Final Selection Arc

This is the first story arc of the series, running from chapter 1 through chapter 9 of the manga and covered across episodes 1 to 5 of the anime. The events unfold in Taisho period Japan and move between Mount Kumotori, Mount Sagiri, and the climactic site of Mount Fujikasane.

The arc establishes the central premise: a young man named Tanjiro Kamado, whose ordinary livelihood is built on selling charcoal, is thrust into a hidden war between humans and demons after a single night of slaughter.

Tanjiro returns home to find his mother and siblings killed, with only his sister Nezuko clinging to life. By the time he reaches help she has begun changing into a demon herself, and an attack on him forces a confrontation with the Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka. Recognizing that Nezuko resists the urge to devour her own brother, Giyu spares them and directs Tanjiro toward a teacher.

The retired swordsman Sakonji Urokodaki takes Tanjiro in and drills him in the fundamentals of Water Breathing. After grueling preparation, Tanjiro is sent to the Final Selection, a test held on a mountain crawling with captured demons, where survivors are recruited into the Demon Slayer Corps. During the trial he draws on lessons left by the spirits of two earlier students, Sabito and Makomo, and ultimately defeats a monstrous adversary known as the Hand Demon to pass.

Tanjiro emerges as one of only a handful of survivors of the deadly examination, formally entering the Demon Slayer Corps. He sets out determined both to slay the demon who destroyed his family and to find a cure that can restore Nezuko to human form, goals that drive the rest of the narrative.

The arc also plants early seeds for later figures, offering brief glimpses of characters such as Kanao Tsuyuri, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Genya Shinazugawa, and several future Hashira before they take on larger roles.