Warning: contains spoilers for Chapter 93 of Demon Slayer 

The anime version of the popular manga Demon Slayer is, by all accounts, an accurate adaptation of the original manga following Tanjiro Kamado and his attempt to save his sister and avenge the death of his family at the hand of demons. Currently, the anime is presenting the “Entertainment District Arc” of the manga in which Tanjiro and his fellow Demon Slayers take their battle to a location notorious for housing high-ranking demons. However, manga fans already know that an incredibly brutal fight is imminent.

So far, the anime has shown some intense confrontations between demon and slayer. No more was this so than in the battle at the end of the last arc between Kyojuro Rengoku, the Flame Hashira and Akaza, a demon holding the Upper Rank Three position of the 12 most powerful demons in existence. It is an old-school, “knock down drag out” battle where both opponents are stretched to their maximum ability. It was a fight that almost sees the Hashira succeed but ultimately ends with Akaza’s victory and the death of a beloved Hashira. It was not a complete loss for the demon slayers. Indeed it forged a resolve in Tanjiro, who witnessed the battle first-hand to never back down in a battle with a demon and adopt an “always be attacking” attitude. This will be an important development as the story develops. Moreover, the fight sets up a battle at the end of the story arc in the manga that, if included in the anime, will be the most visually and viscerally brutal fight fans of the anime will have seen to date.

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The fight, which occurs in Demon Slayer Chapter 93, pits Tanjiro and Tengen, the Sound Hashira, against Gyutaro, holder of the demon Upper Rank Six position, which he shares with his sister Daki. In the fight, after Tengen is knocked unconscious, Tanjiro is able to temporarily subdue Gyutaro to the point where he gets his blade on his neck. However, showing his inexperience, rather than striking hard and boldly, Tanjiro hesitates for a moment, as he ponders the question of what he would want his teammates to do if he turned into a demon and they were able to get a sword on his neck. That momentary pause is all Gyutaro needs to turn the tide of events. Tanjiro loses his grip on his sword, thereby allowing Gyutaro to stand and overpower Tanjiro. Just as Gyutaro is about to inflict the killing blow, however, Tengen regains consciousness and defends the attack. Gyutaro then focuses his attack on Tengen, the Hashira rather than Tanjiro. This leads to Gyutaro slicing off nearly a quarter of Tengen’s face.

Tanjiro_beheading_Gyutaro_CH94

 

Tanjiro leaps over Tengen, hoping to redirect Gyutaro’s attack away from the Hashira only to have Gyutaro manifest a sickle-like weapon and strike the descending Tanjiro from the bottom of his chin upwards into his mouth. Holding the impaled Tanjiro to one side, while continuing his engagement with an injured Tengen on the other side, it seems Gyutaro has won the fight.

The raw brutality of this fight is unreasonable. It also foreshadows a more serious turn for Tanjiro. It stresses that going forward Tanjiro will need to be willing to sacrifice everything. He saw this in the fight between Kyujuro and Akaza. He now has personally experienced this in the fight against Gyutaro. In other words, the fight illustrates that being a demon slayer is not a 9-5 job, but rather a life choice that requires extreme commitment. Based on his actions in the fight, it seems that Tanjiro is a “true to the core” member of the Demon Slayers. Whether this is translated from the manga to the anime, remains to be seen.

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