Main Characters | Demon Slayer Corps (Hashira) | Demons (Muzan Kibutsuji | Twelve Kizuki: Upper Ranks: Kokushibo | Hantengu) | Civilians | Demon Slayer Academy
Hantengu
The Upper-4. At first glance he seems to be nothing but a sniveling old coward, but should he be pushed to fight he reveals he can summon and split off his own emotions to destroy his opponents.
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General
As a group
- Affably Evil: Karaku and Urogi are very cheerful in battle and even compliment their opponents when they get a hit on them, the former of whom irritates Sekido and Aizetsu who both take fighting very seriously. Aizetsu himself counts to a degree, considering how he derives no joy in fighting his opponents and wants to give them quick and painless deaths.
- Ambiguously Brown: He and his emotion forms all have dark tan skin, although his younger emotions have more of a reddish tinge to indicate their virility.
- Antiquated Linguistics: Both Hantengu and his emotion forms speak in a very formal and old-time sounding way in Japanese, most notably using the first-person pronoun "washi".
- Arc Villain: Of the Swordsmith Village Arc, along with Gyokko, due to assaulting the village in order to cripple the Demon Hunters.
- Asteroids Monster: Killing his emotion self just makes it split into two different emotions, and splitting them again just creates two more emotions. After that, they just split into different versions of the same emotion, albeit much smaller and weaker than the original. And then they start cannibalizing each other...
- Bishounen Line: Compared to his old and ugly normal form, his emotions take the shape of handsome, youthful men, with the exception of Zohakuten who takes the appearance of a muscular child, and Urami who is a muscular and angrier version of himself.
- Blood Knight: Karaku and Urogi have shades of this, as they both take a lot of, well, pleasure and joy in the thrill of combat.
- Cannibalism Superpower: By having an emotion absorb the other, they turn into a different, stronger emotion. Notable in that the emotions being consumed don't react nicely to the process.
- Climax Boss: He's the last opponent faced before Nezuko becomes invulnerable to the sun, and after the Hashira Training Arc, Muzan comes down on them, Kagaya sacrifices himself, and the Infinity Castle Arc then happens.
- Color-Coded Emotions: Minus Urami, Hantengu's emotions have unique color schemes indicated by their eyes and clothing. Sekido (Anger) is red, Karaku (Pleasure) is green, Urogi (Joy) is amber, and Aizetsu (Sorrow) is blue. Zohakuten (Hatred) is associated with gold to emphasize his great power.
- Combat Pragmatist: His various forms have no qualms about attacking someone in the back while they are distracted fighting another emotion, something that Genya and Nezuko find out the hard way.
- Combo Platter Powers: Hantengu's emotions have a very wide variety of supernatural abilities that don't follow a specific elemental theme, much more than any other demon in the series. It's implied that Hantengu himself could use every single one of his emotions' powers, but doesn't because he is too much of a coward.
- Distinguishing Mark: His various bodies have the kanji for their namesake emotion marked on their tongues, something that Tanjiro realizes and uses to locate Hantengu's real form.
- Doppelgänger Attack: Essentially his main Blood Demon Art, in where he creates four clones based on his emotions to fight for him.
- Emotional Powers: The emotions that Hantengu feels are a main component of his fighting style, as they split off into physical embodiments of said emotions when he is in danger. The stronger the emotion that he feels, the stronger the physical emotion becomes.
- Evil Laugh: Karaku and Urogi let out "Kakaka" as their signature laugh in the manga.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Hantengu's hair changes to showcase his rejuvenation as part of his Blood Demon Art. Hantengu himself his balding with wavy disheveled long hair. When he first splits into Sekido and Karaku they have a full set of this hair. When Aizetsu and Urogi are formed, the clones's hair becomes spiky and slightly more refined and parted down the middle, instead of wavy.
- Facial Horror: Hantengu's normal form has a large nasty-looking tumor on his forehead, which really adds to his overall gruesome appearance. It's shown via flashback that he always had this deformity, even when he was still a human, and it apparently contributed towards him being a begger...which he then used to take advantage of those who took pity on him. This feature is a reference to a traditional Tengu legend called "The Old Man's Lump Removed". Minus Urami who also carries the tumor, his emotions instead simply have the tumor's discoloration on their foreheads, but lack the bump itself. All forms have a shriveled forehead.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble:
- Sekido (choleric): The short tempered and irate leader of the clones.
- Karaku & Urogi (sanguine): The energetic blood knights that get a real kick out of fighting.
- Aizetsu (melancholic): The dour and gloomy Token Good Teammate that tends to try and give enemies the quickest deaths.
- Zohakuten (phlegmatic): The quiet but highly intelligent and dangerous Knight of Cerebus.
- Guardian Entity: The Emotion Clones serve as this to Hantengu when using his Blood Demon Art.
- Gorgeous Garment Generation: When he separates his body into the four main emotions: Sekido (Anger), Karaku (Pleasure), Urogi (Joy) and Aizetsu (Sorrow), only Sekido (Anger) repurposes the main body's outfit, the other three are seen conjuring textile out of thin air along with the new flesh and bones for their bodies; when all four fuse back into a new emotion, Zohakuten (Hatred), the same magical wardrobe change happens.
- Horns of Villainy: Hantengu has two large horns protruding from his head, a feature that all of his forms share.
- I Was Quite a Looker: According to the second fanbook the emotion clones are based on Hantengu's younger years with his main form being based on his old age. Zohakuten being his childhood with the main four being his late-teenage/young adult years.
- Literal Split Personality: Splits into multiple versions of himself when cut, each having a different attitude. His main four emotions are Anger, Pleasure, Sorrow, and Joy, but he also has forms for Fear, Hatred and Resentment.
- Meaningful Name:
- A fairly obvious one, his name can be translated as "half tengu", with many of his emotion forms having elements from traditional Buddhist depictions of tengu as harbingers of war, embodying the most terrifying parts of the legends and none of the positive.
- The "han" part of his name also evokes the hannya mask, which his normal face resembles. In noh theater, Hannya masks typically represent female demons born of jealousy or obsession, but are also often associated with the complexity of human emotions, which ties in with Hantengu's main demonic ability.
- Oh, Crap!: When Tanjiro awakens his Demon Slayer mark, it triggers Muzan's memories of Yoriichi, much to Sekido's shock and Urogi's horror.
- Perpetual Frowner: Almost all Hantengu's emotions (except for Karaku and Urogi) are always seen with a frown. Obie's is one of fear, Sekido's is one of fury, Aizetsu's is one of somberness, Zohakuten's is a hateful scowl, and Urami's is a wild grimace of resentment.
- Perpetual Smiler: Karaku and Urogi are almost always seen with wicked grins plastered on their faces, while Sekido and Aizetsu are only seen either scowling or frowning. The contrast between the expressions of both Karaku's and Sekido's faces is shown in shadow on the cover page of chapter 107.
- Playing the Victim Card: Always had a habit of doing this. Whenever Hantengu did something criminal, he would play the part of the victim and did anything he could in order to make his accusers and others look bad as a way to gain sympathy. This is also shown when Zohakuten berates Tanjiro for "tormenting the weak", never mind that the former was the one who attacked first, killed and ate hundreds of people, and was anything but innocent throughout his life. In the end, his last revealed emotion, Urami, also condemns Tanjiro for not feeling bad for him and for "bully[ing] the weak" as he puts it, but by then Tanjiro, and everyone else, has had enough of Hantengu’s lies.
- Pointy Ears: He has a pair of large pointed ears, another feature shared by all of his forms besides the set of horns.
- Powers Do the Fighting: The real Hantengu just runs away and cowers in fear during the battles. His emotions, however...
- Puzzle Boss: The way to defeat him is so ridiculously convoluted that were this were a video game, it would be a prime case of Guide Dang It!. Trying to decapitate him splits him into more demons with various powers, all of which are able to survive infinite decapitations. They can also fuse back together - but not back into Hantengu, that would be too simple, but rather into Zohakuten, a demon more powerful than all of them combined. But all of these demons are invincible, and attacking them serves no purpose. What you actually have to do is chase Obie, his tiny, agile true body, while fending off their attacks. If by some miracle you manage to corner Obie, he grows to a massive size and starts fighting back. So you decapitate him and you're finally done, right? Nope! You see, what you actually decapitated is Urami, Obie's last resort, which can survive without its head just fine! What you actually need to target is Urami's heart, where you will find Obie and hopefully, at last, decapitate him for good.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: A common theme of the character:
- The eyes of Hantengu's default form are bloodshot red (it's later shown that these are his scleras as he has very small pupils), and he is far more dangerous than his cowardly disposition lets on.
- This also applies to Sekido in a case of Red Is Violent.
- Similarly, Zohakuten's scleras are blood red, and he's the most dangerous of all of Hantengu's emotions.
- Urami's eyes are also bloodshot red, and he's an angry, towering brute.
- Sexier Alter Ego: Hantengu's youthful emotions are much better looking than his decrepit, old normal form, to put it mildly.
- Straight Man and Wise Guy: Sekido and Karaku have this dynamic after splitting off at the start of the fight, with Sekido taking everything very seriously while Karaku takes the battle lightly and snarks at him for his bad attitude.
- Super-Scream: Urogi can emit a deafening sonic screech capable of temporarily stunning enemies. Zohakuten is also capable of using this ability to much more devastating effect, as it is capable of literally tearing grown men apart. Urami also uses this ability, though it's not as potent as that of Urogi or Zohakuten.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Despite splitting off from the same individual, Hantengu's emotions don't get along very well and bicker amongst themselves often, especially the short-fused Sekido.
- Tengu: His main motif; his various forms have elements from traditional legends associated with tengu. Examples include his standard form's lumped forehead, Urogi's hawk-like wings and talons, Karaku's yatsude leaf fan, and Sekido's yamabushi-style clothing and shakujō staff.
- Walking Shirtless Scene: Karaku and Urogi have little or nothing covering their upper bodies.
- Walking Spoiler: It's impossible to talk about Hantengu without revealing the existence of his clones.
- Worf Effect: On both sides of this. To showcase how powerful the Kamado siblings are at this point, Sekido, Urogi, and Karaku are effortlessly beheaded by Tanjiro in one slash, and they frequently fall victim to Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura techniques and Nezuko's Blood Demon Art. When Zohakuten comes to the scene however, he quickly overpowers them as well as Genya, almost eating Tanjiro at one point, showing how hopelessly out of their depth they are until Mitsuri appears.
Individually
Hantengu/Obie
Main Body (Hantengu/Obie)
Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Christopher Corey Smith (English)Other VA
Click here to see his core emotion, Obie (Fear)
Click here to see him as a human
"Since the day I was born I've never lied...not even once! I'm a good natured weakling! I deserve pity, but no one has any sympathy for me."
The main core of Hantengu. While he is the size of a normal human being, his core emotion Obie is a tiny version of his default form, very fast and with a surprisingly tough body for his small size.
- Abusive Parents: He married multiple times and had children, but every time someone else or his wives confronted him over his deceptive nature, he would react poorly then kill his entire family.
- Actor Allusion: Christopher Corey Smith once again plays a Dirty Coward who's in a high-ranking position he doesn't deserve and mainly relies on his much stronger subordinates to fight his battles for him.
- Animal Motifs: Genya refers to his Fear form's minuscule body as like that of a rat's, which is a very apt description of Hantengu. He has notably large ears, is seen moving around on all fours at times, and cowers at anything he perceives as a threat before running away. The source of his power is even an embodiment of the old Japanese proverb "the cornered rat will bite a cat."
- An Arm and a Leg: It's heavily implied that the magistrate ordered Hantengu's hands to be severed off when he tried to blame them for his actions.
- Attack on the Heart: How he meets his end. As the sun begins to rise, Hantengu attempts to escape by hiding his true body within the heart of Urami as he runs for cover. Tanjiro catches up to him thanks to Nezuko's Heroic Sacrifice and cuts Urami's body in half, perfectly bisecting the heart and decapitating Hantengu's true body in one slash.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Taken to criminal insanity levels. Hantengu lived a life of constant lies both as a human and a demon. Being a con artist and serial killer in the past, the absurd amount of denial over every single crime of his passed over to his demonic self. Hantengu wholeheartedly believes he is an innocent old man being constantly under attack by evildoers who wrongly accuse him of terrible deeds. With Zohakuten, the physical embodiment of his hatred, Hantengu literally projects a young and strong protector who finally stands up for "the poor old man".
- Berserk Button: If you do not play along with his own delusions of innocence and victimhood, he will have no choice but to end you and deny responsibility. Unfortunately this is how many innocent, reasonable people and his many wives and children ended up meeting their demise.
- Blaming the Victim: When not blaming his own hands for his actions he usually blames his victims for "wronging" him in the first place.
- The Bluebeard: The databook reveals that, from his time as a human to supposedly until he became a demon, Hantengu had been married several times and had many families, but every time he was accused of dishonesty, he would lose control of his emotions and end up killing his wives and children.
- Compulsive Liar: The databook stated that Hantengu would always lie about everything regarding himself. It even got to the point where he no longer remembers his true name, age, or backstory.
- Con Man: As a human, Hantengu would take advantage of people's generosity by pretending to be blind so he can steal from them.
- Cornered Rattlesnake: This is a distinct aspect of Hantengu's power and what makes him such a formidable opponent. His normal form usually cowers in fear, and when put in a corner his emotions become so strong they split off to protect him. The worse a situation is for him, the stronger the emotions become, which allowed him to overpower all of his prior enemies.
- Creepy High-Pitched Voice: Sort of. When Tanjiro attempts to behead a fleeing Obie, the small demon lets an extremely high pitched and grating squeal, which greatly disturbs Tanjiro.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: With his unimpressive behavior and cowardly personality, it is easy to dismiss Hantengu as a fool and a weakling, but the truth is that his Blood Demon Art is incredibly troublesome and versatile, and to fight him on equal conditions it was necessary to combine the efforts of two skilled demon hunters, a Hashira and a powerful demon. Even then, all they could really do in the end was stall Hantengu until sunrise when he was most vulnerable.
- Defiant to the End:
- Not him, but the magistrate sentencing him for execution in his flashback, combined with Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?. After he's turned into a demon while on death row, he goes after the people who imprisoned him, culminating with the magistrate. But the magistrate refuses to cower in his final moments, swearing that Hantengu's comeuppance will undoubtedly come one day.
- Hantengu himself tries to push Tanjiro away with his very last strength using Urami's body before the demon slayer overpowers and finally decapitates him.
- Determinator: A particularly twisted example. Hantengu is so cowardly and afraid of facing the weight of his crimes that he has devised countless ways of assuring his safety and chances of fleeing from the battle, going from splitting his body into alter egos that fight for him, to shrink himself to the size of a mouse to become faster and escape more easily, to create a stronger body by fusing all the four of his emotions, encasing himself in the ability of the strongest body to protect himself, create a bigger version of his default body as a last line of defense and even barricading himself in the heart of that body so his enemies center on his neck and giving him another chance to escape. There's no doubt that his survival instinct is on a whole different level. It goes to a point where he's willing to let the sun burn him slowly and risk his life for a chance to recover his strength by feeding on some of the swordsmiths and let his pursuers behind. In fact, his many attempts to cheat his punishment are so much even Tanjiro ends up overwhelmed by them, and Hantengu would have gotten his way if Nezuko hadn't sacrificed herself to push her brother into finishing him off.
- Dies Differently In The Adaptation: A minor example: in the manga, Tanjiro bisects Urami while decapitating Hantengu in the process, thus finishing him off with one slash. However, the anime adds Tanjiro going for the kill on Hantengu after bisecting Urami, which lets him out of the latter's heart and causes him to suffer and extremely slow and excruciating decapitation as well as exposure to the sunlight.
- Dirty Coward: Spends most of his fights whining and crying in terror while his emotion forms do the fighting. His real body runs away from combat and hides, becoming an embodiment of Fear that is protected from danger by his other emotion forms. In the end, he even dies like a coward, getting cut down while running away as the sun rises.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In the manga, his kimono's left side has flowers inside diamond-like line patterns, while his right side is a simple dark color. In addition, some colorations depict his kimono as purple. In the anime however, his kimono is simplified possibly to make it easier to animate. The right side is black with a simple pattern of yellow, wavy, lines, while the right side is dark red in color. The only time the floral-pattern kimono is seen in the anime is in the Mugen Train arc when Enmu plans to challenge an Upper Rank and visualizes Hantengu as a candidate.
- Evil Old Folks: Not that the young-looking Upper Ranks are any younger, but he is the only one who takes the shape of a shriveled old man. When he splits into his separate emotions, they appear much younger than his standard form, with the strongest being a child.
- Faux Affably Evil: He seems like a shy, wimpy demon, but he's unashamed of the evil he has done.
- Four Is Death: The fourth strongest member of the Upper Ranks can split into four main bodies, and is also a very superstitious person.
- Gonk: He's an old man with a near-skeletal build, teeth always exposed in a snarl, and his head displays a grotesquely large lump as well as a shriveled and discolored forehead. It in only makes the demon all the more repulsive.
- Hate Sink: While not as bad as Muzan, it's clear that Hantengu has no redeeming qualities and was a terrible person as a human. Tanjiro doesn't have any sympathy for him whatsoever and cuts him down without hesitation. He's especially despicable as him being especially hard to kill leads to Nezuko having to sacrifice herself and let the sun burn her in order for Tanjiro to save the villagers that Urami is chasing. She survives but it is an incredibly painful scene (especially in the anime), which can add another layer of hate on Hantengu.
- Hypocrite: His main character trait. He calls humans monsters for attacking him, never mind that he attacked first and that he has eaten countless humans. This attitude greatly enrages the usually kind and sympathetic Tanjiro, to where he's more than happy to behead him.
- Insane Troll Logic: Hantengu is a very deranged individual and will always find a way to paint himself as an innocent victim no matter what heinous acts he did. This is exemplified by Zohakuten delivering a speech condemning the Demon Slayers for bullying his true form, something that greatly angers Tanjiro due to his blatant hypocrisy.
- I Reject Your Reality: The most egregious case in the entire series, Hantengu lived his entire human life, and now demon life, leeching of a fabricated reality that no matter what heinous crimes he committed Hantengu believed himself to be innocent; it is so ludicrous that the only memories of his human life that resurface shortly before he is about to be killed by Tanjiro is of the numerous people that correctly judged him as guilty, but Hantengu still saw it as instances where terrible individuals accused him of things he never did.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Invoked by the Magistrate when he is about be killed by Hantengu, who had become a demon. The Magistrate promises Hantengu that he will one day pay for his sins with his life, and true to his word, the warranty finally expires once Tanjiro decapitates him and has his remains incinerated by the sun.
- Kinslaying Is a Special Kind of Evil: As said before, every time Hantengu was called out for his dishonest nature, he would kill the families he produced in a flurry of rage... and this has happened several times throughout his human life.
- Made of Iron: He becomes incredibly durable when he shrinks down to a minuscule size and becomes Obie, taking sword blows to the neck and blasts from Genya's nichirin shotgun pellets without sustaining damage. He is only damaged by Tanjiro using Hinokami Kagura techniques.
- Miniature Senior Citizens: A really small, disturbingly creepy old man. While using his powers, he becomes as small as a rat, while his emotion selves are the sizes of regular humans.
- Moral Myopia: He winces and cries about being "bullied" when he's attacked. Never mind that Hantengu, as a human being, was a recognized thief and killer, and has also eaten hundreds of people as a demon.
- Motivated by Fear: The actual source of Hantengu's power that empowers all his clones, moreso in Zohakuten's case; the manga narrated (unlike the anime) the core emotion, Obie (Fear), feeling threatened is what empowers his emotions to protect him, Fear feeling absolutely terrorized is the cue for Zohakuten to manifest itself by not only gathering the power of the four clones but soaking in all of what "Fear" has to feed him; that's why Zohakuten is the best line of defense that has a prerequisite to manifest, and whose personality is that of a protector who mentally projects those who attack Hantengu as villains.
- Name Amnesia: The 2nd Fanbook gives an actual reason why Hantengu's real human name isn't given, he has lived a life of constant lying and identity assumption that Hantengu just had too many names during his human days, none of them important enough for him to remember as soon as he came up with another identity to assume to leech off of others; Hantengu no longer had a concept of a real identity, becoming unable to remember his real name.
- Near-Villain Victory: He almost gets to eat the swordsmiths he was chasing to recover his strength, but Nezuko's Heroic Sacrifice allows Tanjiro to catch up with him and put an end to his life.
- Nervous Wreck: Hantengu is always in a state of anxiety, even when not in combat.
- Never My Fault: Pretty much his personality and the source of his power. As a human, he used to kill and steal yet preached his own innocence, and at one point, claimed his hands were acting on their own. This dissociative disorder is what apparently turned his blood art into the emotions tengu generating thing it is. Reasonably, the magistrate in his flashbacks and Tanjiro both have absolutely no sympathy for him.
- No Brows: Unlike his younger clones, Hantengu's prominent brow ridge lacks eye brows.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: First introduced as a decrepit old demonic being, Hantengu would make the audience wonder why he is the Upper Rank 4 at first, as he seemed rather weak and acted like a constantly shriveling old man, contrasting with the other Twelve Kizuki demons, who seem more battle ready than him; however, as the Swordsmith Village arc unfolds Hantengu shows exactly why he is Upper-4, his Blood Demon Art is quite versatile in separating his body into living incarnations of his emotions who make it extremely hard to take him down for good, as they all easily regenerate, and even that is just the beginning of Hantengu's onslaught. The main 4 emotions aren't all that strong in the end, it is their fusion, Zohakuten (Hatred), that really contains all of Hantengu's physical might, and true to form he is actually never beaten straight in a fight; Tanjiro, Mitsuri, Nezuko and Genya had to work together to stall Zohakuten as long as possible to kill Obie instead, Hantengu's core emotion, which ends Zohakuten by proxy.
- No Sympathy: In his backstory, the Magistrate who rightfully calls out Hantengu for his misdeed and calls bullshit on all excuses he brings in his defence, outright tells him he's got zero sympathy for any of his attempts to emotionally manipulate others to avoid being punished. Tanjiro in the present day eventually reaches this point too, after witnessing Hantengu's sheer Moral Myopia in his own defence, enraging him and single-mindedly pursuing the upper-rank both to save people, but more personally to deliver a punishment he cannot squirm his way out of.
- Obfuscating Disability: As a human, Hantengu was a thief and a murderer who pretended to be blind to take advantage of others and avoid suspicion. But the magistrate who condemns Hantengu is not at all fooled, citing that a blind anma masseur who normally visits him would always face a wall before the magistrate starts talking.
- Offing the Offspring: See Abusive Parents.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction to nearly everything, pathetically shrieking in terror and cowering at anything perceived as a threat.
- Only Sane Employee: At least Muzan seems to think so, at the very least finding him the most normal of the Upper Moons, if not intolerably annoying at times.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Appears to be the case when he suddenly grows in size and becomes an angry, vindictive behemoth, although this gets subverted when it's revealed it's simply the manifestation of his resentment, Urami.
- The one time he truly drops the fearful personality is before his death, where he sees his human days as an elderly criminal leading up to his encounter with Muzan, and he reacts with genuine shock and bewilderment that his life is flashing before his eyes. Even his voice became deeper as he reflects in the anime.
- Red Herring: The intro for the Swordsmith Village Arc depicts Obie hiding in a ball of tree branches while a horde of wooden dragons attack Mitsuri. Of course Zohakuten is responsible for these dragons but since he's nowhere to be seen, the audience is led to believe that he is somehow controlling the dragons before Zohakuten's debut.
- Running on All Fours: Hantengu has a habit of moving around on his hands and knees when in his standard form, and can move surprisingly fast in the position. He makes his introduction to Tanjiro and Muichiro by crawling into the house they are in, and proceeds to dart all around the room while still on all fours before getting cut down by Muichiro and splitting apart.
- Serial Killer: Even before becoming a demon, Hantengu had already murdered countless people in the past (whether it was people he took advantage of or the families he’s made before losing control of his emotions) and was sentenced to execution for his crimes, but was "rescued" by Muzan who turned Hantengu into the demon he is. Heck, the English dub even has Tanjiro call Hantengu a "mass murderer".
- Sizeshifter: His body can shrink down to a very small size when he becomes Obie, and grows to a rather massive size when he becomes Urami.
- Small Role, Big Impact: His battle in the swordsmith village leads to Nezuko gaining resistance to the sun. Muzan, finding out about Nezuko's new ability, compliments Hantengu as a result despite losing the battle. Thus, leading to the Infinity Castle battle where he infiltrates the Demon Slayers headquarters in search of Nezuko to absorb her as part of his plan.
- Sore Loser: According to the official fan book, when asked about his opinion on Hinokami Kagura, he still plays the victim card even in death, and calls it incredibly painful to the point where his wounds won't heal.
- Stealth Expert: He introduces himself into the fight by casually opening the door and crawling in the same room Tanjiro and Muichiro are in, neither of them had noticed his presence until right then. This level of skill is what makes them instantly realize they are against an Upper Rank. This aspect of his character is based on the traditional story of the Tengu's Magic Cloak, in which a tengu possesses a straw cloak that can hide the wearer's presence.
- Super-Speed: Obie can outrun anyone and anything bigger than him, making it a much difficult challenge for people like Tanjiro, Genya, and Nezuko to catch up to him until Tanjiro uses the physical techniques of Thunder Breathing to give him an advantage.
- Tears of Fear: He constantly sheds tears, especially when he is cowering as Obie.
- Undignified Death: Hantengu is cut down by Tanjiro and is immediately disintegrated by the sun as the icing on the cake.
- Undying Loyalty: Even if he immensely fears Muzan, Hantengu has always been extremely loyal to him, since Muzan freed him from capital punishment, believed his delusions that he is a victim, and turned him into a demon. The last thing Hantengu does before dying is report Nezuko's new immunity to the sun to Muzan, which the latter praises him for.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: It's hard to tell because his pupils are so small and he is always squinting in fear, but Hantengu's irises are actually a sickly yellow which accentuates his shameless and duplicitous victim mentality.
Sekido
Sekido
Voiced by: Yuichiro Umehara (Japanese), Yong Yea (English)Other VA
"There's nothing fun about this. All I'm feeling is uncontrollable rage!"
Incarnation of Hantengu's anger, looking like a demonic monk. Perpetually angry, but serious in his mission. Mainly fights with a khakkhara staff able to conjure lightning. Associated with red.
- Bad Boss: How else would you describe someone who fused with three of his underlings against their will just to become a stronger, more powerful being?
- Emergency Transformation: Sekido forcefully fuses with the other clones to from Zohakuten right when Tanjiro is close to decapitating their main body.
- Evil Sounds Deep: Has the deepest voice by far among the four main emotions, courtesy of Yuichiro Umehara and Yong Yea. Serves to reinforce his status as the de-facto leader of the clones.
- Forced Transformation: When Sekido fuses with the other 3 clones to form Zohakuten, Karaku and Urogi's horrified expressions and Aizetsu's attempt to protest all make it very clear that this was not consensual.
- Glowing Eyes: He sports these just as he absorbs the rest of the kidoairaku clones.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to tick him off. Justified as he is Hantengu's anger personified.
- The Leader: Seems to serve as the leader of the four main emotions, as he orders around the others and admonishes Karaku for not taking the fight seriously. He is also the emotion that absorbs the others to form Zohakuten, the strongest form.
- Magic Staff: He uses a ringed shakujō staff, capable of sending shockwaves of stunning electricity. Doubles as Staff of Authority as he's the unofficial leader of the four main emotions.
- No-Nonsense Nemesis: Unlike Karaku and Urogi, he tries to execute the enemy as soon as possible and wastes no time dealing with them.
- Perpetual Frowner: As expected, he sports a constant look of anger.
- Red Is Violent: As the emotion representing Hantengu's anger, he's associated with red. Ironically, despite this he's one of the least impulsive of the emotions and doesn't tends to enjoy fighting or indulging in violence as much as Karaku.
- Shock and Awe: Sekido can send shocks of lightning through the floor, stunning and incapacitating foes.
- A Sinister Clue: Unlike the other clones who are right-handed, he exclusively wields his staff with his left hand. Fitting for The Leader of a demon group.
- Slasher Smile: When he does smile, it's a very evil grin.
- Token Evil Teammate: A variant in that while the four emotions are technically all evil to begin with, he's the only one of the bunch who is not Affably Evil to any degree.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He subjects this to the other clones after Tanjiro gets dangerously close to beheading Obie, forcefully fusing with them to form Zohakuten.
Karaku
Karaku
Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (Japanese), Caleb Yen (English)Other VA
"Well, isn't this fun and entertaining! I've never been hit with an attack that felt like that!"
Incarnation of Hantengu's pleasure. A laidback, easygoing demon, but quite brutal despite his jovial nature. Fights with a leaf fan that allows him to generate devastating gusts of wind. Associated with green.
- Blow You Away: Karaku has a yatsude leaf fan that can create powerful gusts of wind with just one wave.
- Body Horror: After getting shot by Genya, his head gets severed but it is left dangling by a piece of flesh. Furthermore, his upper spine ends up being exposed.
- Break the Haughty: He is quite arrogant and boastful in his fight against the Kamados and Genya, viewing it as more of a game than anything else. However, when decapitated by Tanjiro using Hinokami Kagura, he screams in agony and is the most vocal in how much it hurts.
- The Brute: He's this among Hantengu's main four emotions, as the one with the most devastating ability and more apparent bloodthirst.
- Child-Like Voice: Karaku's English voice (provided by Caleb Yen) is noticeably high-pitched and nasally, making him sound like a teenager, which makes sense considering his pleasure-seeking personality.
- Crater Power: Karaku's blasts of wind are so powerful that they create yatsude leaf-shaped imprints in the ground.
- Dub Name Change: Not to the name itself, but to its English translation. The official Viz Media translation of the manga chose to translate Karaku as "Relaxed" instead of "Pleasure". However, the anime reverts this back to its original meaning.
- Green and Mean: Karaku has emerald eyes and is just as villainous as the other clones.
- The Hedonist: As the incarnation of pleasure, that's a given. He gets the most out of battle and prefers playing around with his opponents than fighting seriously, much to Sekido's chagrin.
- Improbable Weapon User: His leaf fan may look unimpressive at first, but it's in truth a weapon of great power able to generate strong wind attacks.
- Just Toying with Them: He initially finds himself in a hand-to-hand standoff with Nezuko, mocking her seemingly futile efforts to take him down before deciding to get rid of her once he sees a more interesting opponent in Genya.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Him sending Tokito flying away is what leads to the latter fighting and defeating Gyokko.
- Too Kinky to Torture: After getting shot by Genya, Karaku gets ecstatic by it citing that he was never hit with an attack like that. Subverted later however, when he is agonized by the pain from Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura and is the most vocal in how much it hurts.
- Vocal Dissonance: In the English Dub. Needless to say, you wouldn't expect a high-pitched and juvenile voice out of tall muscular hunk.
- Wind Is Green: Karaku's wind blasts are depicted with a green hue in the anime, following his association with green in general.
Aizetsu
Aizetsu
Voiced by: Soma Saito (Japanese), Brian Timothy Anderson (English)Other VA
"You're so weak it's sad."
Incarnation of Hantengu's sorrow. A skilled spear user with a constantly pessimistic demeanor. Associated with blue.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Downplayed. While he is a voluntary minion of Muzan who is focused on protecting Hantengu's main body, it can nevertheless be slightly heartbreaking to see him scream in agony after being burned by Nezuko's flames, and later get absorbed by Sekido to form Zohakuten, especially given his timid and merciful personality.
- Blade Spam: His Blood Demon Art, "Weeping Spears", is creating multiple long-ranged projectiles that look like blue energy beams.
- The Eeyore: He, naturally, is very sullen and moody at all times.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Downplayed. He's just as terrifyingly efficient as the other clones in a fight, but unlike the sadistic Urogi and Karaku or the serious yet cruel Sekido, he takes no pleasure in hurting others and does his best to kill them as quickly and painlessly as possible, as witnessing someone's suffering is among the many things that make him sad.
- Oh, Crap!: Has this reaction when he realizes that Sekido is going to absorb him like he did with Karaku and Urogi, but Aizetsu gets consumed before he could even make a sound.
- Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The polite villain to Genya's rude hero.
- Prone to Tears: Downplayed. He never actually cries, but he does look like he's perpetually on the verge of tears, has a rather shaky, cracking voice, and frequently talks about how sad many things make him.
- Razor Wind: He can thrust his polearm with enough force to send piercing blows of compressed air.
- Telescoping Staff: He wields a polearm that can extend and retract in length.
- Token Good Teammate: Downplayed. He's still a willing minion of Muzan who protects Hantengu's main body, but he prefers to give his foes a quick death not wanting to see them suffer. In comparison to Sekido, who wants to execute them cruelly, and Karaku and Urogi, both of whom want to toy with them, this makes him downright saintly.
- Weapon Specialization: He favors the usage of a spear to fight, that he can generate from his flesh in case of losing it. He's quite dexterous with it, able to throw multiple thrusts with great power.
Urogi
Urogi
Voiced By: Shunsuke Takeuchi (Japanese), Chris Hackney (English)Other VA
"This makes my heart sing! It's been so long since I was last split off!"
Incarnation of Hantengu's joy. A boisterous demon with wings and talons of a raptor and is always in a state of happiness. His ability consists in emitting sonic screams able to stun his enemies. Associated with yellow/gold.
- Break the Haughty: He brags about Tanjiro not being able to leave a scratch on him, but when he sees visions of Yoriichi from Tanjiro awaking his mark, he looks absolutely terrified when rushing towards him.
- Death from Above: Thanks to his winged physiology, he can attack his enemies from great heights and surprise them with aerial attacks.
- Fun Personified: He is the personification of happiness, after all.
- Gonk: After Tanjiro slices of Urogi's foot, a head grows on it which Tanjiro slices horizontally. The top and bottom jaw form into small, malformed, veiny demons with the top jaw growing bulbous eyes.
- Harping on About Harpies: Male example; he, while predominantly based on a tengu, also greatly resembles a harpy, with wings sprouting from his back and hawk's talons for hands and feet.
- Nonstandard Character Design: Unique among the clones in that he's the only one with a non-human body with sharp talons for arms and legs and the wings and lower half of an eagle.
- Power Gives You Wings: This clone has wings and makes full use of them in combat, grabbing his prey not unlike an eagle, instead of using some sort of weapon like the other 3 emotions.
- Token Flyer: He's the only of both Hantengu's emotions and the Twelve Kizuki in general with the ability to fly.
- Winged Humanoid: He's a human-like demon with two big raptor wings on his back.
Zohakuten
Zohakuten
Voiced by: Kōichi Yamadera (Japanese), Ben Balmaceda (English)Other VA
"You brutal fiends who torment the weak...Atrocious...Offensive...to the extreme. Damn you, awful villains..."
Hantengu's strongest emotion alter-ego, the incarnation of his hatred. A powerful demon similar in appearance to the kami Raijin, but with the deceiving look of a child. Only appears when Hantengu feels he's at his most desperate with a fusion of his four main emotions, acting as some sort of guardian entity towards him and accussing Hantengu's enemies of being villains who want to torment his "defenseless" master. His ability consists in the creation of multiple wood dragons that have all the abilities of the other emotions.
- The Ace: Among Hantengu's emotions, he's the strongest, most fearsome and most competent. His power is such that he's able to subjugate a marked Hashira, unlike Gyokko who was easily defeated by one.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Zohakuten was initially colored by Gotouge on the cover page of chapter 125 to have golden eyes with normal white sclera, but in Shounen Jump's promotional material he is shown to have golden sclera with golden irises. The anime went with a third scheme, with Zohakuten sporting Sekido's red sclera (keeping the fact that he was the one who absorbed the other three), but still has golden irises, like Urogi's. However it should be noted that Hantengu's eyes are like this as well.
- All Your Powers Combined: Zohakuten is capable of using all the abilities of his weaker emotions, as it is created by absorbing them all, usually channeling the powers through the wooden dragons it forms. It can be seen using Sekido's lightning attacks, Karaku's gusts of wind, Urogi's sonic scream and Aizetsu's piercing spear-like projectiles.
- Berserk Button: Like Hantengu, not accepting his victim mentality sends him into a rage, and he drops his stoic demeanor and snarls at Tanjiro after the latter calls out his hypocrisy and calls him the fiend (which is what Zohakuten deems his persecutors).
- Big Ol' Eyebrows: Zohakuten has noticeably thick and bushy eyebrows that clash with his otherwise child-like appearance, a trait that none of the other emotions share.
- Breath Weapon: All of the attacks used by Zohakuten's wooden dragons are shot from their mouths.
- Creepy Child: Mitsuri finds him to be very unnerving, being in the form of a boy who displays plenty of Troubling Unchildlike Behavior. He's also incredibly ripped for a child.
- Death from Above: Zohakuten manipulates his wooden dragons to move high above the ground, allowing him to rain down his various Combo Platter Powers on foes.
- Death Glare: He gives off an intense glare upon his enemies that can emit a very strong aura, freezing weaker-minded people in fear. Not even others like the demonized Genya and Nezuko are immune to this.
- Drums of War: Zohakuten has a ring of taiko drums (each labeled with the kanji for "hatred" on both sides) on his back that he rhythmically strikes to manipulate his wooden dragons and attack.
- Dub Personality Change: He actually has a couple.
- A minor example. In the original Japanese dub, he refers to Tanjiro as "kisama" (an extremely rude, hostile second-person Japanese pronoun). This is absent in the English localization, making him come off as a smidge more polite than his Japanese counterpart, which doesn't seem so inappropriate.
- In the Latin American Spanish dub, his hateful rantings have a more childish petulant inflection, and his composed "The Reason You Suck" Speech turn into neurotic ramblings.
- He refers to Mitsuri as a tramp in the sub and dub (although the former can also be translated as "harlot"), which although rude, are mild insults. In the Latin American Spanish dub however, he straight up calls Mitsuri a "bitch". note
- Early-Bird Cameo: The intro for the Swordsmith Village Arc depicts Zohakuten's wooden dragons fighting Mitsuri. Zohakuten himself is no where to be seen and the intro instead, showing Hantengu/Obie hiding in a ball of branches, possibly to be a trick the audience into thinking that he can control the branches.
- Enfant Terrible: Zohakuten has the form of a child, but he is just as ruthless as the rest of the clones and way more powerful than them.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: When Tanjiro calls out Zohakuten for playing the victim after he already murdered countless people, Zohakuten couldn't understand why Tanjiro would be angry on behalf of complete strangers to him.
- Evil Sounds Deep: His voice sounds incredibly deep for his appearance (although his dub voice makes him sound somewhat younger), but fits well, considering that he is the strongest of Hantengu's emotions.
- Glowing Eyes: He is seen with these when he delivers his menacing aura.
- The second time we fully see him with such is in this shot before he sics his wooden dragons on Tanjiro, Genya, and Nezuko.
- The second time we fully see him with such is in this shot
- Green Thumb: Zohakuten can manipulate trees, often forming each of them into the shape of a dragon.
- Inconsistent Spelling: His name is alternately spelled 'Zouhakuten' in the official Viz Media translation of the manga.
- The Juggernaut: He is the strongest and most powerful incarnation of Hantengu's emotions and the main source of his true power. Even the best that Mitsuri (who is a Hashira and eventually received her Demon Slayer Mark, mind you) can do is stall him while the rest of the gang go to off Hantengu's main body, but that meant him toying with her until her constitution is depleted. Had they not decapitate the main body either on time or at all, then she would have been Hantengu's recent Hashira victim.
- Knight of Cerebus: As soon as he shows up, the atmosphere becomes tense and even the Demon Slayers get very scared of him.
- Matryoshka Object/Nested Mouths: Zohakuten has a technique to expand his attack range that involves his wooden dragons opening their mouths to reveal smaller wooden dragons, that open their mouths to reveal even smaller dragons (not unlike something you'd see in Alien), and so on until the dragons are small enough to attack far enemies or drag them back into range.
- Musical Assassin: Zohakuten attacks by striking the taiko drums on his back, and can do so with a fast rhythm, similar to the Drum Demon (and former Lower-6) Kyogai.
- Near-Villain Victory: Twice. He manages to get one of his dragons to swallow Tanjiro and would've crushed him to death with its wooden innards had it not been for Mitsuri's interference. Later on, he basically defeats Mitsuri who had grown too exhausted to continue fighting, but disintegrates as a result of Tanjiro slaying Hantengu before he has the chance to deliver the final fatal blow.
- Oh, Crap!: Following Hantengu's death, Zohakuten randomly disintegrates and his pupils contract in genuine surprise as a reaction.
- Painful Transformation: It's heavily implied that his formation is this, given that when Sekido draws in Karaku and Urogi, he pulverizes their flesh while absorbing them, which makes both Karaku and Urogi's horrified expressions and Aizetsu's attempted protest more understandable. In addition, when Sekido finishes transforming into Zohakuten, he lets out an agonized hiss.
- Straw Misogynist: He calls Mitsuri a "shameless tramp" likely because of her revealing outfit.
- The Power of Hate: Zohakuten is powered by Hantengu's emotion of hatred, and his main mission is to take revenge in those who dare to threaten his main self.
- Thunder Drum: Zohakuten has a ring of taiko drums on his back, akin to the thunder kami Raijin. He even has a powerful and unique Blood Demon Art called Crazed Cry of Thunder Death that rains down lightning strikes and booming thunder with every beat of the drums, combining Sekido's electricity and Urogi's sonic attacks to achieve the effect.
- Tranquil Fury: He's constantly seething with rage, but usually keeps a calm expression, as he represents hatred, not rage like Sekido. The only two times he really gets worked up is 1) when he condemns others for their treatment of his real form, and 2) after Tanjiro calls him out for his victim card playing and overall inability to comprehend good.
- Undignified Death: He just spontaneously combusts and disintegrates without a word after Hantengu dies. Subverted in the anime, where he accepts his demise with his usual stoic semblance in a more dignified way only reacting with mild surprise.
- Villain Cred: While Hantengu fears him immensely but is otherwise loyal, Zohakuten boldly declares Muzan to be the only person in this world who can order him around.
- When Trees Attack: Not only can Zohakuten manipulate wood to fight as dragons, but the cluster of branches protecting Obie also puts up a fight and attempts to shake Tanjiro, Nezuko, and Genya off.
- Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Just like the being he protects, Zohakuten's irises are sickly yellow only this time bigger, making his paralyzing hatred-induced glare even more intimidating.
- You Say Tomato: As a side note, the "u" in his name is silent in Japanese, meaning his name is pronounced "Zoh-hahk-ten". Despite this, most western fans pronounce his name as "Zoh-hahk-oo-ten".
Urami
Urami
Voiced by: Toshio Furukawa (Japanese), Christopher Corey Smith (English)Other VA
"Don't you dare bully the weak!"
Hantengu's last line of defense, and the incarnation of his resentment. Looks identical to his default form in appearance, albeit larger, more muscular, and angrier.
- All Your Powers Combined: It's heavily implied that like Zohakuten, he can use the kidoairaku clones' powers, considering that he, for some reason, uses Urogi's sonic screech ability, although it's not as potent, possibly due to Zohakuten sapping Urami's power.
- An Arm and a Leg: Genya rips Urami's arms off as the latter is crushing Tanjiro and tries to escape from the heroes.
- The Brute: Essentially what he is, being a hulking version of Hantengu's normal form who especializes in close combat as a last defense to protect the core of the Upper Moon.
- Butterface: He has a muscular composition that can rival the other clones. However, him having the same gruesome head as Hantengu/Obie prevents most people from feeling attracted to him.
- Last Ditch Move: This is what he amounts to, being a larger and more aggressive version of Hantengu summoned as a last resort to protect the pathetic and cowardly main form, should Zohakuten be occupied with another foe.
- Logical Weakness: Zohakuten's power saps him of his own, so he needs to replenish his strength by consuming humans to regenerate.
- Made of Iron: He's immensely durable like his smaller cowardly counterpart, shown when Tanjiro's sword simply gets lodged in his neck. It took Nezuko's blood demon art to damage him and Tanjiro using Hinokami Kagura to decapitate him and later to bisect him in order to decapitate Hantengu. It should also be noted that while he does burn up when exposed to sunlight, he does so slowly implying his muscular physique and size make him more resistant to the sun, though it is more due to Hantengu taking refuge in Urami's heart.
- Non-Standard Character Design: He is the only emotion clone that seemingly doesn't have irises or his rank on his eyes, as in the close ups we see of his eyes widening, they're a solid red with veins.
- Red Herring: His sudden appearance creates the illusion that Hantengu/Obie has dropped his fearful personality and simply increased his size. It turns out this was a deliberate ploy to trick Tanjiro and the audience that Urami is the main body and not another clone.
- Sinister Suffocation: When he first appears, he wraps his giant hands around Tanjiro's face (in a crushing manner) in an attempt to either strangle or smother him.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He receives the least characterization and screen time out of all of Hantengu's emotion clones, appearing in the closing chapters/last episode of the Swordsmith Village Arc, and is quickly defeated by Tanjiro, or so it seems. Granted, he is meant to be Hantengu's very last resort of defense.
- What the Hell, Hero?: He unjustly condemns Tanjiro for not having any sympathy for Hantengu. In the English dub of the anime, Urami also angrily demands to know what gives Tanjiro the right to "bully around the weak".
"What is all of this? Is that me when I was a human? Why now after all this time? …Is this my life...flashing before my eyes?"
