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BRACU Express - Volume 4 Issue 2

Page 1

November, 2019

Volume IV, Issue II

Fall XlX

BracU lays foundation stone of permanent campus and figuratively pave the pathway towards the construction of the long-awaited new university campus. The architecture and design elements of the new campus have been developed with a focus on lowering carbon footprints by utilising renewable energy sources and open spaces. These elements aim to facilitate and inspire creativity, innovation, and inquisitiveness amongst all the students, as well as the involved personnel.

Marzuq Mohammad Alam Journalist On October 26th, the foundation stone of the new permanent campus of Brac University was laid at Merul Badda, Dhaka. This event saw the presence of Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, KCMG, Founder and Chairperson emeritus of BRAC and Vice-Chancellor of BracU, Professor Vincent Chang. Tamara Hasan Abed, Chairperson of BracU’s Board of Trustees, was also present. The stone, sourced from Sylhet, the homedistrict of Sir Abed, portrays the journey of BracU from its creation to its current state, the vision and mission of BracU and its pathway into the future. The foundation stone serves as a timeless reminder of BracU’s continuous aim in developing minds and building leadership among students to make the world a better place.

Professor Vincent Chang speaking at the ceremony

The foundation stone is set to both literally

BracU donates 166 bags of blood to thalassemia patients

Read by Tamara Hasan Abed, Sir Abed’s speech at the event focused on the growing potential of innovation at BracU. Sir Abed also emphasised research, continual evolution, and teamwork as being the key elements in creating socially conscious, empathic, and capable leaders. After this speech, Professor Vincent Chang spoke of the importance of teamwork and his vision and mission of “Brac University 2.0”. The event was concluded with well-wishes from the present students, faculty members, BracU alumni, and officials of BRAC and BracU.

SCLS Law Olympiad 2019: School of Law scores a hat-trick

Blood being collected

Joutha Monisha Journalist Thalassemia is a blood disorder characterised by abnormal haemoglobin production. 7% of Bangladesh’s population have been found to be potential carriers of thalassemia and 7000 babies are born with it each year. Patients, depending on the severity of their condition, need blood transfusions in short intervals ranging from 2 weeks to 2 months. Since no permanent or stable cure has been found for thalassemia, every session is a matter of life and death. Bangladesh Thalassemia Samity Hospital, the only hospital run by thalassemia patients for thalassemia patients and their families, has 1200 patients coming in for transfusion-related services. The hospital needs almost 400 bags of blood every month. While some of their requirements are met through donations from the patients’ family members and blood banks, it is not always enough. They still depend on voluntary donations for 25% of their requirements. With hopes of making a significant dent in that number, BRAC University Community Service Club (BUCSC) hosted a blood donation camp on November 7th, “Save a drop.” The camp began at 10 am in the Building 2 Indoor Auditorium where there were 6 collection beds, 4 qualified blood collectors, and 2 doctors. The donation was open for everyone and ran until 5 pm. A grand total of 166 bags of blood were donated by students, teachers and the staff of Brac University, an astounding one-third of their needs for November. When asked for comments, one of the organisers said, “Brac University responded really well. We had to turn away so many people due to strict guidelines for donors. Yet, we had surpassed our goal by mid-afternoon.” One of the representative of Bangladesh Thalassemia Samity Hospital also said, “We did not expect so many donations.” He also expressed his gratitude towards all the donors of BracU for their enthusiastic philanthropy and BUCSC for organising the event.

Participating teams of SCLS Law Olympiad 2019

Rifa Tamanna Journalist On October 19th, the third season of “Law Olympiad” was organised by the Society for Critical and Legal Studies (SCLS) in Chittagong. Out of the 32 participating teams from all over the country, 3 teams were from the School of Law, BracU, and were mentored by Professor Saira Rahman Khan. Team Blitzkrieg was comprised of Ayan Rahman Khan and Humaira Anjum Oishe, who emerged as the champions of the Olympiad on human rights. The other two teams, Team Defenders and Team Atova made it to the top 10. The Olympiad consisted of 4 rounds that tested each team’s reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills. Throughout the day, each team presented their posters on policy making, defended their research papers, and provided legal solutions on given social problems. Ayan and Oishe became the winners in the action aid finale round, where they had to draft a policy to make the Mental Health Act 2018 more effective. Upon asking about their experience, Oishe and Ayan stated that the entire experience had been absolutely incredible and that the champion’s title for the third time in a row was a cherry on top. They had tried to utilise this once in a lifetime opportunity to learn from educators, judges, and magistrates. Team Atova placed 6th and consisted of sophomores Mussabeir Hussain and Rakibul Islam. They were also the winners of the “Case Presentation” segment in BUP National Law Fest 2019. Rakibul was awarded the best case presenter in the festival. While Team Defenders with Sadia Islam and Tashfia Ali secured 8th place.


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BRIEFS

November, 2019

CAMPUS NEWS

BUCC organises a workshop on web-designing

and UB71102 by BRAC University Computer Club (BUCC) in collaboration with Creative IT Institute. The purpose of the workshop was to make the students aware of the importance of IT skills in the development of their careers and to aid them in improving these skills.

BBS presents Chartered Financial Analyst Program Awareness Event Saad Ahmed Baset Nairita Ahsan Faruqui Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Program Awareness Event was jointly organised by the BRAC Business School (BBS) and CFA Society Bangladesh on the 19th floor of Building 2 on November 6th. The event aimed to promote knowledge and awareness among the students regarding the CFA program. The session was conducted in the presence of Dr. Mohammad Mahboob Rahman, Professor and Dean of BBS, alongside Syed Adnan Huda and Mominul Hoque from CFA Society, who delivered informative speeches in order to give students a better knowledge of the enrolment process and shared insights on the examination itself. Mr. Hoque also discussed the obstacles that the students might face while taking the CFA examination, as well as how to best overcome them.

Certificate ceremony at the Creative IT Institute

Halima Hasin Tofa Journalist A three-day-long workshop titled “Your First Step in Web Design” was held on October 13th, 15th, and 17th in UB71201

BRAC Masters Invitational 2019: A battle among logical thinkers at Brac University. BRAC Masters Invitational is a British parliamentary style open tournament where 16 selected teams debate on various topics. The tournament consisted of 5 preliminary rounds and a direct break to the finals. During the different rounds of the tournament, debaters voiced their opinions and ideas on a wide variety of topics ranging from politics to pop culture.

World Diabetes Day event Josephina Chowdhury On occasion of World Diabetes Day, a free diabetes awareness and screening event was organised by BRAC University Pharmacy Society (BUPS) on November 13th, sponsored by Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd. and Maya App. The event took place between 11 am and 5 pm and was divided into 2 sections. In the first section, there was a gathering in front of Building 3 to raise awareness of diabetes and its after-effects. In the second section, a booth was arranged in the ground floor of Building 6 for a free check-up of blood sugar level and blood pressure. A total of 182 individuals from different disciplines visited the booth for a check-up.

A million cool roofs in the making Jamiur Rahman The Million Cool Roofs Challenge is a global competition to accelerate access to affordable and sustainable cooling through rapid deployment of cool roofing materials. The competition aims to deploy 1 million square meters of cool roofs within 2021. The top ten finalists of the competition were announced recently and were each awarded $100,000. One of the finalists is the BRAC University Department of Architecture and James P Grant Master of Public Health ( JPMSPH) with Urban Development Programme, Brac (UDP). Teams from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Senegal, and the other finalist countries shared their knowledge at the Induction Workshop. Professor Zainab Faruqui Ali, Chairperson Department of Architecture and Dr. Atonu Rabbani of JPGMPH joined the workshop and presented their proposal, titled “Use of Innovative Indigenous Materials for Thermal Comfort” to all the team members, MCR representatives, and experts.

There were around 120 participants and 5 trainers at the workshop. Abu Baqar Siddique, senior trainer and Mr. Alamin, trainer at Creative IT Institute conducted the event. The workshop acquainted the students with different web designing tools and various ways of using them. The activities included teaching the students to learn web designing using Bootstrap 4, Bootstrap components, and media queries. They were also required to design their own web pages and submit them. On October 19th, at the office of Creative IT Institute in Dhanmondi, certifications of training were awarded by the faculty advisor of BUCC, Annajiat Alim Rasel and Ms. Pervin Akhter, executive director of Creative IT Institute.

The debates were judged by adjudicators who were invited to the tournament by the organising committee. The debate rounds were adjudicated by Abrar Farhan Zaman, Mohammad Ebne Enayet, Nawed Nafees, Rakib Rahman, Shudipto Ahmed and Unayza Anika. Top adjudicators – Israt Karim, Shaeer Ahnaf and Arshad Tashfia – were awarded prize money. Judges and motions committee

Mashaekh Hassan Journalist On October 18th and 19th, BRAC University Debating Club (BUDC) arranged and hosted the BRAC Masters Invitational

The team consisting of Aaquib Farhan Hossain and Sourodip Paul became the champions of the tournament. This was Aaquib’s second BRAC Masters Invitational win. In addition, Sourodip Paul was awarded the prize of best speaker at the tournament. The tournament was highly competitive and it provided novice debaters with good learning opportunities.

Nadeem Zaman talks about writing in ENH seminar series. The seminar, held at the GDLN Conference room, addressed both the obstacles and achievements that a writer has to face in their career. Starting from obstacles such as writer’s block and lack of inspiration to adjusting stories according to word limitations, Zaman gave an in-depth look into various i­­­­­­­­­nfluential factors of writing. The ups and downs in the life of a writer and the obstacles young writers face in the field of literature were also highlighted.

Nadeem Zaman speaking at ENH seminar

Puja Sarkar Journalist On November 6th, Nadeem Zaman, author of In the Time of the Others, spoke at a seminar organised by the Department of English and Humanities, BracU as part of the ENH Seminar

Zaman talked about his own family experiences, which influenced the content of his writings and assisted him in formulating stories. Adding to that, he addressed the elements which go into forming a short story and how the word count influences the content. Additionally, he talked about the obstacles he himself had faced, highlighting how his book had to go through ten drafts before publication last year. Zaman’s novel, In the Time of the Others, documents Bangladesh during the 1971 Liberation War and recreates the violence which led to the mass genocide of March 25th, and has been nominated for DSC Prize for South Asian Literature 2019. Zaman’s guidance and advice in the seminar followed by a short question-answer session, was a well-rounded glimpse into the field of fiction and storytelling.


November, 2019

OPINIONS & ACADEMICS ‘Bottola’ road: ours or theirs?

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The BracU Bot Nehrin Siddique Payel Journalist to which they have gradually added more data and functionality. The bot can answer some simple questions and Robin plans to add varieties in the question pattern by taking feedback from the users. What type of questions can you ask the BracU Bot? * Full name of a faculty using initials. * Email of a faculty.

Majority of the road being occupied by vehicles

* The courses taken by a faculty. * Room number of classes.

Anindita Bose, Mahatajin Rumana Shuchi Journalists The roads between Building 6 on and Buildings 4, 5, 7 and 8 is an inevitable path for most Brac University students. Mostly referred to as the ‘Bottola’ road, it is a narrow road with cars parked on both sides of the road making it even narrower. Sometimes, even heavy vehicles pass by the road, leaving the students with little to no space to walk from one building to another. There are times when cars block the entire road and students need to wait till the cars leave, which disrupts their already hectic schedules. While there are offices nearby the road, each with their own set of parked vehicles and cars dropping people off throughout the day, there are also other cars and even trucks blocking passage. It is a one-way street and according to the law, any parking beyond the Square building is a violation of the traffic rules. Not long ago, a few students were almost run over by a lorry and it was sheer luck that none of them were harmed. Another common yet uncomfortable situation faced by the BracU students is the prominence of panhandlers and homeless people in the area. Being located near the Korail slum, the largest slum in Dhaka, the streets around BracU and in particular the Bottola road are replete with panhandlers, and a majority of them happen to be children. While most students maintain an amiable relationship with the less-fortunate, awkward and unpleasant situations often arise. These can be a result of socially anxious students who are not well equipped to handle these interactions, or when students do not have cash to spare. While it may not be realistic to take drastic actions, as it is a road shared not only by BracU but also corporate offices, this is an issue that needs to be addressed and gradually remedied, for the safety and well-being of the thousands of students that have no other option but to traverse the Bottola road every day.

However, they are planning for an upgrade which will include the following features: * Timing and route of the Brac University buses.

A snapshot of how BracU Bot works

As a freshman, Robin struggled to find teachers, room numbers, and other basic information around the campus. This hardship made him realise the struggles faced by hundreds of other students. He decided to do something to fill these gaps, which led to the birth of the BracU Bot, an opensource Facebook Chatbot designed to answer queries. The lead developer Robin Mollah ( Junior, CSE), along with the support from his friends, Rafi Uddin Sadik ( Junior, CSE) and Tanzid Ahmed (Freshman, CSE), developed the BracU Bot as a course project

* A button that will show you the location of the bus upon request. * A button to book appointment with the faculties

an

“The upgrades may seem very simple; however, the architecture of the system needs to be changed to accommodate the additional features, which is a real challenge”, says Robin. He wishes to create similar opensource projects for the students as he believes that open-source projects will be the future, and invites students to contribute. As more students find out about the bot, it is proving to be a helping hand in answering FAQs.

BracU app: a revamped outlook Irfan Akram Journalist Brac University has recently released an update for its BracU Mobile application, available on Android devices. Version 2.0, launched on October 31st, comes with a new user interface, with the purpose of improving performance and enhancing the user experience. Incorporating many of the functions from the previous version, the new UI implemented Splash Screen and also introduced “Faculty Login”, where faculties can view their own profiles, check students’ short profiles, as well as send notifications to students. Although there are great advantages of the app, like having all necessary information about the campus – including news, announcements and academic dates on a single platform, the new UI still poses certain problems for users. A negative point of the new interface is that important notices like exam and class schedules are not presented in a chart format. Some users complained that the LMS, which has been newly added, and the library website do not work within the app, but redirects to an external browser. Some have suggested that the app have a dark mode that can be toggled on or off, rather than making the entire app dark themed. Lastly, lab-class timings are not found in the app either. Version 2.0 of the BracU Mobile app retains many old benefits, but the developers will need to address and fix the remaining issues to increase the application’s reach to more students in the future. The latest user interface of the BracU app


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November, 2019

SPECIAL FEATURE


November, 2019

SPECIAL FEATURE

BRACU Express | 5


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November, 2019

OFF CAMPUS

BracU alumni attends Global Community Bio Summit 2019

skill development education program for underprivileged communities” at the Global Community Bio Summit 3.0 from October 11th to 13th. The Global Community Bio Summit is a platform designed to provide the emerging leaders of our community with development training, and peer support for their innovative ideas. When asked about the motivation behind this initiative, Salman says that their aim was to provide underprivileged kids with the proper skill set to thrive in future tech-based industries and enhance their critical thinking skills to solve real-life problems. The Mechamind team has also trained underprivileged children in middle schools to make 3D- printed, semi-functional prosthetic arms, isolate commercially valuable microorganisms and construct eco-friendly objects and other activities.

Salman Khan Promon presenting at global community Bio summit

Nahian Sanjida Naboni Shehreen Ferdous Journalists In ways large and small, Salman Khan Promon, founder of Mechamind and alumnus of Brac University, has continued to push boundaries to change the way we see the world. After his recent success with the prosthetic arm, the Mechamind team is back with their next initiative, “Enabling technologies and STEAM based

At the Department of Biology at MIT, Salman has received specialised training and has attended multiple workshops focused on AI in life sciences, collective intelligence, bioplastic production and microfluidics. He returned to Bangladesh with the intent to impart the knowledge that he received at MIT Media Lab to independent researchers and students. This was Salman’s third invitation and he has previously presented his work at the summit. He has made several affiliations with laboratories for technology transfer and to bring donated lab equipment to Bangladesh. Furthermore, he has formed a group with international independent researchers called “Biomedical Research Initiative“, where he will be acting as the head of the prosthetic section and collaborations for AI and STEAM-based education. Salman realises that the real future lies in the hands of our youth and his priority is to nurture and educate them.

ARCASIA - branding Dhaka DIYer: Customisations at its best! in colors

Owner of DIYer with their yearly planner

Rifa Tamanna Sadrina Afrin Mowna Journalists BracU’s installation for Arcasia

Md. Rizwan Hasan Kabir Shovon Journalist You must have caught the vivid glimpse of rickshaw hoods if you have crossed Gulshan-1 circle in the past few weeks. The installation was built at the north-east triangle island of the Gulshan-1 circle by the Department of Architecture, BracU in order to promote Architects Regional Council of Asia (ARCASIA) Forum 20. Why rickshaw hoods? When asked, one of the student mentors, Joyanta Saha (Sophomore, Department of Architecture) said, “Rickshaws are one of the most popular and convenient means of transportation around Dhaka city. Additionally, they have become deeply entangled with our history as well. The hoods and the ever colourful backs of these vehicles are a window to our culture and are pieces of arts. Moreover, it is an eco-friendly vehicle as they are driven by humans and require no fuel and thus generate minimum carbon footprint”. ARCASIA is a forum of architects in Asia, and they recently celebrated their 50th anniversary in the forum organised in Bangladesh. This was the 20th council meeting of ARCASIA, and it was held from November 2nd to 7th.

With a purpose to spread happiness, DIYer was founded in 2017. DIYer is a one-of-a-kind platform where stationary hoarders are provided with bookmarks, dream-catchers, notebooks, planners, wedding cards and many more crafted products that can be customised. Hosneara Binni, founder and designer of DIYer, is an alumnus of BRAC Business School and came up with the idea of DIYer after facing a number of failures. Her sister, Suraiya Kamol from the BRAC School of Law has been with the business from the beginning as the head of customer service and legal advisor. Binni has been running DIYer for the last 2 years through online platforms (mainly, Facebook and Instagram). She plans to reach more than 20,000 people by 2020, and to showcase her masterpieces through mass media. Over the years, DIYer has acted the logistics partner in several conferences, competitions, formal get-togethers and other events where they provided their unique handmade notebooks for every distinct individual. DIYer has also been the official logistics partner of INFIX 2018 which was an intra-business competition for students of BRAC University. With every passing year, DIYer has been trying to improve their products with innovations in terms of production and design. The core team of DIYer believes in hard work, multitasking, and perseverance. When asked to send a message to the aspiring business enthusiasts out there, Binni has advised future entrepreneurs to move forward with this saying in mind - “Own who you are.”


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November, 2019

SPORTS NEWS

The Final Showdown 2019

Indoor Games Club organises ‘Rising Star Championship’

Female teams of the tournament

Sk. Shahiduzzaman Siam Journalist

Players battling it out

“The Final Showdown”, an underground futsal tournament organised by students of BracU, was held on November 10th at the National Handball Stadium. A total of 16 teams took part in the tournament, along with two female teams who had their own matches. The tournament started at around 8:15 am. All the group stage matches were extremely competitive, and a 3-way tie-breaker had to be played in group C where 3 teams compiled the same points and goal differences. The quarter finals started at around 3 pm, with 3 of the matches being thrillers as they all ended up being stalemates, with penalty shootouts being the decider in all 3 matches. The quarter finals were followed by the only female match. The red team defeated the black team, with the only goal being scored by Afia Fahmida Rahman ( Junior, CSE). Both teams were awarded medals at the end of the match. The semi-finals had Tausif Rabib being pitted against Dushtu Prokiti Bois, and Old School playing against Team of Eight Teens. Tausif Rabib won the first semi-final round with a score of 3-1, and in the second round, Old School qualified with a score of 1-0. The final was held between Tausif Rabib and Old School. Old School defeated Tausif Rabib with a final score of 3-0, thus becoming the champion of the tournament.

Tanvir Mahtab Journalist BRAC University Indoor Games Club (BUIGC) organised its annual carrom and table tennis tournament, ‘Rising Star Championship’ at the Indoor Games Room of Building 6. The tournament provided a platform to non-pool players and novices to showcase their talents and make a name for themselves. Being held annually since 2016, this year’s tournament began on November 11th. A total of 70 players registered as participants in the tournament, with 30 of them playing carrom and the rest opting for table tennis. Both games were played in the “single player” category. The tournament started off with a group round played in leagues; each player would have to compete through 4 matches. The top 16 players from the league stage proceeded to the knock-out round and progressively to the quarter-finals, semi-final and the grand finale. In women’s table tennis, Nazifa Tabassum from the School of Law became champion, while Najifa Nowshin from the Department of Economics and Social Sciences was declared the runner-up. In women’s carrom, Rafia Tasnim and Jesmin Ara, both from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, were adjudged the champion and runner-up respectively. After 6 days of exhilarating contest, the tournament dropped its curtain on November 16th.

Show You Care support of Bangladesh Debating Council (BDC) arranged a public speaking and self-care workshop on October 11th. The public speaking competition was held in two rounds, with the first round themed “My relationship with myself”, where participants had to submit a video of their speech. For round two, the top 10 participants from the previous round were asked to share their opinions on how to approach this generation’s youth with the theme of the speech being “How should you reach out to me?”. Special guests invited to adjudicate the competition included Dr Helal Uddin Ahmed, Associate Professor of the National Institute of Mental Health, Nobonita Chowdhury, social justice advocate and journalist, and Fardeen Ameen, President of BDC, among others.

Organisers and participants at the event

Sarah Nazia Chowdhury Journalist To celebrate World Mental Health Day and raise awareness about suicide prevention, BRAC Institution of Educational Development (BRAC IED), with the

The main purpose of this event was to send a clear message that all lives are valuable along with attempts to reduce the ignorance and stigma surrounding depression in our society. Each of the participants were given a platform to deliver their speech through their own experiences that contained a message for the youth and people fighting depression. Rashad Reaz from Dhaka University came out victorious with his speech that stated, “You know when someone is coughing they might have asthma. But when I’m not smiling, you don’t know the stress and pain that I go through. We are human beings, and our mental health and our mind is what makes us superior. Then, why don’t we take care of it?”. Additionally, a self-care workshop was also conducted by the BRAC IED Psychology Unit where the audience got the demonstration of various methods of self-care and exercises to soothe the mind. The event was concluded with an award giving ceremony.


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November, 2019

ENTERTAINMENT

Toy Story 4: To Infinity and Beyond Ahsab Rahman Journalist

Toy Story 4 is the fourth installment of the iconic franchise and was directed by Josh Cooley. Continuing with the familiar themes of cherishing friendship and overcoming existential fears of being forgotten, Toy Story 4 introduces new essences like exploring your purpose, accepting your destiny and embracing your mortality ever so poignantly. While encapsulating the mature themes flawlessly, the film still manages to bring out laughter, joy, and sorrow that has mesmerised the Toy Story fans over the years. Following one of the greatest trilogies in cinematic history, some fans were extremely skeptical to learn that a sequel was in the making. Pixar Animation Studios takes away the clouds of doubt by delivering yet another masterpiece. The story focuses on Woody (voiced by the legendary Tom Hanks) and his gang, along with a set of new, vibrant characters. The saga continues with Woody trying to cope with his life and Bonnie - the new owner of the toy. Despite being neglected and replaced, Woody finds a new sense of purpose as he aims to make Bonnie’s life better. As her new toy, Forky gets lost and Woody sets out on a journey to bring him back. During this adventure, Woody meets his old friends and learns the meaning of independence. Most importantly, he realises that “growing up means letting go”. The film was a major hit in the box office, becoming the fifth highestgrossing animated film of all time. With vivid animation, spellbinding storytelling and magnificent character development, Toy Story 4 goes to infinity and beyond proving it is as good as its predecessors. So, be it a connoisseur of cinema, or a casual movie watcher, Toy Story 4 will captivate everyone with its charm.

Executive Panel Editor-in-Chief - Shahad Muktadir Managing Editor - Hiya Islam Creative Head - Sajid Hossain Administrative Director - Md Tawsif Ur Rashid Web Media Manager - Afra Antara Anjum

Editors News - Jahin Kaiissar Opinions and Academics - Farah Anjum Husain Features - Hiya Islam Off Campus - Zaria Amreen Sports - Samiu Mostafa Ishan Entertainment - Subyeta Binte Sarwar

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Advisory Panel Anika Saba Masnoon Khair Roohi Huda Seema Nusrat Amin Shehzad M. Arifeen Correction Policy BRACU Express will only accept corrections for any misquotes, misrepresentations, or factual errors for an article within the semester that it is printed. Contact us at - bracuexpress@gmail.com.

Anime Review: Kimetsu no Yaiba Sheersho Zaman Journalist Tanjiro Kamado bears the heavy burden of supporting his family ever since his father’s passing away. He, along with his family, live a life of extreme hardship and poverty, but they are never the ones to complain and manage to live peacefully in their home up in the mountains. One fateful day, Tanjiro decides to descend the mountain and go into a nearby village so he can make some money by selling charcoal. By the time he finishes and has to return, it is already dark out. Thus, he ends up spending the night at the village. When he returns the next morning, however, he is met with the horrible sight of his entire family brutally murdered in their home, with only his sister, Nezuko, showing faint signs of life. What initially seems like another run-of-the-mill action and Shonen anime, Kimetsu no Yaiba or Demon Slayer sets itself apart by its refined execution. Adapted from the manga by Koyoharu Gotōge, what really stands out from the get go is the show’s art and animation. Studio Ufotable is known for pulling out all the stops and presenting some of the best animation the industry has to offer and with Demon Slayer, it is no different. The musical score is also one that is deserving of praise and coupled with the animation, the show serves as a treat for both the eyes and the ears. However, something cannot be all style and no substance. At its very core, Demon Slayer is an uncomplicated story with rather simple characters. It is in this simplicity where it thrives. While the flamboyance of the visuals may grab your initial attention, it is the story and the characters that keep you hooked. With the season ending earlier this year, an animated movie has been announced for 2020 that will continue Tanjiro’s journey picking up from where it left off. So, if the premise interests you and you want to experience it for yourself, now is the perfect time.


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