Am I nuts, or is this series just not funny?  Maybe it just doesn’t click with my sense of humor, I don’t know.  That’s not normally a huge problem as long as Zenitsu and Inosuke aren’t around to drag things into the quasi-farcical.  But this was one of those eps that spent much of its time trying to generate laughs.  And “trying” is I think the operative phrase here, because the biggest issue I have with Kimetsu’s humor is that it’s always trying too hard.  Way too hard.  I mean, there’s no sense of letting the absurdity of the moment carry the comedy – with Kimetsu you get everything but the rimshot.

Alright, rant over – this is nothing new.  Fortunately there was some substance here eventually, as the slice of life mode the series has been since the cold open of the premiere gives way to the meat of the season’s plot.  There’s that little matter of the old sword in the dummy’s neck to deal with first.  Kotetsu wants Tanjirou to take it, he wants to but tries to refuse, and eventually Haganezuka arrives and tries to take it off both of them (which they resist).  It’s a rusted out drainpipe after three centuries, but it seems safe to assume it’s eventually going to be a major MacGuffin.

Finally, though, the crisis of the moment asserts itself.  Two demons have arrived to take out the village, Gyokko and Hantengu (who we met in that cold open).  They’re no slouches either – upper rank #4 (Hantengu) and #5.  They’re cannon fodder here, presumably – ultimate the role of every demon in this series is to die (with one major exception, at least until the end).  But given that the demons always have the most interesting stories attached to them, their arrival is certainly welcome.  I assume we’ll be getting their full backstories at some point, otherwise Tanjirou won’t feel bad about killing them.

Hantengu is quite the interesting one.  His original form, as we saw, is perpetually terrified and proclaiming himself the victim.  But when he’s cut (which happens rather quickly here) he seems to split into multiple forms, each one with a considerably more belligerent personality than the main body.  Gyokko appears to be much more straightforward villain-y, with his vase and his ravenous appetite and his snarky demeanor.  One would assume that even with a hashira present, two upper rank demons would be too much for the village to fight off.  But undercutting the declared strength of its villains is a problem KnY seems to visit upon itself repeatedly, so I’ll be surprised if either of them survive this season.

Speaking of hashira, Tokito is fortunately still around.  And for reasons I’m not entirely clear on, he seems to be taking life lessons from Tanjirou.  Or at the very least Tanjirou is rubbing off on him, as he “wastes” the time to save Kotetsu despite their being no logical reason to do so, thinking back on Tanjirou’s words.  Don’t get me wrong, Tanjirou’s way of interacting with the world does make more sense, and I’m just not sure why Tokito would have been so easily influenced…