Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 8: A Tragedy Tale of Twins
Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 8 looked back to Muichiro s’ past!
This week s’ episode of Demon Slayer titled “Mu in Muichiro” was a trip back memory lane for Muichiro as viewers witnessed his emotional backstory.
A poster drawn by creators Ufotable of Muichiro was released prior to the episode s’ airing which, along with its title, had fans excited to know about the mist of Hashira s’ past.
So, let us look back and find out what happened in Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 8.
MUICHIRO IN TROUBLE
After breaking from the water prison pot with Kotetsu’s help, Muichiro takes out the poisoned needles from him.
The poison makes his body feel numb, but Muichiro soldiers through and removes all the needles.
He finds an unconscious Kotetsu and a group of bladed fish demons ready to attack, but he has no strength to fight.
Unable to even stand, he sees the fish demons pounce as a memory of his father flashes, wherein the old man says to the Hashira that he will be fine and asks him to stand up.
Writers Thought: a bit of a cliché tropey start to the episode wherein the character struggles to fight and draws inspiration from a past tragedy.
MUICHIRO’S TRAGIC PAST
We get a flashback of a young Muichiro who struggles to load pieces of wood and keeps falling but finds the strength to run to his father.
Muichiro s’ father is a lumberjack and would often see his son help him cut down trees and enjoy it with a smile.
One night, Muichiro s’ mother gets extremely sick due to a cold as a storm begins to rage outside. Muichiro tries to keep her warm but fails and ends up in tears stating that father will be back with the medicinal herbs.
His father is belted by the storm but keeps searching for the herbs, which he finds on a cliff.
As he tries to grab a bundle, he slips and falls to his death, while the same night, Muichiro s’ mother passes away due to a high fever.
Standing in front of his parent’s graves, Muichiro recalls how he was alone by the age of ten.
Writers Thought: an emotion filled flashback of the parent’s death, especially the scene where Muichiro comforts his dying mother with warm layers.
TWIN BROTHER YUICHIRO TOKITO
While Muichiro was an orphan by age ten, he was not alone as he had a twin brother named Yuichiro Tokito.
Returning from the graves, Yuichiro begins to speak of his dislike for compassion believing helping others is pointless.
Muichiro rebuts by stating his father s’ words, who said that helping others means going around and doing for yourself.
But Yuichiro does not care about what dad people have to say, especially those who could save someone.
Muichiro asks why he speaks like that, to which his brother states that the herbs could never save their mother, and they still would have one parent.
Shocked by Yuichiro s words, Muichiro replies by saying he is speaking the truth, but his brother orders him to be quiet.
Yuichiro lets him know the Mu in Muichiro is taken from the word for inadequacy. He adds that the Mu in his name likewise comes from pointless, making his twin cry.
As Yuichiro moves ahead, Muichiro believes that his brother is a man of strong words. He also states that living with Yuichiro was suffocating and that he thought his brother hated him.
Writer s’ thought: while they are twins, Yuichiro clearly seems to be the elder one, as his verbal lashing is similar to real-life brotherly relationship.
VISIT BY AMANE UBUYASHIKI
Two seasons pass, and spring comes as Muichiro goes out to fetch water, to which Yuichiro asks why he has not done it yet.
Muichiro fills his bucket and, across the river, sees Amane and is stunned by her beauty, believing she is a forest spirit.
Muichiro brings her home, and she introduces herself as the wife of the Demon Slayer Crops Leader, but an annoyed Yuichiro makes Muichiro drives her away.
That night Muichiro tells his brothers about being the descendants of swordsmen who used the first Breathing Style and can save those who are tormented by demons.
Writer s’ thought: a perfect scene exemplifying familiarity breeds contempt.
YUICHIRO RANTS AND REPROVES MUICHIRO
Listening to Muichiro s’ gleeful disposition, Yuichiro becomes extremely frustrated and slams the knife onto the cutting board.
Yuichiro begins to chastise Muichiro on how he plans to be a swordsman when he can’t cook food.
He scolds him for being too optimistic like their parents, wherein their worker died without telling them she was sick, and his father went o pick out herbs in the middle of a storm.
He grabs the knife firmly and states that only a few chosen ones can help others, and consequently, just because their ancestors were swordsmen does not mean they can either.
According to Yuichiro, their fate, like their parents, has been sealed, and Amane will only use him for different reasons than he believes.
Yuichiro declares the conversation over and orders his brother to help him with dinner.
Muichiro recalls that he never spoke to his brother after that except to stop him from splashing Amane, who once again visited the brothers.
Writer s’ thought: interesting to see the contrasting reactions of the twins to their parent’s death. Muichiro wants to become a swordsman, while Yuichiro is practically realistic about their destiny.
DEMON APPEARS FOR A MEAL
During a hot summer, the twins find sleep hard to come by as the heat, coupled with buzzing cicadas, makes it impossible to take a nap.
Unable to sleep, Muichiro gets up to take a drink, and while drinking, out of nowhere, a demon appears.
The demon is surprised to see only two kids as he turns his attention to Muichiro.
As the demon moves to eat Muichiro, Yuichiro leaps from the bed and throws himself in front of the demon, who slashes his left arm onto the wall.
Yuichiro screams in pain as Muichiro takes his brother to a corner. The demon gets irritated by Yuichiro s’ wailing and calls the two pointless, as their lives do not matter since lumberjacks are useless.
Writer s’ thought: the camera work used for the demon s’ appearance was nailed on by Ufotable.
MUICHIRO SLAYS THE DEMON
Hearing the demon s’ insult, Muichiro experiences a sudden burst of rage and loses his conscience. When he regains sense, he finds the demon brutally butchered with some gardening tools and pinned on the ground with wooden stakes.
Despite his injuries, the demon kept on jerking in anguish as he could not die, but as soon as daylight beamed on his body, he perished away in the dust.
Muichiro cannot recall how he killed the demon or what happened, as all he wanted to do was return to Yuichiro.
Writer s’ thought: Muichiro getting triggered by the lumberjack are useless jibe that shows his love for his family.
YUICHIRO S’ FINAL WORDS
Muichiro crawls back to the house and sees his blood-covered brother clinging to life. Desperately he makes himself on top of the bed and finds his brother praying to the gods to save his brother.
Yuichiro mumbles that his brother is not like him and is kind-hearted and wants to help people. He also takes the blame for stopping him and should be punished instead of his brother.
A tearful Muichiro is overwhelmed by emotions and grabs his brother s’ bloodied hand.
Writer s’ thought: easily the best scene of the episode, especially how Yuichiro, in his dying moments, expressed his love to Muichiro.
THE MU IN MUICHRO
In the present, Muichiro recalls that Mu in Muichiro comes from infinity as a mysterious cloud-like red mark appears beneath his eyes.
He takes the blade and uses Mist Breathing, Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash, thus killing all the fish demons at once.
He grabs Kotetsu to check on him, but the young swordsmith tells the Hashira to forget about him and help Hotaru, who has the Sengoku sword.
Writer s’ thought: it already looks like Kotetsu and Muichiro have come a long way since episode four.
GYOKKO TESTS HOTARU S’ RESOLVE
In the shed, Gyokko is pissed off as Hotaru refuses to acknowledge him and decides to kill Kozo to grab his attention.
Before Gyokko can approach Kozo, a blade flashes behind him as he ducks in the nick of time.
The demon sees Muichiro and is surprised to see him break free of his water prison pot.
He also notices Muichiro’s mark and recalls Muzan s’ memories featuring the mark on the boy with hanafuda earrings.
Despite his injury and poison from needles, Gyokko finds Muichiro too casual, who managed to land a slash on his shoulder.
Using his Demon Art, the demon launches an Octopus Vase Hell attack, which produces giant tentacles that destroy the shed while grabbing Kozo and Muichiro.
Hotaru is unharmed as he grabs the polishing stone and continues sharpening the blade, which further annoys Gyokko.
Writer s’ Thoughts: Gyokko is a maniac villain, but some of his plans are questionable, to say the least.
A NEW BLADE FOR MUICHIRO
Gyokko decides to kill the Hashira first, but the latter cut the tentacles breaking free. A new blade is revealed in Muichiro s’ hands as he tanks the swordsmith, who informs him that it was based on the Tetsuido s’ instructions.
Muichiro likes the balance of the sword as he reminisces about Tetsuido, who expressed concern that nobody could understand him.
Whether it is his troubles, the pressure he faces, or his inability to remember things, before mentioning that, he tears up when he uses the blade made for him.
Gyokko attacks again using Octopus Vase Hell, and as Muichiro takes a stance, he thanks Tetsuido and tells him not to worry about him.
Using Mist Breathing, Fifth Form: Sea of Clouds and Haze, Muichiro slices all tentacles with incredible speed and manages to aim at the demon s’ neck.
Gyokko dodges and appears on a tree as he compliments the Hashira for his speed before mentioning he is not fast enough as him.
Muichiro states he cannot keep up with his silly pot games as Gyokko is stunned to feel a slash on his neck.
The Hashira promises to behead him the next time, but Gyokko claims the boy shouldn’t underestimate him.
Writer s’ Thoughts: another beautiful action sequence with Muichiro gliding through the tentacles and slashing them to bits.
THE CHOSEN ONE
Gyokko vanishes and appears behind Muichiro as he launches another powerful jet stream attack. The mist Hashira dodges the attack by weaving his way through the forest.
Gyokko summons more fish demons who spray multiple poison needles at Muichiro, who evades it as he recalls Yuichiro s’ final words.
His brother states that he cannot be like him as only a few chosen ones can lead the virtuous life of helping others.
Since neither god nor Buddha would protect Muichiro, he felt it was his duty to protect his brother.
Before dying, Yuichiro says, “You’re not like me. For the sake of someone other than yourself, you can exert infinite strength. You’re one of the chosen ones!”
Muichiro keeps dodging Gyokko s’ attacks and eventually slashes the pot out of his hands as he stares, waiting for his next move, which enrages Gyokko.
Writer s’ Thoughts: intriguing ending to Demon Slayer season 3 episode 8, Muichiro appears completely transformed and is set to kill Gyokko.
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CONCLUSION
Demon Slayer Season 3 Episode 8 was an emotional ride as we witnessed Muichiro s’ character development.
Initially, Muichiro comes off as rude, but Demon Slayer season 3 episode 8 explains how Yuichiro s’ death impacted him.
Now with a new blade and motivation, Can the mist Hashira slay the Upper five? We shall find out next week.
