REVIEW: ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Swordsmith Village Arc’ — Episode 9

Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village Arc has been a mixed bag for viewers, bringing together high-octane battles with flashbacks to give more backstory to side characters. Fittingly titled “Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito,” Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 picks right back up with Muichiro Tokito’s (Kengo Kawanishi) battle against the Upper Five demon (Kousuke Toriumi).

The encounter between Muichiro and Upper Five has felt like an exposition sandwich. The battle originally started out several episodes ago with Muichiro trapped in Upper Five’s water trap. After an interesting flashback sequence in the last episode, I was surprised to see Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 continue to use flashbacks in the middle of what was supposed to be an epic battle. The flashback scenes do serve an important role — it is useful to know what drives the different heroes to do the things they do, but it is incredibly jarring when they take place right in the middle of a massive battle.

Because of the jarring stoppage, the massive battle between the two supposedly strong foes in Muichiro and Upper Five was disappointing. Seeing Upper Five unveil a new form and new attacks was fascinating at first, but the way he is discarded almost immediately was not. The almost mermaid-esque look was so visually appealing and his new higher-powered attacks looked like they could really pose a threat. Because of how awesome the newest form looked I was really bummed that such a beautifully animated and powerful enemy is only given a few moments to show his true strength. And, in the end, his true strength is almost a joke considering how easily he is defeated. He is supposed to be one of the strongest demons out there, but he was so easily dispatched by just one demon slayer.

Meanwhile, Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 does finally go back to showing what Tanjiro Kamado (Natsuki Hanae), Nezuko Kamado (Akari Kitou), and Genya Shinazugawa (Nobuhiko Okamoto) have been up to. Locked in their battle with the fearsome Upper Four and his Emotional Demons, the trio faces an overwhelming threat. There is a specific moment in Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 when it feels like Tanjiro might actually be on the verge of death, sucked into the clutches of Upper Four.

Instead of choosing to let that moment of suspense sit, however, the Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji (Kana Hanazawa) comes flying in to save the day. It is another puzzling decision given how many times this season has been perfectly happy letting things sit to build suspense. It would have made much more sense to let Tanjiro’s fate hang between episodes instead of, say, Muichiro when he was being trapped by Upper Five earlier in the season. If the decision is to go all-in on stringing things out to build suspense, something I tended to enjoy especially earlier in the season, then it does not make sense to only do that with seemingly random situations.

What makes Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 the most frustrating is that the actual battles it shows look absolutely incredible. As a studio, ufotable has shown they have a real knack for animating breathtaking fight scenes. It took me out of the episode several times when there was a truly great fight happening and all of a sudden I was whiplashed into a flashback sequence that would have been better served in a different moment. It’s not that I have a fundamental issue with the flashbacks, but spreading them out over multiple episodes instead of all at once makes even the great moments lose their luster.

Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 is not a bad episode but it is emblematic of the larger pacing issue with the Swordsmith Village Arc. Epic fights are broken up by flashback scenes and the two main ongoing battles keep whipping back and forth right as they start to get good. The next few episodes will need to find a better balance or risk this season getting completely stale.

Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 9 is available now on Crunchyroll, with new episodes every Sunday with English subtitles.

The English dub of Demon Slayer Season 3 has begun airing on Crunchyroll as well.