Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11

Nezuko Ex Machina

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11 was very disappointing in multiple ways. I didn’t think this was a good episode at all. And, I actually think this entire arc is severely overrated. It had one really good episode and maybe one other that was good.

But, this is a review of Episode 11 specifically, so I’ll wait until the season review for my comments on the arc as a whole. So, my first complaint about this episode is the length.

Everywhere I saw, this episode was being said to be 45 minutes long, or double the length of a standard episode. It was not. It was 32 minutes long, including a minute and a half of recap and three minutes of ending credits. That’s basically a third longer than a normal episode.

Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru reacting to Nezuko from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11
Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru reacting to Nezuko

Alright, so I’m starting off by complaining that we got extra content. Well, I wouldn’t be complaining about it if I thought the content was good. I didn’t really care about or for any of the content in this episode.

And with that, allow me to introduce my second complaint. Nezuko suddenly has the ability to burn away demon poison. This was a complete Deus ex machina. Nezuko just suddenly has this ability right when it’s needed — on top of all the other random abilities she has. I bet next arc she’ll start flying and altering time too.

There was really no reason to give Nezuko this healing ability. An obvious solution to the whole poison thing would just have been for Shinobu to show up. She’s already the character written into the role of a doctor who specializes in poisons.

Gyuutarou and Ume

Onto complaint number three. I didn’t care about Gyuutarou’s and Daki’s (Ume’s) backstory at all. Aside from Daki’s name originally being Ume, which literally doesn’t matter, what did we really learn from that flashback? I don’t think we needed that backstory to understand their characters.

Also, the fact that we got their backstory after they were killed made me care less about it. These characters are dead now. I no longer care about their motivations. That should come at an earlier point in the arc. The story could have even been told through the people who were killed within the red-light district.

For example, every time someone disappeared within the district, something about their disappearance could be a parallel to what happened to Gyuutarou and Ume. And then, in this final episode, it all comes together naturally.

In its current state, this backstory just seems like the author saying “Now that these antagonists are dead, here’s a more human side to them. Please cry now.”

A former Upper Six demon from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11
A former Upper Six demon

At the very least I’ll admit that there were two, slightly interesting things to come of this part of the episode. The first is the appearance of another member of the Upper Six. In the backstory, he was the sixth of the Upper Six, the number Gyuutarou and Daki held in the present.

We don’t know anything else about this guy. Is he still alive and a higher-ranking demon now? Was he killed and replaced by Gyuutarou and Daki? One of the Upper Six had to die for them to get that title.

The second interesting thing is how the afterlife appears to work. Gyuutarou and Ume are presented with a choice in the afterlife. They can go towards the light or darkness. So does this mean they just get to choose between Heaven and Hell?

Snake Guy Is Going to Die

This isn’t necessarily a complaint with the episode, but I don’t like the Serpent Hashira. I don’t know his name and I’m not going to look it up, so I’ll be referring to him as “Snake Guy.” Snake Guy is extremely unlikable. But I think that’s the point.

Before I get into talking about Snake Guy, though, let me point out that I was right about Tengen surviving and then opting to retire. I’ve been saying for weeks that this would check all the boxes for what was foreshadowed earlier in the arc without turning Hashira deaths into a trope.

With that said, I think Snake Guy is a Hashira who’s going to die. His comments to Tengen were those of someone with a severe lack of awareness as to how strong Upper Six demons are. We know for a fact that he’s never fought an Upper Six demon, and yet he thinks they’re no big deal.

The Serpent Hashira from the anime series Demon Slayer: Entertainment Series Arc Episode 11
The Serpent Hashira

How do we know he’s never fought one? Well, simply because an Upper Six demon hasn’t been killed in over 100 years. So he’s clearly never beaten one. And he’s still alive, so we can easily assume he’s never fought one. If he had, he’d know how strong they are because he wouldn’t be here today.

Unfortunately, Snake Guy doesn’t appear to be a main character in the next arc (for which an anime adaptation has already been announced). The Mist and Love Hashira were shown during its reveal. So I think it’s a safe bet that they’re going to be the main Hashira of the arc.

Anyway, I just can’t wait until the Snake Guy’s arc comes and he gets absolutely destroyed by an Upper Six demon. Maybe he could be killed by a Lower Six just to rub it in. Or, possibly more realistically, he may even be killed by Nezuko.

Conclusion

What do you think of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11? Did you think this episode was bad? Or did you somehow like it? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of Swordsmith Village Arc Episode 1 is available now.

4 Replies to “Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Episode 11”

  1. Nezuko’s flames were shown and explained to only burn demons and demon related things. So her being able to burn the demon poison makes sense.

      1. Nezuko flames first burned rui threads but did not hurt tanjiro, in muzan train she used them to affect tanjiro inside the demon art, in daki fight daki herself did say it only seems to work on demons and such

        1. Well, then I guess I just blanked out all those previous times she used that ability. Alright, so that wasn’t as much of a Deus ex machina as I thought it was.

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