Ufotable’s most ambitious creation, the shonen anime Demon Slayer, has returned after making us wait for a year, and it’s just as gorgeous and replete with smooth animation as we remember from last time. After defeating the Upper Moon 6 demon twins Daki and Gyutaro, the demon slayer team of Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke had to be hospitalized for the injuries they suffered against the demons. With the latest season kicking off, new adventures await, and tougher and crueler demons need to be taken down before the ultimate evil, Kibutsuji Muzan, reveals himself. Here’s a recap of the first three episodes of this season as you find out what’s happening with the demon slayers.
Spoilers Ahead
Episode 1: Recap
At the Kizuki Palace, the upper-ranking demons find themselves surrounded by physics-defying staircases, and in the central room, they await the Lord of all demons, Kiutsuji Muzan. After the death of the Upper Rank 6 Demon in the Entertainment District, Muzan is furious with his people, and he wants the blue spider lilies to be found at the earliest while demanding that all who oppose him are killed. We meet the Upper-Rank demons Akaza, Hantengu, Gyokko, Douma, and Kokushibo, along with the keeper of the palace, the Biwa-playing woman. The Demons announce to their Lord that the village of the Swordsmiths has been found, and Muzan sends two of his upper-ranking Demons to the location to destroy the village so that the Demon Slayers Corp is weakened.
Meanwhile, Tanjiro, who has been in a coma for 2 months, has a dream where he sees a man who looks exactly like him greet a stranger with long red hair. Tanjiro wakes up with a tear in his eye and is later informed that he needs to go to the Swordsmiths’ Village so that he can get a new sword crafted for him. Tanjiro is taken blindfolded to the village while carrying his demon sister Nezuko on his back because the location of the village is a matter of extreme secrecy. At the Swordsmiths’ Village, he meets with Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, who informs him that there’s a secret weapon in the village and he should try looking for it. While soaking at the revitalizing hot springs, Tanjiro meets Wind Hashira Sanemi’s younger brother named Genya Shinazugawa who seems to have lost a tooth. After a great bath, Tanjiro and Nezuko arrive at the place they’ll be staying, and he and Mitsuri enjoy a delicious meal. The next morning, upon hearing the commotion, Tanjiro investigates to find out if another demon slayer is accosting a little child who has a figure standing behind him who starkly reminds him of the mysterious figure he’d seen in his dream.
Episode 2: Recap
Tanjiro interrupts the demon slayer haranguing the little boy, and he starts lecturing the navy blue robe-wearing boy, who happens to be Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito. He finds out that Hashira wants a key to something that the little boy named Kotestu has, but the kid refuses to give it up, and Tanjiro begins a lengthy speech about how important swordsmiths are to the task of slaying demons. However, Tanjiro’s speech is cut short because Hashira chops him on the side of his head, rendering him unconscious. When Tanjiro comes to, he learns from Kotestu that the man who looked like the person he’d seen in his dream has been taken away by Tokito, and what’s surprising is that he’s not a man at all. Instead, it was a mechanical doll created by Kotestu’s ancestor in the Sengoku Period, and the Doll had to be given six arms to match the capacity of the swordsman it was modeled after. It’s called Yorichii Type Zero and can carry out 108 maneuvers.
Upon telling Kotestu that Tanjiro saw the man in his dream, the kid suggests it could be his “inherited memory,” where an ancestor’s dream has passed on to Tanjiro. The two hear a sound, and when they seek out the source, Tanjiro is amazed to find Tokito holding his own against the Doll with six arms. Kotestu confesses that if Tokito breaks the Doll, he’ll be at a loss because he doesn’t know how to fix it, and Tanjiro spends a while consoling the kid. When they come back, they find Tokito leaving, and he’s ripped an arm off the Doll for its sword because his own sword has broken. Kotestu then gives Tanjiro a speech where he asks him to train relentlessly until he can defeat the Hashira, and thus begins Kotestu’s tyrannical training regimen where he makes Tanjiro go without food, water, or sleep for a whole week against the Doll.
Finally, after a week, Tanjiro finally learns to read the opponent’s moves before they strike, and he gets a hit in. Kotestu offers him some food, and afterward, Tanjiro lands the strongest blow on the Doll, shattering its head. The head collapses, and the Doll tumbles down, and from inside is revealed a 300-year-old sword.
Episode 3: Recap
The third episode starts with Tanjiro and Kotestu finally gathering up the courage to unsheathe the sword that has dropped from the Doll’s body, but to their utter disappointment, they find it to be horribly rusted. Just then, the muscular swordsmith Hotaru Haganezuka arrives and demands the sword from the two boys until Kanamori comes and tickles Haganezuka unconscious. The swordsmith comes a little later and promises to fix the sword and bring it to Tanjiro, and for the time being, he hands him a replacement sword.
At night, Tanjiro finds Genya in a room and is surprised to find he’s no longer missing a tooth from earlier, but when pointed out, Genya gets irritated and throws Tanjiro out. However, he remains undeterred and decides to help Genya while another swordsmith comes across a vase on his way home from the hot springs. For the audience, we clearly understand it’s the vase-demon Gyokko’s vase, and immediately, the demon drags the man inside his vase.
Tokito walks into Tanjiro’s room, and the young demon slayer reminds Hashira of the importance of helping others. Just then, a skeletal creature crawls into the room, and it’s the demon Hantengu. Tokito and Tanjiro work together to decapitate the demon, but two separate demons sprout from the cut, each resembling a different emotion. Sekido represents anger, while Karaku represents pleasure, and the latter blows Tokito away with a fan before both of them turn their attention to Tanjiro. Just then, Genya arrives with his Nichirin bullet shotgun and shoots at one demon’s head, then decapitates it with the sword he’d found at a swordsmith’s workshop. However, two more demons sprout from the severed head, and Tanjiro realizes that these demons will keep sprouting new bodies each time they’re decapitated. Just then, another clone that can fly swoops in and takes Tanjiro away, while the other demon that resembles sadness stabs Genya in the heart.
Why Did Tokito Help Kotestu?
After being blown away by Karaku, Tokito is running back to the building when he spots Kotestu trying to fend off a monster fish. Tokito initially considers it worthless to help the kid because he’s hardly important when the whole village is attacked, but he remembers Tanjiro and what he said about kindness. Tokito rushes in to help Kotestu and slashes the monster’s arm off.
Tokito is called the Mist Hashira for his breathing technique and also because he’s unable to experience emotions because of the mist inside his head. He’s lived his life with the goal of serving as a demon slayer, but he’s unable to think for himself until Tanjiro shows him the right path. He realizes the importance of helping people out of kindness, which supersedes duty, and he delays his plans to save the village chief to protect a child whom he’d declared unimportant.
