Demon Slayer season 3: the Swordsmith Village

Season 3 begins where no one expected it: in the Infinity Castle, among the demons. Muzan summons his Upper Moons after the defeat at Yoshiwara, and for the first time you see almost all of them together, Akaza, Doma, Kokushibo, Gyokko and Hantengu. The scene sets the tone: the war has just changed scale.

This guide tells the season episode by episode, without spoiling its ending, with its Hashira, its demons and its fights, and tells you what you need to have seen beforehand. Its place in the series is explained on our page Demon Slayer in what order, seasons and films.

What does Demon Slayer season 3 tell?

After the battle of Yoshiwara, Tanjiro wakes up at the Butterfly Mansion two months later. His sword is chipped, and his swordsmith, Hotaru Haganezuka, refuses to forge him another: he even threatens to chase him with a knife. To settle the matter, Tanjiro sets off for the hidden swordsmith village, a place so secret that you arrive blindfolded, carried by the Kakushi.

The village is a place apart, and the season takes the time to show you round. Hot springs, wooden houses clinging to the mountain, craftsmen who all wear a hyottoko mask. Tanjiro finds a little calm there, a few days of rest between baths and meals, and two visiting Hashira: Mitsuri Kanroji, cheerful and warm, and Muichiro Tokito, a young prodigy with a blank gaze who forgets everything as soon as he has seen it.

The peace does not last. Two Upper Moons, sent by Muzan, have discovered the village’s location, and the attack begins in the middle of the night. For several episodes, the series alternates two fights in parallel: Muichiro against Gyokko, and Tanjiro, Nezuko, Genya and Mitsuri against Hantengu and his clones. Our article on the swordsmiths of the hidden village presents this place and its inhabitants.

Do you need to have seen everything before season 3?

Yes. Demon Slayer season 3 assumes you know the end of the Entertainment District: Tanjiro’s condition, Tengen’s fate and what Nezuko showed in Yoshiwara are mentioned from the first episode, without any recap. If you watched the Mugen Train film rather than the series, you are not missing anything for all that.

On the other hand, you can skip the compilation film released in cinemas in February 2023, which covered the end of the Entertainment District and the first episode of the Swordsmith Village. Our article on season 2 and the Entertainment District refreshes your memory of what comes before.

If you are discovering Demon Slayer with season 3, because a friend showed you a clip of Mitsuri or Muichiro, go back to the beginning: the village fights only carry their full weight if you know Tanjiro, Nezuko and the promise that binds them.

Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira

Muichiro is the youngest of the Hashira: he received his title only two months after taking up the sword. At the start of the season, he seems indifferent to everything, distracted, sometimes cruel. He treats Kotetsu, a young swordsmith, with a coldness that shocks Tanjiro.

The season gradually reveals what lies behind this emptiness. Facing Gyokko, Muichiro recovers his memories, and with them a childhood in the forest that the series tells in one of its most moving episodes. The young man who comes out of it is no longer the same.

His fight against Gyokko, the vase demon, is one of the most successful in the anime. The mist of his breathing style floods the screen, and ufotable plays on silences as much as on bursts of action. Our portrait of Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira tells his story, and the one on Gyokko, Upper Moon Five his opponent.

His sword, with a gold labyrinth guard and a light blade with green characters, exists as a 104 cm replica, filed in the complete Muichiro Tokito collection and among the katana replicas.

Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira

Mitsuri brings her light to the season. The Love Hashira, she gets excited about everything, blushes at the slightest thing and talks to Tanjiro like a little brother. Her long pink and green braids and her made-to-measure uniform make her one of the most recognisable characters in the series.

She fights with a unique blade, flexible as a ribbon, which she whirls around her at breakneck speed. Her fight against Zohakuten, Hantengu’s last clone, finally lets her show her full strength, and what drove her to become a slayer: to find someone who loves her as she is.

This past, told during the fight, touched many fans. Mitsuri does not apologise for being strong, or for being herself, and the series proves her right. Our portrait of Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira details her story, and our article on the Hashira’s weapons explains her blade.

Her PVC figure catches her mid-air, her flexible blade looped around her, in the complete Mitsuri Kanroji collection, among the Hashira figures.

Hantengu, Gyokko and the village demons

The season’s two Upper Moons are among the strangest in the series. Gyokko, the Fifth, hides in vases, creates fish that spit needles and thinks he is an artist: he displays his victims like works of art.

Hantengu, the Fourth, is a little old man trembling with fear. But every blow that cuts him splits him into younger, stronger demons, each embodying an emotion: anger, joy, sorrow, pleasure. When these clones merge, they give birth to Zohakuten, the most formidable of them all. The real Hantengu, for his part, hides in a tiny form, and Tanjiro must track him down by scent while the others hold back his copies: a race against time until sunrise. Our portrait of Hantengu, Upper Moon Four, and his clones details his powers.

Gyokko, his vase and his fish exist as a large-format pop figure, in the pop figure collection and among the demon figures.

Genya, Kotetsu and the swordsmiths

Season 3 also lets secondary characters shine. Genya Shinazugawa, the Wind Hashira’s younger brother, met during the Final Selection, returns transformed: he masters no breathing style, but he eats demons to draw on their strength, a secret he hides from everyone.

His relationship with Tanjiro, hostile at first, becomes one of the most touching friendships in the series. Our article on Genya Shinazugawa, the slayer without breathing tells of this character, and the one on Sanemi Shinazugawa, the Wind Hashira of his big brother.

The village itself has its heroes. Kotetsu, a young masked swordsmith, keeps a six-armed training puppet, Yoriichi Type Zero, which hides a secret several centuries old. Haganezuka, Tanjiro’s swordsmith, thinks only of his craft, even in the middle of the attack. Our articles on Yoriichi Type Zero, the combat puppet and on Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the first slayer tell this secret.

All the slayers’ swords are born in this village, and our page on Nichirin swords, their colours and their forging explains how.

Why does the end of season 3 matter so much?

Without giving anything away: season 3 ends on one of the most important moments of the whole story. What happens to Nezuko in the last episode changes Muzan’s plans, and directly launches the race that leads to the final battle.

It is also the season in which the Demon Slayer Mark spreads. After Tanjiro in Yoshiwara, Muichiro and Mitsuri see theirs appear, and the Hashira will have to understand what it means, and what it costs. Our article on the Hashira’s mark and its price explains it, and our page on the nine Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps presents them all.

For Nezuko, season 3 is a high point. She protects the villagers, throws herself into the fight and makes a decision that says a lot about the affection that binds her to her brother. Our page everything about Nezuko Kamado traces her development, and our article on Nezuko and the sun tells of this turning point, for those who have seen the ending.

The village and its fighters come together on a tapestry, Muichiro in his mist, Mitsuri mid-leap, Genya and Tanjiro in the centre, in the wall tapestries collection and the collection of all decorations.

The episodes not to miss

The whole of Demon Slayer season 3 holds together, but three moments come up in every fan conversation.

Mitsuri’s fight against Zohakuten also deserves a second viewing. Ufotable whirls the Hashira’s blade across the whole screen, and it is one of the passages fans most enjoy rewatching, frame by frame.

If you are watching the season with a child, note that Gyokko’s victims, displayed in vases, can be disturbing. Our article on the recommended age for Demon Slayer lists this kind of passage, season by season.

After season 3

The direct sequel is season 4, the Hashira Training, broadcast in 2024. Muzan is now looking for Nezuko, and the Hashira decide to prepare all the slayers for war. Our article on season 4 and the Hashira Training presents it to you.

In between, a compilation film was released in cinemas in February 2024, covering the end of the Swordsmith Village and the start of the training. It contains nothing new for those following the series, as our article on the Demon Slayer compilation films explains.

On the manga side, season 3 stops at chapter 127, in volume 15. 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.