JOURNAL Tanjiro Kamado
Let's go.
DESTROY
The Demon Slayer Corps has around several hundred members.
It's an organization unrecognized by the government.
Yet it's existed since ancient times, and we continue to hunt demons today.
But as for who's leading the Demon Slayer Corps,
that remains a mystery.
Demons.
Staple food... Humans!
They kill humans and feed on them.
No one knows when and where they first appeared.
Their physical prowess is remarkable. Wounds heal in the blink of an eye.
Flesh is restored after being hacked off,
and limbs can be newly regenerated.
Some demons can shape-shift. Others have otherworldly powers.
They can only be killed by sunlight or by decapitation with a special sword.
The Demon Slayers battle the demons with their own mortal bodies.
Since they're human, their wounds are slow to heal,
and, once lost, their limbs don't grow back!
Even so, they battle the demons...
to protect other humans.
EPISODE 3: SABITO AND MAKOMO
I am a trainer.
I literally train swordsmen.
There are many trainers,
and each of them trains their pupils with their own regimen in their location.
To join the Demon Slayer Corps,
you must survive the Final Selection process held on Mt. Fujikasane.
Whether or not you're eligible for Final Selection is up to me.
Starting today, I'm going to keep a journal for Nezuko.
I'm descending the mountain again today.
I'm going to train my hardest so I won't die during Final Selection.
After repeatedly descending the mountain, day after day,
I'm starting to learn how to avoid most of the traps.
It's because I'm much stronger now,
and because I'm even more adept at detecting scents than before.
Even so...
the traps are getting more and more difficult.
He may really want to kill me!
I made my descent today, sword in hand,
but the sword really hampered my movement.
With the sword,
I can't stop getting ensnared in all the traps!
991!
I swing the sword today.
Well, it's not just today. I've been swinging the sword every single day.
After descending the mountain, I swing my sword until my arms nearly fall off.
1,000!
500 more!
Swords break easily.
That's what he told me beforehand.
Though it's strong vertically, it's weak horizontally, so...
you need to apply the force straight along the blade.
The blade's direction and the direction in which you apply the force
must be exactly the same.
And he added, "If you ever damage the blade, in other words, break it,
I'll snap your bones, as well" in a threatening tone of voice.
Nezuko...
I'll keep working hard, okay?
Today, I did nothing but fall.
Training to break my fall and get up quickly from any position.
I wield my sword,
and I charge Mr. Urokodaki really trying to kill him.
In contrast,
Mr. Urokodaki is bare-handed and unarmed.
But he's ridiculously powerful!
He flings me away to roll on the ground every time.
I'm home, Nezuko.
Today, I learned breathing techniques and some forms.
Total Concentration Breathing?
That's right.
And I'm going to teach you all ten of the Water Breathing forms.
Remember to take a long breath so the oxygen flows into every cell in your body.
This will enhance your body's natural healing power,
and both stabilize and energize your spirit.
Relax your upper body
while bracing your lower half.
All right, breathe!
Wrong!
Next! Forms!
Right! Like this?
Wrong!
Like this?
Wrong!
This?
Wrong!
This?
Wrong!
I get yelled at for not bracing my stomach
and clobbered to a pulp.
Next, he told me to become one with the water.
Get in there!
Nezuko!
Nezuko! I am water!
And now it's been six months since Nezuko was last awake.
Mr. Urokodaki summoned the doctor right away and had him examine her,
but he found nothing wrong.
But it's not normal for her to stay asleep like this.
I was scared.
I worry that one morning,
I'll wake up to find her dead.
Not a day goes by that I don't worry.
My descents are getting more dangerous,
and the air's even thinner where I train.
Time and time again, I think I might die.
I have nothing more to teach you.
A year after I arrived at Mt. Sagiri,
he told me all of a sudden...
The rest is up to you!
Whether or not you can improve to the next level.
Come with me!
If you can slice this boulder,
I will allow you to enter Final Selection.
Is a boulder...
something you slice?
Something you can slice with a sword?
I don't think I can do it.
My sword will snap!
Mr. Urokodaki, please wait!
Mr. Urokodaki!
After that, Mr. Urokodaki never taught me anything again.
Every day,
I practiced over and over what I'd learned from Mr. Urokodaki.
The basics like holding the breath and flexibility...
I was glad I had written those down in my journal.
But...
even after six months had passed, I still couldn't slice the boulder.
I felt frustrated.
Not enough!
I wasn't training hard enough!
I gotta do more!
More!
Am I...
hopeless?
Is Nezuko going to die without ever waking up?
I'll almost give in! I'm breaking down!!
Keep working, Tanjiro! You can do it!!
Shut up!
A man shouldn't whine. It's unseemly.
When did he show up?
There's no scent. A fox mask?
Now matter how you suffer, bear it in silence...
if you're a man.
If you call yourself a man.
Slow.
Weak.
Immature.
That's not what you call a man.
DEMON SLAYER: KIMETSU NO YAIBA
What are you doing?
I'd like to know what you think you're doing.
What do you mean?
I'm training.
How long do you plan to keep your butt on the ground
without even taking a stance?
Come on. Come at me.
But you have a wooden sword, and I have a real sword!
Well, well! Thank you for worrying about me.
So, you think you're actually going to injure me!
Well, you have absolutely nothing to worry about!
I'm more powerful than you
because I've sliced that boulder!
He's sliced that boulder?
You've learned nothing.
You haven't mastered a single thing!
Particularly, the breathing technique Mr. Urokodaki taught you...
Total Concentration Breathing.
He knows Mr. Urokodaki?
And the breathing technique, too?
All you did was memorize it as fact.
Your body has no clue what it needs to do.
What the hell were you doing for a whole year and a half?
Slam it into your flesh!
More!
So that you'll never forget the secrets Mr. Urokodaki taught you!
Pound it into the marrow of your bones!
I'm trying!
I'm trying every single day!
With everything I've got!
But I'm not making any headway!
I just can't go any further!
Go further!
If you're a man!
If you call yourself a man!
There's no other way to go but forward!
Bring it on!
Show me what you're capable of!
I'm leaving the rest to you.
Are you all right?
Did you see that just now?
What a strike that was!
Not a single bit of wasted motion!
It was really beautiful!
I want to become like that! You think I can become like him?
I'm sure you can...
since I'll be looking after you.
She's so cute.
Who are you?
This girl's name was Makomo.
She told me the boy's name was Sabito.
Makomo also pointed out my defects.
She corrected my unnecessary movements and bad habits.
But when I asked her why she was doing that,
and where she came from, she didn't tell me anything.
Both he and I love Mr. Urokodaki very much.
That was Makomo's pet phrase.
She and Sabito weren't siblings.
She said Mr. Urokodaki raised them after they'd been orphaned.
There are other children besides us.
They're always watching you, Tanjiro.
Makomo is a somewhat strange girl.
She speaks in such an abstract, dreamy way.
See, Total Concentration Breathing accelerates your blood circulation
and your heart rate.
That causes your body temperature to spike,
making you as strong as a demon while staying human.
The important thing is to expand your lung capacity.
When you bring lots of air into your blood,
and when your blood gets excited,
your bones and muscles scurry to heat up and grow stronger.
I'm not sure I get that.
How can I do that?
Train to death.
At the end of the day, there's nothing else you can do.
Until my arms and legs were ready to fall off...
Until my lungs and heart were ready to burst,
I swung my sword.
But still...
I just couldn't beat Sabito.
Not until six months later.
When I challenged him that day,
Sabito was wielding a real sword.
After six months, finally,
you have the look of a man.
Today's the day I win!
Head-on battles are simple.
Whoever's stronger and faster wins.
The battle was over in an instant.
On this day, in this moment, for the first time,
my blade reached Sabito first.
The moment I won,
Sabito smiled.
He looked sad and happy.
A relieved kind of smile.
Tanjiro...
You did great. Don't forget what you just did.
Win, okay, Tanjiro?
Beat that guy, too.
The next thing I knew,
Sabito was gone.
And my sword, which I was sure had slashed Sabito's mask...
...had sliced the boulder.
PREVIEW
RUSTLE RUSTLE
Yeah, I was shocked, too!
I could never imagine I'd be able to cut a boulder like that.
I couldn't have done it without Sabito and Makomo.
I can't thank them enough.
Now, it's time for a Taisho secret!
Why does Mr. Urokodaki wear a mask?
I heard that's because demons used to make fun of his face for looking too kind.
Sabito, Makomo and Mr. Urokodaki!
I'll work harder to turn Nezuko back into a human!
Next, Episode 4, "Final Selection"!
TO BE CONTINUED