YMMV / Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

• Ass Pull:
  • The fight with Rui has several of these that happen very quickly:
    • Though there is mention made of Tanjiro coming from a family that works with fire, nothing implied his father knew any sort of dance, or that said dance doubled as a combat technique. After having a near-death experience fighting Rui and about to be killed, Tanjiro suddenly remembers his father's dance and, without prior practice, executes it perfectly enough to go after Rui with it before he's stopped.
    • Right after this, Nezuko wakes up after hearing her mother's voice, and, without any prior hinting or setup, uses her Blood Art to save Tanjiro from performing a Taking You with Me.
    • Finally there is Rui's survival when Tanjiro clearly beheaded him, with the explanation of "I cut my own head off first".
  • Inosuke surviving Gyutaro impaling him in the heart by shifting his internal organs. Not only was this ability not mentioned before (though not entirely out of nowhere for someone like him), but Gyutaro got Inosuke by complete surprise while he was carrying Daki's head.
  • In a similar vein, Tanjiro's father knowing how to access the Transparent World is given no buildup, though Tanjiro once again taps into his memories and learns to use the ability, allowing him to hold his own against Akaza, whom he and Giyu were previously outmatched against.
  • During the Swordsmith Village fight, Tanjiro remembers Zenitsu explaining how to run using Thunder Breathing. Despite Zenitsu himself (who knew it better than anyone) saying it was hard to grasp, Tanjiro learns to activate it successfully on his first try and catches up with Hantengu.
  • The revelation that Muzan was fed two poisons. Following that is the borderline comical reveal that Tamayo included two more poison effects: one that prevents him from splitting his body up, and another that slowly kills him from the inside.
• Award Snub: Despite Mugen Train being the highest-grossing anime film ever and the highest-grossing animated film of 2020 (and eventually the highest-grossing film of 2020 period), it wasn't even nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 93rd Academy Awards. Fans were incensed, though not surprised given the Academy's general apathy toward anime films.
• Awesome Ego:
  • Inosuke is extremely unhinged and prideful in battle up to the point where he hates having to ask for help, yet his great fighting prowess and absolute refusal to back down from a fight makes him very beloved by fans. It also helps that his overconfidence can be quite humorous at times.
  • Tengen Uzui has a rather large ego, being convinced that he's a literal "god of flashiness and festivals", however he has such a large amount of skill and flair as a Hashira that it almost comes across as believable.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Zenitsu is an Unpopular Popular Character in Japan, but he's rather contested in the Western fandom, with some finding his rather desperate attitude towards girls and frequent screams of fear grating. It also doesn't help that early on, the only times he actually becomes an effective fighter is when he is in a sleep-like trance. His self-righteous nature, especially when it comes to girls didn't help neither. Even beyond that, his introduction, where all of these issues are on display at once, caused many western fans to write him off because of how bad his introduction can be to newcomers. Still, Zenitsu is also liked enough by others for being a genuinely kind person and while he is loud and cowardly, he has never given into it, or abandoned anyone to demons like other cowardly characters. His competence in the final battle somewhat helped improve his image amongst detractors, however there are still some who dislike him.
  • To a lesser extent, Inosuke. While plenty of fans love him for being a Crazy Is Cool Blood Knight, there's a small portion of the fanbase who find him quite annoying, find his voice grating, and believe he doesn't contribute much to the series besides being wacky comic relief. It doesn't help that he we don't see any of his backstory until the very final arc.
  • Muzan is another divisive character between the fandom. Some consider him to be a good main villain due his opposite nature to Tanjiro, and find his acts of gratuitous cruelty and cowardice to be necessary to remind the readers that he is completely evil, but others find him to be a generic and bland main antagonist whose type is a dime-a-dozen in shonen manga, and whose lack of redeeming qualities makes him uninteresting compared to other supporting antagonists with a better background. The final battle against him being underwhelming to many fans compared to the battles with the Upper Ranks doesn't help.
  • Kagaya. Some find him a likable and wise Old Master who cares deeply for his students while others find him to be an almost delusional Knight Templar who is responsible for getting many of his students needlessly killed, as well as his own family, and is willing to do absolutely anything to defeat his archenemy Muzan.
• Better on DVD: The Upper-6 fight in the Red Light District arc, by far the longest antagonist fight in the series, until the very final fight dethroned it (by just one chapter), is much more enjoyable in collected volume form; some people who had to follow it weekly weren’t having a good time after a certain point, where cries of dragging on could be heard.
  • The ufotable anime adaptation of the arc (Season 2), by contrast, noticeably employs a significant amount of Cliffhangers for much of the fight (S3 E6 onwards), presumably to pace it a bit more justifiably. Based on how it climaxed (at S3 E10) and how well it was received by reviewers and and audiences, it seems to have worked.
• Bishōnen Jump Syndrome: Following some of its admitted inspirations: Bleach and Jojos Bizarre Adventure, the series is filled to the brim with all sorts of attractive male archetypes, ensuring any fan to easily find one of their liking, which contributed to the series early humble manga-only popularity already being quite female populated, before the anime kick-started the series to a Multiple Demographic Appeal phenomenon. All officially endorsed popularity polls in Japan is a testament of how women dominate the most fervorous side of the fandom, the top ranked characters are some of the prettiest boys, with female characters consistently ranking lower than them.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • In general, not unlike That One Boss in video games, most of the demons fought take a lot of effort to put down even for Hashira, to the point that their surviving certain attacks, such as Rui's infamous "I cut my head off first" trick, can seem like Ass Pulls at times. This, combined with how most of them tend to be cruel Smug Snakes, can make the moments when they're finally defeated extremely satisfying, even when Alas, Poor Villain is in play.
  • While it’s at the expense of her temporarily losing control and nearly attacking a human, seeing Nezuko beat the ever-loving crap out of Daki is extremely satisfying, considering what a Smug Alpha Bitch she’s been up to that point.
  • Zenitsu finally standing up to Kaigaku and then cutting off his head is very satisfying as not only did he just sell out the Demon Slayer Corps and become a demon just to save his own hide, but it also resulted in their master committing suicide out of guilt. Kaigaku even has the nerve to taunt Zenitsu about it. The only people who are complaining about Kaigaku's death are the ones who thought he got off easy.
  • After he has committed atrocity after atrocity and been responsible for every single horrible thing in the series, seeing Muzan Kibutsuji finally be killed by the combined efforts of the Demon Slayer Corps and Tamayo is too satisfying for words. Muzan's evil spirit pathetically begging Tanjiro not to leave him only to be Dragged Off to Hell is just the icing on the cake.
• Common Knowledge: Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho, the three little girls who work at the Butterfly Estate, are frequently thought to be triplet sisters. However, they are not related (since they all have different family names), and just happen to look very similar and be roughly the same age.
• Complete Monster: Throughout this dark world, the following demonstrate the monstrosity of demonkind:
  • Muzan Kibutsuji was born a sickly child in the Ubuyashiki family, but through a doctor's attempts to cure him incidentally became the first and mightiest demon and grew obsessed with his own perfection. Corrupting others into demons by preying on their weakness at their lowest then infecting them using the special properties of his blood, Muzan develops the system where demons feed on humans en masse for power, leading to countless innocent deaths as he maintains this system for over one thousand years, with his blood poisoning and painfully killing any who so much as utter his name in front of his enemies. Muzan is also personally responsible for killing the mother and siblings of the young hero Tanjiro Kamado, as well as the demonic transformation of his younger sister Nezuko. When encountered, Muzan escapes notice by turning an innocent man into a demon and siccing him on his wife before killing several other humans in a fit of pique when they trouble him. Muzan orders countless humans slaughtered, and when several of his top subordinates, the Lower Ranks, disappoint him, Muzan massacres the survivors, deciding they are too weak to survive. Later attempting to massacre all of the Demon Slayers, when Muzan knows death is inevitable, he intends to turn Tanjiro into a demon to kill them in his stead. A sadistic, cowardly sociopath predicating a survivalist society of bloodshed to maintain his own safety, Muzan stands responsible for the most death and suffering in the series.
  • "Mugen Train" arc: Enmu is Lower Rank 1 and a suffering-addicted psychopath. As a human, Enmu claimed to be a doctor, falsely "curing" the dying for his own profit and prestige until being made into a demon by Muzan. Insanely worshipful of Muzan, Enmu swiftly kills to climb the ranks of the demons and even survives Muzan's purge of the Lower Ranks by impressing his master with his love of pain and death. Empowered and sent after Tanjiro, Enmu uses his powers over dream and sleep to put Tanjiro and his friends into pleasant dreams while tricking humans into entering their dreams to destroy their minds. Enmu promises to give train passengers kind dreams, but delights in twisting their dreams into horrific nightmares, and when cornered by Tanjiro opts to fuse with the train itself and try to devour all 200 passengers, gloating how he means to torment his victims before he eats them to further empower himself.
  • "Swordsmith Village" arc: Gyokko is Upper Rank 5 and an insane artist who creates new pieces with his victims. Upon being sent to the swordsmith village, Gyokko decides to kill everyone in the village after murdering several smiths and taking others to fuse them into a macabre, living sculpture that he tortures by sticking swords through them, gleefully describing how he plans to replicate it on a grander scale with the village innocents. A complete narcissist, when Gyokko finds a smith more dedicated to his work than to noticing him, Gyokko opts to begin torturing him to try to break his concentration.
  • 'Sunrise Countdown' arc's Chapter 188 ("Sorrowful Love"): The unnamed snake demon in Obanai Iguro's past was a low-level demon with a hunger for children. Bargaining with Obanai's family, the demon would murder people to allow the all-female bandits to live off the stolen wealth in return for them providing the demon with newborn babies on a steady stream to consume. Upon Obanai's birth, the demon had him raised and prepared as a meal, as he was the only boy and had alluringly unusual eyes. Having Obanai's face mutilated to resemble her more, the demon massacred all but one of Obanai's family upon his escape before closing in on him to eat him as well.
• Continuity Lock-Out: To consume the Kimetsu Gakuen/Slayer Academy spin-off is a daunting task in its original published format, since its contents are produced in a very spread-out capacity, different magazines, different publications between manga, light novel and even databooks. The anime makes it easier to consume, by being post-episode extras, until the Valentine arc that was originally a stream-only event.
• Crazy Is Cool: Inosuke, in spades. For starters, he wears the head of a boar over his face and is seen constantly shirtless while Dual Wielding two demon-slaying swords. His enthusiastic Blood Knight personality and absolutely crazy fighting style cement him as this.
• Creepy Awesome:
  • Several of the demons in the series can count as this. Muzan, Doma, Enmu, Gyokko, Kokushibo, and Rui are all good examples.
  • Shinobu definitely qualifies. She's generally nice and pleasant, but has a certain Dissonant Serenity attitude towards about everything (later revealed to be because of the death of her sister) and even acts cheerful towards demons, right before brutally killing them with poison.
• Critical Dissonance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba faces criticism from anime critics and the more hardcore side of the anime fandom in contrast to mainstream audiences. While Demon Slayer is perhaps one of the most successful anime franchises in the late 2010s/early 2020s where mainstream audiences praise it mainly due to its themes, action sequences and especially the animation, many critics and hardcore anime fans believe that when one looks past the manga's art and the anime's high production values, it's really an average battle shonen series with a simplistic storyline and out-of-place comedy (with sidekicks whom some may not tolerate), which clashes with its serious tones and graphic violence.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The Brother Spider transforming Zenitsu into a spider? Horrifying. Zenitsu screaming his lungs out nonstop in an extremely over-the-top fashion, causing the Brother Spider to wonder how he managed to become a Demon Slayer in the first place? Hilarious.
  • As listed under Narm, the one unnamed Demon Slayer getting killed near-instantly by Rui after displaying a legendary amount of stupid arrogance can definitely be this if you're into Black Comedy.
  • Zenitsu's furious rant to Tanjiro and Inosuke about how they should be grateful to train with cute girls really highlights his desperately horny attitude towards women (particularly when he points out how the training gives them the excuse to touch them everywhere with no consequence), but the way he delivers the rant in such an over-the-top way makes it loop right around to being hilarious.
  • Inosuke's lack of knowledge can sometimes cause some unintentionally dark and offensive scenes (such as not knowing how scattering ashes works and asking if you're supposed to eat them), but considering it's Inosuke, it loops right back to being hilarious.
• Cry for the Devil: Many of the demons in the series. They're man-eating monsters, but at one point in time they were normal human beings who, at their lowest point in life, were tempted onto the path of darkness by Muzan. Honestly, it might be easier to list the demons who aren't sympathetic in some way: Muzan himself, Doma, Enmu, Gyokko, Hantengu, the Snake Demon, and Kaigaku. Even the first two had tragic backstories until they became too evil to be excused.
  • This especially applies to Akaza due to the horrific Trauma Conga Line he had went through prior to becoming a demon. Due to being poor, he resorted to stealing in order to afford the medicine for his sick father, before the latter committed suicide to save his son from a life of crime. Afterwards he was taken in by a dojo instructor as his disciple and started taking care of his daughter Koyuki, whom he fell in love with. Unfortunately while he was away, both the instructor and Koyuki were poisoned by the members of the rival dojo, causing him to snap and massacre them with his bare hands. Muzan learned of this incident and then forcibly made him into a demon. And unlike other demons in the series, Akaza chooses to die upon recalling his deceased loved ones in order to reunite with them while acknowloging Tanjiro - who he had previously deemed weak - as a Worthy Opponent.
• Draco in Leather Pants:
  • Doma gets this quite a bit from fans, mostly thanks to his appearance and cheerful personality, with some even claiming that if it weren't for his parents, he would have grown up to be a perfectly sane and normal human being. This disregards the fact that Doma is portrayed as always having had sociopathic tendencies, with him not caring one bit about his mother killing his father and then herself right in front of him. And while he does seem a tiny bit upset that he can't display any real human emotions, he doesn't seem to care that much and is perfectly content to keep killing and eating women. Most of these fans like to ship him with either Kotoha or Shinobu, often portraying them as something of a Morality Pet towards him, despite the fact that he ended up killing both of them.
  • Many fanworks depicting the relationship between Zenitsu and Kaigaku before his demonization often downplay, if not erase, the latter's negative qualities.
  • Muzan also gets this, thanks to his appearance. Some fans comes as far as to ship him with Tanjiro.
  • Kyogo Shinazugawa is the most odd one out in this regard, the only claim to this character’s name was that he was often beating his wife and kids when he was alive, yet quite a few japanese fanart of him and Shizu Shinazugawa being a "cute couple" can be found.
• Ending Fatigue: While the bulk of the Infinity Castle arc was very well received, the final battle against Muzan himself once the Castle collapses has had a more lukewarm reception, as most consider Muzan a rather boring antagonist compared to the Twelve Kizuki. Additionally, his fighting style consists entirely of flailing several tentacles and abusing his high level of regeneration, which makes for a rather repetitive and boring fight, especially compared to the more complicated fights against Kokushibo, Doma and Akaza, all of whom use a myriad of different techniques and abilities instead of just using small variations of the same one. Even when he is finally killed, the arc refuses to end, with Tanjiro being brought back from the dead by him and turned into a demon, becoming the manga's Post-Final Boss.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Sabito and to a lesser extent, Makomo for their role in helping out Tanjiro and the reveal that they were both Dead All Along made them seen as Too Cool to Live and tragic in the eyes of the fandom. Sabito is especially so to the fandom due to his connection and relationship with Giyu back when he was still alive.
  • Susamaru, the Temari Demon has a small but loyal following. Due to her Blood Knight personality, attractive design and sad sendoff she's become the star of many a fanwork to give her more screentime.
  • Mukago is significantly more popular than other Lower Ranks (excluding major antagonists Rui and Enmu) for being the only female.
  • Rui himself is actually pretty popular due to being in what's regarded as one of the best fights of the entire series (and when many people agree the series started Growing the Beard), his eerily calm personality, and his tragic backstory.
  • For a character that wasn't even the main antagonist of the arc where she appeared, the Spider Demon Mother gained some popularity thanks to her attractive design, tragic backstory, and beautiful death scene, becoming the most loved member of Rui's fake family after Rui himself.
  • Kyojuro Rengoku is an extremely popular Hashira and one of the most popular characters in the entire series due to being an enthusiastic Nice Guy, his awesome fighting skills, and his tragic death at the hands of Akaza. His popularity has gotten to the point where many are surprised to learn that he only has a major appearance in one arc.
  • Doma is one of the most popular (if not the most popular) demons in the series, despite only having a truly major appearance in the final arc, due to being an extreme yet interesting example of The Sociopath, his creepily outgoing personality, having several comedic moments, and his connection to Shinobu and Inosuke. His looks certainly didn't deter fans away either. Some have even gone so far as to say that they wish he was the series' main villain instead of Muzan.
  • Oddly enough, Kaigaku gets this from some fans despite being a pure Hate Sink, mostly attributed to being an interesting character with wasted potential.
  • Despite not having as extensive a role as Giyu or Shinobu, Muichiro Tokito is one of the Japanese's favorite Hashira, reaching third place in the second popularity poll and surpassing Nezuko herself.
• Estrogen Brigade: As stated down in Periphery Demographic, the series is very popular with women due in part to the large unique looking cast of pretty boys.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Akaza is an Affably Evil Blood Knight who gets some of the best fight scenes in the entire series. His tragic backstory also helps.
  • Kokushibo is The Dragon to Muzan Kibutsuji and a Master Swordsman with a Creepy Awesome design, as well as an interesting past with his brother, Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
• Evil Is Sexy:
  • Muzan Kibutsuji, the lord of demons, is a Man of Wealth and Taste with glossy black hair, pale skin, and slender features. His female form has also gotten a lot of confused feelings out of a lot of people. And with his new demon form as of chapter 180, he's gone completely shirtless and is essentially naked, using dark red colored demon skin to cover up his bottom. This has gotten the attention of fans, some even complimenting his new look.
  • Doma is overall the most attractive male member of the Twelve Kizuki. Not only is he a rare instance of not having his face covered by creepy markings or disfigured by other means, but his tight long-sleeved shirt shows that he is also surprisingly muscular. This alongside his insouciant personality greatly contributed to his fan base.
  • Daki was this to the point that she could use it to maintain the guise of a High-Class Call Girl until the Demon Slayer Corps forces her to reveal herself.
  • Susamaru, despite her brief role, is remembered for being a relatively rare example of an Amazonian Beauty in a Shōnen series.
  • Akaza, being a martial artist who is also a Walking Shirtless Scene, with the markings around his body looking more akin to tattoos.
  • Enmu, with similar reasons to Muzan in his normal form.
• Fan-Disliked Explanation: Quite a few fans prefer to ignore the statement that the Total Concentration Breathing techniques only use Elemental Motifs and their elemental effects are only symbolic of the elements they represent, rather than actual Elemental Powers. The techniques already involve blatantly superhuman feats such as cutting through boulders and moving at mach speeds, so those who reject this statement think that it doesn't serve the purpose of making the fights more realistic, and just makes them not as cool, especially since demons do have explicitly magical abilities in their Demon Blood Arts.
• Fandom Rivalry: With One Piece due to being the first manga in twelve years to have dethroned it as the best-selling manga of the year.
• Fandom-Specific Plot:
  • Many fics do a role swap where Tanjiro was the one turned into a demon while Nezuko was away for whatever reason, and she's the one that becomes a Demon Slayer.
  • Sabito lives AU's started to pop around after the latest arc in the Manga elaborated on Giyu's relationship with Sabito. Sometimes, Makomo is also included to be alive in this AU. Both often being seen with Giyu and Tanjiro to form quadruple Water Breathing users.
  • Tanjiro remaining a demon AU have begun popping up after Chapter 202.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • A color spread by the author depicting the 4 main characters swapped with each other's outfits◊ has spawned numerous What If? stories and fanart of Nezuko being the swordswoman to Tanjiro's kind demon.
  • The Kimetsu Academy High School A.U. that appears at the end of some volumes has proven very popular with fans as a Lighter and Softer future where everyone reincarnated into a better life. Best seen in the novel's cover◊.
• Fan Nickname:
  • The main character group is collectively called the Kamaboko group by Japanese fans though this mostly applied to the trio of Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke. This was at first inspired by Inosuke's Accidental Misnaming of Tanjiro (as "Gonpachiro Kamaboko") and went from there.
  • "Michael Jackson", "Muzan Jackson", or even "The Hee-Hee Man" for Big Bad Muzan Kibutsuji, because his design resembles Michael Jackson from his Smooth Criminal video a lot.
    • Japanese fans prefer to use "Michael Muzan."
  • "Muzanna" for Muzan's female guise, given mainly by Indonesian fans since his chilling gaze in the guise resembles that of the horror film star Suzzanna.
  • Himejima is referred to as "Godjima" because of his huge stature, unwavering kindness, and the fact that he's the strongest of the Pillars. Being voiced by fandom-favorite Tomokazu Sugita likely helps too.
  • The Japanese fandom has given Muzan several nicknames, including:
    • "Crossdressing Boy Man" (女装ショタおじさん, Josō Shota Ojisan), due to his shapeshifting abilities.
    • "Honorary Demon Slayer" (名誉鬼殺隊員, Meiyo Kisatsutaiin), "Demon/Power Harassment Hashira" (鬼柱/パワハラ柱, Oni/Pawahara Bashira), "Power Harassment Breathing user" (パワハラの呼吸の使い手, Pawahara no Kokyū no tsukaite), and so on, due to his fatally Bad Boss tendencies towards his own demons.
    • "Flashy Muzan" (チャラ無惨, Chara Muzan) for his appearance in the flashback of Chapter 178, where he is seen wearing a patterned yukata with a Cleavage Window.
  • "Diced Steak Senpai" (サイコロステーキ先輩 Saikoro Sutēki Senpai) for the ambitious Demon Slayer who quickly gets killed by Rui.
  • The Anime itself, especially the Infinity Train movie, is sometimes referred to in Japanese discussion board as the "Economy Pillar" as the box office revenue of the movie alone helped off-set whatever losses the Japanese movie industry took from the COVID-19 Pandemic; not to mention merch sales and other tie-ins that have sold really well.
  • Sumi, Kiyo, and Naho are called the "Butterfly Sisters" or "Butterfly Triplets" due to all of them looking very similar and rarely being seen apart.
• Fanon: The last manga volume was released in December 2020, Japan, and even after a 2nd Databook got released in 2021 some character backgrounds remained with some unexplained details, with that some fans assume certain things:
  • The setting introduced the fact demons can use a system called Blood Battle Succession to challenge Twelve Kizuki members for their spot or become higher ranked, however, no demon is specifically stated to have made use of it, yet Doma was once the Upper-6 in the past, now he is the Upper-2; fans assume Doma actually challenged Akaza for the spot since Muzan created the Twelve Kizuki with Akaza as a member from the get go, making Upper-1 Kokushibo some company, adding to the fact Akaza had a huge grudge against Doma for being the Upper-2 despite he being older than the cult leader.
  • Tanjiro's father, Tanjuro, actual cause of death is never revealed, it is just some unspecified illness that took him 1 year before the story began. As the series goes a certain power called Demon Slayer Mark is revealed, coupled with Tanjiro suspecting his father had a birth mark under his scar, it is later explained by Kokushibo who lived in the prime era of Marked slayers that all Marked ones die once they reach 25 years of age, no exceptions beyond his borderline divine younger twin brother Yoriichi; Tanjuro's age during death is not revealed, but his very weakened appearance while still performing Breathing arts in Hinokami rituals could be the example of a dying Marked person.
• Foe Yay Shipping: The top three ranked members of the Twelve Kizuki each have at least one instance:
  • Doma/Shinobu, due to how the former kills the latter by hugging Shinobu to death, and Doma stating he's fallen in love with Shinobu as he's dying.
  • Akaza's intense battle with Rengoku and offering the latter to become a demon so that they could advance in the ranks of the Twelve Kizuki together. Ironically, Akaza ends up killing Rengoku.
  • Kokushibo and his brother Yoriichi Tsugikuni have a ton. Since their childhood they were incredibly fixated on one another. While Michikatsu spent most of his life envying and loathing his younger twin brother Yoriichi, in his final moments he admits to him self that Yoriichi is the only family member whose face he still remembers and outright exposes his own self-loathing by asking of the long-dead Yoriichi why he was born. Yoriichi in turn, willingly left home at a young age for Michikatsu's sake and spent most of his life wrapped in melancholy and was absolutely devastated by his older brother turning into a demon. Of a particular note is the flute Michikatsu made for Yoriichi when they were kids; Yoriichi held onto it (the actual quality of which was doubted by Michikatsu himself) up until his death, only for Kokushibo to keep the sliced up pieces of the flute for centuries after Yoriichi's death. It doesn't help that this relationship was the main reason neither of them could live a peaceful family life.
• Fountain of Memes:
  • Almost anything that Nezuko does is gonna be met with being turned into a meme. It's gotten to a meta point of posting memes about Nezuko memes.
  • Inosuke's Insane Troll Logic produces quite a few memes.
  • The climatic battle against Kokushibo resulted in lots of memes, notably Kokucat (drawings of cat versions of him, which are rather ridiculous as they always carry on his six eyes, which is of course hilarious in a cat), "Enter Godjima", "Fuck kids" a meme spawned for the fact that two teenagers, Muichiro and Genya, had to sacrifice themselves to land a blow into Kokushibo, while Himejima's downright cold and unfeeling reaction to it along with his complicated backstory resulted in the fandom deciding that he absolutely despises children and in fact gets a power up from them dying. Kokushibo himself has been a bit of a fountain, as his visage with six eyes produces a lot of amusing fanart, such as him wearing ridiculous sunglasses or taking the time to apply eye shadow to each of them.
• Friendly Fandoms:
  • With Part 1 and 2 JoJo's Bizarre Adventure due to the fact that both series involve characters using breathing techniques fighting off supernatural threats weak to sunlight and who feast on humans. Word of God has explicitly stated Jojo to have been an influence on the series among various others.
  • Anime fans that like the music of Michael Jackson given that Muzan Kibutsuji looks a bit like him.
  • Kimetsu No Yaiba goes well with Dororo since both of their anime adaptations aired in 2019 and both of their stories are told in Japan, they both show fighting demons, and both series are about recovering the humanity of a loved one.
  • A minor one, but in fact, Kimetsu no Yaiba and Kamen Rider Hibiki also have commonality between each other since both series show good and heroic oni (how they are referred to in Japanese for Kimetsu no Yaiba) that fight for humanity, training to become stronger, and using fighting styles and skills in battle. They both also have ending issues, but for different reasons (Arc Fatigue for Kimetsu no Yaiba and the infamous Executive Meddling and Retool for Hibiki).
• Gateway Series: The anime adaptation's Episode 19 brought Demon Slayer into a huge radar online, especially when it got famous people like Brendon Urie praising the series and its music. Since it was heavily talked-about in 2019, it managed to attract newcomers into the anime fandom. In a more specific case, the popularity of Demon Slayer made anime fans curious of other/older Shōnen series with a similar premise of "demon slaying in Japan", such as Blue Exorcist, Dororo (2019), Inuyasha or Ushio and Tora.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Inosuke has become a greater hit with oversea audiences than he is in Japan, he is popular there no doubt, but not consistently high enough in several circles, official or fan based; meanwhile western audiences clicked with Inosuke much easier, and the guy has been a source of memes left and right.
• Growing the Beard:
  • The Mount Natagumo arc is considered as the part where the series fully settles on itself, introducing several different, interesting demon characters as well as a fully fledged member of the Twelve Kizuki, Lower 5: Rui. It helps that the climax of the arc was exceptionally well animated.
  • Another point often cited as one of the moments the series takes a step further is the Red Light District arc, and the climatic showdown of this arc against Upper Rank 6, Daki and Gyutaro is widely considered one of the best fights in the series.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Zenitsu comically throws a long rant about how Tanjiro and Inosuke shouldn't dare to feel broken over taking part in such a grueling training for demon slayers, during their first stay in the Butterfly Estate, because according to Zenitsu being trained by cute girls (especially the game of tag, in which the goal is to touch the girls) is the only thing that matters, and that will always be good regardless of how tough the training is, Zenitsu tells them to commit seppuku for acting like that. Much later in the series a seppuku becomes one of the biggest tragedies in Zenitsu’s life, when his beloved master Jigoro commits said ritual suicide in order to repent for his other disciple, Kaigaku, betraying the demon slayers by becoming a demon himself.
  • Shinobu's remark that Giyu doesn't have any friends initially comes off as comedic, mainly because of Giyu's reaction to it. However, it's a lot less funny as of the Hashira Training arc, when it's revealed that he distances himself from his other Hashira due to feeling unworthy of his title as Water Hashira out of Survivor Guilt. Considering that Shinobu, like Giyu, is also a victim of demon attacks and even she has an unhealthy way to cope with her pain, it comes instead as a mean-spirited remark from her despite her best intentions to break Giyu out from his shell. While the memes about this scene are still rolling, it somehow loses its levity after the readers finally learn Giyu's issues.
  • The Fandom-Specific Plot about Tanjiro being a demon becomes this after he becomes a Demon in Chapter 201. Complete with Muzan's memories.
  • On June 2022, Rui's English voice actor Billy Kametz, eventually succumbs to Stage IV colon cancer at the age of thirty-five. Rui's motivations throughout his appearance stemmed from him being ill since birth and his descent as demon happened because he wanted to be free from his illness.
• He Really Can Act: Mark Whitten's performance as Rengoku in the English dub of the TV series received a lukewarm reception at first, as it was seen by some as being quite lackluster at that time. When the Mugen Train movie was released in English, his performance noticeably improved and was praised by reviewers as being one of the best for portraying Rengoku in a more complex manner with a wider range of emotions. Some highlights include his dream sequence with his father and brother near the beginning, his fight scene with Akaza during the climax as well as his final scene with Tanjiro before passing away.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Inosuke is voiced by both of Kirito's voice actors. In a hilarious coincidence, Yuki Kajiura, one of the composers for the Sword Art Online OST worked on Inosuke's theme as well.
• Ho Yay:
  • After he's unmasked, Tanjiro straight up tells Inosuke that his face is attractive. On Inosuke's end, his reactions to Tanjiro complimenting him can easily be read as him being a Tsundere.
  • During the Hashira Training arc Genya and Tanjiro grow very close, with Tanjiro becoming very protective of Genya, and Genya in turn gaining a deep sense of trust and admiration for Tanjiro.
  • Some consider the strong admiration Uzui holds for Rengoku to be this. It's clear he liked and respected the Flame Hashira very much, to the point that he set a standard (saving lives) based on him and wished he could meet it.
  • The close, yet somewhat ambiguous relationship between Tanjiro's ancestor Sumiyoshi and Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Basically, Yoriichi saved Sumiyoshi's life and later on frequently visited Sumiyoshi's house. In turn, Sumiyoshi is possibly one of the few people who personally knew Yoriichi and was vexed by Yoriichi's forlorn view of his own life and was even shown crying for Yoriichi's sake. Sumiyoshi's family wound up carrying the legacy of the bond between the two men for generations to come: the Hinokami Kagura, which is implied to be the closest thing there is to a recreation of the original Sun Breathing, as well as the same hanafuda earrings Yoriichi had. Centuries later, Muzan outright associates Tanjiro with Yoriichi based solely on their physical similarities.
• Hype Backlash: Due to gaining a huge fan following after Episode 19's climax, there are now plenty who have come to treat the series with disdain, claiming that said popularity is largely carried by the anime adaptation's high production values and it doesn't deserve the popularity it received; some people even claim that without the anime adaptation, the manga would've stayed in obscurity. Beyond that, the series' explosive rise in popularity during a short period of time resulted in a number of new viewers finding the show to not live up to said hype, especially in regards to the story and characters.
• Incest Yay Shipping:
  • The Shinazugawa brothers are paired together given their extremely deep attachment to one another.
  • The Tsugikuni brothers Michikatsu a.k.a. Kokushibo and Yoriichi are also paired due to their complicated dynamic.
• It Was His Sled: Due to the success of the movie as well as how beloved of a character he is in general, almost everyone knows that Rengoku dies at the end of the Mugen Train arc.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!:
  • Related to Hype Backlash above, the series didn't have a noticeable amount of hate prior to Episode 19. Upon said episode airing (and the anime's first season finishing its run), more people are starting to resent the series' rapid popularity. The fact that the manga's sales skyrocketed soon after doesn't help.
  • The opening "Gurenge" has similar treatments due to popularity and awards it received. While the opening is fine, the fact it gets as much praise despite being not all that visual unique or interesting lead to many feeling it only won or gets recognition because the show is popular.
• Jerkass Woobie: The demons as a rule are a Jerkass Woobie species with the exception of purely evil ones like Enmu or Muzan or the good ones like Nezuko. They were either murdered by or exploited at their lowest point by Muzan, who treats them like utter garbage and kills them for minor slights, and they don't really have any choice but to devour humans since it's the only way they can survive.
  • The Spider-Mother. She is greatly implied to have had a sweetheart when she was human, and that he died violently. As a demon, she is forced into the role of "mother" for Rui's "family", and suffers textbook Domestic Abuse at the hands of Spider Father. When Rui says she is not killing the demon slayers quickly enough, she panics, begs him not to tell Spider Father, and tries harder to kill Tanjiro and Inosuke. We never see her eat humans or even express interest in doing so, and thus we are left wondering if she's just as much a victimized puppet as the humans caught in her web. She ultimately allows herself to be killed as soon as Tanjiro reaches her, who thinks that she reeks of fear and suffering.
  • Rui. The Domestic Abuse he inflicts on his fake "family" is horrific but it's out of a genuine desire to have the family he never thought he had. Back when he was human, he was a sick child whose parents asked a doctor (actually Muzan) to grant him a strong body, turning him into a demon as a result. Realizing their mistake, his parents planned to kill him, then themselves, but Rui felt betrayed and killed them first, with his parents' last words being an apology for not giving him a strong body. It's only in his last moments that he remembers it. Realizing his parents truly loved him all along, he regrets that his evil deeds will lead him to Hell, away from his parents. Fortunately for him, he's reunited with them in Hell.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Although Muzan is the Big Bad and presented as Hate Sink for being the creator of all demon-kind, allowing various tragedies over the course of the series to happen, and even personally killing Tanjiro's family, he still tends to get a bit less hate compared to Kaigaku, a Jerkass demon slayer and a Big Brother Bully to Zenitsu despite the latter's admiration towards him. This sentiment increased ten-fold when he betrayed the Demon Slayer Corps and became a demon just to save his own life and mocked his master for committing suicide out of shame and despair at his actions.
• Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
  • Tanjiro has already been shipped with nearly everyone in the series as of this point in writing, from Zenitsu, Inosuke, Giyu, Genya, Rengoku, Kanao and more.
  • Zenitsu is likewise shipped with many characters: other than Nezuko, he is also paired with Tanjiro, Inosuke, Kaigaku, Uzui and others.
  • Among the villains, that would be Doma. Aside of Shinobu and Kotoha, he is frequently shipped with most of his fellow Twelve Kizuki (most often with Akaza or Kokushibo) as well as Muzan.
• Love to Hate:
  • Muzan Kibutsuji, to some. He may be a horrifically vile Evil Overlord, but he can make for a very effective Big Bad.
  • Doma is as despicable as he is amusing, frequently teasing his co-workers and committing evil acts that are both macabre and hilarious, all with a relaxed smile on his face. As such, it is not uncommon for fans to hate him, yet enjoy his villainy at the same time.
  • Kaigaku. He's such an irredeemable and loathsome Jerkass who betrays the Demon Slayer Corps just to save his own hide that the near-universal hatred for him ironically loops around into making him popular.
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Kagaya Ubuyashiki is the brilliant leader of the Demon Slayers Corps. A kind man who loves his subordinates like his own children, Kagaya is still willing to go to extremes to see the monstrous Muzan Kibutsuji dead, subjecting the trainees to a potentially deadly selection process where they have to fight captive demons, while also memorizing the names and faces of every single Demon Slayer who dies. A genius planner, Kagaya keeps Muzan and his forces at bay through a complex hiding system to defend his strongholds and sets plans to move and crush the powerful Twelve Kizuki of the demon forces. Captivating the love of his subordinates with his natural charisma, Kagaya uses himself, his wife and his two eldest daughters as bait for Muzan himself to sacrifice all their lives in an explosion and give the Demon Slayer elites a chance to kill Muzan for good.
  • Kokushibo, Upper Rank 1, was born Michikatsu Tsugikuni and joined Muzan to stave off death in order to grow more powerful. Almost wiping out the Demon Slayers, the only warrior to ever exceed him in power was his younger twin Yoriichi, whom Kokushibo was never able to fully cease loving. In modern times, Kokushibo is undefeated, killing countless Demon Slayer elites and manipulating some, such as Kaigaku, into becoming demons before casually dominating the battle with his descendant Muichiro Tokito. Engaging the strongest of the Hashira and concealing his true power to catch them off guard, Kokushibo takes every chance to show why he is the strongest of the Kizuki.
  • Akaza, Upper Rank 3, was born Hakuji and adopted his Social Darwinist beliefs after the deaths of his loved ones and becoming a demon under Muzan. Baiting a Hashira into combat, Akaza mortally wounds him to tempt a strong opponent with demonhood, yet respects the man's decision to die human when he refuses. Returning later, Akaza shows his full tactical abilities while facing both hero Tanjiro Kamado and another Hashira simultaneously. Constantly switching maneuvers to keep them on the defensive, Akaza even dies by his own hand, forgoing a chance to kill his opponents to commit suicide and reunite with his family.
• Memetic Badass: Haganezuka, thanks to the Running Gag of him viciously chasing after and trying to "kill" Tanjiro with a knife for constantly breaking his swords, in one instance chasing after him all the way from sunset to sunrise. Several jokes have been made as a result that, if somebody told Haganezuka that Muzan and/or the Twelve Kizuki broke Tanjiro's sword, all of them would end up dead.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Zenitsu has been a target of much fan mockery due to his creepy obsession with girls, tendency to scream his lungs out at the slightest provocation, begging to be saved whenever a demon is around (even if he outgrows it later), and being the butt of several jokes. The fact that all these traits are on display in his official introduction scene doesn't help.
  • Poor, poor Giyu. A single comment from Shinobu saying that he has no friends and that nobody likes him, and he becomes the fandom's laughing stock. It even translates to real life, where cosplayers at conventions dressed as various other characters (pretend to) bully Giyu cosplayers. This has also leaked into advertising — there have been sightings of Giyu posters set up separate from those of the rest of the Hashira, intentional or otherwise.
  • Muzan Kibutsuji, thanks to his massive Pride basically causing him to dig his own grave. His Bad Boss and Dirty Coward tendencies tend to be seen as the reason for his demise even more than the Demon Slayers. It doesn't help that he killed the one person who could have actually given him what he wanted a thousand years ago.
  • The one unnamed Demon Slayer who was brutally killed in less than a minute by Rui, after just bragging about how he could easily "climb up the ranks".
  • Some portions of the fanbase see Doma as this, as despite his cheery and friendly attitude, none of the other Upper Ranks like him at all. In fact, several of them can't even stand his presence. Further fueling this, during the fight against him in the Infinity Castle arc several characters brutally insult him to his face.
  • Gyokko is widely seen as this among the Upper Ranks due to being on the receiving end of a Curb-Stomp Battle by Muichiro and absolutely nothing being revealed about his past as he dies, unlike many of the other demons in the series. Muichiro basically trolling him the entire fight doesn't help.
• Memetic Molester: Tengen, due to having 3 beautiful wives and a much mocked scene where he smacks Aoi in the butt. Also, many fans have equated his whole operation in the red-light district alongside the main cast as a uncle taking his nephews to a whorehouse to "man them up".
• Memetic Mutation:
  • In Japan, a meme surfaced in 2017 that briefly crossed this series over with The Promised Neverland, an image edit◊ of Zenitsu being scared witless of Sister Krone made its rounds in Japanese imageboards, to the point Zenitsu somehow was voted the 29th most popular character in The Promised Neverland for its first official poll, while Sister Krone was voted the 59th most popular character in this series for its first official poll; the meme persisted in 2020, as the series 2nd official poll still got its votes for Sister Krone, even rose to 49th place. Going even further the meme was in fact recognized by Shueisha itself in 2019, as they made a gigantic mural with hundreds of Shonen Jump characters being all over a school building, Zenitsu and Krone were paired together alone, creating the same effect of Zenitsu being scared of Krone as she looms behind him.
  • The scene from episode 21 where Kanao chases the shrunken Nezuko spawned various memes.
  • Tanjiro's look of disgust◊ at Zenitsu when they first meet has gotten a lot of traction as a reaction image. Fan artists even sometimes find it mandatory to include whenever drawing Tanjiro or Nezuko in Tanjiro's role.
  • No one likes Giyu.
  • After the "I am not disliked by people" scene and the discovery that Giyu shares the same voice actor as Reigen Arataka, a spin-off of the #RedrawReigen meme kickstarted but with Giyu and the other Hashira called #RedrawGiyu.
    • The Hashira aren't the only ones to get all the fun - #RedrawInosuke also exists.
  • Shinobu and Tanjiro on the roof◊.^Explanation In Episode 24, Shinobu properly introduces herself to Tanjiro by invading the hell out of his personal space. The amount of uncomfortable near-sexual tension of this scene has led to many (mostly NSFW) memes about Shinobu coming onto Tanjiro. "Ara ara..." indeed. Even more Hilarious in Hindsight now that Shinobu's older sister Kanae, voiced by Ai Kayano no less, actually does go "Ara Ara" in the show.
  • Kaigaku's Early-Bird Cameo in the anime lead to an avalanche of parodies of the flashback, whether it's about the peaches he's eating, him throwing those peaches at Zenitsu, or Kaigaku's open shirt exposing his pecs which likewise became infamously common in fan art.
  • "You mustn't laugh! You mustn't, you mustn't, you mustn't!◊"
  • Comparing Muzan to Michael Jackson due to the former's resemblance to the latter in the Smooth Criminal music video.
  • The series' constant comedic Art Shifts have gotten a lot of traction as reaction images. Most prominent are the interactions between Tanjiro and Kanao in Episode 26. This artstyle is often called as "potato" by the fandom
  • Boku wo...tsurete... SUSUMEEEEEEEE!^Explanation Lyrics from the series OP "Gurenge" right before the chorus.
  • Flowers.^Explanation The first shot of the ending credits is of red spider lilies. This image has since been circulating as possibly the most frustrating image of the anime season, as the episodes love to end on a Cliffhanger.
  • And now, time for a Taisho secret!◊^Explanation Where at the end of episodes (and omake sketches in the manga), Word of God trivia tidbits are told to the audience about some characters. This was found to be extremely exploitable by fans.
  • Kirito Demon Slayer/Kirito no Yaiba.^Explanation A smaller joke that spawned due to the fact that Inosuke duel-wields swords, and happens to be voiced in Japanese by Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. But when it was revealed that Inosuke would also be voiced by Kirito's English voice actor, Bryce Papenbrook, the jokes skyrocketed.
  • Tsuyuri "Two-Face" Kanao.^Explanation Kanao's dependency on coin flips to make her own decisions has brought on many comparisons to Two-Face. It doesn't help that one of her eyes goes blind near the end of the manga, causing further comparisons to the imbalanced faces.
  • BUCKETS!^Explanation When Nezuko awakens her Demon Blood Art during the Mount Natagumo Arc, she Calls Her Attack. The Demon Blood Art is called "Exploding Blood" or "Bakketsu" in Japanese. To the english speaking fandom, it sounded a lot like she was yelling "Buckets".
  • Oyabun Inosuke.^{Explanation (slight spoilers)} After the swordsmith arc in chapter 128, Nezuko starts learning to talk again, but Inosuke happens to see this and immediately decides to train her into saying his name. He even tries to get Nezuko to call him "Oyabun Inosuke" or "Boss Inosuke", with Nezuko being able to almost say his name as "Oyapun Imosuke" or "Bosh Imosuke". This ends up working out oddly enough, but it makes Zenitsu jealous as he swears revenge on Inosuke.
  • Ara Ara Sayonara.^Explanation Shinobu says this when Murata freaks out and flees in embarrassment over badmouthing the Hashira while she's behind him. The connotation that "ara ara" usually entails in the anime community made the line especially◊ exploitable◊ in◊ various forms◊ and helped shove Shinobu dangerously closer to Memetic Molester territory.
  • Muzan's extreme mistreatment of his own demons has earned notoriety in the Japanese fandom, spawning many memes about "black company" (ブラック企業 burakku kigyō) and "power harassment" (パワハラ pawahara).
  • Self Slayer: Jimetsu no Yaiba (自滅の刃 Jimetsu no Yaiba).^Explanation This word derives from how Muzan digs his own grave such as by disposing of his own demons, killing the doctor who gave him the Blue Spider Lily medicine and launching a half-baked invasion on the Demon Slayer headquarters which resulted in the deaths of all his Upper Ranks as well as himself.
  • Hantengu's two-page flashback has spawned parodies, most notably ones that cross this series over with We Never Learn.
  • Gonpachiro Kamaboko.^Explanation The Running Gag of Inosuke accidentally misnaming people. This is what he calls Tanjiro, immediately after he properly introduces himself.
  • Teoni getting pissed over how they are in a new era became a topical meme as the Anime version of the Final Selection Arc coincided with an IRL change in the era (Heisei to Reiwa). The Kimetsu official Twitter account jumped on the meme bandwagon as well.
• Memetic Troll:
  • As #RedrawGiyu will show you, Shinobu's "no one likes you" comment to Giyu has propelled her into this status among the fandom. It just gets more cemented based on her interactions with Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke.
  • Fittingly, Doma's personality likewise makes him one in some fan comics.
  • Nezuko gets hit with this whenever fan artists feel like portraying her screwing around with other characters as intentional rather than an accidental consequence of her regressed child-like mental state.
• Moe:
  • You didn't think we'd leave out Nezuko, did you? She looks cute, has endearing love for her siblings, and even after becoming a demon, she doesn't lose her cuteness, regardless of whether she is snarling at someone, crawling into her box, or sleeping, because any given viewer is likely to see her as just as precious as her devoted brother does.
  • Kanao was pretty adorable to start with, but fans are particularly fond of her utterly bemused expressions any time someone (usually Tanjiro) throws her off her stride.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Muzan Kibutsuji has two acts almost back-to-back in his first appearance that cement him as an irredeemable monster: first turning an innocent random passer-by into a demon, who then proceeds to try and devour his wife due to uncontrollable demonic hunger, just to dodge Tanjiro and keep up his facade of a considerate family man; then, now alone in a back alley, he gets accosted by a rowdy drunk and his two companions; after the drunk insults him by comparing Muzan's pallor to that of a dying man, he One Hit Kills first the drunk and then his vengeful male companion, before going to the terrified female companion, and injecting her with so much of his blood that instead of turning into a demon, her body swells, breaks down and melts horrifically, with her staying conscious throughout until there's nothing left of her but an empty outfit. To make it worse, unlike her male companions, she hadn't personally done anything to arouse Muzan's ire.
  • Kaigaku selling out Himejima and his wards to Muzan, all just to save his own skin. This supreme act of cowardace not only resulted in many fellow demon slayers getting killed, but it drove his master, Kuwajima, to commit seppuku out of guilt and despair.
  • Rui is a Tragic Villain with a hard-hitting Freudian Excuse, but even then, his crimes were too grotesque to earn him even a relatively merciful death. In an attempt to reconstruct his lost family, he acted as a Bad Samaritan to other demons, transforming them into warped parodies of 'parents' and 'siblings' regardless of their suitability (his current 'mother', for instance, is implied to be a preteen girl), and keeping them in line through horrific abuse until even the most moral of them would commit atrocities rather than risk his wrath.
• Movement Mascot: The series is very popular in Chile. When the social movement started on October 2019 against the president Sebastian Pinera, Inosuke became the mascot of the movement, having A LOT of fanart of him battling police and being part of the movement as another Chilean, even having his own place in the national emblem◊. As a way to support Chile, other fellow Latin American countries like Bolivia and Peru (also in conflict with their governments) adopted the series' other main characters as their mascots◊.
• Narm:
  • Although Muzan Kibutsuji is mostly a frightening and intimidating Big Bad, some American fans might find it a little harder to take him seriously upon realizing his original form looks like Michael Jackson.
  • In the Natagumo Mountain Arc, when Tanjiro confronts Rui, a random Demon Slayer cuts in and attempts to kill Rui while bragging about it, only to get sliced into pieces by him. Although it was meant to showcase how powerful Rui is as a member of the Lower Ranks, it instead ends up being hilarious due to how stupidly overconfident the Demon Slayer is and how quickly he gets killed.
  • Zenitsu's high-pitched and over-the-top screaming can sometimes ruin what's supposed to be a scary or unnerving scene. However, this might have been the point.
  • Some found Kyojuro Rengoku's death hard to take seriously due to Inosuke visibly crying through his headpiece while flailing his swords around like a madman.
  • Daki suddenly breaking down crying like a child after getting beheaded is such a severe Mood Whiplash it catches even Tengen by surprise, but it turns out it isn't inaccurate to her situation. However, the anime turns it into this because the crying sounds like a boiling tea kettle.
• Narm Charm: As detailed under Ass Pull, Tanjiro suddenly remembering how to perform his father's fire dance to use it to fight Rui can come across as rather ridiculous, but due to how amazing the battle (and music) is, it's hard to find someone who doesn't absolutely love it.
• Nausea Fuel: The Spider Mother killing the Demon Slayers she was puppeteering by pulling their heads backwards 180 degrees with VERY loud snapping noises and no Gory Discretion Shot to speak of.
• Never Live It Down: The unnamed Demon Slayer who brags that he can kill Rui only to be easily killed himself. His death by mutilation has earned him the nickname "Diced Steak Senpai".
• One-Scene Wonder: In Japanese, the remaining Lower Ranks are voiced by some really famous voice actors who were hired to just voice these really minor characters, Natsuki Hanae (Tanjiro) even jokingly expressed disbelief on getting these big shots to “waste” them like that.
• Opinion Myopia: A large number of Western fans automatically assume that the presence of descendants from Giyu Tomioka and Sanemi Shinazugawa in the epilogue means that both must have had kids with a woman at some point after the final battle. However, many are shocked to find that Japanese customs regarding descendants allows a person to adopt a heir to succeed their house and family name in place of biologically having one with another person. In this way, a descendant of a person may not necessarily be their biological kid or even blood-related at all. The series' open ending does not explicitly mention whether both slayers actually had kids with another woman or adopted them; this has caused headaches to fans encountering this concept for the first time, and mild arguments between sections of the fanbase who argue in favor of marriage and kids or adoption.
• OT3:
  • The main trio Tanjiro x Zenitsu x Inosuke.
  • The top three Upper Ranks Kokushibo x Doma x Akaza.
  • Sumiyoshi x Suyako x Yoriichi.
• Periphery Demographic:
  • It's an action-packed series meant for preteen and teen boys and it certainly delivers on the action but the male cast, which is the majority by far, are quite a few handsome men of varying tastes, who manage to stay beautiful either when delivering major and gruesome beatdowns or being on the receiving end of one. With that, the series is very popular with female readers in Japan, resulting in most of the fan works being primarily about the handsome dudes being even more fabulous to flat out being Yaoi pieces. At the other end of the spectrum, there are beautiful female characters as well; while they're generally outnumbered by male characters, their fan works (especially Nezuko) are still quite ubiquitous. Tanjiro being a genuinely kind and emotionally mature male lead in a genre not typically known for that is also a huge draw. Then there's Nezuko, who is a great subversion of the Damsel in Distress, actively assisting her brother on his missions instead of being passive motivation for his quest. On top of that, their relationship is genuinely one of familial love, without any Incest Subtext that plagues a lot of brother-sister stories throughout various manga genres.
  • A surprising amount of Japanese children who are younger than the manga's targeted age demographic have become fans of the series. This likely contributed to the Mugen Train movie doing so well at the box office (though even then, there was still some concern from parents over whether the movie was appropriate for children). There was even a poll that revealed that some kids (mostly little girls) admire Tanjiro more than their own parents.
• Portmanteau Couple Name: Several pairings with noticeable amount of fans got names like:
  • Tankana: Tanjiro/Kanao
  • Zennezu: Zenitsu/Nezuko
  • Inoaoi: Inosuke/Aoi
  • Giyushino: Giyu/Shinobu
  • Sabimako: Sabito/Makomo
  • Obamitsu: Obanai/Mitsuri
  • Inotan: Inosuke/Tanjiro
  • Tanzen: Tanjiro/Zenitsu
  • Inozen: Inosuke/Zenitsu
  • Sabigiyuu: Sabito/Giyu
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Iguro was at first one of the least popular Hashira, mainly due his lack of heroism in the manga compared to his fellow Hashira and for generally being an unpleasant character. However, his role in the final battle against Muzan, where he not only received the characterization he needed that really justifies his complex, but also proved to be one hell of a fighter that wouldn't stop attacking Muzan no matter how hurt he was and saved Tanjiro multiple times through the fight, ended up earning him the respect and love of many fans. It went to a point that, even some of the fans who didn't like the fight against Muzan admitted that the part of Iguro was the saving grace of an otherwise mediocre and dragged on last battle.
• Self-Fanservice:
  • Many drawings depicting Hantengu prefer using his younger-looking, more attractive emotions.
  • Gyutaro in canon is flat-out called ugly several times, even by himself. Fans occassionally throw him a bone by either distancing his anatomy from the canonical creepiness, OR - especially in the case of the modern AU - making him Ugly Cute.
• Ships That Pass in the Night:
  • There are some people who ship Inosuke/Aoi. The phenomenon mostly came from Tanjiro/Kanao and Zenitsu/Nezuko fans as ship mates. Possibly because of this popularity, they got some Maybe Ever After hints in the final 2 chapters, before Aoba is officially listed as their descendant in the final volume's extras.
  • Giyuu and Shinobu have multiple scenes together and interactions spread throughout the manga, Giyu's canonical spin-off manga, light novels, fanbooks, and databooks. Many fans are vocal about their love for the ship, to the point where much fanart and fanfiction stories of them exist. This was taken further after the second fanbook revealed that both enjoy talking to each other, according to Gyomei's observations, as well as their positive opinions of each other.
  • One of Zenitsu's biggest ships in the Japanese fandom, Uzui/Zenitsu, is based on the latter's seething jealousy and annoyance over the other man. They don't interact much in-story other than this, but it gets to the point where even their descendants are paired off in the finale.
  • Shinobu and Mitsuri rarely directly interact in the anime/manga, although Mitsuri thinks about Shinobu twice and affectionately calls her "Shinobu-chan" (as opposed to how she calls Iguro by his surname; though bear in mind it is easier to give such nicknames in Japan to people of the same gender since no romantic overtone is usually implied). Despite that, the pairing has a significant following among yuri shippers.
  • Sanemi Shinazugawa and Kanae Kocho have only interacted exactly once, in a flashback to when Sanemi became a Hashira and met Kagaya. However, fanart of them as a couple or romantically interested in each other can still be found, and things have only escalated further once the Kimetsu Gakuen universe showed Sanemi and Kanae, both teachers, interacting in the illustrated extras for Volume 18. Taken further after the second fanbook revealed that Sanemi likes Kanae, according to Gyomei's observations.
• Signature Scene:
  • The ending fight of S1E19 (Tanjiro's desperate combat with Rui), considered the moment the series Grew The Beard and spectacularly demonstrated its quality for those still in doubt.
  • On a more memetic level, the more commonly talked about scene you'll likely come across is from Episode 21 where Kanao chases a shrunken Nezuko.
  • From the latter third of the Infinity Train Arc, the arrival of Upper-3 Akaza, his fight with Rengoku and Rengoku's death soon after. Unsurprisingly, it forms the emotional peak of the Infinity Train film adaptation (as well as its TV re-edit).
  • The Red Light District arc adaptation manages to get in here with S3 E10, the climax of the Demon Slayers' fight against Daki and Gyutaro—with everyone's Last Ditch Move being executed in an explosion of colors and Scenery Gorn—that audience reaction consensus being it equal, if not superior, to S1E19.
  • From the manga (a point that the anime will reach up to eventually) in chapter 126, Nezuko walking in sunlight and talking again is a key scene and major plot point that was established, giving her character a major change and making her even more important in the plot. Nezuko's appearances after chapter 126 and in some covers show her smiling more often.
  • Another one from the manga: Tanjiro and Giyuu facing off against Akaza, and the reveal of Akaza's Dark and Troubled Past.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Except for Enmu and Rui, the remaining Lower Ranks are slaughtered by Muzan in their first appearance, without giving them the chance to show their abilities or background.
  • Likewise, some of the characters who were killed off in their only episode appearance can be treated this way, as there could have been potential within them. One example is Ozaki, the girl who is forced against her will into attacking her comrades. Another example is any of Tanjiro and Nezuko's deceased siblings.
  • Kaigaku, the replacement Upper Rank Six, is seen as this by many. Though Zenitsu makes note of the history between them, the first time he is properly introduced to the audience is in the very last arc of the series, with only a few small cameo appearances prior. From there, he puts up a fight for no more than 3 chapters before he's dispatched in one blow.
  • Upper Rank Five Gyokko feels like this for some fans. Unlike other Upper Ranks who offered incredible battles and proved to be fearsome enemies, his fight against Muichiro was very one-sided from beginning (where Gyokko easily overpowered the Hashira) to end (where Muichiro in return defeats Gyokko swiftly once he awakes his Mark), making him a plot device to introduce the Demon Slayer Mark and to show how strong Muichiro is after awakening it. To make things worse, nothing about his backstory or past was revealed through his screentime, leaving him as a less compelling character even compared with less relevant antagonists like Kyogai or the Spider Mother.
  • Nakime the Biwa demon. She appears way before the Upper Ranks, seems to be Muzan's most trusted subordinate, and after Hantengu's death she's ascended to the rank of Upper Rank Four. However, once she gets her turn to fight, she barely does anything other than toy with Obanai and Kanroji, and then she's killed by Muzan without second thoughts once Yushiro takes control over her body, without the audience managing to learn anything about her personality or backstory.
  • Some have said that Doma, being a cult leader and having a very entertaining personality, would have served extremely well in a standalone arc that involves the demon slayers investigating a mysterious cult. As is, he just gets a brief fight against Kanao and Inosuke, being bunched into the final arc like the rest of the remaining Upper Ranks.
  • There are fans who view Tengen Uzui's remaining brother as this, being given a unique design and interesting backstory during his very brief appearance in Tengen's flashback. He is also described as having no humanity remaining, giving some the impression that he would return later on as a demon, a ninja demon. The fact that the new Upper Rank-5 who replaced Gyokko was never revealed only fuels this, as some speculated it would be revealed as Tengen's brother at some point. There was even a potential set-up in the final arc for the two to meet again if that were the case; Tengen protected the vulnerable Kiriya during the events of the final battle and many had hoped the new Upper Rank would finally show up to make an attempt on his life, and Tengen's brother being that demon would've brought his story full-circle, facing and ending the monster that he could've become under his father's influence. But neither plot point involving the brother or the new Upper Rank were ever addressed after their initial mention, leaving fans disappointed. The second fan book finally sheds some light on what happened to Tengen's brother, revealing that there was an incident where Uzui seriously contemplated killing him and their father, but ultimately did not have the heart to go through with it.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Tanjiro is only a demon for about two chapters before he's cured and that's...pretty much it, really. Many feel that this was wasted potential and would have liked to see him as a demon, and the consequences of becoming one, for longer.
• Too Cool to Live: Kyojuro Rengoku was one of the stronger Hashira (at least for someone without a mark), but he's the first to be killed after an impressive showing in the Mugen Train Arc. It says something that he's fondly remembered by the other characters for his heroism and strength.
• Ugly Cute: Gyutaro manages to be this for some, with a few hardcore fans even going so far as to regard him as ugly sexy. While he's quite hideous-looking under normal circumstances with his emaciated torso, clammy gray skin, and scarred face, the horrible life he's had gains him sympathy points and his fierce protectiveness of his younger sister Daki can come across as endearing despite him being a horrible influence on her.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Doma can qualify for some. Yes, he's a twisted sociopath, but some viewers may actually feel a little sorry for him since he seems rather upset of his inability to feel human emotions due to his parents treating him like a god and starting a cult around him just for power. And when he falls in love with Shinobu in the afterlife, he seems genuinely happy at finally being able to experience human emotions. However, it's lessened in that he still chooses to be evil even after this and doesn't seem to feel any remorse for his actions.
• Unpopular Popular Character:
  • Zenitsu is considered to be a loser by almost all of his past acquaintances before meeting the main cast, and even if he has friends now, there are still new people Zenitsu meets who don't like him, primarily due to his cowardice and perversion. Despite this, he's still very popular among the fandom, once scoring second place in an official poll only behind the loved-by-all protagonist Tanjiro himself. His popularity proved to be long lasting; the second official manga poll in Japan crowned Zenitsu with first place in 2020. This is made even more curious by the fact Zenitsu is disliked by many of the girls he tries to impress, but is loved by a fandom that has a gigantic female presence in it. He's so popular, in fact, that he appeared in another character poll... for The Promised Neverland, another Shonen Jump series.
  • Doma is hated by almost everyone he's come across, albeit for good reason, with not even his fellow Upper Ranks liking him. However, he's one of the most popular demons in the series among fans for his Laughably Evil personality, with only Akaza really challenging him for the title of most popular demon in the series.
• Vanilla Protagonist: While he's hardly disliked, many fans have pointed out that Tanjiro doesn't really stray too far from the typical Shonen protagonist, being an All-Loving Hero and Nice Guy who seeks to take down an Evil Overlord to avenge his family. Just compare him to the utterly frantic yet still friendly Zenitsu and the completely wild and rambunctious Inosuke.
• Viewer Gender Confusion:
  • While Rui's clothing is actually in a masculine style, the rest of his design is quite feminine. As a result, some fan translations refer to him as female.
  • Enmu is often mistaken for female.
  • Those who've seen Muichirou first in the manga might mistake him for a girl.
• Visual Effects of Awesome:
  • While not quite at the level of ufotable's Fate adaptations in an average episode, there are still plenty of scenes with beautiful visuals and outstanding animation. Episode 19 was so impressive that it set the anime fandom aflame and interest in the show exploded. Mostly for this scene, but with plenty more in the episode beyond it.
  • CyberConnect2's Tie in Game manages to look even better than the Anime, especially during the Ultimate Moves. Not surprising, as they have done similar with other anime tie ins since Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, including Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Despite being very violent and gory at times (with the plot being kicked off when Tanjiro comes home to find almost all of his family murdered), and having an entire arc that involves infiltrating a Red Light District (the English localization calls it the Entertainment District Arc, but anyone familiar with Japanese terminology and history will know exactly what kind of "entertainment" is provided there), it's a Shonen Jump title, so it's aimed at a preteen and teen male audience. It's also somehow managed to become popular with Japanese children who are even younger than the intended demographic, though there was still some concern from parents over whether or not the Mugen Train movie was appropriate for young children. Mugen Train was outright given an R rating for its North American release, as opposed to its PG-12 rating in Japan (roughly analogous to a North American PG-13 rating).
• Woolseyism: The French version’s initial run of the manga was retitled Les Rôdeurs de la nuit, which translates to The Night Prowlers. Some people like that title better, as some feel Demon Slayer (which was adopted for the re-edition) is a rather generic title.

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