In a family, a father has a distinct set of responsibilities. And a mother has her own specific role to play. Parents must protect their children and the elder children must protect their younger siblings, even at the risk of their own lives. I believe that people who don't fulfill their roles have no right to live. What about you? Do you know what your role in life is? [Rui]
First of all, I forgot how creepy the spider demon family was! Also, I don't remember feeling scared of them when I watched the anime, but, while reading the manga, I felt the cold sweat all over my body. Ick! But that's not what I wanted to talk about, it wasn't any real issue for me. What I wanted to point out about Volume 5 of Demon Slayer is the importance of a family (no matter how this family looks like).
"What are you doing?! Aren't you her friend?!"
"Friend? Our connection is nothing so superficial. We are family. Strong ties bind us."
First we have the spider demon family, who, except for their looks and bad intentions, is like a family should look like. Everyone plays their roles how they should, both the parents and the children, and they are proof that there is no need to be bound by blood to be a family.
But the thing is, they aren't really a family, because a family's foundation cannot be fear.
On the other side we have the Kamado family. A blood-related family who's foundation isn't blood, but love. This is a family that the center of Vol. 5, a demon named Rui, tried to build, but failed drastically by choosing violence and fear over love and compassion. Rui failed and paid the price with his life, slayed by Tanjiro like every other demon. And, like every other demon, who died by Tanjiro's hand, didn't leave the earth without feeling his pure compassion and understanding.
"Don't waste pity on a demon that ate dozens of people. Even if it looks like a child. It was a horrible monster that lived for hundreds of years."
"In order to soothe the spirits of those it killed, and to make sure it claims no further victims, I will swing my blade and lop off the head of any demon without mercy! But I will not belittle those who regret their actions and suffer over the things they did as demons. Because demons were once human. Because they were human like me."
I think I already said how awesome it is that, every time we encounter an opponent, we get the opportunity to see a human inside the demon. It doesn't just show us that all the demons were humans once or that Tanjiro's heart is pure, it also shows us that evil is not born, but made. It's a simple and obvious thing that shouldn't be as impactful and shouldn't work as well, but it is and it does. I like it a lot.
Anyways, outside of the topic of family, through Volume 5 we met another Hashira, Shinobu. She's nothing like Giyuu, and it shows when their personalities clash in the end of the volume. I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of hers when she's been first introduced in the anime, but I warmed up to her the more episodes I watched. She looks like a cinnamon roll and is a cinnamon roll, but can kill you in an instant if she wants to. That's terrifying.
I am giving this volume strong four stars, because I enjoyed reading it a lot, but I cannot just not address the absurd things that the story had. None of these were an issue for me, and they didn't have any impact on my rating, but I need to address them. Ready?
Absurd no. 1: Tanjiro's "I can smell trust between people" thing. I mean, huh?! I understand that his sense of smell is sharp and that's one of his strongest points as a slayer, but his talent to smell trust is weird.
Absurd no. 2: a kid demon slayer came out of nowhere out of the forest and decided to attack Rui. How did he survive the spider demon mother's attack in the first place, weren't all the slayers (with one exception) killed off by her? Even if he did survive, the only reason why he arrived instead of running away was for us to see how strong and violent Rui is, which was purely not needed, because we could already seen it plenty of times, in the scene with his sister for example. That kid's death was completely meaningless.
Absurd no. 3: Inosuke's attack with two swords worked the second time while at first it failed. All because he let go of thinking ? I guess ???
Absurd no. 4: Tanjiro spins like a writhing dragon and the more he spins, each of his strikes get stronger. I mean... huh??
Absurd no. 5: the whole breathing techniques are completely strange, but I accepted it as a way to get stronger. I did. But how can you made a shield trough breathing?
Thanks for coming here and reading my mix of thoughts in this review! I am jumping to the next Demon Slayer volume as we speak. There will be a Shinobu vs Guyuu clash, I wonder who will be victorious on the end! ;)