Demon Slayer season 2: the Entertainment District

After the heartbreaking end of the Mugen Train, many viewers wondered how the series could bounce back. The answer lies in a district lit with lanterns, an eccentric Hashira covered in jewels, and two demons who can only die together. The Entertainment District set the bar so high that it is often cited as the anime’s finest season.

Here is what this season 2 tells, episode by episode, without spoiling the ending, with its characters, its fights and its place in the story. Its order in the series is explained on our page Demon Slayer in what order, seasons and films.

What does Demon Slayer season 2 contain?

Season 2 brings together two arcs from the manga. The Mugen Train opens the season in seven episodes, broadcast from 10 October to 28 November 2021. The Entertainment District takes over in eleven episodes, from 5 December 2021 to 13 February 2022.

Depending on the platform, this split changes. Netflix separates the two arcs into two seasons, so that the Entertainment District bears the number 3 there. Our article on how many seasons Demon Slayer has explains these differences, and the one on the Mugen Train, as a film or a series covers the first part.

This article focuses on the Entertainment District, the new part of the season, the one you discover even if you saw the Mugen Train film at the cinema. Its eleven episodes can be watched in a weekend, and most viewers cannot stop after the fifth.

What does the Entertainment District tell?

A few months after the Mugen Train, Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira, turns up at the Butterfly Mansion to commandeer female slayers. Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke volunteer in their place. Tengen takes them to Yoshiwara, Tokyo’s district of courtesan houses, where his three wives, Makio, Suma and Hinatsuru, have disappeared while investigating a demon.

To get into the houses, the boys disguise themselves as young girls, make-up included. Tanjiro becomes Sumiko, Zenitsu Zenko, Inosuke Inoko, and the recruitment scenes are among the funniest in the series. Each is placed in a different house, with a mission: to find a trace of the wives and of the demon.

The demon hides in the guise of a famous courtesan, Warabihime, adored by the whole district. She is in fact Daki, Upper Moon Six, and she is not alone. Our portrait of Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira introduces the season’s hero, and our article on Makio, Suma and Hinatsuru, Tengen’s wives tells of his three wives.

Yoshiwara really existed. Created in 1617 in Edo, the former Tokyo, then rebuilt further north after the great fire of 1657, this enclosed district of courtesan houses operated until the 1958 law that abolished it. In the Taishō era, when the story takes place, it still drew crowds with its lanterns and its great courtesans, the oiran, whose processions brought the whole district out.

The setting changes everything. After the forests and mountains of season 1, Yoshiwara offers streets full of lanterns, red and gold façades, sumptuous kimonos. Ufotable turns it into a showcase for fights that spill onto the rooftops.

The characters of season 2

The Entertainment District brings together a gallery of characters who are among fans’ favourites, and almost all of them have a strong moment there.

Nezuko takes on a new place in this season. For the first time, she is no longer just the sister to protect: she fights at full power, to the point of losing control of herself, and Tanjiro has to bring her back. Our page everything about Nezuko Kamado tells of her development from one season to the next.

Daki and Gyutaro, two demons for a single Moon

Daki fights with her fabric sashes, obi that she hurls like blades and in which she imprisons her victims. Powerful, cruel, capricious, she seems to be the season’s opponent. Until the moment her brother emerges from her body.

Gyutaro, thin, hunched, armed with two blood sickles, is the real danger. The two demons share the rank of Upper Moon Six, and their peculiarity drives all the tension of the end of the season: to kill them, both their heads must be cut off at the same time. Our article on Daki and Gyutaro, Upper Moon Six tells of these two demons and their past, one of the saddest in the series.

Their fight against Tengen, the trio and Nezuko stretches over several episodes, from dusk to dawn. It is the first time the anime devotes so much time to a single battle, and it never lets the tension drop. Our page devoted to Muzan and the Twelve Kizuki places Daki and Gyutaro in the demons’ hierarchy.

Daki, her ribbons wrapped around her body, exists as a 30 cm figure in the demon figures collection, among the figures from across the series.

Tengen Uzui, the most flamboyant Hashira

Tengen Uzui is a former ninja who turned his back on his clan. He wears jewels, a headband set with stones, make-up around his eye, and repeats to anyone who will listen that he is “flamboyant”. Beneath this exuberance hides a man who puts his wives’ lives before his mission.

He fights with two large blades linked by a chain, and a breathing style of his own, Sound Breathing, which combines explosions and reading the opponent’s rhythm. His fight against Gyutaro is one of the high points of the season: you will understand why the Hashira are so respected in the Corps. Our article on the Hashira’s weapons details his blades, and our page on the nine Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps places him among his peers.

The season also changes how you see the trio. Zenitsu, asleep, saves the situation several times; Inosuke proves more stubborn than ever; and Tanjiro, pushed to the limit, discovers a new strength. Our portraits of Zenitsu Agatsuma, the sleeping slayer and of Inosuke Hashibira, the boar boy follow their development.

Tengen’s chained cleaver exists as a 104 cm replica, with a bamboo blade, in the complete Tengen Uzui collection, and among all the shop’s katanas.

The fight that left its mark on Japanese animation

The season’s last episodes remain famous for their animation. Daki’s ribbons slice through the rooftops, Tengen’s explosions light up the district, and the shots follow one another at a speed rare for a television series. Many fans compare them to an animated film, and some rewatch them frame by frame.

It is also the season where the heroes transform. Tanjiro sees a mark appear on his forehead that greatly increases his strength, Nezuko tips into a more powerful and more unsettling demonic form, and Zenitsu pushes his first form to a speed he had never reached. Our articles on Tanjiro’s mark and on Nezuko’s awakened form detail these two changes.

The theme songs followed the same momentum. Aimer sings the opening, Zankyosanka, and the ending, Asa ga Kuru, two songs that have become inseparable from this season. Our article on the Demon Slayer theme songs places them among the others.

Tengen’s two blades also exist in a LEGO version, head to tail on their stand, in the LEGO katanas collection, alongside the gifts over €70.

How does season 2 end?

Without revealing everything: the battle of Yoshiwara leaves its mark. Tengen comes out of the fight changed, and the series takes the time to tell the past of Daki and Gyutaro, two children born into the district’s poverty. The last episode is one of the most moving in the anime, and it changes how you saw these two demons.

Before the end, the series offers a welcome breather: Tengen finds his three wives in tears around him, and the humour returns, as always in Demon Slayer after the hardest moments. The wounded, for their part, will end up at the Butterfly Mansion, presented in our article on the Butterfly Mansion, the slayers’ hospital, the place the trio returns to after every battle.

This victory comes at a price. For the first time in more than a century, an Upper Moon has been defeated, and Muzan will not let it pass: season 3 opens on the meeting of what remains of his Moons. The war changes scale. Our article on the Twelve Kizuki explains what this defeat represents.

If you are watching the season with a child, be aware that it takes place in a courtesans’ district and that the last episode tells of a very harsh childhood. Our article on the recommended age for Demon Slayer details these passages.

After season 2

The direct sequel is season 3, the Swordsmith Village, broadcast in 2023. Tanjiro, whose sword suffered in Yoshiwara, goes to the hidden village where the blades are forged, and meets two other Hashira there. Our article on season 3 and the Swordsmith Village presents it to you.

In 2023, before season 3, a compilation film brought the last two episodes of the Entertainment District and the first of the Swordsmith Village to cinemas. No need to look for it if you are following the series: our article on the compilation films explains what it contains.

On the manga side, the Entertainment District ends at chapter 97, at the end of volume 11, and the Swordsmith Village begins in volume 12. Our article on the chapter to pick up from after the anime gives the exact page for each season, and our page tracing all the Demon Slayer arcs places this arc in the whole.