Demon Slayer‘s Entertainment District arc has been a long one, and finally coming to a close, it delivered one of the best fight sequences of the series to date—which is a high bar considering it is known for its amazing fights.
**Spoilers for Demon Slayer.**
For the past seven episodes, Tanjiro, Tengen, Inosuke, and Zenitsu (ft. Nezuko) have been facing off against the Upper Rank Six brother-sister demons, Daki and Gyutaro.
Last week, at the very last moment, after finally beheading Daki temporarily and making ground against Gyutaro, Inosuke was impaled through the heart, Tengen lost his hand, and Zenitsu had to push Tanjiro out of the way from a massive explosion that leveled the entire area.
Tanjiro awakened to the carnage and Gyutaro gloating about how much of a pathetic coward Tanjiro is for surviving when his friends were all allegedly dead and/or near death.
Now, this is a shonen series and, therefore, I know that unless the body turns to ash or a character is killed by Envy in a phone booth, anything can happen. Still, one of the things Demon Slayer has been good at is maintaining tension despite the plot armor we know the main characters will have.
Tengen is fair game, as the series isn’t above killing members of the elite Demon Slayers, and severing his hand instantly allows us as the audience to realize just how powerful Gyutaro still is.
Tanjiro, who was already running on endurance alone, grabs his sister and runs away. Gyutaro gives chase and throws Tanjiro into some rubble. He starts throwing objects at him, but Gyutaro just continues to tell the young protagonist that he actually loves his cowardice. Gyutaro offers to turn Tanjiro into a demon so that he can actually protect his younger sister, but rather than give in to any sadness, Tanjiro headbutts Gyutaro.
Gyutaro shakes it off but realizes too late that everything Tanjiro did was a distraction to poison him with a kunai—giving Tanjiro an opportunity to weaken the demon and cut his head off. Daki attempts to help her brother, but Tanjiro attacks with his fastest God Form (and is somehow still asleep). He manages to slice Daki’s obi neck and cuts through some of it.
Unfortunately, Gyutaro is an Upper Six, and he doesn’t play that. He quickly recovers from the poison and goes to kill Tanjiro when Tengen, who found a way to slow the poison in his own body, begins fighting Gyutaro, going toe-to-toe, despite his lost arm.
Lemme tell you. This fight is gangster as hell. The animation is incredible, and even though they do the Dragon Ball power-up screams, the whole thing works and had me on the edge of my seat—especially because, as we learned from Mugen Train, Tengen could absolutely die tonight.
Tanjiro sees a chance to end the fight before Tengen weakens and cuts into Gyutaro’s neck—getting stabbed through the jaw in the process!
Zenitsu’s attack is starting to fade because of the amount of energy it needs, but then Inosuke pops up and reveals that he can move his internal organs around for some reason! I laughed and cried because I was glad he was okay. They join swords, and the Demon Slayers simultaneously behead these annoying siblings.
As Tanjiro attempts to slow the poison, Tengen yells at him to run (oh, and Tengen has also lost his eye in battle), but Tanjiro doesn’t hear, and a large explosion erupts from Gyutaro’s body.
The episode doesn’t go to the usual ending credit song—just the image of falling ash.
Guys, Demon Slayer is so good.
According to Crunchyroll, there will be an extended 45-minute finale, and it will be out next Sunday! I cannot wait for this to wrap up because the story is so good, and despite valid criticism, it’s been some fantastic anime.
(image: Aniplex)
