Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Episode 8 Review: Bewitching Fragrance of Blood

Last week’s episode left off with Tanjiro in a rather conflicting situation. Caught between the demon who killed his family and a new rogue demon, Tanjiro makes a hard choice. But while Tanjiro didn’t get a chance for revenge, he did make a significant step towards finding a cure for Nezuko.

Japanese Original Episode Title : 幻惑の血の香り

Plot

Tanjiro leaps into action to help the poor guy who was turned into a demon by Muzan. The local police try to intervene and a strange woman comes to Tanjiro’s rescue. The woman is also a demon and works as a doctor. She and her attendant are working on a cure to help turn demons back to human. Tanjiro happily agrees to help collect demon blood for their research. And he’ll get the chance to make good on this promise, with two demon underlings of Muzan attacking the clinic soon after.

Episode Highlights

What you don’t know, can hurt you: One small point of confusion I’ve had during this series is how well-known demons are in the world. In the first episode a man warns Tanjiro about demons, but the way it is presented seems more like an old folktale. In this episode the police that try to restrain the changed man comment on his eyes and look but don’t seem to recognize what he’s become. If demons aren’t seen as being real, I guess that makes the threat of them even more nefarious, as people don’t go out of their way to defend against them.

U-don forget about the Udon: I’m glad I wasn’t the only one upset about the wasted udon. The vendor was also not pleased to see his beautiful meal thrown away. Thankfully Tanjiro made up for it by happily eating two bowls of udon. Is there a rule that shounen protagonists must have huge appetites?

An Eyesore!?: Dear me, someone needs to get their eyes checked. I was just as shocked as Tanjiro when Yushiro called sweet Nezuko an eyesore. Although it did give another great scene of Tanjiro going into overprotective brother mode.

Red Sword: It seems that my musing (and that of many other fans) on the relationship between Tanjiro and Muzan could be correct. In a flashback, Muzan is shown having been defeated by a man that looks like Tanjiro with a red sword. You may remember in Episode 5, Haganezuka was hoping Tanjiro’s sword would turn red. As Muzan is probably hundreds, if not thousands of years old, the man in the flashback could be Tanjiro’s ancestor.

Themes & Trivia

Temari Weapon: One of the new demons this episode has an interesting weapon, a temari (手まり) which literally translates as ‘hand ball’. Temari was traditionally used as toys for young girls but later became more of an art form. Balls are skilfully made with unique patterns and wrappings, and official artisans of temari must complete special training.

Comments

Muzan is becoming such an interesting villain. A demon masquerading as a human, he seems to have a real complex about his looks. Specifically, how healthy he looks. It seems that demons are somewhat immortal, with Muzan supposedly hundreds/ thousands of years old, and Tamayo is revealed to be about two hundred. Muzan seems to have a bit of a god complex too (what villain doesn’t?). Perhaps he became a demon during his quest for immortality? The man’s comment about looking close to death definitely set something off in him. Tanjiro, better watch out.

This week’s episode was probably one of the more gory ones. Last week, we saw a cold and calculating side to Muzan, and this week we see how overpowered he is. After killing two men with one hit each, he showcases his demon-turning powers. He quite literally causes a woman to disintegrate from breaking down her cells. Contrastingly, we also go to see some beautiful floral animation for Tamayo’s demon abilities. Seeing the difference between these two demons really goes to show how many different types of demons there are out there. Just like Nezuko isn’t bloodthirsty and violent, there are many other demons out there who are in tragic situations and cling to their humanity.

Just What the Doctor Ordered

This week’s episode introduced us to quite a few new characters, it’ll be interesting to see how long they stick around. But most importantly, it gave us some hope for Nezuko and Tanjiro. There’s light at the end of the tunnel for our adorable siblings, but unfortunately that light is being blocked by a demon called Muzan Kibutsuji. I can’t wait to uncover Muzan’s history and see Tanjiro get his revenge.

NEXT TIME: Temari Demon and Arrow Demon

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