Demon Slayer Graphic Novel Volume 8 cover image

In Taisho era Japan (1912 to 1926), Tanjiro Kamado is a kindhearted boy who sells coal in order to support his mother and four siblings.  After one particularly taxing trip to sell coal, Tanjiro returns to his home in the forest and finds his family slaughtered.  He discovers that a younger sibling, his sister Nezuko, has herself been transformed into a demon by the unknown demon that killed his family.  Tanjiro becomes a Demon Slayer to find and destroy that demon.

As Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba, Vol. 8 (Chapters 62 to 70; entitled “The Strength of the Hashira”) opens, the Infinity Train derails, and the demon that possessed it has been revealed and defeated.  However, this mission has left Tanjiro, Nezuko, Inosuke Hashibira (who wears the boar's head and pelt), and Zenitsu Agatsuma (the sleeping Slayer) wounded or feeling poorly, but the fight is not over.

Now, Akaza, a powerful minion of Muzan Kitbutsuji, attacks, but finds his victims are not without a paladin.  Tanjiro and friends are on a mission with a Demon Slayer Corps leader, the formidable “Flame Hashira,” Kyojuro Rengoku.  But no matter powerful a Hashira is, no human can defeat or destroy a high-ranking demon.

[This volume includes bonus four panel comics.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba manga is a title I have come to enjoy much more than I thought I would.  Consistently good and at times great, Demon Slayer was one of 2018's best new graphic novel series and is one of 2019's best action-fantasy graphic novel series.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Graphic Novel Volume 8, like Vol. 7, is one of the series' best entries.  The sense of love and camaraderie that emanates from Kyojuro Rengoku permeates this Vol. 8.  So much about this story is about grief and love rather than grief and despair.  Creator Koyoharu Gotouge offers a story that is deeply emotional, but the best thing about it are the characters.

Tanjiro is gritty, determined, and loving, and that flows through to the his family, friends, and colleagues.  Sometimes, even the demons have a touch of class.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of demon-fighting heroes will want to read the Shonen Jump title, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba.

A+
10 out of 10