Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2018)

[鬼滅の刃]

Volume 12

Author/Artist: Koyoharu Gotouge
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
With the death of Gyuutarou and Daki, the rest of the Upper Kizuki are summoned by Muzan to double their efforts to bring down the Demon Slayer Corps.

Story/Characters:
We pick up from the previous chapter's cliffhanger with Akaza joined by the other Upper Kizuki, the first time we've seen them all together. You'll recognize #2 Douma from Gyuutarou's flashback, but the one who'll really grab your attention is #1 Kokushibou. I'll admit to drawing the wrong conclusion about him, but we'll talk more about that when we actually dig into his story. Muzan says he's pretty much given up on the Upper Kizuki for their repeated failures, but #5 Gyokko eagerly tries to offer up his latest lead. This doesn't go as well for him as he probably would've liked. First, vague leads aren't anywhere near good enough to please Muzan, and, second, Gyokko's habit of continually changing his body to develop his powers offends Muzan's personal aesthetic of unchanging perfection. However, Muzan ultimately grants that if there's something solid to Gyokko's lead, he should take #4 Hantengu and go deal with it. Douma jumps in wanting in on the action, but Akaza lashes out at him for acting contrary to Muzan's orders. This in turn triggers Kokushibou to intervene because the #3 trying to put the #2 in his place disrupts the natural order of their organization. Akaza vows to resolve that conflict by killing Kokushibou one day, a challenge the #1 welcomes. The Kizuki then disperse, brushing off Douma's attempts to buddy up to them, leaving him to go back to his day job of running a cult.

We cut to a scene of someone who looks almost identical to Tanjirou celebrating the birth of his child with a swordsman who looks like the one from the visions of Muzan's past. The swordsman rebuffs the respect paid to him by the lookalike (who's named Sumiyoshi), saying that he's never accomplished anything he meant to nor protected what was precious to him. (Put this stuff in your pocket for later.) We then have Tanjirou wake up (from what we can assume is a dream coded in genetic memory) to the surprise of Kanao as he'd been out for two months after the Gyuutarou/Daki fight. We then cut to the Kakushi Gotou reflecting on all that had happened ever since he recovered Tanjirou and the gang from Yoshiwara. He's even bringing some castella (which was considered a high-grade treat at the time) in the hope that the smell might be enough to trigger Tanjirou into waking up. It takes him a moment to realize that Tanjirou is awake and when he does, he has a ring-tailed fit at Kanao for not letting everyone know right away. We have Aoi and the mini nurses all rush in, with Aoi being especially weepy as she was the one originally tapped for the mission. Tanjirou gets an update on the situation, how Zenitsu has already recovered enough to be sent out on a mission (not that he wanted to go) and as for Inosuke, things were pretty touch-and-go for him, which prompts Tanjirou to ask if the Inosuke-shaped figure hanging from the rafters is just an illusion. Nope. It's Inosuke, who's there to boast about getting up a week earlier. The girls say that Shinobu compared Inosuke to a honey badger due to his thick hide and resistance to poison. Inosuke feels all the more reason to boast, but Aoi warns him that his poison resistance also means that he has drug resistance as well, which makes treating him difficult. Tanjirou is out of bed a week later and then has to go through physical therapy. When he asks when he'll get his new sword, he's given a threatening letter from Haganezuka refusing to make another sword for him. The girls suggest he go to the swordsmiths' village, but as the location is a secret second only to Ubuyashiki's manor, you can't go there on your own two feet. You have to be blindfolded and have your ears plugged (nose too in Tanjirou's case) and you get carried in a piggback relay by Kakushi who each know only a certain stretch of the distance. (As a nice touch, good guy Tanjirou never fails to thank the Kakushi for their efforts, which gives them all warm fuzzies.) When Tanjirou arrives, he's given directions to meet with the village chief and his presence is picked up by the Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji, who is relaxing in the nearby onsen.

Tanjirou pays his regards to the chief, who tells him the Haganezuka is missing at present and if he's not found soon, they'll get another swordsmith to make a sword for Tanjirou. Tanjirou is then invited to make use of the onsen while waiting for supper. Along the way, he meets Kanroji, who's distraught that someone ignored her greeting. Tanjirou offers to go up to investigate and he meets Genya Shinazugawa (who you'll recall as the ill-mannered young man from the Final Selection). Tanjirou tries to be friendly, much as he had a while back when their paths crossed at Shinobu's place, but those efforts get shot down hard, and when Tanjirou brings up that Genya has the same surname as the Wind Hashira (the a-hole who tried to get Nezuko killed at Ubuyashiki's place), he nearly gets drowned for it. At supper, Kanroji explains that Genya is the elder Shinazugawa's brother, but they don't get along (to the surprise of no one). A pair that do get along is Kanroji and Nezuko, which is adorable. After the meal, Kanroji gets word that the swordsmith has finished work sharpening her sword, which means she needs to be heading out soon. When she hears Tanjirou's vow to keep getting stronger until he can defeat Muzan, she tells him of a secret weapon hidden in the village that will help him get stronger.

When Tanjirou goes out in search of this hidden weapon, he comes across the Mist Hashira Muichirou Tokitou. A young villager is refusing to hand over the key (the key to what will be revealed shortly). Although Tokitou is largely expressionless, he rather harshly smacks down the kid for opposing him. Tanjirou intervenes, but he's sorely outmatched. Still, he manages to get the kid out of Tokitou's grip. The kid says he refuses to hand over the key because "it" will break if it gets used again. Tokitou says that they can just build another and that a Hashira's time is too valuable to be wasted like this. He says the swordsmiths are only good for making weapons and demands the key again. Tanjirou smacks his hand away and berates him for being so callous, for caring so little about the people who provide such essential support for the Slayers' work, but Tokitou gets bored and just knocks Tanjirou out. When Tanjirou comes to, the kid tells him he had to give Tokitou the key but still thanks Tanjirou for standing up for him. Tanjirou asks what the key is for and the kid explains it's for a training puppet that can use 108 different techniques, but skill to maintain the puppet, much less make a new one, has been lost and a combination of age and use has it on its last legs. The puppet resembles the swordsman from Tanjirou's dream and we learn from the kid that it was originally built back in the Sengoku Period (so somewhere in the vicinity of 300 years from the present day in the story). Whatever Tanjirou thinks of Tokitou as a person, he's impressed by his fighting technique, prompting Tokitou's crow to show up and boast about her master as a user of the Sun Breathing technique, but she gets angry when Tanjirou points out that the technique Tokitou's using isn't Sun Breathing. She also mocks Tanjirou when he says he recognizes the model for the puppet, but the kid suggests genetic memory (though I suppose we might want to use a more period-accurate term like "inherited memory"), which is something the swordsmith village believes in. Tanjirou and the kid then properly exchange introductions and we learn the kid's name is Kotetsu. Shortly thereafter, Tokitou breaks through the puppet's armor and Kotetsu runs off as he can't bear to watch it be destroyed. He repeats things he's said earlier about having no talent, etc., but Tanjirou tries to encourage him to keep trying, that even if he doesn't succeed in his own lifetime, maybe his children or grandchildren will get it done. Tanjirou compares it to his own situation, where he wants to defeat Muzan and save his sister but is fully aware that he could die without accomplishing either. Nevertheless, he won't give up and he doesn't want Kotetsu to give up either. Tokitou then shows up, having finished his training. As his sword was chipped, he claims one of the puppet's blades, tossing aside the broken arm that held it. Tanjirou tries to comfort Kotetsu and see if they can get the puppet moving again. Kotetsu succeeds and urges Tanjirou to start training with the puppet and get stronger than Tokitou.

With some agitation by Kotetsu, Tanjirou goes to work training with the puppet. Kotetsu proves to have a considerable analytical ability and we learn that he deliberately held back information from Tokitou about the puppet's true potential, meaning that Tokitou didn't get the full benefit of the training. Now, while Kotetsu has a talent for analysis, his understanding of swordsmanship is poor, which makes it difficult for Tanjirou to make the most of his observations, and then there's Kotetsu's harsh training style that involves withholding food and water to the point that Tanjirou starts to waver between this world and the next, but the stress on his mind and body seems to awaken something in him, something similar to the threads he uses to find openings but in reverse. In other words, he's able to sense where attacks are coming from. Before he mostly relied on instinct to react to the higher level opponents he's faced, but now he can consciously process it and respond accordingly. He finally starts to get an advantage over the puppet, but before he can land the finishing blow, he relents, realizing he'll break the puppet if he follows through, only for Kotetsu to urge him to do it. When Tanjirou succeeds in beheading the puppet, it reveals a sword hidden within the puppet's body. This sword that's at least 300 years old excites them, but once they draw the blade, it's all rusted over, as you would expect after 300 years with no maintenance. A very muscly Haganezuka appears and tries to take the sword, saying only "Leave it to me." Tanjirou wrestles with him over the sword, claiming Kotetsu has rights to it, only to get overpowered. Another swordsmith called Kanamori shows up to subdue Haganezuka with his greatest weakness... tickling. Yes, really. Once things settle down, we learn that Haganezuka has been training in the mountains all this time so that he could craft a stronger sword for Tanjirou. What he was actually trying to do earlier was take the sword so that he could polish and sharpen it into a usable state.

We cut to Tanjirou chatting up the wholly unreceptive Genya, who's still holding a grudge against Tanjirou for breaking his arm at the Final Selection and can't stand Tanjirou's unfailing efforts to buddy up to him in spite of the bad blood between them. Tanjirou then notices that Genya's missing tooth has grown back (as he had pulled out a broken incisor right before Tanjirou met him at the onsen). Genya tries to blow it off, but Tanjirou still has the tooth in question, much to Genya's disgust. (Tanjirou's totally not being weird. He just thought Genya might want the tooth back.) We then cut to random villager heading to the onsen when he comes across a random pot, only it's not just some random pot but rather Gyokko's vessel. It doesn't end well for the poor villager. Gyokko doesn't find the swordsmith to be a very tasty meal, but the damage it'll do to the Demon Slayer Corps by wiping out the swordsmiths is a sweet enough prospect. Hantengu is lurking around as well, quailing about Muzan's wrath if he fails. A sleeping Tanjirou is woken up by Tokitou pinching his nose. Tokitou is looking for his new swordsmith, Kanamori. Tanjirou offers to help him look while he goes to find Haganezuka. They then sense someone approaching and it's none other than Hantengu. Tokitou immediately goes on the offensive and even though Hantengu is crying about being bullied, he proves to be faster than Tokitou's opening attack. It takes chain attack by Tanjirou, Nezuko and Tokitou to lop off Hantengu's head. Tanjirou doesn't expect an Upper Kizuki to be that easy after his previous experience and he's right. We then see Hantengu's gimmick. He splits into two younger-looking bodies, Sekido and Karaku, representing different emotions. Karaku sends Tokitou flying with his fan attack and Sekido's attack on Tanjirou nearly overwhelms his senses when the attack gets interrupted by a shot. The source of that shot just happens to be Genya wielding a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun. And that's our cliffhanger.

Art:
The Upper Kizuki make for quite the freakshow. Akaza's design seems downright tame by comparison. The hospital antics are fairly amusing and the fanservice-minded will probably appreciate Kanroji's reintroduction into the story. (I do appreciate a panicked Tanjirou warning her about spilling out of her yukata as she's running up to him.) As mentioned before, Kanroji playing with Nezuko is adorable. The design of the training puppet is fairly neat, sort of a Sengoku General Grievous. When its true potential is unlocked, it really puts Tanjirou through his paces. We just get the warm-up to the big battle for this arc, but it should be enough to get you pumped for what's to come.

Other:
We have an illustration of Nakime (the biwa-playing oni as Muzan's place) wondering when everyone will go away, Tamayo's cat happy that Tanjirou is still alive, Kanroji in the onsen with a list of all the effects the onsen is supposed to have, the real reason why Genya didn't respond to Kanroji's greetings (she was too cute for him and he was too embarrassed to speak), a 8-koma explaining why Kanroji shows so much more skin than Shinobu, a Kimetsu Academy entry for Kanroji (as an art student alumna of the school), bonus illustrations from Shounen Jump Giga Winter 2018 Vol.2 and the combined 2018 Issue 21-22 of Weekly Shounen Jump, and an illustration of Tanjirou braiding Nezuko's hair like Kanroji's.

Conclusion:
We don't have that much downtime before we move into the next arc of the story. By separating Tanjirou from his usual partners, we have the opportunity to dig into other Slayers. Tokitou doesn't seem like the most compelling at this point, but you can already see some potential. We get a bit of training before the main event and just a glimpse of the arc's two villains' respective gimmicks. All told, we're just getting warmed up, but I think there's more than enough here to stimulate your interest and warrant a place in your collection.

Rating:
Own It