Demon Slayer Episode 13

Demon Slayer Episode 13

Something More Important Than Life

The battle in the demon mansion rages on with Tanjirou facing the final demon, the one with the taiko drums. The two other demons were already defeated during the previous episode by Zenitsu and Inosuke. However, we can assume the Taiko Demon to be stronger than the others.

After all, the Taiko Demon is a former member of the Twelve Demon Moons. Those are the demons responsible for working directly under Kibutsuji. So while he’s no longer a member of that elite group we can assume that his strength hasn’t faded away.

The Taiko Demon is also currently a member of a different group known as the Lower Moon Six. From the name it would be fair to assume that these are the weaker half of the Twelve Demon Moons, but that’s not the case. As far as I can tell, this is the step just below being one of the Twelve Demon Moons.

Common sense typically dictates that the more exclusive the group, the more powerful its members are, but I guess Demon Slayer doesn’t subscribe to that school of thought. It’s almost like if the Seven Warlords of the Sea were stronger than the Four Emperors in One Piece; it just doesn’t make sense.

At the very least I’m interested to see how the structure of this demon organization turns out to be used. Are the group distinctions solely for the benefit of the viewer? Or do they play an actual role in the series going forward? I have similar questions regarding the different levels for Demon Slayers.

The Writer

I don’t remember the Taiko Demon’s actual name, but it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is his background, because it gives us more insight into how demons work. For starters, the Taiko Demon wasn’t created by Kibutsuji. This confirms that demons can “spontaneously” be created in other ways.

For the Taiko Demon in particular, he turned into a demon after repeatedly being told that he wasn’t good enough to pursue his dreams. He wished to be a professional writer, but this wasn’t panning out for him. He should have just started his own blog.

However, the fact that demons can be spontaneously created due to the hatred of humans isn’t the only thing we learned. This has been hinted at in the past, but demons retain some of their human personality. The Taiko Demon in particular retained his love of writing, and was struck by Tanjirou taking care not to step on his papers.

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

While this may not seem all that important for the story right now, it shows that the line between humans and demons may be fairly blurred. Tamayo, Yushiro, and Nezuko are prime examples of this. Who’s to say that demons and humans aren’t merely two ends of a spectrum?

The final thing we learned from this backstory is that blood demon arts are influenced by their users. While the Taiko Demon’s dream was to become a professional writer, his hobby was playing the taiko drum. This is why when he became a demon capable of blood demon arts, his particular art had to do with taiko drums.

And if you’re thinking you’ve seen this system somewhere before, you probably have. Stands in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure follow the same logic, specifically after part 3. What I’m saying is that blood demon arts are stands.

Fifth Survivor

Shifting over to demon slayers from demons, it’s finally been confirmed that Inosuke is a demon slayer. Last week I was questioning whether he was actually an official demon slayer or not. And I even brought up the point that he might not be entirely human.

Well, it appears that all my theorizing was for nothing. It turns out that he is an official demon slayer, which probably also means he’s fully human as well. Zenitsu also confirms that Inosuke was present at the final selection, but that he started and finished before everyone else.

The fact that he couldn’t wait for the official start of the Final Selection just builds upon Inosuke’s impatient nature. We know he wants to kill powerful demons to quickly make a name for himself, so it’s no wonder he wanted to become a demon slayer as fast as possible too.

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

It seems that every demon slayer has some innate way of tracking down demons, and Inosuke is no exception. Tanjirou has a superhuman sense of smell, Zenitsu has a superhuman sense of hearing, but Inosuke just seems to have a sixth sense for tracking down demons.

He doesn’t claim to be able to smell or hear demons, but he knows where they are regardless. By using this ability, he’s able to track down the box which contains Nezuko. And, like any demon slayer worth his salt, he’s determined to defeat her.

In this particular situation I’d have to give the advantage to Inosuke. Nezuko is definitely powerful, but I doubt she has the same amount of fighting experience he does. Also it’s daytime, so she can’t exactly leave the safety of her box without disintegrating in the sunlight.

Zenitsu’s Determination

Luckily for Nezuko, Zenitsu was nearby to protect her and her box from Inosuke. I still hate Zenitsu as a character overall, but the fact that he was determined to protect Nezuko no matter what was cool. Due to his hearing he knew a demon was within the box, but he protected it anyway.

All Zenitsu needed to know in that moment was that whatever was in the box was more important to Tanjirou than his own life. That knowledge alone was enough for Zenitsu to put his life on the line to protect it. I guess Zenitsu does have some good traits after all.

And while it does seem that he’ll turn into a “white knight” character later on, that’s not what he is just yet. Yes, he blindly defends Nezuko’s box, but he doesn’t know that there’s a cute girl inside. He also states that he plans to ask Tanjirou why he’s carrying around a demon.

This latter point is important because it implies that not just any answer Tanjirou gives will be accepted. If there’s not a good reason for Tanjirou keeping a demon alive, Zenitsu will either insist it be killed, kill it himself, or allow Inosuke to kill it.

Perhaps this is the start of Zenitsu becoming a bearable character. I doubt it since I’m sure he’ll continue to be afraid of everything, but I can still hope. After all, Usopp is a scaredy-cat and yet he’s still probably my favorite member of the Straw Hats in One Piece.

I’m also interested in seeing how Tanjirou explains Nezuko to Zenitsu and Inosuke. Will he simply tell them the truth about trying to turn his demonized sister back into a human? If so, will they believe him? And will they accept that explanation?

Conclusion

What did you think of this week’s episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba? Do you think the Taiko Demon had a good backstory? What are your guesses for how Inosuke can determine the locations of demons? And do you think Zenitsu will ever be a good character? Let me know in the comments.

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My review of the next episode is available here.

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