Episode 1

Cruelty (残酷) is the 1st episode of the Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series.

Synopsis
It is the Taisho Period (i.e. 1912-1926). Tanjiro Kamado is living a modest but blissful life in the mountains with his family. One day, when he returns from selling charcoal in town, he finds the remains of his slaughtered family in pools of blood after a demon attack. Tanjiro rushes down the snowy mountain with the sole survivor, his sister Nezuko, on his back. But on the way, Nezuko suddenly snarls, turning on Tanjiro.

Plot
Walking through an intense blizzard with his wounded sister, a young boy begs her to stay alive, promising to save her no matter what. After loading a basket of charcoal on his back, Tanjiro Kamado hears his mother call to him. Wiping the soot off his face, she tells him of her worry for his safety, due to the heavy snow as he’s selling. To this, he explains his desire that everyone in his family eat well for New Year, willing to sell as much charcoal as possible. His younger brother and sister see him about to depart and wish to tag along with him; their mother doesn’t allow them, since he will be walking much faster than them. Dismayed, they both tell Tanjiro of their willingness to help him. He reassures both of them, Hanako and Shigeru, that he will give them his attention after returning.

He sees his other younger brother, Takeo, and instructs him to chop firewood for them. Takeo is somewhat annoyed at being unable to join him, causing Tanjiro to gently pat his head in reassurance, to his chagrin and the laughter of his family. As he leaves, he encounters his younger sister Nezuko, carrying their youngest sibling Rokuta on her back. She tells him that since their father’s death, they had all looked up to him as a role model. Wishing him good luck as he leaves, Tanjiro mutters to himself about his family's living.

They had always made the most of their uneasy life because life can change suddenly like the weather. Reaching a nearby town to begin selling his charcoal, Tanjiro hears several of the townsfolk commending and thanking him for his past deeds. Suddenly, he hears a hurt young man call to him, accused by a store clerk of breaking a plate. Using his sharp sense of smell, he deduces that a cat had broken it, to the man’s relief. Another man beckons him over for help with heavy luggage.

With his basket empty and night having arrived, Tanjiro heads home but is stopped by an elderly neighbour living nearby, warning him not to enter the mountain. Though Tanjiro insists he is safe with his sense of smell, the man sternly tells him to take residence at his home for the night instead, as demons roam about during the night. Treated to dinner, Tanjiro asks the man, Saburo, about what demons are like. He tells them that demons devour humans and are only active in the dark, hence the peril of traversing the mountain at this time. Provided with a futon to sleep in, Tanjiro asks if demons would enter houses, to which Saburo says so. He then states that is the reason Demon Slayers are present to protect them. Saburo, who had lost his family to demons, is pitied by Tanjiro, who wishes to bring his siblings to meet him next time to give comfort.

At dawn, he sets out for home and leaves Saburo’s residence. But as he approaches his home, he suddenly detects the scent of blood and hurriedly runs to his house. In the front yard, he catches sight of a bloodied and lifeless Nezuko, with Rokuta in her arms. In shock, he runs over to her body and asks what had happened, before turning his head and looking inside his house. To his horror, his finds his mother and the rest of his family dead, with blood strewn throughout the house.

Tanjiro carries Nezuko across the snowing mountain for help in the town, having felt that her body is the only one still warm. As he tries to make sense of what could have possible occurred, the cold air causes his breathing to weaken, and he struggles to carry her through the blizzard. Without warning, Nezuko begins twitching and rears herself up as she groans in an animalistic manner. She grabs Tanjiro and hurls themselves off the mountain path down a cliff. Protected from the fall by the thick snow, Tanjiro looks up and sees his sister standing upright.

When he asks if she is able to walk on her own, Nezuko instead attempts to attack him, forcing him to put his hatchet’s handle in her mouth to prevent getting bit. Tanjiro, recalling Saburo’s words, realizes Nezuko is now a demon, but doesn’t believe she was the one responsible for killing everyone else, remembering that another scent was present in the house. Nezuko grows in size and Tanjiro struggles to hold her at bay. Lamenting that his family had died brutally as he slept, Tanjiro begs her to hold back and not be a demon. Hearing his words, Nezuko begins to cry and ceases her attack on her brother.

A young man wielding a sword speeds towards the siblings and leaps into the air. Tanjiro notices him and forces Nezuko out of the way of the strike, to the swordsman’s confusion. His blade comes down and only slightly misses Tanjiro’s head; the force of the swing creates a windstorm that knocks Tanjiro and Nezuko away, the latter reducing to normal size once more. Looking up to see their assailant, Tanjiro notices the words “Destroy Demons” etched in the blade. The swordsman asks why he is protecting the demon, to which Tanjiro answers the demon is his younger sister Nezuko. Unconvinced by her growling, he lunges forward and grabs her, too fast for Tanjiro to see and react. With the demon in his grasp, the swordsman informs Tanjiro his job is to kill demons and he will now decapitate Nezuko. Upon hearing his words, Tanjiro tells the Demon Slayer that another scent was present at their house during his family’s murder and it was perhaps the true culprit. Asking how she even transformed in the first place, the Demon Slayer instead informs him that since her wounds were exposed to the demon's blood, she has transformed into one.

Tanjiro insists that she doesn’t eat humans, but the Demon Slayer refuses to believe him, since she tried to devour him not long ago. He promises to return Nezuko back into a human, but is told that becoming one is irreversible. As he insists he will find a way, the man raises his sword towards her neck. Remembering his lost mother and siblings, Tanjiro begs him not to kill her and take away the last fragment of his family. Angered, the Demon Slayer reprimands him for begging in the face of others and that he is only creating an opening for others to kill him. He tells Tanjiro that if groveling were the least bit effective, then his family would not be dead and harshly admonishes him for claiming that he could help his sister and hunt down a demon despite being weak, since the fate of the weak is to only be crushed. He tells Tanjiro that perhaps the demons know how to cure his sister and change her back into a human but insists that Tanjiro should not get his hopes up since they will not be willing to help similar to how the Slayer finds his idea preposterous.

He tells the boy that his failures led to her capture in the first place and that he could have killed him and her in one strike if he wanted to. Seeing the tears fall of Tanjiro’s face, the Demon Slayer thinks to himself for him to not cry and despair now, despite all the pain he had recently felt. He believes that he could have saved them had he come earlier but the past is now written. As he looks at him, he tells Tanjiro to feel the rage of being unforgiving, as it will drive him to take action; without a strong resolve, he can never heal his sister or avenge his family.

The young man stabs Nezuko in the shoulder and Tanjiro retaliates by hurling a stone at him, which is quickly deflected. Thinking quickly, Tanjiro sees his fallen hatchet and runs towards the Demon Slayer in a frontal attack driven by emotion. Seeing his weak effort, the Demon Slayer slams his sword handle into Tanjiro’s back, knocking him unconscious. Suddenly, he notices that Tanjiro isn’t armed. He hears the sound of a spinning object, looking up in time and ducking his head to the side as the hatchet flies towards him, barely missing its mark. Impressed at Tanjiro’s attempt to strike him down regardless of his inferior strength and technique, Nezuko breaks free of the swordsman’s hold in his short lapse of focus. Kicked backed, he sees the demon about to pounce on the unconscious Tanjiro. Instead of killing him, Nezuko stands in front of her brother, ready to protect him. The slayer recalls Tanjiro’s words that Nezuko would never harm humans and quickly believes them, despite knowing that demons will often kill their own family members after transforming. As Nezuko attacks Giyu to protect Tanjiro, he realizes that she is wounded and spending energy to both heal her wounds and fight him, while fighting against eating her brother for food. Realizing this demon is different, the swordsman opts to spare her, sheathing his blade and knocking her unconscious instead.

As Tanjiro lays in the snow, he is visited by visions of his deceased family; his mother apologizes for leaving him and asks he take care of Nezuko. He awakens to find her beside him, with a bamboo muzzle. Having waited for him to regain consciousness, the Demon Slayer instructs him to find an old man named Sakonji Urokodaki, who lives at the foot of Mount Sagiri, telling him that he, Giyu Tomioka, had sent him. Giyu warns him not to let Nezuko get exposed to sunlight before disappearing. After burying his family in the front yard of their house, Tanjiro takes Nezuko’s hand and together, they leave their home and make their way to the mountain.

Anime Notes

 * The manga does not depict Giyu almost cutting Tanjiro's hair.
 * Before she is knocked unconscious, Nezuko is shown lunging towards Giyu while on the ground, while the anime depicts her scaling a tree and leaping at him.

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