Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc – Ep 1 Review

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Sanemi Shinazugawa, the Wind Hashira, and Obanai Iguro, the Snake Hashira, fight a horde of low-level demons in an old castle-like structure, the bloody face-off kicking off season four of the anime series “Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba”, the Hashira Training Arc. The timeline is set just a few days after the events of Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village Arc, which, if you’d remember, ended with a strong twist – Nezuko develops resistance to sunlight, the first demon in history to do so.

Also Read: Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village Arc Review

Titled “In Order to Defeat Muzan Kibutsuji”, episode 4 of “Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc” is almost 50 minutes long and sets a pretty clear agenda for the season. The Demon Slayer Corps immediately realizes that Muzan Kibutsuji, the demon king, will now be after Nezuko due to her new unique ability, one he has been trying to gain himself for years. So, Amane Ubuyashiki holds a meeting of all the active Hashiras, instructing them to brace for war and train all the other slayers to get stronger.

Ufotable animators had done a pretty impressive job with the opening episode of Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village Arc, giving viewers a fantastic glimpse into Muzan’s Infinity Castle, a mind-bending alternate dimension that keeps changing shape and is maintained by blood-demon art. However, the Hashira Training Arc opens with a grim, dimly lit setting—a ghostly grey castle—where Shinazugawa and Iguro slay a bunch of easy-to-kill demons. Fortunately, there’s plenty happening in the story, so even though the animation isn’t an upgrade from the last time, the plot keeps you invested in the proceedings.

While Tanjiro Kamado, the primary protagonist, is still recovering the severe wounds he sustained from his last fight, and there’s a renewed interest from all corners in his sister Nezuko, who is slowly evolving. His close slayer friends Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira, who weren’t part of the last arc, are finally back in the scene, which also means there are plenty of comical moments in the episode. I mean Zenitsu and Inosuke are almost synonymous with comedic-relief at this point in “Demon Slayer – Kimetsu No Yaiba”. Fans (and me) definitely missed them a lot in the last season, so it’s good to have their silly shenanigans back in action.

There might not be a lot of blood, deaths and tears in episode one of the Hashira Training Arc, but it ends with a lot of sweat, harsh training, an intriguing twist and the promise of an imminent brutal war between the demons and the slayers.

You can stream the series on Netflix, CrunchyRoll and JioCinema.

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