Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba was serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from February 2016 to May 2020, and is still immensely popular even after the serialization has ended. The anime aired from April to September 2019, and the sequel to the anime, "Mugen Train Arc", was aired as a movie in October 2020. It was extremely popular, and the box office revenue in Japan was 40.32 billion yen, the highest ever. It also recorded No. 1 in the United States, and reigned as the number one movie released in 2020 in the world. "Mugen Train Arc" depicted the power of one of the pillars, "Flame Pillar Rengoku Kyojuro", the strongest swordsman of the Demon Slayer Corps, and the overwhelming strength of "Upper Rank Three Akaza", a member of the Twelve Kizuki who surpasses him. Kyojuro risked his own life to protect Tanjiro and the passengers on the train, and died as the sun rose. The movie version ends here. The Entertainment District Arc is a sequel to the Mugen Train Arc, and the anime is scheduled to air in October. This time, we will be taking a closer look at the contents of the Entertainment District Arc. It contains major spoilers from volume 9 of the manga, so if you plan to watch the Entertainment District Arc in the anime, please be careful when reading!
After the Mugen Train Arc, we head to the Rengoku family home.
【Visiting the Rengoku family several days after the deadly battle on the Infinity Train】
After the deadly battle on the Infinity Train, Tanjiro and his friends are once again taken care of by the Butterfly Mansion. One day, Tanjiro sneaks out of the Butterfly Mansion without permission while his wounds are still healing. His destination is the Rengoku family home, Kyojuro Rengoku's birthplace. Tanjiro came to the scene, enduring his injuries, to convey his will to his father and brother. He meets his brother Senjuro and tries to convey his will, but is stopped by him, who says, "Stop it!" Rengoku Shinjuro appears. He is the father of Senjuro and Kyojuro, and a former Flame Pillar swordsman. He calls his own son a "foolish son."
【The Rengoku Family and the Secret of the Breath of Beginning】
The moment Sakijuro saw Tanjiro's earrings, he showed his angry expression and asked, "Are you a user of the Breath of the Sun?" and attacked Tanjiro. Tanjiro retorted that it was a false accusation, but Sakijuro spoke. The Sun Breathing is the first breathing technique created, and is the strongest. And all other breathing techniques are merely imitations of the Sun Breathing, and are inferior. The argument heats up, and they end up fighting. Tanjiro is punched throughout, but in the end he headbutts Shinjuro and the argument ends. However, it is suggested that the Hinokami Kagura that Tanjiro uses is not just any Kagura.
【The notes of the Flame Pillars handed down in the Rengoku family】
After a brief pause, Tanjiro and Senjuro try to read the notes of the Flame Pillars. However, the notes are torn to shreds and cannot be read. Senjuro apologizes, saying that it is unclear why Shinjuro must have torn something that is carefully stored. After talking alone, the two of them part ways, each with a resolve. At that time, Tanjiro was given the tsuba of Kyojuro's Nichirin sword.
[The Rengoku family is shrouded in sadness]
After Tanjiro leaves, Senjuro heads to where Kyojuro is. "It's probably just a grudge against me!" shouts Shinjuro, turning his back on him. As he leaves, Senjuro tells him Kyojuro's last words: "Take good care of yourself." Shinjuro sees Kyojuro's former self and tries to take a sip of sake, but he slams it down and quietly sheds tears. It is not that he hated his son, Kyojuro, but rather that he cared deeply for him.
He meets the Sound Pillar, Uzui Tengen, and the Entertainment District Arc begins.
【Reunion with the Sound Pillar, Uzui Tengen】
It's been about four months since Kyojuro's death. Returning from a solo mission, Tanjiro finds Aoi and Naho being taken away by someone at the Butterfly Mansion. A large man carrying two Nichirin swords. With the arrival of Uzui Tengen, the Sound Pillar, they will be reunited for the first time since the Pillar Meeting. However, Tengen is trying to take the two non-combatants with him because he needs female members for the mission. After repeated strong protests, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke are sent on the mission. Tengen tells them that the location of the mission is "the red-light district where demons live."
【The reason why Uzui Tengen was in a pinch】
The group will get ready at Fuji's house and then infiltrate the red light district. At Fuji's house, the outline of the mission and the reason why Tengen was in a hurry are revealed. Tengen's three wives have been infiltrating the red light district for some time now to gather information on the demons lurking in the red light district. However, since they had lost contact with their wives, they needed to find them as soon as possible. Tengen had infiltrated as a customer, but was unable to track them down, and decided that they needed to infiltrate deeper inside, so he decided to have Tanjiro and his friends disguised as prostitutes and infiltrate the brothel.
【Tengen's makeup technique transforms them into prostitutes...? ? ? 】
Tanjiro and his friends infiltrate the brothel as prostitutes. However, Tengen's makeup technique is not beautiful, and it is quite miserable. However, Tengen's good looks erased all of this, and Tanjiro was bought by "Tokitoya" and Inosuke by "Ogimotoya". Zenitsu, who was the last to be sold, was bought by "Kyogokuya".
【Infiltration of the Red Light District (Tanjiro)】
Tanjiro infiltrated "Tokitoya", where Tengen's wife Suma had originally infiltrated. Tanjiro worked energetically to help out at the store while searching for any information. At that time, Tokitoya's courtesan, Koinatsu Oiran, tells her that Suma has run away. Running away means escaping from the red-light district, and there is no way that Suma, who has infiltrated, would run away. Koinatsu Oiran also tells her that she is not the kind of girl who would run away.
【Infiltration of the Red-light District (Tengen)】
Tengen, a former ninja, is searching for traces of the demon from outside. Even Tengen, who has a high ability to gather information and would be sensitive to even the slightest traces of infiltration and the presence of demons, was unable to find anything clear. So Tengen suspects that the demon hiding in this red light district is an Upper Rank.
【Infiltration of the Red Light District (Inosuke)】
Inosuke infiltrates "Ogimotoya" and has his makeup removed, so he acts with his original, well-groomed face, but he doesn't gather as many people as he would like. This is because Inosuke has a rough voice, so if he speaks, people will know he is a man. In order to hide his gender, he has to gather information without making a sound. The one who infiltrated "Ogimotoya" is a kunoichi named Makio. Hearing that Makio had been feeling unwell and had been confined to her room, Inosuke headed to her room to investigate.
Demons Lurking in the Red Light District
Makio was not sick, but had been captured by the Obi Demon. She had been found out to have sent a letter to Tengen, and was subjected to torture-like practices to get her to give up information. Makio herself was worried that she had not been able to contact the other two, and wanted to somehow convey the information, but she was unable to move at all. Inosuke sensed something bad and rushed into Maki's room, but the demon on her obi escaped by climbing up the ceiling. Maki was also caught.
【Infiltration of the Red Light District (Zenitsu)】
While Inosuke let the demon escape, Zenitsu was also making moves. Zenitsu, who has good ears, listened carefully to find information about Tengen's wife, Hinatsuru. He couldn't get any information about Hinatsuru, but he learned that the wife of the store owner had died two days ago and that everyone was quiet and gloomy. Hearing a girl's cry, Zenitsu rushes over to comfort her. However, before he knows it, Warabihime the courtesan is standing behind her. Zenitsu then realizes that she is in fact a demon, an Upper Rank demon in fact.
The demon lurking in the red light district, Upper Rank Six Daki, makes her entrance.
【The True Identity of Warabihime the Courtesan】
Going back a little, two days before Tanjiro and his friends infiltrated the red-light district, Omitsu, the proprietress of Kyogokuya, appealed directly to Warabihime. Whenever something annoyed Warabihime, she would take out her anger on the people around her, and the proprietress scolded her for it. Warabihime continued to maintain her arrogant attitude and glared at the proprietress. The landlady, who had been listening to the story of the courtesan who has always been mean and likes to use names that include the word "princess" and who tilts her head and glares at her from below when she doesn't like something, questions Warabihime...
【Upper Rank Six: The Demon Daki】
Warabihime's true identity was Daki, Upper Rank Six. The landlady, who realized her true identity, was killed. The way she was killed was brutal, not by eating her, but by dropping her from a high place to her death. Daki, who returned to her room with a nonchalant look on her face, bowed her head to Muzan, who was waiting for her. It was revealed that Daki had killed seven pillars. Zenitsu was blown away by Daki and fainted. He took a defensive stance and only fainted, but Daki realized that he was a member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
[As a result of Tengen's misjudgment, Zenitsu went missing at the hands of Daki]
The next morning, Zenitsu was captured by Daki. Unaware of this, Tanjiro and Inosuke were waiting for their regular contact. Tengen appears without a sound and tells them that Zenitsu is missing because of his repeated poor judgment, and urges them to retreat from the entertainment district. Tanjiro protests to Tengen, who is trying to fight the Upper Rank demons alone, but he doesn't listen and leaves immediately.
【Tanjiro and Inosuke decide to fight the Upper Rank demons】
The two are left behind, but they refuse to leave as they were told. Tanjiro, who believes that everyone is alive, decides to rescue them together with Inosuke. The two returned to the store and decided to meet again at Hagimotoya in the evening.
【Tanjiro leaves Tokitoya】
At night, before leaving Tokitoya, Tanjiro stops by Koinatsu Oiran. Koinatsu Oiran noticed that Tanjiro was cross-dressing, but did not pursue the matter, thinking that there must have been a reason. After she looked a little relieved at Tanjiro's words, she confessed her happiness that the marriage was decided and her complicated feelings about leaving everyone behind. Tanjiro bows his head and leaves Tokitoya. Immediately after, Daki appears in front of Koinatsu. Daki was about to eat Koinatsu, who was only here until tonight.
【Upper Rank Six: Encounter with Daki】
Sensing the presence of the demon, Tanjiro rushes to Koinatsu Oiran. There he sees Koinatsu Oiran and Daki, both of whom have been absorbed into the obi. Tanjiro is blown away by the obi at lightning speed, but his body reacts and he is unharmed. He calms his thoughts as he is about to go crazy, puts down the box containing Nezuko, and goes into battle alone. He fights back using Water Breathing, and succeeds in separating Koinatsu Oiran from the obi.
【In Their Own Places (Inosuke)】
Inosuke, who has reached the limit of his patience with Tanjiro not coming no matter how much time passes, takes action to search for traces of the demon alone. He destroys the ceiling and floor at random and discovers a passage leading to the underground, and proceeds forward. The space at the end of the passage shows the people trapped in the obi. Zenitsu, Makio, and Suma were captured, but they were not dead. Inosuke challenges the Obi demon, which is Daki's alter ego.
【In Their Own Places (Tengen)】
Tengen, acting on his own, succeeds in saving his wife Hinatsuru. Sensing that a battle has already broken out, Tengen searches for signs and hears the sounds of combat beneath the ground. He uses the Sound Breathing First Form "Go" to blow up the ground and dive underground. There he joins up with Inosuke and the others. Inosuke fights Obi with Maki, Suma, and Zenitsu, but is unable to kill him, but Tengen easily defeats him.
【Battle with Daki】
Tanjiro continues to fight Daki, but the battle is not going well. He is showing signs of fatigue, and the blade of his sword is chipped. Furthermore, Tanjiro's body is not suited to Water Breathing, so he is unable to use it as he would like. The only way to break out of this defensive situation was to use Hinokami Kagura.
【Burn your heart】
Hinokami Kagura is more suited to his body, but it is too powerful and he is unable to use the technique repeatedly. However, Tanjiro, who has trained with Kyojuro's will as his motivation, has become better at using Hinokami Kagura than before. He unleashes four techniques in a row: "Rekishikoukyo", "Enbu", "Genhicho", and "Kasha", and is close to cutting his neck, but fails and is hit by the recoil of Hinokami Kagura.
【Raise your body temperature! 】
During the battle, Tanjiro was conscious of raising his body temperature. The reason for this goes back a little to when he was training at the Butterfly Mansion. Tanjiro had a high fever of 38 degrees every day, but he felt fine as if the fever was a lie. Hinokami Kagura can also be used continuously, and Tanjiro thought that if he continued to raise his body temperature, he would be able to use Hinokami Kagura more effectively and become stronger.
【Fight to protect your life and not let it be taken! 】
Tanjiro is out of breath due to the backlash of Hinokami Kagura. However, unlike when he was using Water Breathing, he is able to compete with Daki. Hinokami Kagura would have worked even against the Upper Rank demons. Tanjiro is no longer the powerless person he was against Kyojuro. Tanjiro faces Daki, determined to use all his strength to defeat her.
【Summary】
What did you think? Volume 9 contains the sequel to the Mugen Train arc and the beginning of the Entertainment District arc. The battle continues and will become even more brutal from here on out. The full-scale battle with the Upper Ranks, the growth of Tanjiro and the others who could only watch, and the brave figure of each of them joining forces to face the Upper Ranks. The gripping developments will continue from now on. If you're interested after reading this article, I recommend you read the manga before watching the anime, as I think you'll enjoy the Entertainment District arc of the anime even more. Thank you!
