Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 11 Review: Tsuzumi Mansion

It’s been a great ride over the last eleven weeks with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. With this week’s episode, I fear it has all come to an end. With the introduction of a words-cant-describe-how-bloody-annoying-he-is character, my patience and interest in the episode waned before the halfway mark. If it weren’t for the unique premise and continually stunning animation, I would have thought this show truly had lost the plot.

Japanese Original Episode Title : 鼓お屋敷

Plot

Tanjiro helps a poor girl who is being harassed by another demon slayer. Tanjiro recognizes the boy (Zenitsu Agatsuma) from the final selection and as fate would have it, they’re headed to the same place. They arrive at a strange mansion in the woods. There, they meet two children who witnessed their brother being kidnapped by a demon. Tanjiro and Zenitsu enter the mansion, but another sneaky form of demon art adds a unique twist to their quest.

Episode Highlights

Two for the price of one: This week’s episode we were introduced to not just one new character but two. While the episode mostly features Zenitsu, we did get a quick look at boar head as he crashed his way through the mansion. Perhaps the most interesting thing about him is that he wields two nichirin blades. They also seem to have a unique jagged edge that the other blades do not have.

Big Bro Tanjiro: I’m sure I mention this every review but it’s so great to see such a sweet hero. This week saw Tanjiro looking after two young children whose older brother had been brutally attacked. Tanjiro does such a great job of making these kids feel safe and protecting them once they get inside the mansion.

Constant Redecorating: This week’s demon arts was really reminiscent of the 1997 film Cube. Constantly shifting rooms that confuse and terrify those trapped inside – I can’t wait to see how Tanjiro deals with this problem.

Cutting Words: I think the only segment I enjoyed this week with Zenitsu was when one of the kids really let loose on him. The kid really got the raw end of the deal being stuck with Zenitsu, but he didn’t let that phase him as he told the demon slayer exactly what he thought. Let’s hope that those words will knock some sense into our spineless ‘hero’.

Chirp chirp: Not so much a highlight but a question: if Zenitsu can’t understand his sparrow, how was he doing his missions? Was he just wandering around and stumbling upon demons or was he just crying and hiding since the final selection? Hmmm…

Themes/Trivia

Tsuzumi: You may have noticed the word ‘tsuzumi’ pop up a few times during this episode, as well as in the episode title. Tsuzumi is a traditional drum instrument, it is designed like an hourglass with a drum on either end. The chords around the structure can be adjusted to change the pitch.

Comment

I’ve been watching anime for a long time, and I don’t think I’ve heard had such a visceral reaction of frustration to a character so quickly. I get that Zenitsu is supposed to be some comic relief character, in fact I’ve got a pretty high tolerance for such characters. Heck, I can even laugh and enjoy most things, from the ridiculously perverted jokes of Prison School to the slapstick humor of One Punch Man. But Zenitsu’s gags are just so unfunny, and more to the point, they’re cringy. Especially his introduction where he was harassing some poor girl on the side of the road. If it was a one liner it may have been alright, maybe even a ‘haha moment’, but as the whole opening of the episode, it was just awful.

On top of being a creep, I would say at least half of this episode is him screaming, crying, and causing trouble for Tanjiro. What’s frustrating is that this could have been a really interesting way to explore the fears of other demon slayers. Tanjiro is rarely shown to be scared, he’s very brave and doesn’t hesitate. It would actually be really cool to have a character on the flip side who is petrified but moves through their fear because of – insert noble reason here -. I know it’s too early to judge Zenitsu completely, but as it stands he really doesn’t have any redeeming features.

An Escape Room like No Other!

I know this whole post has been very anti-Zenitsu, but he’s made an awful first impression. Usually I find the Demon Slayer episodes pass by in a blink of the eye, and I can’t wait till the week passes by for the next. This week’s episode, I had to stop myself from opening up Candy Crush or checking my work emails. I just wanted something to distract myself from it. Well, to be fair to Zenitsu, I’ll be giving him a second chance next week to redeem himself. But I don’t give third chances, so he better not blow it.

NEXT TIME: The Boar Bares its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps

Remember to check back next week for my review of episode twelve. In the meantime, make sure to check out the rest of our Spring 2019 reviews. This series is also part of our weekly anime previews.