"But I know how unfair the world is, because good people die one after another." [Sanemi]
I thought that Volume 18 was emotionally devastating, forgive me, but I hadn't anticipated the Demon Slayer's author lack of empathy and his need to crush his readers souls even more than ever.
Props to you, dear author. I am your newest victim.
I didn't think that it would be possible for me to cry more than I cried while reading the previous volume, but here I am. I also bawled my eyes out for hours after finishing reading it, trying my best to calm down, as fast as possible (so my family wouldn't look at me like I was crazy), but it was hard.
Before I will start my review, I have to give a spoiler warning. If you don't want to know what happens in this volume, stop reading my review right now. Thank you for understanding.
Anyways, these are Demon Slayer Volume 19 four single cuts/images, that are at fault of my emotional devastation:
1) a widely smiling Kotoha cuddling a widely smiling baby Inosuke,
2) Kanae and Shinobu's spirits patting Kanao's head,
3) Kanae and Shinobu meeting their parents (in heaven? I think?),
4) Sanemi's speech to Genya.
Let me start with the Shinazugawa brothers, because o my gosh, they killed me mercilessly in this volume.
"You should've gotten goddamn married, had some goddamn kids, and lived until you became a goddamn old geezer. For all the times we couldn't do a thing for mom, and for all the times we couldn't do a thing for our little siblings, you should have made your goddamn wife and kids as happy as they would have been. Because I would've made sure that no demon would be heading your way." [Sanemi]
When Kokushibo cut down Genya, I prayed through wet eyes for Sanemi to come. It had to be him and he had to come, I told myself, any second now. They are brothers, after all, Genya was Sanemi's only relative, he had to come. And he did, as fast as the wind that he is. I cheered up so hard, laughing and crying at the same time. But when Sanemi started his speech, I broke down completely, wailing from both pain and joy.
He not only mentioned the family that they both had lost, implying that Genya should have lived a happy life for their sake, he told him straight up here that he was ready to spend his life protecting him and his family, keeping the demons away from his household. I got my long awaited confirmation that Sanemi always cared for his brother, he just purposely distanced himself, making sure that Genya will live a happy life (but Genya became a demon slayer and Sanemi's plans got ruined, no wonder he got pissed off).
"But he doesn't have the faintest whiff of hatred for you. Sanemi loves you very much." [Tanjiro to Genya in a flashback]
This flashback and Genya's tears hearing his older brother's words, realizing that Tanjiro was right and Sanemi always loved him, was something so beautifully tragic that I couldn't take it. My heart is so full of love for these two fools, but I also can't help, but feel angry at them that they wasted so much time apart from each other, struggling by themselves for each other's sake, instead of living together and fighting demons as an unbeatable duo. I hope that when we will finally beat Muzan and the demons will disappear, they will be together, because I can't imagine a different ending. They both lost too much to give up on each other now.
"I bet your mother loved you very much." [Tanjiro to Inosuke in a flashback]
Kotoha's story told by Douma was emotionally crushing during the previous volume, but the single image of her with baby Inosuke, the most beautiful image of a loving mother and a baby with the most happy smile resting in her arms, was something that made me stare at it for hours (while, as you can guess, crying), and is also something that, I think I can say it for certain, found itself a permanent place in my mind. Inosuke's tears and him whispering "mother..." broke my heart. He always denied her existence, certain that she mercilessly abandoned him, so the truth had to be devastating. He never got a chance to spend his (happy, without any doubt) childhood under her care, because of Douma's cruel intervention. Something incredibly precious got taken away from him, something he never thought he had in the first place, no wonder he reacted so emotionally. I wish things were different, that he never lost his mother, but fate decided differently :(
"You did well, Kanao." [Kanae and Shinobu]
Can you even imagine the amount of emotions that this girl must have carried inside her, knowing full well that her beloved sister will have to die for a chance, A CHANCE, to defeat their sister's killer? And when that sister died, absorbed by the demon, she knew that another sacrifice will have to be made, that she will have to carry on her sister's wish and finish the demon so he wouldn't ever hurt anybody else like he hurt their little family. Poor girl never cried before, even at Kanae's funeral, because as a child she learned quickly that she must squish all her emotions inside her, so she wouldn't be beaten or killed like her siblings. Only now, after the battle against Douma, she allowed herself to cry. And I cried with her, feeling as devastated as her. The image of Kanae and Shinobu appearing as spirits and patting Kanao's head with proud smiles, was as needed for Kanao as it was needed for me. And the sisters meeting their parents in, I assume here, heaven? I could have expected them to appear in front of Kanao as a form of a goodbye, but I never expected an image of them seeing their parents. It was such a beautiful image, full of love and laughter. I hope that they will stay together from now on and be happy forever.
"This demon slayer corps will not disappear until we eradicate all the demons from this world." [Gyomei]
The Sanemi vs Kokushibo fight is easily the best fight in Demon Slayer for me (for now). I am in awe of all the visuals of their battle that the manga has shown, and I can't wait to see what the movie will do with it! I mean, Sanemi's beautifully green wind breathing powers and Kokushibo's moon breathing attacks clashing against each other were fantastic! I was speechless! I have to say that as much as I hate Kokushibo for cutting Genya, I really like his sword fighting style and the way he is always complimenting his opponents (in his head, but it still counts). But his background was something truly shocking. It made sense, but I expected him to be an ancestor of a different character. I got bamboozled by the author, it seems, another point for him, I guess ! ;)
Now let's focus a little on the obvious elephant in the room, shall we? I am talking about Douma's death, of course.
"Hey, Shinobu? Hey, wanna go to hell with me?" [Douma]
If I said that I am mad about Douma's ending, it would have been an understatement. As much as I love this volume, I absolutely hate the way Douma's death was written. I wanted him to suffer, painfully suffer, for everything he had done, but that's not quite what had happened. He had disintegrated pretty quickly after Kanao's and Inosuke's swords cut his head off, and we got a scene with him meeting Shinobu. They were both sparkly and smiley, and I wanted to scream. This is how a villain is handled? Really? REALLY?! I understand why the other demons were handled the way they were, I praised it every time, but Douma isn't like the other demons. He was a bad guy as a human and he was a bad guy as a demon, he should've had a truly painful ending, but nah. If Muzan will be handled the same way I will riot!!
P.S. In Tanjiro we trust. I love how he always knew that Inosuke's mom loved him and that Sanemi loves Genya.
P.P.S. "If Hell doesn't exist, I'll create one for you!" - this Inosuke line must be one of the coolest lines in all of the Demon Slayer. So badass!!