Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 16 Review: Letting Someone Else Go First

This week, the Demon Slaying Squad heads deeper into the forest of nightmares. Horrifying obstacle after horrifying obstacle blocks Tanjiro and Inosuke’s path. Through teamwork and sheer perseverance they manage to overcome most of what comes their way. But somewhere else in the forest, Zenitsu is dealing with his own issues. Legend has it, you can still hear him wandering around crying for Nezuko.

Japanese Original Episode Title: 自分ではない誰かを前へ

Plot

Inosuke has located the ‘Mother’ spider demon with his spatial awareness technique. He and Tanjiro leave the other demon slayer behind to take care of his comrades as they go onwards. But as they go deeper into the forest, more of the demon’s dolls pop up. After facing off against another group of controlled demon slayers and a headless demon, Tanjiro finally confronts the Mother demon. While there is not much of a fight between her and Tanjiro, the final scenes of her life, as both a human and demon certainly leaves the audience with a gut wrenching feeling.

Episode Highlights

Affection points up: The small lights that appear around Inosuke whenever Tanjiro does or says something cool reminds me of affection points in dating sims. I’m sure it’ll continue to be a running gag throughout the series.

Team work: That was a real creative display of teamwork by Tanjiro and Inosuke! The two of them work so well together, they’re both physically strong and mentally balance one another out. Where Tanjiro may sometimes get caught up in thinking things through, Inosuke charges ahead, and vice versa. Can’t wait to see the two of them in many more fights to come!

The bend and snap: I physically recoiled when the Mother demon snapped all those poor demon slayers’s necks! The whole scene was an emotional rollercoaster. The horror at their situation, their tears, the glimmer of hope when Tanjiro tangles them up, and that final jarring snap. So cruel.

A strange feeling: It feels very weird to write about how a death scene was ‘beautiful’ but there isn’t really any other word. Just moments before the scene was harsh, filled with the demon’s fear as Tanjiro came towards her with the first form. But as he let go of his anger and switched to the fifth form, the light and soft aura created such a gentle scene.

Themes/Trivia

Spiders Facts: Towards the end of this episode we caught a glimpse of the ‘Father’ spider demon and his abuse of the ‘Mother’ spider demon. The ‘Father’ is shown to be significantly larger than the ‘Mother’, however in real life female spiders tend to be the larger of the species. Other fun female spider facts: they tend to have more venom and some types even eat the male spider after intercourse – the most notable type that does this is the black widow spider.

Comments

Out of all the Demon Slayer episodes aired this is by far the darkest, and I have a feeling this series is only going to get more harrowing. In this episode we saw demon slayers, who looked as young as Tanjiro, begging for death and forced to kill one another. Especially the female demon slayer who was begging so desperately for Tanjiro and Inosuke to run away as she didn’t want to hurt anymore of her comrades. These same characters, who we immediately feel an affinity for, are then thrown around like ragdolls, their bones broken and joints dislocated. The entire sequence is as horrifying as it is nauseating. Then, as I talked about above, it all ends with a neck snap. So cruel and so unfair.

After that scene, the audience is 100% on board, as if we weren’t already, for Tanjiro to slice and dice the female spider demon. But as the series often does, the final moments of her death leave us with more emotional turmoil. What isn’t said or shown in this scene is far more horrifying than what is.

Getting Tangled in the Web

Each week, Demon Slayer gets more and more impressive. It’s almost getting a bit repetitive writing how good the animation was, or how wonderful the characters are. But you gotta give credit where credit is due. While the series has never been all sunshine and smiles, after all in Episode 1 most of Tanjiro’s family was murdered, this episode was certainly more horrifying than the rest. So, with nervous anticipation, I look forward to next week’s episode.

NEXT TIME: You Must Master a Single Thing

Remember to check back next week for my review of episode seventeen. 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.