Entertainment District Arc is one of the best seasons Demon Slayer has to offer. Season two has the most intense fight scenes imaginable that entertain viewers over the span of eleven episodes.
Tengen Uzui, a Sound Hashira, was on a mission to infiltrate the Yoshiwara Entertainment District, while bringing along Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke along to help look for the culprit demon.
Tengen is a tall man with white hair who characterizes himself as “flashy” and “flamboyant.” He has two nichirin cleavers connected with a chain on his back. He is shown to be the fastest Hashira to travel long distances, and he has a lot of stamina.
He is a cool character because he treats Tanjiro and his friends as weakling subordinates and depicts himself as a “God.” The Japanese voice of Tengen is so unique and it fits well with him. I love the design of this character with the hair, makeup around his left eye, and the chain he has with his weapon.
Connor Doughney, a Demon Slayer fan, expresses his opinion on the new Hashira and the second season.
“[Tengen] is probably one of my favorite characters in the anime. His weapons are so cool and he has the best fight scenes in the entire series,” said Doughney.
Tengen’s backstory is revealed to help understand why he acts the way he is. He is aware of his own limitations and knows he isn’t the greatest or strongest Hashira. It makes him a better character because even though he isn’t the best fighter to ever exist, he is grateful and has people he looks up to.
The Entertainment District is a beautiful place, packed with people, bright lights, and detailed buildings. This season puts a lot of attention on the quality of the setting, making it very pleasing to the eye.
The effort put into the scenes is breathtaking. Season one had foggy mountains and forests that looked realistic. Now the second season has a huge town with people in it. It makes the viewer feel the setting matters.
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Tengen’s main goal is to look for a demon who is responsible for taking people who have been missing.
Right off the bat, the first three episodes are dedicated to finding the culprit which I didn’t like since there is some filler, but important things have happened like in the second episode. Episode two has a foreshadowing where Tengen suspects an Upper Rank demon to be roaming and says “…we could be in for an ultra-flashy fight to the death.” It left me with such an uncomfortable feeling since the story characterizes the Upper Ranks as insanely tough demons who have never been defeated.
“Half of the season is filler, it could have gone longer,” said Doughney.
While the story doesn’t have as much story progression compared to Mugen Train or the first season, it is forgiving because of a big fight that is about to break out.
Daki is soon to be discovered as the Upper-Rank demon; however, she is shown to be weak and calls out for her brother, Gyutaro.
Gyutaro is the real Upper-Rank Six demon who has far better reflexes than even the incredibly fast Hashira, Tengen. He is a more superior character compared to Daki because Gyutaro is envious of people who have better lives than him, aggressive when fighting, and shows no mercy to fortunate ones. I love how his weapon and Blood Demon Art makes him look insane which I believe factors how viewers are lured into watching him more. The music behind Gyutaro adds suspense to what he can do with his power.
Two things that make him strong are his poisonous blood and his tough neck making it difficult to decapitate him. On top of that, he was a big threat everyone had to evacuate from the district. I like how minor things happen such that the civilians get affected by Gyutaro’s presence.
The seventh through eleventh episodes are crazy; these episodes have the craziest battles you will ever see. With so many things happening the animation is out of this world; it feels like the battle has its own life, everyone choosing their own targets. Zenitsu and Inosuke focused on defeating Daki, while Tanjiro and Tengen focused on Gyutaro. Targets get switched depending on the state of the fight, attacks involved with everyone, the environment and setting is unbelievable with buildings, effects, and visuals. All these components contribute to why I love the fights so much.
Spoiler incoming for viewers who have not seen the tenth episode. Episode ten is a game-changer. On top of the already glorious animation, the action ramps up significantly. I loved Tengen and Gyutaro’s brutal last fight, that included tackling each other, explosions involved, forcefully kicking and pushing, and fiercely barraging each other with their weapons, all while Tengen lost his arm from the previous episode. Surprisingly, he can’t behead Gyutaro, yet he gets his left eye sliced and his chain broken that connects to his nichirin cleavers. He doesn’t stop and charge for Gyutaro, while ordering Tanjiro to behead him, Tanjiro gets stabbed in the jaw but disregards the pain and jams his blade into Gyutaro’s neck. He puts a sheer amount of strength into slicing the neck making it halfway. Meanwhile, Zenitsu performed “Thunder Breathing: Godlike Speed” to unleash unbelievable speeds at Daki to cut off her durable belt that connects her head; however, he fails and Inosuke comes in and uses his blade like saws to cut off the belt, making it slowly rip apart. Now both Gyutaro and Daki are in grave danger. Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu are screaming to behead them, Tanjiro eventually succeeds in separating Gyutaro’s head and Zenitsu and Inosuke helped decapitate Daki’s head, leading to the death of both Upper Rank-Six. Leaving everyone who survived, critically injured and fatigued.
The battle intrigued me because I felt connected to Tengen when he was fighting towards his limit. Gyutaro and Tengen were screaming which made the battle even more ruthless. Not to mention, Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu improved their swordsmanship skill from this horrendous battle. No one carried the fight, having everyone team up and put in their effort to contribute defeating Upper-Rank Six is astonishing.
Animation is an important factor as it makes fights harsher when the show wants to emphasize it and let the audience pay attention.
“It certainly does [in] the final battle with [explosions and] sparks of the blades,” said Doughney.
The show described Upper-Ranks as undefeatable demons and gave Gyutaro a concerning and extraordinary amount of power. It lives up to the hype as the story because I know there is a clear difference between the strength of a Hashira and an Upper-Rank demon with how season two went. Even after Tengen’s full potential to defeat Gyutaro, it wasn’t enough until Tanjiro helped. It leaves me wondering how strong are the other Hashiras and whether they can fight off the stronger demons that have yet to be killed. Not to mention, Tanjiro is going to train harder if he wants to compete with the Upper Ranks.
After the fight, Tanjiro collected samples of blood from Gyutaro to send it to Tamayo who is an expert at medicine. She’ll study the blood of an Upper-Rank demon closely related to Muzan Kibutsuji and compare the blood of Tanjiro’s sister to help find a cure to revert Nezuko back into a human.
The ending is impressive because the Demon Slayer Corps praised Tengen, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, discovering hope for fighting off the remaining five Upper-Ranks and antagonist, Muzan Kibutsuji. Tengen retires as a Hashira for his injuries: left arm chopped off and left eye slashed.
This fight is honestly unforgettable, everyone is wounded severely and exhausted because of the amount of strength needed to kill each other, even after the death of Gyutaro, all of the Yoshiwara Entertainment District has been obliterated because of the battle.
The second season is for mature audiences due to gore, violence, profanity, and partial nudity.
The intensity of this season is spectacular; the cliffhangers and destruction from the fight keeps it immersive; the pacing is fantastic with so many things happening. This season has proven to attract viewers to enjoy watching Demon Slayer and leave them in awe.
