Demon Slayer Volume 9 Review

By: RedGaiaMastadon

Summary

Continuing from last volume, ourmain trio is assigned a new mission by Hashira Tengen Uzui to investigatedisappearances of his wives in the entertainment district of Yoshiwara.Tengen sent his three wives the entertainment district to investigate thedisappearances of people and the possibility of a demon being behind it.

The group masquerade as women andinfiltrate three different courtesans’ houses. Tanjiro is assigned HouseTokito. Tanjiro finds out that one of Tengens wives, Suma, served House Tokito,that he was assigned to. He meets the head woman Koinatsu eventually, is verywarm and kind. Inosuke finds out that Makio, another other wife of Tengen,served at his assigned residence House Ogimoto. It revealed that a demon is inthat very residence and it is holding Makio hostage. Inosuke hears the demon’svoice nearby and furiously yet unsuccessfully to tries to track it down.

Elsewhere Zenitsu notices a cryinggirl in house and tries to calm her. Suddenly he senses a dark presence behindhim. The culprit is revealed to be Warabihime (really named Daki) his housemistress. She displays further cruelty upon the crying girl who she's been abusingalready and Zenitsu intervenes and asks her to stop. 

At the beginning of the next chapter we learn a little more about Daki’s past with Muzan. She is no kind leader of her house but she in fact has tortured, bullied and killed some of her servants. Muzan strengthened her at a point as the Demon Slayer Corps got closer to discovering her and her location. Back in the present she flattens Zenitsu but does no further damage to the girl that she was beating on. She also senses that he is in the Demon Slayer Corps and starts to prepare herself for a future encounter with our main trio.

The next chapter we find out thatZenitsu has gone missing. Inosuke and Tanjiro find this out after reporting toTengen. Tengen feeling that he has been reckless bringing his underlings intohis personal mission tries to disband the group and see the two home, Of coursethey both refuse to abandon the mission, but Tengen tells them to retreat oncemore before vanishing. Inosuke and Tanjiro pull together a scheme to kill theirdemonic target.

Tanjiro reveals himself to Koinatsuand thanks her for her hospitality and kindness towards him. He also informsher of his mission to recover the lost people that have gone missing. After heleaves Koinatsu is taken by Daki. Tanjiro senses a strange aura nearby. ElsewhereInosuke prepares to hunt the Demon Mistress down, with the help of buff mice.Yup it's exactly how it sounds. Uzui infiltrates the house where Zenitsu wentmissing and interrogates one of the servants. He's given the location of Daki’sroom, but she isn't there. 

Back with Tanjiro he investigatesthe strong presents that he felt earlier, leading to a fight with Daki. Hedrops his sister off his back and orders her to not come out unless her ownlife would be in danger. During combat Tanjiro takes notice of the strangecloth that Daki has around her body. He notices that it not only swallowspeople whole but she Daki can also hide inside and use it for transportation.He cuts off a piece that contained the recently devoured Koinatsu.

Elsewhere recovers his wife Hinatsuruin the nearby area of Kirimise. She is sick from taking poison that allowed herto keep her cover with Daki. He gives her the antidote and leaves. Using hisunique abilities, he finds an opening to Daki’s demon nest.

Back with Tanjiro he banters andbattles fiercely with Daki using not just water breathing, but the kagura stylesimultaneously. He fights well but slowly starts to get tired. Elsewhere Inosukelocates an entry to the Demon Nest in the house that he was serving, but onlyafter tearing up the place. He enters and sees many of the people ensnared inDaki’s cloths. Of course, the loud boar-headed hero is found out by a piece ofDaki’s possessed cloth.

 An enraged Inosuke pursues herwith wild precision, cutting through strands of the cloth as he tries to reachthe possessed piece. It turns out however that the possessed piece cannot becut. Also, it is revealed that the pieces of cloth that he cut were withholdingdisappeared people and he protects them. He is joined by Tengens two wives nowfreed and the sleep fighting Zenitsu. The group receive even more help fromabove as Tengen enters the fray from the very entrance he found earlier as the volumeends, bring a great explosion of sound with him.

Review

Demon Slayer continues to be one of my favorite manga series of late.The series continues to give some interesting character development, and withthis trio we see them use their brains out in the field. They had to figure outhow Daki was operating and then formulate a solid plan but seeing how theirstrategy was outwitted was satisfying as well. Tengen is an interestingcharacter and I hope that we get to know a little bit more about his backstoryas well as Daki’s.

Goutouge's artwork continues to be ajoy. There aren't as many experiment panels in this one as previous volume, butit is still solid and consistent. The Daki V. Tanjiro fight had fun acrobaticpanels, but I wanted more.

Demon Slayer continues to be anawesome series and I highly recommend this volume.