i was going back and forth between writing this blog post, and writing one about the end of the year. my inspiration for the latter post has kind of faded, so Demon Slayer it is. I was going to say something about being sad I couldn’t finish all this before the movie, but I see I made that sentiment in my last post 😅

i didn’t make any notes like I usually do when I read the manga, but I will say that I laughed more reading this volume than I did the others. Zenitsu Agatsuma is a WHOLE MESS, and you can’t help but giggle at his dramatic personality. In my mind, I’m like…why did he decide to become a demon slayer, even if he does have a debt he needs to pay? There were probably other safer ways for him to pay his debt back, but maybe we’ll see more of his personal story in the later volumes/episodes.

in this volume/in these episodes, Tanjiro defeats the two demons who were sent by Kibutsuji to kill him. Well, really, Lady Tamayo defeats one of them by making her say Kibutsuji’s name (brutal curse, that is), and Tanjiro defeats the other demon that has the arrow powers. Nezuko decides to stay with Tanjiro, and on their way to the next mission, the run into Zenitsu, a cowardly Demon Slayer who can do nothing but cry and scream about being killed by demons.

honestly, I really loved the Tsuzumi Mansion arc (I’m not sure if I’m naming the arcs correctly, I just Google’d it, okay?). We get introduced to new characters, and we continue to see the humanity that was rooted in a demon before it became one. Like in this arc, Kyogai is the demon with the drums that switch up the rooms in the mansion. Before he became a demon, he was writer, but his writing wasn’t appreciated.

we also continue to see Tanjiro’s sensitivity towards them, but also his firmness in stopping them from continuing to kill. When Kyogai’s writing is all over the floor of the room they’re fighting in, Tanjiro does his best not to step on the pages, even though he isn’t sure what’s written on them. He respects Kyogai’s work, and Kyogai notices, and even cries about it despite being cut down by Tanjiro.

even though Zenitsu is introduced as a ridiculous character, we already begin to see his depth within volume 3, and the episodes that follow it (ep. 11-13). At the end of this volume, Zenitsu is defending the box that holds Nezuko from the man who wears a boar mask. Even though he just met Tanjiro, he overheard that the box was more precious to him than his own life, and out of respect for him, he lays down his own life for it. If that isn’t loyalty, I don’t know what is.

now, I have to read volume 4 to find out what happens next! My goal honestly is to finish volumes 4-10 before the end of October so 😳 I better stop writing, and get to reading!

maybe if I read and watch all that I’ll have a little more to write about!

Mishy 🦋🩵☁️