English Dub Review: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Entertainment District Arc: “Layered Memories”

Overview: Up against the wall against the upper rank Daki (Erica Lindbeck), Tanjiro (Zach Aguilar) breaks his limits, pushing back against the venomous woman. 

Our Take: Tanjiro continues to barely keep up with Daki, who isn’t putting in as much effort as him. The danger she presents soon skyrockets as she gets her demon tape back after Tengen’s battle with it, powering up even more than before. However, once innocent bystanders within the district get attacked from her, Tanjiro becomes gravely injured with a huge gash across his body.

It is here when the tide of the battle tonally and action-wise flashes back to Shinjuro, Rengoku’s father, who wrote to Tanjiro in which he denounced his deplorable behavior in their meeting. Crippled by his wife’s death and his failing to do anything to help, it makes for an even more emotional and concrete resolution to the depression he suffered. Shinjuro also details Tanjiro’s sun breathing technique that is said to be foretold through a hereditary scar on the forehead. However, Tanjiro’s scar is not hereditary like his father’s, so he has doubts about having the sun breathing technique. Outraged at the people being hurt, his noble and heroic words strike a cord within Daki making her nostalgic of Tanjiro’s father, except she has never met him. This element interestingly expands upon the effects that Muzan’s blood has on upper rank demons with Daki having memory flashes from Muzan’s earlier years with Tanjiro’s dad, indicating they have a history and confirming that Tanjuro was a seasoned swordsman similar to him. 

What transpires is classic Kamado spirit with him pushing forward with sun breathing techniques to stunning display, elevating his strength and speed to new heights. The animation continues to ooze gorgeous frames with some amazing fast paced clashes. Did Tanjiro get a sudden Shonen power-up that is commonplace in the genre?: Absolutely, however, while he is a powerhouse, thankfully he is not completely unstoppable with their being drawbacks to his abilities with the flame art wearing out his stamina before he can finish off Daki, similar to previous demon fights. 

While Tanjiro being out of commission is a bittersweet end to his fight, and hopefully only a temporary one, it’s great to have Nezuko finally being utilized and have her step into the ring with Daki. She makes an impressive introduction to her battle that looks to be very thrilling with incredible regeneration and healing capabilities akin to that of an upper rank demon. With Uzui, Inosuke and Zenitsu making their way to them, the battle will only get more exciting from here.