Post — Aaron Ngo

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

Synopsis: Demon Slayer follows Tanjiro Kamado in Taisho-era Japan, a kind-hearted boy who lives with his family in the mountains. Then everything changed when his family was slaughtered by a powerful demon. His sister Nezuko was the sole survivor of the incident, having been transformed into a demon herself. This kicked off the beginning of Tanjiro’s epic quest for vengeance against the demon who killed his family. More importantly, Tanjiro won’t rest until he finds a cure for Nezuko’s demon state.

On June 26, 2020, I started and finished the “Asakusa Arc”—the third story arc of the manga series. Picking up where we left off in the previous arc (“First Mission Arc”), Tanjiro ran into Muzan, the demon who killed his family and turned Nezuko into a demon. Tanjiro also learned Muzan was posing as a human living with a wife and child in plain sight. Tanjiro vowed to kill Muzan and avenge his family while restraining a man turned into a demon—by Muzan—as a distraction.

I’m gradually remembering how amazing the anime series was. Like Demon Slayer had outstanding plot momentum. This arc centered around Tanjiro and Nezuko traveling to Asakusa and having encounters with both the evilest and kindness demons: Muzan and Tamayo respectively. Tamayo is a human-friendly medic demon with a demon assistant named Yushiro. Their background stories were emotional.

On the villain side, Muzan sent two demons—Yahaba and Susamaru—after Tanjiro, having noticed Tanjiro’s family earrings and connecting it to his family’s massacre. In my opinion, this arc did an excellent job on establishing the existence of the Twelve Kizuki (Twelve Demon Moons): 12 demons under the direct command of Demon Lord Muzan. What Muzan did to those people in the alleyway was scary and gory.

Lesser demons were also tortured and killed if they displeased Muzan, making him a demon among demons. Tanjiro thought this was heartbreaking, as he began to see demons as people too based on his new friendships with Tamayo and Yushiro. Nezuko and Tamayo’s hug made me weep at the end of this arc.

Overall, I’m dedicated to finishing Demon Slayer manga. Reading this story arc and watching the YouTube fight scene equivalent was really fun to do. I would advise doing that for the first couple arcs. Thanks for taking the time to read this manga review, everyone. Let’s keep it reading!

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