Demon Slayer Episode 6

Demon Slayer Episode 6

Swordsman Accompanying a Demon

I think at this point I can safely say that Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is the best anime of this season. The only other one I think might be able to compete with it is the new Attack on Titan, but I also feel like each season of Attack on Titan gets slightly worse so I’m not convinced just yet.

But anyway, in this episode Tanjirou and Nezuko’s journey really begins. Tanjirou is now an official demon slayer, Nezuko is awake once again, and the pair have their first demon slaying mission in a nearby town.

This demon stalks young girls at night and kidnaps them, and I actually think this could have been a good arc for later on in the series. What if it turned out there was no demon and it was a human committing the crimes instead? That would be a great way to show the parallels between humans and demons.

But, since this is the very first official demon slaying mission Tanjirou is sent on, it kind of has to actually be a demon. The twist that a human was the one committing the murders wouldn’t be as hard-hitting if it came right at the beginning.

Before moving on, there’s also one more thing I’d like to bring up about this episode as a whole, Tanjirou’s appearance. The scar on his forehead looks different now, and I don’t know why. In one flashback we see that he has bandages over it, so I guess he got a new injury in the same place.

I don’t remember this new injury occurring, but even if it did it wouldn’t overwrite the scarring he already had there. Sure, it could make the scarring worse, which it has to some extent, but it also has fully healed patches where his old scar was, which doesn’t make sense.

Muzan Kibutsuji

Muzan Kibutsuji is the name of a thousand-year-old demon who Sakonji brings up to Tanjirou during one of the flashbacks. It seems like he’s the “original” demon, and I’m honestly not sure I like where the plot is going with his introduction.

It was previously established that the way a demon is created is by having the blood from a demon get into the wound of a human. However, it’s now revealed that this isn’t actually the case. Instead, there’s only one demon whose blood does this, and it’s Muzan Kibutsuji.

I’m not really a fan of when there’s one, “final” enemy who’s responsible for everything bad that’s happened to the protagonist. It makes the story feel a lot more linear because you know that it’s just building up to a fight with that person.

Muzan Kibutsuji wasn’t really even necessary. How demons are created was already established, and Tanjirou already has an end goal in returning Nezuko to her human state. It can work in series like Dororo when it’s a revenge story from the start, but I hate when a “final boss” is added in later in order to give the protagonist an enemy to work towards.

And, no, arc antagonists don’t fall into this category. The defeat of an arc antagonist can resolve the arc, but the defeat of a “final” antagonist resolves the major plot point which was moving the story forward. I know this is a somewhat unpopular opinion, but I really do prefer more open and free-flowing stories over ones with a set path and conclusion.

The journey is what matters, not the end destination.

Also, I liked the idea Tanjirou and his family were just another group of victims of a random demon attack more than that his family were the victims of the demon attack. That’s such a cliche move to have what happens to the protagonist be unique when similar things happen to people all the time.

Imagine if Eren’s mother was actually eaten by the original titan rather than just some random titan and his whole goal was to defeat that one titan? That would be such a worse story than his family simply being among the thousands of other victims. I feel the same way about Demon Slayer.

Blood Demon Art

So now that we know there’s only one demon who can create other demons, I suppose that means that every demon in existence had to have been originally created by Muzan Kibutsuji. But if this is the case, then why do some demons develop special abilities while others don’t?

Theoretically they should all be on even ground because they’re all second generation demons. But, whatever, I’ll let this slide because it’s not the most egregious thing the series has done so far. There have already been multiple times in which the series has overwritten pre-established lore.

And, since we were only just introduced to the fact that some demons have special abilities, of course the very next demon that Tanjirou runs into would be one of these morphed demons. This one in particular appears to have two different unique abilities.

A morphed demon from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
A morphed demon

One of its abilities allows it to hide within objects such as the ground or walls. It can then pop out of a black, liquid-like portal to attack unsuspecting victims. However, since it’s merely hiding within objects, and not actually disappearing, Tanjirou can still sniff out its location.

For its second ability, the demon can split into three versions of itself, each apparently with its own personality. One of them just grinds its teeth, another gets angry and yells out, and the third, which seems to be the lead personality, is calm and collected.

It’s unclear if these three versions of the demon work like the Six Paths of Pain from Naruto: Shippūden in that their eyesight is shared, but at the very least they work together. Typically demons don’t work together, and instead compete against each other for their prey.

Nezuko Kamado

Now that Nezuko is awake once again, she can actually help Tanjirou fight demons at night. And, this is exactly what we see her do at the end of today’s episode. I really do like the dynamic between these two and I hope we get to see a lot more tag-team style fights in the future.

But, what I thought was strange is that, again in a flashback, Sakonji mentions that while Nezuko was sleeping he hypnotized her so that she sees humans as her family and demons as the enemy who must be killed. Why was this necessary? She already seemed to act that way.

Even before she was hypnotized she fought demons alongside Tanjirou. And unless Tanjirou was threatened by a human, she never attacked humans. This just seems like something which will come back to hurt them later on in the series.

Tanjirou and Nezuko Kamado from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Tanjirou and Nezuko

What if another human is fighting Tanjirou and he needs help, but now Nezuko can’t help him? Unless this is going to happen later on in the series, I really don’t see the point in emphasizing that Nezuko has been hypnotized to view humans as good and demons as bad.

Also Sakonji built Nezuko a fancy, new carrying case which is lined with stone to make it even sturdier (and heavier for Tanjirou to carry).

Conclusion

Before I end, I want to bring up the fact that we were also told that the different Nichirin swords do have different powers. While Tanjirou’s water breathing doesn’t have to do with his particular sword’s power, his sword does have some sort of power.

We don’t yet know what that power is, but it was explained that black swords are quite rare, and so not much is known about them. This is another trope I really wish wasn’t present in this series, but I guess I’ll just have to live with it. I hope his sword doesn’t have an ability that’s too overpowered though.

So what did you think of this week’s episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? I thought it was a great episode, with a good mix of action, background information, and suspense. The art and animation also continues to be on point, so I’m looking forward to the continuation of this series regardless of the direction it takes.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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