With the grand final of Demon Slayer’s Swordsmith Village Arc last night in a double-size episode that was a rare fully happy ending for our heroes, Ufotable immediately announced that of course, the next arc was coming.
That would be the Hashia Geiko-Hen arc, or the Hashira Training Arc. There was a brief teaser trailer shown with many of the Hashiras that will be making appearances in that arc, including some old favorites.
Here’s the official synopsis for the Hashira Training Arc:
“Tanjiro goes to see the Stone Hashira, Himejima, who intends to prepare him for the battles to come. The training to become a Hashira—a high-ranking member of the Demon Slayer Corps—is intense and demanding. Earning Himejima’s approval seems impossible, but Tanjiro won’t give up! Meanwhile, the demon lord Muzan continues to search for the location of Nezuko and Ubuyashiki.”
It was always clear that Tanjiro was on a path to become a Hashira himself, and given that he’s killed a couple Upper Rank demons at this point, it feels like they should almost just give it to him. But that’s not how it works, and he must undergo rigorous training to become a Hashira. The Sun Hashira, I suppose?
We do not have a release date for the Demon Slayer Hashira Training Arc, which is effectively season 4 of the show. But we can probably estimate it based on past release dates:
- Demon Slayer season 1 arrived (in English) in October 2019
- Demon Slayer: Mugen Train arrived in October 2021 (two years later)
- Demon Slayer: Entertainment District Arc arrived in December 2021 (two months later)
- Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc arrived in April 2023 (almost two and a half years later)
It’s tough to really count Mugen Train as its own thing, as it’s sort of the intro to the Entertainment District Arc. So really, the gap between seasons is effectively 2-2.5 years, maybe a little less if we consider what might have been COVID-based delays during this period.
But, using that metric, we could be seeing the Hashira Training Arc in June 2025, or in the fall, maybe November/December 2025. If it goes longer, it could be pushed to early 2026.
After the Hashira Training Arc, there is effectively only one final arc to go, the Final Battle Arc where everything will come to a head. So we’re looking at maybe, 2027 before Demon Slayer takes its final bow? At least we have some time to enjoy it still, then.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2023/06/19/demon-slayer-announces-hashira-training-arc-heres-a-release-date-estimate/