Demon Slayer fans, rejoice! For it has been announced that the first installment movie of the Infinity Castle arc will be airing in South African theaters this September. In order to properly prepare for the movie, this article will cover all the main points of Demon Slayer that have happened since season 1 up until the last episode of the Hashira Training Arc.



PLEASE NOTE: This article is filled with spoilers as it is meant as a recap of everything that has happened in the series until the last episode of the Hashira Training arc. If you do not want the series to be spoiled, stop reading at the end of this paragraph.

Season 1: Tanjiro Kamada, Unwavering Resolve Arc



Tanjiro Kamada finds his entire family dead and covered in blood, save for his sister Nezuko. As he tries to bring her down the mountain for help, she unexpectedly attacks him, revealing her new nature as a demon (whose only known weakness is sunlight, and decapitation is the only way to ensure their deaths). The two are then interrupted by Giyu Tomioka, the Water Hashira, who will allow Nezuko to live if she can prove that she won’t kill Tanjiro. She succeeds, and Giyu sends Tanjiro to his master for training to become a Demon Slayer.

Tanjiro successfully learns all the water techniques, and passes the trial to become a Demon Slayer. While traveling for one of his missions, he encounters Muzan Kibutsuji, the first and most powerful demon (as well as the murderer of his family) in a crowd. Muzan escapes, and Tanjiro and Nezuko meet Tamayo and her apprentice Yushiro, two demons who are researching ways to reverse the demon transformation. They are attacked by two of Muzan’s Lower Ranked Demons, but manage to defeat them (barely).

Tanjiro is then sent on his next mission, where he meets Zenitsu and Inosuke, and recruits them to help defeat a former ranked demon from Muzan’s circle. The trio plus Nezuko then travel to the next location where they must hunt down a demon spider horde, the leader of which is Rui, Lower Fifth. It is only when Giyu and Shinobu arrive that they manage to defeat the horde of demons.

Tanjiro and Nezuko are then brought in front of the rest of the Hashiras, as well as the leader of the demon slayers, Kagaya Ubuyashiki. After swearing that Nezuko is harmless and her proving it, the duo are allowed to stay in the corps and are sent for rehabilitation at Shinobu’s estate. Tanjiro masters a new form of breathing, and Muzan summons the last lower ranked demon for a mission.

Season 2: The Mugen Train Arc



We are introduced to Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku, who enlists the help of Tanjiro and the gang to protect the Mugen Train, which could be attacked by demons at any moment. As they sit in a carriage, Tanjiro brings up a dance his father used to do, and how he was able to use the dance as a breathing technique to defeat the spider demons. The train is then put to sleep by Lower First demon Enmu, who attempts to use some humans to try and destroy the sleeping demon slayers.

Tanjiro realises that he’s dreaming, and resorts to drastic measures to wake up. Once awake (thanks to Nezuko), he asks her to wake the others while he goes looking for the demon. Enmu is successfully defeated and the passengers saved, when another demon makes himself known – this one being Upper Third, Akaza.

Rengoku, tired after the battle with Enmu, takes on Akaza in order to protect the others and the civilians, as Tanjiro and his friends are exhausted after fighting Enmu. Rengoku puts his all into the fight, and is almost able to kill Akaza before he runs off at the coming dawn. Sadly, Rengoku succumbs to his injuries and dies, leaving his sword handguard to Tanjiro (tears were and continue to be shed).

Season 3: The Entertainment District Arc



Tanjiro and his friends are recruited by Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui to infiltrate the Red Light district in order to search for Uzui’s missing wives, who had gone undercover to search for a demon who had been abducting pretty women.

Zenitsu is the first to encounter the demon, Daki (Upper Sixth), and vanishes, which prompts Uzui to have Inosuke and Tanjiro retreat from the mission (but Zenitsu manages to find Uzui’s missing wives and some of the previously abducted women). However, Tanjiro meets Daki and engages her in a fight when she tries to abduct another victim. Tanjiro tries out his Hinokami Kagura breathing technique (his father’s dance), and manages to weaken Daki substantially, with the help of Nezuko’s demon form.

Daki, however, regains power when she is reunited with her obi sash, and pushes back against Tanjiro and Nezuko, forcing Nezuko into a blood frenzy. He manages to pull her back, and pushes Daki into Uzui’s path, where he manages to successfully decapitate her. However, this doesn’t kill her, and a new demon, Gyutaro, emerges from her shadow and wounds Uzui’s eye (also poisoning him).

The four of them (minus Nezuko) battle the duo of demons, and eventually Uzui’s wives join in to help, successfully helping to defeat the demons. Uzui loses his left arm and eye, but Nezuko makes use of her Demon Blood Art power to dispel the poison that was slowly killing Uzui, allowing him to live but forcing him to retire as a Hashira.

Season 4: The Swordsmith Village Arc



After the defeat of Daki and Gyutaro, Muzan summons his remaining Upper Ranks for a meeting and sends two of them out to discover the location of the Demon Slayers’ swordsmithing village. Tanjiro makes a trip to the Swordsmith Village to make amends with his swordsmith Haganezuka after breaking his blade one too many times.

At the village, Tanjiro encounters Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito arguing with a young swordsmith for a key to activate a prototype doll based on a master demon slayer from centuries ago, Yoriichi. Demons attack the village, separating Muichiro from the other demon slayers in the village.

Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, arrives and quickly sets to helping the villagers. Muichiro arrives at the studio where Haganezuka is working, only to discover Upper Fifth demon Gyokko waiting outside, and is trapped by the demon’s Blood Art. Tanjiro and the others manage to successfully sever the heads of the split Upper Fourth demon Hantengu but it doesn’t die and instead combines into one stronger demon to protect its main body.

Muichiro escapes Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art and races back to the studio to challenge Gyokko, unlocking his Demon Slayer Mark in doing so, granting him enough power to defeat Gyokko. Meanwhile, Mitsuri finally joins Tanjiro and takes on Zohakuten (combined demon), dealing significant damage and also unlocking her Demon Slayer Mark, allowing her to subdue the demon long enough for the main body to be destroyed.

However, while chasing the main body, Tanjiro, Nezuko and Genya come across a trio of villagers trying to escape with some swords, and Tanjiro is forced to choose between saving them, and saving Nezuko, who has now been exposed to sunlight. He chooses to save the trio, and is relieved to find that Nezuko survived and is now able to stand in sunlight, which puts her in Muzan’s crosshairs.

Season 5: The Hashira Training Arc



After successfully defeating two Upper Rank demons, the Hashira hold a meeting and decide to implement the Hashira training in order to make the rest of the demon slayers strong enough to work together to defeat the remaining demons while the Hashira take on Muzan. Sanemi and Iguro recount a strange encounter they had while investigating an abandoned castle for demons.

Kagaya invites Tamayo to the Demon Slayer headquarters, and asks Tanjiro to convince Giyu to participate in the training. After recovering from his wounds received at the Swordsmith Village, Tanjiro finally joins the training, and starts with basic training under Uzui’s command.

He then moves on to Muichiro’s sword training, followed by training with Mitsuri and then Iguro. Tanjiro then moves on to Stone Hashira Gyomei Himejima’s training, whose training focuses on building spiritual strength in order to draw out the Demon Slayer mark. This is also where Tanjiro meets up with Inosuke and Zenitsu.

The season ends with Kagaya finally meeting Muzan, who finds the Demon Slayer headquarters. Kagaya has a chat with Muzan, before the mansion explodes with him, his wife, two daughters, and Muzan inside in an attempt to weaken Muzan (one of the most amazing animated explosions EVER). Muzan survives, but is tackled by Tamayo who unleashes a Demon Art that pierces through Muzan’s body, preventing him from fully recovering.

The Hashira arrive in time to witness the explosion, and on seeing Muzan for the first time, move to attack and kill him. However, one of Muzan’s newly appointed Upper Rank demons opens up Muzan’s lair, the Infinity Castle, and brings all the demon slayers in. As they fall through this inverted and frankly gravity and physics defying realm, Tanjiro swears he will kill Muzan even if it’s the last thing he does.

And so, we come to the end of the recap of all previous seasons. While there are finer details that are missing, these are the main points that are relevant to the viewing of the movie. Wishing you a happy movie viewing, and let’s go and see how the first part of the Infinity Castle arc plays out!

Written by Samantha Crerar