Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Episode 16: Letting Someone Else Go First

Tanjiro and Inosuke encounter controlled Demon Slayers manipulated by invisible threads from a demon in the spider-filled forest. Injured Demon Slayer Murata steps up to hold off the puppets, buying them time to advance deeper.

They reach another group of controlled slayers, including a girl whose body is mangled and bones broken as she fights beyond her limits, begging Tanjiro to end their suffering due to the excruciating pain of their forced movements. A child-like demon boy appears before a terrified female demon, the puppeteer, pressuring her to hurry or he'll tell their "father," prompting her to intensify her control and make the puppets move faster.

Tanjiro refuses to kill his comrades and devises a plan: he lures the female puppet, grabs her, and throws her into a tree to tangle her threads, dangling her harmlessly. Inosuke follows suit with the others, mimicking the tactic to incapacitate them without lethal harm.

Enraged and desperate, the mother demon snaps the necks of all the controlled slayers, killing them. She unleashes her final, strongest puppet—a large, headless, monstrous body with thicker threads— which Tanjiro and Inosuke battle together using coordinated attacks.

Inosuke throws Tanjiro into the air to better sense the mother demon's position by smell. Tanjiro descends for a decapitating slash, but noticing her open arms and lack of defense, he shifts to a gentler cut, granting her a painless death as rain falls; she feels peace in her final moments.

Elsewhere, a lost and sobbing Zenitsu wanders with his sparrow for company. As she dies, the mother demon warns Tanjiro of a powerful foe on the mountain.