Episode 18, A Forged Bond

I predicted that the Daughter of the Spider Demon family was the one of the twelve, however, I’m not so convinced anymore. She remains a somewhat sweet and timid young girl. I’m now predicting that she will save Tanjiro, based on what happen in this episode. Giyu and Shinobu arrive at Mount Natangumo, witnessing the massacre that occurred. Not really friendly, they decide to split up. Meanwhile, Tanjiro and Inosuke face off against Father. His skin is so tough that neither can cut his arm off. Tanjiro cuts a tree down crushing Father under the water. He attempts to decapitate Father with Water Breathing, Form Ten. However, Father gets up knocking Tanjiro far into the woods. As he flies away, he begs Inosuke “not to die.”

As Zenitsu begins to suffer from the effects of the poison, Shinobu arrives. Meanwhile, Tanjiro manages to land safely and witnesses Rui torturing his sister. Tanjiro chastises him for mistreating his sister, but Rui doesn’t seem to care. One of the fellow demon slayers arrive and challenges Rui. He’s quickly kill, as Rui cuts him to pieces. The demon slayer was obviously only there to display the powers of Rui. Meanwhile, Father chases after Inosuke, who then turns around after realizing that he’s “acting like Tanjiro.” He attacks Father, this time with both his swords. He finally manages to cut through his arm, resulting in Father running away. Inosuke isn’t analytical like Tanjiro, but despite how he sees himself he does think his plans through, just at the last minute.

Inosuke find Father hiding in a tree. Just when you think he’s afraid of Inosuke, he molts becoming larger and stronger. His new presence makes Inosuke quit, if only for a few seconds. Father is faster and stronger now. Inosuke attempts to cut Fathers head off, resulting in his swords breaking in half. Father then picks Inosuke up by the head and begins to crush the skull of Inosuke. When Inosuke begins to spit up blood, Giyu arrives and cuts Father’s arm off. Father quickly regrows his arm. However, this doesn’t matter because, Giyu quickly dispatches Father.

Finally, Tanjiro feels more confident fighting Rui. He attacks him head on, however, his sword is cut in half as we cut to the credits. Obviously, Tanjiro will survive, but there no reasonable way he can avoid getting sliced. Considering how the Rui power cut the demon slayer into pieces earlier, Tanjiro could lose an arm. That said I get the impression that Shinobu has some healing abilities and probably will fix it right up.