I should have... I should have been able to live here like this forever. Everyone should still be alive and well. Nezuko should be in the sunlight... under a blue sky. I should... I should be making charcoal here and not swinging a katana. Should have... could have...! But I already lost all that. And I can't go back. [Tanjiro]
Guys. I don't remember crying while watching these scenes in the anime. But this time, while reading the manga, I cried. Like, A LOT.
In Demon Slayer's Vol. 7 Shinobu, unable to answer Tanjiro's questions about his fire breathing technique, sends him and his friends to meet the Fire Hashira, Rengoku. The heroes are supposed to meet on a train, but everyone's travel gets suddenly interrupted by a demon attack.
"Wake up! You're under attack! This is a dream! Wake up! Get up and fight!" [Tanjiro]
While Zenitsu's and Inosuke's dreams were humorous, Rengoku's and Tanjiro's were the opposite of that. Getting through them was heartbreaking, especially through Tanjiro's dream. No matter how hard I could try, there was no way for me to stop the tears from falling. Some stories are just meant to tear you apart, you know? 😭
I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Rokuta. I can't stay with you any longer. But your big brother is always thinking of you. I'm always thinking of everyone. [Tanjiro]
For a person who loved and was loved in return, but lost the loved ones, bringing them back when you know they are gone is the worst kind of torture. That's what Tanjiro Kamado had to experience. You could say that it was just a dream, a flicker of imagination, so it doesn't matter, but for Tanjiro it felt real. It was something he reacted to in a deep, emotional way, and, because of that, I reacted this way as well. All of his tears and all of his smiles, while he had been stuck in his dream, broke my heart, because this was the family he loved and lost (in a brutal way) that was suddenly brought back to him - and I had to see him slowly gain the realization that nothing he saw was real, and that he had to leave his beloved family - his dead family - to come back to his very alive sister. Everybody else would have been heavily traumatized by it, but Tanjiro didn't have time for it, not where a very dangerous threat was lurking around and all of his friends, including his sister, and all of the innocent passengers could be killed.
But how can you get out of a dream? You have to wake up. Sounds easy. But we all know how hard it is to wake up sometimes. Tanjiro was under the influence of a demon so he had to think outside of a box to save himself. And it seemed like there was only one way to wake up. It was a way that, again, seemed like something insignificant, because it happened in a dream, so it wasn't real. But, again, it was something that Tanjiro had to get through, something he had experienced, something he felt - not just one time, but multiple times, over and over again, to keep himself awake while facing the dangerous threat. When I say that I was horrified, would be an understatement. I can't imagine anyone getting through something like this, especially not a child. Because this is who Tanjiro Kamado is - a child. It's so easy to forget about it, considering how skillful and strong, and mature, our main characters can be. They can suddenly grow stronger, but they will not suddenly become older, you know? A child should be a child, have the experiences of children, but, sadly, Tanjiro Kamado doesn't have this luxury 😔
"Neither you nor I will ever amount to anything great." [Rengoku's father]
I will not spend much time talking about this. I just want to say that I'm tired of seeing fathers crumble after the loss of their wives and I'm tired of seeing children constantly looking for such fathers' approval, and being let down over and over again. Man, wake the hell up, your child needs you!! I understand the pain after losing the closest person you have been with, it's a true tragedy that it's hard to live with, but if you have children, you keep on going. For them. There is no excuse. You just have to get up and do your best for their sake, no matter how much it hurts.
"The 200 passengers on this train are all food for strengthening me further! They're my hostages. Can you protect them by yourself?" [Enmu]
Can we talk about how brilliant Enmu's plan had been? He could have kill these demons slayers, kill a freaking Hashira, without even trying much. All it needed was to succeed in destroying the heroes' spiritual cores. The heroes were all trapped in their dreams, which means that they were all vulnerable both in their physical and spiritual state. If Rengoku didn't react and if Tanjiro hadn't woken up - which was really unfortunate for the demon - he would have won this fight. But he had heavily underestimated his opponents and paid the price for it.
"That doesn't matter. You helped me, Aoi. So you're now a part of me. I'll think about you when I go into battle."
"All right! I'll flip it to decide!"
"Decide what?"
"Whether from now on you listen closely to the voice of your heart."
Can we talk about how of a charmer Tanjiro is?! He's the biggest green flag ever walking on this earth! (and he's not even real!) I remembered him being incredibly sweet to Kanao and all the girls working in Shinobu's Butterfly Mansion, while I watched the anime, but I never realized how amazing boyfriend material he is. He's such an empath, always considerate of other people's feelings, always observant and reaching out his hand to help, no matter if a person wants it or not. He can so incredibly easy grab a girl's heart and he wouldn't even realize it, trying his best to be nice! There should be an enormous line of girls being in love with him, and that would have been such a beautiful and pure love, because this is who Tanjiro is - a beautiful and pure person with a heart of gold. I am sure that he's the most pure out of every MC ever created 😭
Now, when it comes to Kanao and Aoi. I am still shipping Tanjiro with Kanao, I don't think it will ever change, honestly, but Aoi is for sure my second choice for Tanjiro. (I will be genuinely heartbroken if he will never end up with either of them)
Anyways, I enjoyed reading this volume a lot. I think I can even say that I loved it. It was both fun and emotional, I think the balance was really well made. I'm jumping to the next volume as we speak! Just let me say a couple of things before I end up my review (⚠️SPOILER WARNING!⚠️)
~ I think it's funny that either Shinobu nor Rengoku (who both are a Hashira) were any help for Tanjiro who had been looking for answers about the fire breathing technique 😆
~ I completely forgot that Genya was in the Butterfly Mansion! I was so happy to see him! ☺️
~ The fact that both Inosuke and Tanjiro had no idea what a train was hilarious (and make a perfect sense for their characters) 😂
~ As much as I like Rengoku's relationship with the trio (because I like siblings), I think that the kids got attached to Rengoku too fast.
~ The image of Tanjiro meeting another Tanjiro in the reflection in a mirror was amazing.
~ Nezuko's the cutest thing! ☺️
~ The image of the little sprites guiding the sick boy to Tanjiro's spiritual core, despite knowing that the boy wants to hurt him, was even more heartbreaking than the whole thing with Tanjiro's family. I want to cry every time I think how pure this boy is 😭
~ As much as I loved this volume, I think the author is trying too much to explain things. It's good to have an explanation sometimes, but let a reader figure some things out just by your drawings. They are easy to follow so nobody will be lost, trust me.
~ I loved how Tanjiro and Inosuke fought side by side against the demon and how they protected each other from a certain death! It was awesome!
~ The Kanao bonus chapter was shown in the anime (fortunately), so I already seen it. But even after seeing it, I wasn't truly prepared to witness how heartless and cruel some people can be 😔