Warning! Massive spoilers for Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc to follow! Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- is now working its way through theaters, so here’s everything you need to know about what went down in the new screening! Just like following the end of Season 2 with the release of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Swordsmith Village-, -To the Hashira Training- is a special screening of the final hour long final episode of the third season (ending the Swordsmith Village Arc) and the hour long premiere of the upcoming fourth season of the anime, Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc.ย
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The premiere of Demon Slayer‘s fourth season faces an interesting challenge from the manga. The Hashira Training arc from Koyoharu Gotoge’s original manga series is only about nine chapters long before the next battle, and the premiere itself adapts at least two (and a little bit more) of the manga in its hour long stint alone. As Demon Slayer Season 4 sets the stage for what’s to come in the rest of the season following the premiere, -To the Hashira Training- gets ready for a major training arc to come.ย
What Happens in the Hashira Training Arc?ย
Demon Slayer‘s Season 4 premiere picks up seven days after the events of the Swordsmith Village Arc as Tanjiro Kamado recovers at the Butterfly Mansion. It’s explained that in the time that he’s been out, Nezuko continuing to conquer the sun has made her a target of Muzan Kibutsuji. But ever since she’s been made known, random demon attacks have decreased as it seems like there’s a calm before Muzan makes his first proper move. Thus the Hashira are brought together for an official meeting.ย
It’s unfortunately revealed that Kaguya Ubuyashiki’s illness has gotten so severe that he will no longer see the Hashira personally, and the implication was that he’s now waiting on his final moments. But as the Demon Slayer Corps now find themselves on the brink of a war, the Hashira need to get ready and the way to do so is by figuring out how to manifest the Demon Slaying mark that appeared on Mitsuri and Muichiro in the Swordsmith Village Arc. It’s explained that the first line of swordsmen who fought against Muzan (using the First Breathing techniques) all bore the same mark.ย
It’s been so kept out of record that the only current clue about the mark the Corps has to go on is the fact that when one appears, others will start to appear as if to resonate. And now that Tanjiro has sparked his, others around him have done the same. But doing so is another matter altogether as Muichiro explains that his body was in a near fatal state as he unlocked his. So that means that the only plan the Hashira have now is to train and somehow awaken their own, but there’s also something dark about the slaying mark that’s not revealed as of the premiere.ย
Tanjiro gets his completed sword (with Rengoku’s guard on it), and he reunites with both Zenitsu and Inosuke and it’s revealed that the Hashira’s new plan is to start a rigorous training course for the entire corps. Each of them will be leading a training of their own to help enhance different aspects of fighting (as usually the Hashira were too busy fighting demons to train squads), but Tomioka has mysteriously opted out of being involved in the training for some reason unknown.ย
Training begins, and the final moments of the premiere reveal Ubayashiki’s crow reaching out to Tamayo asking her to work with Shinobu Kocho to learn more about how Nezuko’s body is changing. As it’s setting up for now (complete with some original materials), Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc is going to feature quite a lot of original content as the anime prepares for the final battles to start later this Spring when it finally begins.ย
What are you hoping to see from Demon Slayer: Hashira Training Arc when it premieres in full later this Spring? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animation and other cool stuff @Valdezology on X (formerly known as Twitter)!
