiro is already packed with four faces, which swap with no problems, but he also has four sets of hands: closed, gripping, relaxed, and grasping. The ball pegs used for the wrists helps make hand swapping a little easier, but I'd advise some heat when swapping for the first time. Fortunately, the pegs feel sturdy and unlikely to break. Tanjiro has his black-bladed Nichirin sword, and the multitude of arm joints provide plenty of possible poses, including two-handed slashes. There's a piece of just the handle that plugs into the sheath, and another Nichirin sword that's a little bigger, has more detail on the blade, and the handguard from the sword of the late Rengoku. This sword comes from later on in the series, and most newcomers won't get it, but it's a neat extra. I would've liked some water and fire breathing effects, but those may come later, so for now I'll just hope the Figma ones work for him.

The only other Tanjiro I had before this one is the Figma, and it was fine aside from me having to replace a broken neck joint, but this one is just so much better. The great sculpt, quality, and lower-than-average price for SHF at $35 (which is an "entry level" price) make him one of the best Demon Slayer figures, one of the best SHFs, and maybe the best figure of the year for me. There's already Nezuko and Giyu (my favorite) out now, and Rengoku and Akaza got announced recently, and I'm hoping Bandai can put out both a wide range of slayers and demons, because they have the potential to make a truly great line of figures.

- 11/14/24