Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 23 – On the Mend

Now that’s more like it. After Shinazugawa Sanemi stabs her three times, cuts his own arm and lets the blood tempt her, Nezuko doesn’t take the bait. Memories of the past and her family flash through her mind. She turns away in disgust, Sanemi’s gambit fails, and the Master puts the matter to rest once and for all: Nezuko won’t hurt humans.

That said, Master understands that it won’t be easy for Tanjirou to convince everyone he encounters, so he’d better hurry up and prove he and Nezuko can slay demons by defeating a Twelve Kizuki. When Tanjirou goes one further and says he’ll kill Kibutsuji Muzan, the Master tells him not to aim so high so soon. When Tanjirou turns beet red, Kanroji Mitsuri has to hold back laughter. Also, like Tanjirou, the Master knows Tamayo, which is instructive.

With Tanjirou and Nezuko’s trial and business with the Hashira at an end, Shinobu summons two kakushi to escort the two to her family’s Butterfly Mansion for rehab. There, he meets Tsuyuri Kanao, who he first met at the Selection. Turns out she’s not Shinobu’s sister but her Tsuguko, or sword apprentice. Kanao notably doesn’t say a word to Tanjirou or the kakushi.

Instead, they’re led to the infirmary by another girl, where Zenitsu is already causing problems with his constant whining and screaming, while Inosuke is uncharacteristically quiet and depressed, recovering from a crushed throat. Tanjirou thanks them both, and later in Nezuko’s room he resolves to become stronger.

The episode ends by giving us a look at the evening Hashira meeting, where the Master tells them they’re the strongest unit of demon slayers ever assembled, and they’ll get Kibutsuji Muzan come hell or high water. It’s clear the master considers Kibutsuji a personal nemesis; I wonder if we’ll ever get any history about the two. Maybe his horrible facial scarring is Kibutsuji’s doing?

This episode was everything last week’s should have been, both introducing and resolving the trial in short order. Sure, last week introduced each of the Hashira we hadn’t met yet, but in the worst possible light, as only Giyuu, Shinobu, and Mitsuri didn’t come off as assholes. I’m glad they fell in line once Nezuko proved she’s harmless to humans, and it was good to see them in a more positive light here, united against their enemy.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 22 –Nine Angry Hashira

This week we meet the seven remaining Hashira, a most colorful bunch in both appearance and personality. Unfortunately, when they’re all standing in one place they look a bit silly rather than intimidating, and they stand in one place this entire episode. Tanjirou is bound and lying on the ground the whole time, his voice of explanation drowned out by the competing egos of the entitled, arrogant Hashira.

This is an episode where nothing really happens. Everyone stands around, and for over half of the episode, they stand around talking about nothing in particular. This episode is meant to bring the Hashira up to speed about Tanjirou’s unique—and officially sanctioned—situation. We the audience are already up to speed. Thus, the Hashira look even more foolish for dominating the with their opinions despite being completely in the dark.

At the halfway point of this episode where nothing happens and nothing is said we didn’t already know, the venerable “Master of the Mansion” finally arrives. Where the hell were ya, buddy? He calmly explains to his “children” that Tanjirou’s traveling with Nezuko has been sanctioned by the Corps. Urokodaki, Giyuu, and Tanjirou have all vouched for Nezuko with their lives.

Considering the deference the Hashira show to the Master, the matter should be fucking CLOSED. And yet many of the Hashira won’t accept their Master’s decision. These are the same Hashira who only minutes before were barking and whining about Tanjirou and Giyuu “breaking the rules” all Demon Slayers were sworn to follow. Excuse me, but how is contradicting your boss and acting on your own following the rules?

Not all the Hashira are foolish. Giyuu is obviously on Tanjirou’s side. Shinobu is at least willing to hear him out. Kanronji Mitsuri, who seems to love everything and everyone, is fine with her master’s wishes. Tokitou Muichirou is indifferent, going whichever way the wind blows. But Hotheaded Wind Guy, Giant Weeping Monk, Everything Must Be Flamboyant Guy,  Snake Guy, and Hot Rod Guy form a caucus of dudes who have decided their Master’s word isn’t good enough.

Frankly, they are the ones who should be put in their place, for speaking and acting on matters they know nothing about. And yet, the Master gives them leave to make an argument convincing enough to overturn that of three people who have pledged to commit Seppuku if they’re wrong. Hotheaded Wind Guy (Shinazugawa Sanemi, yet another white-haired guy right on the heels of Rui & Co.) decides to make his argument by slicing his arm open and dripping it into Nezuko’s box to tempt her.

Leaving aside the fact Demon Slayer is playing fast-and-loose with these five Hashiras’ devotion to The Rules, as a practical narrative matter, you, I, and everyone else watching know full well that neither Tanjirou or Nezuko are dying anytime soon; they’re the goddamn co-protagonists, and this is not Gurren Lagann. So this is a big ol’ waste of time better spent formulating a plan for dealing with the real villain, Kibutsugi Muzan.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 12 – Bang the Drum Quickly

This week Tanjirou meets the boar-faced man with chipped blades while the guy is inexplicable stepping on poor little Teruko. Tanjirou throws him off and the guy is intrigued by his human opponent’s strength. Just when you thought this guy would help out, he doesn’t—but hopefully thanks to the tsuzumi demon’s room-spinning and slashing drums, he doesn’t have to deal with him too long.

For the record, I like the boar-man and his joyful belly laughing as he tears through the ever-changing layout of the mansion. He’s certainly less annoying than Zenitsu, for whom there is not enough cheese in the world to go with his whine.

It sure looks like Teruko’s brother Shouichi got paired up with the wrong demon slayer, as Zenitsu whines and quivers so much he only adds the boy’s considerable anxiety, especially when a long-tongued demon starts chasing them. Zenitsu eventually faints from acute terror, and we finally see his useful, dare I say badass side.

He’s able to literally defeat the demon in his sleep using his lightning breathing form, only to wake up freaking out with no memory of doing so. After an ignominious introduction, I like this new wrinkle in Zenitsu’s character, though it means that in order to be effective he has to be knocked out so his unconscious instincts can take over.

Tanjirou and Teruko eventually find the captive brother Kiyoshi, who has one of the demon’s tsuzumi that fell off when the three demons were fighting to determine who would eat him. Zenitsu destroyed one demon while boarman defeated another. The tsuzumi demon would seem to be the last demon standing. Tanjirou figures out which drums do what, but as he’s still recovering from his previous battle, he briefly loses his spirit along with his strength.

He has to remember Urokodaki’s training, in which he told his student that water can take on any form that could be needed. Even with limited mobility due to his injuries, as long as he trusts in his water breathing, he can adapt to the tsuzumi demon’s pattern of attack, dispel his fear, and go on the offensive.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 11 – The Pest House

How I wish Agatsuma Zenitsu stayed where he belonged: in the OP and ED and nowhere else. He was one note at the Final Selection when he was in constant fear of imminent death, and he’s one note here: a whiny, manic little creep who just. Can’t. Stop. Macking on some poor random woman who is already engaged. Apparently when she encountered him looking ill on the side of the road and asked if he was okay, he grew convinced she was in love with him.

Jesus Christ is this guy annoying. I’d rather watch an entire episode of nothing but Tanjirou’s crow yelling directions over and over again than listen to this sniveling little shit go on and on about how terrified he is of everything. Tanjirou is a saint for being as patient as he is. Nezuko is a saint for not bursting out of her box to kick him into the next prefecture.

Zenitsu is a serious irritant and a pest, and he drags down an otherwise decent episode involving a haunted mansion where the brother of two little kids and others are being held captive. The stakes are established when one of those captives is thrown out of the house from a height and falls to his painful, gruesome death. The kids are horrified, but he wasn’t their brother.

Tanjirou can smell that something’s not right in that house, but Zenitsu proves there might be something useful about him when he hears something Tanjirou doesn’t: a tsuzumi drum, as commonly used in Noh and Kabuki. Tanjirou heads in, and shames Zenitsu into following, but leaves Nezuko’s box outside to protect the little kids.

Once inside, Zenitsu has another exhausting tantrum. I really don’t understand why this character exists, why they made him so grating, and if there is any chance that he could ever be redeemed after this fiasco of a debut. The kids hear scratching from Nezuko’s box (Tanjirou should have explained his good demon sister was in there) and run into the house, and before long, Tanjirou and the little sister are separated from Zenitsu and the brother.

The room Tanjirou and the girl (named Teruko) occupy changes every time the tsuzumi is struck, and they eventually encounter a vicious-looking demon ignoring them and ranting about his prey being taken. Tanjirou rushes the demon and prepares to strike, but with another strike of one of the three tsuzumi growing out of his body, the entire room is turned 90 degrees, so that the floor is now a wall.

This Inception-style stuff is pretty neat, but before Tanjirou can adjust his tactics, a crazed shirtless man with a boar’s head busts into the room, bearing dual Nichirin blades. Zenitsu had encountered him previously and was—you guessed it—terrified of him. I can only hope going forward that Zenitsu learns to chill the fuck out, or otherwise gets an absolute minimum of screen time. Wishful thinking, I know…

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 10 – Just Like Family

Looks like Yahaba is toast, but before he’s destroyed he makes life particularly difficult for Tanjirou, shooting all his arrows at him one after the other and forcing the Demon Slayer to pull off a long chain of moves. By the time Yahaba is gone for good, Tanjirou can neither stand nor hold a sword. And because there’s still one enemy demon still very much standing.

Fortunately for Tanjirou, Nezuko’s leg heals and she re-enters the fray. For a couple of minutes that fray turns into a soccer match, with Nezzy and Susa kicking the ball to each other with increasing ferocity. When Yushirou looks at Tamayo, she insists this is Nezuko’s own strength.

Even so, Tamayo believes Susamaru is still only toying with Nezuko, and it’s only a matter of time before she becomes impatient and goes all-out. In order to preempt that eventuality, Tamayo uses her Blood Demon Art to deaden Susamaru’s senses, then provokes her by calling Kibutsuji Muzan nothing but a petty coward.

While essentially under Tamayo’s spell, Susamaru says her master’s name while defending him, which causes Kibutsuji’s cells within her to tear her apart from the inside out. When there’s nothing left of her but an arm and an eyeball, Tamayo notes that she and her companion weren’t Twelve Kizuki after all, as the real ones have their number emblazoned on their eyes. She also collects some of her blood in hope it will help with her research.

Tanjirou, ever the empathetic lad, comes to Susamaru when he hears her death throes, and makes sure she has her beloved temari ball when the sun comes up, and with it her time. Like him I couldn’t help but feel bad for her, as she was merely a naive child used as a tool for the monstrous Kibutsuji’s whims.

Tanjirou is again reunited with Nezuko, who is once again healed up from Tamayo. While Urokodaki’s hypnosis makes her see all humans as family, Tanjirou is heartened to see she still has a measure of free will, because she’s chosen to see both Tamayo and Yushirou as humans and thus family as well. Tamayo tears up as Nezuko hugs her, and even Yushirou can’t help but blush when she pats his head. Who can blame them? Nezuko is a nigh-unbeatable combo of adorable, caring, and absolutely badass—all without uttering a word.

Tamayo offers to let Tanjirou leave Nezuko with her, as she’ll likely be safer than if she stays with her Demon Slayer brother. Before Tanjirou can respectfully decline, Nezuko does it for him, again making her own choice and taking his hand as a sign she wants them to stick together. They continue on to their next assignment, running into the blond kid from the Final Selection on the way. I see a team-up in the offing…

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 09 – Balls to the Walls

We learn that Susamaru and Yahaba are two of the Twelve Kizuki (Demon Moons), Muzan’s most trusted generals. When they say they’re going to do something—like bringing their master Tanjirou’s head—they usually get the job done.

But that doesn’t mean Susamaru isn’t going to have a little fun, sprouting four extra arms and pummeling the house and its occupants with her six temari balls. Whenever anyone tries to dodge the balls, they change directions, seemingly breaking the laws of physics. Despite appearing to be toys, one of them decapitates Yushirou, forcing Tamayo to fall back.

Tanjirou can’t slash away the balls and protect the others at once. Once Yushirou’s head grows back, he lends Tanjirou his sight, enabling Tanjirou to see that Yahaba is using his arrows to affect the trajectories of the balls. He adapts his offense and defense, gets in close, and lops off Susamaru’s six arms.

Nezuko, who sees Tamayo and Yushirou as family even though they’re demons, attacks Yahaba in the trees, but when she tries to kick one of Susamaru’s balls, it claims her leg, and unlike Yushirou she doesn’t heal nearly as quickly. Through trial and error and suffering quite a pummeling, Tanjirou eventually learns that dodging, countering, or slicing the arrows is useless; he has to make them work for him. 

By popping off a number of different Water Breathing Forms, he manages to finally crack Yahaba’s code, decapitating him with a new lateral water wheel that contains Yahaba’s own arrows. Of course, as Susamaru quickly grew her arms back and Yushirou grew his head back, Tanjirou’s victory could be short-lived.

These demons are beyond anything he’s fought before; if they fall to a relative novice demon slayer they’re going to seem like pushovers. That’s why I’m glad the battle doesn’t end here. I’m sure there will be more twists and turns before the night is one. Maybe he only needs to hold out until sunrise? But however things shake out, this episode was a showcase for the series’ trademark heart-pumping, inventive, balls-to-the-wall combat animation.

There’s a fair bit of CG, but it’s used well: smoothly integrated so it doesn’t distract from the fighting in the least. It’s truly a delight to watch Tanjirou and Nezuko dance through the air dodging balls and arrows, while Yushirou’s head re-growth is wonderfully gross. I’m not sure how Susamaru’s tube top stays on when her extra arms punch through the sides…but that’s nitpicking.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 08 – Doctor Tamayo, Medicine Demon

Tanjirou pounces on the man Kibutsuji Muzan transformed into a demon, while urging bystanders to keep pressure on the wife’s shoulder wound. The police arrive, and demand Tanjirou get off the man. When he refuses (for their sake), they whip out the batons.

A woman in the crowd scratches her arm and from her blood a flowery screen of illusion occludes the cops’ vision. Tanjirou locates the source of the magic: the ethereally beautiful woman and her boy attendant…both of whom appear to be demons.

Last week demonstrated that Kibutsuji Muzan can turn humans into demons with one scratch and has no qualms about doing so in public. This week we learn a little more about the man. To his wife and adorable daughter he appears to be the model husband and father, and they’re rich enough to afford a car and fancy western-style clothes.

But when his family isn’t around, he doesn’t hesitate to bear his claws, easily killing a drunk kid and his big brother and then burying his clawed finger into the brain of a poor woman, transforming her into a demon so quickly her body can’t bear it, and turns into a horrific mass of blood and viscera that collapses into red dust.

After making things right with the udon vendor by eating two bowls, Tanjirou encounters the lady’s attendant once more. Things between the two boys don’t start out smoothly, as he calls Nezuko a “hag”—which is just objectively false, by the way—but the attendant was order to fetch him, and he follows his lady’s orders. He leads Tanjirou and Nezuko through an apparent brick wall to reveal a hidden medical clinic.

It is the refuge and laboratory of Tamayo (Sakamoto Maaya), a doctor who was transformed into a demon by Kibutsuji but was able to sufficiently modify her to survive on only a small amount of human blood to survive. Her attendant, Yushirou, whom she turned into a demon, can survive on even less.

Tamayo is excited by Tanjirou and Nezuko’s arrival, because they each have something they can offer one another. Tamayo tells Tanjirou something he desperately needed to hear—it is possible to turn Nezuko back. But the means to do so must be thoroughly researched and tested. To that end, Tamayo asks for permission to study Nezuko’s blood, and also asks that he bring her the blood of demons that were made by Kibutsuji or his creations.

In a beautiful little moment during Tamayo’s proposal, Tanjirou tenderly places his hand on Nezuko’s lovely forehead and she affectionately takes it into her hands. It says all that needs to be said about their bond without words, as do most of their interactions, as she is no longer verbal.

He agrees to the deal, but no sooner is it struck than two demon henchmen Kibutsuji ordered to find and kill Tanjirou (whose earrings reminded him of someone he fought in the past) crash their way through Tamayo’s illusory barrier, ready to fuck shit up.

These two look like tough customers, but as we know well by now, so are Tanjirou and Nezuko…and Yushirou and Tamayo are likely no slouches either. I like the good guys’ odds.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 07 – Taking the Plunge

Nezuko emerges from her box to viciously attack the tripartite demons, but when Tanjirou tells her to cease her attack, she dutifully returns to his side. He has her protect Kazumi and the young woman he rescued while he dives into the soupy bog where the demons dwell and devour.

While the demons are confident of their aquatic home-field advantage, the because Tanjirou trained in the thin air of the mountains and his attacks are water-based, he has no trouble executing a devastating whirlpool attack that chops the two demons into rustic chunks.

He returns to the surface just in time to stop the third and final demon from further harming Nezuko, who’d already received a nasty slash to the forehead. Before dispatching him, Tanjirou asks about Kibutsuji Muzan, but the demon start to smell strongly of fear—a fear so intense he literally can’t say anything about Kibutsuji.

While Tanjirou was able to defeat the demon and save one of the women, that woman wasn’t Kazumi’s fiancée. Tanjirou tries to comfort him by saying he must keep living despite life’s devastating blows. Kazumi lashes out in anger—how could a boy know what he’s feeling? But Tanjirou gently takes Kazumi’s hands in his and smiles a gentle smile, and Kazumi realizes Tanjirou knows all too well, and his hands aren’t those of a boy.

A Demon Slayer is always in high demand, so within moments of completing his first official assignment, his crow arrives with his second. He and Nezuko travel to Asakusa, Tokyo, and he is immediately overwhelmed by the densely packed humanity and the lights that make it as bright as midday.

Since this is the Taisho period, electricity is commonplace in the capital and there’s a vibrant streetcar network; we don’t see any cars buzzing around, but only because they’re still pretty rare. The huge city looks and sounds fantastic, and seems to pulsate with a modern energy Tanjirou has never before encountered.

Tanjirou is only one slurp into some therapeutic udon when he detects a scent that quickens his pulse and has him leaving the sleeping Nezuko at the stand. He dives into the crush of Tokyoites, following the very same evil scent that was present when his family was murdered, and it leads him to a fair-skinned man in a western black suit, a white hat, and reddish eyes.

This is it: this is Kibutsuji Muzan, the progenitor of all demons whom Tanjirou has been seeking. It’s almost too tidy that he’d locate someone so reluctant to be found he threatened other demons not to talk about him, but then again maybe he simply doesn’t consider Tanjirou a threat and would just as soon dispatch him.

As for Tanjirou, before he can unsheathe his sword, Kibutsuji makes a quarter-turn to reveal he’s holding a young human girl, his daughter. Soon, his wife appears, wondering who the boy in the checked coat is. To the mother and daughter, Kibutsuji is their husband and daddy. To Tanjirou, they’re his hostages. But that’s only the beginning: Kibutsuji quickly slashes a passing man without his wife or daughter noticing.

That man instantly transforms into a demon and bites his wife, starting a panic in the chaos of which Kibutsuji will no doubt slip away while Tanjirou tries to clean up the mess. Perhaps this was just a matter of Kibutsuji’s guard being down, in which case he won’t be so careless next time.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 06 – Live and Direct

Tanjirou’s got his special Demon Slayer Corps uniform (most of which he covers with his signature aqua checkered coat), his black sword (the properties of which are mysterious), and a new lightweight cedar box in which to carry Nezuko.

In other words, he’s ready to set off on his first official assignment: rid a town of a demon that is abducting young women. While making his way to the town, the vistas along Tanjirou’s travels are beautifully rendered with parallax scrolling, in which the foreground moves faster than the background, just like real life.

Once in the town, one of the larger settlements we’ve seen in the show thus far, it doesn’t take long for Tanjirou to locate Kazumi, whose fiancée Satoko is among the vanished women. Tanjirou puts his nose to work, eventually detecting a demon who can hide in floors and walls.

When the sun goes down, Tanjirou manages to pluck a recently-abducted girl from the demon’s clutches, but he soon learns there isn’t just one or two but three such demons, all with different personalities. The more gluttonous of the three shows off his collection of hairpins from those women he’s devoured…among them Satoko.

Tanjirou becomes enraged by the idea these demons are destroying families just like they destroyed his, but because he has to protect Kauzmi and the girl, he can’t stray far from them and thus can’t swing his sword freely enough to cut very deeply. It’s a valuable lesson: depending on the circumstances, he can’t always go all-out.

When the three demons surround Tanjirou and one attacks from behind, they get a little surprise: Nezuko pops out of her box, wide awake and ready for battle. We also learn that Urokodaki performed hypnosis on her while she was asleep, so that she’d regard all humans as her family and only demons as the enemy.

Needless to say this is incredibly useful, but Tanjirou’s true goal is to change her back into a human, not simply make her harmless to them. According to Urokodaki, the only one who might be able to help him with that is the progenitor of all demons, Kibutsuji Muzan. Something tells me no other demon will be in a hurry to volunteer Muzan-san’s whereabouts.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 05 – All Ore Nothing

Seemingly telegraphing the fact that Tanjirou isn’t going to face any demons more powerful than the one he beheaded last week, DS lingers on the aftermath of the Hand Demon’s life and demise. He started out as a little kid who just wanted to hold his big brother’s hand, but one day he became a demon, and that was pretty much that.

Tanjirou has shown that no matter how evil a demon might seem, he wishes for them to be at peace or be reborn as humans again. That empathy isn’t just the result of a kind heart: surely the only ones who know if Nezuko can be changed back are demons. Alas, the ones he asks aren’t even high-level enough to be capable of speech.

The sun rises on the final day of the Fina Selection, and it seems only four applicants survived, all kids. Oddly, we still aren’t introduced to any of them, though since they all appear in the OP and/or ED, that will happen at some point. The creepy twin girls in charge of the selection assign the survivors crows, new uniforms, and have them pick the ore from which they want their Nichirin blades to be forged.

The three other survivors consist of Silent Pretty Girl, Crazy-Haired Guy who is constantly afraid he’s going to die, and Short-Tempered Prick, who grabs one of the twins by the hair to protest not being given his sword immediately (it will take 10-15 days). Tanjirou, friend of the weak, comes between the two, putting the jerk in his place.

With his uniform acquired and the sword in the mail, Tanjirou makes the trek back to Mt. Sagiri, though it’s far slower going this time due to his exertion during the Final Selection. Even so, a newly-awake Nezuko literally breaks down the door to meet him when he finally arrives, runs to hold him wordlessly in her arms…I couldn’t help but get a little cloudy-eyed at their touching reunion.

Urokodaki believes that Nezuko is sleeping so much in order to conserve energy since she’s not eating humans. Haganezuka soon arrives to present Tanjirou with his very own Nichirin katana, which turns an apparently unlucky pitch-black when he unsheathes it (not red, as Haganezuka hoped).

Finally, the Kasugai crow the twins assigned to Tanjirou arrives and speaks the human tongue, announcing his first assignment in a town where young girls have gone missing. No rest for those who’ve just been given a really, really nice sword for free!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 04 – Above the Wisteria Line

We learn that Tanjirou was able to defeat Sabito, i.e. cleave the giant boulder, by sensing the “thread” of his target by smell, made possible during Total Concentration. After a celebratory dinner when Urokodaki gives him the cloud-emblazoned tunic like his and a kitsune warding mask, Tanjirou bids his master and still-sleeping sister goodbye and heads to Mount Fujikasane, which is replete with gorgeous glowing wisteria blooms.

The year-long blooms aren’t just for show, as the creepy twins who administer the Final Selection explain: demons hate wisteria, and so they are trapped above the elevation where the blooms don’t grow, making the top half of the mountain a demon prison. The applicants must survive seven days in order to pass. There are many other applicants, but we don’t meet any of them, which is was an unexpected but welcome choice.

Instead of introducing potential rivals and allies, the focus remains on Tanjirou, who decides he’ll stay as far east, where the sun rises earliest, as he can, and use the daytime when the demons aren’t active to rest. He smells his first two demon opponents before he sees them, and is initially a little uneasy, but remembers his training and defeats them both with relative ease (they had been fighting each other over terf, after all).

The third demon is a different story, as it is on a level unlike anything else he’s encountered. A giant grotesque mass of sinewy, veiny hands like something straight out of Akira, Tanjirou is again taken by fear at the mere sight of it, especially as it already has a human applicant in one of his many hands, and drops him into his maw.

Urokodaki told Tanjirou that the more humans a demon has eaten the stronger they are, and when Tanjirou confronts his Hand Demon, he helpfully tells him he’s eaten over fifty “brats” in his extremely long life (dating back to the Edo period).

Not only that, but this “morphed” demon has a particular grudge against Urokodaki, who imprisoned him on Mt. Fujikasane. He’s gotten his revenge by eating no fewer than thirteen of Urokodaki’s students—including Sabito and Momoko, who it’s now confirmed interacted with Tanjirou in some kind of spiritual form.

The demon successfully throws Tanjirou off the game on which he very critically needs to stay by describing in detail how the two others were killed, and our boy ends up smacked against a tree hard, his protective mask shattering. He avoids being killed only thanks, I believe, one of his departed little brothers shouting for him to wake up…just in time to dodge the demon’s killing blow.

Not about to let himself become Urokodaki’s fourteenth dead student (with that track record I can see why he was reluctant to train anyone else), Tanjirou re-centers himself, attains Total Concentration, and uses his specialized water-based attacks (which are beautifully rendered like Ukiyo-e waves) to slash the demon’s neck, defeating him.

So far Demon Slayer has been incredibly efficient, getting its protagonist from losing his family to meeting his master to training to reaching the final test that will make him a demon hunter. And yet even though I’m semi-binging, none of it has felt rushed in the least. Events pass as slowly or quickly as I’ve felt they should. Finally, this episode featured the most dazzling combat to date. As expected, ufotable knows what they’re doing.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 03 – Like a Rock

This week is a very workmanlike training episode, what amounts to a lengthy montage in between scenes of Tanjirou writing journal entries to Nezuko describing all of the things Urokodaki teaches him over a year. That includes how to stand, land, hold a sword, breathe, hold your breath and more. All the while, Nezuko sleeps, and Tanjirou worries about her.

Tanjirou soaks it all up like a sponge in order for his master to clear him for the Final Selection that will determine if he can become a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. Once Urokodaki tells him there is nothing else to teach him, he offers him a final test: slice a giant boulder in the woods clean in half.

The varying environments (forest, mountains, waterfall) break up the repetition that is both a bug and feature of most training episodes, and despite how fast time passes you can really feel how hard Tanjirou is working and struggling, and how frustrated he is when he’s suddenly left on his own to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

For another six months Tanjirou tries and fails to slice the boulder, until he’s approached by a boy in a kitsune mask named Sabito and a cute girl named Mokomo. Sabito offers tough love and clichéd motivational patter as he wails on Tanjirou. In between their sparring sessions, Mokomo teaches Tanjirou how to properly achieve Total Concentration, which allows humans to fight on par with demons.

After six months of that, Tanjirou is ready to face Sabito, who wields a metal sword for the first time after using only wood before. Tanjirou uses Total Concentration, her and Sabito rush at each other, and his strike hits Sabito first, cracking his mask in two. With that, the orphans trained by Orokodaki smile and disappear, and all of a sudden Tanjirou is standing before the boulder, which is sliced in two.

As I said, this episode has some cool moments but gets the job done in a pretty matter-of-fact manner. I’ve seen training regimens last only half an episode or less, while I’ve also seen them last entire arcs or cours. In the case of Demon Slayer, Tanjirou’s training takes an episode an change, which seems about right. On to the Final Selection…and hopefully Nezuko wakes up soon.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – 02 – The Scent of Kindness

After an emotional grind of a first episode, it was nice to start the second with some lighter comedy, starting with Tenjirou absolutely insisting on paying someone for materials he then expertly weaves into a basket for carrying Nezuko during the day. He may no longer have parents to answer to, but he was raised right.

There’s a lot of physical comedy inherent in Nezuko hiding in the darkest places she can find, even if she has to dig, as well as her neat trick of shrinking just enough to fit in the basket. Kitou Akari, well-known to me as a seiyu with a very precise and matter-of-fact meter, does a lot with little nonverbal sounds.

Her placid stare and bamboo gag conceal the smoldering demon within. While on the way to Mt. Sagiri they encounter a demon eating three humans, and Nezuko’s mouth waters profusely at the sight and smell of her new preferred food. Nevertheless, she doesn’t join, and has her brother’s back when the demon attacks him.

When characters are relatively still or moving slowly, we get beautiful backgrounds and vistas. When there’s action, the camera mixes frenetic 3D POV views with wide static or panning shots, to allow the motion to breathe. Every moment is a visually stunning spectacle, with a gorgeous cinematic score backing it up.

Tenjirou and Nezuko’s battle with the demon also blends action and comedy seamlessly, as Tenjirou deals with the peculiar circumstances of going toe-to-toe with a demon for the first time. What would’ve been a fatal hatchet to the throat is quickly-healed scratch, and even when the demon’s head and body are separated, the body still fights while the head grows arms and suddenly it’s as if there are two opponents.

Tenjirou is eventually able to disable the head, then tackles the body off a cliff before being caught by Nezuko. That’s when Urokodaki Sakonji arrives, to see if Tenjirou has what it truly takes to be a demon hunter. Unfortunately, taking forever to make decisions and showing empathy and kindness for your lethal foe are traits Tenjirou possesses in abundance, and are not ideal traits for a demon hunter.

That said, Tenjirou is clearly a tough kid with a head like a rock and keen sense of smell, and Giyuu respectfully asked Sakonji to train him as there’s just “something about” him and his sister, so Sakonji sets to work training him. The test begins with a grueling trek to Mt. Sagiri, with Tenjirou running while carrying his sis. Then he’s made to climb the mountain, and, as night falls, climb back down while avoiding a ridiculous number of punishing traps.

At first, Tenjirou is overwhelmed by exhaustion, the thin air, and his lack of early progress. But he hunkers down, slows and controls his breathing, and uses his nose to detect the traps and avoid…most of them. Just before dawn he arrives at Sakonji’s front door, the mountain having thoroughly chewed him up and spit him out.

It’s enough for Sakonji to accept him as his student. But the true challenge will be whether Tenjirou can learn to switch off his kind heart when it becomes a threat to his safety or an obstacle to his duty.