Aniplex and Ufotable’s proudest collaboration released the tenth episode of the third season of Demon Slayer today, and it’s all about the pink flash Mitsuri Kanroji. Coming into the fray in the previous episode and taking on Upper Moon Hantengu’s sixth clone, Zohakuten, the Love Hashira unleashes her Love Breathing against a formidable opponent. Meanwhile, Tanjiro and the rest need to locate the main body of the demon and sever its head to end this nightmarish encounter for good. Here’s what happens in the tenth episode of the Swordsmith Village arc of Demon Slayers.
Spoilers Ahead
How Does Mitsuri Fight Zohakuten?
The Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji’s Love Breathing makes short work of Zohakuten’s dragon heads as she races toward the sixth clone. Despite all her various slashing techniques, however, the demon’s dragons keep regenerating, and it even stuns Mitsuri by calling her a particularly hateful slur reserved for canines. Determined to teach this foul-mouthed child a lesson (Zohakuten’s form resembles a child) Mitsuri wraps her whiplike katana around the demon’s head and is about to sever it when Tanjiro’s warning reaches her. Slicing the clone’s head won’t kill it, but by the time Mitsuri realizes it, Zohakuten has unleashed a supersonic blast that had ruptured Tanjiro’s eardrums. However, coming from the demon itself, the blast is way more potent, and even though Mitsuri’s body isn’t blasted, her senses are boggled momentarily because of the intensity. Zohakuten is surprised that the Hashira wasn’t blown to bits but decides her unique physical composition makes for a perfect meal and brings its fist close to her head to smash her brains in first. As is the norm with anime, seconds away from death, the character’s backstory is revealed, and we get to see Mitsuri’s life before she was a Hashira.
Why Did Mitsuri Join The Corps?
As a 2-month-old infant, Mitsuri was lifting stones that weighed more than 13 kilos, and as a child, she’d defeat sumo wrestlers in arm wrestling. Calling Mitsuri a voracious eater would be a severe understatement because her diet included eating 170 sweets a day, among other things. However, the older she got, the more she realized that the things that set her apart from other women, or men for that matter, made her undesirable as a bride—something she had wanted to be since her teens. When a potential suitor rejected Mitsuri for her pink and green hair, she stopped eating like before and even dyed her hair black. Her parents had supported her wholeheartedly, and her father had assured her that their home would always be open to their daughters throughout their lives. But she found acceptance before Master Kaguya Ubuyashiki, who asked her to be proud of those very things that made her stand out. As a Hashira, Mitsuri had found all the love that she’d sought ever since she left home, but she didn’t even realize that the reason Serpent Hashira Obanai Iguro gave her a pair of socks was because he did love her. However, she was yanked out of her reverie by Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya mere moments before Zohakuten could turn her skull into mush.
Do Tanjiro And The Others Find The Upper Demon?
Now, fuming with confidence, Mitsuri swore to take down the dragon heads as the kids went off to search for the real body of Upper Moon Hantengu. As her katana sliced through more and more of the dragons, Zohakuten tried stopping the kids from searching for the real body, but the dragon heads couldn’t keep up with Mitsuri’s speed. With Love Hashira keeping the sixth clone busy, Tanjiro used his superior olfactory capacity to sniff out Hantengu. However, the moment they reached the tree bark that had enclosed the demon inside, it turned into a massive trunk and wrapped the slayers in its crevices. Finally, we saw the source of Genya’s power: he began biting into the bark and explained that eating demon cells gives him power and regeneration abilities. With his superior biting capacity, Genya tore off a piece of the bark, and Tanjiro tried slashing it open, only to be shot at by whiplike protrusions. Thanks to Nezuko’s blood demon art, though, the bark caught fire, and Tanjiro sliced it open, but there was no demon inside.
The cowardly Hantengu was running away, while being plagued by the thoughts from the time it was human. As a human, Hantengu was a lying, cheating lowlife who earned the ill-will of everyone he swindled. However, he was convinced that he was one of those harmless cowards who never hurt anybody. With Tanjiro screaming after the demon to stand and face the consequences for the hundreds of deaths it has caused, Nezuko leaped in the air to reach the demon. Genya used his newfound strength to rip an entire tree off the ground and hurl it to stop Hantengu in his tracks as the slayers closed in.
What Does The End Mean?
Tanjiro, Genya, and Nezuko are able to detect Upper Moon Four Hantengu hiding inside a tree bark and chase the demon once more through the forest as it tries to flee. The demon begins crying as it realizes its end is drawing near, but even now, it’s deluded and considers the ones trying to cut its head off as bullies. Having hidden behind the six clones its entire life as a demon whenever faced with danger, Hantengu’s main body had been safe for centuries. However, with this new breed of demon slayers, there’s been chaos in the ranks of the Upper Moons. With Gyokko’s head rolling and now Hantengu in trouble, the situation doesn’t look too good for Akaza, Douma, and Kokushibo, although they’re leagues above these two. There’s a high chance that the following episode will bring an end to this chase as one of the two sides prevails. However, there’s a strong possibility that Mitsuri hasn’t shown her final form yet, so Zohakuten might regret using slurs against Love Hashira come the 11th episode.
