Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 16: Letting Someone Else Go First

In this episode the boys continue their awesome teamwork to take down the enemies in their path. We see the same of what we saw last time with more demon slayers being controlled by Spider Mom’s webs. The demon slayer from last time decides to hold off the corpses attacking them so Tanjiro and Inosuke can go after the controller. As they make their way through the forest, they come across a demon slayer girl telling them to back off.

It kind of frustrated me that the boys didn’t even bother trying to cut off the spider webs from the other slayers, since he did that for Inosuke a little later. I guess I understand that last episode they explained how many spiders there were and that the threads would reattach quickly, but it was driving me crazy how miserable the other slayers were with the girl pleading and crying, and one of the guys going into excruciating detail of his bones piercing his organs every time he moved. It was…so awful. Just plain cruel. Tanjiro had a pretty good idea of throwing them up onto a tree branch so they couldn’t move (with Inosuke following suit), but I had a bad idea. And my hunch was correct because once Spider Mom realized how weak her “dolls” were, she snapped their necks. It’s what I pretty much expected, though another thing I imagined was her slicing their heads off. I’m glad it wasn’t that but the visceral imagery of their necks twisting and snapping was just as terrible. And Tanjiro’s slowly built up rage was unsettling.

I’ve already said this before but I appreciate that Tanjiro’s rage doesn’t totally consume him like other shounen MCs. Even though you know he’s pissed, and even Inosuke was taken aback by it, he still remains cool and collected and continues on with their mission. He’s just so mature and I love that so much about him.

He also continues to show his compassion once again with Spider Mom. Who…again, like all the other demons in this show, she’s evil and has committed terrible acts. But I truly felt terrible for her as she was a target of domestic abuse and was a victim herself. It was just disgusting that her children were also in on it and looked down on her, smiling as she pleaded and cried. It was painful, even more so when she happily held out her arms in acceptance of her death so she could finally be free from her husband and family. It’s awful but she at least died with a smile on her face. The scene was beautiful and packed with emotion, and it was a really nice touch that Tanjiro changed his water art at the very last second with a painless and beautiful strike. While she was a victim herself, and her actions were mostly based on fear than evil (fear of her abusive husband), it still doesn’t excuse them. I wonder who the boy from her past was?

Before she disappeared, she parted with telling Tanjiro that a Twelve Kizuki demon is around and my guess that it’s her Spider Husband. The mother is out but we’re definitely not done as we have him and the rest of their three kids, so I think it’s just going to pick up from here. I liked this episode more than the past few and I enjoy seeing the teamwork between Tanjiro and Inosuke, though I’m still not too much of a fan of Inosuke yet. It is pretty cute that he’s been getting more fuzzy feelings and admiring Tanjiro, though it frustrates him. Maybe being around Tanjiro will cool him down…I hope. As for Zenitsu, he’s still lost and looking for the guys and Nezuko with his little buddy, Chuntaro (that name is insanely adorable). But things are going to go terribly for him next time as a demon, maybe one of the kids?, sneaks up behind him. Oh dear…that should be fun!

NOTE: I’m going to be gone this week and won’t be back until the following Saturday. That means episode 17 is going to be a double post with episode 18 when I get back from vacation. See you guys until then and thanks for being patient! <3