Cruelty (
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.[1]
Plot[]
Walking through a blizzard with his wounded sister, a young boy begs her to stay alive, promising to save her no matter what.
Tanjiro Kamado preparing to depart.
After loading a basket of charcoal on his back, Tanjiro Kamado hears his mother calling him, wiping the soot off his face. She explains her worry for his safety due to the heavy snowfall while he is away. To this end, he explains his desire for everyone in his family to eat well for the New Year, willing to sell as much 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 them, Shigeru and Hanako, promising to give his attention after returning.
He sees his younger brother Takeo and instructs him to chop firewood for them. Takeo is visibly annoyed at being unable to join him, to which Tanjiro pats 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. She tells him that since their father’s death, they have looked up to him as a role model. Wishing him good luck as he leaves, Tanjiro remarks about his family's living situation: they have always made the most of their uneasy life because life can change suddenly, like the weather.
Reaching a nearby town to begin selling charcoal, Tanjiro hears several of the townsfolk commending and thanking him for his past deeds. Suddenly, he hears a hurt young man calling 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, much to the man’s relief. Another man beckons him over for help with heavy luggage.
With his basket empty and the sky now dark, Tanjiro heads home but is stopped by an elderly neighbour, warning him not to enter the mountain. Though he insists he is safe with his sense of smell, the man sternly tells him to stay at his home instead, as demons roam about at night. At dinner, Tanjiro asks the man, Saburo, about what demons are like. He tells them that demons devour humans and are nocturnal, hence the peril of traversing the mountain at this time. Given a futon to sleep in, Tanjiro asks if demons would enter houses, to which Saburo answers yes. He states that it 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.
Tanjiro finds his family dead.
At dawn, he leaves Saburo’s residence, but as he nears his house, he smells the scent of blood and begins to run. In the front yard, he sees a bloodied and lifeless Nezuko, with Rokuta in her arms. In shock, he runs over to her body and asks what had happened before looking inside his house. To his horror, he 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 possibly occurred, the cold air weakens him, and he struggles to carry her through the blizzard.
Transformed into a demon, Nezuko attacks Tanjiro.
Nezuko begins twitching and rears herself up as she groans in an inhuman manner. She grabs Tanjiro and hurls themselves off the mountain path down a cliff. Protected by the thick snow, Tanjiro looks up and sees her standing upright, but when he asks if she is able to walk on her own, Nezuko attacks him, and Tanjiro is forced to jam his hatchet handle in her mouth to prevent getting bit. Recalling Saburo’s words, he realizes she is now a demon but does not believe that she was the one responsible for killing everyone, remembering that another scent was present. 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 swordsman attacks Tanjiro and Nezuko.
A young man wielding a sword speeds towards the siblings and leaps into the air. Tanjiro notices him and pushes Nezuko away from him, much to the swordsman’s confusion. His blade comes down and only misses Tanjiro’s head; the force of the swing creates a windstorm that knocks Tanjiro and Nezuko away, the latter reduced to normal size again. Looking up to see their assailant, Tanjiro notices the kanjis for “Destroy Demons” etched on the blade. The swordsman asks why he is protecting the demon, to which Tanjiro answers that she is his younger sister, Nezuko.
Unconvinced by her growling, he lunges forward and grabs her, too fast for Tanjiro to see. With Nezuko restrained, the swordsman informs Tanjiro that his job is to kill demons, and he will now decapitate her. Tanjiro tells the Demon Slayer that another scent was present at their house during his family’s murder, perhaps the true culprit. Asking how she even transformed, the Demon Slayer explains that her wounds were exposed to the demon's blood, causing the change. Tanjiro insists that she doesn’t eat humans, but the swordsman is doubtful as she tried to attack him only moments ago. He promises to turn Nezuko back into a human, but is told that a transformation 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 kneels down and begs him not to take the last fragment of his family. Angered, the Demon Slayer rebukes him for begging in front of others, as it only creates an opening to kill him. He tells Tanjiro that if groveling were the least bit effective, his family would still be alive, admonishing 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 demons may know how to reverse the transformation but insists on not getting his hopes up since they will not be willing to help, similar to how he finds his idea absurd. He tells Tanjiro that his failures have led to her capture in the first place and that he could have killed him and her in one strike if he wanted to.
The swordsman urges Tanjiro to remain strong.
Seeing the tears on Tanjiro’s face, the Demon Slayer silently begs for him not to cry and despair now, despite all the pain he has felt. He believes that he could have saved them had he come earlier, but he cannot change the past. Looking 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.
Tanjiro nearly hits the swordsman.
He then notices that Tanjiro isn’t armed and hears the sound of a spinning object, looking up in time and ducking his head as the hatchet flies at him, barely missing its mark. Impressed at Tanjiro’s attempt to strike him down despite his inferior strength and technique, Nezuko breaks free of the swordsman’s hold. Kicked away, he grows worried as he sees the demon about to pounce on the unconscious Tanjiro, but instead of killing him, Nezuko stands in front of her brother to protect him. The swordsman recalls Tanjiro’s words that Nezuko would never harm humans and believes them; recalling when someone else said the same thing about their family member, he knows that demons will even kill their own family members after transforming.
Nezuko attacks the swordsman.
As Nezuko attacks him to protect Tanjiro, he realizes that she is wounded and is spending energy to heal her wounds and fight him while resisting the urge to kill Tanjiro for food. Realizing she 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 that he take care of Nezuko. He awakens to find her beside him with a bamboo muzzle, before noticing the Demon Slayer nearby, 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.
Characters in Order of Appearance[]
Anime Notes[]
- The episode is named after Chapter 1.
- The manga does not depict Giyu almost cutting Tanjiro's hair.
- The anime shows a short scuffle between Nezuko and Giyu as he realizes that the siblings are different to demons he had previously seen. This does not appear in the manga.
- Before she is knocked unconscious, Nezuko is shown lunging towards Giyu while on the ground in the manga, while the anime depicts her scaling a tree and leaping at him.
References[]
- ↑ Episode 1 on the Official Website