Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10

I’ve Changed My Mind About Gyuutarou

To start off today’s review of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10, I want to say that I haven’t been overly impressed by the arc up to this point. I think most of the arc was pretty boring.

However, Episode 10 is my current pick for the best episode of the season (across all anime I’m watching). This was an insane episode both in terms of animation quality and character writing.

But, I also want to point out how much the animation quality impacted the characters on screen. For example, I wasn’t very impressed with Gyuutarou until this episode. Seeing his mannerisms animated so well really made me appreciate his character more.

And it’s shots like the one pictured below (which looks amazing) that made me view him as a good antagonist.

Gyuutarou looking down on Tanjirou and Nezuko from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10
Gyuutarou looking down on Tanjirou and Nezuko

There’s more to being a good antagonist than simply being a strong opponent. Gyuutarou is strong enough, sure. But there were aspects of his character holding him back for me, such as his NEET personality.

Of course, that did still come up in this episode momentarily when he said “weak sauce” in the official translation. I don’t mind Daki speaking like a gyaru. But that coming from Gyuutarou was pretty offputting.

With that said, Gyuutarou more than made up for it by acting genuinely scary. He’s a demon. He’s supposed to be uncanny in that he’s so similar to humans, yet so different at the same time. And I think that’s exactly how he came across in this episode.

I think I’d even go so far as to say that Gyuutarou is the first demon we’ve met in the series who comes across as a legitimate monster. Akaza definitely didn’t.

Another Reality

I’ve seen a lot of people posting the dual images of Tanjirou/Nezuko and Gyuutarou/Daki we got in this episode (the Gyuutarou and Daki one is pictured below). I think this was a very interesting part of the episode because it made me question Tanjirou’s resolve.

Tanjirou recognized that in another reality, he could have easily ended up like Gyuutarou. He could have chosen to become a demon to live with Nezuko that way forever. And when he thought this, I actually believed he was going to remove his blade from Gyuutarou’s neck for a moment.

Because of his connection to Nezuko, Tanjirou’s able to see demons as the people they once were. He knows that every demon was once a human. And he knows that not every demon is inherently evil. If he had let Gyuutarou go here, I would have thought that was on-brand for Tanjirou.

Daki and Gyuutarou from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10
Daki and Gyuutarou

But, of course, Tanjirou then says that had he chosen to become a demon, he would expect a member of the Demon Slayer Corp to free him by cutting off his head. Once he said that it was clear that he wasn’t going to allow Gyuutarou to escape with his life.

And I should point out that not allowing Gyuutarou to escape is also on-brand for Tanjirou. He’s able to empathize with his opponents, as we saw here. But that doesn’t mean he ignores the fact that these demons are extremely dangerous and have killed countless people.

Regardless of which way Tanjirou went, I think an argument could be made for it to make sense for his character. If the arc was longer, I probably would have preferred the former. But since next week is the final episode, I think having Tanjirou resolve to kill Gyuutarou here and now was the right choice.

Zenitsu Claps Back

One of the funniest things about the Entertainment District Arc is that Zenitsu has actually been a bearable, even cool, character for the second half of it. Because he’s been asleep this whole time, none of his annoying traits are present. And he can actually show off what a powerhouse he is.

I love that the author made him able to communicate with his allies, see things, and generally function at a high level all while sleeping. It’s almost as if the author could have written Zenitsu’s character that way from the start.

But hey, if we’re lucky, maybe Zenitsu will never wake up and this is just who he is for the rest of the series. I wouldn’t mind that at all. He can even keep crossdressing and wearing too much makeup for all I care as long as he never wakes up.

Zenitsu actually being cool from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10
Zenitsu actually being cool

Now, I want to make a slight shift to discussing what I think is going to happen after the events of this episode. There was a giant explosion, and it seems unlikely that everyone made it out unscathed, right?

Well, I could actually see Zenitsu coming to the rescue. He can move so fast that he may have saved everyone from the explosion. Or, at the very least, he probably saved Inosuke. And if that’s the case, I’m going to guess Nezuko saved Tanjirou and Tengen.

That’s right, I’m still going to predict that Tengen doesn’t die here. I know death flags were set up for both him and Hinatsuru, but I still don’t think they need to die. Tengen is severely wounded. His Hashira days are over. So having him retire would effectively be the same as if he was killed.

I think the death flags were just bait. Shinobu is going to show up and treat everyone’s wounds. She probably knows where they are because Tengen originally planned to take Aoi and Naho.

Conclusion

What do you think of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 10? What are your thoughts on Gyuutarou saying “weak sauce?” Would it have been in character for Tanjirou to let Gyuutarou go? And who do you think is going to die in the next episode, if anyone? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Episode 11 is available now.

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