With the conclusion of Season 2, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba has completed its adaptation of the manga's "Entertainment District" arc. The 11-episode run -- which included two extended episodes -- managed to cover 30 chapters of the manga while removing almost nothing from the source material.
Like any other anime, Demon Slayer's sophomore season took some creative liberties, minor in some instances and major in others, but the "Entertainment District" arc's presentation was everything that manga readers could've hoped for. However, that doesn't mean that the popular anime's second season was a 100% faithful page-to-screen adaptation. For anime-only fans, here are the biggest differences between the anime and the manga for the "Entertainment District" arc.
The Anime Omitted A Key Detail About Tengen's Swords
Tengen Uzui's weapon of choice is a set of dual Nichirin cleavers connected by a chain that he wields similarly to nunchucks. In the manga, a dialogue box used for narration revealed that Tengen's swords contain explosive power which, until Gyutaro and Daki, no one had ever survived being struck by. The anime doesn't have a narrator, so this tidbit was probably excluded for lack of a way to realistically communicate the information. However, this explosive power helps explain why Tengen's and Gyutaro's final showdown was rife with constant massive explosions -- Tengen was exerting the full power of his swords. Interestingly, this detail about the Sound Hashira's weapons is just about the biggest omission from the manga during the entire arc.
Season 2 Contained Several Anime-Only Scenes
The "Entertainment District" arc is 30 chapters long, and even as brief as Demon Slayer chapters are, Season 2 chose to add content to enhance the story rather than cut material to save time. In the manga and anime, the "Entertainment District" arc began when Tanjiro returned from a mission to the Butterfly Mansion to find Tengen taking Aoi and Naho. However, this mission -- a fight alongside Nezuko against a spidery demon -- took place entirely off-page in the manga, with no information about it given other than that Tanjiro having just returned from "a mission." The mission itself holds no greater significance to the plot, but who doesn't love a Kamado sibling tag team?
In the manga, Tengen and the boys head straight to the Wisteria House once they reach Yoshiwara, home of the Entertainment District. In the anime, there's first a delightful scene of Inosuke and Zenitsu shenanigans, as the Sound Hashira is reduced to an exasperated babysitter trying to wrangle the boys who have wandered off to explore (or in Inosuke's case, escape) the city. Another addition not overly significant to the plot, Tengen being forced to chase down his ill-behaved new minions is good for a laugh and helps set up the dynamic between the boys and this new Hashira.
The last of the new scenes in the "Entertainment District" arc is the flashback to Tengen and his wives visiting the Uzui family grave. This anime-only flashback helps the audience understand the flashy Hashira a little better and makes it clearer that he and his wives truly do love one another. The "Entertainment District" arc is Tengen Uzui's time to shine, so an additional flashback fleshes out his character and also helps feed the misdirect that Tengen will be the second Hashira to die fighting an Upper-Rank demon.
The Anime Seriously Amped Up The Final Battle Against Gyutaro
The anime's final clash between Tengen and Gyutaro was the most spectacular fight to date for Demon Slayer. However, the final battle in the manga was much more subdued. In the manga, once Tengen masters his Musical Score Technique, there is only a brief, relatively minor scuffle between Tengen and Gyutaro before Tanjiro leaped in to decapitate the demon. The anime, on the other hand, turned that scuffle into a DBZ-esque brawl filled with explosions, high-speed combat and destruction. The first defeat of an Upper-Rank in 100 years deserved to be more dramatic than it was in the manga, and the anime knocked it out of the park.
In the manga, when Gyutaro's corpse let off a burst of Blood Sickles, it was nowhere near the scale of the explosion in the anime, where it leveled nearly the entire city -- they'd have all died if Nezuko had not burst out of her box and used her Blood Demon Art to neutralize some of the Blood Sickles. In the manga, it was much less dramatic, as the Blood Sickles were much smaller and just… didn't hit anyone. Another understandable change for the sake of drama, this alteration to the manga also gave Nezuko something to do in the final battle other than sleep.
