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

Overview: Nezuko (Abby Trott) takes on Daki (Erica Lindbeck) but loses herself to demonic instincts, with Tanjiro (Zach Aguilar) doing what he can to bring her back to her senses. 

Our Take: I expected Nezuko to be a competent opponent for Daki with her incredible regenerative capabilities. What I did not expect, however, was for her to be an absolute powerhouse and demolish Daki the way she does like a total badass. Nezuko’s pure carnage was a shocking and thrilling sight to behold. It soon becomes necessary for Tanjiro to get involved and restrain her as her animalistic demonic instincts take over and she lusts after the blood of innocent bystanders in her conflict with Daki. It’s a strong conflict for both of them and it’s especially great to see that it is a recurring one that isn’t thrown under the rug or forgotten about. Uzui comes back in the nick of time as Nezuko’s fire burns Daki up and she and Tanjiro are in desperate need of some help. 

With a suggestion from Uzui, Tanjiro serenades Nezuko back to her senses with a song that her mother used to sing when she was a little girl. The lullaby makes for an emotional moment in bringing up heartbreaking memories of her mother. It has been done countless times before but is a compelling catalyst nonetheless for her regaining her humanity nonetheless. 

Daki is a twisted, spiteful broad so her character shift into a spoiled crybaby is a real twist. Even beheaded Daki remains alive and it is soon apparent from Uzui that she is also, surprisingly, not the only upper rank demon. Turning into a crying mess, she calls on her big brother and another upper ranker in Gyutaro.

Gyutaro is another great addition to the plethora of Muzan’s bloodthirsty band of misfits. He is a very different beast in both senses of the word with how far and away more monstrous his strength and speed is than Daki, even seemingly surpassing that of Uzui. Gyutaro’s malnourished body along with his green and unbecoming appearance make him creepy to behold. The upper rank demon is also just menacingly funny to watch in his self-loathing nature, extreme envy of Uzui’s good looks/physique while being a scarily doting big brother to Daki. With him rearing to kill anyone who harmed Daki, he establishes himself as a major threat with his short trigger and monstrous power. It will be incredible to watch Gyutaro go haywire against Uzui in an all out hashira battle  in the coming episodes along with Zenitsu and Inosuke as they make it on the scene.