Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba “Swordsmith Village Arc” (Chapters 100 through 127) Manga Review
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 July 2, 2020, I started reading the “Swordsmith Village Arc”—the ninth story arc of the manga series—and finished on July 3, 2020. The story arc centered around Tanjiro going to the Swordsmith Village to replace his sword—which was destroyed in the “Entertainment District Arc”—after Hotaru Haganezuka refused to make him a new one, since this would be the third or fourth time Tanjiro had destroyed one of his creations. I had lost track of how many times Tanjiro broke his sword, but it was indeed a lot.
I enjoyed this arc for its word-building on swordsmiths and the role they played in the war against demons. Basically, Swordsmith Village was where all swordsmiths lived in order to protect them from demons while they forged blades for Demon Slayers. This was an underappreciated role, as certain characters—like Mist Pillar Muichiro Tokito—failed to see how without them, the Demon Slayers would have no way of killing demons.
Similar to the previous arcs, the “Swordsmith Village Arc” had a focus on the Pillars’ background—specifically Mist Pillar Muichiro Tokito and Love Pillar Misuri Kanroji. While Misuri’s background was sad regarding her inability to live up to certain standards of society, Muichiro’s was devastating as he had severe amnesia and only remembered his previous life when he was on the verge of losing against Upper Rank 5 demon Gyokko.
The fight scenes in this arc were pretty amazing and well-detailed, showing us—as always—the characters’ struggles and comebacks in an effective combo with their flashback sequences. Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya Shinazugawa—a character from the “Final Selection Arc”—proved to be an effective team against Upper Rank 4 Hantengu, a demon with the ability to split himself into four powerful demons with their own unique abilities. The impossible odds being overcome by our favorite characters had never tasted sweeter.
Genya Shinazugawa, Muichiro Tokito, Misuri Kanroji, and Nezuko showed impressive character development during this arc. Genya’s backstory with Wind Pillar Sanemi Shinazugawa—his older brother—will hopefully be more interesting in a future arc. Another minor character named Kotetsu also showed promise when he was helping Tanjiro train—without any mercy—during the start of the arc. I was having the time of my life with these characters, finding it difficult to hold back the tears. Demon Slayer will always be putting so much extra emotion into their narratives.
Overall, the ending of the arc with Muzan Kibutsuji learning about Nezuko’s new demonic development made me want to keep it reading. We also discovered more about Muzan’s background based on this development. Repeat after me: Let’s keep it reading!