Post — Aaron Ngo

Major Spoilers are included in this manga review. Please read with caution.

On October 4, 2020, The Promised Neverland and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba dropped bonus chapters. The hype was real for these unexpected bonus chapters coming at the start of October, especially with those manga series having concluded earlier this year. For those interested, my manga review for The Promised Neverland’s bonus chapter is here.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s bonus chapter is centered around Rengoku—a prequel made to hype up the movie coming out on October 16, 2020 (in Japan)—embarking on his first mission as a Demon Slayer. I wish the movie was coming out here in America too, but we have to wait until 2021 for the movie.

To kick off the one-shot bonus chapter, Rengoku’s father declared that Rengoku—before he left on his first mission—and his little brother didn’t have the ability to replace him as the Flame Pillar. Hearing his father say these harsh words—directly to both his sons—reminded me of the relationship they shared in the main series, and Rengoku’s current ideology about the strong protecting the weak steaming from that estranged relationship.

On his first mission as a Demon Slayer, Rengoku encountered a strong demon that killed nine of his comrades. Seeing them all dead—eyes opened—in front of Rengoku was hard to swallow, but it also sparked his admiration for them—inspiring him to keep fighting so nobody else will die—and his current ideology to protect the weak.

After the first mission ended, Rengoku saw his father in a different light—understanding that in his own shitty way, his father was trying to save him by showing him the harsh reality of being a Demon Slayer—and vowed to become strong and admirable like his father someday. I also enjoyed the natural talent versus work hard anime debate that was included in their relationship too.

Overall, this was an emotional bonus chapter filled with great life-lessons on hard work paying off, protecting others weaker than you with all your strength, and powerful emotional resonance—hype!—for the upcoming Demon Slayer movie and Rengoku’s official debut coming in 2021. I cannot believe Japan is getting the movie before us—they’re probably watching it right now!

Thanks for reading this manga review, everyone! I have missed reading new Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba material. Let’s keep it reading!

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