Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2016)

[鬼滅の刃]

Volume 2

Author/Artist: Koyoharu Gotouge
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Tanjirou lands the finishing blow on the oni who had killed so many of Urokodaki's pupils.

Story/Characters:
We kick off with Teoni's last moments, conflating Tanjirou with Urokodaki as his life flashes before his eyes. This will be a trend in the series, seeing the miserable lives the oni led when they were human. You might call it cheap emotional manipulation by the author, and I wouldn't entirely disagree with you, but this ties into one of the major themes, how human misery sets the stage for becoming an oni. It's also important for showing off Tanjirou's compassion even for these monsters (which I imagine he would feel even if his sister wasn't an oni). Hoping the souls of his fellow pupils will find peace, he descends from the mountain to find only three others have emerged from the Final Selection. The two children overseeing the Final Selection explain more about being members of the Corps, things like their uniforms, the ranking system, and the Kasugai Crows used for communication. However, one of the new members is only interested in getting his sword and actually attacks one of the children when he doesn't get one right away. Tanjirou intervenes and actually breaks ill-mannered fellow's arm. The new members are then invited to choose the lump of iron they want to be used to make their sword.

We then see Tanjirou on his way back to Urokodaki's, a little downcast that none of the oni he encountered gave him any chance to talk so that he might get some clue to restoring Nezuko's humanity. Speaking of Nezuko, despite being essentially comatose for the past two years while Tanjirou was training, she all the sudden appears up and at 'em as he arrives at Urokodaki's cottage. Urokodaki tearfully welcomes him back and fifteen days later, the swordsmith Haganezuka shows up to deliver Tanjirou's sword. Tanjirou and Haganezuka are going to have a complicated relationship. The special Nichirintou wielded by the Demon Slayer Corps changes color based on its wielder and in Tanjirou's case, his is a deep black, which is unusual. Haganezuka was hoping for red and berates Tanjirou for betraying his expectations, but their back-and-forth is interrupted when a crow shows up with orders for Tanjirou's first mission.

Tanjirou heads out carrying Nezuko around in a box made by Urokodaki. He's sent to a town where several girls have gone missing. Tanjirou meets a young man named Kazumi whose fiancée was one of the latest girls to go missing. The way the oni behind it hunts is by yoinking his prey into the ground and Tanjirou is on the trail just as he takes another victim. Tanjirou saves the girl and now has to try to defend both her and Kazumi while fighting the oni. Things get more complicated as it appears there are three oni (but based on the way they talk, it's a single oni that's split into three bodies). The oni doesn't appreciate Tanjirou interfering with his feeding as he's rather particular about eating girls around 16. When one of them tries to get at Tanjirou from behind, he nearly gets his block kicked off by Nezuko. We learn that Urokodaki worked some hypnosis on her while she was dormant, making her see all humans as her family and all oni as her enemy. Having been told by Urokodaki that Nezuko isn't so weak that she needs to be protected, Tanjirou takes the chance of trusting her to protect the civilians while he goes to the sort of shadow realm where the oni is hiding. He takes out the two in the shadow realm, then returns to face off with the one up top fighting with Nezuko. Another thing Urokodaki told Tanjirou about was the top oni, the only one he knows of who can create other oni, Muzan Kibutsuji. This would mean that Muzan was the one responsible for the murder of Tanjirou's family and the one most likely to know if there's any way to restore an oni's humanity. However, the lesser oni have a curse placed on them where they're not even allowed to say Muzan's name. Unable to get any information out of the oni, Tanjirou finishes it off and leaves Kazumi with a memento of his lost fiancée before heading off to his next mission.

Tanjirou's next destination is Asakusa in Tokyo. As you might expect for a boy from out in the sticks, he's rather staggered by the big city. He and Nezuko rest at an udon cart before he catches the scent of none other than Muzan himself. Quite recklessly, he darts off to confront the last boss in the second volume of a 23-volume series. Before Tanjirou can go for his sword, he finds that Muzan is there with a human wife and child. Without even changing his expression, Muzan subtly turns one of the bystanders into an oni to keep Tanjirou occupied. While Tanjirou is trying to restrain the newly turned oni, he loudly declares that he'll be coming for Muzan one day and it's then that Muzan sees Tanjirou's earrings and recognizes them. This isn't a good thing for Tanjirou. Anyway, the police come in and Tanjirou gets in an argument with them as ordinary cops aren't equipped for dealing with an oni. However, a mystery woman shows up and rakes her nails across her arm, causing an illusion that confuses the cops. The woman approaches Tanjirou and notes that he is treating the oni as a person and so she has decided to help him. This is Tamayo, an oni and a doctor dedicated to Muzan's destruction. Speaking of Muzan, he leaves his wife and child, presumably to pursue Tanjirou, but then some drunks make the unfortunate decision to tangle with him. It ends poorly for them, but we get a demonstration of Muzan's power in exchange. He then sends a couple of his cronies to do his dirty work for him.

Tanjirou goes back to get Nezuko and meets up with Tamayo's assistant Yushirou. Now, Yushirou cares only about Tamayo and when he sees Tanjirou with an oni girl in tow, he calls her ugly and Tanjirou's big brother instinct kicks in and he quite vehemently disputes the claim. Tamayo chides Yushirou for his bad behavior and then goes on to explain her situation more, how she's altered her body's constitution to break free of Muzan's curse and the better control her oni instincts, using her cover as a doctor to get blood for transfusions to take the edge off her cravings. Speaking in vampire terms, Yushirou is Tamayo's offspring, proving to be an aversion to the idea that Muzan is the only one capable of creating oni. However, in Tamayo's case, the terminally ill Yushirou is the only one she has turned. Tanjirou then raises his most pressing concern, whether or not an oni can become human again. Tamayo believes it's possible, but she hasn't figured it out yet. In order to find the answer, she asks to examine Nezuko's blood and the blood of other oni close to Muzan. Of course, the closer an oni is to Muzan, the stronger they are, but Tanjirou isn't going to let something like that deter him.

This is all well and good, but their pleasant conversation gets interrupted by the two oni Muzan sent after Tanjirou. These two are Yahaba and Susamaru. Basically, Yahaba's powers seem to manipulate the vectors of kinetic energy while Susamaru throws around mari (a type of Heian-era ball) that can tear holes in buildings and go through flesh and bone like butter. They make a formidable team as Susamaru can throw her balls and Yahaba can change the direction to make them more difficult to dodge. Yushirou's ability to see the direction is a particular advantage and he's able to empower Tanjirou with a fuda as Yushirou himself isn't geared for combat. Susamaru boasts of being counted among the Twelve Kizuki, the most powerful of Muzan's servants. Rather than being frightened by this, Tanjirou sees an opportunity to get the blood Tamayo needs to work on a cure for Nezuko.

Art:
The first volume represented a good start with the visuals and Gotouge has managed to step up his game already. While the design of the shadow-walker oni isn't that distinctive, the fight is a dynamic one that does a good job of showing off Tanjirou as a full-fledged member of the Demon Slayer Corps. I don't know why Gotouge decided to have Muzan look like such a smooth criminal, but it is amusing. The fight with Yahaba and Susamaru does a good job of escalating the level of spectacle we've seen thus far. Poor Tamayo and Yushirou take a lot of damage to sell the magnitude of the threat the duo represent (as the series would be brought to a quick end if Tanjirou took any hits like that).

Other:
We get special regional illustrations of Akita!Tanjirou and Kagawa!Nezuko; Taisho Secrets for Tokie (the girl who Tanjirou rescued from the shadow-walking oni), Toyo-san the udonya, and Yushirou; early illustrations of Tanjirou and Nezuko; an illustration used in a collage for an issue of Weekly Shounen Jump; an abandoned cover illustration for Chapter 7; concept art for a middle school AU (which will be a running thing) depicting Tanjirou, Nezuko, Tamayo and Yushirou; and some words of thanks from the author.

Conclusion:
The conclusion of the Final Selection gives us a nice little bit of catharsis before we have our mission. We're introduced to the big bad and given a major lead in Tanjirou's quest to restore Nezuko's humanity. Things are escalating at a good pace and that should keep your blood pumping. If the first volume hooked you, this is sure to keep a hold on you. Add this one to the collection.

Rating:
Own It