Demon Slayer: Everything Fans Have Learned in Season 4 (So Far) (2024)

The Spring 2024 anime season has brought back the Demon Slayer anime for another round of fantasy fun, starting with a double-length episode to help the narrative set up the story arc to follow. By now, there are a lot of moving parts with Demon Slayer's story, so understandably, Season 4 has started off a bit slowly to help fans catch up with what's going on. Major and minor characters alike are all stepping onstage to play their part and get the story ready for its long-awaited endgame phase.

Season 4's plot may be moving sluggishly right now, but it's still keeping fans entertained with intriguing plot developments and ever-increasing excitement and anticipation for what is to come. So, anime fans are eager to know what new lore Season 4 as showed and what plot threads are currently in motion to make this phase of Demon Slayer the best it can be. The final battle against the remaining Upper Moons and their demon king Muzan Kibutsuji looms, and Tanjiro, lady Tamayo, and many more are getting themselves ready.

Tanjiro Kamado Leaped Right Into Hashira Training

The single biggest development so far in Demon Slayer's fourth season is the launch of an ambitious training regimen, one that has evidently never before existed in the Demon Slayer Corps' extensive history. Fans knew ahead of time that the Hashira training arc would take place in Season 4, but the exact details had to wait until the first three episodes to start airing. Now anime fans know what exactly Tanjiro Kamado and his friends are in for, and the results were fairly conventional but still encouraging.

It may be routine for shonen anime like Demon Slayer to have training arcs between major fights, but at least Demon Slayer finds ways to make it moderately entertaining, combining comedy and hardship where Tanjiro and his fellow trainees are concerned. The remaining members of the Hashira agreed to divide this super-training regimen into several phases, with each Hashira overseeing unique phases that focus on certain aspects of combgat and physical readiness.

Interestingly, the retired Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui was welcomed to help out, with Tengen overseeing the first phase. Tengen was no longer in shape to spar seriously with Tanjiro and the others, but he could still drill the trainees and serve as a "demon" during nighttime training. It was a fun throwback to the Entertainment District arc and allowed the expressive and tough but fair Tengen to put his extroverted personality to good use in a new way.

As expected, nearly all of the "redshirt" demon slayers struggled with this training, exhausted by Tengen's drills and unable to keep up with Muichiro Tokito in the second phase. That helped make it clear how tough and demanding this new training regimen is, and that proved how serious the final fight would be.

If the demon slayers must go Plus Ultra at this phase of the story, after they've already passed Final Selection some time ago, then the upcoming battle promises to be a brutal one. At least Tanjiro was having an easy time with Tengen's training, partly thanks to his protagonist powers. He even inspired his fellow trainees with tales of fighting Upper Moons like Daki and Hantengu.

However, this Plus Ultra training regiment wasn't just designed for the benefit of rank-and-file demon slayers. The seven remaining Hashira knew they stood to gain something too -- more specifically, a chance to awaken their demon slayer marks. Already, Muichiro Tokito and Mitsuri Kanroji have awakened theirs, but the Hashira don't want to rely on chance to obtain this power. They made it clear they want to awaken the marks on their own terms before fighting Muzan and the Upper Moons, and training with the redshirt demon slayers may be the solution.

The first few episodes also suggested that despite all this extra training, the rank-and-file demon slayers are in for a rough time in the final battle against Muzan. In particular, Sanemi Shinazugawa and Iguro Obanai agreed that their students are too weak and won't do much good against the Upper Moons. Sanemi and Iguro were almost making a meta comment, aware that anime supervillains like Akaza, Doma, and Kokushibo are never defeated by mobs of "jobber" characters.

Instead, it always falls to the powerful and prominent heroes like Tanjiro and the Hashira. Even if Sanemi and Iguro sounded cruel with their words, anime fans can intuit that they are probably right, and that adds ominous tension to the final battle, which promises to be a bloodbath.

The Demon Slayers Stumbled Upon Muzan's Secret Lair

In earlier seasons, Demon Slayer fans visited Muzan's hidden lair, his Infinity Castle, a few times to watch Kizuki meetings in progress. Fans saw Muzan kill off the Lower Moons in that realm and send Enmu to fight the heroes in the Mugen Train movie, and more recently, fans saw Muzan meet with the remaining Upper Moons as well. However, the anime gave no hint about where Muzan's lair actually was, and even as of Season 4, there are no answers.

Not even the Hashira could uncover the truth, since Sanemi and Iguro stumbled upon that realm by sheer chance. They hardly knew what was happening, and they had no chance to figure out how they got there or how to get there again. Muzan Kibutsuji, at this point, has the upper hand. He's free to attack the demon slayers any time.

The slayers, on the other hand, can't retaliate and invade his own headquarters to finish the fight on their own terms. Even if the Hashira and other slayers can follow the Upper Moons back to the Infinity Castle once the final battle starts, that means the Upper Moons are firing the first salvo, and that's not what the Hashira want. But it's likely what they will get, and they must be ready.

Lady Tamayo Received an Invitation to the Demon Slayer Corps HQ

Demon Slayer's fourth season also brought back a minor character from Season 1, that being lady Tamayo the doctor demon. For a time, her main role was to help Tanjiro synthesize a cure for Nezuko's demon status, but then Season 4 brought her back for another purpose. In the double-length premiere episode of Season 4, a Kasugai crow visited Tamayo with an invitation from the Ubuyashiki family.

Tamayo was asked to defy conventions and visit the Demon Slayer Corps' headquarters and lend them her expertise, no matter her demon status. Tamayo and Yushiro were quite surprised by this, but they did not voice any serious objections. The Kasugai crow didn't go into much detail, but Demon Slayer fans can still infer what the Ubuyashiki family wants from her.

Most likely, Tamayo will help the Insect Hashira, Shinobu Kocho, develop ever-stronger poisons to give the Hashira an extra weapon when fighting the Upper Moons. She may also medically support Nezuko Kamado however she can. That may involve Tamayo helping Nezuko control her powerful adult form more easily, or help Nezuko suppress it entirely if that form cannot be tamed.

Giyu Tomioka Opened Up to Tanjiro About His Woes

For a time, Demon Slayer fans got used to Giyu Tomioka being a moody and tight-lipped Hashira who didn't explain himself very clearly to others. But now his surly silence has been breached, and Demon Slayer fans have learned the truth about his heartbreaking woes. When Season 4 launched, Giyu surprised his fellow Hashira by excusing himself from the training regimen, but didn't clearly explain why. Then, Kagaya Ubuyashiki urged Tanjiro to look into the matter, and Tanjiro did just that.

After humorously nagging Giyu for several days, Tanjiro earned himself the truth: thta Giyu is struggling with imposter syndrome and survivor's guilt. Giyu had a shonen-style flashback to lay down all the grim details, where he befriended Sabito and undertook the Final Selection exam with him. Giyu failed to kill any demons, and then Sabito gave his life to protect Giyu from the deadly hand demon. Giyu unfairly passed the exam, hence his imposter syndrome, and he blamed himself for Sabito's fate, even though that self-sacrifice had been Sabito's own decision to make.

Giyu feels like a failure as the Water Hashira, and even stated his intent for Tanjiro to become the "real" Water Hashira in his place. Thus, Giyu felt unworthy of training the demon slayers, but Tanjiro had other ideas. Tanjiro convinced Giyu to agree to a noodle-eating contest, and the winner would get his way. As a show of good faith, Giyu agreed to that silly contest, and most recently, Giyu and Tanjiro have been seen devouring many bowls of noodles in a contest of wills and appetites. Demon Slayer fans can take it as a good sign that Giyu even agreed to those terms, making it likely that Giyu will join the training regimen after all and do some good. It sure beats wallowing in guilt and despair all day long.

Demon Slayer

TV-MA

Anime

Action

Adventure

When Tanjiro Kamado returns home to find his family was attacked and killed by demons, he discovers his younger sister Nezuko was the only survivor. As Nezuko slowly becomes a demon, Tanjiro sets out to find a cure for her and become a demon slayer so he can avenge his family.

Release Date

April 6, 2019

Cast

Natsuki Hanae , Zach Aguilar , Abby Trott , Yosh*tsugu Matsuoka

Main Genre

Anime

Seasons

3

Studio

ufotable

Creator

Koyoharu Gotouge

Streaming Service(s)

Crunchyroll , Hulu , Amazon Prime Video , Netflix