Muichirō Tokitō is truly the star of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro”. In fact, he’s such a star in this episode that Tanjiro is nowhere to be seen at all. Which makes sense since this is the episode where we finally find out Muichirō’s backstory. Said backstory basically shows just how messed up Muichirō’s past is, which is good. For us in terms of drama, that is. It’s very bad for him, as we’ll find out.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” ~ Details

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” is the latest episode (you can read reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, and Ep. 7 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.

Jun’ichi Minamino is the director of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro”, with Toshiyuki Shirai 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 as a whole.

Voice Cast

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” features the voice of Kengo Kawanishi (Griffin Burns in English dub) as Muichirō Tokitō. Other notable voices for this episode include Ayumu Murase (Jeannie Tirado in English dub) as Kotetsu, and Daisuke Namikawa (Robbie Daymond in English dub) as Hotaru Haganezuka. On the villains’ side, we have Kohsuke Toriumi (Brent Mukai in English dub) as Gyokko.

Where to Watch

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” premiered on May 28, 2023. You can watch this episode and all previous episodes of this season only on Crunchyroll at the moment.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” below. If you want to see why Muichirō Tokitō is so messed up in the present day, then stop here and come back once you’ve been as traumatized by Muichirō’s backstory as the man himself.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” ~ Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 "The Mu in Muichiro" screenshot depicting Muichiro holding one of Gyokko's bloody needles he just yanked out of his face.
There’s a reason why he looks so pained, and it’s not just because of those needles.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” picks up right where we last left off in the previous episode. Muichirō has just managed to break out of Gyokko’s weird water vase prison thing with a little oxygenated help from a severely wounded Kotetsu. Unfortunately, Muichirō is still suffering from the poison in the needles Gyokko fired at him earlier, which has now had plenty of time to spread through his body.

Thus, Muichirō is too weak to really do anything more than lie there, even with his newfound freedom. Even worse, Gyokko has left multiple Goldfish Scissorhands to guard the water vase, and they’re all gunning for Kotetsu due to him being an intruder. As Muichirō watches the Goldfish Scissorhands close in on Kotetsu while he’s unable to move, the trauma from anticipation alone is enough to throw him into flashback mode.

We find out that Muichirō used to have a happy family with a loving dad, a loving mom, and a very brusque twin brother named Yuichirō. Then the mom died from a fevered illness, and the dad died trying to get a medicinal plant for her. Thus, the twin brothers were now alone in the world. Then the wife of the head of the Demon Slayer Corps comes calling, trying to recruit them to be Demon Slayers. Muichirō was totally on board with the idea of becoming a hero, but Yuichirō would have none of it, seeing her as trying to recruit them to be cannon fodder. Thus, their peaceful life continues, but now with a noticeable strain between the twin brothers. Of course, it doesn’t last.

Cue the Inevitable Demon Attack!

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 "The Mu in Muichiro" screenshot depicting Muichiro (right) standing next to his twin Yuichiro (left).
Because the Demons always love to spoil idyllic scenes.

A Demon comes calling to their remote house, apparently expecting to find a skilled Demon Slayer, but instead finds a pair of helpless kids. Oh well, dinner is dinner. He easily rips off Yuichirō’s arm when he tries to defend Muichirō, and is about to have himself a nice meal of young twin boy. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t count on his attacking Yuichirō to turn Muichirō into John Wick. The result is the Demon finding himself pinned to the ground with stakes, various tools, and an entire boulder crushing his head. Even as Muichirō watches the morning sun finish the Demon off, though, it’s a hollow victory for him. With his only family dead, Muichirō has nothing left but to be a Demon Slayer. A bit like Luke Skywalker, really, but with more drama.

Remembering this trauma gives Muichirō renewed strength and some flame-like markings on his face that heal over his injuries. He handily defeats the Goldfish Scissorhands and then takes the battle to Gyokko, who still can’t break Haganezuka’s concentration despite cutting out one of the swordsmith’s eyes. Gyokko thinks this will be an easy battle until Muichirō scores a slashing hit on Gyokko’s neck. Will Muichirō cut Gyokko down all by his lonesome? Well, that’s what we’ll hopefully find out in the next episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” ~ The Good

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 "The Mu in Muichiro" screenshot depicting Muichiro cutting through Gyokko's tentacles with his misty slashes.
As you can see, the battle animation is as good as always.

Whenever Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba goes into tragic backstories, the story is at its finest. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” is no exception. Muichirō’s backstory is certainly a different flavor of tragedy than Genya’s tragedy or even Tanjiro’s. His backstory also contains an interesting vagueness and ambiguity to it, thanks to that scene that was apparently of Yuichirō watching Muichirō bleed out instead of the other way around. Was it truly Muichirō who listened to Yuichirō’s final words? Or was Yuichirō imagining it to avoid facing the reality of Muichirō’s death, taking on Muichirō’s name afterward? Muichirō’s present-day personality would argue for the latter, but again, it’s deliberately left unclear. The implication is that regardless of which one is true, Muichirō, in the present day, is still a deeply messed up person.

I also have to give a shoutout to the animation of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8, “The Mu in Muichiro”. Ufotable has always done a wonderful job with battle animation, and Muichirō’s fighting style is certainly no exception. The swirling mists he leaves in the wake of his slashes are almost the polar opposite of Tanjiro’s flames, giving them each a distinct and unique effect. This is quite appropriate, given how the anime is implying that they’re related to each other. How? Well, hopefully, a future episode will reveal that.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro” ~ The Bad

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 "The Mu in Muichiro" screenshot depicting Yuichiro screaming in pain from his somewhat missing arm.
Yeah, you should probably get a doctor to look at that…oh, wait.

Nothing to criticize about this entire new season, let alone Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – Swordsmith Village Arc Ep. 8 “The Mu in Muichiro”. It’s got the perfect of tragic drama and action-packed goodness. What more could you want from this episode? My only criticism is that it left off on a bit of a cliffhanger, but that’s fine. That only makes me more anxious to watch the next episode without making it unbearable.