The fourth episode, Demon Slayer, aka Kimetsu No Yaiba season 3, is out, and this episode jumps directly into the action without wasting any time. Additionally, this episode shows us the powers of No. 4 of the Kizuki, Hantengu, in detail and talks about his weaknesses too. Tanjiro is the one who finds the shortcomings of Hantengu’s powers and quite intelligently uses them against the Oni.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Demon Slayer’ Season 3 Episode 4: Recap
In the last episode, we saw that Tanjiro was taken out of the cottage to a remote location inside the forest by one of Hantengu’s four powerful incarnations, Urogi, and contrary to his cold attitude, Muichiro goes out of the way and helps Kotetsu escape the fish demon. Muichiro slashes the demon into several pieces, but to his surprise, it regenerates quickly. He then spots a pot attached to its back, and when he breaks it, the demon disintegrates. He understands that the pot in its back was some sort of blood demon art and the main power source of the demon. He tries to investigate more about it when suddenly Kotetsu unexpectedly hugs the Mist Hashira and expresses his gratitude for saving his life. He also apologizes to him for calling him names in the second episode.
Muichiro asks Kotetsu to leave as he needs to get back to the village, but Kotetsu begs him to stay as Kozo and Hotaru are also under attack while Hotaru is working on Tanjiro’s new blade. He hesitantly accepts the kid’s requests as he starts hearing Ubuyashiki Kagaya’s voice in his head, prompting him to rediscover himself. He started getting visions from his past when he was saved by Kagaya after he had gotten amnesia, and the leader of the Demon Slayer Corp assured him that his memories would eventually return as he started engaging with matters that might seem unimportant at first, but they would help him realize deep down who he really is. He also mentions that the mist in Muichiro’s head will clear out, and he will soon remember everything from his past. This is a nod to Muichiro’s powers, and by mentioning that, Kagaya was probably trying to express that sometimes our greatest powers hold us back, and only by getting over them can we get close to our true selves.
Motivated by his memories, Muichiro starts looking for Kozo and Hotaru while carrying Kotetsu on his shoulder, but he does not completely overcome the thought of the greater good as he keeps on thinking about the village and the chief. Then he decides to put aside his thoughts and concentrate on the task at hand.
Tanjiro and Urogi are engaged in a vicious fight in a different part of the forest, and he is able to slice his head in two, but he soon regrets the decision as two more demons emerge. They attack Tanjiro with a sonic scream, but this time he can withstand it and understands that Hantengu is most powerful when he is specifically divided into four separate demons. The four different parts symbolize the four primary emotions, i.e., anger, joy, sorrow, and pleasure, and any more splitting would minimize their strength a lot. In the meantime, Urogi slashes Tanjiro in the chest, but the brave teenager is able to land multiple blows on his head. The reason why Hantengu is the 4th Kizuki is clear, as it denotes his powers and the primary emotion his significant other represents. Back in the building, Nezuko can be seen fighting against Karaku, and Sekido is impatient, looking at his partner struggling against a kid. He asks Aizetsu to help Karaku, but he is preoccupied with Genya. And as he tries to pull out his spear from his bowels, Genya blasts his head off.
Sekido insults Aizetsu for getting his head smashed by a little kid, and the demon responds by mortally injuring Genya with his spear. Genya then starts chanting the Amida Stra and startles Aizetsu with a surprise attack from behind with his Nichirin sword. The text is one of the two Indian Mahayana sutras that describes Sukhavati, the pristine region of Amitabha, aka Amida, aka Budhha. East Asian Buddhism, including that of China, Korea, Japan, and Vietnam, has been greatly influenced by this text. Genya is probably using this mantra to purify the souls before sending them to the afterlife. But before he could cut off the demon’s head, he got blasted by Sekido’s lighting. Though he manages to score a hit on Sekido with his Nichirin bullet, Aizetsu knocks him into the wall with his spear.
Nezuko and Karaku’s fight takes an interesting turn as the demon impales the little girl in the stomach with his foot. He even pulls her arm off but receives a strong kick in return, which almost beheads the demon. Nezuko is about to burn Karaku but decides to take his fan and blow him out of the building, and as she is about to do the same with Sekido, he sticks his staff through her neck and incapacitates her with his lightning bolts.
In the meantime, Tanjiro keeps on fighting Urogi in the forest and hopes that Nezuko and Genya will be able to hold the monster off from getting into the village. Genya, on the other hand, regains his consciousness and tells Sekido his name. He promises that he will be the one who takes down the demon and keeps on chanting the Amida Stra.
While fighting with Urogi, Tanjiro uses the demon’s flight powers to his advantage, and by stabbing him in the mouth, he flies off along with the injured demon and crashes into the building where Nezuko and Genya are fighting. Upon entering the building, Tanjiro gets shocked after looking at Nezuko’s paralyzed body. He uses Urogi’s foot to defend himself from Sekido’s lighting and slices the demon’s head with his tongue. He stalls the leader and manages to pull the staff out of his sister’s neck in time. Though he receives a surprise blow from Sekido’s lightning, Nezuko regenerates in time and prevents the demon from mortally injuring his brother with her Blood Demon Art. As Tanjiro looks up, he sees Karaku coming down from the sky with his fan, and as the demon lands over the building’s floor, he creates a massive force that renders the siblings unconscious. The demon trio then regroups and prepares a final blow that will send the siblings directly into the afterlife.
Differences From The Manga
The episode adapts manga chapters 108, 109, and parts of 110, and there are no major visible changes in the episode except at the end, where we could see Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji re-entering the swordsmith village to aid Tanjiro and his team, and we also saw the villagers getting attacked by countless fish demons. These parts are specifically adapted from the later chapters, and the makers have intentionally avoided Muichiro and Kotetsu’s side of the story, probably to make it even more impactful in the next episode.