‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc’ Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”: Demons Vs. Red Hot Passion [Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” is more than just about a simple sword. It’s also about the people wielding those swords against the Demons with burning passion. So not only do the Demons have to face red hot passion, but also red hot swords as well. What do I mean by both, you might ask? Well, let’s find out, shall we?

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”: Details

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” is the latest episode (you can read reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, and Ep. 4 here) of the latest season of this dark fantasy martial arts adventure anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name 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.

Takuya Nonaka both directed and did the storyboard for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”. As for the anime series 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. 5 “Bright Red Sword”  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 Kengo Kawanishi (Griffin Burns in English dub) as Muichirō Tokitō, Ayumu Murase as Kotetsu, Kana Hanazawa (Kira Buckland in English dub) as Mitsuri Kanroji, and Nobuhiko Okamoto (Zeno Robinson in English dub) as Genya Shinazugawa. On the villains’ side: we have Toshio Furukawa (original), Yuichiro Umehara (Sekido), Kaito Ishikawa (Karaku), Shunsuke Takeuchi (Urogi), and Soma Saito (Aizetsu) as the various voices of Hantengu; with Christopher Corey Smith voicing them all in the English dub, and Kohsuke Toriumi (Brent Mukai in English dub) as Gyokko.

Where to Watch

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” premiered on May 7, 2023. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll at the moment.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” below. If you want to watch the Demon Slayers’ burning passion for yourself, then stop here and come back once you’ve applied some cream for the collaterally inflicted burns.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”: Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” directly picks up where we last left off in the previous episode. Muichirō Tokitō shows off exactly why he’s the Mist Hashira as he easily takes out a fish Demon who was attacking another swordsmith named Kozo. Kozo repays the rescue by leading them all to a shed where he’d been working on Muichirō’s sword. Unfortunately, the Upper Rank Demon Gyokko gets there first, all just to show them his “art”. Said “art” is literally a whole bunch of maybe still living swordsmiths mashed together into a hideous statue Gyokko can torture at will.

Muichirō offers his criticism of Gyokko’s “art” in the form of a blade to the neck. However, this Demon can teleport between pots he can form at will, so it’s a tricky fight. It’s made worse when Gyokko spawns poison needle-firing goldfish from his pots. On top of that, Gyokko decides to target Kotetsu and Kozo during the attack, which forces Muichirō to take some needles to protect them. As they run for cover at last, Muichirō ends up being on the clock due to that poison.

Meanwhile, the swordsmiths falter against the fish Demons Gyokko sent to kill them. They’re not trained warriors after all. That’s supposed to be the Demon Slayers’ job. Fortunately, Mitsuri Kanroji comes to the rescue with her whip-like urumi sword. She slays the Demons attacking the swordsmiths with ease, and now has to focus on getting them all out alive. You know, since the Demon Slayers have no swords without the swordsmiths.

Meanwhile…

Elsewhere, Tanjiro and Nezuko have their own problems. Their battle strategy ends up being basically: tag team runs away from the Hantengus to get some breathing space. Unfortunately, the Hantengus aren’t about to let them go free and end up leveling the building to kill them. Nezuko ends up trapped underneath rubble as Tanjiro tries to pull her free, with the Hantengus closing in. Nezuko realizes the problem, and deliberately cuts herself with Tanjiro’s sword, coating it in her blood. Her blood can set itself on fire, mind you. Thus, Tanjiro now has a fire sword.

Tanjiro makes great use of his new fire sword, slicing off the heads of 3 Hantengus at once. He goes for the 4th Hantengu, but Genya Shinazugawa has already beheaded him. That’s a good thing, right? Well, Genya doesn’t look so good. His sclera has turned black, and he’s growling and drooling and…wait, did he turn into a Demon? Oops. I guess that would explain the regeneration. Will Genya be able to control himself and not attack Tanjiro? Is he really even a Demon at all? Are the Hantengus even dead anyways? Well, hopefully, we’ll find out in the next episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”: The Good

Okay, you have to admit: flaming swords are cool. The way Tanjiro wields his flaming sword in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword” is even cooler though. The anime loves to depict artistic fighting styles, and Tanjiro’s sword style is a perfect example of this. The way his sword’s flames dance and spin through the Hantengus gives him a strong resemblance to a dragon snaking its way through its enemies. Heck, you can even see the dragon’s head if you pause the episode at the right time. It certainly fits Tanjiro’s Firebending-like attacks.

Speaking of sword styles though, I have to give another shoutout to Mitsuri Kanroji’s sword style. I think she might be the first manga/anime character to ever wield an urumi. It’s so rare to see that whip sword being used by anyone in fiction. Likely because it’s just so difficult to use due to the inherent difficulties of using a friggin’ whip sword. However, Mitsuri shows just how dangerous a skilled urumi user can be. That skill combined with her slightly flaky personality already makes Mitsuri one of the more memorable characters in the anime. I do hope she survives the events of the Swordsmith Village Arc.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”: The Bad

Nothing I can criticize about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 5 “Bright Red Sword”, just like in the previous episodes. The story, action, pacing, characterization, everything just feels perfect. Don’t agree? Then perhaps action-packed shonen anime just isn’t for you.

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