After almost two months of brilliant animation, stunning visuals, and an amazing story, the Swordsmith Village arc of Season 3 of Demon Slayer came to an end today. With dawn approaching quickly, the demon slayers are busy fighting two separate clones of the same Upper Moon Four demon on two separate battlefields. In the previous episode, Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya chased Hantengu’s main body as Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji fought off the sixth clone, Zohakuten. Do Tanjiro and others manage to bring down Hantengu before the sun comes up, or does the demon flee once again like Akaza in the season finale?
Spoilers Ahead
Why Can’t Tanjiro Sever Hantengu’s Head?
Dawn is near, and the pesky little Hantengu is fleeing rapidly from the charging demon slayers, but the demon’s speed is so rapid that the young kids are going to run out of breath soon. It’s at this point that Tanjiro remembers a conversation with his friend Zenitsu where he’d explained the maneuver of his Thunderclap-and-flash move: the whole focus needs to be on the thigh muscles to blast out like a bolt of lightning. Tanjiro focuses his entire strength on his legs, zooms through Genya and Nezuko, and brings his sword down on the Upper Moon Four’s main body. With his Hinokami Kagura breathing, setting fire to his sword and the demon’s neck, Tanjiro manages to slice halfway through Hantengu’s neck when suddenly, the demon grows massively in size and tries crushing Tanjiro’s head. Genya rushes in and tries unlocking the clasping demonic fists, but it’s Nezuko’s blood demon art that sets fire to Hantengu and allows Tanjiro to push through. However, unbeknownst to them, they’ve reached the end of the cliff and toppled over, crashing into the land below.
Why Does Nezuko Kick Her Brother?
Hantengu has lost both its arms and isn’t able to regenerate, so it begins searching for human flesh with Tanjiro’s sword still stuck in its neck. Tanjiro is stuck on a tree trunk but still won’t let the demon flee, and he gets back on his feet but doesn’t have a weapon. Before him crashes down a shining new sword right at that moment, and it’s Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito who’s thrown the sword that Haganezuka was polishing. Armed with the newly polished 300-year-old Nichirin sword, Tanjiro fires up his speed and slices the demon’s head in one swift motion, but he can’t rest because the sun is coming up. Tanjiro runs towards his sister Nezuko as she tries running towards him, but the sun’s rays burn the little girl. The older brother begs Nezuko to shrink herself down to protect herself from the sunlight, but the sister braces the burn to point out that the headless demon is still chasing the swordsmiths it’d discovered. Tanjiro realizes he hasn’t beheaded the main body, because the severed head’s tongue reads ‘Resentment,’ while the main demon is supposed to be ‘Coward.’ However, Tanjiro can’t move because going after the demon will mean sacrificing his beloved sister to the sun’s rays, but not moving means the demon will kill the helpless swordsmiths and escape. This bewildering struggle is broken when Nezuko kicks her brother with a strained plea to go do his duty, as the entire life they’ve spent together, flashes before their eyes.
Does Nezuko Die In The Sun?
Tanjiro fires himself up for the final time and races through the open field with fire in his steps as he uses his superior olfactory senses to locate the main body hiding inside the headless demon’s heart. With a bloodcurdling scream, Tanjiro brings down his sword to sever the bigger demon in two and expose the tiny Hantengu, and with one more slash, the Upper Moon Four gets beheaded. Even the demon watches its human life flash before its eyes and how Kokushibo had helped turn the human Hantengu into a demon one day before he was supposed to be executed. The sun’s rays burn all the bodies of Hantengu to a crisp, including the dragon and Zohakuten that Mitsuri was fighting. Tanjiro collapses on his knees and is overcome with sadness that although the demon slayers have won, he’d had to sacrifice the sister for whom he’d started his journey as a slayer. However, the swordsmiths are shocked to witness something behind Tanjiro, and when the young hero turns back, wondrous astonishment fills his heart to see Nezuko walking towards him, without any scars or burns on her body, and she’s smiling. The sun is shining brightly on the sky, and Nezuko is talking to her brother, although her vocabulary is limited to “I’m glad, right?” As Mitsuri, Tokito, Genya, Kotetsu, Nezuko, and Tanjiro hug to celebrate their victory and Nezuko’s newfound immunity against the sun’s rays, evil is lurking in another part of the country.
Who’s The Child In The Mansion?
Inside a mansion, the lady of the house walks into their son’s room with her maid to find their son has scattered books all over the floor. This child is not a child after all, but Muzan in disguise, and he’s shaking in disbelief that one of the demons he’d turned into has finally become able to withstand the sun, so all he needs to do is devour the little girl to gain immunity to the sun. The lady gets her head removed in one swift slice, and the maid is slaughtered soon after as the full-grown Muzan with his black jacket and white hat walks out of the mansion. Meanwhile, Lady Tamayo writes a letter to Tanjiro saying that using Nezuko’s blood and that of the 12 kizukis, she was able to create a potion that cured one of the demons Muzan had created. She adds to her theory that it’s her belief that Nezuko might be able to withstand the sun soon, not knowing that she’s already gained victory over the biggest enemy of the demons. Tamayo sends the letter through the cat spirit Chachamaru to Tanjiro, as he prepares to leave the Swordsmith Village.
What Happens In The End?
Tanjiro is overwhelmed to know that the entire village has come to the main gate to wave farewell to the young man who helped save their village as others throw confetti to celebrate his efforts. One of the women carriers who’d brought Tanjiro to the village with his eyes and nose plugged takes off the restrictors so that the young slayer can watch how adored he is by the village folk. Even Haganezuka promises to re-polish the sword Tanjiro used to save the day, and with this deafening applause for the leaving Tanjiro, the Swordsmith Village arc draws to a conclusion.
