The second episode of “Demon Slayer” season-3 is out and it wastes no time to get into the action. The episode gave us a glimpse at the impeccable skills of the swordsmiths and their unyielding resolve to create weapons that can be used to fight against Muzan’s army of demons. Additionally, this episode properly introduces us to Mist Hashira, Muichiro, and his violent ways of self-improvement.
Spoilers Ahead
What Is The Function Of The Key?
In the last episode, we saw Tanjiro inside a forest in the Swordsmith Village, checking on Mist Hashira and a little boy arguing over something. The second episode started from where previous episode had ended. He watches as the masked child yells at Muichiro, announcing loudly that he won’t let go of his key and hand it over to him. But after hearing this statement, Muichiro hits him mercilessly and grabs him with brute force. Looking at this, Tanjiro intervenes and tries to force him to let go of the little boy. But his attempts are fruitless, as the seemingly smaller Muichiro receives no impact from his attack. He punches Tanjiro in the stomach and calls him weak. However, when the Pillar senses a demon in his box, Tanjiro quickly retaliates, saving the boy in the process.
As the boy still refuses to give up the location of the key, Muichiro insults him and the entire Swordsmiths clan. He sees them as unworthy of the respect they receive as their only job is making the swords for the Demon Slayers, and according to him, other than that job, they have no contribution to society. He also adds that the time he has wasted talking and playing meaningless games with them could have been utilized to kill actual demons, and by doing that, he could have saved the lives of countless innocent people.
But Tanjiro replies to his demeaning words with a slap and practically reprimands him for being too cruel to a child. He also explains the importance of a swordsmith and how they use their impeccable skills to enable the Demon Slayers to fight with demons. According to Muichiro, fighting on the battlefield is considered the only way of resisting the demons, but he forgets that without the swordsmiths and their accurate skills, he will have nothing to fight with. After getting schooled by a powerless teenager’s words, he hits his neck and knocks him out cold. But before that, we get a glimpse of Haganezuka standing beside a tree.
Why Is Hotaru Keeping An Eye On Tanjiro?
Tanjiro hears the muffled voice of Hotaru after losing consciousness, but as he starts to open his eyelids, the swordsmith runs away. After regaining consciousness, he starts to look for Haganezuka, but the masked child denies his claims. The boy thanks him for saving him from Muichiro, but Tanjiro apologizes to him as he thinks he had no right to intervene and that he is sorry if he has offended the kid’s pride as a swordsmith, to which the child laughs and says that it was not a big deal and that he had given the key to Muichiro, but he shows his appreciation towards Tanjiro as he stood up to a Hashira for his sake. While having a chat with him, Tanjiro gets to learn about the function of the key. It is to operate a broken-down automatic doll called Yoriichi Type Zero that helped the swordsmen train. He also tells Tanjiro that the doll was made by his ancestors, who were swordsmith legends, and that its powers are beyond those of any normal human sparring partner. But their conversation is interrupted by a loud noise, and they silently go to the location where Muichiro is training with the sparring doll.
After getting a look at the doll’s broken face, Tanjiro feels that he has seen him somewhere but cannot process it instantly. To the viewers, it is pretty clear that the man looks exactly like the man from his dreams. The kid tells him that the doll was modeled after a well-known swordsman from the past, and the reason it has six hands is that otherwise, the swordsmiths were unable to imitate his movements. As Tanjiro tries to learn more about the doll and the swordsman, the boy tells him that the only other information he has about the man is that he is from the Sengoku period, approximately three hundred years from the current timeline in the show. Tanjiro surprisingly looks at it because, after all this time, the doll is still functioning and compliments the talent of its maker. The boy gladly tells him the skill his ancestors possessed is still unmatched, and his dream is to become as accomplished as them and fix the doll and restore its glory. But right now, he is unable to fix it after his father has passed away, as he does not possess the knowledge of its mechanics. After listening to his story, Tanjiro understands the reason for his possessiveness towards the doll, as he does not want it to break beyond repair before he learns the necessary skill.
Who Is The Swordsman From The Past?
While watching Muichiro fight the doll, Tanjiro admires his skills and feels somewhat jealous of him as Muichiro becomes a Hashira despite being as old as Tanjiro. His Kasugai crow is even more egoistic than its master. It praises Muichiro for being a descendant of the original Sun Breathing users and insults Tanjiro at the same time. But when he asks why he is not using the particular breathing technique, the crow assaults him, and at the same time, Tanjiro recalls his dream and recognizes the man, for he has a similar face to the sparring doll. The crow does not believe his words because the swordsman walked the earth a long time ago, so it is practically impossible for him to remember his face. The kid then chips in by saying that it is possible as the wills of the wielders of a sword pass down to its next user, and it might be something similar to the inherited will. As the crow denies this idea, Tanjiro finally gets to introduce him to the boy, and the boy introduces himself as Kotetsu.
Can Kotetsu Fix The Doll?
Suddenly they witness Muichiro destroying a part of the doll, and it completely devastates Kotetsu from the inside. He gets disheartened, but Tanjiro repeats his words by saying that one day he will definitely be able to fix it, and if he becomes unsuccessful, someone down his family line will one day possess the skills of fixing Yoriichi Type Zero. As the boy feels motivated and promises to work harder, Muichiro comes to them and tells them he will take one of the doll’s swords as he broke during the sparring. He even acts rudely to Tanjiro by ordering him to throw it away, but Tanjiro, sensing his aura, explains that he is not deliberately being rude to them.
While Kotestu looks at the broken parts of the doll in the rain, Tanjiro tells him to check if it still works. And as they pick it up from the ground, it suddenly takes a battle stance. Kotetsu gets immensely excited after seeing it function and fiercely asks Tanjiro to train with it and become stronger than the Mist Hashira. So, Tanjiro starts training with Yoriichi type 0, and Kotetsu declares that he will not let Tanjiro have any food until he accomplishes his goal of becoming stronger than Muichiro. He even teaches Tanjiro several insults that he could use on the arrogant Hashira once he becomes more powerful than him. Kotetsu then twists one of Yoriichi’s fingers, and it starts attacking even more aggressively, and Tanjiro copes with it without having food, water, or sleep for several days.
Tanjiro is on the brink of death from this inhuman training; he even has a vision of almost crossing the Sanzu River in the afterlife. But he is too tired to even cross it, so he falls into the river and regains consciousness. But to his surprise, he is suddenly able to predict Yoriichi’s attacks and starts seeing the openings. With more training, he now has increased stamina and a better vision for the future. While training, he finally gets an opening to behead the doll, but he is hesitant to do it as it might upset Kotetsu. But Kotestu reassures him by saying that he won’t have to worry as one day he will definitely be able to fix the sparring doll. After getting Kotetsu’s consent, Tanjiro finally lands a blow on its neck and breaks the sword that Kotetsu has lent him to use in his training. He apologizes to the little boy, and both of them get a massive surprise as an old sword emerges from the broken doll.
Differences From Manga
The episode is made by adapting manga chapters 102, 103, and 104, respectively, and there are no major differences in the episode from the source material except for a few scenes, like when we get to see the scene when Tanjiro gets unconscious, and we see Haganezuka standing behind a tree in the episode. But in the manga, Tanjiro sees Haganezuka before losing his senses. We also see an extended version of the fight between Tanjiro and Yoriichi in the anime, but the rest of the episode is a faithful adaptation, even down to the blocking and the dialogue. The episode is titled ‘Yoriichi Type Zero, which is directly taken from chapter 103.