Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

It is the Taisho Period (i.e. 1912-1926). Tanjiro Kamado is living a modest but blissful life in the mountains with his family. One day, when he returns from selling charcoal in town, he finds the remains of his slaughtered family in pools of blood after a demon attack. Tanjiro rushes down the snowy mountain with the sole survivor, his sister Nezuko, on his back. But Nezuko suddenly snarls...

At Giyu Tomioka's urging, Tanjiro heads for Mt. Sagiri with his sister Nezuko, who's been turned into a demon. During the night, Tanjiro catches the scent of blood from inside a temple. He enters, thinking that someone might be hurt, only to come upon a man-eating demon. When the demon attacks, Tanjiro manages to fight back with his axe, but the demon's strength is overwhelming.

The Demon Slayer Corps…an organization that's been hunting down demons since ancient times. Sakonji Urokodaki begins Tanjiro's training for the Final Selection, the test for those wishing to join the corps. His training begins with navigation of a mountain riddled with booby-traps, dry sword swings, waterfall immersion, and breathing techniques.

To pass Final Selection, one must survive for seven days on Mt. Fujikasane, where demons captured by the Demon Slayers have been imprisoned. So begins the battle for survival between the young swordsmen and the demons. Armed with the breathing techniques and stances he learned from Sakonji Urokodaki, Tanjiro cuts through demon after demon. His two years of training have not gone to waste.

When day breaks, there are only four swordsmen left standing after the seven-day battle. The guides who greet Tanjiro and the other survivors explain the Demon Slayer Corps system. All four are issued uniforms and Kasugai Crows as messengers, after which they must select the ore for their own Nichirin swords.

Tanjiro is now clad in the uniform of the Demon Slayer Corps. His Nichirin sword on his hip, and Nezuko, now awake, in a special box made by Urokodaki on his back, he heads out for his first assignment: a town to the northwest where girls have been vanishing nightly. There, Tanjiro meets Kazumi, haggard with worry after his girlfriend has been abducted.

Now split into three, the demons have driven Tanjiro into a corner. It is then that Nezuko attacks. Now that she’s become a demon herself, she’s no longer the fragile sister, who needs protection... His mind made up, Tanjiro follows one of the demons into the swamp that spreads before him. Waiting for him there is...

The next mission is in Asakusa, Tokyo. Tanjiro is taken aback by how flourished the place is in the Taisho Era, but quickly picks up the demon’s scent. His pursuit of the scent leads him to Muzan Kibutsuji. Tanjiro attempts to strike him down. But Kibutsuji cause a commotion in the area. As Tanjiro desperately tries to get things under control, someone appears before him…

It was two demons named Tamayo and Yushiro who came to Tanjiro’s rescue. Using the “Eyeblind” spell, Tamayo guides Tanjiro and Nezuko to her house. There, through his conversation with Tamayo, Tanjiro learns that there could be a way to return demons to human again. Just then, two demons in pursuit of Tanjiro manage to locate the house, and unleash a furious assault…

Tanjiro is in the midst of a battle and he must hold out against Yahaba’s strongest Blood Demon Art, using different Water Breathing techniques one after another. Meanwhile, Nezuko and Susamaru are still battling it out. Worried Tamayo unleashes her own Blood Demon Art…

Tanjiro’s next destination, according to his Kasugai Crow, is to the south-southeast. On the way, Tanjiro runs into his fellow Final Selection survivor, Zenitsu Agatsuma. Tanjiro has to put up with Zenitsu’s pessimistic attitude, as they make their way deep into the mountains. Then, they encounter two children whose older brother has been taken away in front of a mansion.

Tanjiro and Zenitsu end up getting separated inside the mansion, where the rooms rotate each time the tsuzumi drum is played. Without Tanjiro, Zenitsu is overcome by fear and despair, but he must protect Shoichi. Meanwhile, Tanjiro encounters the demon, the master of the mansion, playing the tsuzumi drums, and also a strange-looking man wearing a boar hide.

Tanjiro struggles to fight against Kyogai, the master of the mansion, as the room spins every time the demon plays his tsuzumi drums. Debilitated by the broken bones he sustained in his previous battle, Tanjiro must reassure himself as he desperately fights on against Kyogai’s overwhelming Blood Demon Art. Will he find a way to slice off Kyogai’s head?

After a desperate fight to the death, Tanjiro prevails over Kyogai. He steps out of the mansion to find Zenitsu, who’d escaped before him. But then, he encounters an unforeseen circumstance before him: the battered Zenitsu, holding the box containing Nezuko in his arms, while the man wearing a boar hide stands in the way with two Nichirin swords drawn…

Their next destination is to the north-northwest. Tanjiro and Nezuko head to Mount Natagumo along with Zenitsu and Inosuke. The mountain is full of spider webs and is swarming with spiders...Leaving behind frightened Zenitsu, Tanjiro and Inosuke make their way up the mountain, where they encounter a fellow Corps member entangled in spider webs.

Tanjiro and Inosuke are battling Corps members that have been captured in the webs. The two head deeper into the mountain, as they slash the threads while destroying the webs. The further they go, the thicker the threads become. And those that are being controlled move in ways impossible for a human being. Trying to stop their moves without hurting them proves to be even more difficult...

The Twelve Kizuki, directly subordinate to Muzan Kibutsuji, are here… When Tanjiro slays the mother of the Spider Demons of Mount Natagumo, he learns that a demon who might become the key to turning Nezuko back into a human could be in this very forest. Despite how battered Inosuke is, he heads deeper into the forest with Tanjiro. Meanwhile, Zenitsu trudges forlornly through the woods.

Tanjiro and Inosuke face off against the father of the Spider Demons of Mount Natagumo. Tanjiro unleashes an attack, only to get hurled away by the demon’s overwhelming power. Landing near a river, he comes upon a young demon Rui torturing his demon sister. Hearing Rui call their bonds of terror and hatred “family ties,” Tanjiro is enraged. So, begins the battle between Rui and Tanjiro.

Members from the Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps have arrived on Mount Natagumo. Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, slays the father of the Spider Demons with a single stroke of his sword. Inosuke, thrilled to see such a display of swordsmanship by someone in a completely different league from himself, challenges Giyu to a duel. Meanwhile, the Insect Hashira appears in front of Zenitsu...

Tanjiro braces himself for death, when Rui unravels his Blood Demon Art. As his life flashes before his eyes, he remembers his father's kagura dance and unleashes a whole new technique, completely different from Water Breathing. Hinokami Kagura: Dance... Knowing that this move could mean killing each other, he uses his new move to slice off Rui's head.

Seeing Tanjiro try to protect Nezuko even as he collapses triggers memories of Rui’s own past. Once a sickly boy, he became a demon after meeting Muzan Kibutsuji, who gave him a share of his blood. But after he’d turned into a demon, his own parents try to kill him. Ever since then, he’s been searching for a family. Seeking a bond that seemed so unattainable…

After the battle, Tanjiro and Nezuko are taken into custody to the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters. This is where the Hashira Meeting between the head of the Corps, Ubuyashiki, and the Hashira ? the most powerful swordsmen in the Corps ? is to be held. Tanjiro is put on trial by the Hashira for violating Corps rules by protecting a demon.

Ubuyashiki, the head of the Demon Slayer Corps, finally appears before Tanjiro. While Ubuyashiki reveals that he’d like to accept Tanjiro and Nezuko to join the corps, the Hashira are unable to accept this decision right away. Then, the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, slashes his own arm and taunts Nezuko with his blood, trying to draw out her true colors as a demon.

The injured Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke are sent to the Insect Hashira Shinobu Kocho’s mansion for treatment. When Tanjiro and Inosuke start their rehabilitation training two weeks later, the drills are so brutal that they find themselves broken in spirit. Meanwhile, Zenitsu, unaware of the grueling regimen, becomes very enthusiastic to finally join the training when he sees all the girls...