Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” ~ Last Hurrah Of The Onion Ninjas [Spoilery Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” concludes this epic arc with one last appearance of the onion ninjas. Yes, really. This episode will probably make you blubber like Tengen Uzui is hacking onions in front of your face.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” is the eleventh and final episode of the Entertainment District Arc (spoilery reviews for episodes #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, and #10 here), which is part of the second season of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series alongside the Mugen Train Arc, which is also the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. This particular episode features Hideki Hosokawa as the director, with Toshiyuki Shirai and Takashi Suhara responsible for the storyboards. Haruo Sotozaki is still the overall director of the anime series, and Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina are still responsible for that wonderful music we hear in this episode. Ufotable is still the animation studio responsible for the anime. Lastly, Aniplex of America is still responsible for bringing this anime to NA shores.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” premiered on February 13, 2022. You can watch it on either Funimation or Crunchyroll. I would normally recommend Crunchyroll to you all if you want to watch for free with ads, but not this time. This time, it’s Funimation that’s allowing you to watch for free with ads, and Crunchyroll are the ones who’ve locked their episodes behind a paywall. Also, I would like to apologize for including Netflix into this list in some of my previous reviews, since upon closer inspection, I noticed that they only had season 1.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” below. If you want to find out how many survived the last episode, stop here, and come back once you’ve emerged from where you’d taken cover.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” ~ Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” picks up where we last off, when a massive explosion tore through the entertainment district right after our Demon Slayers successfully decapitated Gyutaro and Daki. As it turns out, Gyutaro somehow managed to rig his body so that if someone cuts his head off, it causes all the blood in his body to go nuts, forming blood blades that fly everywhere in all directions. The result was the large explosion we saw in the last episode. Now this episode shows us the aftermath.

Turns out, Tanjiro is shaken but okay. Unfortunately, he no longer has the strength to even stand on his own. Fortunately, it’s Nezuko to the rescue again. A little power nap was what she needed to get back on her feet, and now she can repay the entire anime so far by carrying Tanjiro this time. Thus, by riding on Nezuko’s adorable little shoulders, he manages to reach Zenitsu, who’s now finally awake, injured, and very confused. He’s not so confused though that he can’t recognize that Inosuke’s heartbeat is fading. As it turns out, Gyutaro’s poison is killing him. Fortunately, Nezuko’s fiery Blood Art is able to burn away the poison, and let Inosuke recover. Now that Tanjiro has assured his friends’ safety, the only thing left to do is make absolutely sure that Gyutaro and Daki are dead. No need to go for Round 2, after all.

A Brother And Sister’s Final Moments

After finding a blood trail (which Tanjiro takes a sample of and delivers to Lady Tamayo via magic kitty) and following it, Tanjiro finds the severed heads of Gyutaro and Daki. Actually, he didn’t even need to look all that hard. He could hear the sounds of them arguing from quite a distance away. Yes, in the midst of their deaths, the demonic siblings are arguing with each other over their mutual defeats. Gyutaro even says some pretty messed up things to her, until Tanjiro covers his mouth to make him stop, and remind him if that’s really what he wants his last words to his little sister to be. In the end though, Gyutaro finds that he can’t say a word as he watches Daki’s head disintegrate, begging him to save her.

Even as his own head is disintegrating, we get a flashback reel from his life. As it turns out, he was born an ugly boy in the poorest part of the entertainment district. His little sister Ume though, was strikingly pretty. Thus, he ended up as a debt collector, and she ended up as a prostitute. Unfortunately, she stabbed a samurai in the eye with a hairpin when he tried something questionable with her. Thus, the samurai and Ume’s manager tie her up, and set her on fire (explaining her pyrophobia). Gyutaro returns from grocery shopping to find Ume’s charred body. He even gets slashed by that samurai in an ambush as he’s cradling his sister’s dying body. Sure, he killed the scheming manager and the cowardly samurai with his sickle, but it doesn’t do anything about him and his sister dying. That is, until a certain Upper Rank demon showed up and turned them to save their lives.

Going Into Hell…Together

But that was all in the past, and now Gyutaro and Ume are faced with their deaths. Gyutaro actually tries to drive his sister away, hoping that she’ll go towards the light and away from the hell he’s heading into. Ume though, refuses, and clutches Gyutaro tightly, insisting that it doesn’t matter where he’s going, as long as they go together. Thus, brother and sister march into the flames of hell, promising to be siblings forever. This is where the onion ninjas showed up for me.

Meanwhile, Tengen Uzui is also dying of Gyutaro’s poison, while his wives watch helplessly. He tries to say some last words, but alas, the sounds of 2 of his wives fighting drown him out. Fortunately, a wild Nezuko appears and burns away the poison just as she did for Inosuke. The episode (and by extension the arc) ends with Tengen and his wives crying and hugging along with Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Nezuko as they celebrate slaying Upper Rank demons and living to tell the tale. Thus concludes Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc. See you next time when season 3 finally rolls around.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” ~ The Good

Gyutaro and Ume’s backstories were undoubtedly the highlight of this last episode of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc. Koyoharu Gotouge is incredibly skilled at making sympathetic backstories for even the worst of villains. Even when they seem completely and utterly irredeemably evil, Gotouge-sensei shows that they still have a spark of humanity in them, even when they themselves might’ve long forgotten it. Thus, the onion ninjas get you each and every time she does it. Gyutaro and Ume are no exception. Let’s hope when they’re reincarnated, they get to stay brother and sister.

In fact, this whole final episode of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc is all about the feels. From the way chibi Nezuko showed up to carry her big brother, to the comical fighting between 2 of Tengen’s wives, to the cooldown hugs they all have at the end; it all feels like the story is letting down the heat from the intensity of the action scenes earlier. It’s rather refreshing, really. Like a drink of cool water after a long day’s workout.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 11 “No Matter How Many Lives” ~ The Bad

Dude, you’re coming to the wrong person if you want me to nitpick this episode. As a devoted fan of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, this particular episode was perfection incarnated. Your mileage may vary though. If you want to voice your dissent, perhaps you might leave a comment?

Source: Funimation, Crunchyroll