Demon Slayer – Season 4 Episode 5 Recap & Review

I Even Ate Demons

Episode 5 of Demon Slayer season 4 begins with Tanjiro arriving at Kanroji’s place, where the first thing she does is treat Tanjiro to some delicious pancakes. They then join the others in her brutal flexibility training, where she hilariously makes the trainees do a 180-degree leg spread. Tanjiro is allowed to move on to Snake Hashira Iguro.

Right off the bat, Iguro’s dislike for Tanjiro is evident, exaggerated by Kanroji’s letter about her experiences with Tanjiro at her training, leading to Iguro feeling jealous. They begin Iguro’s training, which is simple: Tanjiro has to cut the rope between the wooden boards kept in a room. The problem is that there are trainees tied to the wooden boards as punishment for not fulfilling the requirements of Iguro’s training. If Tanjiro is careless, he could seriously hurt a trainee with the wooden sword. The entire scene is amusing, with trainees’ inner voices ringing in Tanjiro’s ears, “please don’t hit me.”

After getting bruised and bumped for days and sadistically taking hot water baths over bodily cuts, Tanjiro is finally able to defeat Iguro. The training is all about maneuvering one’s sword skills so that in actual battle, the slayers are prepared. While he’s about to leave, Iguro says, “Now go die, you good for nothing. Don’t talk to Kanroji like you’re chums!”

As Tanjiro makes his way to Wind Hashira Shinazugawa, he meets a terrified Zenitsu fleeing from the Hashira’s house with Shinazugawa hot on his heels. After much chaos, the Hashira knocks out Zenitsu, and they go back to the training arena.

Shinazugawa is particularly brutal, especially with Tanjiro since Tanjiro cheekily told him that he doesn’t like him very much because Shinazugawa had stabbed Nezuko. Over the next few days, it’s a reign of terror and colorful bruises. While roaming around, Tanjiro overhears Genya referring to the Hashira as brother, but Shinazugawa responds with wrath. There is a history between them that we do not know yet, as Genya tells him that he had eaten demons. This somehow provokes Shinazugawa even more as he proceeds to fatally hurt Genya, who is saved only by Tanjiro’s quick movements.

Tanjiro entangles himself in fighting with a Hashira while protecting and arguing for Genya’s case, which eventually gets him banned from meeting the Hashira and suspends his training with Shinazugawa.

Zenitsu and Tanjiro then proceed towards Stone Hashira Himejima’s residence, located deep within the forest. They finally come across water with some trainees underneath it, among them Inosuke. They further freak out seeing the Hashira himself, sitting with logs of wood on his shoulders surrounded by fire, knowing that they are in for yet another crazy training.

The Episode Review

This episode was full of laugh-out-loud moments, and we are here for it! Everything that happens with Zenitsu and his dramatic reactions are just chef’s kiss. One such sudden comedic instance is when Tanjiro asks Zenitsu to save Genya, and while Zenitsu is helping him escape from the scene, he says, “So he’s your big brother? He’s a total lunatic! I feel for you!” and gets a punch from Genya for calling his big brother a lunatic. “Don’t you dare insult my big brother!” Genya yells. Poor Zenitsu has it bad both ways.

Overall, the episode had loads of exciting and hilarious moments. With their arrival at the Stone Hashira’s, it seems their troubles are yet to be over. We wish there had been more screen time for Kanroji, but seeing that this season is painfully short, it seems we are in for a hurried narrative, but clearly without any compromises, of course!