Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2017)

[鬼滅の刃]

Volume 6

Author/Artist: Koyoharu Gotouge
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Tanjirou and Inosuke face off against the father of the spider oni clan.

Story/Characters:
Tomioka fends off Shinobu's attempts to kill Nezuko.

Story/Characters:
We open on Zenitsu and several other spider victims all bound up after having been treated by Shinobu. We see another butterfly girl (who you may recall from Final Selection) directing casualty evacuation. We then cut to Tomioka facing off against Shinobu. When Tanjirou tells her that the oni she's trying to kill is his sister, she simply says she'll show mercy by giving Nezuko a painless death. Tomioka continues to intervene despite Shinobu warning him that what he's doing is against the rules. Tomioka tells Tanjirou to run and he does, but then he gets jumped by the other butterfly girl. He's in no state to fight her off, so all he can do is tell Nezuko to make a run for it. The scrapping comes to a halt when crows show up with orders to bring Tanjirou and Nezuko back to headquarters. Tanjirou has passed out and comes to surrounded by this big gaggle of freaks (my first impression of them). All the Hashira have been assembled and I knew what Gotouge was going for, but, man, if you're not looking on the horizon, you're going to hate their guts. The idea, of course, is that doing this job for a long time takes its toll on you, both mentally and physically, and the ones who survive long enough to rise to the top are going to practically be monsters themselves. There's no room for Tanjirou's naivete. Nezuko is an oni. Oni are the enemy. It's kill or be killed, so what needs to be done is clear. The worst of the bunch is this a-hole Shinazugawa, who goes out of his way to antagonize Tanjirou and when he stabs at Nezuko through her box, he gets one of Tanjirou's patented headbutts. I have no doubt Shinazugawa would make good on his vow to kill Tanjirou for doing that, but then the big boss shows. The boss has this serene manner to him, calmly speaking to assembled Slayers, and you can see the sort of respect he commands that even a thug like Shinazugawa starts speaking like a courtier to him. Ubuyashiki (the boss) explains the circumstances around Nezuko and also reveals the letter sent to him from Urokodaki that says that if Nezuko would ever attack a human, he, Tomioka and Tanjirou will all commit seppuku. This does nothing to convince the Hashira, but then Ubuyashiki tells them that Tanjirou has encountered Muzan and that the oni sent after him may actually be targeting Nezuko. In other words, by leaving Nezuko alive, they might get a lead to their greatest enemy. Shinazugawa still isn't won over, so he means to prove that Nezuko is the same sort of monster as any other oni. He slashes his own arm open and to lure out Nezuko (from inside the mansion, lest Nezuko roast in the sunlight). Though blood-starved and slavering, Nezuko resolutely refuses to succumb to the temptation. (I like to think of it as more of her rejecting his blood in particular because he's such an a-hole.) Ubuyashiki tells Tanjirou that to fully convince the Hashira, he and Nezuko are going to have to prove themselves by fighting for the Corps, specifically by defeating the Twelve Kizuki. Tanjirou takes it a step further by vowing to defeat Muzan himself. Ubuyashiki gently advises him to focus on beating one of the Kizuki first.

For the time being, the matter is considered settled, so Shinobu takes charge of Tanjirou and has him taken to her mansion, so the Kakushi carry him off (but not without some trouble as he wants to get one more good headbutt in on Shinazugawa for everything he's done). Before he's carried off, though, Ubuyashiki tells Tanjirou to give Tamayo his regards (and clearly, if he knows about Tamayo, it's easy to see why he would be inclined to put faith in Nezuko). At Shinobu's mansion, Tanjirou once again encounters the butterfly girl from before, Shinobu's designated successor, Kanao. We're also introduced to Aoi, who for lack of a better term, we can call her the head nurse at the hospital Shinobu runs. We then have Zenitsu spazzing out over the medicine he has to take to undo his partial spider transformation. We contrast him with a rather dejected Inosuke, who isn't taking his recent defeat well. We get an account of the injuries sustained by our main quartet (with Nezuko merely suffering from lack of sleep, yet presented with as much seriousness as the other three) and then transition into rehab. Zenitsu starts later than Tanjirou and Inosuke due to the whole spider thing and when he sees that the first round involves massage to limber up the muscles and a reflex test that involves splashing the opponent with tea, followed by a game of tag to get the whole body working. From Zenitsu's perspective, this is nothing but fun times playing with girls (Kanao, Aoi, and the three junior nurses), so he massively spazzes out again. The gang makes steady progress, but hit a wall when it comes to beating Kanao at the reflex test and tag. Inosuke and Zenitsu end up dropping out, but Tanjirou keeps at it and his perseverance makes a good impression on the junior trio, who tell him about 24-Hour Total Concentration. He now has a goal, but getting there is going to be the trick. While meditating on the roof one night, Shinobu drops in on him and they have a little chat. Considering how they first met, Tanjirou asks her why she decided to take charge of him like this. The first reason is that the master's acknowledgment overrides her objection to Nezuko and the second is that she wants to entrust her dream to him. Her older sister was a kind person like Tanjirou who wanted to believe there was something worth saving in oni and once she was killed in the line of duty, Shinobu tried to inherit those beliefs, but she couldn't get over her hatred of oni. Her hope is that Tanjirou can do what she couldn't. This gives Tanjirou even more motivation to master the 24-Hour Total Concentration and as you'd expect, he eventually pulls it off and is able to finally best Kanao. (I do like how in the reflex test, he feels guilty about the thought of splashing Kanao with the tea and manages to expertly set the cup on top of her head.) Now that Tanjirou has completed the rehabilitation regimen, it's time to get Zenitsu and Inosuke up to speed. Things go well and it's time for the swordsmiths to get Tanjirou and Inosuke geared up. Haganezuka spends an hour chasing Tanjirou around with a kitchen knife for getting his sword broken. Inosuke's swordsmith Kagamori seems far more chill by comparison, at least until Inosuke takes a rock to his brand-new swords to chip the blade and get the serrated edge he likes.

We close on an assembly of the Lower Six Kizuki. Muzan appears in the form of a woman and is in a terribly bad mood. Anything the Kizuki say can and will be used against them. Anything they think as well, as Muzan can read their minds. The narration helpfully informs us that by imparting his blood, he is able to read oni's minds and track them, with two notable exceptions: Tamayo and Nezuko. Muzan calls out the Lower Six for being cowards who run and hide from the Demon Slayers rather than kill them like they're supposed to. He opts to dissolve the Lower Six and reclaim his blood. He takes them out one after the other, but there's one who isn't afraid or making excuses and welcomes death if it's Muzan's will. This total subjugation pleases Muzan (insofar as he can be pleased) and so he gives this fellow a dose of his blood that will significantly boost his powers if he can survive. He does survive and through Muzan's memories, he sees his target: Tanjirou.

Art:
Especially since they're introduced in a way that gets on the audience's bad side, you may be less receptive to the, shall we say, distinctive designs of the Hashira when they're first introduced. I called them a freakshow for a reason and still do even though development later in the series has warmed me up to pretty much all of them. Ubuyashiki's design also adds to this sense, but it does a good job of expressing the extremity of the upper ranks of the Corps. Nezuko's refusal of Shinazugawa's blood is one of my favorite moments of the series. Get used to bug-eyed Zenitsu in all his freakouts. The hospital girls are cute and I particularly like how the junior trio attach themselves to Tanjirou, which further boosts the cute factor. We get to see Muzan's headquarters and his female version is rather striking (and we won't ever see it again, oddly enough).

Other:
We get an illustration of Nezuko retreating to her box once her tangle with Kanao gets broken up, one of Urokodaki, one of the girls giving Tanjirou stuff, one depicting Inosuke and Zenitsu's activities when they were playing hooky, and one with Zenitsu showing Nezuko a fishbowl (which he took from Shinobu's room and got scolded for by Aoi). We also have Taishou Secrets about Kanroji's hair color (which she apparently gets from eating too much sakuramochi), the Ubuyashiki children (which explains that the boys of the family are raised as girls until they turn 13 due to their frailty) and how Nezuko's box got repaired (Aoi fixed it). Lastly, there's a quartet of Kimetsu Academy 4-koma.

Conclusion:
We get some downtime after the fight with Rui that introduces us to all the Hashira. We don't exactly start off on the right foot with them, but I suppose it's a fun exercise to start with a bad impression and reconstruct opinions after that. The gang's convalescence particularly reflects well on Tanjirou. We already know his dedication, but I like seeing him work so hard to get back in shape and master a new technique while he's at it. And we close with Muzan setting up the next arc, which was also the finale of Season 1 of the anime. It's a slower volume, but there's more than enough character work to make this worth your while and a place in your collection.

Rating:
Own It