Demon Slayer Episode 12

Demon Slayer Episode 12

The Boar Bares Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps

The longer Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba goes on, the more my feelings towards it become conflicted. I love the art style and animation, and the soundtrack is pretty decent too. But the plot isn’t that great and I dislike most of the characters we’ve met so far.

But the one thing I think I hate most about this series is the comedic relief. I get it, this is your typical shounen battle series like One Piece or Naruto, and those have plenty of comedic relief. However, I don’t see how it adds to this particular series.

Comedic relief and One Piece go together perfectly due to the unique art style and general wackiness of the show. Naruto, while definitely more serious than One Piece, still usually makes its comedic relief work by not shoehorning it into serious scenes, or sometimes even arcs.

Demon Slayer on the other hand doesn’t seem to have mastered the art of proper comedic relief usage. It’s not a zany anime like One Piece so comedy doesn’t work all the time. And unlike with Naruto, Demon Slayer throws gags right into the middle of otherwise serious fights.

I’m not trying to say that comedy is bad. According to Anilist (which I haven’t updated for weeks) the genre that I watch the most anime from is comedy. But knowing when to use comedy is extremely important, especially in an otherwise dark or serious series.

Zenitsu’s True Power

Zenitsu is essentially one giant gag wrapped up to look like a character. Of all the characters we’ve met in the series so far, he’s probably my least favorite (followed by Yushiro). The extent of his personality is that he’s terrified of demons, and just about everything else.

And I get it, regardless of what you may pretend, you and I would probably be terrified of encountering demons like these too. The only difference is that he’s so over-the-top about it that it’s genuinely annoying.

But, despite the fact that he’s scared of everything and claims to be weak, he still somehow managed to become a demon slayer like Tanjirou. So how did he do it? Did he really just happen to get lucky during the Final Selection and survive a full week in a demon-infested forest by chance?

Zenitsu Agatsuma from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Zenitsu Agatsuma

love characters that use electric-based attacks. Unfortunately, Zenitsu is the one who does this in Demon Slayer, meaning the character I love is also the character I hate. Zenitsu could be such a cool character if he wasn’t a joke 99% of the time.

In this week’s episode we’re given a taste of his true power, but even this comes with a catch. Zenitsu truly doesn’t know that he’s powerful. Before defeating what I’ll refer to as the Tongue Demon, he falls into a deep sleep. Then, while asleep, his personality changes and he’s able to defeat the demon in the blink of an eye.

Why couldn’t he just do this anyway? Why did the author have to make him so infuriating the majority of the time? For the rest of the series will he always have to fall asleep before he can actually fight?

The Boar

Inosuke is almost Zenitsu’s opposite. While Zenitsu is afraid of combat, Inosuke charges into it head first. He either doesn’t fear death, or places so much faith in his own abilities that he believes himself to be unstoppable. Likely it’s a combination of the two.

But what really makes Inosuke unique is that he doesn’t exactly seem to be a demon slayer as I first thought last week. Yes, he has two Nichirin swords, and yes he was in this demon house hunting for the Taiko Demon, but it turns out that demons aren’t his only prey.

We know from what he says when we’re first introduced to him that he’s hunting down the Taiko Demon in order to prove his strength and make a name for himself. However, this week it’s revealed that he’ll fight anyone who he perceives to be strong, including demon slayers like Tanjirou.

Inosuke Hashibira from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Inosuke Hashibira

There are also two other interesting things he says. The first is that he refers to Tanjirou as a human, and talks about humans as if he isn’t one himself. Does this mean that he isn’t merely wearing a boar’s head? Is that actually what he looks like? And, does this mean that he’s a demon?

Secondly, he mentions that his swords aren’t the same as regular Nichirin swords. It’s unclear exactly what he means by this, but he seems to be implying that standard Nichirin swords only work against demons, not other humans. His swords, however, are implied to work on humans as well as demons.

I’m interested in learning more about Inosuke and his unique Nichirin swords, but at the same time I’m afraid his character will get worse as more is revealed about him. What if he too turns out to be just a giant gag?

The Taiko Drums

I discussed the Taiko Demon’s abilities last week, but we’re given a few more details this time around. Each of the drums embedded into his body has a different effect, and there are at least four of them (but I’m pretty sure there are actually six).

The drum on the left side of his chest rotates the room he’s in to the left while the one on the right side rotates the room to the right. I’m pretty sure he was shown to have a drum on each of his hips as well, and I would assume they rotate the room forward and backward.

However, the drum in his stomach and (formerly) on his back are a bit more unique. When the drum on his stomach is tapped, an invisible attack shoots forward, slashing anything in its path. I wonder if at any point we’ll see how this attack works, much like how we couldn’t see the Arrow Demon’s arrows at first.

The final drum was on the Taiko Demon’s back, but it was knocked out by a rival demon within the house. This drum is now in the possession of the elder brother of the two children Tanjirou and Zenitsu are protecting. When this drum is tapped, the rooms in the house become rearranged.

He’s been using the drum to keep himself alive by tapping it every time a demon comes nearby. When one of the demons gets close, he taps the drum to rearrange the house, thereby “running away.”

Conclusion

What did you think of this week’s episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? And more importantly, what are your thoughts on the characters Zenitsu and Inosuke? Which of them do you prefer? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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