Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Season 3), Episode 7 Recap & Ending Explained: This episode is admirably balanced, dividing its time between the two ongoing significant conflicts between the demons and the demon slayers, as both make major progress. Tanjiro, Genya, and Nezuko continue their efforts against Hantengu with a new player entering the fray, while Muichiro’s ongoing journey of recovering his memories continues as well. The episode reveals the twisted worldview that Hantengu has and how he and the demon slayers both view the other with absolute hatred. Gyokko and Haganezuka are also revealed to be surprisingly similar. On the whole, though, the episode suffers from the same pacing issues as the last few entries in the season but is still a fun watch.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Season 3), Episode 7 Recap:
Resuming with Tanjiro’s attempt to behead the tiny Hantengu, the episode sees him follow the fleeing demon in the forest. His sword is alight with Nezuko’s Blood Art, but as it runs out, he can only pierce Hantengu’s neck halfway through before he senses a powerful presence right behind him. With his acute sense of smell, Tanjiro can tell it isn’t one of the clones of Hantengu, being a new demon entirely.
Nearby, Genya wants to fire his gun but can’t for fear of hitting Tanjiro, who chose to continue attacking Hantengu rather than retreat, a decision he regrets. The new demon summons a two–sided dagger and beats a drum, creating a strong shockwave that makes Tanjiro fly back.
Five huge wooden dragons emerge and take Tanjiro into the air with them, and they try to bite him with their powerful jaw, which Tanjiro narrowly keeps dodging. As his struggles lead to him nearly being overwhelmed, Nezuko shows up in the nick of time to save him, despite losing her arm and leg in the process. The new demon, a younger-looking one, calls them villains who pick on the weak, while Tanjiro is stunned to see a new sixth demon, only to realize he can’t smell the other four clones anymore.
Stunned by what has happened as well, Genya thinks to himself that the new demon was just Sekido, and when Tanjiro was trying to behead Hantengu, Sekido absorbed the other clones with his hands. This led to him transforming into a new demon, one which is the personification of Hantengu’s hatred. The hatred demon beats his drum again to shield the tiny Hantengu and furiously releases his powerful aura.
Both Genya and Tanjiro are overwhelmed by this and struggle to move, let alone attack the hatred demon, but Tanjiro manages to ask why he calls them villains. The demon responds that they pick on the weak, such as the tiny Hantengu, which causes Tanjiro to become angry and exclaim how he can possibly play the victim, especially since he can smell the blood of all the humans he has killed. Tanjiro is able to move again in his rage and states he will be the one to kill the demon.
Wondering if he has eaten any of his family and caused Tanjiro to be so angry, the demon asks Tanjiro as such, and when he refuses, says it does not concern Tanjiro at all. He again wonders why Tanjiro would want to help strangers. To which Tanjiro says he does not need a reason to aid someone and that a demon like him could never understand. This angers the hatred demon again, who beats his drum to have the wooden dragons continue their attack.
Meanwhile, Muichiro is still imprisoned in the water pot and nearly out of the air as Gyokko moves towards the hut that contains Haganezuka. Muichiro realizes he can only use a single attack with the amount of air left in his lungs, and tries a powerful thrust attack to escape but can’t, eventually giving up since he can’t get out. He remembers Kagaya in what he thinks is his final moments, inwardly telling him that he will die soon and requesting that he sends at least two Hashira to the village. Suddenly, a vision of Tanjiro appears before Muichiro, asking why he thinks he is about to die and then saying no one knows what the future holds. Puzzled, Muichiro wonders who said that to him, as Tanjiro never actually did.
At the doorstep of the hut, Kanamori is armed with a knife, and he tries to stop Gyokko from entering. Laughing, Gyokko attacks him and destroys the knife, wondering why he is so intent on protecting whatever is inside the hut since it can’t possibly be the village chief. He then sees Haganezuka working on the blade.
Haganezuka is amazed at the high quality of the blade, and Gyokko deduces he isn’t the chief owing to his young age. Gyokko tries to get his attention. But Haganezuka’s focus on his smith work is so great that he doesn’t even register Gyokko’s presence. This immense focus causes Gyokko to feel inferior as an artist, and he attacks Haganezuka and draws blood. However, he still continues his work unaffected, even when his mask is broken completely.
His powers of concentration take Gyokko aback. Haganezuka wonders why the blade’s forger only wrote one character on it instead of his name, as is the norm, but realizes that he wrote only one character since it has just one purpose: slaying demons. Gyokko is furious that he hasn’t been able to get Haganezuka out of his trance and decides to break his focus rather than kill him, as he still feels inferior to him as an artist.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Season 3), Episode 7 Ending explained:
What vision does Muichiro see, and how does he escape the water pot?
Outside the hut, Muichiro is beginning to lose consciousness due to the lack of oxygen in the water pot and recognizes that he will soon be dead. But the Tanjiro in his vision tells him he does not decide when he dies. Again, Muichiro knows that Tanjiro never said anything like that to him. Tanjiro tells him not to give up, as someone will surely come to save him. However, Muichiro thinks leaving it to someone else is the worst thing he could possibly do. Tanjiro continues by saying that he has done all he can by himself, which is why people join forces to work together and make it easier. Muichiro believes that no one can save him as he is stronger than everyone, but he misjudges his strength subconsciously because he was a Hashira.
Kotetsu begins stabbing the water pot to save the Hashira, saying he will save him, though he isn’t able to cut through the water. Watching his attempt to free him, Muichiro thinks that Kotetsu should focus on saving the village chief or at least focus on saving some swords by carrying them far away from the action. He notices a small fish demon behind Kotetsu and tries to tell him of the same, but can only watch helplessly as it attacks him.
Despite being stabbed in the solar plexus, a vital point, Kotetsu approaches the water pot and blows air into it, allowing Muichiro to breathe again. Tanjiro reappears, repeating that helping others will eventually come around and help him, too, before vanishing in the mist. An unknown figure then replaces Tanjiro, saying that humans can summon unbelievable strength for someone else as the mist goes away, showing the red eyes of the figure. Muichiro is able to break free of his confinement in the water pot with a powerful attack and understands now why Tanjiro seemed so important to him: he has the same red eyes as his father.