Welcome back to the Demon Slayer Planet podcast! In the second episode of this podcast I did a review of “Demon Slayer,” season three, episode six – “Aren’t you going to be a Hashira?”
Spoilers ahead
We take a very palpable look into Genya Shinazugawa’s traumatic and troubled childhood he shared with his brother, Sanemi, the Wind Hashira, and what caused an unfortunate rift between the two and molded the Demon Slayer to who he is.
The episode starts where “Bright Red Sword” left off with Genya appearing more demonic and feral. Tanjiro, wounded, shocked and confused, is wondering what happened to his fellow Demon Slayer after they attacked the emotional demon clones of Upper Four.
Tanjiro discovers that there is a fifth demon lurking about, despite his red sword ability neutralizing the Upper Four demons. He deduces that if he defeats the fifth demon, he will be able to defeat Upper Four. However, Genya wants to kill the Demon for himself since if he were to slay an Upper Rank demon on his own, he would ascent to the rank of Hashira, just like his brother Sanemi.
Tanjiro being the gregarious and kind-hearted character that he is, tells Genya that he and Nezuko will give him their full support of his quest to become Hashira. Genya seems touched by Tanjiro’s kindness and the Demon Slayer makes a pan to find the demon so that they can slay it. Tanjiro goes to find the demon while Genya and Nezuko keep the other four demons busy.
While Tanjiro spots the fifth demon with his strong sense of smell, Genya is tasked with finding the fifth demon which turns out to be a diminutive being. Even worse, the demon turns out to be indestructible when Genya tried to behead it. As Genya is confused. the anger demon uses this opportunity to attack Genya who begins to reminisce about his turbulent childhood with the Wind Hashira Senemi.
He remembers the resilient woman his mother was before she became a demon and had to be put down by Sanemi. He also regrets calling Sanemi a murderer for killing their mother. Before he could be finished by the anger demon, Tanjiro rescues him and encourages him to never give up. However, the grieving demon gravely injuries Genya who, embolden by Tanjiro’s words, choses to the fight on.
As Tanjiro finds the tiny fifth demon,. he decides to make his move by using his sun breathing technique to slay it.
The Good
Genya’s Childhood Unraveling
This one was a very emotional episode since it involved a lot of trauma. We learn why Genya is the character that he is and it is due to his upbrigning. His father was a real bully and would often try to hurt his children while his mother, as tiny as she was, would protect them with her body. Genya also narrates that his father was eventually stabbed and killed leaving his mother a widow and the rest of the children fatherless. It is here where Genya and Sanemi vowed to protect their family.
What amazed me about this scene was that Genya was narrating the story as he was fighting Upper Four. But here’s the actual thing, Genya is not just fighting for his life, he fighting for his brother’s approval. His mission is to defeat an Upper Rank demon so that he can become a Hashira and finally measure up to to his brother and reconcile with him since he called him a murderer. Another thing I found interesting about Genya was his lack of breathing style. While he has no breathing style, he is still a formidable demon slayer as he fights with both a Nichrin sword and a nichirin shotgun.
I’m rooting for Genya to survive this and finally make amends with his brother.
One of the things I like about this arc for Genya is that is adds another dimension to an otherwise hotheaded character who was at odds with Tanjiro during the Final Selection ceremony where Demon Slayers are initiated. I might even plan on doing an episode on the Final Selection since I feel it is a rather interesting ceremony to talk about.
The Fifth Demon
I have to say that not only having a fifth demon of Upper Four but one who is diminutive and indestructible was clever, it presents a new challenge to the Demon Slayers. While Tanjiro might have defeated two of the Twelve Kizuki whtih Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inoskuke Hashibira, he had never defeated a demon like Upper Four
The Issues I had with the episode
I feel that Tokito’s fight against Upper Five did not have to be in this episode since it wss Genya heavy. I’m looking forward to this fight later on. Perhaps in the next episode or in episode after the next since this current one left on a cliffhanger of sorts.
The overall verdict
I’m going to give this episode a 4 out of 5 due to adding an unexpected dimension to Genya Shinazugawa’s character by giving him a back story. The fifth demon was also a clever trick to show how challenging the demons of Muzan’s Twelve Kizuki and they are not like any demons that the Demon Slayer Corp face.
“Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba” is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
