Many fans feel that leaving many new recruits to die out there isn’t rational — or humane.
Summary:
- The Final Selection exam in Demon Slayer is unnecessarily cruel, killing off most candidates before they even get to fight demons that pose an actual threat.
- This reminds some viewers of how Muzan kills his subordinates for no reason.
- Many fans wonder how the anime would have gone if it was a bit more logical.
Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba) is undoubtedly amazingly animated — as well as just fun to watch. That said, there are multiple elements of the series that just don’t make much sense. One of them is Final Selection — which is supposedly the exam that you need to take before becoming a recognized demon slayer. It’s not optimized at all — and, if you think about it, somewhat ruins the worldbuilding of the series.
What is Final Selection?
Final Selection is actually very simple: you just have to survive for seven days on a mountain that is infested with demons (that can’t leave the mountain, of course). While most demons are relatively weak, there are some really powerful ones as well, like the Hand Demon defeated by Tanjiro.
The reason why the exam stands out a lot is the fact that its mortality rate is apparently extremely high. That means that out of the candidates, only a handful would become actual demon slayers, and the rest would die. This certainly creates tension in the series, except it doesn’t actually make any sense when you think about it logically.
New recruits are dying for nothing
The demons on Mount Fujikasane are trapped there because of wisteria flowers. So yes, this means they can’t leave at all. The demons are caught and placed there by other demon slayers — yes, supposedly, mostly the weak ones. The actual exam is a huge waste of potential, though.
Most of the candidates will die on the mountain fighting weak demons that can’t leave in the first place — basically wasting their time and lives. As such, they won’t even make it to actual combat, and will contribute nothing to the cause. Why would you even bother to send them there, if you might as well send them to hunt demons, and hope they won’t die for absolutely nothing?
It’s especially weird considering you usually would have to spend a lot of time in order to take the exam in the first place. Outside of the Pillars (Hashira), who are clearly abnormal, nearly every character trained for almost a year — and, presumably, those who died did it as well.
Not the only case like that
The unnecessary cruelty of the exams remind many of how the main antagonist of the series, Muzan, treats his own subordinates. He slaughtered the Lower Moons for virtually no reason, other than to show the viewers that he is, indeed, evil.
While not every anime needs a well-written antagonist — Muzan’s style alone earned him many fans — sometimes the irrational actions he makes are really annoying.
This irrationality persists throughout the series. Many fans wonder how it would have gone if both sides had actually sane people — perhaps many unneeded deaths could be avoided. That said, then it wouldn’t be as interesting as it is, so maybe it’s for the better.