Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” ~ A Game Of Cat And Mouse [Spoilery Anime Review]

In Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight”, Tanjiro gets his spotlight back. Unfortunately, he’d probably be happier without it. Being in the spotlight means being in a pickle for this guy. To put it simply: he’s in a game of cat vs. mouse, and guess which one he is.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” is the 4th episode of the Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc, which is the latest season of the critically acclaimed Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime, which is itself the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. This particular episode features Hideki Hosokawa as the director, with Takuya Nonaka and Haruo Sotozaki himself doing the storyboards. The latter of who is still the overall director of the anime. Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina are still responsible for that wonderful music you hear in the anime. Ufotable is still the animation studio behind it as well. And lastly, Aniplex of America is responsible for bringing this anime to NA shores all the way from Japan.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” premiered on December 26, 2021. You can watch it on either Funimation or Crunchyroll. Usually, I’d recommend Crunchyroll to you all for the free option. However, it seems that Funimation is the one streaming it for free. Not sure why, but that’s how it goes for now.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” below. If you have any interest in watching Tanjiro wish he wasn’t in the spotlight, stop here, and come back once the hacking and slashing of pretty obi sashes has taken a short break.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” ~ Plot Summary

The last episode left us on a cliffhanger, with long tentacle-like obi sashes reaching down to encircle Zenitsu/Zenko. Now it’s Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight”, and we find out that Zenitsu has gone dark just like the Sound Hashira’s agents. No one knows where Zenitsu is, and no one can find him, alive, dead, or otherwise. So the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, calls off the whole mission and tries to go solo. Naturally, Tanjiro and Inosuke disagree, and they not only continue their ongoing mission but also add “Find Zenitsu” to the list.

Tanjiro returns to his day job, where we see more of his house’s resident oiran courtesan: Koinatsu. She gets a bit of character development, showing her to be a rather nice lady. She’s also much more perceptive than everyone else, as she reveals to have known that Tanjiro was a boy this whole time, but didn’t want to say anything out of politeness, much to Tanjiro’s shock. Tanjiro does hand over money to Koinatsu to pay for his food and lodgings and promises to find all of the missing people.

A Cat Vs. Mouse Battle Begins!

Unfortunately, Tanjiro ends up having to carry out that promise a lot sooner than he realized. Literally, the moment he leaves the room, Warabihime/Daki strikes, taking Koinatsu as her prey because of a combination of her beauty and the fact that she was due to leave soon to marry a guy. Fortunately, Warabihime/Daki struck too soon, and Tanjiro was close enough that he sensed something wrong and returned to Koinatsu’s room. Unfortunately, Warabihime/Daki had already eaten Koinatsu by this point, somehow absorbing the kind oiran into her obi sash, and leaving a distinct Koinatsu pattern on it.

After an intense fight with the Upper Rank demoness, Tanjiro actually manages to succeed in cutting off the portion of the obi containing Koinatsu’s pattern. Except that he’s now standing between a powerful demon and her prey. Even worse, it’s clear that she was toying with him for their entire fight, like a cat playing with a mouse before eating it. He’s breathing hard from the effort, while she isn’t even breaking a sweat. So how will this fight go for our boy Tanjiro? Well, that’s what we’re going to have to find out in the next episode because that’s it for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight”.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” ~ The Good

Tanjiro’s fight with Warabihime/Daki is the highlight of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight”. It’s a very beautifully choreographed fight, especially due to how uneven it is. You can tell just how much effort Tanjiro is putting into the fight, and how little effort Warabihime/Daki is putting into it. Seriously, she did the equivalent of a cat playfully batting something, and she sent Tanjiro flying with enough force to partially bury him into the wall of the building on the opposite side of the street. No dialogue needed. Just great animation and fight choreography.

Not all that is great in Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” is the fight though. The comedy is still top-notch. Whether you’re watching Inosuke and that one conceited Demon Slayer dance around on a graph, or watching a bunch of hilariously swole ninja mice bring Inosuke’s swords to him (no, I’m not kidding); the comedy will still make you break out into giggles. It’s a nice bit of comedy relief before the actual fight scene, like the calm before the storm.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 4 “Tonight” ~ The Bad

As a devoted fan of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, nitpicking this episode is going to be very difficult. I guess the most I can nitpick is Warabihime/Daki’s NSFW battle outfit for its, well, NSFW-ness. To be fair though, she is an oiran courtesan, so sex is nothing unusual for her, and indeed, it’s something to be flaunted. There’s also some practical value for her. Clothing offers no protection to her that her demonic skin can’t, and the show of skin could distract a male (or lesbian) opponent enough to tip a fight in her favor. All in all, it’s actually a pretty good battle outfit for her, so yes, I just countered my own nitpicking. Why don’t you non-Demon Slayer fans try to nitpick it for yourself?