demon slayer ep3-4: i wouldnt leave nezuko alone with the d@#k mask guy (ta2)

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demon slayer s1e3-4

i wouldnt leave nezuko alone with the d@#k mask guy

03/21/2022

e3 : sabito and makomo

summary:

This episode has a lot going on.

It opens with an info dump further explaining demons and demon slayers, which goes a little something like this(see notes). After that we are back with Tanjiro and Urokodaki where we learn the process of becoming a Demon Cop. First, you have to be instructed by a trainer, of which Uro is but one of many. Secondly, if your trainer deems you worthy you are sent to a final selection where you must survive to become a full fledged member. Tanjiro is getting well underway with that.

As a side note here, evidently Nezuko is in some kind of demon coma. Tanjiro is doing a lot of journaling in this ep with entries addressed to her, whether for when she wakes up or more likely when/if he manages to make her human again. Anyyyywayyy.

Tanny boy is just getting straight up dominated Manuel Ferrara style by Uro in the training. The traps on the mountain obstacle course are getting deadlier, the lessons are getting more abstract, the subject matter more difficult to master.

We are introduced to something called “total concentration breathing™” which is explained with a bunch of mumbo jumbo but it’s essentially kaio-ken from dragon ball. Evidently, Urokodaki has a technique called water breathing, and there’s like different forms of it but we don’t really get into that in the episode. Guess they’re gonna spoon feed us that one.

After six months of this intense training, Urokodaki leads Tanjiro to a secluded glen in the middle of which is a large boulder. Uro informs his apprentice that in order to be sent to final selection Tanjiro will have to slice this volkswagen size stone in half with his sword. After one slice Tanjiro realizes he doesn’t have what it takes.

Enter Sabito and Makomo, two dreamlike masked and vacced mysterious siblings that emerge from nowhere to dispense valuable information. Sabito shows up first, spars with Tanjiro and promptly beats the fuck out of his shit. All the while, he derides and belittles Tanjiro’s failure to master anything that Uro-kun has taught him.

After getting his shit pushed in by Sabito, Tanner is laying in this forested glen beset by ennui when a little shawty (Makomo) shows up to give his some much needed words of encouragement. While Sabito just beat his shit in and spit in his eye, Makomo lays out a game plan to get him up to speed.

Flash forward six more months. Tanjiro is ready. He squares up with Sabito again and this time gets the upper hand immediately slicing his opponent’s mask right in half. Suddenly, the siblings disappear, seemingly pleased, leaving Tboy befuddled when he realizes that maybe the boulder was the fox mask he was trying to slice the whole time.

Because that’s what happened. The siblings were gone and the boulder was cleft in twain.

notes:

2:20 - the demon slayer corps consists of several hundred members and is not affiliated with the guberment in any way (very based all governments are evil). The corps has been around since ancient times but there leader is a mysterious Gus and no one knows who it is (allegedly).

the demons on the other hand, they feed on humans. They are possessed with rapid healing and can even regenerate limbs in the blink of an eye. Some allusions are made to demons that can shape shift and others that possess “otherworldly” powers. A note is made here that no one knows when and where they first appeared. Finally, we find out that they can only be killed by sunlight or by decapitation with a special sword.

total concentration breathing helps healing and balance. They go into it how it works twice but it’s all a bunch of mumbo jumbo and basically it just lets demon slayers get as strong as demons if they can master it.

final thoughts:

This episode definitely has a lot more moving parts than we’re used to. And not only that the story telling is substantially improved.

Taking place over an entire year, we definitely get the feeling that Tanjiro is progressing in his journey. Not just his increasingly mature and more masculine demeanor, but his appearance as well. His hair is wild and long by the time he defeats Sabito.

Nezuko is a no show. She’s just lounging around while Tanjiro is over here becoming a man. I wonder if the ball gag is really necessary when she’s in her demon coma?

There are a lot of striking shots here, from Tanjiro deflecting knives from the mountain booby traps with his sword to the ethereal feeling forest clearing where he encounters the spooky siblings it looks absolutely fantastic.

I gotta say that I am ready for some real demon hunting content, though. We’re only on episode three but I’m ready for some hardcore action (nothing sexual).

e4 : final selection

summary:

On to e4: final selection.

This ep starts off with a little bit of a revelation by our hero Tangerine here that what allowed him to beat Sabito was this mysterious occurrence. His fifth sense let him see a magical string that revealed to him his opening blow. Following the string = guaranteed pwnage.

Then Urokodaki shows up and guess what? We get another revelation, tovarish. Ole Uro had no intention of sending Tanjiro to final selection which is why he had given T the seemingly impossible task of cutting the large boulder. Evidently, a bunch of youngsters that he had trained met their demise during the trial. (FORESHADOWING)

However, Tanjiro succeeds, Uro is proud, a feast is had and the boy gets ready to head off to THE FINAL SELECTION.

One thing, though. Nezuko is still in her coma. We don’t know what’s up with her really, nor do we get the prognosis. Urokodaki says ‘Oh don’t worry lil bud you go do your super cool final selection. I’ll just watch this prime fertile teenage girl in a coma while your out… don’t mind me.”

I’m just saying bro don’t leave your hot unconscious sister alone with a old loner mountain pervert, okay? And you know he’s a pervert I mean come on look at that fuckin dick mask and tell me this guy doesn’t work for kink.com. How can you leave Nezuko alone with this guy? You know as soon as Tanjiro rounds the bend in the road that guy is lighting candles and shoving that thing up her pussy.

Anywayyyy.

As Tanjiro nears the training areas of Fujikasane Mountain he enters under boughs of gorgeous, glowing purple Wisteria flowers, which we find out ward off demons. This thick hedge installed by the Demon Slayer Corps keeps the demons of the training area stuck on the mountain.

The trial begins! We see a few dozen other prospects enter with our hero but it isn’t long before it’s our boy vs two demons. Two demons that he dispatches quickly — a surprise even to himself.

He doesn’t have long to celebrate though before he encounters a humongous deformed hideous man eater feasting on another one of the trainees and chasing another.

Tanjiro engages. Pow! Wham! Whoosh! Tanjiro uses a water breathing move to cut off some of the freak’s arms and save one of his fellow demon cop wannabes.

The plot is about to thicken so get ready. Turns out this big fat demon guy was captured by none other than Urokodaki forty-seven years ago. Ever since, he has dedicated his life to the endless goal of eating all of Uro’s students he sends to final selection. He tells the story of two such children who he had killed that match the description of Sabito and Makomo…. turns out they were dead the wholllllle time!

As a matter of fact, during the entire fight with the big demon we keep cutting back to the young dead kids who are giving us the Al Michaels/Chris Collinsworth breakdown of the fight. They’re prediction? A big fat L for Tanjiro.

But tbh, it’s not happening. Tanjiro activates TOTAL CONCENTRATION BREATHING™ and uses his fifth sense to locate the string… the string that lets him see his upcoming slash or something… and he goes in for the kill… the big… fat… kill.

And he totally chops the demons head off but the episode ends right there so it could totally grow back or something. I guess we’ll find out next week!

notes:

5:50 demons “are about as strong as the number of humans they’ve eaten”(??? LOL)

12:30 nichirin swords are what the demon slayer corps calls their swords, which are made out of a special steel that kills demons dead.

final thoughts:

A bitter irony - the warding masks that Urokodaki had been carving for his trainees is what guaranteed their death at the hands of the large demon in the final selection.

demons “are about as strong as the number of humans they’ve eaten”(??? LOL) - these kind of apples to oranges comparisons always strike me as a little asinine. “That guitar is as expensive as doja cat’s ass is fat.” Okay, idk.

demon slayer sneak peak - what are the odds that some of these demon slayer cadets we see in this episode will become integral to the plot of the series? I already know the orange one will, he’s in the credits and shit. But how about the guy with the ugly face?