Demon Slayer – Season 4 Episode 2 Recap & Review

Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka’s Pain

Episode 2 of Demon Slayer season 4 revolves around the Water Hashira and his hidden past. The episode begins with the demon Tamayo deciding to leave for the Ubuyashiki mansion.

Back at the Butterfly Mansion, Tanjiro is still recuperating from his battle with the demons at the Swordsmith Village. He receives a letter from Ubuyashiki, informing him about his inability to move. He encourages Tanjiro to seek the Water Hashira, Giyu Tomioka, and persuade him to join the Hashiras’ training. From the first episode, Giyu mentioned that he’s different from the other Hashiras, and Tanjiro is about to find out why.

As Tanjiro is about to leave, he meets Aoi, who gives him packed rice balls for his travels. During their brief conversation, Tanjiro realizes how sensitive the situation involving Giyu is, as Aoi highlights that if it were her, she’d want Tanjiro to let her be by herself.

And so, Tanjiro, being Tanjiro, decides to be his thick-skinned, persistent self, repeatedly calling out to Giyu from the outside when all he wants is some peace and silence. Eventually, Tanjiro self-invites himself inside the house, sits so close to Giyu that their knees almost touch, with Giyu uncomfortably thinking, “Too close,” and they discuss how Giyu is angry at Tanjiro for not mastering Water Breathing to perfection. He mentions that Tanjiro was supposed to become the Water Hashira, and he himself denies being one.

Being as persistent as he is, Tanjiro leaves the rice balls for Giyu, sleeps around his house, and literally stalks him to the point where Giyu comments, “Is he going to keep this up for the rest of my life? If I talk to him, will he stop stalking me?”

Finally, Giyu tells him that he never passed the Final Selection for the Demon Corps. The peach-haired Sabito we met in season 1 is revealed to be Giyu’s friend who died during the selection process. The difference was that while Giyu was almost killed by the demons if Sabito had not protected him, Sabito was killed while protecting others.

This was also when Giyu got injured, and while he survived the 7-day test period, he never killed any demons and woke up to the news of his friend’s death. This is why he doesn’t consider himself a Hashira and feels he’s different from the others who’ve earned their place.

Tanjiro is filled with emotion and thinks of a way to convince Giyu still, since a mere “the living must go on” would not suffice with so much pain that he knows all too well with Rengoku, who died while protecting him and the other junior slayers. So, Tanjiro says, “Giyu-sama, aren’t you going to pass on what Sabito entrusted to you?” This makes Giyu remember the moment where Sabito had slapped him back when they were still training, reminding him about Giyu’s sister’s sacrifice to save Giyu and asserting that Giyu needs to pass on what she sacrificed for him. He also remembers that he’d forgotten this memory amidst the overwhelming grief of losing not only his sister but Sabito as well.

As Giyu makes up his mind to participate in the Hashira training, Tanjiro is a nervous wreck, overthinking all possible options to calm the situation and comically blurts out whether Giyu would like to have a cold noodle competition with him! They do end up having cold noodles, where Giyu asks Tanjiro about what Kocho is up to.

At this moment, we find Kocho trying to restrain her anger, sort of looking like a maniac as she tries to smile through it with her veins popping. This is when Kanao visits her to take leave for the Hashiras’ training. Kocho then slowly tells Kanao that she’s going to tell her about the demon who killed Kocho’s elder sister and how to go about killing that demon.

The Episode Review

This episode revolves around Giyu’s character, where we finally get a peek into his past. From his story, we understand his reserved attitude and his difficulty being around the other Hashiras. Since he lost his friend, who died protecting him, Giyu feels that he’s been stealing a life that originally belonged to Sabito. Moreover, it doesn’t help that he wasn’t able to actively pass the test, so technically he cannot equate himself with the other Hashiras, who have entered the Corps through their skill. The episode connects this theme with Tanjiro in terms of Rengoku’s death, which helps Tanjiro understand and empathize with Giyu’s grief.

Demon Slayer’s charm exists in that even in such profound moments, it never fails to entertain us with subtle humor. Take, for instance, Tanjiro’s sheer lack of understanding of the concept of space as he sits so close to an uncomfortable Giyu that their knees touch and still has the nerve to animatedly comment: “I’m catching a faint whiff of anger…”

And how does Tanjiro call out to Giyu, you may ask:

“Excuse me! Mr. Tomioka! Hello! Sorry to bother you! Mr. Giyu! It’s me! Are you around? It’s Tanjiro Kamado! Hello!”

“…”

“All right, I’m coming in!” “Coming in? No, he must have said ‘I’m leaving.’”

And not to forget the call to action for the cold noodle competition that Tanjiro reasons is an appropriate distraction since he cannot physically spar with Giyu, so of course, an eating competition it is!

Not to forget that we might finally get some information on what happened with Kocho’s sister, a mystery that’s now four seasons and Kocho’s hilarious eyebrow twitch old.

All in all, as usual, Demon Slayer slays this episode with a profound theme and backdrop revolving around the Water Hashira, while maintaining its signature entertainment, character depth, and plot progression.