Demon Slayer Episode 17

Demon Slayer Episode 17

You Must Master a Single Thing

Today’s episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba focused on Zenitsu Agatsuma, which is both a blessing and a curse. Zenitsu has by far the coolest technique of all the demon slayers we’ve met so far, but I hate almost everything else about him.

With that said, after this episode I am seeing some similarities between him and Might Guy from Naruto. And as anyone who’s seen all of Naruto knows, Might Guy is a pretty cool… guy. Perhaps Zenitsu will eventually reach Might Guy levels, but that’s going to take some serious character development.

Since the rest of this review will be about Zenitsu and the demons, let’s quickly check in with Tanjirou and Inosuke before moving on. Tanjirou defeated the female Spider Demon last episode, and this episode he was reunited with Inosuke, who has suffered some serious injuries.

However, before they can get Inosuke’s injuries treated properly, the member of the Twelve Demon Moons who resides on the mountain appears before them. I assume he’ll be given either an official name or title soon, but for now I’ll just call him the Tarantula Demon.

Spider Babies

So while Tanjirou and Inosuke were dealing with the female Spider Demon, Zenitsu came across a different member of the spider clan. This demon is another which doesn’t have an official name or title, so I’ll call it the Demon-Faced Spider (because it’s literally a giant spider with a demon’s face).

While the female Spider Demon controlled her victims like puppets, the Demon-Faced Spider’s ability is far more unsettling. It’s unclear if the normal spiders controlled by the Demon-Faced Spider are the same ones the female Spider Demon used to string up her victims, but they’re used in a very different way.

Their bites contain a venom which will turn the victim into a member of the spider clan within 30 minutes. However, it doesn’t turn them into demons. Rather, they become slaves of the Demon-Faced Spider and their appearance is similar to his own.

One of the human-turned-spiders from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
One of the human-turned-spiders

There may be hundreds of spiders inside my house during this time of year, but at least none of them look like that.

Unfortunately for Zenitsu, he was bitten by one of the small spiders, which means that monstrosity pictured above is the fate which awaits him. Obviously he isn’t going to turn into one of those human-faced spiders in the end, but for now the effects of the venom have already begun.

My guess is that simply defeating the Demon-Faced Spider won’t be enough to save Zenitsu from this fate. Also, it’s unclear exactly what happens to the human-turned-spiders once he’s defeated. Do they die? Do they live out the rest of their lives this way? Are they still bound to the demon clan?

Thunder Breathing Technique

We were already aware that Zenitsu is a user of the Thunder Breathing Technique, but this week we were given a bit more information on both it and Zenitsu’s background. So let’s start with Zenitsu and then move into discussing the technique he uses.

Zenitsu never sought to be a demon slayer. Instead he was forced to train as a swordsman by a former demon slayer who then sent him off to partake in the Final Selection. He was also never good at anything he was taught, and only managed to learn one of the Thunder Breathing Technique forms.

Even so, his master didn’t consider him to be a failure of a student. He told Zenitsu that if he can only use one form, he should strive to be the very best at that form. Using Naruto as a comparison once again, you could say Zenitsu is like Rock Lee. They’re both limited in what they can do so they compensate for this by being highly specialized.

Zenitsu using the Thunder Breathing Technique from the anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Zenitsu using the Thunder Breathing Technique

Zenitsu has his Thunder Breathing Technique, Tanjirou has his Water Breathing Technique, and I’m pretty sure the name of Inosuke’s technique is the Beast Breathing Technique. So what are the differences between these three techniques that we know of so far?

We don’t really know much about the Beast Breathing Technique, but we do know that the Thunder Breathing Technique has three forms while the Water Breathing Technique has something like eight. We can infer from this that the Water Breathing Technique is more variable, but what does the Thunder Breathing Technique have to offer?

Simply put, speed. Zenitsu is able to move at extremely high speeds, and with high speed comes high power. It’s true that Tanjirou can defeat a demon with one slash if he severs its head, but typically he has to fight first to wear down the demon. This isn’t the case for Zenitsu as he can go straight for the killing blow.

Spider Demon Family

Now let’s finish up this episode review by going over the members of the spider clan who we know so far. For now we’ve seen five members of the family, the mother, father, and three children — or two children as we’ll see.

  • Mother – Female Spider Demon – Deceased
  • Father – Tarantula Demon – Alive
  • Child #1 – Son seen with the female Spider Demon – Alive
  • Child #2 – Daughter seen with the Tarantula Demon – Alive
  • Child #3(?) – Demon-Faced Spider – Deceased

I don’t believe the Demon-Faced Spider ever specified his relationship to the other members of the spider clan, but he does refer to them as his family. He also refers to the human-turned-spiders as his family as well though, so perhaps he isn’t a direct relative of the other spider demons.

I’m interested in seeing the abilities of the three spider demons who are left. The Tarantula demon just seems to have brute strength, which isn’t very interesting, so hopefully he’ll show us something more in the next episode.

As for the two remaining children, we know the boy has the ability to walk on strands of spider silk, and we know nothing about the girl. Will our heroes even have to fight these two? Something tells me Tanjirou is going to be against it considering they’re just kids.

Conclusion

What did you think of this week’s episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? Which of the spider demons is your favorite? Mine is still the female Spider Demon. And, do you think the two remaining child demons will fight against our heroes? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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