Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc

Episode 4

If there's one thing I can say about this current arc of Demon Slayer episodes, it's that the episodes, at the very least, feel pretty danged short. This is, of course, partially because we get the opportunity to stare at the gorgeous anime eye candy that ufotable dishes up week after week. While “Thank You, Tokito” isn't necessarily the flashiest episode of the series, it has enough of the ol' slice-n'-dice sakuga to keep the dopamine flowing from the cold open to the end credits. So, that's nice!

On the other hand, the other reason these episodes go by quickly is that, when broken down, there isn't a whole lot actually happening in each episode. Think about it: the entire episode can be boiled down to three scenes that consist, respectively, of Tokito killing The Awful Fish Thing to rescue Kotetsu; Tanjiro fighting Angry Bird Brother Guy, and the big group “fight” between Nezuko, Genya, and all of the Other Color Brothers. That first scene—which gives the episode its title—is barely anything at all, amounting to little more than a brief flashback that vaguely gestures in the general direction of giving Tokito a meaningful backstory. The Tanjiro fight against Angry Bird Guy (aka Urogi) also isn't much of a much since it spends the entire episode building up Tanjiro's lone moment of insight this week (“If their tongues are slashed, these demons take just a little while longer to recover!”). That leaves most of the episode dedicated to Genya/Nezuko's fight against Sekido, Karaku, and Aizetsu (or at least, it feels like it's most of the episode).

To even call it a “fight” seems generous, since Genya spends the whole time getting stabbed and beaten into unconsciousness, while Nezuko has to play keep-away like it's a preschool playground and someone stole her favorite stuffed animal, or something. Sure, she manages to kick a guy's skull in half, which is cool enough, but the whole point of these last two episodes is that the traditional methods of hitting dudes hard until they die simply don't work anymore, so there isn't much tension to be found. It's the fight scene equivalent of a filler episode, where the show can't exactly move on to the next order of business until all the pieces are in place, but there's just enough manga to adapt that they can't get to the point in a single episode. Instead, they have to stretch these very measly story crumbs out as long as possible to fill a twenty-three-minute time slot.

All of this is to say that "Thank You, Tokito" isn't a bad episode, but mostly just because there simply isn't enough substance for the episode to be bad in the first place. It's a perfectly functional use of half an hour that will lead us to the next episode of Demon Slayer. Nothing more, nothing less.

Rating: James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.