Aside from often looking fantastic (far better than the art in the Manga in fact), I don’t always notice how beautiful some of the music and sound design in Demon Slayer is. It seems determined to remind me in this episode as Nezuko turns her back on the taunting of the psychotic wind pillar’s taunting. Thank God.
With Nezuko showing she is no an enemy of humans, the trial is all but over, Tanjiro and Nezuko let off the hook and allowed to continue their service as slayers. Also to continue being alive. Big plus there. The Master tells Tanjiro that while he might have his blessing, their pairing will not be accepted by many humans.
Shown by the unease of the Hashira’s present. But personally slaying one of the Twelve Moons would go a long way towards gaining the trust of the corps. Tanjiro goes one better by announcing he’ll be the one to slay Muzan, which everyone present finds pretty amusing. It’s a great mood lightener, as from here the episode becomes a little goofier and less grim.
Specifically, Tanjrio’s grudge against Sanemi, rushing back to try and headbutt the guy was pretty good. From here though, it’s most mopping up. Reuniting Tanjiro with Zenitsu and Inosuke as they all recover from their injuries, and the Pillars finishing their meeting, stating the current state of the corps and how things don’t seem great for them.
I have been questioning the leadership of the Slayers for a while now and the way they go about things. Apparently, as the human population exponentially increases, so do the number of demons in the world. Thus the Master states they need to up their recruitment, which would obviously result in a lower standard of recruits joining.
Given the harrowing recruitment process, you’d think that wouldn’t be the case. But hey, maybe it used to be worse. Plus, if they really are having a quantity over quality issue, then sending as many slayers into the spider mountains as they did probably makes sense, you’ve got to make use of what you’ve got.
Elsewhere we catch up with the boys. Given Zenitsu’s current situation, I am increasingly tolerant of his pain the ass personality. I mean, had my arms and legs been shrivelled up into vestigial lumps, I probably wouldn’t be in the best mental state either. Let alone laugh at my friend having an existential crisis.
Getting saved by Tanjiro, then almost killed by Spider Daddy and then utterly emasculated by Giyu in quick secession has done a number of Insosuke’s world view. I’m sure we’ll get back to business as usual before long, but honestly. A bit of humility for the character is probably a good thing.
And so we get a number of moments showing what a good boy Tanjiro is. Showing his genuine happiness at seeing his friends alive and his shame at being unable to come back to save Inosuke, who I guess he thought was dead up until this moment. There’s also a sweet affirmation of his and Nezuko’s relationship, with Tanjiro’s predictable announcement that he must get stronger.
I don’t know what’s going to get squeezed into the final three episodes of this series but the title of the next episode seems to confirm my prediction that the Rui arc would be followed by some kind of training arc. I guess we’re getting a My Hero Academia season 3 slow ending to the series rather than a big explosive one. Because I can’t imagine them topping the conclusion to the fight between Tanjrio and Rui in the time they have left.
I don’t want to jump the gun, given there are a handful of episodes left. But I’ve loved this series. I’d be hard pressed to say there are three shows that I’ve enjoyed more this year, and between this and Mob Psycho, there has been some top tier animation on display.
A Richard Wood Text Adventure 