Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen – 08

「無一郎の無」 (Muichirou no Mu)
“The Mu in Muichiro”

The latest Kimetsu no Yaiba‘s Swordsmith arc gives us a better understanding of Tokito’s backstory as we come to see why and how he could potentially come to resonate with Tanjiro. But through this flashback, it also shows us why he had built enough walls around himself to stay guarded around Tanjiro to begin with.

THE MU IS FOR MURDER

Not gonna lie, it kinda feels like pulling teeth at times to write about Kimetsu no Yaiba. You have some episodes that are more story-dense like this one where we do learn valuable information about Tokito and his past. At the same time, most of the meat and potatoes is in the animation, so commenting on how polished and shiny it looks feels like I’m doing play-by-play sports commentary.

To this particular episode’s credit though, it was poignant to see what Tokito had to be saddled with as he slowly started losing his family to illness and demons. I’ve seen some people complain about most of the Hashira becoming demon slayers to avenge family members who were killed by demons, but it does feel like a silly argument, given how it’d be weird for them not to have a personal vendetta against demons to propel them to want to murder demons for a living. It’s like looking through a roster of superheroes and being like, “Let me guess? Radioactive poisoning? Dead family? Secret identities? Find a new reason to be a hero!”

Most of the Hashira origin stories know how to twist the knife when it comes to their dramatic beats, and for Tokito, it’s no exception. Not only was he alienated from being altruistic by his spiteful brother, but he also has to hear him apologize for his behavior in his dying breath. With this much to contend with, it starts to make sense that Tokito’s cold exterior was less from being outright callous and more of a protective shell after having to deal with the devastation of losing his family to circumstances outside of his own control.

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