「己の鋼」 (Onore no Hagane)
“My Own Steel”

The gears are slowly turning. It’s taken a few episodes to set everything up but looks like this was the final one before we really get into the nitty gritty of Kimetsu no Yaiba. Nezuko is awake, upcoming companions have all made a brief appearance, and Tanjirou has received his demon steel finalizing his initiation into the Demon Slayer Corps.

Tanjirou is a complex character. Two years prior to the Final Selection, he’d already demonstrated a great level of maturity and caring towards family and strangers alike. Even now, after experiencing a traumatic loss and watching his beloved sister turn into an unrecognizable creature, he still finds it in him to be compassionate. Part of him doesn’t see the world of slayers and demons as white and black. With his sister now living as a demon, he’s been thrown into this part of the world with a sense of curiosity, understanding, and empathy. He showed indiscriminate kindness towards a demon who murdered his thirteen predecessors without a second thought. It seemed as though the swell of emotion he felt watching the demon perish helped the creature reconnect to its human roots and find peace.

Tanjirou’s main objective is to do exactly that: turn a demon back into a human, and in this case, his own sister. His search for a cure and his love for his sister are what drive him to fight, to get stronger, and to never give up. His return to Urokodaki’s hut was extremely moving. With things moving so quickly, I hadn’t noticed how much of a family he’d built for himself there.

Nezuko also seems to be on an interesting track. If Urokodaki is right in saying she needs long, deep sleeps to replenish her demonic energy, it means we won’t be seeing much of her. I can’t imagine us watching a series where one of the main characters is fast asleep for a year or two after every arduous encounter with an enemy. It’d make for a long series as well… I wonder what kind of solution Tanjirou will come up with to keep his sister awake long enough to travel with him. He figured out a way to carry her in broad daylight, so I assume he’ll be planning to keep her awake somehow. Can demons in this world feed off of animals? For now though, I have a feeling she’ll be joining Tanjirou in his first mission whether he wants her to or not which will force the situation to come up.

It’s highly unlikely that the Demon Slayer Corps will give Nezuko a free pass to stay by her brother’s side. Both Tanjirou and Urokodaki omit to tell Haganezuka, the sword forger, about Nezuko. No doubt they’ll try to keep the information hidden from the Corps as long as they can. I imagine if the information gets out, Tanjirou will be fighting more than just demons.

I’m throwing lots of theories out there based on what I’ve seen so far but that doesn’t mean I’m right. I’m looking forward to how it all plays out, especially now that we’ve gotten a glimpse of the head of the Corps, the three other (very particular) demon slayer trainees, and the invitation for Tanjirou to complete his first mission. Can’t wait!

21 Comments

      1. I can see that also, but what I meant was like is it magically enchanted or something like if biting on bamboo can keep a demon’s sanity intact then they would never have to kill them in the first place…

        and if it’s nothing special then why even have her bite it, get what im saying?

        yodad
      2. @If she would be Black and Male and wear an Katana, then he is the “Day Walker” from “Blade” and this would be some kind of garlic solution.. Well perhaps

        Worldwidedepp
      3. The muzzle just to keep her from tasting blood or accidentally bite someone, especially during the heat of battle. While she can somewhat control her urge for human flesh, strong stimulate like human blood taste still can can trigger her. So be safe than sorry.

        Archaon The Everchosen
      4. Give a different question asking for more information if you want something specific. She has a bamboo muzzle and nothing has been said about it’s properties being magical. It’s just a bamboo muzzle.

        weasl
      5. Im asking if ppl know cause there’s no info on it lol, i figure people generally would just have more than 10 iq.. like when someone asks “what’s that?”, who the hell answers literally without assuming the other person have eyes like cmonbruh

        yodad
      6. It is simply what you see and what was said: a bamboo muzzle to keep blood out of her mouth and keep her from being able to bite people if she loses control. There is nothing special about it beyond those features.

        Wanderer
  1. I wasn’t ready for this episode. It was very surprising how they delved into the backstory of that demon and how Tanjirou treated it. and the scene immediately afterward of all the ghosts leaving was really emotional.

    Can we talk about the demon slayer corps a little bit? Did anyone else find the whole final selection process a little fishy. I guess it would make sense to weed out the unqualified, but there had to be a better way. They’re basically keeping a bunch of demons held prisoner and intentionally feeding them humans. What was with those 2 girls anyways? They clearly weren’t normal. Mysteries to be solved i suppose.

    sealouse
    1. The thing is they all go through similar training to Tanjirou with difference masters. It their master decided if they are ready to take the test or not when they deem there nothing more they can teach their students. We saw the demon in that mountain not even that strong, even the hand demon is just low-tier even after eating 50 people. If you can’t even have the courage or skill to fight a mook, how could you be send on missions to kill demon and save other. It really the same, die from the demon in the mountain or die on the line, at least if they die in the mountain, the demon still being contain in the mountain rather then outside.

      Archaon The Everchosen
      1. if you happen to get Blood on you Nose and somehow it enter it, then its nearly the same “taste” like trough the mouth.. Blood also has an special smell to it

        If you get to have some nose blood, when it begin to dry up you have an typical smell, right? perhaps this is also an important factor, but perhaps the mouth contact is far more intensive

        Worldwidedepp
      2. Except even the unqualified could improve through hands-on experience (such as being a working apprentice for a practicing demon slayer) rather than just letting them die off. The whole process reeks of inefficiency, as it seems like Japan could really do with more Demon Slayers, so why allow a student to die when they could potentially save a life in the rea world?

        Sekai
    1. also he piggyback his sister the long way wanted to save her, perhaps his Body heat and contact with her this entire time, somehow affected her keeping her Humanity

      Worldwidedepp
  2. Tanjirou is the goodest boy. He’s compassionate without being overbearing – but does what he has to. Him repeatedly trying to invite Haganezuka in was my favourite part, as was his forceful money-giving a few eps back.

    ZJZJ

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