Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (2019)

[鬼滅の刃]

Volume 15

Author/Artist: Koyoharu Gotouge
Publisher: Jump Comics

Synopsis:
Tanjirou, Nezuko and Genya close in to finish off Hantengu.

Story/Characters:
We pick up right where the last chapter left off, with Genya throwing a tree at Hantengu and then tossing a couple more for good measure. Nezuko makes a go at him once the trees land, but he manages to get away, speedy little bugger that he is. Tanjirou can't really run after him with his jacked up leg, but he then recalls Zenitsu's explanation of how Lightning Breathing works by focusing on the leading leg and amplifying the output of the muscles to speed forward. Tanjirou succeeds in replicating this to close the distance. He goes in for the kill, but as the blade is stuck in Hantengu's neck, the whining coward snaps in a rage at how Tanjirou is bullying the weak, growing much larger than Tanjirou himself and trying to crush our hero's head in his grip. Genya tries to pry Hantengu's fingers off and it's Nezuko's Blood Art that forces him to break free, but Genya takes damage as well due to his partial oni transformation. The Kamado siblings and Hantengu take a tumble off a cliff, but things aren't done yet. According to the narration, Hantengu's current form is called Zouhakuten and though he's far from beaten yet, he's been significantly weakened, his recovery rate slowed thanks to Nezuko, and he needs human flesh to get back to top condition. As Tanjirou starts to pursue, Tokitou tosses him the blade Haganezuka's been working on (to the vehement objections of Haganezuka, who doesn't consider his work to be complete). With this superior blade in hand, Tanjirou succeeds in taking Hantengu's head and the sun's coming up to ensure the job is properly finished, but Nezuko is out in open. Tanjirou's throat has been too damaged by Hantengu to call out for her to take cover, so he runs to her just as she's running to him. It turns out that Hantengu's headless body is still making a go at the hapless villagers, that instead of "fear", his tongue now reads "grudge". Tanjirou is torn between his duty as a Slayer and his concern for Nezuko, but she makes the choice for him, knocking him toward Hantengu's body even as the light of the sun sears her body. At this point, focusing on his duty is all Tanjirou can do and he's able to sense out that the mini Hantengu is actually hiding in the heart of Zouhakuten. As Tanjirou lands the deathblow, he calls on Hantengu to atone for his sins, and we get a brief glimpse of his life as a human, a miserable thief and murderer who never accepted the blame for his own wrongdoings and was saved from execution thanks to Muzan turning him into an oni. Doesn't really pull on your heartstrings like most of the other backstories we've seen, but Gyokko didn't even get that much.

The fight is over, but Tanjirou is struck with the bitter realization that by now there's nothing left of Nezuko. As he weeps for his sister, the villagers he saved rouse him to look behind him and, lo and behold, there's Nezuko, there in one piece, and in the first time since their family was slaughtered, in her own voice she's able to speak to him and tells him, "Good morning." At the start of the next chapter, we have Tamayo writing a letter to Tanjirou explaining how she was able to use Nezuko's blood to help the man Muzan turned into an oni regain his sense of self. She then posits that the reason Nezuko's mentality has remained that of a child is that her priority was not the preservation of her consciousness but rather to overcome her weakness to the sun. Tanjirou is of course relieved and overjoyed that Nezuko is fine, but quickly all his injuries catch up to him and he passes out. We then briefly see Kanroji's fight come to an end as the extensions of Hantengu crumble away with the death of the main body. Lastly, we cut to Shouta!Muzan, who has sensed that Nezuko has overcome the sun. Realizing he has no further need of his research into the blue spider lily, he dispatches his "mother" and her maid as he exults in the long-awaited triumph after a thousand years of struggle. We get a brief flashback of how he was turned into an oni back in the Heian Period by a doctor who made a concoction derived from the blue spider lily. The immediate effect was an aggravation of his symptoms, which prompted him to kill the doctor. The only problem was that the doctor was the only one who knew where blue spider lilies could be found or how to concoct the medicine. He took the critical defect of an oni's weakness to the sun as an insult and has been stewing on that anger ever since. With his goal of becoming the perfect immortal finally within reach, things are about to get serious. (You thought things were already serious? Well, now they're super-serious.)

After seeing the gang assemble for a nice big victory group hug, We find that the swordsmiths had to close up shop and make haste to find a new location before the oni could catch up to them again. We then see Tanjirou in recovery talking with the Kakushi Gotou, who's updating him on the situation. As you might imagine, Nezuko as a daywalker oni is a point of concern, but apparently she's just been playing with the nurses, who have been teaching her how to speak. We cut to an ecstatic Zenitsu fawning over Nezuko, proposing marriage and what not, only for her to reply, "Welcome back, Inosuke." Honestly, it's one of my favorite moments in the series. You see, other than the girls, Inosuke's also been working as a speech coach (mostly because she was botching his name as much as he does for Tanjirou). At the Ubuyashiki estate, the Hashira hold an emergency meeting to discuss the recent attack and where to go next. As Ubuyashiki himself is bed-ridden due to his ever-worsening illness, the missus takes the lead in his place. She discusses with them the phenomenon of the Mark and how it's tied to the near-defeat of Muzan in the past. What's more, when it manifests in one swordsman, resonance can cause it to manifest in others. In this generation, they've concluded that Tanjirou was the one who started it, but unfortunately he doesn't know how it manifested. When Kanroji explains her experience, she proves to be no better at understanding it than Tanjirou, much to her embarrassment. Tokitou concludes that if they can figure out what the trigger is, then they all stand a good chance of manifesting the Mark. He describes the situation he was in when it manifested for him, struggling to control the poison coursing in his veins, rage boiling in him, his heart racing and his body temperature elevated. In other words, he concludes, they should be able to determine if someone will manifest the Mark by pushing them to their limits. Training to manifest the Mark becomes their latest priority, but once Amane leaves, Tomioka is going to step out as well, angering Shinazugawa, who insists the meeting isn't over. Tomioka simply says he isn't like the rest of them, which Shinazugawa of course takes the worst possible way, while the more level-headed members ask him to better explain himself. Shinazugawa almost starts a fight when Himejima intervenes and offers a proposal.

Back at Shinobu's, Haganezuka delivers the finished sword to Tanjirou. It was given Rengoku's tsuba and has a peculiar pattern to the blade. It's marked with only the single character "metsu", which Haganezuka explains was all that was done on the earliest swords, unlike the current ones which read "akki messatsu". When Tanjirou points out that the blade didn't have that character when he used it before, Haganezuka fumes that that was because he hadn't finished polishing it yet when Tokitou gave it to him. He complains some more, makes some threats, then curtly wishes Tanjirou well before leaving. Genya, who's recovering in the next bed, complains about all the noise. Tanjirou apologizes and says that things should settle down... only for Inosuke to come bursting through the window exulting about the new training to get stronger. He doesn't have any of the details, but in the next chapter we learn that the Corps has initiated a program dubbed "Hashira Training", where everyone undergoes training with each of the Hashira. Normally, the Hashira only train their chosen successors as they're needed out in the field, but with Nezuko's recent development, oni appearances have dropped dramatically (as Muzan no longer needs other oni to be his eyes and ears throughout Japan to help him find the blue spider lily), so they can afford to focus on training. The narration's explanation is recontextualized as Zenitsu explaining things to Tanjirou. As you'd imagine, Zenitsu isn't a fan of this new regimen of intense training and is envious of Tanjirou who gets to rest because of all his broken bones. Tanjirou thanks him for what he had told him about Lightning Breathing as it came in handy in the fight with Hantengu and tells him that by pooling their knowledge like that, it's sure to lead to a better future for them. Zenitsu tries to act like he's not happy to hear that, but his face can't hide what a sucker he is for a compliment. A crow comes in with a letter to Tanjirou directly from Ubuyashiki.

We cut to the Hashira Training. The first round is with the now retired Uzui, who works on improving basic stamina. After him, Kanroji works on flexibility, Tokitou on speed, Iguro on swordfighting form, Shinazugawa on infinite striking, and Himejima for muscle strengthening. You might be noticing one Hashira missing from this list. Our boy Tomioka doesn't seem to be playing along and Tanjirou pays him a visit. Tomioka isn't exactly overjoyed to see Tanjirou and tells him that he's angry Tanjirou didn't fully master Water Breathing in order to become the next Water Hashira. Tanjirou says that people branching off from the core techniques isn't uncommon at all, but Tomioka specifies that since there isn't a Water Hashira, it was Tanjirou's job to fill the position. This confuses Tanjirou, as Tomioka is right there, but he insists that he isn't a Hashira. We then learn that the letter from Ubuyashiki was a request for Tanjirou to go and help bring Tomioka back on board. After four days of being followed around, Tomioka finally breaks down and tells Tanjirou exactly what he meant. He doesn't consider himself to have truly passed the Final Selection and therefore can't be considered a proper Hashira. Sabito (who you may recall helped Tanjirou in his early training, albeit in spectral form) actually killed most of the oni on the mountain during the Final Selection. Tomioka was wounded early on, saved by Sabito, and left in another candidate's care. Though he passed on the technicality of having survived the seven days, he didn't slay a single oni, and has been nursing an inferiority complex ever since. Tanjirou actually relates to this sentiment quite a bit, considering how Rengoku died in his stead. However, rather than dwelling on how it would've been better if he had been the one to die, he had to focus on how to best use his life to fill that void. When he asks Tomioka about carrying on for Sabito, it triggers a memory of how Sabito belted Tomioka good for saying it'd be better from him to die, as it was an insult to the memory of Tomioka's sister, who died protecting him from an oni. He had to carry on for her sake. This stirs Tomioka to his core and he regrets having forgotten something so important. Tanjirou thinks he's said something wrong at first and so challenges Tomioka to a speed-eating contest as a change of pace. Tomioka is confused but plays along and then agrees to participate in the training.

We cut to Shinobu trying to meditate before her sister's shrine to calm her nerves when Kanao shows up requesting to train with her. Shinobu notes that Kanao has gotten better at expressing her own feelings and decides to confide in her the plan for how to kill the oni responsible for her sister's death. Next, a crow arrives at Tamayo's place and proposes that she come to the Ubuyashiki estate to directly cooperate in the plan to defeat Muzan. Though their goals align, Tamayo is understandably unnerved at the prospect of an oni like herself going to the headquarters of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Next, a fully recovered Tanjirou sets out to begin his training. Uzui receives him warmly (much unlike his treatment of the other trainees) and within ten days he's clear to move on. Similarly, Tokitou has quite the sunny disposition as Tanjirou demonstrates his improvement (and remember that this is the guy who until recently had basically no emotions). After that is Kanroji. There's some small-talk about her hobby of apiculture, then the training begins, basically ballet with stretching from Hell. However, when it's time for Tanjirou to start training under Iguro, he gets a much colder reception. For his training, he basically has an obstacle course consisting of trainees strung up for annoying him and the idea is to be able to move fluidly without hitting anyone. It takes some effort, but Tanjirou gets through it (though Iguro doesn't like him any more than when they started). And if you thought Iguro wasn't happy to see Tanjirou, well, Shinazugawa is next. We first have a Zenitsu desperate to flee before he is caught by Shinazugawa and given the choice of returning to training or getting killed on the spot. The two options seem to be about equal in Zenitsu's mind, so he just gets knocked out and hauled back by Tanjirou. As you would imagine, the mood is chilly between Tanjirou and Shinazugawa. Tanjirou is ridiculously upbeat as usual, but he's not entirely willing to let bygones be bygones. When Shinazugawa tells him he doesn't acknowledge Tanjirou, with a smile on his face, Tanjirou replies firmly that he doesn't acknowledge Shinazugawa either. Shinazugawa takes this as well as you'd imagine and gives Tanjirou and extra serving of lumps during the training. Most of those lumps appear on Tanjirou's face, and after a good walloping on his first day, Tanjirou happens upon Genya trying to speak to his brother. The elder Shinazugawa isn't in a mood to listen and presses him to quit the Corps. Genya tries to get out what he's been meaning to say to him, to apologize and whatnot, but his brother isn't having any of it. However, when Genya mentions that he's gone as far as to eat oni in order to gain the strength to fight them, this greatly offends the Wind Hashira and he's just about to gouge out Genya's eyes when Tanjirou rushes in for the save. Tanjirou upbraids Shinazugawa for his treatment of Genya, so Shinazugawa temporarily turns all of his aggression on Tanjirou. Tanjirou manages to hold out better than expected, but it takes all the trainees present to finally break up the fight. As a result of all this, Tanjirou gets reprimanded, his training under Shinazugawa cancelled and the two of them are basically put under a restraining order. Tanjirou and Zenitsu are then moved along to Himejima's training, where they find Inosuke under a waterfall reciting a sutra. Himejima himself is squatting in an open fire with logs weighted down with large rocks on his shoulders. Zenitsu promptly pukes at the prospect of this super-fun training and even Tanjirou looks daunted. And that's our cliffhanger.

Art:
The last stretch of the Hantengu fight packs some punch, with Tanjirou just barely hanging on and Nezuko apparently sacrificing herself to the sun. Naturally, the reveal of her new development is one of the big emotional highs of the series. The visual comedy of much of the training is pretty good, so there's plenty to enjoy there if you like that aspect of the series.

Other:
We have an illustration of a happy Zenitsu with two stalks standing in his tea, the three villagers Tanjirou saved, Genya apologizing to the one daughter of Ubuyashiki that he hit during the Final Selection (with an explanation that once he hit puberty, he became incredibly awkward around girls), Shinobu offering a handkerchief to Kanroji who's sweating from embarrassment, Shinobu scolding Inosuke for breaking her window, a young Tomioka and Sabito apparently doing the Fusion Dance while Urokodaki watches, Yushirou tumbling down the stairs when he senses Tamayo's distress, Tanjirou's horror at the Shinazugawas demonstrating what a real sibling quarrel looks like (with him recalling how he would play around with his own brother), Himejima planting Inosuke head-first into the ground after being challenged by him, and lastly an illustrated thank-you note from Gotouge to the fans originally printed in the 2019 Issue 6-7 of Shounen Jump.

Conclusion:
While Gyokko and Hantengu don't have anything resembling the sympathetic end note that Gyuutarou and Daki got, the staging for the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc is excellent and it alone is worth the price of admission. In the calm before the storm, the final training arc provides a good opportunity for comedy and to give some additional development for some of the Hashira we haven't spent much time with yet. Overall, I think fans will be quite happy with this, and as with every volume thus far, you'll want this in your collection.

Rating:
Own It