Episode 34

Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui (音柱・宇髄天元) is the 34th episode of the Kimetsu no Yaiba TV anime series, and the 8th episode of its second season.

Plot
Remembering Kyojuro Rengoku's battle with Akaza and recalling his final words, Tanjiro begins to cry for his esteemed friend. Zenitsu and Inosuke too burst into tears, Inosuke himself fighting Harding and yelling that they would continue to train, while Kakushi arrive to assist them. A Kasugai crow also reports the incident to the Rengoku residence.

Elsewhere, a family talks about their adopted son, praising him for his intelligence and kind nature. The boy, having burrowed a botany book from the library, begins to read it for a certain plant. Suddenly, the room's curtains shake open and Akaza appears, reporting to the boy, Muzan Kibutsuji. As his blue eyes turn back into his demonic red, Muzan hears Akaza's report of his inability to find the Blue Spider Lily. Akaza also adds that he had killed a Hashira.

Infuriated, Muzan controls Akaza's cells and causes him to decay and bleed heavily. As Akaza fights the pain, Muzan angrily accosts him for boasting he had killed a Hashira, since it is logical for demons to kill humans, he asks why he feels so proud when three other demon slayers were also present and could have been killed as well. Disappointed in Upper Three, he dismissed Akaza to be by himself. Akaza then hurls Tanjiro's Nichirin sword into a tree. Remembering Tanjiro had called him a coward, Akaza furiously punches the sword into pieces, before declaring he would spill his brains the next time they meet, now able to recognise his face.

In the Butterfly Mansion, Zenitsu ponders on their situation; he is stunned to think Kyojuro's death brought even the optimistic Tanjiro to depression and caused the hardened and brash Inosuke to bawl his eyes out. Having stolen some bean buns from Aoi, he tries to give one to Tanjiro, only to bump into a shakened and hysterical Kiyo. She fearfully worries for Tanjiro, who had continued to train despite no recovering fully and is now nowhere to be found. Tanjiro, having followed Kyojuro's Kasugai crow, arrives to the Rengoku residence. He then sees Senjuro Kyojuro, with a saddened expression from hearing of his brother's passing. Tanjiro arrives to relay him Kyojuro's message, only to hear a drunken Shinjuro Kyojuro step outside. He rants about Kyojuro's worthlessness and lack of talent, that he was a fool of a son and why it got him killed. He angrily tells his remaining son to stop grieving his brother death, as Senjuro fights hard to stop crying. Unable to believe what he's hearing, Tanjiro steps in and demands he stops insulting his late son. Shinjuro suddenly sees his earrings and angrily tells him he is a user of Sun Breathing. Not knowing what it is, Tanjiro is suddenly tackled to the floor by the former Flame Hashira, who hits away Senjuro for trying to stop the fight. Tanjiro breaks free of his hold, only for Shinjuro to angrily claim he had arrived to mock them as a Sun Breathing user. He explains Sun Breathing is the original and the most powerful breathing technique of all, the others styles had been mimics of it.

Anime Notes

 * The anime added an extra scene in which Tanjiro fights a spider-like demon alongside Nezuko. It takes place shortly before Tengen arrives at the Butterfly Mansion.