Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!”: Inosuke Steals The Spotlight [Spoilery Anime Review)

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” does give Tanjiro back the spotlight, but mostly it’s Inosuke who’s the true star of this show. In the most unconventionally subterranean way possible, no less.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” is the 5th episode (spoiler reviews for Ep. 1, 2, 3, and 4 here) of the Entertainment District Arc: the latest season of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba anime series, which is the anime adaptation of the award-winning manga of the same name by Koyoharu Gotouge. This particular episode features Takuya Nonaka as the director, with him and Haruo Sotozaki responsible for the storyboard. Yuki Kajiura and Go Shiina are still responsible for that most wonderful music you hear in the anime. Ufotable is still the animation studio responsible for the anime. And of course, Aniplex of America is responsible for bringing this anime to NA shores.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” premiered on January 2, 2022. You can watch it on either Funimation or Crunchyroll. If you want to watch it for free (with ads) though, you’re going to have to go to Funimation. Crunchyroll usually offers anime for free (also with ads), but not for Entertainment District Arc episodes, unfortunately.

Warning: spoilers for Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” below. If you want to find out how Inosuke steals the spotlight, stop here, and come back once you’ve brushed off the dirt…and blood.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” : Plot Summary

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” picks up where we last left off, with Tanjiro in a standoff against the Upper Rank demoness Warabihime/Daki. The standoff ends when she decides to “play” with Tanjiro in earnest. Oh, Tanjiro gives his all, trying desperately to cut off her head. Unfortunately, her 4 obi sashes are basically tentacle swords that can attack and defend in equal measure. No matter how hard he fights, he can’t even land a hit on her. She really is just a cat playing with her prey at this point.

Luckily in Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!”, it’s Inosuke to the rescue! After getting tired of waiting for Tanjiro, Inosuke decides to take matters into his own hands…and his twin swords. After smashing holes in the walls, floors, and ceilings; and terrifying some resident oiran, Inosuke discovers a suspicious hole in the ground after smashing through the ground floor. Unfortunately, the hole is too small to fit anything more than his head through. It seems like Inosuke is stuck here…or not.

Meet Inosuke: The Human Boar-Snake Thing

See, as it turns out, Inosuke can dislocate his joints. All of them. He uses this ability to wriggle through the hole like a bizarre boar-headed snake. When he finally pops out, he finds himself in an underground chamber filled with a ball of obi sashes covered in human prints. Oh, and there are bones littering the ground everywhere: the remains of Warabihime/Daki’s previous victims. Inosuke has found Warabihime/Daki’s food storage building. It even has its own weird obi demoness guardian with a personality separate from Warabihime/Daki. Inosuke tries to fight and free as many hostages as he could, but he finds himself overwhelmed fighting all of those obi sashes while simultaneously trying to defend the hostages he’d already freed.

Fortunately, help arrives in the form of 2 of the Sound Hashira’s operative/wives, who he’d accidentally freed during the fighting. Even mundane throwing stars and knives are useful against the sashes. Even Zenitsu joins in with his sleeping swordsman routing. Lastly, the Sound Hashira Tengen Uzui drops in with a bang and enters the fight too. How will our heroes defeat this ball of living obi sashes? Well, that’s what we’ll find out in the next episode of Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” : The Good

Inosuke is clearly the best part of this episode. Not only does he get the spotlight here, but he also does so in a very uniquely Inosuke-like way. His dislocating his joints and squirming through that hole like a boar-snake is equal parts impressive, hilarious, and cringe-worthy in a great way. Inosuke doesn’t so much get the spotlight, as he grabs it by the balls and shakes it until it’s on him.

That’s not to say Tanjiro didn’t do his level best to get the spotlight on him as well. We know his struggle against Warabihime/Daki is probably futile. She’s an Upper-Rank demon who’s obviously toying with him, after all. And yet, we can’t help but cheer for him precisely because it’s such an uneven fight and she’s so cat-like in toying with him. Now all that remains is to see how he survives this fight.

Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc Ep. 5 “Things Are Gonna Get Real Flashy!!” : The Bad

Those of you who read these reviews might’ve noticed by now that I’m a devoted fan of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and thus of the Entertainment District Arc too. As such, nit-picking this episode is hard. My worst nitpick for this episode would be Nezuko not getting to participate in the fight so far. Yes, Tanjiro’s entire life goal is to ensure his sister’s safety, so it makes perfect sense for him to tell her to stay in that box and don’t get involved. But seriously, she’s also a demon now. She could’ve totally helped out during his fight with Warabihime/Daki. There’d be something fitting about Nezuko disregarding Tanjiro’s instructions, and helping save his hide.

Source: Wikipedia, Funimation, Crunchyroll