Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating An Upper Rank Demon” ~ Bait And Switch Title?! [Spoilery Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” makes you think that just from the title alone. Boy, did it fool everyone. Me included.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” is the 9th episode of the Entertainment District Arc (spoilery reviews for episodes #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #8 here) which is the latest season of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series after the Mugen Train Arc, which is itself the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. Jun’ichi Minamino is the director for this particular episode, with Haruo Sotozaki himself doing the storyboard. Speaking of Sotozaki, he’s still the overall director of the anime. Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina are still responsible for that wonderful music you hear in the episode. Ufotable is still the animation studio behind this anime as a whole, including this episode. And lastly, Aniplex of America is still responsible for bringing this episode to NA shores.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” premiered on January 30, 2022. You can watch it on Funimation, Crunchyroll, Netflix, and other streaming services streaming this anime series. Normally, I’d recommend Crunchyroll if you want to watch for free and don’t mind ads. However, Crunchyroll has locked their episodes of Entertainment District Arc behind a paywall. Funimation is the service you want to go to for free episodes of this particular arc.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” below. If you want to watch the action for yourself, stop here, and come back once the screaming and breathing are over.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” ~ Plot Summary

Do you remember how in the previous episode, Tengen and Tanjiro were about to slice into Gyutaro’s (Daki’s older brother) neck? Well, Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” picks up right at that point, and as it turns out: that combo attack fails. Gyutaro apparently has an absurdly high poison resistance and neutralizes the wisteria toxin too quickly for them to complete their attack. Even worse, Gyutaro reveals that he can make his blood blades without moving, forcing Tengen and Tanjiro to back off or face being slashed apart before they can complete the neck slice.

So it’s back to square one for the Demon Slayers. Actually, they end up taking a step back when Gyutaro decides to target Hinatsuru: one of Tengen’s wives who’d fired that multiple kunai launcher before. Tanjiro manages to protect her, and Tengen manages to force Gyutaro into a one-on-one fight with him, but then Tanjiro is stuck defending her from both Gyutaro and Daki’s attacks. At least, until Inosuke and Zenitsu come to the rescue. They buy just enough time to create an opening for Hinatsuru to slip through and retreat, and thus they can fight Daki in earnest while Tengen keeps Gyutaro busy.

Actually a Hope Spot?!

The trio of newbie Demon Slayers launches their attack on Daki. Inosuke charges straight at her, while Tanjiro and Zenitsu keep her obi sash tentacles off of him. Thus, Inosuke makes it through the wall of skill and uses his saw-edged swords to saw right through Daki’s neck, beheading her. He then takes her severed head and runs off with it so that she couldn’t reattach it right back. Tanjiro and Zenitsu then prepare to join Tengen’s battle against Gyutaro. Unfortunately, that’s when the Gyutaro in question suddenly appears behind Inosuke and stabs him in the chest.

A shocked Tanjiro actually glances down where Tengen and Gyutaro were fighting to see Tengen lying on the ground, with one arm cut clean off. It seemed that they’d taken too long to deal with Daki, and now they were a Hashira and an Inosuke down. Even worse, Daki’s decapitated body takes the opportunity to launch its own attack on Tanjiro and Zenitsu, causing Zenitsu to sleep-shove Tanjiro away to avoid the attack. Tanjiro’s last sight is Zenitsu’s outstretched hand as the obi sash tentacles close in. Is this a total party kill? Well, that’s what we’ll find out in the next episode of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc because that’s it for this episode. Right in the middle of the action on a cliffhanger…again.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” ~ The Good

Our Demon Slayer trio making that coordinated assault on Daki was definitely the highlight of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon”. It really highlights just how well our heroic trio works together as a team. It’s also a pretty well-thought-out plan from Koyoharu Gotouge. A lot of shonen authors would try to shoehorn the main character (Tanjiro in this case) into the actual attack on Daki herself because they’re the main character. Instead, Tanjiro and Zenitsu are the ones supporting Inosuke’s attack. Precisely because Tanjiro is heavily injured, and can’t make the slash. Plus, Inosuke’s swords are perfectly suited for sawing through Daki’s neck, so it’s a double-whammy there. It was a very well-executed attack. It’s just a shame about what happened afterward.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 9 “Defeating an Upper Rank Demon” ~ The Bad

Again, my only complaint about this episode of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc is the cliffhanger. The friggin’ cliffhanger. The cliffhanger that happens right in the middle of the action and you’re just waiting in limbo for a week to find out what happens next. Gah! Eh, oh well. Broadcasting is what it is. Still not giving this episode a perfect score because of it though.

Source: Funimation, Crunchyroll, Netflix