Descendant of the Sun Breathers

Compared to Episode 1, Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc Episode 2 was boring. Not all that much happened. And it’s not like we got too much new information either. We did get some. But, the little we got isn’t concrete information we can do much with.

So, in this review, we’re going to be doing some theorizing based on the information we have. And the first thing I want to theorize about is Muichirou Tokitou. Tokitou is the Mist Hashira. And, if we reference our breathing technique chart, we’ll see Mist is a derivative of Wind.

But, does the breathing technique Tokitou uses matter? Maybe. According to his crow, Tokitou is a descendant of the Sun Breathing technique users. That’s a big deal considering Sun Breathing was the original breathing technique. And we may be able to partially attribute Tokitou’s status as a prodigy to this.

We know that Sun Breathing is the strongest technique. And since Mist Breathing is a derivative of a derivative of Sun Breathing, we can assume it’s a fair bit weaker. So, why is a descendant of the Sun Breathers using this lowly technique today? We don’t know.

And based on Tokitou’s personality, I don’t get the sense that he cares all that much. He seems pretty indifferent about most things. So, do you think he cares that he’s the descendant of the Sun Breathers? I don’t get the impression that he does. Some of the other Hashira might dislike Tokitou because of that, though.

Hopefully, throughout the course of this arc, we’ll get to learn a lot more about Tokitou. Like, why does he use Mist Breathing? We previously learned that Rengoku used Fire Breathing because of his father. And Uzui uses Sound Breathing because he’s flashy, or something.

A Boy and His Doll

Kotetsu is a swordsmith apprentice Tanjirou meets in the Swordsmith Village. His name means “steel,” which is a fitting name for a swordsmith. And if we read into his interaction with Haganezuka, he may be Haganezuka’s apprentice. That’s, of course, unconfirmed.

When Tanjirou first meets Kotetsu, Kotetsu is refusing to give a key to Tokitou. This key goes to a training doll called the Mechanical Doll Yoriichi Type Zero. Kotetsu’s ancestors created the doll 300 years ago and based it on a powerful swordsman. Who was that swordsman? Potentially the creator of Sun Breathing.

But, I’m getting ahead of myself. I’ll discuss this swordsman more in the next section of the review. For now, let’s focus on the training doll. It has 6 arms and wields 6 swords. Allegedly, this is because it was the only way for the creators to mimic the swordsman’s abilities.

So, why does Tokitou want the key to the doll? He wants to use it to train. And since he’s so insistent on training with it, we can assume he knows it’s special. He may be wanting to test his own skills against those of a Sun Breather.

But, the doll is no match for Tokitou and he quickly breaks it. This is precisely why Kotetsu didn’t want to hand over the key. Although the doll was built with training in mind, it’s a family heirloom. He doesn’t have any family left, and he didn’t want to see Tokitou break the doll.

Additionally, Kotetsu claims that the technology used to create the doll is gone. There’s nobody left alive today who can fix it if it gets broken. But, luckily, Tokitou didn’t break the doll completely. It still functions enough for Tanjirou to train on it — until he breaks it.

Who Was Yoriichi?

So, who was Yoriichi? For starters, we can assume that was the swordsman’s name since that’s the name of the doll based on him. We also know he only had 2 arms despite the doll having 6. And we know he lived 300 years ago.

With that information in mind, it would seem that Yoriichi now goes by Kokushibo. As in the Upper One Demon Kokushibo. We know he’s at least 300 years old and he looks very similar to the Yoriichi doll. He’s a swordsman with the same color hair and a flame scar on his head.

Yoriichi/Koushibo is also likely the person we saw in Tanjirou’s dream. Before this episode, I didn’t think that was the case. But, I also forgot that Tanjirou could see memories of his ancestors. So, the baby we saw in Episode 1 wasn’t Tanjirou. It was one of his family members from 300 years ago.

So, if Yoriichi is Kokushibo, that brings up some interesting questions. For starters, how/why did Yoriichi become a demon? Was he not a demon slayer originally? Did he want to gain more power? That’s how Akaza was trying to tempt Rengoku.

Also, what does this mean for Tokitou, who’s supposedly a descendant of Yoriichi? I’m going to assume he doesn’t know that his ancestor is one of the Upper Demons. Or, it could be that he does know. And that could be exactly why he was so insistent on training on the doll.

Something else we should consider is how this may all affect Tokitou. If Yoriichi is Kokushibo, that could be why Sun Breathing never made its way down to Tokitou. Yoriichi may have only passed his technique on to Tanjirou’s ancestor. And then, he became the demon Kokushibo.

Conclusion

What do you think about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc Episode 2? Do you think Tokitou cares that he’s descended from Sun Breathers? Do you think he wanted to train on the doll because he knows his ancestor is a Demon? And, why do you think Kokushibo became a demon? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 3 is available now.

The Five Upper Demons

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc Episode 1 is finally here. Some of you may have seen this episode before the official air date because there was a “movie” that included it. I didn’t watch that movie, so this is all new to me.

Overall, I thought this was a good episode with a lot of new information. For example, right at the start, we learned that Muzan Kibutsuji and the leader of the Demon Slayer Corps. are related. That would make Muzan Kagaya Ubuyashiki’s ancestor. They might not be directly related, though.

We also met all 5 of the remaining Upper Demons. Five is Gyokko, who lives in a pot. Four is Hantengu, who’s afraid of everything. Three is Akaza, who we already know from the Mugen Train Arc. Two is Douma, who’s an obvious reference to Ashiya Douman. And One is Kokushibou, who looks very familiar.

When we first saw Kokushibou, I assumed he was an ancestor of Tanjirou. Specifically, I assumed he was the Fire Breathing user we’ve seen in flashbacks. But, more information we get later in the episode appears to disprove this theory.

Well, sort of. He’s definitely related to that person. And, it’s still technically possible that he does use the Fire Breathing Technique. But, there are some things that don’t quite add up. For starters, the Fire Breathing Technique doesn’t belong to Tanjirou’s family. His father adopted it from a swordsman he knew.

So, it’s this swordsman who’s the one related to Kokushibou. It’s also this swordsman whom Muzan previously hinted is the only one on par with himself. Or, at least someone in his family. And from what we see at the end of the episode, it looks like this swordsman might still be alive.

Splitting Up the Crew

While the first part of the episode revolving around the demons was cool, the second part was less cool. I know the scene with Tanjirou in the hospital was important for the story. We had to establish that time has passed and his injuries have healed since the last battle.

But, that doesn’t mean I had to enjoy it. Though, I’ll admit I chuckled a bit when Inosuke was on the ceiling.

Anyway, there’s not too much to discuss when it comes to this part of the episode. However, there was one thing established here that makes me hopeful for this season. We established that the Tanjirou, Inosuke, and Zenitsu trio has split up.

Of course, I don’t expect this split to be permanent. Inosuke and Zenitsu are definitely going to come back into the fold. But, I’m hoping that they stay away for the majority of this arc.

We don’t know where Inosuke went other than “on a mission.” For Zenitsu, we have a bit more information. He’s on a mission somewhere cold with a bunch of other members of the Demon Slayer Corps. So, I’m kind of expecting them to appear at the end of the arc.

Also, we have quite a few other characters who are going to be taking their places. Specifically, we know two Hashira are going to be featured in this arc. These are the Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji and the Mist Hashira Muichirou Tokitou.

In addition to those two, we have Genya Shinazugawa, a Demon Slayer in Tanjirou’s year. He’s somehow related to the Wind Hashira. Though, he hasn’t said how and the Wind Hashira claims he doesn’t have a younger brother. Do they not get along? Or, is there going to be some kind of twist?

Finding Love in Swordsmith Village

This season of Demon Slayer should be the best season so far. Why? Because it features Mitsuri Kanroji as one of the major characters. Sure, Rengoku and Uzui were cool. But, Mitsuri is a girl and therefore better.

We also got a fair bit of Tomioka and Shinobu content in the first season. But, since that was the first season, it doesn’t feel like they got arcs of their own. At least not like Rengoku and Uzui did. Like, did Tomioka or Shinobu actually get a story and development?

Back to Mitsuri, the fact that she’s the Love Hashira finally makes sense. It’s because love was her entire reason for becoming a Demon Slayer. And no, it’s not that she was in love with another Demon Slayer or that demons killed her loved one. She’s looking for love.

According to Mitsuri, girls love guys who are stronger than them. This is because girls want to be protected. So, Mitsuri thought that the strongest men must be Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps. But, it’s not like anyone can just run into one of the Hashira.

For that reason, Mitsuri decided to join the Demon Slayer Corps and rise to the rank of Hashira herself. That way, she’ll be able to rub shoulders with the other Hashira and find the man of her dreams. But, there’s one problem I see with Mitsuri’s master plan.

If Mitsuri is a Hashira, there aren’t many men stronger than her. So, that’s going to limit her potential suitors. I have a feeling she didn’t think this all the way through, though. Based on what we’ve seen of her character, she’s the airhead type who likes to eat a lot. Can Tanjirou become the man she’s looking for?

Conclusion

What do you think of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc Episode 1? Do you think Tanjirou is actually somehow related to Kokushibo? Are you glad it looks like Inosuke and Zenitsu won’t be around for this arc? And do you think Mitsuri will find the man of her dreams? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me on your social media of choice — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 2 is available now.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Toma for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to click the like button down below. Also, follow me over on Twitter @DoubleSama so you don’t miss out on any future content. And come join our Discord server if you’re interested in discussing anime with other members of the community.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and Toma for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about how you too can become a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 11 is available now.