‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc’ Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”: Genya Vs. PTSD [Anime Review]

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” finally turns the story’s spotlight on Genya Shinazugawa. Specifically: it gives us a look into Genya’s past/backstory for the first time in the anime. And oh boy, not only is he just as traumatized as Tanjiro is, but he also has to overcome that trauma in a very short timeframe. After all, he can’t have a tag team battle with Tanjiro and Nezuko against the Hantengus if he’s rocking back and forth in fetal position now, can he?

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”: Details

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” is the latest episode (you can read reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, and Ep. 5 here) of this latest season (after the previous Entertainment District Arc 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.

Seiji Harada is the director behind Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”, with Kei Tsunematsu doing the storyboard. 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. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” features 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 notables voices for this episode include Nobuhiko Okamoto (Zeno Robinson in English dub) as Genya Shinazugawa and Tomokazu Seki (Kaiji Tang in English dub) as Sanemi 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.

Where to Watch

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” premiered on May 14, 2023. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll at the moment.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” below. If you want to watch Genya’s backstory for yourself, then stop here and come back once the onion ninjas have finished with their visit to you.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”: Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” directly picks up where we last left off in the previous episode. Tanjiro has just beheaded 3 of the 4 Hantengus, and turns around to find that Genya has beheaded the final one. It all seems great. The only thing wrong here is that Genya is looking a bit…demonic. What with his black sclera, fangs, and drool after all. Fortunately, he still seems to be perfectly sane, so all is well on that front.

Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said about the Hantengus. As it turns out, beheading all of them doesn’t kill them all as it did with Daki and Gyutaro. Fortunately, Tanjiro has an idea. He guesses that if beheading these 4 Hantengus didn’t do the trick, then there must be a 5th Hantengu out there somewhere. Fortunately, it’s not just a wild guess. His sensitive nose does pick up the scent of a Hantengu unlike the other 4. Tanjiro tries to get Genya to cooperate with him to fight the Hantengus, but Genya seems overly concerned with being the sole one to get the kill. Apparently, you can become a Hashira if you solo an Upper Rank Demon, and Genya wants to be that solo.

Fortunately, Tanjiro has no ego and is thus more than willing to back up Genya and give him the kill, with Nezuko also more than willing to help him out. While Tanjiro and Nezuko run interference, Genya goes hunting based on Tanjiro’s exact directions.

Genya the Hero?

Genya soon finds that elusive 5th Hantengu: which turns out to be the original one that first appeared but in chibi size. Seriously. He’s only maybe 3-4 inches tall. Unfortunately, that makes him a very tiny and fast target. Even worse, when Genya finally catches up to him and swings his sword into chibi Hantengu’s neck, his sword shatters. Even shots from his double-barreled shotgun do nothing against chibi Hantengu, who apparently concentrated all his defenses into that tiny body. Genya is dismayed, but not as dismayed as when the ever-raging Sekido shows up to stab him with his shakujo staff. Genya is in fact so dismayed that it shocks him into a flashback to his past.

Apparently, Genya and his elder brother Sanemi used to have a big happy family like Tanjiro did, with a mom who worked hard to support her family in spite of an abusive dad who died pretty early on in their lives. All that came to an end though when the mom returned home fully turned into a Demon, and proceeded to murder most of her children. Only Genya and Sanemi survived, and that’s because the latter fought and killed her. Genya at the time called Sanemi a murderer because of it, and that ended up being Genya’s biggest regret as he watches his own death approach.

Fortunately, Tanjiro is there to intervene and give Genya another opening. Tanjiro’s cinnamon bun-ness is so great though that Genya lets Tanjiro take the opening instead due to recognizing his own inability to cut Hantengu. Will Tanjiro succeed where Genya failed? 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. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”: The Good

Genya Shinazugawa is clearly the star of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” for a reason. His backstory and his commentary reveal quite a bit about his character. It makes Genya feel like another version of Tanjiro. A version where he goes on a darker path after the slaughter of his family. We still don’t know why Genya is apparently a Demon or a part-Demon. What we do know is that it will likely be as interesting as the rest of Genya’s backstory.

Surprisingly, the other great part about Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?” is the villain. Chibi Hantengu is ridiculous in a great way. Both in his appearance, and how Genya reacted to him. No one expected the 5th Hantegu to be that tiny, especially not Genya. And certainly, no one expected tiny Hantengu to be apparently made of iron. It’s that weird dichotomy between the human and the drama that makes this episode great.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”: The Bad

Again, not much I can say to criticize Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 6 “Aren’t You Going to Become a Hashira?”, just like in the previous 5 episodes. My only complaint here is that the episode left off on a pretty bad cliffhanger. Like, right in the middle of an action sequence to boot. But well, they have to keep people watching the anime somehow, I suppose. At least we know they’re not just going to leave us on this cliffhanger without resolving it.

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