This week brought us the penultimate episode of Demon Slayer season 4 and the first of two episodes with longer than usual runtime. For this episode, we’re jumping in immediately where last week left off. After getting some help from Genya on repetitive motion and learning to focus on his memories, Tanjiro manages to intentionally manifest his mark and move his boulder. Following that this week, we got to see a brief dive into Himejima’s past and some foundation was placed for the concluding episode of the season.
Strong Backstory and a Serious Zenitsu
Himejima has always been one of my favorite Demon Slayer character designs and getting some backstory for him felt quite satisfying. This is especially because of how closely it rings to how Tanjiro’s family was killed; unlike Tanjiro, who arrived too late to make too much of a difference and save his family but ultimately held onto his one remaining bond, Himejima managed to awaken to his strength, play an active role in defending himself, and ended up losing his bond even with the remaining member of his family that he saved.
It speaks to how detached he can seem from the Corps and gives some narrative backing to how detached his training is in comparison to the other Hashira. Every single other Hashira was up close and personal with their Corps members in some way, while Himejima doled out tasks and simply observed from afar. Aside from the narratively satisfying parts of his story, the section was just in general well-handled, with strong voice acting creating sharp contrast between the calm voice in the present and the frenzied angry ones from the flashback. It takes a close second to the backstory we got about Giyu.
Zenitsu’s portion of the episode was another good demonstration of voice acting range. We rarely ever hear his serious voice, and the contrast between how we saw him this episode and his usual goofy self was almost chill inducing.
A Solid Fight and Muzan’s Late Night Walk
It seems like each week we get a little bite-sized Hashira action as a treat and this week was no exception. While the fighting sequence between Giyu and Shinazugawa was brief, it demonstrated some beautiful art and animation. I never get tired of seeing water breathing for its fluid movements. Contrasting that with the harsh, aggressive style of wind breathing made for a mixture I didn’t expect to appreciate as much as I did. The fight also served as a decent reminder that, despite his misgivings about being a Hashira in the first place, Giyu can hold his own against the others and is starting to take training a bit more seriously.
Finally, we end with an infiltration of the Ubuyashiki mansion by Muzan, something he’s been slowly building up toward in the background for the entire season. While Muzan is great and all…he certainly does not have the aura to make a three minute section of him slowly walking worth it.
The art was nice and the mist effect was actually quite cool, but there really didn’t need to be quite so much of that. In any case, that section left us with an appropriate cliffhanger. The leader of the Demon Slayer Corps is in quite a bit of danger and only one person has realized they’ve been infiltrated. I’m looking forward to some potential action as the Hashira react to Muzan’s advances.
©Koyoharu Gotoge / SHUEISHA / Aniplex / ufotable
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