Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Ranking the Entertainment District Arc Fights

When Inosuke found where Upper-Rank Six Daki put her reserved human food, he sees that the kidnapped people are trapped as patterns in obi sashes. He also sees that the one guarding them is a sentient obi sash, which Inosuke calls "Obi Worm."

If this is so low on the list, it is because it is just the appetizer fight before the main course. The Obi Worm isn't much an opponent or a character that there is no satisfaction in beating her. We have a really cool animation with Inosuke cutting the obi sashes to free all the people from it, but that is pretty much what is happening in this fight with the Ob Worm powerless to stop him.

Once Uzui's wives, Suma and Makio, are free, and then Zenitsu, the fight is even more one-sided. Once Uzui arrives to help them, then it is already game over.

Here is the first instant of Zenitsu and Inosuke facing an Upper Rank Demon and while it is not a terrible fight (because there are no terrible fights in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba) it is stagnant. Because the two cannot go anywhere near Daki, with her obi always in the offensive, there is nothing they can do but dodge.

The highest peak of this fight is its beginning when Zenitsu uses his Thunderclap and Flash out of nowhere to separate Daki from her brother in an instant, sending Daki flying.

Because Nezuko is enraged by the sight of a beaten-up Tanjiro, Nezuko goes to a higher level of strength enough to take on an Upper Rank Demon. How Nezuko got into this stage is unclear at this point if you are not a manga reader, but seeing her beat up the cruel Daki is such a satisfying sight. Because this is a demon-on-demon action, the fight can go to more brutal visuals than normal with both of them being crushed and sliced to a bloody pulp multiple times only to see Nezuko's limbs return in quick successions.

This power has its drawback though, as hinted first when Nezuko starts to make a bloodthirsty smile, and then once she sees a human, her demon hunger gets out of control. If Tanjiro did not make it in time to stop Nezuko, the night would have gone in an even darker direction.

Alone and first time fighting an Upper Rank, the tension of how Tanjiro is going to survive Daki is high. There is this feeling that Daki can rip Tanjiro to shreds if she wants to, and Tanjiro is barely keeping up with her attacks as it is. Tanjiro is using every effort to try not to be wounded while going to the offensive.

When Daki gets her full power, and her hair turns to white, the sudden power up she gets that levels the town and sliced a huge chunk of Tanjiro's left shoulder is mouth-widening. She looks unbeatable, and if Shonen manga is not used to instant hero power-ups in the face of danger, Tanjiro would have been annihilated.

What is interesting with Tanjiro's sudden power-up, though, is that while his speed and strength get an increase, because Tanjiro's biggest arsenal in any fight is his ability to think on his feet, the biggest boost in his stats is his ability to focus. Tanjiro's eyes are tunnel-visioned on Daki as his sword is busy parrying her obi attacks. The best part is when it is revealed that his parries have a purpose as he assembled all her obi sashes into one spot so he can move freely as he quickly moves in for the kill.

What is so frustrating in a good way, is that Tanjiro is about to decapitate her, only for fatigue to suddenly hit Tanjiro. At this point, it is not revealed that decapitating Daki is not enough to beat her, so for a moment, Tanjiro would have done something not even Hashiras have achieved- killing an Upper Rank Demon.

After Daki has just been decapitated, Gyutaro suddenly appears to show us it is not over yet. The animators are so good at showcasing speed, that you can feel that Uzui is barely just keeping up with Gyutaro's attacks. Every speeding parry and slicing movement is worthy of a Hashira versus Upper Rank Demon battle.

We get to admire Uzui's multitasking as he fights Gyutaro in a small cramped setting while also protecting the confused humans that got caught up in this mess. The fight only gets more exciting when Daki comes into the fight to show that this is a two-on-one fight. Just seeing that Daki is barely an effort for Uzui to handle that she gets decapitated again shows that Uzui and Gyutaro are on another level from other pieces on the board. Yet Uzui can only put Gyutaro at bay for so long. Plus the reveal ticking time bomb as it turns out Gyutao's slices are laced with poison. At any moment, Uzui's poisoned body would just stop.

There is a rush in seeing our three heroes team up for the first time to battle an Upper Rank Demon. Not to mention the light show of seeing Tajiro's water breathing in unison with Zenitsu's.

While all Zenitsu and Inosuke can do before was dodge Daki's attacks, Tanjiro's involvement gets them out of the stalemate. It was not realistic for them to fight an Upper Rank Demon alone, but all of them together for a win would not be in the realm of impossibility. Their strategy where Zenitsu and Tanjiro take care of the obi attacks while Inosuke charges in without care of avoiding the obi attacks is the highlight moment.

When Inosuke finally cuts Daki's head off in a dual sword saw movement, it is one satisfying moment despite already seeing Daki decapitated twice already before this.

Technically not a lot happens in this fight, but since just a second ago, we all thought our heroes are done for, seeing Zenitsu Godspeeds to Daki with his sword on her throat and do not care to stop the attack is the kick we needed. Just Zenitsu doing this one important potentially game-changing attack puts us at the edge of our seat waiting if it is enough to decapitate Daki.

Then it turns out Inosuke is not dead. When Insuke joins in to slice Daki's head in another direction, the eyes are glued to the screen.

With Uzui and Tanjiro and just about to decapitate Gyutaro, at the same time Zenitsu and Inosuke are decapitating Daki, the Entertainment District Arc cemented its place as a fan-favorite. When it's all over, we can finally breathe.

Most of our heroes are looking either dead or dying. All that is left to fight the demons who are Tnajiro, and his is injured and fatigued. This must be what they call "The all is lost moment."

Gyutaro approaches Tanjiro and plays with him. He breaks two of his fingers, just to show the difference in strength.

Like most of us in this situation, Tanjiro tries to run away, desperately throwing anything at Gyutaro to stay away, even if what he is throwing is harmless even to humans.

Yet despite the hopeless situation, it turns out Tanjiro is not running away. In a seemingly useless move, he headbutts Gyutaro when Gyutaro catches up with him, but it is only a diversion so that he can stab Gyutaro with a poisoned kunai that stops Gyutaro's instant regeneration. To Gyutaro's surprise, the headbutt hurts him.

While Gyutaro is still recovering from the headbutt, Tanjiro grabs his sword and actually gets to seize the opening and try to decapitate Gyutaro. With the sword touching Gyutaro's neck, as he put all the strength he has left to the slash, he is so close. What an upset.

We all underestimated Tnajiro. He was not running away, he was just trying to get the kunai on the way. When everybody would understandably give up at this point, Gyutaro just analyzed the situation as he always does to get to his goal. His relentlessness to beat Gyutaro and actually going close to doing it despite the seemingly impossible situation makes it such a standing ovation underdog tale.

While every fight on this list is great in their own way, the real fight to look out for is Uzui Vs. Gyutaro. It takes everything in Uzui while in a poisoned state to keep up with Gyutro and there is this feeling that he is on the edge and one small mistake of defense could be Uzui's last breath. Not only that, Daki's Obi attacks and Gyutaro's returning flying blood sickles are coming in from all directions. Uzui is obviously at the multi-tasking limit.

Tanjiro cannot attack Gyutaro head-on, due to him just being in the way of Uzui if he intervenes, so he tries his best to parry every obi and sickle attack coming to Uzui, and just bearly keep up. If nothing is done fast, Tanjiro and Uzui will eventually end up too fatigued to go on .

The fight keeps us on our toes as Uzui and Tnajiro keep getting close calls to decapitate Gyutaro anyway. Yet even in these close calls Gyutaro just keeps on smiling like he has no worries. One close call is when Hinatsuru comes into the fight by firing a barrage of kunai laced with a fluid that hinders a demon's regeneration and powers. As a kunai stabs Gyutaro's shoulder, Uzui slices off his legs, making Gyutaro open enough for Tangiro and Uzui to cut his head off. But it is useless since when Gyutaro pulls out the kunai, he regenerates his legs instantly and recovers his footing in the fight.

The other close call is when while Gyutaro's attention is on Tanjiro and Hinatsuru, Uzui is suddenly behind Gyutaro, living him open for Uzui and Tanjiro to decapitate him from back and front. Gyutaro blocks both blades with his sickles. Then Uzui tries to slash with his other sword, but Gyutaro's head turns 180 degrees to block it with his mouth.

Every frame of this is one intense fight, where every small mistaken movement feels like the last of all players involved.

This fight is number one because every fight on this list is set up to pay off this moment. When everything feels lost, it surprises the audience with the reveal that Uzui is not dead, he just slowed down his heart temporarily. With Uzui's reinvigorated spirit to continue the fight, there is this rush of adrenaline and this feeling that maybe the heroes have a chance to win.

Uzui goes running in like an unstoppable juggernaut to Gyutaro and countering every move he got because it turns out he spent all this time memorizing Gyutaro's fight pattern. With the music racing, the fireworks of animation, Uzui's relentlessness despite having no left hand, and a dying body, this is the epitome of hype. All the fights have been building up to this moment where Gyutaro is finally now on the defensive and we are begging to know what happens next.

Then Tanjiro tries to keep up with the fight despite being almost out of gas. When he approaches Gyutaro, his chin gets cut by his Sickle instantly. Seeing the sickle pierce through his chin with the end of the blade visibly inside his mouth is a moment to gasp. Since this is Tanjiro we are talking about, he just made this moment an opportunity to see an opening in Gyutaro's defense and tries to decapitate him.

It is the moment of truth. As Tanjiro is cutting Gyutaro's head, on the other fight, Zenitsu and Inosuke are cutting Daki's head. The screams and music rises and then suddenly silent. Gyutaro and Daki are finally defeated, and we can all slowly sit down to our sits and breathe.