Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 7 & 8: Recap & Review

Episode 7, Muzan Kibutsuji

Nezuko finally gets a chance to shine as she fights one of the demons. More importantly she proves that she can be trusted to defend humans without Tanjiro. Nezuko shows a lot of power but because she lacks experience is highly predictable in a fight. Tanjiro defeats the two demons in the swamp with his Water Style Whirlpool. Tanjiro then rescues Nezuko when the last remaining demon overwhelms her. When he asks the demon “what he knows about Muzan Kibutsuji,” the demon lunges at Tanjiro forcing Tanjiro to kill him.

Tanjiro leaves as he promises to defeat Kibutsuji for killing so many people. A Kaugai crow arrives and give Tanjiro his next mission at Asakusa, Tokyo. Tanjiro arrives in Tokyo and is quickly overwhelmed by the size of the city. He takes a break in a park. While there he catches the scent of Kibutsuji and gives chase. He tracks Kibutsuji down and grabs his shoulder. To his surprise, Kibutsuji is holding a little girl that calls him “daddy.” The mother of the child soon arrives later. While Kibutsuji pretends not to know anything about Tanjiro, he does turn a man walking by to a demon.

Episode 8, The Smell of Enchanting Blood

Episode 8 picks up right we episode 7 left off. The newly demonic bystander bites his wife in the shoulder. Tanjiro springs into action holding the man down. Kibutsuji leaves with his family. The police soon arrives and get in the way. A demon named Tamayo uses her Blood Art spell on the police. She takes notes of Tanjiro humanizing the new demon and his desire to “save” him. Tanjiro notices that they’re demons, which Tamayo admits to. She states that she a doctor and she would like to kill Kibutsuji.

Meanwhile, Kibutsuji sends his family home and head to find Tanjiro. He encounters a drunk in an alley way. The man suggests that Kibutsuji is sick because of his pale skin. This seems to trigger him as he kills the drunk by knocking him into a wall. He then kill the man’s large brother and the woman with them. He sticks his finger in her forehead, injecting her with his blood resulting in her exploding. As a first encounter with the main villain (I’m assuming) it’s quite an introduction. Kibutsuji seems to see himself as superior to humans. He instantly reminded me of Meruem from Hunter x Hunter.

He summons 2 demons to “bring him the head” of Tanjiro. Tanjiro arrives at the home of Tamayo. He and Yushiro quickly establish a relationship typical of the main protagonists and his rival, much like how Midoriya and Bakugo’s (My Hero Academia) relationship works. Anyway, Tamayo tells him that she has saved the wife but the husband needed to be locked in the basement. She lacks the blood lust typical of demons because she has “modified herself,” and removed the Kibutsuji curse.

After some talking she tells Tanjiro that she hopes to find a way to turn demons back into humans. In order to do so she needs two things. Permission to study Nezuko’s blood and bring blood from powerful demons to study. As Tanjiro agrees, the two demons that Kibutsuji sent attack. It was always going to be a way to return a demon back to a human. Tamayo doesn’t seem to have an answer yet, but I don’t think it’s going to be as simple as demon blood. Another potential problem is how the organization that Tanjiro belongs to will react to him working with a demon. I anticipate that he may have a falling out with the Corps as he tries to help his sister. As a villain I love Kibutsuji and he’s terrible. The next episode will hopefully show how strong Yushiro is.