The fourth season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, subtitled Hashira Training Arc, is short, at only eight episodes long (although the first and last episodes are double the usual length). The season picks up straight after the previous one, where Tanjiro and the two Hashiras are severely injured and are healing. You kind of feel, due to the subtitle, shortness of the season, and where it started, that this could be more of a breather story arc, before it ramps up again for the final battle of the series.
Given the big bombshell of the previous season where we now know what Muzan wants, and how it is within hand’s reach for him to achieve it, time is running short. Demon sightings have decreased, and the Demon Slayer Corps know that Muzan is planning something, yet they will be also able to use this relatively downtime to train its members. Given that they have encountered some significant casualties themselves, it was decided to collate all the Hashiras together to give comprehensive training.
It’s a predictable structure, especially heading towards the middle of the season. Since Tanjiro will join in the training himself, you’d know that he is going to cycle through most, if not all, of the different Hashiras. It’s great to see the return of Hashiras that we already know about, especially if they haven’t turned up in a while, but hoping we will get to see the rest. Although it feels like shortchanging them if they don’t get a whole season to themselves either.
We were always told how much Hashiras are on another level but it’s even more apparent here when most of the Demon Corps trainees are not that great. It’s a miracle that they even survived from being killed by demons. Only Tanjiro so far (as Zenitsu and Inosuke are not the focus for this season yet again) has impressed the different Hashiras with his enthusiasm, stamina and skill. The season is one that is more relaxing and lower stakes. From time to time, it teases something more, as a powerful demon is secretly keeping tabs on what is going on. However, that’s not the focus for much of the season.
Accompanying the more relaxing tone is the humor and silliness. Zenitsu was always a bit silly and exaggerated in his behavior but when he does eventually show up, it’s dialed to eleven. You’ll either like or hate the character. Similar for all the other no name supporting characters, they’re deliberately drawn in a simpler way to invoke humor and silliness. It does work most of the time, and despite the boring nature of the story content, it manages to hold it up well enough to keep it engaging.
Most of the season feels very slow, especially when initially it begins with setting up the expectation that each episode will focus on one Hashira. Even then, with Tanjiro going through their “training” (more like random challenges with little guidance), it kind of skips a lot to the part where Tanjiro is successful and moves on. It then glosses over a few other Hashiras in a token effort before focusing on another. This makes it then feel like it is rushing with not enough episodes to flesh everything out properly.
While the pacing can seem a bit off, as you know that the plot is building up to something, but it just cannot reveal it until the end, the payoff is worthwhile. Suffering through a lot of slow scenes, you get to the season finale where we under Muzan’s plans on how he wants to defeat the Demon Slayer Corps… and the Demon Slayer Corps’ counterattack. It’s intense and the saddest part is that just as it builds up the crescendo, you know that it has to end in a cliffhanger as it prepares for the final arc. It skyrockets your anticipation though and it sets it up nicely.
Overall, the fourth season of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is probably the weakest season, but only because it allocated a whole season to a bridging arc. It’s one that clearly sets up the final battle for the whole series, as everything is coming together now. The Hashiras are united, Muzan is prepared to battle them, and the final episode literally puts them all into one location. It’s not a super boring season even though it has a lot of slow scenes and barely any plot advancement, but the payoff was worth it as it managed to build a lot of hype and anticipation for the final clash.
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