“The calm before the storm,” as best described for the Hashira Training Arc, leaves a huge cliffhanger where a major battle soon erupts between the Demon Slayer Corps against the top three Upper-Ranks in the Infinity Castle Arc. 

There will be incoming spoilers if you have not completely read both of these arcs that will be reviewed.

For the Hashira Training Arc, it was great to include because of the small details based on the plot. Tanjiro training isn’t out of the ordinary although this is a special case for Demon Slayers below the rank of Hashira who get to train with the Hashiras. Another exciting thing about this arc despite being nine chapters long is seeing all the Hashiras and how they train.

“With the training arc, [it is] essential cause you see characters grow, change, [and] learn,” said Lelija Lusas, Demon Slayer fan, providing her perspective on the two arcs.

This arc is also a relief and a chance to know more about the Demon Slayer organization and the Hashiras that weren’t majorly featured in past arcs. The training arc has more lore depth because Muichiro teaches Tanjiro when to tense up and relax muscles, or Sanemi’s grueling session where slayers have to fight nonstop until they vomited or fainted.

The end of this short training arc revealed the antagonist, Muzan Kibutsuji, meeting with Ubuyashiki, the Demon Slayer Corps Leader. This cliffhanger was crazy because you have these two characters that are pretty much the opposite of each other, and the only thing in my mind was a horrific situation to unfold.

The house of Ubuyashki, his wife and children all died from a massive explosion in an effort to damage and cause harm to Muzan, leading to the Infinity Castle Arc.

This arc being the most intense of the Demon Slayer series with all Upper-Ranks getting involved against the entire Demon Slayer Corps.

The battle between Upper-Moon 3, Akaza against Giyu and Tanjiro was eye-opening. For example, whenever Akaza would try to attack the main character, Tanjiro would fight back without question or hesitation, which shows how far he has come. In fact, the main character reached the highest status of being a Hashira because of how his skill level improved so much through hard work. Which is reminiscent of the time when Kyojuro Rengoku had to fight him until Rengoku died, and now it’s Tanjiro and Giyu fighting.

The backstory of Akaza was interesting and explores where his personality comes from and why he talks about getting better at fighting. When he was human, Akaza was living in slums. His dad was sick and couldn’t afford medicine, so he decided to resort to violence and stealing money.

“He was not curable; he was definitely broken because he lost his fiancee and his family,” said Lusas.

Akaza’s backstory has a lot to cover, despite Demon Slayer being overall simple. Those already interested in the manga series should read it because Akaza’s life as a human deserves more credit than can be described and explained in words. He kills himself because he realized who his enemy was all this time.

Upper-Rank Two: Douma wasn’t in any way entertaining, or interesting similar to Gyokko. Douma’s backstory wasn’t intriguing at all and he was there to be a villain. He was cocky and didn’t try to battle against Shinobu, Inosuke, and Kanao; Douma greatly underestimated them. Shinobu sacrificed herself to inject poison to her body for a period of time to develop resistance to it and then Douma would eat her which weakened him greatly and let Kanao do the finishing blow.

The battle between Zenitsu and the new Upper-Moon 6: Kaigaku caught my attention because Zenitsu trained with Kaigaku when he was human. Zenitsu’s reaction wasn’t surprising as he was mad at Kaigaku for betraying the Demon Slayer Corps. The irony in this scenario when Zenitsu learned the first form, but not the five others and Kaigaku learned all five forms, but the first form of Thunder Breathing. 

The battle between Zenitsu and the new Upper-Moon 6: Kaigaku caught my attention because Zenitsu trained with Kaigaku when he was human. Zenitsu’s reaction wasn’t surprising as he was mad at Kaigaku for betraying the Demon Slayer Corps. The irony in this scenario when Zenitsu learned the first form, but not the five others and Kaigaku learned all five forms, but the first form of Thunder Breathing. 

“He was one of the orphans that Gyomei raised and he was the one that betrayed all the orphans,” said Lusas. “Then he became an Upper-Moon and I’m like ‘wow, this kid’s terrible.’ There was no redemption for him.”

Kaigaku completely changed when he was paralyzed with fear, confronting Kokushibo. Transitioning into Kokushibo’s character, his past and the fight between four powerful demon slayers. Him being featured the least only raised my curiosity for him. He was portrayed as an ominous and secretive character, due to his power level and his association with Muzan. The sword Kokushibo also possessed could be modified into other forms, and his most iconic one was when his sword transformed with three blades coming out of his weapon that stuck out like branches. The breathing style Kokushibo owns was intriguing to me and is Moon Breathing.

“I thought it was a bit cliche. It’s like my brother [Yorichi] has Sun Breathing and I’m the opposite of him and I have Moon Breathing,” said Lusas. “It’s unique, but it’s really basic.”

Kokushibo’s breathing style consists of crescent blades that appear from his sword when doing a form. These crescent blades are changing in size and speed. His technique was different because not only demons have Blood Demon Arts, but Upper-Rank 1 uses a breathing technique. 

The battle between the three Hashiras-Gyomei, Muichiro, Sanemi-and a demon slayer; Genya against Upper-Rank 1 was phenomenal. I enjoyed Sanemi and Gyomei correlating their attacks together against the demon considering their weapons. Gyomei swings a spiky ball chained up with an axe while Sanemi just uses a regular sword.

“Seeing these characters that you haven’t really seen much of interact so well together,” said Lusas. “And you’re like ‘wow, they know how to do their job.’”

Back when Kokushibo was human, his perspective on life and how he perceived things was so different. For example, he thought his brother Yorichi didn’t love or care about him, but he did. Kokushibo hated his brother for being the most powerful swordsman to have mastered Sun Breathing. He wanted to be the strongest swordsman and live forever.

“He realizes how much he’s done and why things are happening,” said Lusas. “ You see things one way and then it all changes and [he] realizes ‘what have I been doing?’”

I feel that Kokushibo felt remorse, but he resembles evil and symbolizes greed. When Kokushibo got beheaded and grew another one, he saw a reflection of himself from the reflection of Sanemi’s blade. He hated how he looked and called himself a “monster” and killed himself.

Kokushibo wanted power and strength to be the best, and yet he killed so many innocent people for this one thing he wanted. I would compare him to Kaigaku because he had similar beliefs.

The aftermath of this glorious arc revealed the deaths of Muichiro, Genya, and Shinobu in an effort to sacrifice and contribute. All of the Upper-Moons have been utterly defeated leaving the remaining and only demon to truly kill: Muzan.

Overall, these two arcs are amazing, and I was happy that Demon Slayer, generally being simple, was able to add depth when it came to the backstories of Akaza and Kokushibo. It was a moment of the worst happening and in that moment, you learn everyone and everything.

“The art evolves so much and yet maintains being the same and then the story itself grows, and you realize just the weight of the story as it continues,” said Lusas. “I think that’s really powerful.”