Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 ~ Gerudo Town Flashbacks [Spoilery Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 gave me flashbacks to trying to sneak into Gerudo Town. Those who played the game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will know what I’m talking about.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc is part of the second season of the critically acclaimed Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime, which is based on the equally-as-critically acclaimed manga of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. This is the second episode of that arc.

Takashi Suhara directed Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 and did the storyboard for that episode. Haruo Sotozaki is still the overall director of the anime, though. Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina are also still responsible for the beautiful music you hear in this episode. Ufotable is also still the animation studio responsible for the anime. Lastly, Aniplex of America licensed this anime for NA release, so you have them to thank for being able to watch this episode.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 premiered on December 12, 2021, as part of a simulcast with Japan. You can watch this episode on either Funimation or Crunchyroll. Note that for some reason, only Funimation is streaming the Entertainment District Arc for free at the time of this writing, so you might want to head on over to there to watch it. This particular episode is currently locked at the time of this writing, so you might want to wait a week before you can watch it for free. Also, note that there is currently only Japanese audio with English subtitles. If you want the English dub, you’re going to have to wait for later.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 below. If you want to watch the madness for yourself, stop here, and come back once you’ve finished prettying yourself up for an infiltration mission.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 ~ Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 picks up where the last episode left off, with the Sound Hashira recruiting/conscripting Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke to help him infiltrate said Entertainment District. As it turns out, the Sound Hashira actually had three female operatives (his “wives”) who’d been infiltrating three houses in the district themselves to locate a suspected demon among the courtesans, but he lost contact with them and now can’t find them anywhere. Thus, he needs Tanjiro and co. to infiltrate the red-light district disguised as hopeful girls to regain contact with his operatives, ensure their safety, and find out what they know. It’s a decent enough plan that Link would be proud of. Only, see above.

Yeah, the Sound Hashira can’t do makeup, period. He really should’ve hired a professional for that, but what’s done is done. Still, the trio does manage to infiltrate the target houses without much trouble. You know, aside from being the ugliest girls insight.

Funnily enough, Tanjiro and Inosuke manage to discover vital intel on their first day. Tanjiro discovers that one of the operatives has committed “ashinuke“, which meant that she’d run away without paying her debts. Her “diary” seems to confirm it, but even Tanjiro notes that such a diary can easily be a forgery. He resolves to investigate further.

Meanwhile, though, Inosuke has managed to uncover the location of one of the operatives. She’s been cooped up “sick” in her room and refuses to come out. Inosuke makes him way over there, despite pretending to be mute since he couldn’t hope to pass as a girl with his husky voice. The scene then cuts to the operative herself, who’s being held prisoner by a bunch of…bolts of cloth? It’s probably the demon’s blood technique, and it looks like said demon is torturing the operative for intel. Hopefully, Inosuke gets there quickly because that’s it for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2. Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait until December 19, 2021, to find out what happens next.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 ~ The Good

The cross-dressing bit in Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2. That was the hardest I’d laughed in a while. As I said, it reminded me of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, when Link had to sneak into Gerudo Town dressed as a girl. Only Link had a professional drag queen to do his clothes and makeup. The Sound Hashira has no such skills or experience, hence the hilarious results above.

And somehow, the comedy gets even crazier after the trio were recruited by the target houses. Of course, they have to keep up the act, but they can’t help but be…well, themselves. Tanjiro has the right personality for the job, and Inosuke at least has the face for it, but then there’s Zenitsu. He can only fall back on mad shamisen skills with neither the face nor the personality, fueled by the Dark Side of the Force. No, really. His hate for the Sound Hashira is what’s fueling his drive to be the best oiran in the Entertainment District via his shamisen skills. Emperor Palpatine would be proud.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2 ~ The Bad

Dude, you have the wrong person when trying to find something terrible about Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 2. I guess if I had to pick one thing to nitpick: it’s that we don’t get to see Nezuko in this episode. This is a bit odd, since she’s a girl (and adorable on top of it) and might be a good infiltrator candidate. Then again, it’s possible that Tanjiro didn’t want to accidentally out her as a demon since, well, the merest touch of sunlight would out her. That and the gag and desire to drink blood. Those wouldn’t help.

Source: Funimation, Crunchyroll