Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Most of you might remember my review of Kimestu no Yaiba from last year. Man was that an anime a lot of people wanted me to look at and I can’t blame them. Kimestu no Yaiba was a big hit. It had spectacular animation, excellent fight scenes, beautiful music, and great characters to follow. Everything in this anime was as close to perfect as you can get and everyone else thought the same. The anime rocketed Kimestu no Yaiba to stardom all over the world. So much in fact that manga sales reached new records and allowed them to overtake One Piece the king of manga for years. This new crowning signaled a new era of manga was upon us and then the manga ended. In a shocking move and at the height of their newfound popularity, Kimestu no Yaiba ended its run in Shonen Jump a few months after the anime ended. This stunned a lot of people who never saw this coming, but at the same time, it was nice to see the author end the story on her terms and not overstay its welcome like some mangas out there have. Still, despite the shocking ending of Kimestu no Yaiba the series was still popular worldwide. People were buying merchandise. Everywhere I went somebody was wearing a Kimestu no Yaiba shirt. People who weren’t fans of anime were talking about it and the closing song for the Olympics was the opening song from the anime. The manga may have ended but its popularity was stronger than ever and it got even stronger with the announcement of the much-anticipated second season. Coming out in the fall of 2021, the excitement and anticipation for season 2 could only be compared to the fever pitch of Attack on Titan S2. But while that season didn’t live up to the hype as we’d hoped, Kimestu no Yaiba managed to deliver and then some. Let’s get ready to slay some demons. This is Kimestu no Yaiba S2.
Openings and Ending Themes
For this season we were lucky to get two openings and endings. The first opening is for the Mugen Train arc, “Akeboshi” by LiSA. This song was good. The instrumental sets the mood of loss but finding the strength to keep moving forward in honor of those who have fallen before you. LiSA’s voice as always is great and captures the essence of what this song means and what this arc will be about. For the Entertainment District arc we get “Zankyou Sanka” by Aimer. Well, hot damn. Just when you thought it couldn’t get better than LiSA, they brought in Aimer who kills it here. I’ve gone on record calling this song better than Gurenge and I stand by it. The piano, the horns, Aimer’s voice. It’s all on point here. I have no complaints with this song what so answer. I loved the song so much I downloaded it to my phone; I listen to it from time to time at work. It’s a song that’s going to be hard to top.
For the endings we have “Shirogane” by LiSA as the first ending. I guess she did such a good job on the opening they had to bring her back for the ending. I love the beginning of the song and the rest of the song goes hard as well. It’s like we’re going on a journey and this is our soundtrack as we set out on the first few days. Every time I hear this song I’m just imagining a montage of Tanjiro and the others traveling from town to town, speaking to locals, training, getting caught up in shenanigans, fighting demons, and chilling in the hotsprings while gazing up at the stars. The second ending is “Asa Ga Kuru” by Aimer. This was such an underrated song. It’s enchanting, beautiful, and pretty inspiring when you look up the lyrics. The whole song feels like it’s focusing on Tanjiro and Nezuko. They’ve been through so much and it’s like they’re asking themselves is it all worth it. Should we just call quits or keep pressing on to reach the light at the end of the tunnel? The path they’ve chosen is tough and will only get tougher but to them it’s worth it and as long as they have each other they’ll get through it. This song perfectly captures their struggles and commitment to each other.
Mugen Train arc
So the season starts off with a retelling of the Mugen Train arc. I was hoping the anime would add new scenes and at first they do that but it quickly becomes a retelling of the movie. For example, in the first episode, we start with Rengoku learning about the Mugen Train as well as demon attacks occurring around the train station and getting the mission to investigate it. From there the episode focuses on Rengoku investigating the station and searching for the Mugen Train. After buying a bunch of bentos from a girl named Fuku and her grandma, he hops on the last train which is on its way to the treain shed in the hopes of finding clues about the Mugen Train. Rengoku finds the Mugen Train where he can sense the traces of a demon and the workers tell him that the train will be heading back out tomorrow. As they talk, they hear some commotion coming from the back where a young worker has been captured by a demon. The demon toys with the boy where we learn that his power is speed (gotta go fast) and he’s been the one attacking people around the station. Rengoku manages to rescue the boy and the demon flees to the station to kill Fuku and her grandmother because he can’t stand the smell of food. After applying first-aid to the boy, Rengoku runs to the station (use that Naruto sprint) and arrives just in time to save Fuku and her grandma and kill the demon (scene here: https://youtu.be/pNMKzb3EXiE). With the slasher demon defeated, Rengoku focuses on the demon in the Mugen Train and boards the train in the evening which is when our 3 young demon slayers enter the picture (and jump on the crazy train). This was new, interesting, and cool to see some of the story told from Rengoku’s perspective.
In episodes 2-7 we fall in line with the movie as Tanjiro and the others meet Rengoku, slay some demons (where they become Rengoku fanboys), get put to sleep, and we dive into Tanjiro’s dream where he’s reunited with his family. We see everyone else’s dreams briefly but mainly focus on Tanjiro who with the help of Nezuko is able to realize this is a dream and makes the hard choice of leaving his family behind. We also get to see his beautiful core where the person sent to kill him can’t bring himself to destroy because of how pure and beautiful it is (again, this really does speak volumes about Tanjiro’s character. Despite everything that has happened to him and having every right to hate demons for what they took from him, his soul has not been consumed by anger or vengeance. He remains at peace with himself and hasn’t yet fully grasped the vast potential within him). Tanjiro manages to realize he’s in a dream and wakes up thanks to Nezuko where he goes to fight against Enmu. Tanjiro succeeds in beating him but of course we get the twist and find out that Enmu fused with the train (I still can’t believe Inosuke was right about this). Everyone else manages to wake up and while Tanjiro and Inosuke go to take out Enmu, everyone else defends the passengers. Tanjiro and Inosuke are successful in defeating Enmu and just as everyone takes a sigh of relief Akaza shows. We get an amazing fight between him and Rengoku where Rengoku sacrifices his life protecting everyone and trying to defeat Akaza who runs away just as the sun was rising (the coward). Tanjiro gives us one of the best emotional outbursts I’ve ever seen and we get Rengoku’s death (it’s just as painful as the first time I saw it). I was hoping they would add in some new scenes but they really didn’t. If anything they just extended a few scenes.
Entertainment District arc
The Entertainment District arc starts off on a good note with a one-hour special and begins greatly with Muzan now in the form of a small boy adopted by this wealthy family (man, he really is Michael Jackson with all these different forms). Akaza appears before him where we find out that he was given the mission of finding a rare flower called the Blue Spider Lily. Akaza hasn’t found the flower yet, but he reports about Rengoku’s death hoping to make Muzan happy, but this only infuriates him more. Muzan isn’t happy he let Tanjiro and the others live. After belittling Akaza (like a drunk alcoholic father), Muzan sends him away where he vows to find Tanjiro and kill him in the most horrific way possible (scene here: https://youtu.be/NB4ae7q_vnk). Speaking of Tanjiro and the others, they all get found by members of the Demon Slayers Corps. and taken in to treat their injuries. Despite not having fully recovered, Tanjiro sneaks out and goes to Rengoku’s house where he meets Senjuro the little brother of Rengoku (the family resemblance is uncanny) and his dad who always saw his son as untalented trash. Once he sees Tanjiro he can tell right away that he knows the Sun Breathing technique thanks to his earrings (which I am considering buying a pair of) and apparently this breathing is a big deal. It was the first breathing technique invented, the most powerful of the techniques, and all the other breathing techniques were derived from it (in fact, they’re all just mimics). Tanjiro and Rengoku’s dad fight each other with Tanjiro hitting his trademark headbutt to knock himself and Rengoku’s dad out (scene here: https://youtu.be/zQyfPj1peek). After he comes to, Senjuro hands Tanjiro a book which might contain teachings of the Sun Breathing technique but the pages have been torn to shreds by Rengoku’s dad. This discovery doesn’t tetter Tanjiro as he vows to keep training to get stronger and master his hidden techniques while Senjuro will work hard to restore the writing and help Tanjiro. After Tanjiro leaves, Senjuro goes to check on his dad where once he’s alone he finally breaks down in tears over the death of his son (scene here: https://youtu.be/XJ4dt63DTv8). Tanjiro then returns back to the Butterfly Mansion where Haganezuka tries to kill him for losing his sword (scene here: https://youtu.be/juVHP01LRp0. Yeah, he has every right to be pissed about that). Four months soon pass as our three demon slayers trained daily to get stronger while taking on solo missions in between. One day Tanjiro comes across the hashira Tengen who is trying to take some of the girls from the mansion on a mission against their will. Tanjiro and the others step in saying they’ll go in their place and Tengen accepts (scene here: https://youtu.be/a9-jucFGk0k) where their mission is eliminating a demon in the entertainment district (get ready to become men boys).
Episode 2 starts off with some good banter between Tengen and the others as we see he exists in this different plane of existence from the others (he knows there’s hype around him and he wants to be it). After that, they all go to case out the entertainment district where Zenitsu and Inosuke are overwhelmed by the environment (for two separate reasons mind you). After Tengen calms them down he tells them that they’ll be hunting for a demon in the district. Some time ago he sent his wives Suma, Makio, and Hinatsuru (you have quite the energy Tengen. That or he’s a Mormon) into the district to look for clues but he hasn’t heard back from them for a while. Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke will be going undercover in the district to find Tengen’s wives and see what they know. Tanjiro easily gets accepted into a house where he catches the eye of Koinatsu that house’s oiran (the top girl. The star. The one who gets the most money and therefore gets the better room privileges) who befriends him and says that Suma supposedly fled the district with her lover. Zenitsu and Inosuke also get picked up by different houses with Inosuke also finding a clue about Makio being hold up in her room and goes to investigate. Tengen starts to get an uneasy feeling in his gut and believes that they might be dealing with an upper moon demon (Mugen Train flashbacks are starting up again).
So there’s not much to say about episode 3. It starts with Inosuke busting into Makio’s room after sensing the presence of a demon. He hears the demon in the attic and tries to hunt it down only to lose it. Zenitsu on the other hand comes face to face with the upper moon demon whose name is Daki. For years she’s operated in the district killing people left and right and becoming the oiran of her house (she has quite the operation for herself. She can kill the other prostitutes and everyone will just think they fled the district and not think anything of it). She’s also quite strong as she apparently has killed seven hashiras. After Zenitsu defends a small helper girl at the house, Daki decks him which knocks him out. She can sense that he’s a demon slayer and makes plans to kill him down the line.
At the start of episode 4 we find out that Zenitsu has gone missing and Tengen tells Tanjiro and Inosuke to leave as he doesn’t want to risk putting them in any danger. Tanjiro and Inosuke decide to stay with Tanjiro believing that the demon in Inosuke’s house is using a secret passageway to move around in the morning to avoid sunlight (that makes sense and it wouldn’t be surprising). That night, Tanjiro bids farewell to Koinatsu who knew all along he was a boy (anybody with eyes could see that). She also says that she’s leaving the district as someone wants to marry her. Unfortunately, her happy life may not come as Daki attacks her absorbing her into a silk belt to be eaten later. Smelling the presence of a demon, Tanjiro returns to Koinatsu’s room and finds Daki. It soon becomes a one-on-one battle between Tanjiro and Daki where to his credit he manages to hold his own against such a powerful foe but the question is how long can he last (scene here: https://youtu.be/Bmu-5vlpJO4)?
Episode 5 starts with Tengen on the other side of town (this place is almost as dark as Fan4stic) where he finds Hinatsuru in a weakened state. Daki had suspicions about her being a spy so she caught her rather than eat her to get information out of her. After rescuing Hinatsuru, Tengen hears the sounds of battle and heads out where he hears the sounds coming from underground and we finally get to see his breathing style, sound. Back with Tanjiro he’s starting to realize that he’s not suited for the water breathing technique and the sun breathing techniques are out of the question at this time because his body can’t handle the sheer force of multiple strikes. Despite knowing this, Tanjiro takes a chance and uses the sun breathing style where to his credit he does manage to get an opening, but he’s not fast enough to land the killing blow and gets swatted away (like a fly). Meanwhile, Inosuke finds Daki’s food locker where she has multiple women (and Zenitsu. No judgment) stored in her belt and the belt is alive (anybody got that weird feeling to ship it with Dr. Strange’s cape or Rick’s lab coat?). Inosuke slashes the belt freeing some of the ladies including Suma and Makio (Suma might become everyone’s favorite because of her cute and whiny personality). Zenitsu also gets free and Tengen arrives as well (which means things are about to get flashy).
We open episode 6 with Tanjiro and Daki fighting where she finds out about Tengen and gets excited (just so you know Muzan doesn’t give a shit if you kill a hashira). Their fighting finally gets the attention of house owners who come out to complain (about time. I was wondering what everyone was doing?). Daki’s hair changes (into a scary white and green color which I like. It almost reminds me of Medusa’s hair) and she attacks everyone killing a number of people. We finally see Tanjiro unleash his rage as he manages to chop off Daki’s leg and she starts to see the memories of Muzan in her mind. This starts to affect her fighting as Tanjiro enters God mode and she starts to tremble in fear (except it’s not her fear but Muzan’s fear. The same demon that she both fears and loves. A god in her eyes who nobody can defeat and she is now experiencing his fear). As Tanjiro fights he comes close to slashing her neck but before he can land the final strike he stops and starts to breathe again. That’s right, this whole time he wasn’t breathing (he was so angry that he forgot to stop and breathe). Tanjiro collapses and starts to lose consciousness (scene here: https://youtu.be/2D1xodQv6xc) when all of sudden Nezuko appears and she’s angry (oni girl fight!). Daki and Nezuko fight each other where Daki is blown away by Nezuko’s recovery speed saying it’s on the same level as an Upper Moon demon. Nezuko grows big and manages to land a hit on Daki to end the episode.
It’s a demon girl fight in episode 7 as Nezuko takes on Daki. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it a fight as Nezuko just dominates Daki in every way possible. Nezuko’s recovery speed is better, she’s stronger, faster and even chopping her into pieces doesn’t slow her down (Nezuko is just showing off). However, Nezuko begins to take enjoyment in crushing her opponent and giving in to her demon instincts. Just when Nezuko is about to attack a hostess, Tanjiro stops her but she’s refusing to calm down. Daki gets back up and is about to attack some innocent bystanders with Tanjiro not knowing what to do (if he keeps holding Nezuko people will die but if he lets her go she’ll definitely kill someone and nobody wants that on their conscience). Luckily, Tengen shows up and beheads Daki (did it so fast I couldn’t even see it) and Tanjiro manages to calm down Nezuko with their mom’s lullaby (scene here: https://youtu.be/H_mfeJ1xin8). Back with Tengen despite beheading Daki she doesn’t die and begins to throw a tantrum (man I swear we were looking at a different demon). This summons her brother, Gyutaro who is the real Upper Moon demon who reattaches Daki’s head and even heals all of her wounds (scenes here: https://youtu.be/2EuJL1m8dEA and https://youtu.be/Lc_wFOM5JIA, and now the real battle begins). We find out that Daki and Gyutaro are two demons in one body so you’ll have to slash both of their necks if you want to kill them and they actually have a nice little combo with Daki doing long-distance attacks with her belt and Gyutaro doing close combat with his twin sickles.
At the start of episode 8 Tanjiro manages to return Nezuko to her box to rest and then heads back to the demon slaying (and I have to admit Tanjiro is a work horse. This guy has been pushing his body to the limits and beyond fighting Daki, got kicked out of a building, had to calm his demon sister, and is still ready to fight. This guy makes everyone around him look lazy). Back with Tengen we see how Gyutaro calls him blessed and talented but Tengen says otherwise. We learn a little bit about his past by finding out he came from a clan of ninjas who were slowly dying out after the Edo period. He had siblings but most of them died by the time he was 15. Not wanting his clan to die, Tengen’s father put Tengen and his younger brother through intense training where his younger brother became just like his father. Cold, heartless, saw his subordinates as pawns, and his wives just expendables to give him heirs (accomplish the mission no matter what. That’s the code of the shinobi). Not wanting to become like them, Tengen left and became a demon slayer with his wives following him. Returning back to the present, we see Tengen got poisoned by Gyutaro with his scythes and it is slowly taking effect on him, but Tengen battles through the poison and keeps fighting. Tanjiro and the others arrive ready to fight. Inosuke and Zenitsu take on Daki while Tanjiro and Tengen take on Gyutaro. At first the demon siblings have the upper hand as they’re more in sync than the others, but near the end of episode Tanjiro and Tengen start to turn it around (scene here: https://youtu.be/kitCDvmSygM).
Episode 9 is straight-up action as everyone fights and the poison is starting to affect Tengen. In a bold move Tanjiro goes to help out Inosuke and Zenitsu while Tengen takes on Gyutaro alone. Inosuke manages to slice Daki’s head off and tries to make a run for it with the head but Gyutaro pierces him from behind after taking down Tengen and chopping one of his hands off. Tanjiro can barely move, and Zenitsu also gets hit hard (scene here: https://youtu.be/x1BCeC9kJSM, we’re all gonna die).
In episode 10 we open up with Tanjiro blaming himself for everything that has happened, but Nezuko tells him to stop apologizing (yeah man, you’re too hard on yourself. You’re not Superman. Besides, I think you’ve done a great job so far) and instead focus on the future and work hard. After regaining consciousness he comes face to face with Gyutaro with Daki having her head reattached (well, back to square one). The others are nowhere to be found meaning it’s just an injured Tanjiro going up against two upper moon demons (who if you can believe it are considered the weakest of the bunch which makes you wonder what the others are capable of doing if these two are so hard to kill). Rather than kill Tanjiro, Gyutaro starts to mock him by calling him weak and breaking his fingers. He calls him a failure as a big brother for relying on Nezuko. He then invites Tanjiro to become a demon and he responds with a headbutt which was all a distraction to pierce Gyutaro with a poison kunai which numbs his body. Tanjiro then using all of his strength goes for the neck and tries to slice through. Zenitsu manages to escape the rumble and goes for Daki’s neck where’s he close to cutting through. Gyutaro manages to pull out the kunai and recover to go on the attack. He repels Tanjiro’s sword and just when he’s about to kill him, Tengen returns and takes on Gyutaro with one freakin’ hand. Tengen manages to create an opening for Tanjiro who gets stabbed but still slices through that neck. Zenitsu’s body reaches its limits and he still has managed to cut through Daki’s neck, but he gets a little help from Inosuke who manages to get back up (oh my God this is intense). In the end our three demon slayers manage to pull through and slice through Daki and Gyutaro’s necks to kill them. The two heads roll up next to each other (well that’s convenient), but Gyutaro unleashes one final attack in the hopes of taking everyone down with him.
In the final episode Tanjiro is still alive thanks to Nezuko (obviously). With Nezuko’s help he goes to check on the others where he sees Inosuke is barely alive and the poison is spreading throughout his body. If something isn’t done soon he’ll die. Once again Nezuko saves the day using her demon flames to cure the poison (man, those things do everything). She also saves Tengen’s life and then goes to help Tanjiro search for the heads of Daki and Gyutaro (yeah, I don’t trust those two. They could have a third sibling hidden around here somewhere. Scene here: https://youtu.be/MnqtnAj3l9Y). Tanjiro finds the heads of the siblings who are bickering with each other. Just when Gyutaro is about to say something he’ll seriously regret, Tanjiro stops him. Daki is the first to disappear where we find out her real name is Ume. We get to see their past where we find out their lives were hell. They were born in the lowest class, their mom died from a disease, and everyone cursed them for living. Hell, Gyutaro’s mom tried to kill him on several occasions. People mocked him for his appearance and ugly voice (tell that to the internet. Seriously, girls have gotten pregnant from that voice. Actually, side note, that’s Ryōta Ōsaka voicing Gyutaro and he kills it here. His voice matches Gyutaro’s character and appearance perfectly. I have never seen a more perfect pairing between a VA and character since Vic Mignogna as Tamiki from Ouran High Host Club). Things changed however when Ume was born. She became Gyutaro’s pride and joy as well as his reason for living. His confidence grew, he became a debt collector, and became feared by everyone. Just when things were looking up for them tragedy struck as Ume was burnt alive for blinding a samurai with her hairpin. Gyutaro also got his life targeted and barely survived before coming across an upper moon demon who gave him some of his blood and he turned into a demon (where I can only assume he battled through the rankings and rose to the top to become an upper moon demon). Gyutaro is reunited with Ume in the afterlife where the two journey off to Hell together (scene here: https://youtu.be/9AIdcgazwwU). Back in the world of the living Tengen announces his retirement and says Tanjiro will take his spot as a hashira (with Inosuke and Zenitsu not far behind). News of Gyutaro and Daki’s defeat spread quickly with even Muzan summoning the remaining upper-rank demons (ohh~, he is pissed).
Final Thoughts
And that was the Entertainment District arc. The arc started off relatively slow, but quickly picked up and delivered a very great ending with plenty of action and emotion. I did enjoy Tengen and his wives. You can tell they all love and care for each other greatly. Tengen had a huge wall to climb coming off the heels of Rengoku but I’m happy to say he delivered. In fact, I actually like him more than Rengoku. I like how he has a boastful attitude but at the same time is humble. He doesn’t think he’s the best or the strongest. He has people he looks up to around him and those he considers to be more talented than him. I also find it ironic that the person Tanjiro didn’t acknowledge as a hashira wound up being the person who acknowledged Tanjiro and the others by the end of the season. I did feel sad for Gyutaro and Daki at the end. While their actions are inexcusable you do understand why they did the things they did. They were shown no kindness or care when they were alive, so you can’t fault them for becoming demons. These two are like the mirror version of Tanjiro and Nezuko. I could totally imagine an alternate timeline where these two could have gone down the same route as Gyutaro and Daki. Sibling demons who love and care for the other and are against the world. The arc does a good job showing the growth of Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu as it was the three of them who defeated the demons and not Tengen showing how Rengoku’s death has motivated them to get stronger and this experience will also help them get stronger as well. The animation and music are once again phenomenal this season. The lighting of the entertainment district looks mesmerizing. It’s like we entered a whole new world. This must have been what the patrons felt whenever they visited the district back then. The action sequences are spectacular to look at. The way they’re shot and how fast the characters move is a masterpiece of animation. Ufotable is really setting the bar for today’s animation and letting all the other studios know that if you don’t get on our level of animation then the get hell out.
Final Score
The final score for the Entertainment District is an 8/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. While the first season was obviously better, this season is still great and worth checking out. A third season has already been announced and I can’t wait to see how they animate the village of the blacksmith. Still, one has to wonder, what did all the fans of Kimestu no Yaiba turn to when the manga ended. Well, I have an idea where they went, but I’ll save it for next time. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA- OW! Stub my toe. Huh? That wasn’t so bad.
*The ceiling fan drops from the ceiling and hits Nitsuj in the head*
(Nitsuj): That was.