Kimetsu no Yaiba: Hashira Geiko-hen Episode 8 [Final Impressions]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

That build up was EVERYTHING. From just how calm and quiet everything was at the start to the LITERAL EXPLOSION that set EVERYTHING off. I got CHILLS from the second half of the episode. That was BY FAR the absolute best episode this season and possibly one of the best episodes in general. I think I enjoyed that episode even more than anything in the last season. It gave me everything. I teared up, I laughed, I was in awe and I was at the edge of my seat. After a season of nothing, this episode alone made it almost worth it. Everything about this episode was just so well done especially since I expected nothing going into it.

If I didn’t already respect the Master, I respect him SO MUCH MORE after this episode and I’m sad to see him go. He really is Muzan’s complete foil when I think about it. Both were bedridden and didn’t have much time to live. However, the biggest difference was how they treated the people around them. Muzan was TERRIBLE to everyone around him and took out his frustrations on them as well. While the Master uplifted everyone around him and was such a beloved figure, especially amongst the Hashira. The fact that someone like Sanemi has so much affection and respect for him says A LOT. I even got emotional just seeing the sheer desperation from all the Hashira to get to the mansion in time. It just shows how much they all love him and that in itself is very beautiful to me. Just seeing their love and devotion to the person who most likely brought them out of their lowest, saving them emotionally from their individual despair nearly brought me to tears. All of the Hashira have experienced loss in different ways so it’s not hard to see why they have such a strong attachment to him.

I absolutely LOVED the talk that the Master had with Muzan. I have heard so many instances of “Why have I not been punished then?” and once Muzan said that I was like: JUST YOU WAIT, YOUR TIME IS COMING. Just the visuals of how much “karma” Muzan must have collected over the hundreds if not thousand years he’s been alive was breathtaking and did so well of just painting the scene. And just the Master telling him that NO ONE has forgiven him for what he has done over these thousand years and with every generation that passes, the anger and determination to bring him down just keeps growing. And man did I just get goosebumps seeing them flash through all of the Hashiras while the Master talked about how he has messed with the WRONG generation. If not for Muzan, all of these Hashira could have just been living a normal, peaceful life. But because of spreading demons into the world, he essentially created (currently) five powerful and crazy people who are all gunning to bring him and his kind down. Not to mention that the Master mentioned in the first season that this is the strongest generation of Hashira in the past hundreds of years. It was like destiny was just ticking down Muzan’s time until it hit the perfect generation to bring him to an end. Chills, man, CHILLS.

I’m honestly surprised that Muzan allowed the Master to say all that he had to say to him since I half expected him to just kill him mid-sentence. But I suppose he figured that he might as well let him talk whatever he wants since he was going to kill him anyways. He even said himself that he didn’t feel any malice coming from him so he probably felt like he didn’t need to have his guard up. BUT BOY DID HE GET A PART OF WHAT WAS COMING TO HIM. The master literally gave Muzan the ultimate F YOU moment I have ever seen in anime by literally just blowing up his mansion lololol. Not only did he get a shot at Muzan, but he stripped away the satisfaction of Muzan finishing him off himself. I couldn’t help but LAUGH so hard when Muzan’s mangled body hit the ground because THAT WAS A LONG TIME COMING, YOU DICK. After having Muzan never sustain any damage this entire series, it just felt so satisfying to see him just get blown up like that. When the Hashira were closing in on the mansion I just couldn’t help but laugh because this man was about to incite the wrath of some VERY POWERFUL PEOPLE.

The master died a martyr, but considering he was most likely not gonna live for much longer, I can respect his decision to literally go out in a blaze of glory… though I do question why his wife and two children were there with him. I can understand why Amane would want to be there for him, though I do still feel a bit iffy on his two daughters having to die with him. I already knew that the Master and some of his family was gonna get blown up, but I didn’t know how everything was gonna go down and MAN, I am just blown away by it (pun not intended). They really saved the budget for this out of this world explosion lol. Even down to the detail of the frost melting away in the air because of the heat. Ufotable didn’t need to go that hard! Though it was amusing to find that a lot of people thought it was Muzan who set off the explosion. Though I do admit I wasn’t too sure who set off the explosion at first lololol.

Muzan’s sins are surely crawling up his back because he is experiencing so many repercussions of his actions and it’s so satisfying. Not only is this generation of demon slayers giving him a severe run for his money, but the freaking guy he turned into a demon to act as a distraction all the way back in episode 7 of the first season also came back to bite him as it was his demon blood art that was able to help restrain him. That little detail honestly floored me as it really did seem like every choice Muzan made was all starting to come back to him in some form. And while I wish we got to see Tamayo and Shinobu work together, it does seem like their collaborative efforts bore fruit as Tamayo was finally able to finish her serum that supposedly turns demons back into human. As of right now, we can’t tell if it’s a bluff or if it’s gonna take a bit to kick in, but she gave him SOMETHING that will probably end up slowing him down in some capacity.

Speaking of Tamayo, we finally learn her backstory and it’s just as tragic as everyone else’s. We got some hints to what could have happened in her past in episode 10 she she started crying after she was told that despite her being a demon, Nezuko still viewed her as “human.” It probably meant so much to Tamayo that she was still seen as “human” despite the atrocities she committed while under Muzan’s direct jurisdiction. Made even more tragic that she ended up killing her family despite having accepted being a demon just so she could watch her children grow older. That part absolutely broke my heart. Anything regarding a mother wanting nothing but to watch their children grow up will just automatically hit me where it hurts. And Muzan has the GALL to claim he had no part in killing Tamayo’s family when it was his direct meddling that caused it. Clearly he didn’t bother to warn Tamayo of the repercussions of becoming a demon. Though I guess Muzan wouldn’t even consider killing her family “repercussions” because of how much of a monster he is, but still. Sure TECHNICALLY he didn’t kill them himself, but he was still responsible for it happening. Especially since HE KNEW once he made someone into a demon, they would devour the people around them. It just shows how manipulative the guy is by always going to those who are in dire situations and acting as a “savior” of sorts, only to bring more man eaters and killers into the world.

Though thinking about it, I am a little surprised that she went through with making Yushiro into a demon as he was in a similar situation as her. Especially since upon taking the offer, she ended up killing the family she wished to be with longer. Though we don’t really know that much about Yushiro’s backstory other than he was sick. Did he have a family? Was he an orphan? There could have been a lot of other variables that made it so that becoming a demon wouldn’t have been as much of a sacrifice as it was for Tamayo. Though in this case, at least Tamayo made it so he wouldn’t have the insatiable hunger for humans like Muzan’s demons and I’m sure that she’d at least warn him about what could happen.

But the way Himejima came in SWINGING and just obliterating Muzan’s head just brought so much hype for the guy. I’m so glad we at least got to see a little bit of his fighting style. It felt similar to Tengen’s fighting style except it had a further reach and much more power. Also the fact this guy could basically use his weapon similar to nun chucks speaks volumes of this guy’s raw strength. The plan of weakening Muzan was a good one, however, it definitely wasn’t going to be easy as lopping off his head wasn’t going to do the trick. Considering some of the Upper ranks didn’t die by cutting off their heads, there was no way Muzan was going to bite the dust like that either. Just hearing that they were in for a drawn out fight to dawn just brought another wave of anxiety over the situation. Especially since both times a battle was drawn out to dawn, bad things happened. Not to mention us as an audience doesn’t even know how late it is into the night. Is dawn coming in an hour or so? Or did it just become night?

Also can we just admire the freaking animation in Muzan reforming a new head? Yeah, it’s gross but GOODNESS ufotable really pulled out all the stops on the regeneration animation. This titan/homunculous looking mofo lol.

I absolutely LOVED the shot of all the camera panning, showing all the Hashira surrounding Muzan. You just know that it’s about to go DOWN because the source of all of their loss and despair is standing right in front of them. And fresh off of the Master’s death, they’re going to come at him with everything they got. Watching them all immediately lunge towards Muzan gave me chills. Once they all realized it was Muzan, there was no hesitation and it was glorious. You could just feel the intensity of all of their rage towards him in that moment. Even Shinobu, who has made it a point to always smile just looked DONE and was out for blood. Though I won’t lie, it did feel weird to have Tanjiro here. Like I know it makes sense WHY he’s here because he’s the main character, but maybe I’m just a little tired of him from this season and grew much more interested and invested in the Hashira that I personally felt like he didn’t really deserve to be here at this moment. But that’s just me.

However, everything just went from 100 to 1000 real fast when the Infinity Castle doors opened for everyone. You could tell this is the final battle because not only did it swallow the Hashira but it took every single demon slayer. As soon as it showed Genya and Inosuke get taken, the sense of dread and anticipation just seeped in because at this point you can tell this was targeted. I can’t even put into words just how amazing this part was from a visual perspective. It was honestly surreal and just left me in a state of awe. We always knew that Ufotable popped off in terms of visuals within the Infinity Castle, but this just felt like so much more. From the demon slayers falling into the castle and the crows flying through all the different crevices, it was all just so amazing. After all the reconnaissance those eyeball things did, Muzan definitely made sure every single demon slayer within the vicinity was dragged in here no matter where they were. Hearing him declare he was planning on massacring every single one of them tonight felt so chilling and I legit worry for the “normie” demon slayers. While they are trained, they feel like easier targets that can/will get picked off one by one. Also special shout out to my boy Murata… I honestly hope he lives through this T^T.

We are then treated to some close up shots on all the major players for the final stage and I just love how the camera zooms from one place to another, showing us where they are in perspective to each other. Inosuke’s excitement towards the action is just hilarious as he’s just giving off “I’m not stuck in here with you, you’re stuck in here with me” energy that I can’t help but cackle at. We get some quick shots of both Genya and Kanao in their respective places and then there’s Zenitsu. Something has been up with him since the last episode and the fact that he’s the only level headed one in this situation while everyone else is panicking means that something pretty serious must have happened. Not to mention he’s completely AWAKE and not in his serious sleeping state as he typically is.

All the Hashira are split up into different groups now and I am a bit disappointed that we didn’t get to see them all fight at once even for a little bit. I was so hyped to see them fight Muzan together since we haven’t seen any Hashira’s fight together against a single enemy before. While we most likely will see some team ups since it seems like Mitsuri and Obanai are together and Muichiro and Gyomei are also falling around the same area, I’m still just a little bummed they got split up so quickly. I wanted to see them all gang up on Muzan, to feel just a semblance of satisfaction of them all getting a hit on him if even for just a brief moment. But hey, maybe it’s still possible. Though a part of me has a feeling that of course it’s gonna be Tanjiro who will most likely have the honors of being the one to officially off Muzan because of main character privileges. Sorry Tanjiro, I’m just feeling a little salty that we didn’t get as much from the Hashira as I would have liked and too much on your physical training that I personally did not care that much about.

While Muzan isn’t the most interesting villain in anime, I think he is a great antagonist for this series. He is unapologetically terrible and the reason why he ruined so many lives is because of selfish reasons. It just makes the overwhelming desire for so many characters in this series to want to put an end to him all the more satisfying especially with how this episode built up the fact that he WILL get what’s coming to him after a thousand years of terrorism. And after so many series of having the antagonist have “compelling” reasons of being evil, I think it’s nice to see just a legit terrible person play the main antagonist sometimes. Considering his actions have caused so many people despair and grief without an ounce of remorse, it only feels right to throw down the hammer of justice on this kind of monster. I am really looking forward to how Muzan goes down because this guy continues to show just how much of a coward he really is considering he still refuses to take the demon slayers head on and instead hides away to let his pawns finish them off for him.

I. LOVED. THIS. EPISODE. It gave me absolutely everything I loved about Demon Slayer and more. I don’t know what it is about Demon Slayer, but it just invokes such unadulterated emotions of the will to live and fight for a brighter future. Just seeing how EVERYONE is willing to give EVERYTHING they have to fight for everyone’s future really gets my adrenaline pumping and my emotions to just rage along side them. This arc is definitely going to be the epitome of fighting for their lives with how every demon slayer is a target. What makes this situation even more terrifying is that not only do we know that there are tons of demons lurking around in this place as we saw in episode 1 of this season, but the final upper rank demons are also in here. I had thought we were going to go through them leading up to the final confrontation with Muzan, but it seems like there’s going to be multiple fights happening at once during this arc and… I am both excited and dreading it because I KNOW who makes it out of here alive and who doesn’t. But just like what happened with Rengoku, just because I know what will happen, it doesn’t make it hurt any less. And so far, despite me knowing what will happen in certain situations, it hasn’t dampened my experience with this series.

I am a bit bummed they’re planning on making the final arc into three movies, but considering how successful Demon Slayer movies are, it makes sense from a business point of view, but in terms of pacing and whatnot, I do worry a bit. Since there are A LOT OF THINGS that need to happen and I’m not sure if three movies can contain everything in a satisfying manner. We’ll just have to wait and see I guess, but I do wish this was broken up into two more seasons or something that feels a little less constricting like a movie length. Or maybe given us something like what AOT did by giving us longer episodes.

Despite my grievances about how this series will inevitably wrap up, I am really looking forward to this coming arc especially since the majority of this season has felt like a nothing burger. This episode was just fantastic and I’ve been replaying it so many times because I can’t get enough of it. Manga readers are probably foaming at the mouths over how well done this was and I don’t blame them since they probably have been waiting for this moment for a long time. This episode alone I’d give a 9/10. But for the rest of the season… I’d give it a low 6/10 sadly. Aside from this episode, the rest of the season felt like it dragged on for too long without any really good character focus. So it felt very filler-ish to me even though I know it’s in the manga. And even when they had some character focus, it felt rushed and too short lived (aka Giyu’s arc). I also wish we just got some little tidbits about the Hashira’s we don’t know, like they didn’t need to go into backstories, but learning something new about them like hobbies or favorite foods or whatnot would have been fun. Give us SOMETHING that adds a little more to them. This arc was a mess, but I’m glad we can finally move on from it. Though it is a little frustrating that they left us on such a hype moment and now we gotta wait. I do hope I get to experience the movies in theaters because I know it’ll be incredible on the big screen. Thanks for putting up with my rants for this arc because I was not having a good time after a while. Until next time!