Nope, it's true, not as good as Shida and yes only Shida has impressive animation. Other than it's just either good or subpar. The one you showed were good but not on Shida's level nor impressive.
Yes, you bozo. It's been like decades since they've done one with a lot of blood/gore that is like horror. That example isn't even relevantly similar. IG resting from doing sports anime for 3-4 years is not like Toei resting from working on dark anime like Devilman decade(S) ago. Devilman is probably the best (or one of the best) examples that you should be using from Toei's works since not only did it include monsters but it was dark/gritty. However that was ages ago and you can't be using it to justify CURRENT Toei. The 70's & 80's were a different time and it's clear as day that Toei changed a lot so it's not like they stayed the same.
Here is example of Devilman, a WSJ title too. This shows the OVA's which were darker than the regular TV show airings, obviously and not sure if it was even animated by Toei. Oh well but you can see the use of darker color and also blood/gore helps a lot. You need both.
You can even look at how more serious DBZ looks in comparison to DB:S. DB:S looks kiddy with it's vibrant colors in comparison to DBZ which used darker colors which helped to set the tone for serious moments. Toei has clearly changed a lot from even the 90s to now. Timeslot can be factored into it but even if it had a pretty late timeslot; I doubt KnY would look nearly as dark as the manga.
I know about Kyousou Giga, good show but just because they did that doesn't mean they should do Kimetsu No Yaiba. KnY is more darker/grittier and Toei shows don't really use colors like that to complement it.
These studios can capture a dark/gritty series quite well. The examples I'm providing aren't all obviously under horror/youkai folklore. It's just showing that they can make shows with a dark color palette, which KnY needs. Sunrise, Madhouse & MAPPA are my top 3 picks though.
-Sunrise (Inuyasha/Final Act)
-Madhouse (Hellsing Ultimate/Death Parade/Parasyte)
-MAPPA (Ushio to Tora)
-Bones (I didn't really nominate this studio but they could work well.)
Just having a history of Youkai anime isn't good enough. If the studio, Toei in this case, refuses to use a darker color palette for their shows then KnY won't be great in their hands. Unless you want a watered down version.
Yep, peak a old series and say that is the last thing the studio did about it.
Like there isn't Mononoke and Hakaba no Kitaru and Gegege no Kitaro. You know stuff like Inuyasha went from 2000 to 2004, but what I'm talking aired in 2007 and 2008. Oh, you will talk of Inuyasha the final Act, that aired 5 years after the first series. I didn't watched it, but by your logic Sunrise probably lost their Youkai Folklore experience and quality during that rest time. Like you're assuming Toei did.
Using Devilman as the last time Toei did such a thing is ridiculous. They every decade did Gegege no Kitaro. They right now are only missing 2010s
Also is funny, you start talking of Gore and dark and gritty series and you come talking of Inuyasha? Seriously? And You use the example of Madhouse also? Really? The studio that people complain about their bright color palette, kiddy designs and inadequate mood for dark series(like their music) that ton of people complain about their series, like HxH(Is one main complain about the difference of 1999 and 2011 anime. And not only in the west but also Japan. And probably the reason many people didn't bought the disks of it), Parasyte with the totally different designs that make things more kiddy too, the brighter palette and the so DARK music(sarcasm). And Death Parade, really? The dark and gritty series that has this opening:
Yep, look at the palette of Death Parade so DARK and Gritty, ... NOPE.
And Hellsing Ultimate is not even made by Madhouse. The main studio was and is Satelight, it produced, planned and designed everything about the series. Madhouse is just a subcontracting studio that did 3 episodes, from a total of 10 episodes.
Satelight did alone the first 4 episodes(they took 3 years to be released), did you noticed the difference in color palette, designs, music, animation and other things from those 4 episodes and the other 6 ones? Nope, Why? Because all the other studios just followed Satelight guidance, and yep there are other studios other than Madhouse that cooperated in the creation of Hellsing Ultimate.
I don't know why people love to call Madhouse to the front when talking Hellsing Ultimate.
MAPPA Ushio to Tora is also a good example ... or actually NOPE! MAPPA is the exact same thing as Madhouse in terms of this, and it also has those same complains. In fact MAPPA is just Madhouse studio that was created when Maruyama bankrupted Madhouse and was expelled from it, and with that decided to create another studio.
Yep, Bones could work because ... yep ultra convicing.
Do you want stuff with a good mood for Horror Folklore? Here an example(And yep it is Toei Animation):
