I was very down on Zenitsu last week. His extended periods of freaking out being a major focus of the episode. I did, however, end things on a hopeful note. Saying that a character such as him did have more potential to turn himself around in the future, getting a much bigger growth arc than even Tanjiro could hope for.
Welp, I guess now we know how Zenitsu managed to pass the final selection, although my hopes for him becoming a more rounded character seem to be dwindling along with this revelation. In short, Zenitsu is basically Misty’s Psyduck from Pokemon. When his terror meets a certain threshold, he loses consciousness. At which point his body apparently starts functioning on its own and he becomes a lightning themed badass with blinding speed to match.
So, he’s just a gimmick character then.
The main beats of this episode cut between these three new main characters, while also giving a little backstory to three demons that inhabit the trick house. We learn of Zenitsu’s aforementioned ability to turn into someone else, and then have no memory of it when he wakes up.
My earlier assumption that the guy in the boar mask it completely freaking insane turns out to have some merit also, as he cackles endlessly while fighting and even turns his attention to Tanjiro when one scolds the other for stepping on the little girl caught up in this whole mess. So he likes to fight, it doesn’t matter who.
They get split up though, and Tanjiro is left to face off against the Demon controlling the house. Which he has a real difficult time with. In part because we learn that this guy is formally of the twelve moon demons that make up the biggest and baddest henchmen of our major villain. But Tanjiro has also reveals that he’s still real banged up from his fight against the arrow demon a few episodes back.
Something I’m sure Karandi will be all over in her review on 100 Word Anime, as I know it’s been bugging the hell out of her for a couple of weeks now.
This three pronged approach to the narrative of the episode gives us a good indication of what the two new guys are about, what they can do and how they’ll inevitably end up interacting with one another in the future. Prediction: Zenitsu will live in constant fear of the boar guy… and it’ll be “hilarious”.
We also end on some decent peril, as a pretty injured Tanjiro much deal with a former Twelve Moon Demon. Another prediction: He’ll beat him with some CGI water.
And we end the episode with zero Nezuko, except for an adorable frame of her playing around on the floor during a flashback. Seriously, I don’t think the girl was turned into a Demon, I think she was turned into a cat. She sleeps enough to be one.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 