Anime Review - Demon Slayer - Season 5 - Hashira Training Arc

 

 (insert review here when finished)

*** SPOILERS BELOW ***

• Episode 1 - To Defeat Muzan Kibutsuji
• The season starts with a group of the Hashira at an old abandoned castle, taking on multiple demons. Is this the Infinity Castle from the human realm? IT IS IT IS! WHEN THEY FELL INSIDE IT, THEY COULD SEE ALL THE DEMONS INSIDE. They don't seem to be thrown off by it though, not as much as I would be though. 
• How do the demon slayers know that the first demon is going to want to come and kidnap Nezuko? I don't remember them learning that that was his motive. 
• I wonder what Tanjiro's rank is now? They all keep mentioning that they took out two higher ranks in one night. 
• The Hashira have a meeting and discuss what has happened recently. The head demon slayer guy can not appear in front of them again, is he dead then or just about? They discuss the fact that Nezuko has conquered the sun and that the first demon guy will be trying to get her. They then address the marks the Demon Slayer people got while in the swordsmith village; apparently, they had never gotten them before? How come Tanjiro has been getting on from the beginning then? OH. THEY GET THEIR MARKS BECAUSE TANJIRO GETS HIS AND THEY ARE CONNECTING WITH HIM. I don't know if Pinkie Pies explanation is much better than Tanjiro's on why the mark appeared. So the Hashira are then tasked with learning to manifest the mark like the first two have done but they were informed that everyone who manages to manifest the mark will .... and then silence. I assume that is meant to be that they will die but who can really know? 
• The swordsmith brings Tanjiro his special sword back. Yellow kimono kid and boar head come back as well. Everyone starts to prepare for Hashira training, even the Hashira who have their own training to tackle. 
• Tanjiro gets a letter from the master about the one Hashira not participating in training. 
• Apparently, the master sent a crow to find the Doctor Demon. This is the crow meeting her and trying to plea his case to make a connection with her like Tanjiro. He asks her to join the Demon Slayers and continue her research in conjunction with the butterfly master to study Nezuko and what the properties of her blood truly mean.
• Episode 2 - Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka's Pain
• I wonder if the first demon and the head demon slayer guy are connected somehow. 
• Tanjiro goes to meet up with the master who is stuck in his own head. I almost forgot that this is the same demon slayer who saved him at the beginning of the series. He seems upset that Tanjiro didn't get as "good" as him to take over his role. We start to get some insight into his background and why he feels as though he is not worthy. He claims his friend is the only reason any of them survived, and unfortunately, his friend died. Half of his kimono robe is actually that of his friend's. 
• We already kind of knew Butterfly Master wasn't going to do the training because she is going to be doing research with the demon doctor lady, but what do you think the significance is of her sister's killer?
• Episode 3 - Fully Recovered Tanjiro Joins the Hashira Training
• We watch as Tanjiro starts tackling tasks like hurtling over logs, running with folks on your back, eating too much food, etc. He even talks about fighting a top 12 with the other demon hunters doing the training, and it kind of scares them off from wanting to train because he is already so much more powerful than they are and is training to do better. 
• The first training session was about stamina and was conducted with the retired jewel band master guy.
• Episode 4 - To Bring a Smile to One's Face
• In this second section of training, we work with the seaweed hair guy to improve swordsmanship. We also find out that one of the swordsmen has been invited to stay at the demon slayer temple to keep the blades sharp enough to cut through paper without any effort. 
• The Hashira are training new members during the day and themselves during the nighttime. The Snake and White Hair Hashira are also very excited to be able to train Tanjiro and put him in his place because they don't think he is stronger than them. 
• Tanjiro is getting to move on to the next Hashira. Where are the yellow kimono and the boar head guy?
• Such a cute little break with the paper airplane duel.
• Episode 5 - I Even Ate Demons
• So I guess the third training session is with Pinkie Pie? She put them into leotards and is having them do gymnastics to become more limber.
• Wait, Pinkie Pie training is over before we even get to see anything? Now he is moving on to the snake guy. He literally tied up the other trainees and is having Tanjiro hit the targets while avoiding the tied-up trainees. 
• Once Tanjiro was able to imagine it as actual fighting instead of just training in the hut, he was able to master whatever skill Snake Man was trying to teach him. We then move on to the next one and finally run into the yellow kimono boy. Our next training session is with the white hair master. 
• So, apparently, Kenya (the demon kid) is related to the white hair master and doesn't have the ability to use any techniques. Wait, why is it such a big deal to eat demons? He did it to survive. Is that how he turned demon, by eating the demon flesh? 
• Tanjiro got banned from training under the Wind Hashira. xD
• Now they are headed to the stone Hashira, which is apparently the guy with permanent tears.
• Episode 6 - The Strongest of the Demon Slayer Corps
• While training with the stone Hashira, they had to endure the freezing temperatures (they would use the rocks to warm their bodies back up), and then once they could sit under the water for 2 hours without collapsing, they moved on to the log task. It was after that when Tanjiro moved on to moving a giant boulder, that a number of the trainees decided to leave and accept that they are also just meant to be support slayers instead of Hashira slayers.
• So the lesson throughout all of these smaller sessions is that repetitive actions can make the actions easier to endure? They chant for their repetitive technique. 
• Tanjiro finally moved the boulder!
• Episode 7 - Stone Hashira Gyomei Himejima
• Why doesn't the stone Hashira have pupils? I noticed it before, but I didn't want to question it because I assumed it was a recent thing...
• We got a back story for the rock Hashira, and he was originally an orphanage director and he ended up in the corp because he was going to be executed in prison after a child whom he had saved mistakenly said that he had been the one to kill all the other orphans, when in actuality, it was a matter of a demon coming around.
• I thought the Mohawk demon kid had moved his boulder? Why did he just say he hasn't? Also, poor yellow kimono kid hasn't moved his either. Yellow kimono kid got a letter? Where is he being sent off to? 
• Tanjiro went off by himself to the next training session, off to the guy who originally saved him. The wind Hashira is there though, and I thought he wasn't allowed to be near him. Is Tanjiro going to end up being the only one to actually become a Hashira? How is he only just now picking up on the fact that they were sparring and using wooden swords rather than actually fighting? 
• Demons have officially found the Hashira training grounds. I also just realized that the doctor demon lady never showed up to do the research with the butterfly girl. We also did not get to hear the story of how her sister was killed by a demon. 
• Episode 8 - The Hashira Unit
• The first demon has found them; he is coming for the head Hashira. The head Hashira really does look like he is dead. Maybe he should do like Nezuko and become a demon and then burn in the sun to become stronger. Wait, what do you mean the head Hashira and the first demon are related? Aww, he is sick because the demon exists in his bloodline? I guess Nezuko ruins Tanjiro's chances then. Same with the yellow kimono boy having kids. 
• This is a really long dialogue between the head Hashira and the first demon... DUDE. I THOUGHT THAT EXPLOSION WAS CAUSED BY THE DEMON! YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME THE HEAD HASHIRA SACRIFICED HIS OWN WIFE AND KIDS TO TRY AND TAKE OUT THE DEMON?!? That's wild. 
• THE DOCTOR! Why did they keep all this a secret from us?? This is wild. WAIT! She got the cure to turn him human?? IS IT GOING TO WORK?!? Oh baby! I doubt it will work, but it would be crazy regardless. AND NOW THE STONE HASHIRA IS INVOLVED?!? BRUH THEY DID SO MUCH PLOTTING AND WE DIDN'T GET TO SEE ANY OF IT!!
• So they need to keep the first demon busy long enough that he will burn in the sunlight because cutting his head off doesn't kill him. All of the Hashira are gathered to help. They aren't going to kill him though. What else would the movie be about if they managed to kill him? We watch as all of the demon slayer corps are dropped into the infinity castle by the drum changing thingy.