Mitsuri’s Bath Scene in Demon Slayer: Why Is It Controversial & Will It Be Removed?

Demon Slayer‘s second season is over and fans are slowly preparing for the show’s upcoming third season, which is set to adapt the Swordsmith Village Arc. Now, while that arc is truly entertaining and will bring us a lot of interesting fights and scenes, there is one scene from the manga that caused controversy even before the season’s official release date was revealed. The scene in question is now known as “Mitsuri’s Bath Scene” and in this article, we are going to tell you everything you need to know about it.

“Mitsuri’s Bath Scene” is a scene from the Swordsmith Village Arc where Mitsuri can be seen in an open bath, without her clothes, but not outright naked. The scene went almost unnoticed in the manga but caused controversy among some fans, who think that it is too adult for Demon Slayer but knowing how detailed Demon Slayer is, the scene will probably not get removed in the anime.

The rest of this article is going to give you more details on the controversial bath scene involving Mitsuri. You’ll find out about the scene, about its implications, about the controversies that have arisen, and our thoughts on whether the show is going to be canceled or not. This is going to be your go-to guide regarding the infamous “Mitsuri Bath Scene”.

Why is Mitsuri’s Bath Scene controversial?

Mitsuri Kanroji is a very interesting character in Demon Slayer. In a lot of ways, she stands out from the other characters and is more or less a typical shonen female character, which is not something that is overly present in the world of Demon Slayer. Still, the Love Hashira has a great backstory, a great personality, and a truly heartwarming development, which is why the fans love her so much. So, in the Swordsmith Village Arc, Mitsuri is introduced to the plot while bathing in a public bath. You can see the scene here:

Her breasts are covered by her hair and she is portrayed from the side, so we cannot see anything else. There are bikinis that are more revealing than this scene. But, somehow, the scene has still caused a lot of controversies online, regardless of the fact that Season 3 of Demon Slayer is probably at least a year away. Why?

Well, our usual Reddit and Twitter brigades have set the Internet on fire because they think that this scene, which would probably last for about three seconds, should not be included in the upcoming third season of Demon Slayer. Why? You’ve guessed it – it’s inappropriate for children. What children? Demon Slayer is a shonen anime with extreme graphic violence, both towards demons and humans. It is not intended for the youngest viewers in the first place.

If you have a problem with a girl bathing and not a problem with a massacred family, children included, you have some serious issues you need to talk about with someone. The critics on social media are, as usually, overreacting and the overall cancel culture has once one kicked in, demanding the removal of something that is utterly insignificant for the plot and completely appropriate in every way for the targeted demographic group – teenagers and young adults.

If you’re letting your children watch Demon Slayer because of the shiny colors and the lovely red layers of blood spilled in each episode, then you can really let them see this scene as well. Of course, a bit of nudity is always a good cause to get some attention online so people who are, obviously, attention seekers tend to overreact simply because they can and they tend to create controversy where there is no room for it.

The original scene first appeared back in 2018 in the manga and it wasn’t until February 2022 that a group of “revolutionaries” noticed that the scene might be inappropriate? Come on, that’s just ridiculous! The level of hypocrisy surrounding this controversy is unbelievable and it really reminds us of those idiotic calls for the cancellation because Neuzko’s demon form had a kimono that was too short for someone’s taste.

People, if you’re watching an anime such as Demon Slayer and you’re concerned with the looks of the characters and not the plot, the problem is you, not the anime. Now, we have explained why the scene is ultimately controversial to a small group of “Reddit rogues”, but we don’t think it will have any influence at all. Why? Keep reading to see what we think.

Will Mitsuri’s Bath Scene be removed from the anime or will it be shown in Season 3?

Well, the first question we’ve got to ask ourselves – why should it be removed? Is it full nudity? No. Is it indecent in any war or sexual? No – she’s in a bath. We suppose that the critics also bathe naked, or? Is it borderline or completely hentai material? Absolutely not! So, why should such a scene even be removed?

We have stated the arguments of these groups in the previous section so we won’t be going over them again. We just have to say that there is absolutely no basis to claim that the bath scene will be removed from the anime once Season 3 comes out. First of all, the world of anime has not been subjected to Western culture and as an anime fan in his late 20s, yours truly can state that he has experience with the genre.

Starting with Son Goku’s peeing scenes from Dragon Ball, Mayuri Kurotsuchi fixing up Nemu in Bleach, to One Piece‘s female characters, the world of anime is filled with borderline adult content, most of which is used in a very comical context. This is, kind of, the definition of the shonen genre and is completely in line with the demographic groups that shonen manga and anime are made for. And while Western cartoons rarely go that far, Western live-action shows, those that are watched by children as well as adults, feature a lot of content, nudity, and graphic violence which is far more inappropriate than a girl bathing in a bath. How should she have done it? Fully clothed?

Secondly, Japanese animators don’t really care that much about Western comments of this kind. Luckily, Japan is not America in that aspect and they have a world of their own, a culture of their own, and a market that actually expects such scenes, and wants them to happen. Not because it’s something inappropriate, but because it reflects a cultural and artistic standpoint that made anime so special. And no, we’re not implying that relative nudity is what makes anime what it is – we’re saying that anime’s maverick attitude towards societal standards in the West is what makes it so special.

Thirdly, the Demon Slayer animators have so far shown to be true to the source manga, even showing scenes that aren’t really appropriate for some viewers (the massacre of the Kamado family, Mitsuri’s and Nezuko’s cleavages, etc.) without much hesitation. This is why we think that they will not hesitate even now to show the scene with Mitsuri, as it will probably be quite entertaining and completely in-character, knowing the nature of Mitsuri’s Breathing Style and her overall playfulness.

Finally, the argument that Demon Slayer is a children’s show is not only stupid, but it is also inherently wrong. The shonen genre is meant for teenagers and young adults and not for children. A child that has 13 or 16 or 17 years can easily watch all of the content from a shonen anime and Demon Slayer doesn’t really stretch that. Not even with Mitsuri’s bath scene (we’ve seen far worse in other shonen anime, believe us).

In addition to that, the contradictory hypocrisy of these critics cannot go unnoticed – these guys don’t have an issue with a whole family being slaughtered, including several very young children, on-screen and human-like demons having their heads chopped of right after they have consumed the flesh of actual humans, but a girl in a bath is problematic? Please…

So, in light of all these facts, we don’t really think that Mitsuri’s bath scene is going to get censored and ultimately removed from the anime. We’ll discuss that a bit further in the next section, but we can only state here that everything we know points to the fact that the scene will not be removed from the anime’s third season.

Should Mitsuri’s bath scene get animated?

We’re not actually leaning towards any option here in terms of the plot and the anime itself. Namely, we think that the animators know what is best for the anime and which scenes they need to include and which ones they can leave out. Mitsuri is introduced via this scene so they’d either have to completely skip her introduction to the arc or change it drastically; the former might happen, but the latter seems completely unlikely, knowing how the anime has functioned so far.

Still, because of the idiotic backlash from some fans, which has angered us pretty much, like that time with Nezuko, we would really like to see the scene animated. We know that anime producers don’t care that much for Western fans – and the majority of the backlash comes from the US – so they’ll either do it because they want to, or skip it because they want to. Japan is, luckily, not America, and the overall exaggeration of the cancel culture has not reached the Land of the Rising Sun and the world of anime.

So, long story short, the scene should get animated, but only if the producers deem it necessary.

Which chapter is Mitsuri’s bath scene from?

The scene we have been talking about in the previous sections of this article happened in Chapter 100 of the Demon Slayer manga, titled “Go to the Village!”. This is the first chapter of the Swordsmith Village Arc so if the animators decided to include the scene, you can expect it in the first or second episode of Season 3.