Demon Slayer has built a billion-dollar brand off of one major component: fight scenes. Ufotable’s anime, based on the manga by Koyoharu Gotouge, is one of the most popular ongoing series, alongside the likes of One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Solo Leveling. While One Piece has the mystery of its eponymous MacGuffin, Jujutsu Kaisen has endless plot twists, and Solo Leveling has “aura,” Demon Slayer is renowned for its phenomenal and action-packed fight scenes.
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Across the show’s four seasons and the Mugen Train movie, fans have been treated to some incredible fights. The Mugen Train and Entertainment District Arcs arguably had the best animated fights in the show so far, as Tanjiro and the Hashiras faced off against Muzan’s Upper Rank demons. However, they’re far from the best fight in the show. In fact, the best fight in Demon Slayer came way before those mentioned above, and it might surprise you.
Demon Slayer’s Best Fight Happened in Season 1
If you haven’t recently re-binged the series ahead of Infinity Castle‘s release on September 12th, cast your mind back to the very first episode of the first season. After finding his family slaughtered by a demon and Nezuko barely clinging to life with demonic blood flowing through her, Tanjiro takes her and sets off to find help. But his journey is quickly halted by Giyu Tomioka. The Water Hashira attempts to stop Tanjiro and kill Nezuko as she has turned into a demon, but Tanjiro tries to stand up for his sister and takes on the renowned Hashira.
The fight between Tanjiro and Giyu isn’t your usual Demon Slayer battle. There are no flashy breathing techniques or Blood Demon Arts. To be honest, there’s barely even a fight. Tanjiro in the Hashira Training Arc would be outmatched by Giyu, so Tanjiro from Episode 1 stood no chance. But the stark contrast in power levels made the fight so interesting. Both Giyu and Tanjiro knew the latter was weak, but Tanjiro still managed to catch Giyu off guard.
After getting knocked to the floor again and again and begging for Giyu to spare Nezuko’s life, Tanjiro tried one last attack. Running in a circle around Giyu, he eventually charged at the Water Hashira and was knocked to the floor (again). But, as Tanjiro lay on the snowy ground, his axe flew through the air towards Giyu’s head, as he had thrown it while running.
To call the moment a “fight” or “battle” might be slightly stretching the definition of both terms. It essentially boils down to a single technique. But it is the moment that sold millions of fans on Demon Slayer‘s anime, and honestly, none of the other fights have lived up to it since.
Why Demon Slayer‘s First Fight Is So Good
So, how does the brief confrontation between Tanjiro and Giyu stand up to the likes of Tengen vs. Daki and Gyutaro, or Rengoku vs. Akaza? In terms of animation quality or spectacle, it doesn’t. But, the battle has one thing that few other Demon Slayer fights have had since: wits and intelligence.
As entertaining as Demon Slayer‘s fight scenes have been, they eventually boil down to who can take the most punishment. They’ve become battles of strength and attrition, rather than skill and technique. That’s what makes the fight between Tanjiro and Giyu so good. Without any training, Tanjiro has to think intelligently about how to defeat Giyu and save his sister. Even audiences are blindsided by Tanjiro’s sneaky technique, and the moment made us all fall in love with the character and look forward to the next fight scene.
As well as being an intelligently written and choreographed fight, the moment also cemented Tanjiro’s personality. From the first episode, he was willing to sacrifice himself to save others. Tanjiro’s ability to take a beating and survive has become something of a meme at this point, given that he’s literally been stabbed in the face before and carried on fighting. But it’s a character detail that was established from the opening episode.
Unfortunately, some fans agree that Demon Slayer‘s fights have slowly gone downhill since the opening episode. The budgets and animation quality might have improved exponentially, but the choreography has slowly devolved away from intelligent battles and more towards blindly swinging swords and using random breathing techniques to win fights. They might look prettier, but none of Demon Slayer‘s fights are as good as the opening episode.
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image courtesy of 20th Century Studios -
Image courtesy of 2th Century Studios
