‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc’ Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”: Aww, He Does Care! [Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank you, Tokito” shows us why Koyoharu Gotouge is a master of character development. Do you remember Muichirō Tokitō from the previous episodes of this season? When he was behaving like a jerk to almost everyone around him? Well, this episode finally reveals that he’s not such a jerk after all. In fact, he has a rather interesting reason for seeming like a jerk at first.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”: Details

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” is the latest episode (you can read reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, and Ep. 3 here) of this dark fantasy martial arts adventure anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba by Koyoharu Gotouge. Ufotable (Tales of Symphonia: The Animation, Fate/zero, Tales of Zestiria the X) remains the animation studio behind this latest season of the anime.

Hideki Hosokawa both directed Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” and was responsible for the storyboard. As for the anime in general:  Haruo Sotozaki remains the director, with Akifumi Fujio, Masanori Miyake, and Yūma Takahashi producing. Ufotable still claims collective credit for the writing, while Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina together composed the music.

Speaking of music: Man with a Mission with Milet sang both the opening theme song “Kizuna no Kiseki” (English: “Bonds of Miracle”) and the ending theme song “Koi Kogare” (English: “Yearning”) for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc.

Voice Cast

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” stars the voices of Natsuki Hanae (Zach Aguilar in English dub) as Tanjiro Kamado and Akari Kitō (Abby Trott in English dub) as Nezuko Kamado. Other notable voices for this episode include Ayumu Murase as Kotetsu, Kengo Kawanishi (Griffin Burns in English dub) as Muichirō Tokitō, and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Zeno Robinson in English dub) as Genya Shinazugawa. Not to mention, we have as the various voices of Hantengu: Toshio Furukawa (original), Yuichiro Umehara (Sekido), Kaito Ishikawa (Karaku), Shunsuke Takeuchi (Urogi), and Soma Saito (Aizetsu). Christopher Corey Smith is the only English dub actor for all incarnations of Hantengu.

Where to Watch?

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” premiered on April 30, 2023. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll at the moment.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”. If you want to watch Muichirō Tokitō be a nice guy for yourself, then stop here and come back once you too have felt the feels from watching him undergo some heartwarming character development.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”: Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” picks up directly where we last left off in the previous episode. After initially about to ignore that a giant fish Demon was attacking Kotetsu, Muichirō remembers Tanjiro’s advice that good things he does will come back to help him. Thus, he decides to save Kotetsu instead of leaving him to his fate. Not only that, but Muichirō even lets Kotetsu ride on his back while he goes and saves the swordsmiths Hotaru and Kozo, who Kotetsu is saying are in trouble.

We even get a look at Muichirō’s backstory in this episode. Apparently, the head of the Demon Slayer corps rescued him. However, he woke up with severe amnesia and can’t remember anything. Thus, his journey as a Hashira is to also help him recover his memories from the mists in his mind. Get it? Because he’s the Mist Hashira? I’ll just move along now and go back to Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya. Who are fighting their own battles against the Demon hydra: Hantengu.

Hantengu: Attack of the Demonic Hydra?!

Tanjiro battles against the harpy-like Urogi (1 of the 4 who split off from Hantengu, representing Joy), who unfortunately can fly, emit sonic screeches and perform high-speed slashing dives with his talons. He uses the opportunity to figure out that the Hantengus get weaker the more he’s divided past his initial 4 forms. He uses this knowledge to slice apart 2 severed head creatures and impale Urogi with his borrowed sword. Tanjiro then drives Urogi around like a small aircraft and flies him right back into the village. In fact, Tanjiro manages to get right back into the building Karaku (Pleasure) blasted him from. Only to see Nezuko trapped by an electrified shakujo staff impaled into her by Sekido (Anger). Since Genya is fighting his own battle with Aizetsu (Sorrow), it’s up to Tanjiro to save Nezuko.

Tanjiro does manage to pull the shakujo out of Nezuko, and together, they fight Sekido. They even look like they’re winning, but alas, Karaku shows up out of nowhere and smash them both into the ground floor. Genya seems to be an unstoppable determinator, but even that’s struggling against Aizetsu. Meanwhile, the Swordsmith Village try to band together to stop a bunch of more fish demons, but they’re not exactly suited for combat, and they’re slowly driven back. Fortunately, Mitsuri Kanroji is on the way to help. It seems that this might be the reason why the corps stationed her so close by the village. What’s she going to do? Well, we’ll just have to find out in the next episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”: The Good

Can I say that once more, the story of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” is the best part of the episode? Koyoharu Gotouge really outdoes themself here, and shows just what a marvelous story they can craft. Especially in the character development department. Just by Muichirō Tokitō changing his mind due to Tanjiro’s words and by showing his backstory, he goes from jerk to full-on hero. It’s a nice touching development there for him, and I’m quite eager to find out more about the mysterious Mist Hashira.

That’s not to say that the animation quality is bad. On the contrary: Ufotable does it again with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”. I’m especially giving kudos to the lightning effects when Sekido’s shakujo staff. That was the most well-animated and pretty arcs of electricity I’ve ever seen in any anime. It’s this combination of great story and great animation that’s why I’m such a big fan of this anime.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito”: The Bad

My only complaint about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 4 “Thank You, Tokito” is that we didn’t get a chance to see the Love Hashira fight. Fortunately, I get the very strong feeling that Mitsuri Kanroji’s battle debut will be coming in the next episode. I can’t wait for it to come on Sunday.

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