Akihabara News (Tokyo) — In the first episode of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, we are introduced to our central hero, Tanjiro Kamado, and the basic premises of the adventure.
Tanjiro is presented as an ideal son, devoted to his family in their mountain cabin home. He carries on his back a basket filled to the brim with coal, which he sells in the nearby town to help feed his younger brothers and sisters.
From the beginning, we hear Tanjiro’s monologue, but as he walks down the mountain the breaks the fourth wall, addressing the viewer as well: “We don’t exactly have an easy life, but we’re happy,” he explains.
The town in which Tanjiro sells the coal is not identified, but it appears to be in Japan’s snow country in the winter season. The mode of dress is traditional, as is the architecture, but telegraph or telephone lines can be seen strung above the buildings.
During his visit to the town, we also get hints of Tanjiro’s nearly superhuman power, which is his uncanny sense of smell.
It is on his return up the mountain that both Tanjiro and the viewer learns from Old Man Saburo, a widower who lives alone, that this world is inhabited by “man-eating demons” who come out after dark. Saburo also mentions “demon slayers” who protect the people. At first, Tanjiro is inclined to dismiss such talk as the ramblings of a lonely old man, though he recalls similar stories told by his grandmother.
When Tanjiro returns home, he is greeted by the horrific sight and smell of his entire family having been slaughtered, their blood spattered upon the walls of the cabin. Only his eldest sister Nezuko appears to have survived, though terribly wounded. He throws her over his shoulder and rushes down the mountain to find help.
While still on the way, Nezuko wakes up as a demon and briefly attacks Tanjiro, who is saved by Giyu Tomioka, a sword-wielding demon slayer.
However, it is soon Tanjiro who saves Nezuko, begging Tomioka not to slaughter his only remaining sibling. Tanjiro explains that even if she has become a demon, it was not Nezuko who had killed their family. He had perceived the scent of someone else at the cabin who must have been the culprit.
Tanjiro declares that he will both get revenge and find a way to make his sister human again.
In turn, Tomioka explains that Nezuko’s wounds were exposed to demon blood, and this is what caused her transformation. He does not believe that Nezuko can be saved.
However, Tomioka soon becomes impressed by the way in which both Tanjiro and demon Nezuko protect each other, and he concludes that something may indeed be different about this pair. After fighting and easily knocking out both of them, Tomioka decides to not to kill Nezuko, but instead ties a bamboo stick to her mouth as a muzzle.
Tomioka tells Tanjiro to travel to Mt. Sagiri and look for an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki, and he also warns that Nezuko cannot be exposed to sunlight.
Hand-in-hand the siblings, one human and one demon, begin their journey…
Although not much longer than twenty minutes, this first episode of the 26-part first season covers a lot of ground in a very economical fashion. Essentially, the entire premise of Demon Slayer is already established. It is truly the episode that starts it all.