Characters / Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Main Characters

aka: Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba Zenitsu Agatsuma

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Main Character Index
Main Characters | Demon Slayer Corps (Hashira) | Demons (Muzan Kibutsuji | Twelve Kizuki: Upper Ranks: Kokushibo | Hantengu) | Civilians | Demon Slayer Academy

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In General

• Almighty Janitor: It later develops into this for the three boys regarding their role as Demon Slayers, and Nezuko as well within the demon power scale. Early in the series the boy trio are as strong as their ranks suggest, they need to take Lower Ranks within the Twelve Kizuki very seriously and an Upper Rank is well beyond their capabilities; a few training sessions and grueling battles after, the boys are just small steps behind the Hashira in terms of power despite their placement never reaching the top among the 10 field ranks for Slayers, by the Infinity Castle arc, Giyu outright states Tanjiro has reached Hashira level in terms of strength. In Nezuko’s case her raging bloodlust born out of desperation against Daki has the latter outright commenting on Nezuko’s power resembling that of an Upper Rank demon, despite the fact of Nezuko being a nobody as far as the hierarchy is concerned.
• Balance, Speed, Strength Trio: Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke fit each dynamic, respectively, with their Breathing techniques. Tanjiro is the Balance who wields the versatile Water Breathing and Hinokami Kagura. Zenitsu is the Speed who cuts at the blink of an eye with the Thunder Breathing's first form, and Inosuke is the Strength who uses the Beast Breathing which emphasizes wild, but strong strikes.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three slayers: Zenitsu is the blonde, Inosuke the brunette and Tanjiro the redhead. Though we can add Nezuko as the brunette sharing this with Inosuke to complete the whole group.
• Brother–Sister Team: Tanjiro and Nezuko form one of these while they fight the demons during the earlier episodes.
• Conveniently an Orphan: None of them have living parents or relatives: Tanjiro and Nezuko's family was slaughtered by Muzan (with their father dying earlier due to illness), Inosuke's mother was eaten by Doma, and not much was known about Zenitsu's parents as he spent his entire life alone mooching off other people before he met his master. This does grant them the freedom to go out and slay demons.
• Disguised in Drag: In the Red Light District Arc, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke are forced to masquerade as girls in order to infiltrate a prostitute ring to investigate the disappearance of Tengen Uzui's three wives and the possibility of an Upper Rank.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After many tribulations fighting the Upper Ranks and the deaths of their comrades, Nezuko is turned back into a human and Muzan is finally defeated. At the end of the series, they become a surrogate family and live a carefree, happy life in the Kamado household. They each go on to marry and have children of their own, with Tanjiro getting with Kanao, Nezuko with Zenitsu, and Inosuke with Aoi.
• Family of Choice: At the end of the series they grow to be this close, Inosuke and Zenitsu move in the Kamado household, becoming the extended family for Tanjiro and Nezuko, and eventually Zenitsu and Nezuko hit off by forming a family of their own.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Clearly defined with the Demon Slayer trio.
  • Tanjiro Kamado is the Mage, being the most calm and collected of the three, and is capable of wielding both Water and Sun Breathing, the last of which is the most powerful of all Breathing Techniques.
  • Zenitsu Agatsuma is the Thief, being a Lovable Coward and a Fragile Speedster who reaches his full potential either while sleeping or motivated by something that serves as his Berserk Button (i.e., girls).
  • Inosuke Hashibira is the Fighter, The Berserker who is a duel-wielder and rushes head first into battle, usually without thinking. He's physically the strongest out of the three.
• Fire-Forged Friends: The group started on somewhat hostile terms, but after enduring trial and tribulation, they become the best of friends as of the Red-light District Arc.
• Four-Temperament Ensemble: All-Loving Hero Tanjiro (Sanguine), Pro-Human Transhuman Nezuko (Phlegmatic), Cowardly Lion Zenitsu (Melancholic), Blood Knight Inosuke (Choleric).
• Knight, Knave, and Squire: Tanjiro is the idealistic knight fighting to find a cure for demonism for his sister and the world. Inosuke is the self-trained and instinctual knave, and Zenitsu is the inexperienced squire who often doesn't want to fight.
• Land, Sea, Sky: Tanjiro's Water Breathing and Zenitsu's Thunder Breathing are obvious fits for sea and sky, respectively. Though more subtle, Inosuke as land gets a subtle lampshade when he and Tanjiro first fight, with Tanjiro noting just how low to the ground the other boy fights.
• Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Tanjiro with Hinokami Kagura and Zenitsu with Thunder Breathing, the earnest and brave with the cowardly but courageous, as the series goes both brothers-in-arms actually take inspiration from one another to grow more powerful in their battles against ever more dangerous demons: Tanjiro applies some basic knowledge of the Thunder Clap and Flash he learned from Zenitsu to finish Upper-Rank 4 Hantegu off, and Zenitsu’s own 7th Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami is actually named after a fire dragon, despite it being a Thunder Breathing technique.
• Muscles Are Meaningful: The three boys develop a commendable amount of muscle mass as a result of intense training.
• Nice, Mean, and In-Between:
  • Tanjiro the empathetic All-Loving Hero and his Badass Adorable sister Nezuko are both the Nice ones
  • Inosuke the Hot-Blooded Jerk with a Heart of Gold with a Large Ham is the Mean one
  • and Zenitsu the unconfident, Prone to Tears Cowardly Lion is the one Inbetween
• Out of Focus: Despite their status as the protagonists, all four get this treatment at least once.
  • Inosuke and Zenitsu are largely absent from the Swordsmith Village Arc, with them going on separate missions. In Zenitsu's case he leaves off-screen, with the manga only having him make a short cameo via flashback at the end. The Taisho Era Secret of Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji lampshades this by having them Breaking the Fourth Wall.
  Zenitsu "So, when's our turn?"
  • In Nezuko's case she takes a backseat from the action after she gains an immunity to the sunlight. She doesn't even fight in the Infinity Castle Arc with her appearances being regulated to her being given a cure to finally re-humanize her and it slowly taking effect.
  • Tanjiro is not the main focus of the Infinity Castle Arc, with the fights switching to various other major characters. And while he's the main focus of the earlier Swordsmith Village Arc, he has to share it with Muichiro.
• Punch-Clock Hero: Prior bonding with Tanjiro, both boys Zenitsu and Inosuke had no heroic aspirations for becoming demon slayers; Zenitsu just wanted to honor his master for taking care of him and Inosuke just wanted to fight demons for the sake of thrills, it is through later story developments that both of them experience personal growth and personal tragedies that turns them into very focused in killing demons for more heroic reasons: end all the suffering demons have inflicted.
• Rags to Riches: The second Databook includes oneshot stories in which one of them show that after Muzan is defeated and the Demon Slayer Corps is disbanded, Kiriya Ubuyashiki did his last acts of goodwill as a leader - sending a box full of money to Tanjiro and Nezuko, an unspecified amount that is just said to be enough for the siblings not to worry about working a single day in their lives ever again.
• Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A boy traveling with his demon sister, a coward who harbors hidden determination, and a boy raised by boars. They slay demons.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inosuke and Zenitsu are the Red to Tanjiro and Nezuko's Blue.
• Super-Senses: The five survivors of the Final Selection have a characteristic super sense; Tanjiro has super smell, Zenitsu has super hearing, Inosuke has super touch, Kanao has super sight and Genya can take on the Blood Demon Arts of the demons he eats, which can constitute for taste.
• True Companions: It took a while, but passing the same Final Selection, living under the same roof at times and facing off against two Lower Ranks and Upper Rank 6 eventually lead to the four of them reaching this status. During the Red Light District Arc, Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke are perfectly in sync when facing off against Tengen Uzui who has abducted Aoi Kanzaki for a demon slaying mission after coming back from separate missions. Kanao and Genya are occasionally shown to be in very good terms with them during flashbacks.
• With Friends Like These...: Their relationship is initially like this, while Tanjiro is mostly nice with them, Inosuke often assaults Zenitsu and repeatedly tries to challenge Tanjiro into fights, while Zenitsu gives both Tanjiro and Inosuke nothing but grief when he believes they are being traitorous in some way on another.

Tanjiro Kamado (Spoilers)

Voiced by: Natsuki Hanae, Satomi Sato (child) (Japanese), Zach Aguilar, Allegra Clark (child) (English) ^{Other VA} Iván Bastidas (Latin American Spanish), Marcel Navarro (European Spanish), Enzo Ratsito (French), Constantin von Jascheroff (German), Renato Novara, Sabrina Bonfitto (child) (Italian), Daniel Figueira (Brazilian Portuguese), Qian Xinyu (Taiwanese Mandarin)
Live actor: Ryota Kobayashi (Stage Play)

"To dispel the regrets of those killed, to stop any more victims from appearing, I will relentlessly wield my blade against the Demons, and that's a fact. But I will not trample on the pains of being a Demon. Nor on those who regret their own actions. Because demons were humans. Because they were humans like me."

The main protagonist of the series. Tanjiro lived in the mountains with his mother and siblings. One day, when he was thirteen years old, he came home to find that his family had been slain. Except for his younger sister, Nezuko, who was in the process of transforming into a demon. After an encounter with the demon slayer Giyu Tomioka, Tanjiro trained to become part of the Demon Slayer Corps himself and to find a way to turn Nezuko back into a human being. He starts out as a practitioner of Water Breathing, before learning Hinokami Kagura and using it as his main breathing style.

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• Ability Mixing: A variation. The hidden 13th form of the Hinokami Kagura consists of performing all the previous 12 techniques in a specific sequence. Since each technique naturally leads to the next, the user can attack significantly faster than normal with less fatigue, and it can continue the assault indefinitely as long as they have the stamina to do so.
• Affectionate Nickname: Nicknamed "Mommy" by fellow Demon Slayers that endured Himejima's training alongside him during the Hashira Training Arc.
• All-Loving Hero: Optimistic and positive, Tanjiro believes that humans and demons alike can choose to do the right thing.
• And I Must Scream: Tanjiro was fully aware of the atrocities that Muzan put him through as a demon, and he couldn't do anything but watch from his mind as Muzan pits his demonic corpse against his friends and loved ones. He is rather anguished once Kanao cured him of his demonification.
• An Arm and a Leg: He loses his left arm to Muzan. He does get it back after Muzan transforms him into a demon and keeps it after Kanao reverts him back to human. After the battle it just hangs uselessly.
• Armor-Piercing Question: After learning Giyu's backstory, Tanjiro asks him, "Don't you want to make use of the gift Sabito gave you?" Giyu then remembers the time when Sabito called him out on feeling Survivor Guilt over his sister's sacrifice, then told him to make sure her death would not be in vain, and comes to his senses.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Tanjiro's smarts get him out of trouble as often as his fighting skills do.
• Badass Adorable: Cute, and one of the sweetest boys you'll ever meet. Also a skilled Demon Slayer who eventually can match a Hashira.
• Bad Liar: He's so honest that lying causes him pain, and thus his lies can be easily spotted by the weird face he makes as a consequence.
• Beware the Nice Ones:
  • Ooooh, boy. Tanjiro can be as deadly as he is nice if pissed off enough; just ask Hantengu. He and Nezuko were both known among their siblings for being very kind people that got scary when mad.
  • When Tanjiro and Tomioka confront Muzan during the final arc, the latter nonchalantly tells them that they should be fortunate enough to be alive and disregard avenging their loved ones. He continues by saying that vowing vengeance against him is akin to doing the same against a natural disaster, an illogical notion. In turn, Muzan believes they should move on with their lives and leave him alone. After hearing those callous words, Tanjiro immediately dons quite the Death Glare, as he declares that Muzan is a being that shouldn't exist. Keep in mind that Tanjiro has often felt sympathy for his demonic enemies. From beginning to end, he never feels that way towards Muzan. He just wants him dead.
• Big Brother Instinct: Tanjiro has made it his goal to protect Nezuko and restore her humanity, no matter what. He is also extremely protective of people that remind him of his siblings.
• Birthmark of Destiny: Subverted. Someone assumes that the red mark on Tanjiro's forehead is a birthmark said to be connected with some sort of elemental power. But in truth, it's a burn scar he got from protecting his younger brother from a falling brazier. Nevertheless, it is in that exact spot that this his Demon Slayer Mark manifests—much like his father Tanjuro, as well as the two other known former Demon Slayers closely-affiliated with Sun Breathing: Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and his brother Michikatsu (later the demon Kokushibo).
• Black Swords Are Better: Subverted in-universe. Demon Slayers' swords take their color depending on the slayer who owns them. Tanjiro's black blade seems to be an oddity, and an ill omen of sorts - no slayer with a black blade ever became a Hashira.
• Blank White Eyes: When under great pressure, there are times Tanjiro's eyes go fully blank, such as when he goes all-out against Upper Rank Six Gyutaro and Upper Rank Three Akaza.
• Body Horror: After getting poisoned by Muzan, Tanjiro's face starts swelling up and a massive grotesque tumor forms in his right eye.
• Bowdlerise: One element of Tanjiro's outfit, his Rising Sun earrings, had to be edited◊ in Chinese and South Korean broadcasts to one based on the Sun Disc flag (which had already been in use since 1870), as the Rising Sun flag is still widely associated in those countries with the repressive Japanese occupation of the early 20th century (and likewise is still used by right-wing radicals in Japan, similarly to the flag of Nazi Germany in the west).
• Broken Tears: In chapter 126, Tanjiro breaks down in tears because he thought that he had lost Nezuko to the sun. The next chapter shows Tanjiro crying Tears of Joy and hugging Nezuko after seeing that she is alive and well. But, his tears fall once more in the later chapters when he hears of what happened to Shinobu, Genya, and Muichiro.
• Buffy Speak: Tanjiro is a well meaning guy, and far from stupid, but he is quite terrible at explaining technical aspects of his sword and martial arts abilities. He earnestly tries to explain to his friends how to do Total Concentration Breathing training or how to achieve the Mark, but, as one translation puts it, he "extremely sucks at teaching."
• Career-Ending Injury: His final battle against Muzan ended with Tanjiro losing his right eye and left arm, immediately after Muzan turned Tanjiro into his demonic successor, which healed both eye and arm, but when Tanjiro is brought back to normal as a human that healing process was broken, not to the state where Tanjiro completely lost them but one where they are almost useless, Tanjiro remarks his sight on the right eye is very dim and he can just barely move his left arm; the Demon Slayer Corps disbanding after Muzan's fall and all demons born from him dying is a good thing for Tanjiro since he would be quite limited in a fight now.
• Chick Magnet: Tanjiro at the very least has the majority of the girls in the Butterfly Manor, Aoi and Kanao especially, interested in him. Mitsuri also expresses fondness and affection towards him (much to Obanai's chagrin), although that can be explained by her friendly nature ("Love Hashira" after all).
• Child-Like Voice: Tanjiro's kindhearted, innocent personality is complemented by a high, boyish voice, courtesy of Natsuki Hanae.
• The Chosen One:
  • Played with. Tanjiro has the Mark of The Sun on his forehead, is able to use the Hinokami Kagura in moments of stress, and possesses the hanafuda earrings, but he's not a descendant of the Sun Breathing users - Muichiro is, Kokushibo's, in fact. That and the fact that the Mark is said to spread from slayer to slayer implies Tanjiro is instead part of The Chosen Many.
  • Tanjiro is also an inversion of the trope, as he's not "chosen" because of his might or fighting prowess, but rather, because of Nezuko's eventual capacity of overcoming the sunlight weakness of demons, hence making her and Tanjiro the perfect lures for the Demon Slayer Corps to make Muzan scurry out of hiding to try to obtain this power for himself.
• Country Mouse: Not emphasized that often, but he's quite the country bumpkin due to having grown up in a mountain home that was about a day's walk from the nearest village. As a result, he's completely clueless about modern developments. He's overwhelmed by Asakusa's huge crowds and modern technology when he goes there for his second mission, and his reaction to seeing a train for the first time is to assume it's a guardian spirit.
• Covered with Scars: The Hashira Training arc shows Tanjiro shirtless, showing the results of recent battles: three large scars on his chest and smaller ones on both arms. The kid's been through quite a lot on his journey.
• Cowardice Callout: He screams a "Reason You Suck" Speech at Akaza: calling Akaza a coward for daring to run from him, and contrasting it against Rengoku's decision to stand and fight to the very end when protecting his charges, calling out demonkind in the same speech by implying that demons in general are cowards for relying on their powers, Healing Factor, and the cover of night when they have the advantage in order to terrorize humans; while the human demon slayers fighting them are entirely mortal, yet they brave through fighting against demons at night, when demonkind have all the odds in their favor.
• Crush Blush: Downplayed; while not going full red, he has displayed a slight blush when interacting with Shinobu, Mitsuri, and Kanao.
• Curtains Match the Window: Dark red hair and dark red eyes, though it's not quite clear if the red in his hair is stylized highlights.
• Determinator: Like most demon slayers (and most Shōnen protagonists), he will not give up. A great example of this is early on, where he tackles Urokodaki's Training from Hell every day without losing any bit of resolve. He was that determined to become a demon slayer. Not even an infected wound on his face will stop Tanjiro from using the Sun Breathing techniques to stop Muzan.
• Distinguishing Mark: Tanjiro's earrings and the scar on his forehead are the two identifiers that demons use to find him.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Tanjiro's eyes lose their shine when he experiences negative feelings. This is seen in moments like in chapter 135 when he hears of what happened in Himejima's past and reacts with disbelief and in chapter 181 where his eyes and face lose all emotion during his Tranquil Fury after hearing Muzan's gloating.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Downplayed. He doesn't have fire powers, but he has dark red hair and learns the Hinokami Kagura, originally known as the Sun Breathing.
• Enemy Compassion: Tanjiro will always show compassion and sympathy to those demons who live in misery and regret. That being said, he doesn't show them mercy; almost every demon has caused an untold amount of suffering in their cursed lives, and while he will still kill them, he takes the time to comfort them in their final moments.
• Establishing Character Moment: After an In Medias Res scene showing him desperately trying to get help for Nezuko after the demon attack, his first scenes show him with his family before he sets off on a delivery to town, showing that he's a Nice Guy and a loving son and older brother.
• Even the Loving Hero Has Hated Ones: Tanjiro often expresses compassion for demons, calling them "lifeless beings, sorrowful beings". After Susamaru's death by triggering Muzan's curse, however, Tanjiro declares Muzan a "true demon" for the way he mistreats his own demons. When encountering him during the Final Battle and seeing how Muzan callously brushes off the lives he took, telling Tanjiro that he should be grateful that he's still alive without seeking revenge over something natural, his rage of him increases to a higher scale.
  Tanjiro: "Muzan...we...cannot allow you to exist anymore!"
  • He also has strong hatred towards the Upper-3 Kizuki demon, Akaza for killing his idol, Kyojuro and the Upper-4 Kizuki demon, Hantengu for his cowardice and his hypocritical delusions. And also for making Nezuko make a Heroic Sacrifice forcing him to choose to between saving some villagers Hantengu is chasing or saving Nezuko from burning in the sun. Although non-fatal, the belief that he caused Nezuko's death made Hantengu his most wrathful kill.
• Every Scar Has a Story: Tanjiro has acquired quite a few of them over the series, all with a story to tell, from a clear demonstration of his role as a protector for his family – the one on his forehead, to all the hurdles he went through fighting demons – arms, chest, jaw.
• Evil Smells Bad: Thanks to his keen sense of smell, he can tell just how dangerous or evil a demon is just by their smell. The more noxious the smell, the more powerful the demon.
• Excellent Judge of Character: Tanjiro is an expert at telling a person’s true nature not long after meeting them; two shining examples are his encounters with Shinobu and Zenitsu: with the former Tanjiro is able to tell Shinobu harbors some deep anger under her constant pleasing smile, with the latter Tanjiro is able to tell Zenitsu is actually a very strong demon slayer right away, despite Zenitsu repeating innumerous times in their first encounter that he is weak, it reaches the comical irony in which Tanjiro is actually surprised to see, in the Red Light Disctrict arc, that Zenitsu has to rely on his trance sleep mode to unleash his full strength, while other people, like Inosuke, had to see Zenitsu during that state to see that he was strong after all.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Initially, his hair was long enough to tie it in a high ponytail. Then, when he faces Giyu following the slaughter of his family and Nezuko's transformation into a demon, the ponytail is cut off, leaving him with a messy mop. During his training with Urokodaki, his hair grows out to shoulder-length, only to cut it short after completing his training in two years. The haircuts signify the changes that happened in his life and his ascension as a Demon Slayer.
• Expy: Tanjiro is a pretty loose one to Jonathan Joestar. Both are noble, endlessly self-sacrificing young men whose ordinary home-life was ruined by an narcissistic vampire, setting them out on a quest to slay their family's monstrous killer and his minions with the use of a breathing technique that channels The Power of the Sun.
• Eye Scream: Tanjiro gets his right eye cut by Muzan after trying to fight him. Getting his eye cut gives Tanjiro a disadvantage. But, it gets worse once Muzan reveals that he poisoned Tanjiro with his demon blood and a tumor starts forming in his eye. After Muzan turns Tanjiro into a demon, his right eye is fully restored but after recovering from the battle he can no longer see out of it.
• Face–Monster Turn: After Muzan's death, the resulting Heroic RRoD from being infected with Muzan's blood kills him. Only to be turned into a bloodthirsty Demon as Muzan's last act was transferring the last of his blood into Tanjiro.
• Family Business: Despite the Kamado family being one of charcoal burners and sellers, Tanjiro states his ancestry is well documented. There are centuries of family members properly registered in their records. That's how he's able to tell he's not a descendant of the Sun Breathing users, but only knowing its teachings thanks to Sumiyoshi systematically observing all the events in Yoriichi casually showed his sword craft to his family, managing to get it correctly enough to pass it down to his descendants.
• Fingore: Gyutaro snaps two of his fingers while attempting to demoralize him during their fight. Tanjiro being Tanjiro, it naturally doesn't work.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: While Tanjiro is able to sympatize with demons through the understanding that they were once humans who had their lives go terribly wrong, he still condemns any who kill innocent humans and does not hesitate to cut them down.
• Friend to All Children: Tanjiro is shown to be very good with kids, being the eldest child of a large family. Funnily enough, that extends even to the childish antics of people his age. When Inosuke is trying his hardest to piss him off not long after they meet, Tanjiro can calmly brush off his deliberately annoying behavior. He was probably already immune to it after years of exposure with his siblings.
• Good Is Not Dumb: While Tanjiro is a bit of a country bumpkin, he is incredibly intuitive and a quick thinker in battle, often quickly figuring out the gimmicks and weaknesses of Demon's Blood Arts mid-battle.
  • Also seen in the Mugen Train arc.: During his battle with Enmu, Tanjiro quickly muses that he killed the Lower One Demon far too easily, having first hand experience with Rui (the Lower Five) and how he almost died simply trying to defeat him. He's proven right when Enmu is revealed to still be alive.
• Good Is Not Soft: Very much so. Just because Tanjiro is the sweetest person around doesn't mean he won't chop a demon's head off. Or as Genya can attest to, our hero won't hesitate to break a bully's arm either. Or as Zenitsu can attest to, our hero will even give a scolding to perverts since he first mistook Zenitsu for one during their first meeting. Or, as Genya's brother Sanemi can attest to, our hero will never let family members hurt family members and willingly fought Genya's brother to protect him. Or as Rengoku's father, Shinjurou can attest to, our hero lunges himself to attack him for badmouthing his late older son and abusing his living younger one for mourning his death, being a former Hashira doesn't matter to him, if he keeps abusing his sons.
• Hard Head: He has a very thick skull and frequently headbutts people as a Running Gag throughout the series. The Databook reveals that he got this trait from his mother, who can also use some pretty effective headbutts herself.
• Headbutting Heroes: He gradually wins the respect of the other Hashira, including those who'd called for him to be executed for traveling with a demon, but can't get along with Sanemi, due to Sanemi stabbing Nezuko and later attacking his own brother. The latter incident results in Tanjiro and Sanemi brawling, and restraining order being placed on them.
• The Heart: Undisputable in this regard for the entire series, Tanjiro is such a lovable protagonist that he's able to win most Hashira by his personality alone. He builds an extensive record of characters that changed for the better simply by coming in contact with him. While Tanjiro always kills the demons in his path, he never fails to feel pity for them in their final moments. That is if they don't completely piss him off. He holds no sympathy for the unredeemable ones who excel and delight themselves in being evil bastards.
• The Hero: Textbook example. He possesses limitless empathy for friend and foe alike, is a proficient sword user, combined with an iron will to see his sister Nezuko's humanity restored. Once he meets the Hashira and convinces them to let him keep carrying Nezuko with him, he slowly changes all of them for the better which gives them the strength to come together and take on Muzan in the series' final arc.
• Heroic Resolve: Despite being shown the vast difference in strength between himself and Gyutaro, Tanjiro still attempted to take his head.
  Tanjiro: I.. I... Was preparing (headbutt)
• Honor Before Reason:
  • He's insistent on providing due payment for services even if the person helping him offers to do it free of charge.
  • Also shows up in the drum demon fight, where he calls out the demon in question despite having a perfect ambush opportunity.
• Identical Grandson: Tanjiro's ancestor from Yoriichi's time, Sumiyoshi, looks a lot like him. Tanjuro, his father, would be an older Tanjiro if not for his ill, underweight appearance.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Tanjiro is really a purely heroic character you completely can count on to do the right thing, and he never does anything morally ambiguous, always remaining noble, kind and selfless. That said, Good Is Not Soft.
• It Began with a Twist of Fate: If Tanjiro hadn't left to sell coal, he would have died with his family, Nezuko would have been slain by Tomioka, and the entire story would be drastically different.
• It's All My Fault: Tanjiro will blame himself for a mishap even if it wasn't his own fault. Notable instances include lamenting not saving his family in time and cursing his own weakness when Rengoku perishes defending him and Inosuke from Akaza.
• It's Personal: Tanjiro has a very, very personal beef with Muzan, blaming him for Nezuko's transformation and for slaughtering his family. He also despises Upper Rank Three Akaza due to Akaza killing his friend and Big Brother Mentor Rengoku Kyojuro.
• It Was with You All Along: After Tanjiro unveils the Hinokami Kagura, a form of Breathing Style passed exclusively down his family for generations, he sets out to find out more about this art since his late father Tanjuro can’t teach him about it anymore; the mystery only grows further once it seems no one in the Demon Slayer Corps knows about this Hinokami Kagura, and Tanjiro hears about another mysterious Breathing Style that is the origin of all others; at the end it turns the original Breathing Style (Sun Breathing) and Hinokami Kagura are one and the same, the Kamado family learned it by pure chance once their ancestor Sumiyoshi saw the founder of all styles Yoriichi Tsugikuni himself show it all to him, as an eternal token of gratitude Sumiyoshi swore to preserve Yoriichi’s legacy through his family.^note However, even if technically the same Tanjiro does note his own Hinokami moves contained wasted steps and improper sword grip once he saw Yoriichi in Sumiyoshi’s memories, thus Tanjiro corrects his movements, calling his attacks as Sun Breathing after the fact, becoming stronger in the process.
• Jack of All Stats: Tanjiro first starts his training in swordsmanship with the Water Breathing style, which is the best style for beginning swordsmen because of its fluidity, flexibility, and balance. As a result, Tanjiro can adapt to any situation in battle and come up with strategies to win with his Water Breathing style. Because of the Water Breathing style's flexibility, Tanjiro can adapt the Water Breathing style techniques into his Hinokami Kagura style, which makes his techniques faster and even stronger.
• Kid Hero: Tanjiro is a young teenager, currently 15 years old, and a very skilled demon slayer.
• Made of Iron: Demonstrated quite beautifully in his Good Old Fisticuffs duel with Inousuke. Tanjiro ends the fight by headbutting Inousuke so hard that he passes out from a concussion. To the shock of everyone watching, Tanjiro has no bruises of his own on his forehead. That's without even getting into his ability to fight through broken bones.
• Magnetic Hero: Thanks to his personality, he earned friendship and trust from several people who were once indifferent to hostile towards him. Case in point, before he's sent to train with Obanai and Sanemi, most Hashira not only pass him with flying colors but receive with the genuine joy of someone greeting a friend.
• Making a Splash: Tanjiro begins his training with the Water Breathing style.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Tanjiro was the eldest child among six siblings. After Muzan killed his mother and four of his younger siblings, his only surviving sibling is his younger sister Nezuko.
• Master Swordsman: Tanjiro masters two breathing styles: Water Breathing and the Hinokami Kagura i.e. Sun Breathing and takes in aspects of techniques from other breathing styles such as Lightning, Stone, and Serpent. Giyu observes in their fight against Upper Rank 3 Akaza that Tanjiro's current level of skill is akin to the Hashira.
• Meaningful Name: Quite a multi-layered one too:
  • The first kanji in his given name (炭, sumi / tan) means "charcoal". This alludes to how he comes from a long line of charcoal sellers.
  • The second kanji (治, chi) means "cure". This likely represents his very warm and caring nature.
  • His family name, Kamado (竈門, extending to Nezuko and his forebears as well) includes the kanji for "stove/kitchen", further piling on their family trade in charcoal. A further layer comes to play when those familiar with Japanese mythology remembers Kamado-gami (竃神, "god of the stove") is also the alternative name of the Japanese kami Sambō-Kōjin, the god of the hearth. Kojin is also interpreted as an alternate aspect of the Buddhist deity Fudō Myōō, a god of wrath that punishes evildoers. Quite appropriately, the Kamado line's Hinokami Kagura, representing Sun Breathing, became a vital tool in Tanjiro's arsenal (and the Demon Slayer Corps at large). Similarly, in Tanjiro's climactic fight against Daki and Gyutaro (where he first awakens his Demon Slayer mark—itself taking the shape of a tongue of fire), he exhibits a fiery countenance◊ not unlike Kōjin/Fudō◊ as well.
• Men Don't Cry: He's an Subversion to this trope. Tanjiro will cry and empathize for others due to his sense of smell and overall kind-hearted personality.
• Messianic Archetype: A kindhearted All-Loving Hero who sees the best in most demons and who dies only to be resurrected shortly after? Yeah, that should do it.
• Morality Chain: While Nezuko does have an astonishing amount of self-control, it's not perfect, and they're aware of this. When she starts to slip, Tanjiro is there to help her stay on the right path. Now that Nezuko is again able to talk and resist sunlight, Tanjiro can focus more on his training.
• Mr. Fanservice: The anime does an excellent job showing off the abs he gained from his training. Episode 1 of the Swordsmith Village arc goes as far as showing a generous shot of his butt when he jumps into the hot spring.
• Nice Guy: Incredibly so — Tanjiro is characterized through his kindness and loyalty. He has an endless reserve of compassion for all but the vilest of people. If asked for help, regardless of the task, he will work his hardest to see it through.
• Nosebleed: His second encounter with Love Hashira Kanroji Mitsuri in the Swordsmith Village ends with Tanjiro getting one, to Nezuko's shock. Even better, it apparently wasn't because of Mitsuri herself, but because she mentioned a weapon that could make him stronger.
• The Nose Knows: His sense of smell is incredibly keen. He's able to estimate a demon's strength by scent alone.
• Nudity Equals Honesty: He strips off his clothes and joins an annoyed Genya in the hot springs, thinking they could "bond in their nakedness".
• Oblivious to Hatred: During the Swordsmith Village Arc, Tanjiro tries to approach Genya, acting like they are friends, ignorant he treats him like a pariah because he broke his arm when he assaulted Kanata, and therefore, he wants nothing to do with him. Even when Genya explains why he hates Tanjiro, he cheerfully retorts that it was his fault.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: And oh boy, he can be pretty terrifying when he's not usually his kind self.
  • Tanjiro is normally a Friend to All Living Things and, even though he will kill demons for being threats, he still feels sorrow for their deaths and acknowledges that they could once have been good people before Muzan got his claws on them. That changes when he fights Hantengu, a hypocritical, cowardly bastard who specializes in avoiding consequences for his actions by shunting the blame on others and calling the people fighting against him evil bullies, nevermind the fact that he literally eats people. And he was like that in life, too. Tanjiro sees right through him and has zero sympathy to spare.
  • When Tanjiro faces Muzan the second time. Muzan espouses his belief that fighting him is as futile as fighting a disaster, in a way equating himself to a god. This sends Tanjiro into a Tranquil Fury mode, saying that Muzan's existence can no longer be tolerated. Notably, his eyes turn dull and cold, in contrast to his usual emotions.
  • Additionally when Akaza says he was happy that Rengoku died and insults him. Tanjiro dons an expression that can only be described as utterly pissed off before declaring that Akaza's mindset is unforgivable.
• Oppose What You Suffered: He doesn't want anyone else to suffer like he and others have due to demons.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: Tanjiro's hanafuda earrings belonged to his father.
• Out of Focus: The series has Tanjiro strictly as the main character and viewpoint... until the Infinity Castle arc, where he only personally fights Akaza and then Muzan for the ending. As a result he is largely absent from in the gap between the Akaza fight, which is one of the first fights in the arc all the to the final confrontation. This was almost a year worth of publication, during which he only appeared for brief updates.
• Playing with Fire: During an intense battle, Tanjiro starts using the Hinokami Kagura as his style to better effect. After Nezuko uses her demon blood technique on his sword, it becomes a legitimate flaming sword. His new style is very effective in his fight against Akaza.
• Positive Friend Influence: That's actually Tanjiro's greatest power in the series, he only grows stronger as a demon slayer - and his companions follow suit - because the guy is great friend and a fantastic judge of character; Tanjiro can see the good in people who have it, no matter how unperceived by others at first, and he can see those who really are beyond redemption, mostly demons who really have completely given in to darkness, rejecting any sliver of goodwill they have had once as humans. Some examples include:
  • Tanjiro is the primary reason why Nezuko remained a good person even after turning into a demon, even with Urokodaki's hypnosis precautionary method it is Nezuko's bond with her brother that instigated her to develop into a demon that does not need human blood to live by, and preserved as much of her conscience as she could, turning into a simple minded demon who can't do too much thinking out of Tanjiro's good guidance.
  • Zenitsu only starts growing out of his self-deprecating hell after finding Tanjiro, the second person after his master Jigoro, who saw anything of worth in him; Tanjiro honestly believed Zenitsu was a strong demon slayer from the start, to the point he finding out Zenitsu has a trance mode at all to truly become an efficient slayer actually comes off as surprise to Tanjiro later on; Zenitsu himself recognizes how much of a great friend Tanjiro is, admitting he truly is one of a kind after tragically being informed his master died, via seppuku.
  • Inosuke is the poster wild warrior early in the series, completely insensitive to any conventional social empathy towards others, he actually prided himself in nothing caring about anything other than fighting strong individuals, Inosuke didn't even care about demons, he just wanted to fight the strongest beings, demons just happened to be what matched his target goal; still, slowly watching Tanjiro, seeing how stronger Tanjiro gets by being such an empathetic person, and in turn how hasty and short sighted Inosuke was when he encounters a true challenge he cannot overcome, pushes him to actually grow nicer and more cooperative towards others.
• Post-Climax Confrontation: When Muzan dies, he forces his blood on Tanjiro to turn him into a demon who can actually become immortal. Tanjiro acts as the true final enemy of the story after Muzan's defeat, but his battle is not nearly as climactic, complex or long.
• Prone to Tears: In spite of his chosen path, Tanjiro is a very emotionally open and sensitive individual with a high sense of emotional intelligence. As a result, he sheds tears quite easily and often.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • When the combined aspect of Hantengu implied that humans were the evil ones, Tanjiro, having smelled the sheer volume of blood from the humans he had killed, called the aspect evil in turn and immediately proclaimed his intent to behead him. He upholds that promise by slaying Hantengu himself. Said demon is one of the few for whom even Tanjiro has no kind words.
  • Seeing Muzan (the person responsible for killing his family and turning Nezuko) also brought his anger to the forefront.
    Tanjiro: ''I will pursue you to the ends of hell itself!! I will remove that head of yours with my blade!! I will absolutely never forgive you!!
• Rank Up: Tanjiro starts his career as a Demon Slayer as the lowest 10th rank, Mizunoto, after the Mugen Train arc he rises to Kanoe, 7th rank; the Infinity Castle arc starts with him as Hinoe, 3rd rank, three steps away from becoming Hashira, which is only revealed in the 2nd Databook.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Tanjiro gives a brief one to Sanemi after Sanemi stabs Nezuko, saying that if Sanemi can't tell the good demons from the bad ones, he doesn't deserve to be a Hashira.
  • Tanjiro gives a mourning and angry speech against Akaza (and demons in general) after the demon left Kyojuro irreparably close to death. Because the sun was rising, Akaza felt the need to run for his safety, which greatly upset Tanjiro, as Kyojuro actually fought hard enough during the night to make the fight last until sunrise, while protecting a group of 200 people - Tanjiro included.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted for the most part. His eyes are dark red, but he is as nice a guy as you could care to meet. It's a different story when he's angry though....
• Red Herring: Before the series full lore was revealed, Tanjiro was heavily implied to be Yorichii's decendant, or even his son as this was before Yorichhii was named and it looked like he was Tanjuro Kamado before he was sick. He really isn't, Tokito is, and only by Kokushibo's side of the family. Tanjiro's ancestor, Sumiyoshi, however, had direct contact with Yoriichi, and was the one to whom Yoriichi passed on his earrings and Sun Breathing to.
• Relative Button: Insulting his lost family. Enmu's attempt trying to break his spirit by having a vision of his family blame him for their deaths instead leaves him completely furious, and Muzan's complaining as to why he couldn't just get over his massacre and stop chasing him leaves Tanjiro so disgusted he couldn't feel anything but a desire to kill for the first time in his life.
• Relative Error: When Zenitsu meets Nezuko for the first time, in a fit of jealousy, he assumes Nezuko to be Tanjiro's lover rather than his younger sister, refusing to listen to his explanation, instead attacking for traveling with a girl.
• Romantic Wingman: Despite Zenitsu growing up to be a commendable slayer by the end of the series, he still retained some of his classic flaws, like being quick to feel jealousy over Nezuko when Giyu and Sanemi act nice towards her, to being awkwardly loud when trying to court Nezuko; with that Tanjiro takes upon himself to teach Zenitsu how to behave in order to be the best man Nezuko could have, which ends up with Zenitsu hilariously botching up eveything Tanjiro taught him. After a nice but still stern talk Tanjiro calmly explains how badly Zentisu is behaving, with that he tries to clean his act a bit; as shown in the oneshot story within the second Databook.
• Scars Are Forever: As a child, he got a burn mark on his head from protecting his brother from a falling brazier. During the Final Selection, the healed skin gets ripped off by a demon's attack. Oddly, it never properly heals, remaining red even a year or so later, even though it doesn't bleed or anything. This becomes more relevant than it looks at first.
  • Subverted with his left arm and right eye, which he lost during the battle against Muzan. Several Demon Slayers that didn't lose their lives lost a body part or two during the final battles. However, Tanjiro quickly regenerates his arm and eye after being transformed into a demon by Muzan. As though his body didn't fully assimilate the regeneration, he sadly lost full function of both after becoming a human again. Case in point, his left arm is now sickly and shriveled, which can be lifted by the shoulder, but has no feeling below the elbow and is completely blind in his right eye.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Though cool and composed in battle, the Japanese version of Tanjiro emotes the most hilariously adorable girly scream whenever Haganezuka gets angry at him for repeatedly losing or breaking his swords. Though to be completely fair, if any boy was chased by a tall, musclebound-maniac in a mask with a butcher knife, he would probably scream like a little girl too.
• A Shared Suffering: Trying the best they can to protect the only little sister they have, Tanjiro and Gyutaro share this base trait despite their drastically different personalities and opposing sides of an ongoing struggle between humans and demons; Gyutaro being the blatantly malicious demon that he is only wasted time to talk to Tanjiro, rather than just kill him when he had the chance, because he was curious about the relationship he had with Nezuko, his demon younger sister; after a tirade of berating comments over Tanjiro being too weak to protect Nezuko in his eyes, Gyutaro actually offered Tanjiro the chance to become a demon, so they could be big brother "buddies"; naturally Tanjiro refuses and their battle resume. The anime even expanded the narrative where Tanjiro sees himself in Gyutaro, as a possible bad turn of events where he and Nezuko had become terrible demons only looking out for themselves.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!:
  • At the start of his final battle with Akaza, Tanjiro bluntly tells Akaza that his obsession with strength and the survival of the fittest makes no sense, because there was a time when Akaza was a baby who couldn't survive on his own.
  • When Tanjiro is first confronted by Zohakuten, the latter accuses him of being "evil" for bullying the "weak and innocent" Hantengu. Rather than entertain the idea that the Upper Rank might be right, Tanjiro is instead enraged by the sheer hypocrisy of Zohakuten's words and rightfully calls him out for playing the victim after murdering a countless number of humans. So if anything, his Moral Myopia drives Tanjiro into promising the Upper Rank pays for his sins by slaying him once and for all.
  • His final confrontation against Muzan is this in the Battle in the Center of the Mind. Muzan attempts to hold his grasp on Tanjiro by telling Blatant Lies on how he killed his sister and friends, how he can never be forgiven for what he did, how he'll only live a few years after unlocking his demon slayer mark and could live forever, and that the dead are bitter he survived. Tanjiro shuts down every one claim after another with optimism and selflessness. This leads Muzan into a much deserved Villainous Breakdown.
• Single Woman Seeks Good Man: All of the girls that are romantically interested in him tend to focus on his virtuous traits and kind personality.
• Slasher Smile: Quite uncharacteristic for someone as a kind as Tanjiro, but in a pure rush of adrenaline and satisfaction for finally feeling he and everyone has gotten the upper hand over Hantengu Tanjiro smiles like a mad man; Hantengu's evil disgusted Tanjiro so much that the prospect of winning over the demon really overjoyed him. The anime, however, made that smile a little less fierce compared to how it was in the manga.
• Speaks Fluent Animal: Tanjiro is surprisingly able to communicate with Zenitsu's messenger sparrow, Chuntaro. The Databook reveals that he can do this by smelling the scent of the animal, indicating what the animal is feeling.
• So Last Season: For a good part set in the middle of the series it seemed Tanjiro would have to often rely on mixing other Breathing Styles in conjunction with his Hinokami Kagura since the latter was just taxing on his body; come the Infinity Castle arc and Tanjiro masters the Hinokami Kagura without ever needing other styles again, and after that Tanjiro grows to greater heights once he masters Hinokami Kagura into its original Sun Breathing form.
• Spin Attack: Several of the Water Breathing techniques involve this, including Water Wheel (an overhead spin attack), Twisting Whirlpool (a more traditional spin attack), and the Dragon of Change (a continuous version of this).
• Strong Family Resemblance: Looks like a younger version of his late father. Of his siblings, Takeo and Rokuta look the most similar to him.
• Survivor's Guilt: Even though if he had been there, he definitely would have died or worse been turned into a demon along with Nezuko, Tanjiro still harbors a lot of guilt that he wasn't home when his family died. He also feels this about Rengoku's death, thinking it would have been overall better if he had died instead.
• Super Mode: Whenever the Mark of The Sun appears on his forehead, Tanjiro's strength, speed, and reflexes increase. Allowing him to fight enemies he would otherwise have no chance against. And he can enter a state that allows him to see through things in a 'Transparent World', taught to him by his father in the past. This 'Transparent World' state helps him view the body structure of his opponents and conceal his fighting spirit. This gave him the advantage against Akaza, who could not sense his presence and therefore couldn't predict Tanjiro's movements. However, after using this state for a certain period, his body will start to feel the exhaustion from the overall usage of this state. It's hinted in the Red Light District arc that Tanjiro's Super Mode may pave the way for him to one day reach Tsugikuni Yoriichi's level of strength.
• Superior Successor: Yushiro explains after Tanjiro is cured that, considering how quickly he conquered the weakness to the Sun (overcoming it in an instant and much faster even than Nezuko did) and how much Demon blood from Muzan he received and lived when he had just turned, Tanjiro's potential as a demon is even greater than Muzan.
• Supreme Chef: During the Hashira Training arc, Tanjiro is revealed to be an excellent cook. Tanjiro smugly (and adorably) explains that cooking food is easy for him as the son of a coal burner since it's very similar to heat checking.
• Sympathy for the Devil: How he feels towards tragic demons. Despite not knowing their backstory, he's able to smell their suffering, often trying to give them at least some sort of consolation as they die. Notably, he doesn't inflict needless suffering on those that surrender - the Spider Mother of the Natagumo Mountain arc, for instance, was granted a completely painless death.
• Team Mom: He gets nicknamed "Mommy" during training with the Hashiras.
• Tears of Blood: When fighting the demon Daki.
• Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Downplayed. He doesn't do it often, and the ones he threw those swords at were demons with absurdly powerful healing factors, but more often than not they were accurate enough to where they either did or would have hit them were it not for their abilities.
• Took a Level in Badass: He starts out as a weak boy who could only kneel before Giyu and beg for his sister's life. He eventually becomes a formidable Demon Slayer who can hold his own and contend with Upper Ranks. Giyu notes the contrast during the fight against Upper Rank Three Akaza, saying that Tanjiro's strength is currently that of a Hashira. Tanjiro gets even better when he learns from his memories as Sumiyoshi on how to use the Sun Breathing style against Muzan. Tanjiro's potential then peaked after Muzan turned him into a demon.
• Tragic Keepsake:
  • Tanjiro's fourth and current sword has Rengoku's sword hilt attached to it in his honor.
  • The earrings he wore were originally belong to his father, and he continues to wear them as a memory of him.
• Training from Hell: Several times. He was under Urokodaki's guidance for around two years and went to even worse training under Himejima's care. Some of his most intense training ends up coming from a ten-year-old who doesn't let him eat, drink, or sleep for a week.
• Turn the Other Cheek: During the Mugen Train arc, when one of Enmu's thralls infiltrates Tanjiro's subconscious to destroy his spiritual core, the manifestations of Tanjiro's soul cheerfully greet him and guide him to his destination instead of resisting. This act of kindness overwhelms the boy so much that he is unable to carry through with his mission. This is in sharp contrast to both Zenitsu and Inosuke, whose subconscious manifestations violently attack their own intruders.
• Upbringing Makes the Hero: Abundantly clear from even the small snippets of Tanjiro's past, he was raised by a wonderful loving family that instilled on him all the morals and life lessons he needed to endure all the tragedy that followed; Tanjiro's entire family being slaughtered by a demon, save his sister Nezuko who becomes one, does not make his heart be consumed by unbridled rage and hatred, he focuses all his efforts on the tiniest hope of curing Nezuko, even when Tanjiro meets his arch-enemy Kibutsuji Muzan he is only furious for a moment before setting his sight on helping people; saving others from suffering the same tragedy he faced is much higher on Tanjiro's list than killing the monster that ruined his life. The Kamado family is so loving that flashbacks showed they were consistently cozy hundreds of years ago; and by the end of the series it shows Tanjiro passed that love foward too, his descendants are well adjusted.
• Use Your Head: Tanjiro's head-butts are impressive. It's even confirmed to be one of his favorite hobbies, according to the Databook.
• We Help the Helpless: When Akaza starts gloating about how he hates the weak and that he perceives the law of nature in The Social Darwinist way, Tanjiro counters his argument by saying that those with strength should help the weak instead. Tanjiro's words are quoted right here:
  Tanjiro: "The strong should aid and protect the weak. Then the weak will become strong, and in turn, they will aid and protect those weaker than them. That is the law of nature."
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: An interesting case. Tanjiro is determined to kill the evilest demons even if they lose their fighting spirit, or are trying to flee for their lives. But he is also completely willing to see demons as humans and will fight to protect them if they are really remorseful and will not attack innocent people. He also tends to have a lot of Sympathy for the Devil as soon as the fight is over. On the other hand, towards humans, if Tanjiro had a strict no-kill policy or not to them was not really explored, but most likely he did. One of Tanjiro's main concerns through the final in the Infinity Train was the safety of the guy that critically stabbed him.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: When Muzan is trying to get Tanjiro to inherit his visions in their Battle in the Center of the Mind, he tries to tempt him with eternal life. Tanjiro however, declines saying that he'd rather die as a human than live forever alone as a demon.
• With Catlike Tread: During the fight with Akaza, he screams that he's about to kill him when attacking him from behind, despite the fact that Akaza is no longer able to sense his aura and thinks he has killed Tanjiro. Giyu notes how foolish it is to reveal himself like that.
• Working-Class Hero: Tanjiro continues what the Kamado family has been doing for centuries at the beginning of the series, working as a humble charcoal seller; during the first manga chapter / anime episode this is shown to portray how diligent Tanjiro is, his kindness in working to assist his mother after his father passed away 1 year prior the series began. That diligence follows Tanjiro when he becomes a Demon Slayer.
• Wrecked Weapon: Happens to him a lot, which, suffice to say, did not endear him to Haganezuka. Most of the time, he's not entirely to blame, though he lost his second sword after throwing it at a retreating Akaza.
• You Killed My Father: The death of most of his family, along with Nezuko being turned into a demon, is what drives him to become a Demon Slayer and kill the demon responsible for it.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • His kindness and viewpoint of the world reminds Shinobu of her late sister Kanae, reaffirming that maybe there are good demons out there who needed salvation, which is why she and Giyu are the only Hashira who sympathized with his unique situation as opposed of their fellow colleagues' apathy to blatant disapproval.
  • He reminds Muichiro of his deceased father, because of their similar eyes, and because he also used to say helping others is beneficial for one in turn. The words lead to Muichiro regaining his memories and unlocking the strength to defeat Gyokko.
  • He reminds Akaza of his beloved mentor Keizou, whose death by poisoning with his daughter triggered his Start of Darkness. Akaza notes this was probably the one reason he didn't like Tanjiro: reminding him of the past he wanted to forget.

The following is a massive Walking Spoiler for the endgame of Demon Slayer. Proceed with caution.

Tanjiro Kamado (True Demon King)

Muzan's will manifest

This version of Tanjiro is the result of Muzan turning him into a demon in a last ditch attempt to kill the Demon Slayer Corps. Kanao turned him back to normal with the anti-demon serum, destroying the remaining traces of Muzan within him for good.

---

• Absurdly Sharp Claws: Like Muzan, Tanjiro's nails become longer and sharper.
• And I Must Scream: Tanjiro is fully aware of the fact that Muzan hijacked his body and he couldn't really do anything but watch as Muzan wrecks havoc on the weakened Demon Slayers with his demonized corpse. When Kanao turns him back to normal, he is extremely remorseful of the damage he caused to his sister and friends.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: Tanjiro becomes a demon courtesy of Muzan's final moments. It doesn't last long thanks to Kanao.
• The Berserker: As a newly awakened demon, Tanjiro is initially only capable of swinging his claws wildly at his former comrades and Demon Slayers. Even as he starts using Demon Blood Arts, he tends to wildly flail them around in his rampage.
• Blank White Eyes: His eyes go blank when he's completely angry and on a berserk rampage.
• Body Horror: Tanjiro exhibits the same ability to create whips from his spine and skeleton like Muzan did.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: While it's technically Tanjiro, he's under the complete control of Muzan's cells until the anti-demon serum purifies him and it's shown he's trying to resist Muzan's influence.
• Breath Weapon: One of his new Blood Arts is being able to generate a ball of energy from his mouth before launching it, even causing the ground to crack. It also caused Nezuko to injure her left arm when she tried to stop Tanjiro from launching his energy ball at Giyu.
• Came Back Wrong: Oh so very much. Tanjiro pre-demonization was a brave hero. Tanjiro post-demonization is nothing more than a feral beast.
• Combat Tentacles: He gains these from Muzan and his spine-shaped tentacles prevent the Demon Slayers from closing in towards him.
• Complete Immortality: He's immune to sunlight, so artificial sources of it cannot kill him either, like Nichirin Blades or Red Blades. He is technically still vulnerable to wisteria poison, but considering he has Muzan's power, the sheer amount of wisteria that would have to be injected into him to bring him down makes it basically impossible (Doma, the Upper-2 needed 37 kg of wisteria just to be weakened severely and even that wasn't lethal. Muzan is leagues stronger). This means that this demon cannot be killed in any normal way.
• Demonic Possession: A variant. After Muzan dies, he forces his memories and desires onto Tanjiro's corpse so that when the demon transformation takes place, Muzan's will is the dominant controller of the new body.
• Disability-Negating Superpower: Turning into a demon immediately healed Tanjiro's most damning injuries he got dealt with fighting against Muzan: his lost right eye and lost left arm, they grew back good as new; however, when Tanjiro is cured of his demonic condition, becoming human again, his eye and arm's healing process is disrupted, not to the point of losing them but it renders Tanjiro with disabilities: his sight on the right eye is very poor and he can just barely move his left arm now.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Muzan gave all of his remaining blood to Tanjiro, in his hopes of creating a superior successor, more powerful than he ever was, however, Tanjiro still went through the process of adaptation a newly born demon goes through before becoming fully acquainted with their powers, although he was going through it in an extremely accelerated pace. Tanjiro was growing stronger by the second, but he never grew powerful and sapient enough to completely decimate the remaining Demon Slayer Corps who is already fatigued and injured, before he was turned back into a human; if Tanjiro had become more powerful than Muzan and grew awareness from the get-go he would have certainly instantly killed everyone on sight, becoming the superior successor Muzan desired, ending the series on an absolute tragedy.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His eye design is very similar to Muzan's due to being turned into a demon by him.
• Fallen Hero: Zig-zagged. It was entirely against his will. The valiant hero who killed off Muzan for good, only to become an even worse threat than Muzan after his demonization due to his resistance to sunlight. He ends up rising back immediately after Kanao injects the human serum into him before he fell too far.
• Fangs Are Evil: Gained from Muzan, Tanjiro's teeth become fangs as part of him becoming a demon.
• Fighting from the Inside:
  • Giyu theorizes that Tanjiro might possibly be fighting in his mind to regain control of himself. He notes the signs of Tanjiro not actively going after Nezuko, saying it's a possibility to actually save Tanjiro by reverting him back to human.
  • Inside his mind, Tanjiro is unsuccessfully attempting to stave off Muzan's temptations and influence on his mind until Kanao injected him with the anti-demon serum, purging Muzan's cells from Tanjiro's body and allowing his mind to finally fight off Muzan.
• The Final Temptation: Serves as this for Tanjiro, who rejects Muzan's desperate attempts to bribe him with the chance of becoming the Ultimate Lifeform in exchange for living and dying alongside his True Companions.
• Foil: To Kokushibo i.e. Michikatsu Tsugikuni. Both are former Demon Slayers turned demons who are connected to the Sun Breathing.
  • Tanjiro mastered the Sun Breathing before his demonization, Kokushibo couldn't and was forced to make a derivative called Moon Breathing.
  • Both are elder brothers to siblings that are important to Muzan in some capacity: Kokushibo was the elder brother to Tsugikuni Yorichii, the creator of the Sun Breathing and the legendary Demon Slayer who almost killed Muzan in the past. Tanjiro is the elder brother to Kamado Nezuko, the first demon to gain Muzan's coveted immunity to sunlight. Whereas Kokushibo is envious of Yorichii's talents and accomplishments, Tanjiro was caring and hell-bent on turning Nezuko back to a human being.
  • Kokushibo became a demon of his own free will after the revelation that he will die before he can surpass Yorichii due to his demon mark while Tanjiro wasn't exactly in any position to give his consent when Muzan forcefully transferred his all of his remaining blood and memories to him in his final moments.
• Healing Factor: When Tanjiro's transformation is complete, he recovers all fatal wounds that he has accumulated during his final fight against Muzan, including his chopped off left arm and his infected right eye.
• "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: The Demon Slayer corp's final battle against Tanjiro is this. Giyu, Zenitsu, Inosuke, Nezuko and Kanao try to get Tanjiro back to his senses after Muzan turns him into a demon. Giyu observes that Tanjiro is going out of his way to avoid harming Nezuko even after getting a taste of her blood, so Tanjiro breaking out of Muzan's influence is definitely a possibility, but not a miracle Giyu can depend on during the former's rampage. Thanks to Kanao injecting a humanizing serum into Tanjiro, they succeed.
• Main Character Final Boss: Tanjiro, The Hero of the series, ends up being the last Demon fought by the Demon Slayer Corps, but it wasn't out of his own will (as Muzan's cells took over his corpse).
• Man Bites Man: He tries to bite Inosuke with his fangs, but because Nezuko jumped in the way to hug him and stop him, his fangs end up sinking into Nezuko's shoulder instead.
• Maou the Demon King: Muzan bestows the title of Demon King onto Tanjiro and intends for him to become the world's most supreme existence.
• Nigh-Invulnerability: Demon Tanjiro is completely immune to sunlight and by extension, red nichirin blades, making him an absolute nightmare for Giyu and the corps to kill like they did to the other demons and Muzan himself. Good thing Demon King Tanjiro is vulnerable to wisteria flowers, which is what allows Kanao to turn him back to a human with a wisteria laced concoction designed to convert demons back into humans.
• Post-Final Boss: Muzan provides a very long, incredibly difficult Final Battle, but as he lays dying, he transforms Tanjiro's corpse into a demon and sics him on the already spent and injured Demon Slayer Corps, making him the final challenge they face. However, the fight itself isn't very difficult as Muzan's remaining power was almost depleted (it was only problematic due to the fact that the demon slayer corps were almost entirely depleted as well) and it was only a very brief fight until Tanjiro was able to fight from the inside while Kanao injected him with the cure for demonism.
• Power of the Sun: Like his sister, Tanjiro is completely immune to sunlight after being converted to a demon. Muzan believed that he can become the strongest demon solely because of his relation to Nezuko and the potential for her immunity to be hereditary. Tanjiro also exhibits a Demon Blood Art on what appears to be a miniature sun that can ravage anything in its path.
• Power Tattoo: Tanjiro gains 2 extra demon marks after turning into a demon much like the former Upper Rank 1 Kokushibo.
• Primal Stance: Tanjiro changes his stance into a kneeling position on all four of his limbs to extend more of his spine-like tentacles and when he prepares to use his Breath Weapon.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: An example played straight. Tanjiro's red eyes have become a piercing plum red color just like Muzan, and he's now the most powerful demon in the world, on top of being feral.
• Rogue Protagonist: One example in which dying a hero still wasn't enough to prevent him from becoming the villain. Tanjiro was brought back as the hero he is after Kanao reverted him back to human.
• Slasher Smile: After awakening, Tanjiro gives a disturbingly creepy smile as drool drips from his mouth while observing himself.
• Super-Scream: Tanjiro's loud roar can create large shockwaves, which knocked back Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Giyu.
• Super-Strength: Demon Tanjiro's strength is greatly enhanced by Muzan's blood. When Giyu attempts to prevent Demon Tanjiro from escaping the battlefield, Tanjiro does a powerful backhand to Giyu's face, causing Giyu to feel dizzy.
• Superior Successor: Could have become far stronger than his predecessor Muzan as a demon, The ending captions even herald him as the "True" Demon King while Muzan is dethroned as a fake.
• Tainted Veins: Being a demon from Muzan, this causes his veins to pop out.
• Talking the Monster to Death: Literally the only way to defeat Demon King Tanjiro is to appeal to the humanity that laid dormant inside of him since he virtually cannot be killed otherwise. Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke do their best to bring Tanjiro back to his senses and his hesitation to bring harm to his sister allows for Kanao to turn him back into a human with the final antidote she had on hand.
• Too Powerful to Live: Tanjiro was only a demon for 2-3 chapters and for a very good reason: Had he escaped or slain the surviving, fatigued and injured Demon Slayer Corps, Tanjiro would eventually become powerful enough that no-one can stand in his way and he would reign until the end of time since he lacks the critical weakness that the Demon Slayer Corps depended on to slay his kind.
• Turning Back Human: He's defeated and turned back into a human when Kanao used the anti-demon serum on him.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Tanjiro loses the skills and precision he nurtured while he was a member of the Demon Slaying Corps after his transformation, but in exchange, gains enormous strength, a potent healing factor, blood demon arts and an immunity to sunlight turning him into arguably the strongest demon and foe the corps has yet to face. Justified, as Kanao noted, he has only been recently turned into a demon.
• Villainous Legacy: Unwittingly becomes Muzan's after the latter recalls Ubuyashiki Kagaya's final words and used the last of his powers to turn the deceased Tanjiro into a demon that will inherit his will and desires.
• Walking Spoiler: It's hard to talk about the endgame of the Sunrise Countdown Arc and the series in general without spoiling the fact that Tanjiro died and that Muzan transformed him into his final demon.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: When he's angered, his eyes are wider and his irises are notably narrower, making him appear more fierce, ferocious and menacing.
• World's Strongest Man: Had the potential to become the most powerful demon (and likely most powerful character period considering his sheer power and Complete Immortality) in the series, bar none. Not only was he on track to become much more powerful than Muzan ever was, he lacks all the weaknesses the other demons possess save for a vulnerability to wisteria flowers meaning sunlight and Nichirin blades can't kill him, a healing factor that puts the rest of his kind to shame and a Blood Demon Art that allows him to create what appears to be a miniature sun! It took a combination of Nezuko's stalling and Kanao injecting Tanjiro with the anti-demon serum to free him from Muzan's influence.

Nezuko Kamado

Voiced by: Akari Kitou (JP), Abby Trott (EN)^{Other VA} Annie Rojas (Latin American Spanish), Eva Andrés (European Spanish), Margaux Maillet (French), Julia Meynen (German), Laura Cherubelli (Italian), Isa Guarnieri (Brazilian Portuguese), Lian Wanjun (Taiwanese Mandarin)
Live actor: Akari Takaishi (Stage Play)

^{Click here to her face without the muzzle (Spoilers)}

^{Click here to see her full demon form (Spoilers)}

"Don't apologise, brother... Why are you always saying you're sorry? Were we ever unhappy because we were poor? Did you feel unworthy because we couldn't afford pretty kimonos? Is that why you're always looking to take the blame? Then father dying of his disease would be his fault too. He tried as hard as he could, but it wasn't enough. We have to accept that even if we do our utmost best, we're only human. None of us can expect everything to go our way. Whether you're happy or not is up to you. What's important is now. Let's do our best to face the future together! Let's fight! Stop apologising! You of all people should understand, brother! Understand how I feel!"

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Tanjiro's little sister and the only surviving member of his family after they were attacked and killed by Muzan Kibutsuji. She becomes a demon herself, and as a result, can no longer speak and has almost no memories of her life as a human. Since she refuses to eat humans, she gets her energy from spending most of her time asleep. Tanjiro carries her in a box on his back.

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• 11th-Hour Superpower: Nezuko gained her Blood Demon Art during the Natagumo Mountain Arc, in the more hectic moments of the fight against Rui. At that point it was shown that Nezuko's blood could ignite into special flames that could do serious damage only against demons, and it can even diminish their healing and blood art powers. Her power set remained as such for two arcs; then came the Red Light District battle, and at the end it was shown Nezuko can also expunge any demonic injuries caused by their abilities on humans, so Nezuko can actually heal people, even mortal wounds, if their injuries were inflicted by a demon's abilities. It all came in a critical moment where Inosuke and Uzui could actually have died if Nezuko didn't reveal this ability.
• Action Girl: Nezuko is quite action-oriented, and thanks to her innate strength and character, she can kick a lot of ass.
• Adaptation Expansion: After becoming a demon, Nezuko loses her ability to speak. The anime adaptation adds a few original moments portraying Nezuko's inner thoughts being "spoken" aloud. One in the interior of her mind as Sanemi tempts her with his blood and she avows to protect humanity and to never hurt them. The second is when Tanjiro is by her bedside, doubting that he may be able to claim the blood of an Upper Moon and Nezuko is able to reassure him that she has utter faith in him all while asleep; seemingly communicating with her brother via telepathy.
• All-Loving Heroine: Much like her brother, Nezuko has a bottomless well of compassion that didn't change after turning into a demon. Best shown when she protected Tamayo and Yushiro, as demons the two don't fall under her compulsion, meaning she did it of her own volition.
• Amnesiac Hero: After her demonic transformation, she loses a great deal of memories of her life as a human, so her mentality has reduced to that of a child.
• Animal Motifs: Three of them!
  • Felines: She snoozes away for most of the series, snug in her enclosed carrier box, demands to be petted or she'll set you on fire, attacks by scratching and hisses / growls intimidatingly at Giyu, posed to protect her unconscious brother like a wild cat. Her muzzle and diamond pupils, along with her white tabi socks in the Sword-Smith Village Arc only add to this affect.
  • Moles: Tanjiro jokes that she resembles the subterranean nocturnal critter when she hides in a cave and for good measure digs herself a hole to settle down.
  • Rabbits: Inosuke's dream has her becoming a full on bunny girl, fitting considering her penchant for kicks and generally calm, placid nature which can turn ferocious when her loved ones are threatened; and it even foreshadows that her favourite lullaby was "Hushabye Baby Bunny on The Hill".
• An Arm and a Leg: Poor Nezuko can't go a fight with another demon one-on-one without this happening to her. Losing a leg to Susamaru, multiple appendages and even her head to Daki, and her arm to Hantengu.
• Badass Adorable: Nezuko is the cutest little thing in the manga. She is also incredibly powerful, and her potential exceeds Upper Ranks. She even manages to gain the ability to be in direct sunlight without disintegrating, something even Muzan is unable to do.
• Barbarian Longhair: As part of her Expository Hairstyle Change, Nezuko's hair is let down and loose to signify her transformation into a Demon.
• Bedtime Brainwashing: In a rare positive example, Urokodaki repeatedly told her to protect and care for humans during the two years that she slept through while Tanjiro was training, to strengthen her already unusual resistance to eating humans. Tanjiro wasn't very happy about this as he felt it was like brainwashing, but felt better after Nezuko proved she alone would decide who to protect.
• The Berserker: As she becomes angrier, she loses control of herself, but at the same time can become as powerful as Upper Ranks demons. A flashback shows that losing control of herself when angry is not a new "demon influenced" part of her personality but was something she always had, and her younger brother was genuinely concerned for her about it.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Just like her brother. Although Nezuko kept her humanity and compassion even after turning into a demon, she's still fully capable of kicking heads clean off the shoulders.
• Big Sister Instinct:
  • Her last conscious action as a human was to shield her youngest brother from Muzan's attack. In her current state, she often sees flashes of her younger siblings when deciding to protect people.
  • She also inverts this with her older brother Tanjiro, as she is shown resisting her demonic urges in order to defend him.
• Big Damn Heroes: Saves Tanjiro's life twice in rapid sucession during their fight with the temple waystation demon. She also helps defend Tanjiro in combat against the swamp demon's sneak attack and from Rui's Razor Floss. Later still, she saves him from death at the hands of Daki and twice from Gyutaro's Blood Demon Arts, again from Hantengu's lightning calls and snapping turtle tree hydra heads. And even from the Demon King himself.
• Brainwashing for the Greater Good: Downplayed, in that she was already good, but had a hypnotic suggestion implanted to tame her instincts. Urokodaki tells Tanjiro that he used subliminal messaging on her while she was sleeping when he was training for the Final Selection test. He suggested to her that all humans were her family and that all demons were bad and must be stopped. It works, and from time to time, she imagines seeing other characters as members of her slain family, such as seeing Tamayo and Yushiro as her mother and younger brother, which helps her to fight harder against any demons attacking them. Tanjiro's initially unhappy with it, but is gladdened to see that she takes her own initative over who to befriend or not.
• Brawn Hilda: During the Mugen Train Arc, Tanjiro dreams that Nezuko has grown twenty feet tall and become absolutely yolked to the point of absurdity. That's not what makes this a nightmare for the lad though, it's the fact that his little sister's graceful bone-structure and cute chin have been replaced with a butt-cleft Lantern Jaw of Justice!
• Broken Tears: As Nezuko becomes human in chapter 196, all she can do is cry as she regains her memories.
• The Chosen One: Played with. Like her brother, Nezuko is vaguely related to the Sun Breathing users through an ancestor who was good friends with them, though because she's a demon, whether or not she is able to access it is unknown. Though Nezuko does show herself to be a powerful demon with enough willpower to resist eating and even protecting humans from other demons, making her special for a demon. Even more so after she is able to survive out in sunlight and Muzan dubs her Erabareshi Oni. The Chosen Demon. Later still, her blood becomes one of the key components to developing the anti-Kibutsuji drug that both weakens Muzan enough for him to be successfully poisoned and which also cures Tomioka, Sanemi and Tanjiro from his own fatal blood-infused tendril attacks. Later still, this concoction saves her brother yet again from possession by Muzan's genetic will.
• Clothing Damage: Gets bifurcated at the waist by Daki and although she loses her entire lower body in separate directions, along with the bottom half of her kimono and obi sash, when she stands up both her anatomy and clothing have reunited for modesty's sake! Her kimono's skirt proceeds to barely hang by a thread across her right hip, baring her midriff in the process.
• Commuting on a Bus: It's also not uncommon to have multiple episodes of nonstop fighting happening, without her ever appearing. Keep in mind, in a lot of these cases; she's in Tanjiro's backpack the whole time. After the sword-smith village incident and gaining immunity to the sun as well as being able to talk again, she was mostly absent during the Hashira Training Arc and only appeared a few times at the Butterfly Estate because of how she's become a target for Muzan. Even Tanjiro, who was training during this arc, thought to himself about how lonely Nezuko must have been being temporarily under someone else's care. She's also totally absent from the final battle, only appearing at the very end when she's become human again.
• Compressed Hair: As a human, she wore her hair in a tight bun at the back. When she lets it down upon her demonic transformation, it reaches her thighs.
• Cool Big Sis: As the second oldest child next to Tanjiro, she was this to her younger siblings.
• Cute Bruiser: Small, adorable, and unbelievably powerful.
• Cute Monster Girl: She's a Cute Bruiser demon.
• Cute Little Fangs: Not so little, they're the big wolven gnashers that all demons possess but they don't detract from her cuteness. Especially when she finally stops wearing the bamboo muzzle.
• Cute Mute: Due to her losing her ability to speak. She's still cute even as a demon, though.
• Daywalking Vampire: Ironically inverted for most of the series. Through supreme will she can resist the urge to crave human flesh. Yet demons who do partake are tireless and immune to pain except the burning of Sol and a Sun Breather's blade. Nezuko must power nap often, slips into a two year coma before that and clearly experiences pain when Giyu, Rui and Sanemi torture her. Played straight though, as Nezuko remembers her family when other demons forget their human lives until just before death. She is also able to enter the Wisteria House and also deny Muzan's geas without any outside help as Tamayo had. Funnily enough, once Nezuko defeats the sun, she'd be invincible to all known methods of death for a demon except maybe Muzan destroying her cells and acclimating her into his own form. Though this might have been his end if he'd succeeded, not hers, considering that her blood demon art acts like the sun itself and might have obliterated him from within.
• Deep Sleep: Her surefire method of not only recovering energy to refuel her demonic abilities but also part of a metamorphosis into a demon with more potential than any seen before.
• Deliberate Injury Gambit: During her and Tanjiro's tag-team battle against Hantengu's emotions, the pair are on the ropes with Nezuko pinned under rubble. So she grabs onto and slits her palms open on the edge of Tanjiro's Nichirin Katana and kindles the residue to create the Blood Burst Blade. The black steel turning crimson!
• Deuteragonist: She shares the spotlight with Tanjiro as one of the main protagonists, and a good chunk of the story revolves around Tanjiro searching to cure Nezuko's demonic transformation, while also regaining her memories of her previous life as a human.
• Devoted to You: Zenitsu, who is madly in love with Nezuko, makes a Declaration of Protection to her almost as soon as he meets her, which he uses as a motivator to train harder and become a better demon slayer. This applies even more strongly in a fight against the Rank One Lower.
• Disney Death: She seemingly performs a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of the Swordsmith Village arc, kicking away Tanjiro so he'll be able to finish off Hantengu even though that means he won't be able to shield her body from the sun and she'll burn up. Tanjiro is absolutely convinced that his sister has died, but then he finds out that she survived thanks to her newly-awakened unique ability to resist sunlight.
• Dual Age Modes: Though not really commented on in-universe, Nezuko's physical age changes depending on how much she gives into her demonic nature, with her body maturing to that of a young woman when in her full demon form. This is first shown at the very start of the series when her body's bone length and muscles began rapidly growing as she tried to devour Tanjiro, before regaining her senses and maintaining her familiar young appearance. She is also capable of transforming into a young child of four to five years old, as seen during episode two to fit into the bamboo-reed basket Tanjiro makes for her. At the beginning of the Swordsmith Village arc she shrinks down even further to become a tiny crawling baby, which causes Mitsuri to go all Cuteness Proximity.
• Dumb Muscle: Downplayed. She's not precisely stupid, but turning into a demon erased much of her human memories. Thus she often comes off as childlike and naive, while also having a demon's extraordinary physical strength.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the series’s Weekly Shounen Jump manga debut in 2016, a center color illustration showed Nezuko’s kimono was actually accentuated with a green color, rather than the immediate following color illustrations that showed her clothing color scheme is black, pink and white, no green on them save the single lace on her waist; that strangely remains the only piece with a slightly different design for Nezuko’s outfit.
• Everyone's Baby Sister: She's such a cute little cherub alongside her indomitable will, that the Lady Tamayo all but offers to adopt her. Yushiro even grudgingly admits she's a beauty after she fights alongside him. Giyu and Sakonji stake their very lives on her successfully retaining her humanity, indicating their massive faith in her and desire to protect her innocence. Mitsuri adores her on sight, Shinobu, Kyojuro, Tengen, his wives, Genya and Muichiro all display warmth towards her, and even her biggest detractor among the Hashira, Sanemi, is won over by her sunny disposition.
• Evil Laugh: Giggles psychotically through her fangs before exhaling a short but diabolical gasp of derision and joy as she mudstomps Daki's face into the earth.
• Exponential Potential: It's eventually revealed that she was only infected with a small amount of Muzan's blood, as the demon lord is disappointed at how quickly she's expiring. In contrast, his Upper Moons can never dream of growing stronger than their master despite being given huge donations and living for centuries. But in two short years she is about to surpass the Monster Progenitor in key areas of demonic strength. If she'd ever gained a majority of Muzan's blood as Tanjiro eventually does...
  Narrator: Humans have two limits to them. When their stamina limit is exceeded they find it too painful to even move. Even if they push forward past exhaustion, forget their wounds and advance due to an anger so powerful it causes blood to drip from their eyes. Next comes their life's limit: naturally, when one crosses this threshold, they die. Tanjiro was about to go past this limit just now. In order to extend this limit, if even for one second and battle demons, mankind strives and trains for years and years on end, to the point of near-death. If humans were capable of winning with the emotion of rage alone, demons would no longer exist in this world. Humans have limits. But what about demons? And Nezuko? Her violent fury would flow eternally throughout her body, until the flesh of her enemy disappeared from this world.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: As a human, she had her hair tied back into three neat buns. After turning into a demon, her hair is let down and she wears it loose from that point on, with the tips changing to a fiery orange color.
• Fanservice Pack: The first time Nezuko uses her size-shifting powers, it just makes her literally bigger in all aspects proportionally — her body doesn't actually mature. This changes during her fight with Daki, as she spontaneously grows into a full-grown, very curvy young woman as she embraces more of her demon side. Coincidentally, her kimono had been messed up from the fight earlier, leaving plenty of gaps to show off her brand new curves and assets.
• Femme Fatalons: Gains coral pink-tipped razor pointed, extended finger nails upon her transformation into a demon. Of the absurdly sharp variety. She uses them to rake Rui's face with five deep grooves when Tanjiro's sword didn't even make an indent, then utilises them later to slash apart some of Enmu's tentacles.
• The Gift: Whether through The Power of Love for her family or the Power Of Hate for Muzan, she defeats ordinary demon behaviourism in the first episode. Something Giyu knew to be impossible and unprecedented in all their order's history. Kibutsuji cannot track her movements or read her thoughts, meaning she purged his influencing cells during her two year coma and effectively made herself her own creature, not one of his Oni. Tamayo also notes that she can gain evolving strength when tested in battle as opposed to how other demons must chow through scores of humans to advance their abilities. After nearly dying at Lower Moon Five's hands, Nezuko was able to not only match but overpower the weaker half of Upper Moon Six and then go leaps and bounds when she battled it out with multiple Upper Moon Fours.
• Good Is Not Soft: Just like her elder brother, she will not allow harm to befall anyone and will use all the force available to her to fight if she must. Takeo, the third sibling of the Kamado family notes that Nezuko's past righteous fury against an adult who'd deliberately knocked aside a child in his path was frightening to witness.
• Good Thing You Can Heal: When Nezuko fights it tends to be a straightforward Attack! Attack! Attack! style, which for most people is pretty easy to deal with, except the longer she fights, the stronger she becomes, and her regeneration becomes so good it doesn't matter if her limbs are cut off — she'll just regrow new ones in less then a second.
• Heroic Mime: The only main character who doesn't utter a word, as she lost her ability to speak after turning into a demon. This is no longer the case after the Swordsmith Village arc.
• Hellish Pupils: Her eyes are usually soft and dreamy with a cross-hatch pattern to portray her occluded memories but when the rage or bloodlust takes hold she gains slitted pupils and more vibrant irises that are a shade away from being similar to Muzan's himself.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Punts Tanjiro off of her when he uses his own body to protect her from the rising sun in an open field. Knowing that she will be burnt to ashes, all so that her brother can save three swordsmith villagers from Hantengu. Even behind the muzzle, she clearly smiles at him and closes her eyes, accepting her fate.
• Heroic Willpower: Resists the temptation of eating human flesh, against all odds. When she does attack her brother when she first becomes a demon, his words to her cause her to pause and cry, and she later attempts to protect Tanjiro from Tomiaka. This action is what convinces Tomiaka to believe Nezuko is different from other demons, since a newly transformed demon is typically starving and would devour their family members without a second thought. A little later Sanemi attempts to prove she's just another demon by enticing her with his blood after stabbing her several times. Nezuko turns away, shocking him and all Hashira present. This moment becomes all the more impressive with the reveal that Sanemi is a marechi, whose blood is a potent drug for demons, one so powerful it even causes drunkenness in Upper Moon One!
• Horned Humanoid: Nezuko grows a single horn on the right side of her head when she transforms into her full demon form.
• Hunter Of Her Own Kind: While not an official member of the Demon Slayer Corps, she ends up doing plenty of demon-fighting with Tanjiro to protect him and the others even though she's a demon herself.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: When she first starts succumbing to demonic instinct for human flesh, Tanjiro will not actively fight back against her and attempts to invoke her humanity, begging her not to give in and it seems to work, as she abruptly stops struggling against him, horrified and remorseful for what she was attempting to do to her last remaining family. Tanjiro then invokes this argument word for word at Giyu, certain that his little sister recognised him.
• Impaled Palm: Drives her own talons into her left palm in a clenched fist, all to help her resist going after Sanemi's gourmet blood.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: A testament to how much she can battle her demonic instincts. Tanjiro reminisces how before she was turned, she was The Heart of the family, even above his efforts. As she was able to comfort all her siblings and mother after the closely timed deaths of their grandmother and father.
  Tanjiro: Ever since she's been a child, Nezuko has been an angel. She's never once been unreasonable in her life, either. / She would tell us: "Since neither our grandmother nor our father can rest easy if we're always crying... Let's just cry our eyes out today and then be strong. Let's keep smiling, okay?"
• Inelegant Blubbering: During the Red Light District Arc, Tanjiro attempts a lullaby their mother used to sing to Nezuko to pacify her rampant demonic instincts, it eventually broke Nezuko out of her blood-lust by reminding her of the halcyon days she shared with Kie. She then weeps and wails her heart out, realising not only how close she came to killing an innocent but that her mama is truly dead and gone. This outpouring of grief is enough to shrink her down into the size of a toddler and send her to the land of nod.
• Inexplicably Awesome: We're never given a concrete answer as to why she's able to resist her demonic hunger and ultimately conquer the sun. Is the latter her reward for the former, or do both come from some common factor? Word of God also states that the Kamado family has encountered the blue spider lily before, raising further questions.
• The Ingenue: After becoming a demon, her personality regresses to that of a small child and she loses the ability to speak. Even after regaining it, she can really only repeat what others say. Outside of her family, it doesn't seem she remembers much of her human life. Tamayo suspects this was because she was focusing her energy on overcoming the sun.
• Kick Chick: Nezuko's fighting style? Kicks strong enough to behead demons. It should be noted here that this isn't nearly as graceful as most examples of this trope - she just smacks people in the head with heel or shin. In the anime adaptation, this is further emphasized with loud thuds and her demonic opponents struggling to keep their guards from collapsing under the sheer force.
• Little Miss Badass: Though she's a young girl, Nezuko still fights her damnedest against other demons to protect humans, all without a lick of training and in spite of her brother's wishes to always protect her and never give her cause to resort to violence.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Because Nezuko has gained immunity to death by sunlight, a feat that none of Muzan's demons or even his Twelve Kizuki could accomplish in a millennium, she becomes Muzan's target as he desperately desires to absorb her ability with his biokinesis in order to become truly immortal. As a result, the Demon Slayers hide Nezuko in another location and place her under Urokodaki's care. They also try to foil Muzan's plan by using Tamayo's medicine to turn Nezuko back into a human so that Muzan cannot obtain this last key to complete invulnerability.
• Made of Iron: Despite her turning back into a squishy human, Nezuko manages to hold onto her brother after he bites her left shoulder, endures the massive shock waves he emits, then stops Tanjiro's Demon Blood Art at the cost of losing the skin and most of her fingernails on her left hand. Reassuringly, she seems to have inherited some residual healing ability as she has made a full recovery from said wounds next chapter while Tanjiro beats himself up over it.
• Magic Skirt: Or kimono, as it were. Be it high kicks, jumping vast distances, or hanging upside down, no force is capable of making her kimono reveal more than midway up her thighs at most, even if it's been visibly ruffled. Which is odd considering it's simultaneously loose enough to show off her legs. This is subverted in a few instances when she turns into her full demon form and grows too big for her kimono. Her underwear is briefly visible as Tanjiro is struggling to restrain her during the Red Light District Arc, and her butt is almost fully shown in one panel during the Hantengu fight after she rescues Tanjiro and tumbles to the ground.
• Marked Change: Upon achieving a new level of strength and ageing to maturity, Nezuko summons red and green coloured fern vine creeper markings, that manifest around the skin of her arms, legs and abdomen. Amane Ubayashiki claims that Demon Slayer Marks are similar to Demonic Crests and likely function as a Power Tattoo indicator similar to the ones Akaza and Kokoshibou bear.
• Massive Numbered Siblings: Nezuko was the eldest daughter among six siblings. After Muzan killed her mother and four of her younger siblings, her only surviving sibling is her older brother Tanjiro.
• Minored In Ass Kicking: Sleeps inside a box at day (being sun allergic as other demons), fight off demons at night.
• My Blood Runs Hot: Once spilled, her blood can ignite and burn demons. Notably, it only will burn demons, so she can safely use it on humans to burn away demon influence.
• Nice Girl: Even if she's been turned into a demon, she still carries the compassion and love that she had as a human. And after gaining resistance to the sun and starting to speak again, she's closer to becoming the kind young girl that she was before.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Due to her nature as an untrained and inexperienced fighter, Nezuko unfortunately gets subjected to vicious beatings from the more powerful demons within the Upper Ranks that she battles, most notably against Daki and Hantengu. She is able to return the favor to Daki, but she gets overwhelmed by Hantengu's multiple emotions and ends up pinned to the floor by Rage's staff through her neck with a constant stream of electricity cooking her. Good Thing She Can Heal, indeed.
• Older Than They Look: At the series’s very beginning she’s 12 to Tanjiro's 13, but her ability to change size, and her demonic condition affecting her mind make her look and act like a much younger girl; Nezuko’s "normal" size after Tanjiro officially becomes a demon slayer is that of her 12 year old self, not looking 14 years old either.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: She eventually develops complete and total resistance towards sunlight, allowing her to walk under a blue sky once more. This makes her Muzan's top priority target, as throughout his thousand-years existence, this is the first time a demon can survive the sun, and he wants to make that immunity his.
• Painful Transformation: Although not seen, it can be assumed that her transformation into a demon is this given the examples we see... It's definitely the case for when she turns back into a human, although in a emotional matter. Her memories of Muzan massacring her family slowly comes back and greatly pains her.
• Pink Means Feminine: Nezuko wears a light pink kimono, and as a human she was a kind, caring girl and devoted older sister, traits she retains even after becoming a demon.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: This otherwise petite, unassuming girl possesses the monstrous strength of a demon. She can kick another demon's head clean off and match slayers like her brother in speed and strength.
• Playing with Fire: Can summon magenta flames that errupt from her shed blood. They can annihilate opposing Blood Demon Arts and even heavily damage and hamper the regeneration of Upper Moons. Nezuko also shows some instances of direct pyrokinesis without having to spill any of the red stuff.
• Power Limiter: Things get serious when she bites through her muzzle.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Nezuko will fight other demons to protect humans.
• Pull Yourself Down the Spear: During the battle with various emotions of Upper Rank 4 Hantengu, Nezuko is impaled on Sorrow's polearm while she is focused on fighting Anger. She immediately pulls herself down the weapon towards Sorrow and wraps him in a bear hug, using the blood from her wound to ignite Sorrow with her Blood Demon Art.
• Pulling Themselves Together: Nezuko's Healing Factor is taken further during her fight with Daki as she slowly gives in to her demonic nature. After Nezuko's body matures to that of a young adult, Daki finds an opening to attack and cuts Nezuko into pieces with her sashes, sending her head flying. However, before her body parts can even hit the ground, the blood pouring from her severed pieces coagulates into solid streams that literally pull her back together and heal instantly. This completely turns the fight as none of Daki's attacks can affect her after this point.
• Put on a Bus: Her presence in the story is massively reduced after the end of the Sword-smith Village Arc (chapter 126) up until Day in the Limelight chapters 196 and chapter 202 that bring her back into focus. Her sparing cameos in the meantime wouldn't even fill one chapter.
• Rapid Aging: The addition to Nezuko’s size shifting powers in her arduous fight against Upper-6 Daki, Nezuko desperately made herself stronger to counter the beatdown she was receiving, that resulted in Nezuko’s body actually maturing instead of just turning bigger like in the beginning of the series, however, the first usage of that power made Nezuko revert to a more feral state, visibly taking pleasure in hurting Daki and almost trying to devour humans again; in the Swordsmith Village arc Nezuko seems to have learned how to control it.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: She has black hair and pale skin. According to Tanjiro, she was a renowned beauty in their hometown as a human.
• Regained Memories Sequence: Near the end of the series, when Nezuko undergoes the process of turning back into a human in her way to the final battle against Muzan, she regains her mental maturity which promptly acts as a rush of memories coming back to place in sequence of events montage, with an added bonus where Nezuko recalls all the experiences and friends she made as a demon, feeling like memories of an infant but now Nezuko can process them properly thus she instantly likes all of her new friends, and feels the remainder rage she had for Muzan killing her family.
• Removed Achilles' Heel: Becomes immune to sunlight after the incident at the Swordsmith Village. Unfortunately it's also a reason why Muzan targeted her for absorption, so as to acquire the ability for himself.
• Relative Button: Seeing Tanjiro in danger or in a battered state is when the demon doing that beating can expect a foot to the face.
• Rule of Symbolism: The daughter of a long line of charcoal burners, of course her Blood Demon Art is going to employ the combustion of fuel into flame.
• Shared Family Quirks: Nezuko is shown to give head pats to people at times like how Tanjiro does with her and her other siblings.
• Ship Tease: In a 4-Koma extra chapter, Nezuko, when she was still human, is asked by her younger brother, Takeo, what kind of man is her type, Nezuko answers she would like a man who's like a “Hisha”, a piece from Shogi, the Flying Chariot which like the Rook from Chess can only move vertically and horizontally, and the “Hisha” becomes “Ryuou” (Dragon King) once the piece is promoted upon entering the opponent's territory; exactly like all of Zenitsu's Thunder Clap Flash variations and the 7th form Honoikazuchi Nokami being first used when Zenitsu entered the Infinity Castle, the opponent's territory.
• Sibling Team: She and her brother have fought several demons together including the Swamp Demon, Susumaru and Yahaba, and Rui. The times they can do this is limited however, as Nezuko needs a lot of rest between battles, and can't be exposed to sun.
• Sizeshifter: After becoming a demon, Nezuko grows to the size of a large adult. She can also invert this ability to shrink herself down to the size of a small child. She mostly uses this to make it easier for Tanjiro to carry her around, but it can also be used to evade attacks.
• Slasher Smile: During her fight with Daki, after destroying her muzzle and proceeding to curbstomp her enemy's left arm off like it's made of wet plastacine, we are shown Nezuko going from a neutral expression, to breaking out an overjoyed, sadistic open-mouthed grin at the ease with which she has turned the tables. It's frankly horrifying.
• The Speechless: She's no longer able to speak after becoming a demon, though she can still vocalize and makes her intentions clear with her actions. After she gains the ability to survive in the sun, she slowly regains her ability to speak coherent words.
• Strong Family Resemblance: She looks like a younger version of her mother. Of her siblings, Hanako and Shigeru look the most similar to her. Also a dead ringer of her ancestor, Sumire.
• Suddenly Speaking: When she used her Blood Demon Art for the first time to help Tanjiro against Rui. Also, at the end of the Swordsmith Village arc when she conquered the sun:
  Nezuko Kamado: M- M- Morning.
• Superpowered Evil Side: When Nezuko taps into her demon powers, she gains incredible power and transforms into an older form, but the more she takes, the less control she has. She seems to have more control of her full demon form by the time of the Swordsmith Village arc, where she maintains the form in battle against Upper Rank 4 without suffering from the drawbacks that she did in the previous arc.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Her distinctive hemp-patterned kimono, the Asa-no-ha mon design was used on garments since ancient times. As warding marks against evil, to encourage prosperous growth for infants, and to denote strength and beauty in its wearer.
• Tainted Veins: Develops a set of black ones around her left eye when she turns fully demonic.
• Trademark Favorite Food: In the High School AU, her love of bread is so great that she always has a big loaf in her mouth.
• Trauma Button: Muzan's influence. She still subconsciously remembers the day her family was slaughtered by him, so when Daki (an Upper Rank with a high concentration of his blood) slices through the pleasure district that causes some civilian causalities, it causes her to snap and go on a rampage against her.
• Turning Back Human: Tanjiro's goal is to restore Nezuko's humanity to save her. With the help of Tamayo's medicine, his goal succeeds as Nezuko finally regains her humanity in chapter 196. However, it is unknown if Nezuko is Brought Down to Normal when becoming human again.
• Unskilled, but Strong: She doesn't have her brother's advanced combat training — but she's so powerful and swift that she surpasses his reflexes at several key moments to save him in turn. She even manages to dodge Kanao's sword swipes with comedic ease in her infant form and Shinobu's pupil was explicitly stronger than Tanjiro at that point in the story as we see later at the Butterfly Mansion.
• Vegetarian Vampire: While she is a demon rather than a vampire, her strict abstinence from preying on humans fits the idea of this trope. Rather than eating humans, she's usually sleeping.
• When She Smiles: After gaining immunity to the sun and being able to talk again, she no longer needs the muzzle anymore, and Nezuko is shown to be the happiest girl ever and smiles very often. Even the narrator describes her smile as, "A smile that shines like the light of dawn..."
• Women Prefer Strong Men: After becoming human again, Nezuko meets Sanemi in the hallways and the two briefly converse. When he leaves, Nezuko becomes flustered and her heart starts racing as she watches Sanemi go, which makes Zenitsu jealous.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Implied. When Yushiro meets her for the first time, he calls her an eyesore, much to the offense of Tanjiro, who angrily interjects that Nezuko was considered the beauty of their hometown.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Before becoming a demon, Nezuko was ladylike, motherly, a renowned beauty with Raven Hair, Ivory Skin, and enjoyed traditionally feminine activities like sewing. She also cared greatly for her family, as her last conscious act as a human was to try to protect her younger brother. After becoming a demon, she becomes more childlike and acts more on instinct (which is further amplified by her ability to shrink her size), though she still proves to have a strong resolve when it comes to her refusal to harm humans.

Zenitsu Agatsuma

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (JP), Aleks Le (EN)^{Other VA}Jose Luis Piedra (Latin American Spanish), Xavier Castañer (European Spanish), Maxime Baudoin (French), Dirk Petrick (German), Mosè Singh (Italian), Adrian Tatini (Brazilian Portuguese), Jiang Zhilun (Taiwanese Mandarin)
Live actor: Keisuke Ueda (Stage Play)

^{Click here to see Zenitsu’s self-portrait of his older years as seen in Zenitsu-den (Legend of Zenitsu)}

'I've... been protecting it... because you... said that... this thing is more important to you... than your own life..."

Another young member of the Demon Slayer Corps who meets and travels with Tanjiro and Nezuko. Despite being cowardly and insecure, he still tries his best when push comes to shove. He is a practitioner of Thunder Breathing (taught by the former Hashira, Jigoro Kuwajima), and happens to fight better in his sleep than awake.

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• Accidental Misnaming: This happens to him after Nezuko starts talking again.
  Nezuko: (to Zenitsu) "Welcome back, Inosuke."
• Adaptation Expansion:
  • The anime adds more at the end of the group's first stay at the Butterfly Estate. In Zenitsu's case, the servant girls scold and advise him to fix his behavior around women, beginning his focus on Nezuko instead of random girls, which in the manga happened largely without fanfare.
  • The video game by CC2, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - The Hinokami Chronicles, adds a new variation to Zenitsu’s usage of Thunder Clap and Flash as one of his basic attacks called Kiwami; this is a more standard iaijutsu attack, where Zenitsu quickly unsheathes his blade to attack and sheathes it back before initiating the proper First Form.
• An Aesop: Zenitsu’s Aesop is to be happy with what you finally got after being rescued from a harsh childhood. Zenitsu calls it the box of happiness; people like Kaigaku must learn how to prevent the stream of goodwill from leaking through the box, lest they completely ignore all good things that actually happened in their lives and erroneously come to believe that nothing good ever happened to them. That is the main difference between Zenitsu and Kaigaku; the former stopped the leaking from his box after their master Jigoro gave them a decent life and mentoring in demon slaying but the latter was never satisfied.
• Aesop Amnesia: By the Infinity Castle arc, Zenitsu has mostly grown to be a heroic demon slayer, determined to do his part without cowering in fear or self-doubt. For the sake of humor he will occasionally snap back to his early crying tantrums when he is in pain or scared of something.
• All of the Other Reindeer: During his childhood as a homeless orphan, Zenitsu would tag along with equally destitute children. They didn't like Zenitsu's cowardly nature and crybaby behavior, abandoning him and labeling him as completely worthless. However, as a teenager Zenitsu was taken in by a elderly sword master who paved the way for Zenitsu to come out of his shell, slowly but surely growing into a great demon slayer.
• All Take and No Give: Revealed in the Databook to be how Zenitsu was treated by seven different malicious women in the past, each of them taking advantage of Zenitsu's desperate wish for a girlfriend; they all feigned appreciation towards Zenitsu while draining him of money and piling him high with debts. It is noted none of them would let Zenitsu even hold their hand, much less allow any other form of physical proximity, emotionally manipulating Zenitsu by promising they would get closer if he took care of their needs.
• Alternate Identity Amnesia: Zenitsu doesn’t remember what he does during his trance mode.
• Asian Buck Teeth: Supposedly has these, though they only appear for comedic effect during Enmu’s dream prison.
• Bait-and-Switch Character Intro: Zenitsu is introduced twice, first briefly at the end of the Final Selection arc and properly in the Drum House arc, and both times it is his most negative traits that are brought up first; His extreme self-deprecating nature, cowardly stance and loud whining all serve to make Zenitsu seem like an unpleasant fellow. During the Drum House arc, however, some glimmer of Zenitsu's actual good traits come to light; his kindness, inner bravery and undying loyalty.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Accordingly with Zenitsu's desperate need for feeling wanted by someone willing to be his friend, or loved by a girl, Zenitsu will devote himself to those who sincerely acquainted themselves with him; Despite his intense fear of demon slaying, the trust and honest care shown by his master Jigoro taking him under his wing after saving him from debt slavery inspired Zenitsu to pursue that dream despite his inner fears screaming at him to run away. When Zenitsu then befriends Tanjiro, Zenitsu quickly devotes his life to Tanjiro as a brother-in-arms , opening the gates for Zenitsu to embrace his path as a demon slayer, form real friendships, and even meet someone he believes will answer his affection.
• Berserk Button: Don't even hint that you're hiding women from him, or are in contact with women while he isn't. Either you're a bachelor like him, or you're scum in his eyes.
• Beware the Silly Ones: At first glance, Zenitsu appears to be an easily scared crybaby who overreacts to everything and throws tantrums, hardly much of a threat ... until you learn that he's capable of Thunder Breathing and can destroy most demons in a single stroke so long as he’s asleep.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Combined with forked Unusual Eyebrows.
• Bishie Sparkles: Is accompanied by these and Love Bubbles when he flamboyantly announces with excitement his Christmas party and wedding with Nezuko.
  • Has one when he tries to impress Aoi with his chivalry during the cup game of his rehabilitation training.
• Blank White Eyes: Under intense stress to fully charge his Thunderclap Flash: Six-Fold, Zenitsu was portrayed with fully blanked out eyes when he first showed the technique off. His eyes are drawn fully white later to show his imposing figure against Kaigaku whenever Zenitsu gains the upper hand in their fight.
  • Also used for comedic effect when he is frightened.
• Blood from the Mouth: Under the effects of both a vicious poison from a spider demon and the immense stress of charging up his Thunder Breathing, Zenitsu vomits blood when the poison briefly overwhelms him. During a comedic extra story much later in the series, he vomits blood in pure excitement upon seeing Nezuko wearing a swimsuit, comically dying in the process.
• Body Horror: In his bout against one of the spider family demons Zenitsu gets inflicted with a demonic art meant to mutate his body into a demonic spider creature. Zenitsu's arm begins to mutate but he manages to defeat the demon. He is subsequently rescued and put under intensive care to heal his arm, which by then had shrunk and begun to mutate into spider claws. Thankfully, it’s only temporary.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Turns out to be a faster learner than Tanjiro, but only with the incentive of getting to hang out with pretty girls. Not to mention he invents a new Technique for Thunder Breathing.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the anime, when he's out on an expedition after the Red Light District Arc, he turns directly to the screen when he hears Aoi's narration of current events, and asks her if she misses him.
• Broken Pedestal: His former superior Kaigaku becoming a demon really, really makes him lose all admiration for him.
• Broken Tears: Breaks down into tears of anguish when he berates Kaigaku for being the cause of their master’s suicide.
• Bully Hunter: Zenitsu detests brutes who bully the helpless with their strength, enough so that it gives him the courage to fearlessly grab onto the arm of Daki, the seventh mightiest monster in the world as he knows it, and demands with cold anger that the demon courtesan immediately stops beating a junior courtesan for not cleaning her room properly.
• Butt-Monkey: Due to his cowardly and negative personality making him the first to complain about the current situation, Zenitsu tends to fall in embarrassing situations a lot, especially when the team goes undercover in the Red Light District.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: In his desperate attempt sto get married as quickly as possible, Zenitsu often literally throws himself on women begging for them to marry him, and has been known to expound on his great love for a woman’s curves. with Nezuko however he is quite tame, his crush on her is quite the puppy love, even innocently presenting her with flowers.
• Career-Ending Injury: The second Databook mentions that the continuous exertion of his legs during the Infinite Castle arc gave him permanent muscle strain; Zenitsu can move around just fine but every morning he feels some stinging all over his legs. This is also used as a gag, in which Zenitsu tries to catch Nezuko’s attention to massage him in the post-epilogue chapter.
• Casanova Wannabe: Hits on girls frequently but unsuccessfully, and often tries to charm Nezuko.
• Character Check: Zenitsu became considerably more serious and focused at the end of the Hashira Training arc, having received a shocking letter regarding the death of his master Jigoro Kuwajima. Zenitsu remained focused all the way to his match against Kaigaku, whose betrayal of the demon slayer corps was directly tied to Jigoro’s death. That event greatly developed Zenitsu into a fully-realized hero, but right after the narrative made sure to ground Zenitsu in his loud whining as he and his friends, move towards the next battle in an extremely tense and serious arc. As such, Zenitsu grows more brave and knows how to act serious during battles, but his core comedic antics outside battle remain firm.
• Character Development: Zenitsu initially only wanted to become a demon slayer if it could make him the center of attention, especially with girls; later on he starts to have more serious goals of becoming strong enough to be able to protect as many people as he can. And when his beloved master is forced to commit Seppuku in shame for another pupil of his betraying the Corps to become a demon, Zenitsu actually starts having a clear goal of wanting to become the Thunder Hashira like his master once was. Post the series’ epilogue, in a special one-shot chapter contained in the 2nd Databook, after Tanjiro tips him on what Nezuko likes Zenitsu tries to court Nezuko by acting awkwardly loud and appealing to her caring side by complaining about his bad leg. Tanjiro politely reprimands Zenitsu to stop acting like a little boy to be cared for if he wants Nezuko to see him as a man. Surprisingly, Zenitsu takes Tanjiro’s words without making excuses, trying to be better from that point on.
• Characterization Marches On: His attempts to charm girls are phased out as the series progresses, with the humor’s focus shifting to Zenitsu's jealousy of the mere prospect of someone having a girl while he doesn't, and his freak-outs over harsh demon-slaying training sessions. After the Butterfly Estate, Zenitsu also isn't seen trying to charm girls other than Nezuko ever again. ^note The anime added a small scene where the Butterfly girls tell him to work on his female-targeted behavior to help explain his shift after this point.
• Charged Attack: Can only use his strongest 1st Form variation, Thunderclap Flash: Godspeed, twice in a day; however, by the end of series, Zenitsu has honed the ability further.
• Chivalrous Pervert: Zenitsu's colorful rant about women and their curves gave him a bad first impression with the Butterfly Estate girls, but Zenitsu is actually seriously commited to the idea of marrying someone and fully intent on loving them.
• City Mouse: The Databook reveals Zenitsu was born near Tokyo, and he's generally in touch with modern society and the industrial advancements of early 20th century Japan. This puts him in contrast with Tanjiro and Inosuke, especially when he's the only one of them who actually knows what a train is.
• The Comically Serious: During the Entertainment District arc, he gets kidnapped by Daki's sash while still disguised as a girl. He keeps it on until the very end of the battle, along with having a constant Snot Bubble, humorously contrasting with the seriousness of his sleep trance self.
• Contagious Heroism: Zenitsu was more of a reluctant coward before meeting Tanjiro. The guy always had some goodness in him but his willingness to act was less prominent, Zenitsu wanting to avoid danger as much as he could and needing some push to act as a hero. Working with Tanjiro most of the time has made Zenitsu grow quicker to act on behalf of others, as walking with Tanjiro has made him face more danger than he likely would have otherwise.
• Coordinated Clothes: The haori Zenitsu wears was given to him by his master Jigoro, and their outfits share a motif of triangular symbols. It directly differentiates Zenitsu and Kaigaku's views on their master; Zenitsu chose to wear what was gifted to him, while Kaigaku was also given the same haori but he didn't even wear it.
• Costume Evolution: By the very end of the series Zenitsu takes to wearing his beloved master’s haori, showing Zenitsu has finally succeeded Jigoro’s wishes.
• Cowardly Lion: The actual core of Zenitsu's character. On the surface he is cowardly, always complaining about something, screaming at the top of his lungs that he should just run away and give up on being a demon slayer. Despite his incessant tantrums Zenitsu never actually runs from the heat of battle, having instead developed a kind of trance mode where he can circumvent his fears by lapsing into unconsciousness and fighting on pure fearless instinct. As the series progresses, Zenitsu becomes able to fight more as himself instead of always relying on his trance mode.
• Cowardly Yellow: Zenitsu wears a yellow haori, yellow calf warmers, and has bright yellow hair. He has no real desire to be a demon slayer, balks at the first sign of danger, bursts into wails and tears when confronted with a fight, and faints when stressed, which seems to be the majority of the time.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Comically becomes one towards Nezuko after finding out about her, to the point where he attacks her own brother due to a misunderstanding and later has an urge to kill Inosuke after Nezuko mistakenly calls Zenitsu by the former's name.
• Crippling Overspecialization: While Thunder Breathing has six forms, Zenitsu only ever managed to learn the first and most basic form. Downplayed in that Zenitsu has honed this single technique to a level of absolute mastery.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's scared of almost everything, neck-deep in debt, entered the Final Selection hoping to get eaten, somehow survived, and is desperate to get married before he dies (which he believes will be very soon, given his line of work). In a pinch, however, he proves himself to be a formidable swordsman and master of the Thunder Breathing style, turning him into a literal Lightning Bruiser. It takes a lot to get this out of him, though, and he typically only shows his might when asleep.
• Crush Blush: Zenitsu does this a lot when it comes to Nezuko, from innocently presenting her with a flower to going full tomato red in his dreams where Nezuko can actually speak normally and reciprocate his advances.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: Zenitsu remains mostly on the defensive once Kaigaku gets really mad, getting showered with the remaining five Thunder Breathing forms, amplified by Kaigaku’s Blood Demon Art to make the thunderous elementals quite real. However, Zenitsu takes all of it without really counter-attacking for a while, kept from going all-out because he still wanted to see a way in which Kaigaku was not as a bad as Zenitsu thought. Once Zenitsu steels himself and truly gives up on Kaigaku, he unleashes his own creation, 7th Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami, destroying Kaigaku with that one attack and showing Zenitsu could have ended that fight whenever he wanted to.
• Curtains Match the Window: While this is a theme with several other characters in the series, Zenitsu is the one that sticks out the most. His whole yellow thunder theme is all over his design, blond hair, gold eyes, yellow coat and yellow tint on his nichirin blade.
• Deadpan Snarker: Zenitsu does not buy into Tengen's flamboyancy, immediately thinking Tengen is completely mental for his extreme personality and demanding to be worshipped as the god of festivities and flamboyancy, insulting Tengen with sarcastic thoughts. It goes into greater sarcasm against Kaigaku, whom Zenitsu finally talks back to. Zenitsu showers Kaigaku with insults as the disciple who could never learn the first Thunder Breathing form and who couldn't be a successor to their master.
• Death or Glory Attack: The ultimate variation of his Thunderclap and Flash technique, God Speed, is so powerful and ridiculously fast that Zenitsu claims using it more than twice in a day will render his legs completely useless from the strain on his body. Even using it twice a day is dangerous, as Zenitsu felt like his legs were broken after the fight. The only thing Zenitsu could do to improve the usage of God Speed was exercise his body to make it strong enough to endure the drawback.
• Declaration of Protection: In his never-ending quest to get a lover, Zenitsu declares himself to be Nezuko's protector as soon as he finds out she is a harmless demon and sister of his newfound good friend Tanjiro, as he thinks she should be protected at all costs. This is mostly used as a comic motivator for Zenitsu to get up and do his job as a demon slayer and to train harder, although in a fight against the Lower Rank One this is applied seriously, with Zenitsu actually telling Nezuko in his trance mode that he will protect her and then following through by shielding her from the Lower Rank's attacks.
• Desperately Craves Affection: An integral part of his character, used for both comedic and dramatic effect. Zenitsu grew up as a lonely orphan nurturing a strong need of belonging, wanting to be needed by those around him and eventually be loved by a significant other. Early on this is shown in his comedic failed attempts to charm girls, while the dramatic side is shown through all the challenges Zenitsu is pushed through to overcome his flaws in order to grow as a demon slayer, hoping others will appreciate him as their hero.
• Determined Defeatist: On the one hand Zenitsu is an extremely self-deprecating person due to years of failing to form any meaningful friendship and relationships, growing up loathed by anyone he ever met as they were put off by his forefront cowardice and whining. On the other hand Zenitsu has finally met his master, who he grew to love as the family he never had, and then Tanjiro who further showed sincere belief Zenitsu can be better, looking up past his flaws. That resulted in Zenitsu being the kind of demon slayer who is always screaming about how is he is going to die at every mission, but at the same time he simply cannot give into his fears and run away. Zenitsu will push forward and fulfill his role no matter what, and his eternal gratitude to the ones who believe in him will not let their hopes be in vain, even if Zenitsu has trouble believing in himself.
• Disappointed in You: Despite Kaigaku treating him like dirt, Zenitsu always held a lot of respect towards him; noticing that Kaigaku was driven to strengthen himself and reach the peak as the elder Thunder Breathing disciple, Zenitsu had honestly accepted Kaigaku would be the one to become the Thunder Hashira one day. This is why Zenitsu is enraged at the fact their master Jigoro committed seppuku in repentance for Kaigaku's betrayal of the Demon Slayer Corps by becoming a demon. Thus, before truly engaging in combat Zenitsu wanted answers, desperately asking why ”the rightful successor” led their own master to such shame. Kaigaku dismissing Zenitsu's questions with mockery drives him to completely give up on talking, proceeding to try and kill Kaigaku for good.
• Disguised in Drag: To spare Aoi from being forcefully drafted into Tengen's mission of infiltrating a Red-Light District to rescue his three wives and exterminate a demon, all three boys volunteer to take the mission in her place, but since Tengen really needed female slayers he forces the trio to disguise themselves as girls and apply themselves as courtesans. Zenitsu is the one who stands out the most due to circumstances forcing him to go throughout the entire event dressed like a girl, while everyone else had already broken off the disguise during the nerve-wracking fight against the demons.
• The Dulcinea Effect: If Zenitsu can't muster the inner courage he has to surpass all of his cowardice on the surface, a good way to make him focus and at least try to be brave, is finding himself in a situation where there's a woman in peril. Zenitsu will then stop his complaining right away and go for the rescue.
• Elemental Eye Colors: Downplayed since he doesn’t actually have lightning powers, but he is the main practitioner of Thunder Breathing and he also has yellow(ish) eyes.
• Elemental Hair Colors: Downplayed since he doesn't have electricity powers (though Zenitsu got his blond hair color after being struck by lightning), but he is the primary Thunder Breathing user in the story and has blond hair to match.
• Endearingly Dorky: Zenitsu might be a wimp, whiner, and clumsy, however his qualities of being a genuinely kind, loyal, and noble person actually give him a remarkable charm, which ultimately ends up attracting Nezuko.
• Establishing Character Moment: His proper character introduction gives all the foundation of Zenitsu's character, the bad and the good in him:
  • 1) He is desperate to find himself a lover and marry right away.
  • 2) He is quite easily scared and overreacts to near everything; upon close inspection, however, Zenitsu never skips on his fights when the chips are down.
  • 3) Zenitsu says he is weak and needs to be protected, while, in fact, his strength is pure speed; his fight record and achievements do not lag behind any of his friends.
  • 4) His tantrums makes it seem he only cares about himself, in truth Zenitsu is faithful and shows immense gratitude when he protected Tanjiro's box, Zenitsu had only just gotten close to Tanjiro, and by then he had no idea what actually was inside the box, all Zenitsu knew it was important to Tanjiro, so he protected it with his own body as a shield.
• Everyone Has Standards: Even early on in the series, before Zenitsu showed more shades to his developing character, there were clear standards that he lived by:
  • Zenitsu is honestly a loyal guy who really wanted to fit in among friends. As a Demon Slayer he begins his journey as a screaming mess of a guy who says he doesn't want to do any of demon slaying, but Zenitsu just can't bring himself to truly abandon that path; his master Jigoro and his new friend Tanjiro sincerely believed he can grow into a commendable slayer, so Zenitsu pushes himself forward, even if complaining along the way, out of gratitude for those who believed in him.
  • Zenitsu really likes to openly express his fondness for girls in general, shamelessly proclaiming his love for their sweet smell and nice curves, being desperate to find a girlfriend and immediately make her his wife. That said, Zenitsu is actually only mildly perverted; he doesn't peep, he doesn't strongly harass, and is actually focused on finding real love rather than just looking for casual flings. More importantly, Zenitsu's sense of justice is certifiably above his attraction for girls.
• Face–Monster Turn: Is almost turned into a mindless demonic human-spider hybrid and a minion of the Older Brother Spider Demon thanks to a transforming poison. He was saved by Shinobu and eventually had his shrunken limbs restored to normal.
• Family of Choice: Zenitsu grew to sincerely love and respect his master Jigoro as if the elder was his own grandfather. Made all the more tragic when Jigoro dies via seppuku in an attempt to wash away the dishonor of his other disciple Kaigaku betraying the Demon Slayer Corps by becoming a demon. When Zenitsu finally confronts Kaigaku, Zenitsu somberly says goodbye to his “big brother” before delivering the finishing blow.
• Fast as Lightning: Thunder Breathing is a swordsmanship style used by Zenitsu that channels strength into his legs, allowing him to dash at incredible speed to slash enemies with the visual effect of lightning.
• Finishing Move: Zenitsu has mastered the Thunder Clap Flash to such an extreme degree that his one move is pretty much the battle finisher, as Zenitsu created several phases within the technique to make the Thunder Clap Flash as powerful as he can possibly make it out to be. Zenitsu later creates a technique all by himself, the 7th Thunder Breathing form: Flaming Thunder God which is pretty much a certified battle destroye.
• Flash Step: The main application of the Thunder Breathing style. While all demon slayers must be fast to move and quick to draw their blades, a Thunder Breathing user will go beyond that and be ridiculously fast to the point even demons will be surprised by their speed. Zenitsu is so adept at the only real Thunder Breathing technique he mastered that it makes him lightning-fast, making up for the lack of skill in the other Thunder Breathing forms.
• Flower Motifs: In an author’s description of Nezuko’s thoughts on Zenitsu, Gotouge Koyoharu has stated that Nezuko, in her childlike mind, innocently sees Zenitsu as a funny-looking dandelion; Zenitsu’s supernatural blond hair, and the way it stylized, does pass said impression.
• Foreshadowing: The first time he is introduced proper shows him as an incredibly neurotic man afraid of dying. But the same chapter also shows that Tanjiro met Zenitsu during the final exam, and that Zenitsu passed the exam shows that there's a lot more to him than his neuroticism.
• Fragile Speedster: The one Thunder Breathing technique he can use makes him incredibly fast, but he lacks in other departments. The Flaming Thunder God technique, however, is both fast and powerful enough to slice through an Upper Rank's neck.
• Friendless Background: Zenitsu had no true friends before meeting Tanjiro. Without a family Zenitsu felt a serious need to belong, which prompted him to try being part of any group of people when he was younger, only to be rejected for his cowardly and crybaby moods. Nobody before his master, and later Tanjiro, bothered to notice Zenitsu’s good qualities beyond his apparent faults.
• Friendly Rivalry: Tragically ends up as only one part thinking it had any friendship in-between. Zenitsu admired Kaigaku as his colleague in training despite the volley of insults the two threw at each other, but Kaigaku really hated Zenitsu and betrayed their master to seek more power as a demon, then mocked their master's suicide, making Zenitsu lose all of the respect he had for Kaigaku.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: The anime adaptation added more fanfare to Zenitsu's absolute body stress to initiate the steps to augment the power of his Thunderclap Flash attack, making his eyes go white and then adding glowing effects of light and thunder.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Played for Laughs: Zenitsu admits that he was more infuriated about the fact Tengen is handsome and has three beautiful wives than being forced to disguise himself as a female courtesan for their covert demon slaying mission.
• Grew a Spine: The conclusion of his character arc; When the tragedy of his master’s death strikes, Zenitsu finally forces himself to grow out of his self-deprecating mental abyss and forsake his sleep trance mode entirely. He goes on to face the cause of said tragedy in the form of his former fellow disciple, Kaigaku, now a demon and a traitor to the Corps. Zenitsu faces Kaigaku head on and kills him despite formerly being completely submissive due to respect for his elder and lack of self-esteem.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Has blond hair, is one of the main heroes and is deep down a Nice Guy.
• Happily Adopted: Having no parents and growing up trying to make a living by walking in groups of equally aimless orphans, then getting saddled with a woman piled with debts, Zenitsu was taken in by a swordsman demon-slaying master; Zenitsu grew fond of him, going on to affectionately call him grandpa/gramps.
• Hates Being Alone: Underneath his Chivalrous Pervert antics, Zenitsu has developed a fear of living his life alone and unloved as an orphan. When he was a kid Zenitsu just wanted to be friends with wandering orphans like him, but his moods pushed them away, then when he grew up to be a teenager Zenitsu desperately wanted to become a family with a bride as soon as possible, opening the path for him to get scammed by several shady girls who took advantage of that. After all these bad experiences Zenitsu is then found by the old man Jigoro, who would go on to become his beloved master, someone Zenitsu considers to get his own grandpa, then his demon slaying colleagues Tanjiro and Inosuke, eventual close brother-in-arms, and finally his demon girl crush, Nezuko; by then Zenitsu's fear of being alone is en route to disappear, as he finally found people who made him feel like has a family to belong.
• Heroic Safe Mode: His sleeping trance mode is Zenitsu's method of temporarily eliminating his inner conflict between an extreme fear of death by demon and a sincere loyalty that foils any attempt at retreat; in the trance mode Zenitsu can fully committ to being a brave demon slayer without hindering himself, and when the trance wears off Zenitsu isn't aware of what just transpired, disassociating himself from the danger he wouldn't want to be placed in under normal circumstances.
• Heroic Second Wind: Pretty much what Zenitsu's sleep trance mode amounts to. Zenitsu at first seems completely harmless as a demon slayer, cowering and screaming his lungs out about how he cannot perform his duties properly. Whichever demon he’s fighting will buy into Zenitsu's apparent incompetence, underestimating his capabilities and going for the seemly easy kill. Zenitsu may suffer some initial damage but once he falls asleep, his trance mode kicks in and the battle turns completely in Zenitsu's favor with the demon in complete disbelief on how the apparent weakling suddenly became so strong. As the series progresses Zenitsu starts talking while in his sleep trance mode, showing his personality also gains a huge confidence boost, topping off with Zenitsu becoming confident enough to fight his battles with his eyes open.
• Heroic Self-Deprecation: The darker side of his need for validation from those around him. Zenitsu harbors some deep self-esteem issues from his past where he never found a group of friends he truly belonged to, feeling he was useless and then getting called as such after being abandoned by past acquaintances. Zenitsu started to believe he really doesn't amount to anything as a person and only kept taking the path of the sword out of respect for his master and the waning hope that maybe someday someone will see him as their hero.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Is much more familiar with the advancements of the wider world than one would think. For example, when boarding a train for the first time Zenitsu is the only one to know what it is, while Inosuke takes it to be the "master of the land" and tries to fight it while Tanjiro (a "country bumpkin" in Zenitsu's own words) reasons that it could be a guardian spirit. A volume's extra illustration comically shows the trio's reaction towards Tengen revealing that his mission would take place in a Red Light District; naturally Tanjiro and Inosuke have no reaction as they have no idea what that place means, while Zenitsu is fully red and fidgety upon hearing it and awkwardly asking both unamused boys how can they not know what a Red Light District is.
  • Because of his enhanced sense of hearing, he's an incredibly good musician who can play back any song after hearing it once.
  • Beneath his insufferable behavior and lecherousness, Zenitsu is a profoundly sweet young man, this being the reason why the people that know him are tremendously fond of him.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Zenitsu is too obsessive, grabby and clingy for the comfort of the women he meets. As he approaches women with unbound zeal and behaves like a showoff, instead of approaching out of a sincere drive to help and sympathize (like Tanjiro does), said women generally dislike him. Sure, he's a nice guy... but he's no gentleman.
• Holier Than Thou: Played With. While not outright stated, he feels he is more moral compared to others and constantly chastises his comrades for their antics, yet he does things that are more or less far from moral, such as creepily and desperately proposing to a girl, blaming others for things that either aren't their fault or have little control of, and being quick to assume the worst of them. When he found out that the demon Tanjiro was carrying was a cute girl named Nezuko (who was also his sister), his first assumption was that he was all lovey-dovey with her, and began to attack and scream at him for it without giving him a chance to explain.
• Hypocritical Heartwarming: In a flashback, Zenitsu got into a fight with some fellow Demon Slayers when they mocked Kaigaku for not being able to perform the first form of Thunder Breathing. Zenitsu never liked Kaigaku, but he did respect him, at least before he found out Kaigaku became a demon and caused Jigoro to commit seppuku.
• Hypocritical Humor: Zenitsu freaks out when other people do, or he mistakes them as doing, exactly what he himself would like to do; he’ll throw himself on a random girl and implore her to marry him while he’s on demon-slaying duty, but loses his mind when he mistook Tanjiro and Nezuko as a pair of lovers instead of siblings, babbling about the serious duty that is demon-slaying, so fooling around in love is taking their duty lightly; he repeats this episode at the beginning of the Red Light District arc, mistaking the recon and rescue mission as Uzui wanting to score himself a woman to have as his wife.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: At least when he's asleep, Zenitsu can draw his sword, slice, and sheathe it so fast that you barely even see it leave the scabbard, as seen during his "fight" against the tongue demon: one moment, Zenitsu's hand twitches, the very next instant, the demon's tongue is already severed. He then finishes things off by combining this with a Flash Step to decapitate his foe.
• I Just Want to Be Loved: Zenitsu wants a place to belong with people who wish good things upon him. He laments never having a place to himself by being orphaned, possibly abandoned at birth, and no one ever expecting anything out of him, labeling him as worthless; Zenitsu fell prey to people in the past who took advantage of his need to belong by faking a bond with him, using and abusing him. However that's all in the past as Zenitsu realizes that meeting with his master, Jigoro, changed that situation; with his master he found a place to be and someone who honestly wished him good, and that extends even more, when Zenitsu finds Tanjiro, Nezuko and Inosuke, his honest friends.
• I Just Want to Be Normal: While Zenitsu has an inner dream where everyone sees him as a hero who can be relied on to always protect them, thus being a wish of someone who wants to be special in the end, the boy used to think that the demon-slaying life really isn't for a person like him, asserting that a normal, humble life where he lives quietly and builds a family is the best outcome he could ever hope to achieve.
• I Just Want to Be Special: His life as an underachiever who could never really make real friends, or ever be the center of attention, left Zenitsu with a conviction that only becoming special could make people truly like his company; special in Zenitsu's case means becoming a demon slayer who can defeat any nemesis and be loved by people everywhere he goes. This desire clashes directly with how negative he is towards himself; While deep down Zenitsu wants to reach greater heights, on the surface he thinks of himself as someone who will just die at every demon encounter, thus having any aspirations would be a waste.
• Imagine Spot: In the second Light Novel when Tengen, Zenitsu, and Inosuke go to the Hot Springs, Zenitsu wastes no time imagining in vivid detail how Tengen's wives, Hinatsuru, Suma and Makio, would take baths together.
• In a Single Bound: The basis of all Thunder Breathing starts with the user's legs, originally as a means to exert Super-Speed. Zenitsu adapted the formula towards jumping power as well. The most notorious display of Zenitsu's jumping prowess is how the anime, as per usual, embellish a finisher attack, in this case the Thunderclap and Flash: Godspeed. In the manga this attack functions like a jagged stronger and faster version of the base 1st Form, while in the anime it turns into a monumental forward jumping dash, where Zenitsu crosses almost an entire district in a single bound.
• Inconsistent Spelling: While Zenitsu is the most common way his name has been spelled for western audiences, a more proper romanization would be Zen'itsu to indicate its correct pronunciation, there's emphasis on the Zen (Zen - i - tsu) instead of saying it like Ze - ni - tsu. Then there's the author herself trying to give it an original spin, Gotouge having said the emphasis on the "tsu" should be bigger than on "Zen".
• Informed Ability: At the height of Zenitsu's supernatural hearing, it was stated he can even hear someone else's thoughts, however, that is never put on display throughout the series; the best showcase of Zenitsu's hearing is him being able to somehow "hear" how good a person is through their body movements, speech and breathing.
• Informed Attractiveness: Inverted. In spite of not being drawn too differently from Tanjiro, it's stated that Zenitsu is not a particularly handsome fellow. To boot, he's been called "really ugly" by his fellow courtesans at Kyogoko House while he was disguised.
• Informed Flaw: During the curse-induced dreams the heroes have against the Lower Rank One fight, Zenitsu appears with an exaggerated overbite in Kyojuro and Inosuke's dreams, which is not so much as hinted at in his usual character design. A volume extra has the author confirm that Zenitsu has an overbite, but it never materializes outside of this brief caricature.
• It's All My Fault: After defeating Kaigaku, in his near-death vision of the afterlife, Zenitsu talks with his master one last time, blaming himself for his master's seppuku in atonement for Kaigaku's betrayal and for the latter's betraying them in first place; Zenitsu reasons that if he wasn't such a coward and an incompetent disciple he wouldn't have brought shame to his master, that if he was as good as Kaigaku their master wouldn't have felt the need to try to atone for one of his best disciples turning over to the demons. The master however doesn't agree with Zenitsu, honestly believing Zenitsu has always been his pride and joy, as previous flashbacks shows the master supporting Zenitsu at every turn, even if he tried to run or cry. The master saw through Zenitsu's layers, that beneath all the apparent fear the boy never actually stopped trying to make through the master's training regime, all paying off with Zenitsu defeating Kaigaku who was seen as much stronger.
• It's Personal: Zenitsu usually doesn’t have personal conflicts with any demons, but that quickly changes when he discovers that his rival, Kaigaku, betrays the Slayer Corps and becomes a member of the Twelve Kizuki, which caused Zenitsu and Kaigaku's master to commit seppuku. Hearing of this, Zenitsu suddenly becomes more serious and develops a personal hatred towards his former rival, now turned Arch-Enemy for betraying the corps and causing their master's death. Kaigaku speaking ill of their master further strengthens Zenitsu's hatred towards his former rival.
• Kid-Appeal Character: His comedic loudness and frequent overreacting may be annoying to some grown folks but it has been noted to be quite popular with little children in Japan, with middle-school merchandise in Zenitsu's likeness being quite sought after. In the 1st Databook, where the creation process prior to the publication is detailed, it is noted more comedic events and characters were added to the original more serious premise, exactly in an attempt to be more palatable to younger boys.
• Kiddie Kid: Despite being older than his comrades (being the only one who is 16), he is ironically the childish one of the group, and it's played in a terrifying way as his tantrums escalate to paranoia to judgementalism, to sick jealousy and will to kill towards anyone who attracts girls and thinks they have girlfriends.
• The Lancer: Contrasting heavily with the all-loving protagonist Tanjiro, Zenitsu starts the series as a desperate womanizer and a loud whiny coward, but at the same time shows a glimpse of how much of a good person is underneath that unpleasant exterior. That sets the tone of Zenitsu's journey being explicitly about self-improvement by growing into a more ideal hero while he assists Tanjiro in his more specific goals of curing his sister and crushing the Big Bad.
• Large Ham: Zenitsu is 120% committed to honestly expressing what he feels, when he feels, by screaming it on top of his lungs.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: An anime original scene, at the beginning of the Swordsmith Village Arc, where Aoi narrates what Inosuke and Zenitsu have been doing separately since Tanjiro spent more time than his buddies recovering, has Zenitsu directly address Aoi's narration in a comically exasperated manner.
• Leg Focus: As a wielder of Thunder Breathing, where there is focus on the legs for the breathing style’s trademark speed, it only makes sense for him to have strong legs. Taken further after the events of Mugen Train where he starts training for future missions and becomes as muscular as Inosuke, and his legs become especially toned. There are even several shots and close-ups of his legs when he fought Daki while disguised as a courtesan and had his legs partly exposed, especially when he first unveiled Godlike Speed.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: He completely drops his usual cowardice when facing his treacherous former fellow pupil Kaigaku and showcases that he's a true heir to the Thunder Breathing techniques.
• Lightning Can Do Anything: Apparently lightning can grant permanent perfect hair dyes. Zenitsu was once black-haired but got a free dye job from a lightning bolt striking him, turning him permanently blond.
• Locked into Strangeness: Used to have black hair until a bolt of lightning struck him, somehow permanently turning his hair blond. The official High School AU has Giyu telling him to dye it black since dyed blond hair isn't allowed at school.
• Lovable Coward: Despite always being terrified, he always jumps to save his friends.
• Love Bubbles: Is accompanied by these and Bishie Sparkles during the Kimetsu Academy Story Christmas Edition skit at the end of Episode 3 of the Entertainment District Arc when he flamboyantly announces with excitement his Christmas party and wedding with Nezuko.
• Love Martyr: Thanks to his desperation for a girl to marry him and his lifelong fear of dying alone, Zenitsu has actually found some women in the past that pretended to entertain him instead of just rejecting his desperate advances. Those past women all tricked Zenitsu, exploiting his desperation for money and then abandoning him with their debts. He knew those women were bad but he really wanted to have someone by his side.
• Manly Tears: Combined with Broken Tears. Almost every time he cries in the series is because he is being cowardly. But during the Infinity Castle Arc he cries genuine tears of anguish when he meets the newly-demonised Kaigaku and berates him for being the cause of their master’s suicide whom Zenitsu loved.
• Meaningful Name: His given and family names are rooted in his character:
  • Zenitsu means "goodness", shedding light on his deeply good natured personality underneath his apparent immediate flaws such as his whininess and cowardice.
  • Zenitsu's family name, Agatsuma (我妻), can be read as Wagatsuma meaning "My Wife". It can be related to the running gag of Zenitsu being desperate to find himself a wife, as he sometimes upstages his attempts at charming girls with the immediate proposal of marriage.
• Metallic Motifs: A blade, katana in particular. Zenitsu was motivated by his master Jigoro to be like a blade during its forging, to constantly be purified and focused on the one thing it matters: mastering yourself to eventually become unbreakable steel. Zenitsu’s development as a demon slayer goes exactly like the katana forging process; his Thunder Clap and Flash technique even has an added deeper meaning to its stronger forms with Zenitsu literally calling them “Folds”; not only he is folding the angles of his dashing but also “folding himself” like forgery processing, making him, the blade, a better molten steel. At the end, to hit the point home, Zenitsu’s actual nichirin blade is the only one out of his companions Tanjiro and Inosuke that never breaks throughout the series.
• Mood-Swinger: Played for Laughs. Whenever a scene calls for getting Zenitsu out of his comfort zone, such as getting him to go through a demon-slaying mission despite his cowardly tantrums, Zenitsu will go from a seemingly well behaved person to an incredibly nervous train wreck, yelling at the top of his lungs about how he is going to die at any second. When getting him to train under a deadly regime, Zenitsu will immediately lose his mind and curse whoever thought of planning that training session, and when Tanjiro is there to make a counterpoint about how a deadly regime can get them better results at getting stronger, Zenitsu will unleash his fury at someone he once said was his great friend, only to pull a complete 180 degree turn on Tanjiro once he praises Zenitsu for being an important reference to others training as well, making Zenitsu then think his presence at the program really is necessary and that training isn't so bad after all.
• Motor Mouth: In his fits of rage over attracting girls or believing someone else has a girlfriend, he'll start delivering huge speeches over how they're scum, according to himself, and that they should be ashamed. If you try to interrupt him, he'll get even louder.
• The Münchausen: The entire epic struggle between the Demon Slayers and Muzan's demons is recorded by Zenitsu in his personal biography at the end of the series; however, Zenitsu was actually very sketchy and biased towards himself in writing said book, naming it The Legend of Zenitsu. He was very shrewd in writing his diary, labelling Tanjiro as one of his subordinates, and significantly downplaying how attractive his various companions were (especially Giyu). It certainly gives more context to Zenitsu's great-granddaughter Touko seeing Zenitsu's biography as a book of lies. However, in his elderly years, Zenitsu seemed to have grown past the need to embellish his own achievements, with the final chapter of his book being the real account of what happened in the whole series.
• Mundane Utility: Zenitsu's superhuman sense of hearing came in very handy during the undercover investigation in the Red Light District arc, as he didn't quite have the looks to pass himself as a beautiful woman but could still entertain guests with his Shamisen playing skills, his super-hearing allowing him to perfectly play any song he had heard even once.
• Mysterious Past: In contrast to his fellow main characters, Zenitsu’s past isn’t shown in much detail, and anything before his life as a young child who lived among wandering children is completely nebulous. The first databook reveals Zenitsu was born near Tokyo, but who his birth parents were, why they abandoned him, or who actually named him isn’t ever disclosed. The second databook released after the series’ end, which contains specific family trees for the characters, follows with not saying anything about Zenitsu’s birth parents, it simply states he was born out of a father and a mother, both nameless factors.
  • The closest hint we get in the series is Zenitsu telling Inosuke if he truly was abandoned his name wouldn’t be sewn into his birth clothes.
• Near-Death Experience: In the aftermath of Zenitsu's winning bout against Kaigaku he has a vision of the river of death. Zenitsu sees his beloved master on the other side, and he apologizes for not being a good pupil and preventing his death. The master, however, cries tears of joy and tells Zenitsu he has always been his pride and joy. Zenitsu tries to cross the river to his master's side, but spider lilies bind his feet, preventing him from crossing over, symbolizing how it's not Zenitsu's time just yet, before he gets reanimated back to life.
• Necessary Drawback: Zenitsu's Thunder Breathing technique and its Super-Speed are limited by severe muscle fatigue that makes it incredibly difficult to perform moves consecutively in this style.
• Nervous Wreck: Zenitsu is a capable guy when he finds the courage to brave through killing demons, or just resorts to his trance sleep mode, but he tends to freak out like no tomorrow at every single thing before he shows his true colors.
• Never My Fault:
  • Zenitsu never acknowledges it's his actions that led Tanjiro to defend the girl he was proposing and sending Shoichi home against his wishes, since he thinks he was the one who killed the demon the two confronted so he wanted him to travel with the group. He refused to take a no for an answer to his continued marriage proposal nor his invitation for Shoichi to join the journey. It culminates in trying to kill Tanjiro when he finds out he was traveling with Nezuko.
  • In Mount Natagumo, he blames Tanjiro and Inosuke for not encouraging him into joining them when he refused out of fear, and makes a fuss about it.
• Nice Guy: Don't let his cowardly antics fool you, Zenitsu is actually just as much of a nice guy as the ever-selfless Tanjiro, being nice to people he had only met minutes earlier, and being good to people he knew didn't even like him because Zenitsu just wanted things to be better, and even trying to cheer up Inosuke after the Spider Family fight left Inosuke feeling he was weak and useless.
• No Indoor Voice: While nowhere as constant as Inosuke is about this trope, Zenitsu gets loud when he vocally expresses subjects he is passionate about, specifically pertaining to pretty girls.
• No Listening Skills: Despite his enhanced hearing, he is hardly a very attentive listener, and when jealous completely stops listening to reason. He insists he has any say, while he refuses to let anyone who attracts girls or he thinks are flirting with someone talk, even telling them they are fantasing when he is told the true version of the story, despite being the one who is overthinking, refusing to try to understand their perspectives. When he saw Nezuko for the first time, he didn't listen to Tanjiro trying to tell him her backstory, instead trying to kill him while thinking she was his girlfriend. When Tengen tasked the trio to help him infiltrate the Red District, he didn't listen to Tengen telling him he sent certain people (his wives) to infiltrate there to hunt a demon, assuming he asked the trio for help to find a bride, despite being already married, even telling him he is fantasing everything when he told part of the real version of his story, much to Tengen's annoyance.
• No-Respect Guy: In spite of his relatively equal level to Tanjiro, he gets no recognition for his merits (especially from girls) because he's lazy, complacent, wimpy and cowardly. He's a good guy and an excellent warrior, but he's incredibly annoying.
• Noodle Incident: Zenitsu's troubled past with people who took advantage of his desperate sense of belonging is never explored in detail, though during the Drum House arc he alludes to vixens other than the woman he eloped with before that were just as bad, if not worse, in abusing his goodwill. Said past trauma is never brought up again in the series proper, it was only further explored in the Databooks.
• Not a Morning Person: Tanjiro informs that Zenitsu at first had to adjust himself to the early morning routine of the Kamado family after he moved into their home at the end; since Inosuke has always been a mountain boy he didn't have the same morning issue.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: A few moments where Zenitsu uses his body to protect others take place completely offscreen, such as saving Shoichi from a fall out of the Drum House's upper floor at the cost of a concussion. Another is during the Mugen Train arc, Zenitsu saved Nezuko and a few passengers by embracing them and taking everyone out of the colliding train after Enmu's defeat, yet again hitting his head hard, bleeding from the impact.
• One-Hit Kill: With Zenitsu's signature Iaijutsu discipline for his Thunder Breathing, his fights against demons who don't measure up to him usually end in a swift slice through the neck, with the result of instant decapitation.
• One Side of the Story: He is quick to jump to conclusions, even the wrong ones, and thinks he has all the right to talk, refusing to listen to any other side of the story.
• Only Sane Man: Although this role is usually filled by Tanjiro, being the most street-smart and savvy of the trio, Zenitsu can occupy this role at times. Most notably when he's the only one familiar with what a train locomotive is, and when he's the only one completely dumbfounded at Tengen's self-glorifying tangent.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: He completely drops his normal cowardly attitude when confronting Kaigaku for becoming a demon, causing their master to commit seppuku alone and leading him to die a slow and agonizing death. Even his tears are out of grief instead of fear.
• Parental Abandonment: It was briefly touched upon that Zenitsu has no parents, although it hasn't been revealed whether they abandoned him or they died (though Zenitsu believes they abandoned him). After living a harsh early life Zenitsu was taken in by his Demon Slayer master, who Zenitsu views as his grandpa.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Starts out incredibly horny, going on a lecherous rant on girls’ bodies while the Butterfly Mansion girls are in earshot. Even when he tones this down in an attempt to be loyal to Nezuko, he doesn't really consider her thoughts and opinions on his intense desire to be her husband; although to be fair, it's not like Nezuko can give them.
• Pretty Boy: In the manga he has noticeable feminine eyelashes. These become less noticeable as the series progresses, possibly to symbolize how he gradually loses his cowardice over the course of the story.
• Power Makes Your Voice Deep: His Japanese voice-acting performance, where Zenitsu talking through his sleep trance only has Hiro Shimono drop all nervousness from his usual Zenitsu voice, sounding just calm as a result. By contrast, the English performance in the Mugen Train movie has Aleks Le making his voice sound much deeper.
• Prone to Tears: Boy is he ever? It is mostly used for comedic effect to either show Zenitsu reacting to being rejected by a woman for the umpteenth time or his crushing fear of fighting against demons while being a professional demon slayer himself; however, there are memorable times where his tears were used for dramatic and awesome moments.
• Rage Breaking Point: Zenitsu had a very subservient relationship with his elder colleague Kaigaku. The latter couldn't stand the former's presence due to Zenitsu's difficult behavior as someone with low self-esteem who seemingly wasn't showing much progress while being trained under the same master, even as Zenitsu tried to make things work with Kaigaku by respecting him. This all goes south when Kaigaku betrays the demon slayers to become a demon himself, forcing their master to commit seppuku as a form of atonement. Zenitsu subsequently loses all respect he had for Kaigaku and showers him with insults and hard truths in their fight to the death, to the point Kaigaku even sarcastically compliments Zenitsu for finally talking back to him.
• Rank Up: Zenitsu starts his career as a Demon Slayer as the lowest 10th rank, Mizunoto, after the Mugen Train arc he rises to Kanoe, 7th rank; the Infinity Castle arc starts with him as Hinoe, 3rd rank, three steps away from becoming Hashira, which is only revealed in the 2nd Databook.
• Rousing Speech: In the later moments of Muzan’s fight in the Infinity Castle arc, after many slayers have been battered up to near-death, and Tanjiro had just been hit by a powerful shockwave emitted by Muzan, everything looks dire. Zenitsu steps up to save Inosuke from an attack and pushes himself to lift Tanjiro’s morale up, telling him that he cannot die. Tanjiro has to live through that incredibly deadly fight and go home with Nezuko, who had just turned human. Zenitsu being alive and boosting his morale moves Tanjiro to tears. Zenitsu who was once a cowardly slayer, who had to be pushed over the edge and motivated to fight, now steps up on behalf of others, motivating them as well.
• Running Gag: While at first it seems the jokes on Zenitsu's behalf are those played upon his cowardice and wanting to score a girl, in truth it is his extreme mood swings that form a circle around all the humor with his character; coward tantrums, wanting to impress a girl, losing his cool over harsh training sessions, having little patience for eccentric personalities, jealousy of others having a mate, all of that is to instigate an extreme chain reaction of emotions on Zenitsu.
• Sad Clown: Though hammy and emotional on the outside, when one of Enmu's henchmen breached Zenitsu's subconcious, it was a pitch black blank devoid of any hopes and dreams made manifest like the subconciousness of Rengoku, Tanjiro and Inosuke's. A life of abandonment, loss and betrayal had left Zenitsu's heart so hollow and bereft of hope for the future, all he has to live for is the present... until he met Nezuko.
• Screams Like a Little Girl: Part and parcel with his No Indoor Voice and Large Ham personality, Zenitsu screams every emotion on the top of his lungs, especially when he is terrified.
• Selective Obliviousness: Jumps to conclusions when he sees Nezuko for the first time, attacking Tanjiro believing that she was his lover. Once he learns she is his sister, his treatment of him was never brought up.
• Serial Romeo: Zenitsu immediately forgets about the previous woman he desperately asked to marry him upon finding a new target; the only one he hasn't let go is Nezuko.
• Shock and Awe: Thunder Breathing adepts have lightning sparks all over their techniques, Zenitsu is given more fanfare due to how much he overexerts his usage of the Thunderclap Flash; however, all the lightning is just a visual effect of portraying elemental affinity to the technique's main aspect, speed. That said, the times where Zenitsu used his technique to its fullest potential at given points in the story, it was noted a sound “like thunder” could be heard coming from his actions, implying Zenitsu is actually breaking speed barriers when he goes all out.
• Shown Their Work: Zenitsu's strongest attack shows Gotouge did the proper homework on the effects of such insane speed, the 7th Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami has Zenitsu's haori starting to be torn apart on his way to behead Kaigaku, suggesting supersonic speed at the bare minimum in order for the air friction to start burning his clothes off.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: At the beginning of the story, Zenitsu was a meek, whining and reluctant demon slayer who only became a warrior to show gratitude towards his master Jigoro. He wore a bright yellow haori given to him by Jigoro, which is themed after his own haori. In the very end of the series Zenitsu takes up his master's haori, who died before Zenitsu could show how much stronger and courageous he grew to be, but personally congratulated him from the afterlife, thus showing that Zenitsu has successfully inherited his master's will after helping to kill the source of all demons.
• Single-Stroke Battle: When Zenitsu fights against weaker demons, he quickly dispatches the foe in one single stroke of his Thunder Breathing Style; on longer battles however Zenitsu tries to charge his speed to a ludicrous degree until he blitzes through the area, all to find that sweet spot to behead the enemy.
• The Slacker: In Zenitsu's case it’s more of a combination of his bad self-esteem and fear of getting hurt, so he hates any kind of training that will force him to put more effort than he personally would like to give. Zenitsu must be coerced into his training, though he’ll keep complaing about it all the while. Two popular methods are Zenitsu himself feeding on his dreams that getting stronger will make Nezuko fall for him, as well as others filling him with praise. Tanjiro honestly believes in Zenitsu so that usually works, but Shinobu also pretended to cheer Zenitsu up to get him going. The tragedy with his master's death made Zenitsu finally get serious about his training and future without others forcing him.
• Sleepwalking: Except with fighting. He fights with pure instinct when unconscious.
• The So-Called Coward: His constant cowering against having to face demons in battle already looks odd enough due Zenitsu never actually running away from his duties, crying on the way to battle but still fighting nonetheless. The full realization comes when Zenitsu's rivalry with a former colleague comes into play; Kaigaku was said to be Zenitsu's total opposite, having actually learned most of the Thunder Breathing forms and always made sure to rub it in Zenitsu's face how much of a failure and a coward he was, but in the end it was Zenitsu who stuck to the Demon Slayer Corps while Kaigaku immediately threw his life away for more power as a demon.
• Split Personality: A downplayed example; The sleep trance that Zenitsu developed for unconscious combat is pretty much the ideal version of himself that Zenitsu dreams, but thinks it is impossible, of becoming. In later events when Zenitsu starts talking during his trance, he is shown to be very brave and just, fully in tune with all the results of his Thunder Breathing training. In this state Zenitsu remembers everything that happened while he was awake, meanwhile the normal Zenitsu does not remember what he did during his trance, furthering his own perception that he is weak and worthless. In truth they are the same person, but it’s only during sleep that Zenitsu removes all of his immediate flaws, which eventually reaches the natural conclusion of Zenitsu forsaking the need of his trance, becoming a hero fully aware of himself.
• Split-Personality Merge: Downplayed since he doesn’t really have a Split Personality as explained above. Zenitsu’s usual cowardice and loudness greatly contrasts with his serious side he can only access when asleep or unconscious. But as he grows, he starts speaking in full sentences instead of just “Thunder Breathing, First Form! Thunderclap and Flash (insert variation)!” and is implied to only fall asleep, indicated by a Snot Bubble, meaning he gains a higher level of consciousness while in trance mode. He also starts acting seriously while awake, like when he angrily stopped Daki torturing a little girl. It all culminates in him outright abandoning the need to be asleep or unconscious to fight seriously, as he did against Kaigaku and in the final battle against Muzan, but would still sometimes show his usual loud personality outside of battle.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Zenitsu stands out among the trio as the character who possesses many of the modern trappings of this trope. He has an unusual (and flashy) hair color, a more blatant Super Mode, a nemesis/rival, and his combat development milestones are recognizably tiered. In many ways, Zenitsu represents the type of protagonist that came into vogue in the twentieth century, the archetype who will replace the likes of Tanjiro and Inosuke.
• Super-Hearing: His hearing is very acute, and he can even tell people apart by the way their bodies sound.
• Super-Speed: While the most capable Demon Slayers have superhuman speed by default — they couldn't keep up with the much stronger demons if they didn't — Thunder Breathing adepts are on a tier of their own. At the peak of their abilities even demons cannot keep up with their speed; Zenitsu, when he gets serious, moves so incredibly fast that even two Upper Ranks were not able to follow him at all.
• Tareme Eyes: Has these by default to emphasize his cowardly nature. They notably switch to Tsurime Eyes when he is angry, serious, or whenever he opens his Blank White Eyes while in trance mode.
• Team Dad: Played with. Zenitsu is the oldest of the team, as well as their most level-headed and strategic fighter... once he falls into Trance Mode. Outside of that, Zenitsu’s cowardly personality makes him unlikely to take a leadership role in any given situation.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: He constantly fantasizes about Nezuko and the possibility of having an romance with her. In the Infinity Train arc, Zenitsu is explicitly seen having a romantic dream with her.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Zenitsu was absolutely pissed at Kaigaku for becoming a demon, resulting in his master committing suicide to atone.
  • On a more comical note, Zenitsu often gets mad when he sees a guy in what he sees as an enviable situation with women, such as Tanjiro traveling with Nezuko or his friends’ rehabilitation training. These situations often have him going on one of his Motor Mouth rants and demand that the person(s) in question commit seppuku as punishment.
• Through His Stomach: Comically asked Nezuko to marry him on the prospect of feeding her sushi and eel every day, which failed because Nezuko's demon mind was not able to understand what Zenitsu was proposing. Plus, Zenitsu's attempt gets ruined when Nezuko calls him "Inosuke".
• Throw the Dog a Bone: It seems like he and Nezuko do hook up after the fight with Muzan, seeing as how their descendants in modern Tokyo bear a resemblance to him and her.
• Too Kinky to Torture: As long as the one doing the "Torture" is female, he won't mind at all.
• Took a Level in Badass: As the series progresses Zenitsu gets over the habit of cowering into his trance mode to fight; a shining example is the fight against his former rival Kaigaku, who betrayed their master and team by turning into the very thing they are supposed to hunt. Zenitsu fought against someone who was touted as superior to him as a human, who then became a super-powerful demon, and Zenitsu actually won. Zenitsu has even toughened up to fight against Muzan in his strongest form.
• Tragic Keepsake: Inherits his late master’s haori as his sole true successor to Thunder Breathing.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Given the comments on Zenitsu's unattractiveness and Nezuko's beauty made throughout the series, this is what their eventual marriage becomes.
• Unconscious Objector: Zenitsu has defeated enemies while unconscious.
• Undying Loyalty: The shining quality that makes Zenitsu stand out beyond his apparent cowardly and whiny behavior; Zenitsu will bury all his flaws within when it comes to giving his whole self for people who were honestly kind to him and believed he could reach greater success in life. Zenitsu is at first scared of fighting demons as he fears he could die at any moment, but Zenitsu's master trained him with so much care that he will never abandon the sword; Tanjiro is such a good-natured person that Zenitsu quickly decided that he should unquestionably trust him and put his life on the line for Tanjiro by facing all sorts of mortal battles with him.
• Tsurime Eyes: He normally has Tareme Eyes, but they become this when he is angry, serious, or whenever he opens his Blank White Eyes while in trance mode.
• Unexpected Successor: Among Jigoro’s students there was a clear divide between the elder disciple Kaigaku and the younger Zenitsu; Kaigaku was seen as the much stronger one who was keen on being Jigoro’s successor, while Zenitsu had no expectations on being Jigoro’s chosen one at the time, lacking talent and any drive to push forward. However, throughout the series Zenitsu slowly but surely grows past his limitations, and Kaigaku turns out to be a nasty traitor who eventually dies at Zenitsu’s hand after becoming a demon. In the end Zenitsu wears Jigoro’s haori, thinking to himself that he never thought he would be the one to succeed his master.
• Unlocking the Talent: Zenitsu is of the lazy and extremely self-depreciative variety. He was brought in by a sword master by pure chance, as Zenitsu was piled with debts after eloping with a woman who didn't care for him. Until his master rescued him from that predicament, Zenitsu never really saw himself becoming a demon slayer, it just happened. Zenitsu endured the hard training imposed on him despite appearing to have no talent at all. He couldn't learn any Thunder Breathing form beyond the first one, said to be the most basic and easiest to learn. However, as the series progresses, Zenitsu is slowly but surely pushed by those who care for him to break through his mental blocks and show that he has some talent underneath; Zenitsu has pushed the most basic Thunder Breathing form to unseen heights, making it a terrifying technique against demons, and later he creates his own form: the 7th Style - Flaming Thunder God, which is quite the battle finisher.
• Unusual Eyebrows: The forked kind.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: His cowardly but intelligent personality doesn't mix well with Inosuke's wild and impulsive behavior, and the two frequently get into squabbles. But at the end of the day, they are good friends who fight alongside each other in the most dire of situations.
• What You Are in the Dark: After his introduction in the Drum House arc put most of his negative traits on the forefront, the arc's closure shines some light on the goodness inside Zenitsu as he protects Tanjiro's box without ever being asked to do so, nor Tanjiro seeing it at first, even using his body as a shield against Inosuke trying to kill the demon inside. Zenitsu defended the box with his life simply because he saw the box as something Tanjiro valued more than anything, even knowing that there was a demon inside all along.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Only managed to learn the first of the Thunder Breathing techniques, Thunder Clap Flash. When that doesn't work, he just does it faster. However, he then managed to invent a seventh Thunder Breathing technique which he uses against his former superior.
• Wild Take: Zenitsu is the undisputed king of it, as he is the resident overreacting wreck of the bunch.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played With. In his self-proclaimed status as a gentleman Zenitsu says he won't harm girls, not even throw tea on them despite it being part of the focus and agility training in his first stay at the Butterfly Manor. However, this gets him no applause from Aoi and the other girls, as they overheard his colorfully perverted rant about women and how he longs for even catching a glimpse of their curves; against demons, on the other hand, Zenitsu doesn't play the gentleman card. If it's a human-devouring monster Zenitsu won't care if it is female, he will go for the kill, particularly if she’s harmed another woman.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: The driving force on the arduous path to make Zenitsu grow up. The boy has abysmal self-esteem and thinks nothing will ever come out of him putting in effort. That's where people who expect something out of Zenitsu come in to give him that much-needed confidence boost. In the moments when Zenitsu realizes there are people out there who believe in him, that’s when he shows what he can really do, and he does not disappoint when things get going.
• Your Eyes Can Deceive You: Zenitsu’s Super-Hearing lets him perceive his surroundings with great precision during his trance mode, even with his eyes completely shut.

Inosuke Hashibira

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (JP), Bryce Papenbrook (EN)^{Other VA} Uraz Huerta (Latin American Spanish), Eduard Itchart (European Spanish), Christophe Lemoine (French), Dennis Schmidt-Foß (German), Matteo De Mojana (Italian), Dláigelles Riba (Brazilian Portuguese), Chen Yanjun (Taiwanese Mandarin)
Live actor: Yugo Sato (Stage Play)

^{Click here to see his face}

"BOAR RUSH!"

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The second member of the Demon Slayer Corps to join Tanjiro and Nezuko. He grew up alone in the mountains and wears a boar head-shaped mask, pants, and not much else. Brash, overconfident and hot-headed, Inosuke is at first convinced that he'll become the strongest if he defeats the right people, but gradually comes to realize that there are stronger people out there and he can't always take on enemies alone. He is a practitioner of his self-taught breathing style, Beast Breathing.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: He can fit through any hole bigger than his head by dislocating his joints. He later comes up with a Breathing form where he dislocates every bone in his arm and moves it like a whip, which has the added bonus of increasing his attack range.
• Accidental Misnaming: He doesn't seem to be very good at remembering names since he frequently gets Tanjiro's name wrong whenever he addresses him. Tanjiro's Taisho Secrets claims that at first he can only get someone's name right once every seven tries; much later in the series, Inosuke starts calling the names of his closest friends consistently right, showing off his development in this regard.
• Acquired Poison Immunity: because of his lifestyle, Inosuke is immune to all but the most lethal of poisons, the down side to this is medication is less effective and his recovery time is much longer than normal.
• Animal Motifs: Boars. Inosuke wears a mask that resembles a boar's head, he was raised by a wild sow, and he can be quite dangerous when provoked (or even when he isn't). Tanjiro notes that Inosuke tends to aim low when striking an enemy, much like a real wild boar would. The "Ino" (伊之) in his name is a pun, as it's pronounced the same as "猪" (Inoshishi/Ino, the kanji for "boar").
• Animal-Themed Fighting Style: Inosuke was raised by a sow and calls his fighting style Beast Breathing, though these moves have little to do with actual beasts. However, Tanjiro observes that Inosuke has a peculiar way of attacking when he's barehanded, making extremely low strikes as a boar would.
• Anti-Hero: Was initally a Nominal Hero before tranisitioning into an Unscrupulous Hero.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: He hates thinking and loves fighting, so this tactic comes naturally to him. Even against a demon with flesh too hard to cut, he simply applies increasing force on the back of his sword with his other sword repeatedly until he makes progress, forcing the blade through.
• Band of Brothers: How he views his relationship with Tanjiro and Zenitsu.
• Barbarian Long Hair: Men with long hair are common in the story, but Inosuke's hair is particularly shaggy and disheveled, emphasizing his feral nature.
• Baritone of Strength: He's given a deeper voice than his friends in both Japanese and English to go along with his brash, itching for a fight personality.
• Bash Brothers: Chiefly with Tanjiro, as it’s difficult for either of them to synch up with Zemitsu’s high-speed, single-stroke style of combat.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Inosuke tends to get attached to people who are nice to him. This is how he manages to bond with Tanjiro and stays with him. The databook reveals that once Nezuko is human again, he forms a strong relationship with her because she never treats him like he's dumb or yells at him.
  • This is also hinted to by why he eventually falls in love with Aoi. Instead of yelling, she gave him his own plate of food when she caught him stealing some.
• Berserk Button: Definitely has a lot:
  • Stealing his boar mask definitely is a big one for him, as it's a large part of his identity. Or worse, calling him a "stupid boar" will definitely set him off.
  • Treating him as if he's weak or trying to downgrade him will utterly piss off to the point of threatening to beat someone up.
  • Ignoring him when he's attempting to challenge an opponent irks him to no end. Also when someone runs away from him during a fight.
  • He hates it when someone doesn't recognize his incredible feats and doesn't praise him on it which drives him to prove himself even more.
• The Berserker: His fighting style boils down to him charging into battle full force without any sort of strategy and attacking wildly in an animalistic fury.
  • Especially played straight when Inosuke gets angry enough that he'll lose all rational and will keep attacking until his enemy is defeated. This is also similar to how a real boar would attack by constantly charging and ramming into their opponents. Like Inosuke, they are known to be very reckless and very angry whenever they are provoked.
  • The trio eventually builds their tactics around this on their 3-on-1 fight against Daki. Since Inosuke was (at the time) the least injured out of them, Zenitsu (whose quicker sword style is best used when he distracts/annoys an opponent) and Tanjiro (who was already pretty beat-up by then) chooses to take on Daki's sash tentacles to allow Inosuke to charge head-on at minimal risk. This eventually allows Inosuke to get in striking range of Daki and saw her head off.
• Big Damn Heroes: When Kanao is on the verge of defeat by Doma, Inosuke comes in with a Dynamic Entry through the ceiling to cancel out Doma's attack.
• Big Eater: Oh boy, Inosuke can sure eat a lot when it comes to food. When he's healed by Nezuko at the end of the Red Light District arc, after waking up, the first thing he does is yell, "I'm starving! Gimme food!", not even caring about his injuries.
• The Big Guy: The most strong, tough and most willing to fight out of the main characters.
• Blood Knight: Inosuke loves fighting and he'll gladly challenge anyone, human or demon alike.
• Blow You Away: Inosuke’s self taught Breathing style is an unintended Wind Breathing branch as per stated in the 1st Databook, Inosuke had no formal teaching of the art yet what he came up with as Beast Breathing has inherent similar foundations to Wind; the air vibrations Inosuke naturally feels to accurately dodge incoming attacks is the closest thing he has to Wind Breathing users, that and his final Fang Forms, 10th and 11th, are using his blades like a repelling fan and a boomerang.
• Boring, but Practical: His Breathing style is relatively simple and not very flashy in terms of technique as he uses very simple attacks. Still due to the lethality and Inosuke's own abilities, his Breathing style ends up being very effective against demons even the Upper Ranks themselves.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: He briefly adopts Tengen Uzui's catchphrase of "Flamboyant" during the Red Light District arc, showing how much Inosuke admires the Sound Hashira.
• Brainless Beauty: He may be a gorgeous Bishōnen with a sculpted body, but he's thicker than porridge and outright refuses to use what little brainpower he has.
• Challenge Seeker: As he puts it himself:
  Inosuke: Testing my strength against other living creatures is my only pleasure!
• Chaotic Stupid: Endearingly so. He'll randomly attack his teammates both outside of battle and in the middle of one against a foe he can't take by himself. Its usually punctuated by an awkward pause in his boar's head, where its clear he's being given too much time to reach his own conclusions, which are always crazy.
• Character Catchphrase: "BOAR RUSH!" and "Comin' through!"
• Character Development: At first, Inosuke is extremely ignorant of his surroundings and thinks he can just brutalize everything in his path because it actually worked for him until then. After the encounters with the spider demon family and Upper Rank 3 Akaza, he gets a first-hand taste of how difficult it is to fight against really dangerous demons. Since then, Inosuke has taken a more open approach to training and teamwork; he's still hard-headed, but not to the extent of thinking he can take on the whole world by himself. He also grows kinder and more affectionate towards his friends (in his own crude way), culminating in being unable to strike a demonically infected Tanjiro down during the final battle.
• Chaste Hero: A byproduct of him having No Social Skills. Unlike Zenitsu, who is known for hopelessly chasing after girls, and Tanjiro, who does have knowledge on romance, Inosuke is completely oblivious to the concept of love. Though he seems to have moved past it in the epilogue as he eventually fell in love with Aoi and married her.
• Chekhov's Gunman: After the Final Selection is over, Kagaya is informed that there were five survivors, while the audience only see four (Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Kanao and Genya). It's not revealed until his first appearance that Inosuke was in fact, the fifth survivor, but as Zenitsu says upon recognizing his voice, he ran down the mountain before everyone else so nobody saw him.
• Comically Missing the Point:
  • When Zenitsu mocks him for being inexperienced with women, Inosuke misconstrues his meaning and brags that he's stomped on female children before.
  • When Tanjiro tells him two Demon Slayers should never draw their blades against each other, he starts fighting barehanded.
• Contortionist: Inosuke is capable of dislocating all the bones in his body at will, making him crazy pliable. Inosuke is so flexible that he can bend backward until he's holding his ankles in his hands and sticking his head between his feet. With freshly broken ribs.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right: Since he doesn't know what a train is, he thinks it's a guardian deity of the land, or some foe he has to defeat. There's a grain of truth to the latter, because Enmu fused with the train, and his neck is hidden under the floor near the front of the train.
• Culture Blind: As a Wild Child who was raised by a wild boar, he has no comprehension of civilized culture. Besides never bowing or using honorifics, he reacts to an old woman performing kiribi, a ritual for good fortune, as if she were threatening him.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Inosuke absolutely hates it when someone is being sympathetic with him because he thinks it makes him weak.
• Dual Wielding: Uses two swords, one of which he seized from a Demon Slayer who barged on him in the mountains after a competition to see who's the better fighter, and the other one came with passing the Final Selection.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Make no mistake: Inosuke is profoundly beautiful under that boar mask, so much that Tanjiro and Zenitsu both needed to do double-takes the first time Inosuke first unmasked himself before them. He can effortlessly pass off as a girl to infiltrate the red light district, to the point that the handlers of a brothel sincerely think that they struck gold when they see him.
  Zenitsu: “To see a muscular guy with a face of a girl sure is disturbing.”
• Dumb Muscle: Easily the most physically powerful of the three main demon slayers, and definitely one of the least intelligent characters in the whole cast.
• Expressive Mask: Inosuke spends most of his time wearing a boar mask, presumably skinned from a real boar, to portray his feral warrior nature. The mask is usually still like a dead animal's skin should be regardless of what Inosuke is saying or doing, but in some comedic moments, Inosuke's reactions will make the boar mask express his emotions through it.
• Foil: To Genya, to a certain extent. They are both short tempered, angry members of the Corps, but are almost polar opposites of each other. After completing the final selection test, Genya was so impatient, that he attacked Ubuyashiki's daughter whereas Inosuke was so impatient, that he left. They both encountered Tanjiro after attacking an innocent and got their bones broken by him as a result, but their reactions were completely different: Genya attacked Ubuyashiki's daughter and Tanjiro broke his arm and he hated him because of this and refused to talk to him, until they eventually become friends. Inosuke, on the other hand, brutally beat up Zenitsu and Tanjiro broke his ribs in order to stop him. Inosuke was impressed by his opponent and started fighting back, laughing and giving him a rather tough fight and instead of avoiding him like Genya, he kept trying to provoke Tanjiro to fight him again. Genya also doesn't wield swords, while Inosuke is a dual wielder. Genya also can not use Breathing techniques, whereas Inosuke invented his own Beast breathing technique. Appearance wise, Genya is covered in scars that make him look rather scary. Inosuke, on the other hand appears scary because of his Boar mask and is actually a Bishōnen underneath it.
• Full-Boar Action: While he's not actually a boar himself, he's still heavily associated with them. He wears a mask resembling a boar's head almost constantly, and he tends to be very aggressive and quick to start fights.
• Genius Ditz: There’s shades of this with him. Inosuke is certainly not the brightest but he has his moments such as when he effectively applies his Insane Troll Logic. Aside from that he is a brilliant warrior in combat who was still able to invent an entire breathing style that evidently only he can use to full effect.
• Good Is Not Nice: Though he's a dedicated demon slayer as any other, Inosuke is not the nicest person around.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: Despite being a swordsman, he has no trouble putting up his dukes, and fights well enough that Tanjiro can barely manage to deflect his punches.
• Hard Head: It is surprising how much he can headbutt random objects that stem from charging humans to trees and even towards hard metal trains.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: He gets angry very easily and usually has a tendency to lash out towards anyone thus making his temper wildly unfocused as he has no limits to how angry he can get. Though this is usually Played for Laughs as he is often shown throwing tantrums whenever something annoys him or when his buttons are pressed but he can channel his anger to get himself energized to prove himself or to fight.
• Hey, You!: During his dream in Mugen Train where he's the leader of the "Cave Expedition Team," he refers to Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Nezuko as Underling 1, 2, and 3 while demanding that they refer to him as oyabun ("boss").
• Hidden Depths:
  • The fact that he's created his own Breathing style, the Beast Breathing, can come as a surprise given his wild fighting style and volatile personality.
  • Inosuke may look like a stubborn person at first, in his rough ways and how he seemly ignores some of Tanjiro's advice to be more polite, however, as the series progresses it is shown Inosuke is actually taking what Tanjiro and Zenitsu are telling him to heart by slowly becoming more cooperative and socially aware as he grows more kind; the fact even his Running Gag of being unable to remember people's names is altered adds a testament to it, Inosuke cares enough to force himself to call his closest friends by their correct names by the end of the series.
• Hot-Blooded: He's a Large Ham who loves to fight and will usually dive into any situation headfirst, demonstrating his extreme personality even more. His usual outlook on life is to never think but act out with pure bull-headedness, which makes him chaotically impulsive as he neglects any sort of regulations and common sense.
• Idiot Hero: Immature and impulsive, but becomes just as heroic as his fellow demon slayers as he follows their example. He's also dumb as rocks.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: During the Red Light District arc, he gets impaled through the chest by Gyutaro's sickle while attempting to flee with Daki's severed head. He survives thank to his ability to shift his internal organs around, but is still heavily wounded.
• Insane Troll Logic: If he's given enough time to think things through, this will be his conclusion. Listening to his inner monologue doesn't help it make sense.
• It's All About Me: Joined the corps for personal glory and to satisfy his own bloodlust. Even after he gains more noble traits he has a false assumption he's the true leader of the group, but it's hinted deep down he understands Tanjiro is the true driving force behind their mission against Muzan and his demon forces.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's introduced as a violent Blood Knight who ignores civilian bystanders (even using one as a stepping stone), picks fights with anyone at the drop of a hat, and even trying to go through Tanjiro's box and brutalizing Zenitsu when the latter tries to stop him. He gets better later on as he interacts more with Tanjiro and Zenitsu, and starts to become more open to working with them as a team. During the final battle against Muzan he is enraged at the latter for killing hordes of Demon Slayers and also maiming Giyu and Gyomei showing a notable increase in empathy and tries to make him pay for the slaughter.
• Large Ham: Is pretty much always shouting about something, typically his fighting prowess.
• Lazily Gender-Flipped Name: He goes by "Inoko" when disguised as a female prostitute during the Entertainment District arc.
• Literal-Minded: Tanjiro chastises him for attacking Zenitsu on the grounds that demon slayers must not draw their swords against each other. Inosuke claims to understand, and then proceeds to attack Tanjiro with his fists.
• Made of Iron: Tanjiro perseveres through countless injuries, but Inosuke isn't even slowed by them. He often has to be reminded of how severe his injuries are because he carries on so roughly.
• Major Injury Underreaction: No wound stops him, even when he grows feeble with bloodloss or becomes impaired by broken bones. His first instinct upon waking up from a concussion? Trying to pick a fight with the nearest person.
• Manly Tears: In Chapter 163, Inosuke is shown crying after realizing that his mother really did love him.
  • He suffers this again when he realizes that he cannot strike down Tanjiro after his transformation.
• Mr. Fanservice: His Walking Shirtless Scene shows off his toned physique quite well.
• Never Learned to Read: He outright admits that he never learned how to read or write.
• The Nicknamer: Much later in the series, after Inosuke learns how to consistently call his closest friends by their correct names (Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Kanao), his more prevalent quirk is the nicknames he comes up for the not-so-close friends, like the Hashira, for example Himejima is the “Juzou Ossan” (prayer beads old man).
• No Indoor Voice: Is constantly screaming at the top of his lungs, even when indoors.
• No Infantile Amnesia: Inosuke has very early memories of his mother Kotoha singing him several pinky promise songs when he was a baby. He originally associated the pinky promise with Shinobu when she asked him to pinky swear not to take off his stitches. Ultimately, it took Doma telling him about Kotoha and her songs to jog his memory. Because these memories were so heartfelt and soothing, not to mention Doma outright saying he ate Kotoha, this revelation causes Inosuke to swear vengeance for her death by killing Doma.
• Nominal Hero: Initally joined the Demon Slayer Corps just so he can fight demons. He gets better, though.
• No Social Skills: Inosuke spent most of his life alone in the mountains, with only a little human interaction when he was an infant. With that, he had little to no experience and knowledge of social interactions. This makes him seem quite insensitive in his early appearances, but it is progressively shown that most of it wasn't done out of real malice, and he really has no idea how to be sensitive towards people. Tanjiro eventually becomes quite the mentor on how Inosuke develops in his empathy towards others.
• Odd Friendship: Surprisingly, Inosuke and Nezuko are shown to get along quite well together, most likely due to both of them having child-like behaviors. This is best seen when Nezuko starts talking again, and Inosuke ends up teaching her to say his name, even teaching Nezuko to call him "Boss Inosuke". Zenitsu wasn't happy to hear about this...
• Organ Dodge: During the fight with Daki and Gyutaro, Inosuke is seemingly pierced through the heart and appears to die, but later rejoins the fight and reveals he is capable of shifting his organs around to avoid fatal damage. However, this doesn't protect him from blood loss or poisoned weapons, and he needs to be healed by Nezuko after the fight in order to survive his wounds.
• Oxymoronic Being: Inosuke is delicately beautiful while being an outrageously animalistic brute. Dude's like a bazooka painted fuchsia.
• Parental Abandonment: He grew up in the mountains with no parents, having only been raised by a wild boar. It's later revealed that his mother had run away to the Eternal Paradise cult to escape her abusive husband, only to be forced to drop Inosuke off a cliff to save him from Doma after she discovered he was a demon eating his followers. She was killed by Doma shortly afterward.
• Parental Substitute: It is hinted that he started to see Shinobu as a mother-figure because of her kindness and her pinky promise with him connected to subconscious memories of his actual mother.
• Pinky Swear: In a flashback, he made a pinky promise to Shinobu to not undo his stitched wounds at the Butterfly Estate. Shinobu's act of kindness created a bond that Inosuke felt between the two, and this is what motivates Inosuke to avenge her and help Kanao defeat Doma. With a surprising twist, Inosuke's mother Kotoha would always sing a pinky promise lullaby to him when he was an infant, showing how much she really loved him. This caused him to think that Shinobu was his mother at first until finally realizing that Kotoha was his real mother.
• Raised by Wolves: Shown in an omake that he was raised by a wild sow.
• Rank Up: Inosuke starts his career as a Demon Slayer as the lowest 10th rank, Mizunoto, after the Mugen Train arc he rises to Kanoe, 7th rank; the Infinity Castle arc starts with him as Hinoe, 3rd rank, three steps away from becoming Hashira, which is only revealed in the 2nd Databook.
• Rebellious Spirit: Inosuke literally rejects any sort of thinking whatsoever and especially neglects common sense proving how little he cares about what anyone thinks of him.
• Reverse Psychology:
  • Tanjiro inadvertently utilizes this, causing Inosuke to help bury the bodies of the demon living in the house in the woods when he excuses the latter due to his injuries. Later Inosuke starts deliberately stealing Tanjiro's food to provoke him. But Tanjiro misinterprets it, and offers him more, thinking he was just famished. Inosuke then refuses any further food and starts eating his own again.
  • Weaponized later by Shinobu after Inosuke lost his motivation to practice the full breathing technique. She says that it's a fundamental technique and that he should be able to get the hang of it, but nobody will judge him if he is unable to do it. This riles him up enough to throw himself into learning as fast as he can.
• Right for the Wrong Reasons: The first time Inosuke sees a train, he is terrified and assumes it must be some kind of monstrous creature to Zenitsu's dismay (Tanjiro also has that first impression). It turns out he wasn't completely wrong, as a demon has fused with the entire train.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: After he faces his mother's killer Doma, he vows to kill him in the most brutal way possible and vowed to create a personalized hell for him if one does not already exist.
• Running on All Fours: Not literally, but he can run and fight with his torso so low and even that Tanjiro feels like he's facing a quadrupedal beast instead of a bipedal human. He does occasionally get on all fours briefly for a burst of speed or to launch himself, but not for sustained locomotion.
• Scarred Equipment: His dual katanas are so chipped and worn from combat that they look like saws. Comically when he receives two brand new katana, he picks up a rock and chips the blade until they look like the old ones, right in front of the outraged swordsmith who made them.
• Screaming Warrior: He is literally the incarnation of this trope as he never stops screaming his lungs out and almost can never utter a single sentence without shouting.
• Serrated Blade of Pain: His swords are worn down and chipped to the point of being almost completely serrated. Even when he acquires new swords, he makes sure to chip the perfect blades into crude saws. Much to the annoyance and sheer horror of the above mentioned swordsmith.
• Stealth Pun: He is very rude, very crude, completely uncivilized, and has a boar Animal Motif. In other words, he's literally an uncultured swine. More so in English, but you could also say he's particularly boarish.
• Stock Shōnen Hero: Inosuke fits the trope better than the hero, being loud, Hot-Blooded fighter who believes in Strategy, Schmategy. However, he is also rude and had been quite callous before he met Tanjiro, and goes into deep depression whenever he finds himself unable to improve.
• Strategy, Schmategy: His favorite plan of attack is charging straight into the fray, and he shrugs off the plans and advice of others like water off a duck's back. At one point he even brags to a demon behaving strangely that it can't make him think.
  Inosuke: "So, you're plotting to make me use my head again, huh? In your dreams!"
• Strong and Skilled: Surprisingly due to him hating strategy and dislikes thinking before a battle he has the most proficient fighting ability and is without question one of the best fighters in the main group. He is shown to have mastered and created his own Breathing technique while also being very skilled in both armed and unarmed combat and also having very impressive feats of strength which highlight his physical abilities even more.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Looks near identical to his mother Kotoha, something Doma remarks on.
• Super-Senses: His sense of touch is very acute, and he can feel vibrations in the air. This is also a reason why he doesn't wear a shirt since he believes doing so would dull his senses.
• A Taste of Defeat: Inosuke’s timely defeat against the Father Spider Demon in the Natagumo Mountain arc is pivotal for his character growth as the series progresses, Inosuke’s naive idea that he was invincible was torn apart and for that Inosuke is temporarily saddened which opens a breach for him to accept Tanjiro and Zenitsu’s attempts to rise his spirit, from that point onwards Inosuke slowly becomes open to the idea of team work and grow connections with others as he learns from Tanjiro.
• Testosterone Poisoning: Let's see, he's a Wild Child Blood Knight who wears a giant pig's head, was raised by wild boars, became a member of Demon Slayer Corps because he beat up a random guy in the wild for his sword and then entered into the test he was supposed to go to, and is absolutely ripped and constantly shirtless. His ferocity is played for comedy more often than seriously. The testerone didn't reach his face, however.
• Too Hungry to Be Polite: Having grown up alone in the mountains, he's a messy eater and has no table manners. He doesn't even bother to use chopsticks and will just stuff food into his mouth with his hands.
• Token Evil Teammate: Of the anti-heroic variety; he is the most ruthless and chaotic of the main four.
• Took a Level in Kindness: His first appearance turns into a far cry of how he behaves later in the series. In the beginning, Inosuke was an extremely fight hungry guy who didn't seem to care for actually protecting people against demons; he was more about the thrill of the fight, be a demon, or even a fellow demon slayer. Not long after, however, Inosuke faces a few battles where he feels threatened by stronger foes for the first time in his life, and he feels completely useless for one quick moment after the battle but his friends, Tanjiro and Zenitsu, manage to cheer him just as fast. From that point on, Inosuke begins to act quite reliably in that he starts to listen for battle plans and to save people in the crossfire against demons, yet still remaining quite the battle-crazed slayer but a more reliable one.
• The Unapologetic: He attacked Zenitsu when he shielded Nezuko. Later, Tanjiro demands that Inosuke apologize to Zenitsu for attacking him, he refuses.
• Use Your Head: While his skull isn't quite as rock-hard as Tanjiro's (he got a massive goose egg when their heads collided), he is fond of charging headfirst at enemies like a boar.
• Vocal Dissonance: He has feminine features under his boar mask, making his deep and raspy voice jarring to hear whenever he takes his mask off.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Hates wearing shirts, believing that covering his torso will dull his senses. Even if he has to wear a shirt for whatever reason, he'll usually keep it unbuttoned. He is not happy about having to wear a kimono when Disguised in Drag during the Entertainment District Arc.
• Wild Child: Grew up on a mountain with no family, though he's surprisingly good at talking despite this background due to an old man who taught him how to speak through reading poems to him.
• Wisdom from the Gutter: Inosuke who had been pretty oblivious, borderline insensitive early on, till then on how to react to death happening around him, stepped up to give a pretty rousing speech once Kyojuro died against Akaza, Tanjiro was feeling devastated over his death, thinking Kyojuro lost because he had to look out for demon slayers weaker than him and all 200 passengers on the train, Tanjiro thought it would have been better if he died instead of Kyojuro; Inosuke steps up, telling Tanjiro to remember Kyojuro's words of trust towards them, he trusted that all three boys would become great demon slayers even better than he was, so Tanjiro shouldn't ever think about dying, it would invalidate all hopes for the future placed on him.
• Would Hit a Girl: He uses Teruko as a stepping stone in Kyogai's house. He also mentions at one point that he's struck female children before, and replies to Kocho's condescending Reverse Psychology by threatening to rip off her breasts. He also decapitates Daki albeit, she's a demon.
• Would Hurt a Child: He uses Teruko as a stepping stone in Kyogai's house. He also mentions at one point that he's struck female children before.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Inosuke tries several times to initiate a rivalry typical of the shounen genre with Tanjiro. Tanjiro however is too mature and cool-headed and just ignores Inosuke, much to the latter's irritation.
• You Killed My Father: Inosuke barks to his mother's murderer (Doma) that he will show him what Hell is like. He doesn't take it lightly either when Doma started to badmouth Kotoha as well.

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