Demon Slayer Breaks Down Tanjiro’s New Breathing Trick

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba unlocked Tanjiro Kamado’s newest trick to using Water Breathing with the newest episode of the series! The second season has reached the final climactic fight of the Entertainment District Arc as Tanjiro is trying his best to keep up with the speed and power demonstrated by both the Sound Hashira, Tengen Uzui, and the Upper Six duo of Gyutaro and Daki, Tanjiro has been struggling to do what he can with the moves he has available. But as the fight continues, he instead reaches a new level of inspiration with the use of his Water Breathing techniques.

While previous episodes have yet to fully reveal all of the moves Tanjiro has at his disposal thanks to his Water Breathing training, what Tanjiro had discovered in the fight against Daki was that he was actually holding himself back with it as his own preferred fighting style didn’t seem to match up to the flow of the techniques. He was being highly aggressive, but as he learns by blocking one of Gyutaro’s more powerful techniques, Tanjiro instead must use Water Breathing in a more defensive way. 

Before Tanjiro went as far to saw that Water Breathing (and thus Urokodaki’s teachings) weren’t compatible with his body, and thus started to chip his sword as a result. But when he struggles to block Gyutaro’s poisonous blood slashes in Episode 8 of the Entertainment District Arc, Tanjiro then has a flash of inspiration back to his teachings. He instead realizes that rather than taking on these attacks directly, he must actually use them to sidestep and deflect in a different direction as when it comes to power vs. power, the weaker side is always overwhelmed. 

Thus rather than misjudging the flow of power, Water Breathing is a more defensive style that channels that other attack in a new direction. In fact, his blade would never have been damaged if it used it more defensively. Thus now Tanjiro has a better avenue towards truly mastering the Water Breathing techniques and will potentially give him a much better edge in the fights to come in future episodes of the series. That is if they make it out of this one alive, of course. 

But what do you think? How do you like Tanjiro’s use of Water Breathing so far? Curious to see the extent of each one of its moves? Wondering how Tanjiro will incorporate it into his fights next? Let us know all of your thoughts about it in the comments! You can even reach out to me directly about all things animated and other cool stuff @Valdezology on Twitter!