I’M BACK, I KNOW IT’S BEEN MONTHS BUT I’M BACK!

And hopefully, I’m going to be more consistent. I really want to get through Demon Slayer now that Infinity Castle is available on Crunchyroll, so I’ve got more motivation to read, watch, and WRITE! Thank you to all those who’ve been patiently awaiting my posts. I hope that you haven’t lost interest!

It’s literally been so long since I read this manga volume that I had to re-read it briefly to remember exactly what happened before I watched the episodes. SO HERE WE GOOOO…

“we on go, we on go, we on go, we on GO OH OH OH!”

We’re still in the middle of this fight that involves our nephews (Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitzu), Tengen, Daki, and Gyutaro. They are truly on go…Tanjiro helping defend Tengen as he fights Gyutaro, then Inosuke and Zenitsue fighting Daki on the roof. The fact that Tengen is struggling with this Upper Rank Demon is saying a LOT. But the fight scenes are animated so well, despite the speed of each of the players on the field.

Tengen notices Tanjiro’s wounds, and knows that he’s gotta finish this fight. And poor Tanjiro is still getting bullied by both Daki and Gyutaro, so he can’t even breathe, let alone recovery breathe!

pause.

We need to appreciate the man that is Tengen Uzui. I mean, look how good this man looks fighting, blood all over him and all!

leave it to a WOMAAAAN!!!

ANYWAYSSSS…

Hinatsuru, one of Tengen’s wives climbs up on the roof, and throws hella kunai knives toward Tengen and Gyutaro. Of course, Gyutaro uses his blood blades to block, but Tengen allows himself to get hit in several places so he can keep fighting, and hopefully catch Gyutaro off guard.

The kunai aren’t normal though…they’ve got wisteria poison on them! So Gyutaro is hit, and his feet can’t regenerate. NOW IS THE CHANCE. HINATSURU CREATED AN OPENING, Y’ALL NEED TO TAKE IT! And Tanjiro does…he jumps to take the final swing to take Gyutaro’s head…

sorry, another pause.

At the end of episode 8, Tengen talks out loud to Rengoku, wondering what he would do in his position, and if he was strong enough to defeat Gyutaro. The ghost of Rengoku encourages him (and says he has too many wives 😂), then entreats Tengen to take care of our nephews. Tengen is encouraged, then announces the next episode. Honestly, it was good to see Rengoku again, even if it was just his ghost, and it was sweet to see Tengen’s respect for him, so much so that he still talks to him even if he’s dead.

okay, pressing play…but rewinding at the same time.

DIFFERENCE: We don’t get to see this in the manga, but in the beginning of season 3 episode 9, we see a flashback of Tengen with his 3 wives at the Uzui family grave. He lights incense, pours sake on the grave, and says how one day he’ll be able to have a drink with his siblings in the afterlife. Then the four of them sit down for a meal in front of the grave (I wonder if this is a Japanese tradition?).There’s a sweet moment between Tengen and Hinatsuru, one that makes Suma and Makio (the other two wives) jealous. I wonder if the animation studio purposely created this moment so we could see the special bond between Tengen and Hinatsuru, since she’s the one on the battlefield trying to help right now. And I feel like she was the last one Tengen had to rescue, who initally had poison in her system. I personally feel like if he didn’t feel like having 3 wives, he would’ve solely married Hinatsuru.

But, with Upper Rank Demons, it’s never that easy. Gyutaro shakes off the poison quickly, evades, Tanjiro’s attack, throws more blood slashes at Tanjiro and Tengen, then hides himself from Tengen’s attack so he can sidle up beside Hinatsuru to deal with her, since she decided to insert herself into the fight.

Hearing Tengen yelling for her is bringing tears to my eyes like🥺 HE REALLY LOVES HER! There’s another flashback of her wondering if they can all quit being shinobi/Hashira once they kill an Upper Rank Demon, and just be civilians. You know he’s in pain if he’s flashbacking in the middle of a fight, LOCK IN, TENGEN!

Our nephew Tanjiro is fighting to get his body to move. He wants to be helpful and useful so badly, even if he is injured. The fact that he also acknowledges that he’s the weak one among everyone 😭our nephew is so humble, but he gotta see the greatness in himself too! He chooses to join Water Breathing and Hinokami Kagura together in order to cut the hand strangling Hinatsuru, and separate her from him simultaneously. WEAK WHERE THOUGHHHH?!?

Tanjiro stalls just long enough for Tengen to finally…

“what about US?!” – Inosuke (he didn’t really say this, I just think he’d say this)

Well, the episode briefly pauses there with Tengen and Tanjiro, and cuts to our other two nephews, Zenitsu and Inosuke. They’re battling with Daki and her never-ending belt. While avoiding it, Inosuke notices that Tengen is about to cut off Gyutaro’s head, and it sounds like he gets jealous 😂So, he starts strategizing how he and Zenitsu can cut off Daki’s head at the same time, while Zenitsu assures him that they don’t need to do that, they just need to fight with everything they have (mind you, Zenitsu is still asleep during all of this, which is why he isn’t freaking out like he usually does).

Unfortunately, this fight is long from over. Tengen and Tanjiro fail to cut off Gyutaro’s head, and then Tengen is pulled away from Tanjiro and Hinatsuru to fight Gyutaro one on one. Meanwhile, Daki’s belt is wreaking havoc on the roof, so all 3 of our nephews have to handle it together.

***Inosuke’s nickname for Tanjiro right now is “Monichi” 😭

Now, we see some true teamwork here, and it almost brought me to tears. Tanjiro and Zenitsu block Daki’s belt, while Inosuke runs to cut her head off. The music in the background, the symmetry of their moves, the FRIENDSHIP…

THOSE ARE MY NEPHEWS!!!!

Inosuke successfully cuts Daki’s head off with Beast Breathing, Sixth Form: Palisade Bite! And he catches her head in midair!

bait and switch.

Y’all, in anime it is NEVER. THAT. EASY.

Inosuke thinks he’s home free…here come Gyutaro, stabbing him in the chest with a scythe.

Tanjiro was looking for Tengen when he saw Inosuke get stabbed. Well, he found Tengen…lying on the ground with one hand chopped off, blades bloody.

And because of the shock of this sight, Tanjiro didn’t realize that Daki slashed the building they were standing on until Zenitsu yelled for him to look out.

Tanjiro is falling, possibly to his death (we know that’s not true, but still), and he’s blaming himself for not helping Tengen, for not paying attention to Gyutaro, for not paying attention to Daki. You can tell he feels like such a failure (even though he has done SO much better in this fight compared to past fights!), and is apologizing over and over to everyone in his mind.

But we see Nezuko (I guess mentally?) encouraging Tanjiro, telling him not to be sorry, reminding him that he can’t control every outcome, and Tanjiro finally wakes up, surrounded by the fire and the debris from the building.

Gyutaro is not far behind Tanjiro, telling him all his friends are dead, and we see the proof as each one of the demon slayers is down in some way – stabbed, trapped, downed by poison. Tanjiro is the only one left conscious. And Gyutaro is going in, boy…calling Tanjiro a disgrace, pathetic, shameful, saying he can’t even protect his own sister. And our poor Tanjiro is just left sitting there, breathing heavy, wondering why this demon isn’t automatically killing him.

And Gyutaro isn’t done. He points out how Tanjiro is weak because he’s human, and Nezuko is a demon, and she’s always protecting him…

He then breaks a couple of Tanjiro’s fingers, then starts smacking him in the head, then tugging on his hair as he continues to insult him, and egg him on to defeat him (like DANG, okay, WE GET IT!).

DIFFERENCE: In the manga, Tanjiro sits there, and begins his plan to thwart Gyutaro, but in the anime, Tanjiro actually picks Nezuko and her box up, and runs away. Gyutaro hits him into part of the burning building, but Tanjiro gets up again, and continues to run as far as he can. He’s then cornered by Gyutaro, throwing a courtesan’s perfume bag, pebbles and pieces of wood at him (he looks pretty cowardly here, not gonna lie), until Gyutaro kicks him hard in the gut, then continues his monologue of “your pathetic, disgraceful, yadda yadda yadda”

Gyutaro’s advice to Tanjiro? “Become a demon!” He says he won’t kill Tanjiro if he turns into a demon, but if he won’t, he’ll kill him and Nezuko. Daki is against Gyutaro encouraging the demon route for Tanjiro, but he can’t help but keep talking. And that’s when Tanjiro goes through with his plan…to stab Gyutaro with a poisoned kunai knife while he head butts him, hoping to create yet another opening to cut his head off. It’s funny to me how Daki is just sitting on the roof watching, not attempting to do anything, but yelling at her brother to basically lock in.

OFF WITH THEIR HEADS, MAYNE!

But you know who needs to lock in? TANJIRO!! He’s in the middle of trying to cut Gyutaro’s head off, but he’s starting to reflect on how he could have become a demon along with Nezuko, and they could’ve been like Gyutaro and Daki. Like, NEPHEW PLEASE! GET THIS DONE! KILL THIS DEMON!

Of course, now that Tanjiro is thisclose to cutting Gyutaro’s head off, here come Daki actually trying to help. But who stops her? Why, none other than our other nephew, Zenitsu! He uses his technique to free himself from the rubble, stops Daki’s belt from hitting Tanjiro, then hits her neck with the Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunder Clap and Flash – Godlike Speed!

Unfortunately, AGAIN, Tanjiro couldn’t cut Gyutaro’s head off, and Gyutaro shook off the poison fast. He’s slashing away at Tanjiro, and even though our nephew keeps hyping himself up to not give up, Gyutaro’s attacks are getting fast-

BUT HERE COMES TENGEN!

He isn’t dead, so he blocks Gyutaro’s attacks, and is ready to continue the fight (he used his muscles to stop his heart so the poison wouldn’t spread there). But he’s still got a limit which means…Tanjiro has to do it.

Our nephew understands the assignment, and even though he’s pained to see Tengen getting hurt, he jumps when Tengen tells him to, and…

Gets a freaking scythe through his jaw.

When I saw this happen in the manga I was like…no way. NO. WAY!!!

The fact that Tanjiro is even still in this fight despite all injuries is proof of his growth. The fights before this were difficult, but here he is pushed past every physical and mental limit he has because he’s determined to cut Gyutaro’s head off.

Remember the scar on Tanjiro’s forehead? As he’s trying to cut Gyutaro’s head off, it transforms into a flame pattern, and his hair curls into flamelike waves. Meanwhile, Zenitsu is still trying to cut off Daki’s head too. He’s running out of strenght-

BUT HERE COMES INOSUKE!

He explains how he can shift his internal organs, and how poison doesn’t work on him as he slashes Daki’s neck in the opposite direction.

And you know what, y’all? OUR NEPHEWS DO IT. THEY CUT THE HEADS OFF OF GYUTARO AND DAKI AT THE SAME DANG TIME!

But even though they did this…Gyutaro had ONE. MORE. ATTACK. And poor Tanjiro was trying so hard to combat the poison in his body, he couldn’t tell that Tengen was trying to tell him to RUN. The end of this episode is super dramatic, because after the final explosion, the whole Entertainment District is destroyed, and the credits just roll on top of the devastated city. We don’t see if anyone is okay or anything, because we have to wait for the next episode! 😱

the pink flames of healing.

DIFFERENCE: In the anime, we get a preview of Nezuko’s pink flames softening some of the blow of Gyutaro’s blood scythe that could have hit her. We don’t see anything like this before she wakes Tanjiro wake up.

Mini Nezuko wakes Tanjiro up. He’s unsure why the poison hasn’t affected him, but he looks around at the destruction, and doesn’t see anyone.

But he hears Zenitsu yelling for him, and Nezuko takes Tanjiro to him since he can’t move his body well.

Our nephew Zenitsu is back to his old self, crying like a baby and saying his body hurts 😭 But he points out that Inosuke is in worse shape. And he is…he got purple skin all over his chest, indicating that demon poison has gotten to his body. Tanjiro is crying for his friend, wondering how he can help…

When Nezuko touches Inosuke, and lights his body on fire with pink flames. The flames erase the poison, and Inosuke is back to himself.

We then see a majorly beat up and poisoned Tengen with his three wives, who are all mourning in their own ways. Suma is wailing, while Makio is reprimanding her and telling her to shut up. Hinatsuru is trying to get them both to be quiet because Tengen wanted to say his last words…but because they’re all bickering, it looks like he won’t get to 💀

Honestly, that part was kinda funny. Their whole dynamic is hilarious to me! It’s also interesting because as I was searching for pictures, I saw some people say that Tengen’s wives are like gender bends of our nephews: Hinatsuru is like Tanjiro, Makio is like Zenitsu, and Suma is like Inosuke. But even though Makio and Zenitsu and Suma and Inosuke look alike, I feel like their personalities were reversed with the girls.

Anyways…

Nezuko walks up, and does her pink flame thang, and Suma is ready to spank her silly, but then Tengen is cured of the poison, and the girls are happy crying. Tanjiro explains the healing to the best of his extent, then goes off with Nezuko to find the demon heads so he can be at peace.

sibling rivarly.

Tanjiro collects the Upper Rank demon blood, and sends it to Ms. Tamayo, then continues the search for Daki and Gyutaro. He finds them yelling at each other, each of them blaming the other for their defeat.

This is actually the first time we see both of Gyutaro’s eyes opened. I didn’t notice it until I was watching the anime, and I had to double check the manga to see if it was on purpose, and it was. I wonder if it’s because he was beheaded…but why have both eyes open now before he dies?

I mean, they are going at it. And Tanjiro is listening to the whole thing, and you can tell his heart is hurting at the words they’re spewing at each other. Daki is saying how Gyutaro is an ugly, worthless freak because his only pro was his strenght, but Gyutaro throws back that Daki was always the weak one, and she could never defend herself because he always had to do it. His words are clearly hurting Daki as you see massive tears forming in her eyes.

The argument is so intense that Tanjiro gets off of Nezuko’s back, and hurriedly limps toward Gyutaro just as he’s about to say that Daki should have never been born. Tanjiro covers his mouth before Gyutaro can finish it, and tells him that what he’s saying isn’t true. It’s clear that Tanjiro’s earlier reflection of seeing himself and Nezuko in this brother-sister duo is still happening. And Tanjiro really spat some real stuff to them as their heads were lying there dying off.

We then get Gyutaro and Ume’s (Daki’s real name) backstory. How Gyutaro was hated for being ugly, sounding ugly, doing ugly things. But when Ume was born, she was beautiful, and he made sure to take care of her, even though children in the part of the Entertainment District they were born in were seen as extra mouths to feed. Then Ume turned 13…and she stabbed a samurai customer in self-defense, but she was punished by being bound and burned. alive. Gyutaro was away, and found her when he got back. Then the samurai she stabbed stabbed him in the back.

But, Gyutaro was able to kill the samurai and the head of the entertainment house who conspired against them both. No one helped them as they walked the streets injured…except for one man, who turned out to be a demon under Kibutsuji. And that’s how they became demons.

It’s sad because Gyutaro’s one regret was that he raised Ume. He wondered if he hadn’t taught her his way of life, if she wouldn’t have stabbed the samurai. So, in the after life, he tries to shake off Ume, tell her to go toward the light, but she refuses to leave his side, climbs on his back, and cries for him to take her with him. And after remembering the promise he made to her, he does.

the end of the entertainment district arc.

Obanai Iguro, the snake Hashira, makes it just in time for the fighting to be over. He interrogates Tengen on when he’ll be able to heal up, and return to Hashira duty, and who will take his place while he’s gone. Tengen says he’s retiring, but Obania refuses that answer, and Tengen suggests that Tanjiro be the one to take his place.

We cut to Master Kagaya, who’s speaking his praise of Tengen, Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke, and Zenitsu for defeating the Upper Rank 6 demon, even through a coughing up blood fit (this man is SICK SICK). But he says it’s taken over 100 years for there to be a turn in the tides of this demon vs. demon slayer war, and it’s finally turned in the good guys favor. PERIOD!

He also says that Kibutsuji is the “sole blemish of his family”, and I’m side-eyeing like…

We then see Upper Rank 3 (the demon who killed Rengoku) in the Infinity Castle, and he realizes that he was summoned because another Upper Rank was killed.

I guess we’ll see in the next manga volume and episodes what’s next! RAAAAHHHH!

I did it! I finally finished another Demon Slayer blog post! Here’s to hoping I don’t wait months for the next one!

Mishy 🦋🩵