Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Episode 18) – A Forged Bond
Tanjiro and Inosuku continue to fight the Father Spider Demon, but his strength is incredible and they can’t seem to cut him. Could this be the Kizuki Demon the Puppet Demon warned Tanjiro of?
What did you watch?
It’s all action as we head into episode 18 of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Zenitsu is poisoned and apparently destined to become one of those spider baby creatures… Meanwhile, Tanjiro and Inosuke were up against the Father Spider Demon and he seemed pretty tough. That can only mean that we’re going to get more action in this episode and that can only be a good thing. All right, let talk about this episode. As sure as there will be demons in a series called Demon Slayer, there will be spoilers in the review below.
What happened?
Tanjiro and Inosuke doubled up to fight the Father Spider Demon but neither of them could cut through his arms. The demon caught Inosuke off guard and flung him down the stream. Tanjiro followed and managed to drop a tree on the demon, but just as he was about to do something incredibly awesome, the demon lifted up the tree and used it to swat Tanjiro into a different part of the forest.
The higher-ranking demon slayers finally showed up and started looking for demons, but it doesn’t appear that they get along so they split up. The butterfly demon slayer found Zenitsu looking like crap and asked if he was all right!!! The spider babies stared up from below, looking oddly concerned about Zenitsu. Maybe without their master, they had regained some consciousness. Now, that’s a disturbing thought.
Tanjiro landed in the woods and found the Sister and Brother Spider Demons having a bit of an argument and they didn’t appreciate him getting involved in their business. Inosuke found a way to attack the Father Spider Demon, but then is malted and came back bigger and stronger. It’s not looking too good for any of our heroes…
What did you think?
On the whole, I really enjoyed this episode. There were, however, a number of things that kind of annoyed me and I’ll get to those later. Ironically, it wasn’t Zenitsu that annoyed me this week. It was definitely an action-packed episode that managed to reveal a little more of the mystery that is Inosuke. We also got to see Giyu in action and that was fairly impressive, if not a little quick.
What was your favourite moment?
I thought that Inosuke fighting the Father Spider Demon was excellent. It was a nice move to split the group up further, leaving them to go it alone for now. Inosuke showed signs of development. There were moments where he was running and thinking about what Tanjiro had said to him, but then he would turn around and charge at the demon. It was funny, but totally within character. The one thing that bugged me was when he managed to chop through the demon’s arm by repeatedly hitting his own sword with his other sword and not once did the demon try to stop him.
What was your least favourite moment?
So, Tanjiro has walked into the dispute between Sister Spider Demon and Brother Spider Demon. We get a sense that he’s powerful and dangerous, but just in case we weren’t clever enough to read between the lines, some random demon slayer waltzes in and talks about an easy kill only to be slashed into chunks by Brother Spider Demon’s webs. It just felt so forced and unnecessary. This show really doesn’t put much faith in its viewers.
Who was your favourite character?
You’re not going to believe this but it was Inosuke. It was amazing watching him develop and start to use his brain rather than his animal instincts, although it was also funny when he stopped and cursed that he was becoming like Tanjiro. I also find his inability to get anyone’s name right to be funny too. I thought his flashbacks while the Father Spider Demon tried to crush his head were interesting. It looked like his mother hide him away to save him and I can only assume he ended up in a retelling of the Jungle Book from that point.
Who was your least favourite character?
That would be pointless random demon slayer who only lasted a couple of seconds before being turned into chunked demon slayer. That whole scene, while gross and effective for what it was showing us, was also completely pointless.
Would you like some more?
Much like the concerned spider-babies, I very much want to see what happens in the next episode. I felt like the shot kept lingering on Tanjiro’s box which leads me to believe that we will see Nezuko in the next episode. It’ll either be her or Sister Spider Demon that saves Tanjiro from certain death. I still think she’s the Kizuki Demon and the others are just parts of her personality. She may have lost control of them, but I think it’s all her. Only time will tell.
Other reviews in the series
Anime
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Cruelty
- Episode 2 – Trainer Sakonji Urokodaki
- Episode 3 – Sabito and Makomo
- Episode 4 – Final Selection
- Episode 5 – My Own Steel
- Episode 6 – Swordsman Accompanying a Demon
- Episode 7 – Muzan Kibutsuji
- Episode 8 – The Smell of Enchanting Blood
- Episode 9 – Temari Demon and Arrow Demon
- Episode 10 – Together Forever
- Episode 11 – Tsuzumi Mansion
- Episode 12 – The Boar Bares Its Fangs, Zenitsu Sleeps
- Episode 13 – Something More Important Than Life
- Episode 14 – The House with the Wisteria Family Crest
- Episode 15 – Mount Natagumo
- Episode 16 – Letting Someone Else Go First
- Episode 17 – You Must Master a Single Thing
- Episode 18 – A Forged Bond
- Episode 19 – Hinokami
- Episode 20 – Pretend Family
- Episode 21 – Against Corps Rules
- Episode 22 – Master of the Mansion
- Episode 23 – Hashira Meeting
- Episode 24 – Rehabilitation Training
- Episode 25 – Tsuguko, Kanao Tsuyuri
- Episode 26 – New Mission
- Movie
- Season Two – Yuukaku-hen
- Episode 1 – Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui
- Episode 2 – Infiltrating the Entertainment District
- Episode 3 – What Are You?
- Episode 4 – Tonight
- Episode 5 – Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!
- Episode 6 – Layered Memories
- Episode 7 – Transformation
- Episode 8 – Gathering
- Episode 9 – Defeating an Upper Rank Demon
- Episode 10 – Never Give Up
- Episode 11 – No Matter How Many Lives
- Bonus Posts
Manga
- Series Review
- Volume 1 – Cruelty
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Yeah agree, Inosuke got a lot of development. That was brutal though, to see random slayer just waltz in and get slayed like that, shish slayer anyone?.
Wouldn’t it have been better to have Tanjiro find the random demon slayer, have a brief discussion, maybe not make him out to be a complete jerk, and then the stumble upon the demons. It would have made the death more significant and less forced. It was definitely brutal. Reminded me of the laser passage in Resident Evil.
Someone better save Tanjiro because that was a really mean cliff hanger to leave us on – worse because we know he isn’t actually going to die at this point in the series (that would actually be interesting) so we know somehow he’s going to survive and we just have to wait and find out how.
As to the random demon slayer, well that is about standard for this show at this point. They tell us everything multiple times so just having another demon scared of the brother isn’t enough to make us know he’s bad news. They definitely have to give us a visual lesson to prove he’s nasty. That said, what is with the demon slayer organisation? The people in it are either completely random or self-involved and they don’t seem to have much going in the way of cooperation. How can they possibly be effective? Then again, given the number of demons that seem to be running around Japan slaughtering people apparently they aren’t that good at their job.
Yeah, it’s like the weekly reminder that Tanjiro has a strong sense of smell… I find it funny that all the other demon slayers seem to be pretty useless and all just wear standard uniform where as ours either have crazy coats or a boar mask. The deaths of the demon slayers to the puppet demon meant something because we felt sorry for them and saw their struggle. This guy just appeared shot his mouth off and turned into chunked demon slayer. It really was poor storytelling.
Poor storytelling, but not unexpected for this show. While it has been fun (with the exception of the few episodes after Zenitsu and Inosuke first got introduced) it hasn’t exactly been brilliant in how it has told its story.
And yeah, line up all the characters we’ve met in the last two weeks and ask someone who doesn’t watch the show to pick the main characters and the villains. I doubt they would struggle.
It’s such a shame, because with the design and obvious care taken with the animation, not to mention the money out into it, it could have been so much better with stronger storytelling.