Now that Demon Slayer season 3 has finished, there will be plenty of you looking to start again from the beginning. With that in mind, we've put together a guide on how to watch the Demon Slayer in order - right up until the future Hashira Training arc.
Below, we'll sharpen your expertise with a Demon Slayer watch order, as well as looking at which episodes (and movies) can be skipped.
For more, check out our list of the best anime you should be watching right now, as well as guides on how to watch Neon Genesis Evangelion in order and how to watch Pokemon in order.
How to watch Demon Slayer in order
Demon Slayer currently consists of three seasons, two movies that are now technically skippable, and a fourth season on the way But that's not as intimidating as it sounds: Here's how you should watch Demon Slayer in order.
The first season, released in 2019, is 26 episodes long – and you should watch that from start to finish.
Here’s where it gets a little trickier to follow. A sequel to the first season was released as a film: Demon Slayer: Mugen Train. The wildly successful Demon Slayer movie was also adapted into a television arc as part of Demon Slayer season 2.
That 'Mugen Train' arc is seven episodes long and is then followed by 11 wholly original episodes in the 'Entertainment District' arc. In total, Demon Slayer season 2 is 18 episodes long.
To keep things simple, we recommend watching Demon Slayer season 1 and then picking either the Mugen Train feature film or the Mugen Train recap arc (episodes 27-33) to watch. From there, you can watch the Entertainment District arc (episodes 33-44)
A second Demon Slayer 'movie', To the Swordsmith Village, was released earlier in 2023. It bundles together episodes 10 and 11 of the Entertainment District arc and the first episode of season 3, AKA the Swordsmith Village arc. This is largely redundant. We recommend just jumping ahead to the proper TV episodes.
Speaking of, Demon Slayer season 3 - consisting of 11 episodes - was released in 2023 and should be watched from beginning to end after Entertainment District. A fourth season is also on the way.
Laid out on the page, the Demon Slayer watch order looks a little like this:
- Demon Slayer season 1 (episodes 1-26)
- Demon Slayer season 2: Mugen Train TV arc (episodes 27-33) or Mugen Train movie
- Demon Slayer season 2, part 2 AKA the Entertainment District arc (episodes 34-44)
- Demon Slayer To the Swordsmith Village movie (episodes 43-45) [SKIPPABLE]
- Demon Slayer season 3, AKA the Swordsmith Village Arc (episodes 45-55)
- Demon Slater season 4, AKA the Hashira Training arc (release date: TBC)
That’s all you really need to focus on. In our educated opinion, we would recommend watching the adapted-for-TV Mugen Train arc instead of the movie. Not only do you get extra scenes, but you also get a bonus episode (the 27th episode), which provides a little more backstory to one of Mugen Train’s most prominent characters.
Should I watch the Mugen Train and Swordsmith Village movies?
It's completely your choice. Mugen Train is a full sequel to the first season and, unlike other anime tie-in movies, it’s canon. It also introduces various characters and story beats that are followed up on in Demon Slayer’s Entertainment District Arc.
It does feel a little pointless watching both the movie and the Mugen Train arc series, however. So make sure you pick one or the other.
To the Swordsmith Village is absolutely skippable if you've already started Demon Slayer season 3.
Can I skip any Demon Slayer episodes?
Anime can sometimes be packed with so-called 'filler' episodes, entries designed to kill time until the manga source material pumps out new issues for the TV show to adapt. That’s not really the case in Demon Slayer.
Some episodes can be a little slow, particularly in the middle third of the first season, but everything is worth watching. We’d only recommend skipping the Demon Slayer: Mugen Train arc if you’ve already seen the Mugen Train movie recently.
How many episodes of Demon Slayer are there?
There are 55 episodes of Demon Slayer for you to watch as of June 2023.
Demon Slayer season 3 (AKA the Swordsmith Village arc) adapted the next chapter in Tanjiro’s story and is 11 episodes long. A fourth season, the Hashira Training arc, is on the way but is currently undated.
For more from the world of anime, here are our guides to Jujutsu Kaisen season 2 and Attack on Titan The Final Chapters.
