The below was first posted on my personal FB page on April 28, 2024.
The Entertainment District Arc of Demon Slayer (part 2 of season 2, right after Mugen Train) is one of my favorite arcs in not only Demon Slayer but anime as a whole. Let’s start with the obvious qualities that make this arc shine.
The story is set in the dark and alluring Yoshiwara, a famous redlight district in Edo, where lanterns glow yellow and red amidst swirling crowds, pretty girls abound, and demons lurk in the shadows. The leading hashira is the “flashy” and holy-smokes-handsome Uzui Tengen, who also has three hot wives. Our three heroes, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke, are forced to cross-dress and go undercover as some of the ugliest women you’ll ever see, which leads to hilarious scenes like Zenitsu’s electric shamisen moment. Action abounds with multiple high-stakes battles and battles within battles. And, of course, the animation. It’s kind of hard to dislike an arc that has scenes like this (spoiler alert, and sorry, I can only find highlights videos. But my favorite battle starts at 5:35. I hope you watch the full episode for the complete, uninterrupted fight!)
So, even on a superficial, entertainment-only value, this arc definitely stands tall and proud on its own. (And in case it’s not obvious by now that I’m trying to convince you to watch Demon Slayer, go watch it. It’s on Netflix and, of course, Crunchyroll. Re-watching is also good for the soul.)
But none of these qualities are what ultimately made the Entertainment District stamp such a deep and lasting impression on me. It was the arc’s morals and psychology, which despite the story’s setting in a redlight district as well as its bloody battles and dark fantasy elements, ironically coincide with many Christian principles pertaining to justice. The arc’s portrayal and analysis of evil is also one of the more nuanced and accurate portrayals I’ve seen in anime, which is a genre saturated with tropes and oversimplifications of good and evil.
Let’s break it down, shall we?
*Warning: Spoilers from here on out!*
Gyutaro and Daki are our main antagonists. As typical of demons/anime bad guys, they sadistically harm innocent people, lash out in moments of extreme mental instability, and all in all, are out to kill our heroes in as violent a fashion as possible. Throughout the arc’s episodes, though, we glimpse portions of their past, which seem very troubled at the very least, and unlike the other demons Tanjiro has battled up until now, they work as a brother-sister duo and seem to care genuinely for one another despite their twisted personalities.
In the very last episode of the arc, all the pieces come together. We learn that in his human life, Gyutaro was born in the lowest slum in the entertainment district. He was poor, bullied and mocked for his ugliness, and abused regularly by his physically and mentally unhealthy mother, who worked as a prostitute in the slum. He ate vermin to survive. His only toy was a sickle, which one of his mother’s customers had left behind after sleeping with her. The art, which shows the griminess of his home, his mother beating him with her fists, and him eagerly eating a dead snake to stay alive, all underline just how terrible a life this demon had been forced to live. This demon had once been a poor, hungry, abused child. He had never chosen to be born into such a world, but so it was.
Everything changes for Gyutaro when his younger sister is born. Though her demon name is “Daki,” in his last moments Gyutaro remembers her human name: “Ume.” She’d been his “pride and joy.” Once ashamed of his ugliness and worn down by his grim circumstances, he was finally able to hold his head high thanks to his gorgeous sister, who was respected by the redlight community which valued beauty above all else. Their mother died early on, and Gyutaro effectively acted as both brother and father to Ume from the time she was born.
Despite his tender and enduring love for his sister, though, he shows a burgeoning taste for bloodlust and uncontrolled violence as he grows older, becoming skilled with his sickle and working as a collector who savagely cuts down any customers who fail to pay their dues to his employer. His world, already a tragic mix of his genuine love for his little sister and his love for killing and power, comes crashing down when he returns home from work one day to find Ume, only thirteen years old, bound hand and foot, burned to a crisp in a pit in the dirt, and barely breathing. She had defended herself from a customer who had tried to take her virginity. The man had been a samurai, and as punishment for blinding one of his eyes, she had been burned alive by the head of the prostitution house. Gyutaro murders both the madame and the samurai but suffers a lethal blow in the process.
He stumbles around town with Ume in his arms. Both of them are barely alive at this point. He notices that no one offers to help them despite their obvious need but remains unsurprised. That’s been his life’s story up until now, after all. As they fall down on the street in the darkest hours of a cold and snowy night and lie still on death’s door, an upper-rank demon has pity on them and gives them the opportunity to become demons to survive. And survive they do.
Let’s pause here and ask an important question.
How does Gyutaro and Daki’s backstory change the arc’s portrayal of evil?
Initially, there is no question that both of these characters are evil. They are demons, after all, and the whole objective of our protagonists is to annihilate demons due to the many crimes they commit.
However, there are some demons who aren’t murderous lunatics and are clearly portrayed as good guys, the prime examples being the doctor, Tamayo, and, of course, Nezuko. They’re definitely rare exceptions and not the norm, but still. Could the same be said of Gyutaro and Daki? Are they truly evil or simply evil-looking and misunderstood, especially given their tragic backstory? What truly defines evil if not an evil form or even evil longings, like the thirst for human blood that all demons, good or bad, share? Even Nezuko needs to wear a muzzle to curb her bloodlust, for crying out loud.
I’d argue that the key delineating factor between a good guy and an evil one is shown to be the choices which each individual makes. Despite having bodies that crave to kill and eat humans, both Tamayo and Nezuko make the decision not to harm the innocent and do everything in their power to curb their own evil inhibitions. In other words, it is the decisions that they make and their active pursuit of good that make them one of the “good guys.” They are not demonic despite being demons in physical form.
Contrast that with Daki and Gyutaro. Daki bullies innocent little girls, controls people with fear and intimidation, joyfully murders other women who threaten to reveal her true identity, and kills dozens of bystanders without a second thought. Gyutaro is equally sadistic. He doesn’t give a single thought to the lives he takes as he battles our heroes, makes a point of mocking and bullying an injured Tanjiro before trying to deal a death blow, and openly admits that he doesn’t care about anyone’s little sister except his own. Both Gyutaro and Daki actively choose to pursue evil with little to no remorse, and their consciously-executed evil deeds and the joy they take in them are what ultimately makes them evil. Not their temptations. Not their bodies. Their choices. No matter how awful their circumstances were, they still committed crimes, and a crime is a crime. Tragedy cannot simply excuse evil-doing.
I think this concept is further emphasized by the comparisons made between Tengen and Gyutaro. Initially, they seem like only polar opposites of one another, and Tengen appears like a good guy simply because he’s extremely good-looking and a hashira. However, they are clearly parallels of one another, even if they are opposites. Both are tall but one is muscular while the other is emaciated. Both use double blades as their signature weapons. One is handsome, the other ugly. They both wear arm bands, but one is golden while the other is ragged.
But Tengen and Gyutaro are exactly the same on one point: they both were raised in environments that encouraged them to kill or be killed. Tengen was born into a shinobi clan, and what flashes of his past we see, it’s clear that, at the very least, he was trained rigorously in the art of killing. I think scenes in the intro indicate that he actually did murder many people during his time as a ninja. Or perhaps he stood by and simply watched as his brothers and sisters hurled themselves in what was obviously suicidal missions. He was also trained to disregard the lives of others as well as his own if it meant completing a mission. He’s weighed down with survivor's guilt and perhaps guilt of his own crimes, to the point he tells his wives that he’ll eventually end up in hell one day. When Gyutaro resents him for his good looks and battle skills, he scoffs at him, telling him that he’s nothing special and there are plenty of other people in the world who are way better than him. Tengen and Gyutaro both are killers, but the main difference between them isn’t so much their looks. It’s how they chose to handle their killing instincts and what path they decided to take going forward.
Tengen felt remorse and broke away completely from his clan, bringing himself and his beloved wives out from a life of senseless murder and death. Though his only remaining brother still held fast to the clan’s cruel and heartless ways, which included simply using wives to bear children without any love or commitment, Tengen still chose to leave behind his only familial tie and the life he was born into in favor of pursuing a different life that allowed for love and the preservation of life, as is exemplified when he explicitly orders his wives to place their own safety before the priorities of any mission.
He went further by offering himself up as a hashira so that he could fight evil instead of perpetuating it. He loses his hand and eye in battle but does so gladly in order to overcome his evil foe. He becomes a protector as well as a role model to Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke. In other words, he chooses to turn away from a life of cold-heartedness and murder, and though he considers himself to be a worthless, evil person deserving of hell, through his interactions with his three wives and our three protagonists (who are clearly paralleled to one another both in looks and personality and, therefore, emphasize how these six individuals are those whom Tengen holds most dear and, in turn, change him the most), he eventually finds redemption and is allowed a life of peace.
So, Gyutaro and Daki are clearly evil, and their tragic pasts aren’t enough to excuse their wrong-doings because they actively chose to pursue evil. They deserve to be brought to justice for their crimes, and this is where Tanjiro and the gang step in. Does that mean we should simply write off the duo as simple, one-noted evil beings? No, I don’t think so. Nor do I think we should simply sweep their tragic stories under the rug because they are evil. I think the arc wants us to acknowledge evil and uphold the value of justice, sure. But the arc also makes an argument for showing compassion when we can and acknowledging the crucial role of circumstances and love (or a lack of it) in creating evil beings.
The parallels drawn between the duo of Gyutaro and Daki and the only other sibling pair, our very own Tanjiro and Nezuko, make this argument most clear. These pairs are clearly meant to be alternate-dimension-like forms of themselves. Both Gyutaro and Tanjiro are associated with the color green, Gyutaro by his hair, Tanjiro by his clothes, while Daki and Nezuko are associated with pink through their clothes and share long hair tipped in a different color. Gyutaro and Tanjiro are both the protective, older brothers, and they both team up with their powerful little sisters during battles. When Gyutaro mocks Tanjiro and repeatedly slaps him over the head, he concentrates on mocking Tanjiro’s inability to protect his little sister, an insecurity that both Tanjiro and Gyutaro feel sorrow and guilt over. And, of course, Tanjiro openly acknowledges that he and Nezuko could have easily become like Gyutaro and Daki had their circumstances been slightly different.
Though Tanjiro is a good guy and ultimately made better decisions with his life, the parallels and open acknowledgement show that he is not somehow superior to Gyutaro. Circumstances played a huge part in their decisions, and that cannot be ignored. Sure, circumstances cannot excuse evil, but we must acknowledge that had circumstances been different, things might have turned out better.
Tanjiro was born into a poor family, but their poverty didn’t stop them from always showing kindness and love to one another. When Tanjiro’s family was massacred and Nezuko turned into a demon, he had Tomioka and Urokodaki to give him help and mentoring. Zenitsu, Inosuke, and each of the hashira further provided a solid foundation of love and friendship.
Gyutaro, in contrast, had no one. He had only himself, his abusive mother, and poverty. Instead of living a poor but happy life in the mountains, he was trapped in a prostitution slum. His only happiness, his pride, his jewel, his sister was burnt alive in a pit. And when he ran around the streets for help, not a single person offered to help them. Would he and Ume even have had a chance to turn into demons had just one kind-hearted stranger opened their door to them and given them a second chance as Tanjiro’s friends had for him and Nezuko? I think the arc argues “maybe.” Maybe things would have turned out significantly different for both Gyutaro and Ume.
Gyutaro himself says that he is to blame for Ume going down the wrong path. He doesn’t regret his life as a demon (which further cements his evil nature as someone who refuses to feel remorse and repent of his wrong-doings), but his one regret in life was how he had taught her to “take from others before they take from you.” His savage disposition made her, whom he calls “impressionable,” equally savage. Had he taught her to be more docile instead, maybe she never would have stabbed that samurai in the eye. Maybe she could have become a successful oiran instead of being burned alive for her savagery. If circumstances had been different, and she hadn’t been born as his sister at all, she might have had a happy life as a normal, good-hearted person.
Though I think Gyutaro places way too much undeserved guilt upon himself for messing up his sister, he makes a valid point that Ume clearly had the potential to grow up into a better person had her circumstances been different. And yes, he was a bad influence, though again, not so much so that he should blame himself for everything that happened. It wasn’t his fault that some dumb, creepy samurai wanted to sleep with his thirteen-year-old sister, and quite frankly, she had every right to poke the creep’s eyeball out whether or not she was getting paid to do it. No thirteen-year-old should have been raised in a prostitution slum to begin with! The fact that her soul immediately reverts to her human form in death underscores that when freed from her demonic form and the world that changed her, she is still the little girl Ume who loves her brother dearly. She didn’t start out as an evil demon. Choice as well as circumstance is to blame in the creation of evil.
By extension, if Gyutaro is partially to blame for negatively influencing his sister, then shouldn’t circumstance and, perhaps, the cruel society that created those circumstances, be partially to blame for negatively influencing Gyutaro? Again, had a single person helped him as he ran desperately through the streets, would he have had the opportunity to accept help from the one being who offered it to him? Would he have accepted help from a demon? And though he was clearly going astray and indulging in bloodlust by the time Ume was burned alive, earlier memories show him as a simple, lonely kid who took beatings from his mother and chased down vermin so that he could eat. He never fought back against his mother or laid a hand on her as far as we can see. He didn’t resort to violence to find meals at first either. When girls threw rocks at him for being ugly, he simply covered his face in shame.
Though Gyutaro believes himself to be a demon through and through, doesn’t even try to become a better person as Tengen does, and unlike Tanjiro, gives up on hope completely, I think there is a strong argument to be made that he is not the sole cause of his own demise. The lack of love and compassion that oppressed his life are also to blame. Had his own circumstances been different, had someone helped him at the right time before he had begun to go astray, could he have turned out to be a normal boy? Maybe. Probably. But we’ll never know because people and society as a whole failed both Gyutaro and Ume as kids, and they never got or will ever get a second chance now. Again, choice as well as circumstance is to blame in the creation of evil. And circumstance is not always within the control of those who suffer under it.
Just as Tanjiro does not hesitate to administer justice upon the two demons, we should not excuse evil and should be glad to see good, armed with justice, prevail. But just as Tanjiro has enough humility to admit that he and Nezuko are ultimately not so different from Gyutaro and Ume, we should have compassion on the duo and recognize that there were unfair factors outside of their control that contributed to their downward spiral into evil. And just as Tanjiro prevents Gyutaro from saying more hurtful things to his sister in his last moments and tries his best to encourage them to reconcile with one another, we should try to preserve good even when it is contained within an enemy. We should try our best to preserve love.
Love. A cliche answer, but a true and enduring one. When Gyutaro and Daki die, they find themselves in a limbo between heaven and hell. Daki, as mentioned before, has returned to her human form, the child, Ume. Gyutaro does not regret being a demon and is willing to be reborn as a demon again and again to seek vengeance on all those who live the peaceful life that he could not. As such, he finds himself still in demon form in limbo. Still burdened by the guilt of having been a negative influence and hoping to rid his sister of his presence, he encourages Ume to go toward the light as he heads toward darkness. She refuses, however, because she loves her brother and wants to stay with him through thick and thin as they had promised each other when they were still human children.
Ultimately, he can’t bring himself to make her leave. Though doomed to go to hell as punishment for their deeds, their love for one another proves to be their one redeeming quality, their last but powerful remnant of their humanity, for it allows them to reconcile and remain together even as they walk into the flames together, and Gyutaro, too, returns permanently to his human form. The fact that both of them are last seen as human children further confirms that despite their choices, they had once been lost children and that their love for one another was the one thing that ultimately allowed them to become human once again. Justice ended their evil, and love saved their humanity.
This is not to say, though, that every evil person deserves compassion. Many of the other demons throughout the series demonstrate that there are plenty of plain evil people out there who have no one but themselves to blame. For example, Hantengu, the coward demon in the Swordsmith Village arc, has flashbacks of his past, similar to Ume and Gyutaro. However, as his full past is revealed, we’re shown that he’s an unreliable narrator. He was and is nothing but a self-pitying coward who grows angry to the point of murdering others if confronted about his wrong-doings.
Tanjiro shows no compassion toward demons like him, and I don’t think we’re expected to feel sorry for him at all. He’s an evil coward, and it’s as simple as that. But that doesn’t mean everyone is like Hantengu. The problem is, most people think that kids who end up going down the wrong road were always irredeemable when really, things could have been different had their circumstances changed. Things could have been different if they had been given a bit more love.
So how does all this tie back to Christian theology and a realistic portrayal of evil, which I mentioned at the very beginning of this note? One of the foundational theologies in Christianity is that humans are sinners. We commit deeds that are offensive to God both intentionally and unintentionally throughout our lives. In other words, we are all capable of evil and do perform acts of evil, small and big, regularly. The reason Jesus is so important to our faith is because we acknowledge that we cannot blot out our sins. Once we commit a sin, we have committed it. It cannot be erased or covered up with other acts of good or excused due to circumstance. A sin is a sin, and it negatively impacts ourselves and those around us. That’s why we need God to forgive us for our offenses and why we needed Jesus Himself to lovingly pay the price of our sins in our stead.
Ultimately, we all have a choice. We can turn toward God, who is good, and in so doing, turn away from a life of sin. We’ll never be perfect, but we will be redeemed. And though we can’t take back all the mess-ups, big and small, we don’t have to keep going down a destructive road that pursues more sin and evil. We have the choice to pursue good.
And if we do make that decision to pursue good from here on out and actively turn away from evil, we should show compassion and love toward others, just as Jesus did and does. After all, when He walked this earth as a human, so much of his ministry centered around seeking out outcasts of society and showing them kindness and mercy. He treated the woman at the well with respect though she was shunned by her people for cycling through different men as an unmarried woman. He went to the demon-possessed man who had been chained up by his own people, and He healed him. People hated tax collectors for their corruption, but Jesus ate with tax collectors and showed them mercy. Jesus loved people and had compassion on them. He didn’t excuse or cover up wrongs, but He forgave and encouraged people to pursue good instead, whatever their past may be.
It’s true that evil is evil and cannot simply be erased. But it’s also true that some people, like the outcasts of society, can turn away from evil if given a loving chance. And a person can only keep their humanity and find redemption if they pursue good, receive love, and give love in return. These simple but profound truths run throughout the Entertainment District arc and also coincide with Christian theology.
That isn’t to say that the creator of Demon Slayer is a Christian. I have no idea what religion he follows. He could be a staunch Buddhist for all I know. But, well, the overlaps are definitely there, and it’s wonderful to be able to watch an action anime that upholds values that I believe in both because of my religious beliefs as well as my personal experiences.
I can really relate to Tanjiro when he reflects on how he’s not that different from Gyutaro. I’ve felt the same about myself so many times as I’ve gotten older. I didn’t grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, and a lot of kids I went to school with didn’t either. I knew kids who ran wild around the neighborhood or were constantly crying or getting in trouble because their parents were getting divorced and/or were absentee. I knew girls who got pregnant in high school, girls I used to play with on the playground back in elementary school. I knew kids in college who couldn’t handle college, all the studying, all the partying, all the independence. Some of them became alcoholics. Others dropped out. I don’t know if they were even able to finish their degree. There were kids whose families drove them up the wall and straight into a dark future even though they were in a good college. And yet here I am, somehow. A good education. A good husband. A good job with great benefits. I’m a homeowner. I have friends who love me. I even have a dog that loves me. And, of course, I have salvation and eternal life. I have a God who will always love me.
Sure, I worked my butt off to get to where I was while a lot of other kids slacked. I tried my best to be smart and make good decisions in life. But I wouldn’t be where I am if my circumstances had been even slightly different. For one thing, my mother’s love made all the difference. Her sacrifices not only ensured that I received a good education in a poor neighborhood but also allowed me to eat regular meals, stay in America instead of getting shipped off to Korea, and live safely out of harm’s way with a solid roof over my head.
Later in life, it was my husband’s tireless love and care that prevented me from continuing my habit of self harm and from making the ultimate mistake of taking my own life. And even now, because I happened to meet the right friends at the right church at the right time, I have girlfriends who check up on me regularly, buy me food whenever I’m down, and try their best to understand my traumas and support me as I continue healing from PTSD.
Am I really so different from all those kids who didn’t make it? Was it really only my own efforts and righteousness that led me to a better life?
No.
I’ve made so many mistakes and done so many dumb, wrong things. I’ve done so many things that I regret. There’s no way I’m totally self-made, even if I did try my butt off and give my hundred and ten percent in everything. I got to where I am because I had people who loved me. I got here because I was given second, third, fourth, fifth chances. Not everyone I knew was so lucky. Sure, some of them screwed themselves over with their own dumb choices. But a lot of them, I’m sure, were like me. We were going up against waves of life that were too much for us.
The Entertainment District art is a profound exploration of evil because it refuses to excuse it or downplay it but also calls for love and compassion so that those who have even a glimmer of a possibility of turning away from evil can do so. I hope anyone who watches the show will take such lessons to heart. Because I speak from personal experience when I say that there can be hope for even the meanest and ugliest people, and love really can heal and restore a person’s humanity.