Characters / Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: Twelve Kizuki: Upper Ranks

aka: Demon Slayer Kimetsu No Yaiba Akaza

Doma

Voiced By: Mamoru Miyano (Japanese), Stephen Fu (English)^{Other VA} Alan Velázquez (Latin American Spanish), Damien Boisseau (French), Sascha Rotermund (German), Li Shiyang (Taiwanese Mandarin)

^{This is Doma as the Upper-2. Click here to see him as the Upper- 6}

^{Click here to see him as a human child}

Upper-2, formerly the Upper-6 long ago. An unashamed devourer of humans, Doma approaches life and others with an insincere cheer.

• Abhorrent Admirer: Despite being established as a sociopath who never cared about anyone, he actually gains a crush on Shinobu as he dies. She naturally finds this pretty revolting.
• Abusive Parents: Of a sort. Doma's parents weren't overtly agressive or neglectful towards him, but it's blatant that they were NOT good people just trying to raise a healthy human being. They were con-artists that groomed Doma from a very young age to be a priest/icon of their scam cult. His father used his position to sexually exploit the women of the cult, causing the mother to murder him and then commit suicide in front of Doma, who was still a small child.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: The few times Gotouge has shown Doma in color he was given silver hair and a natural skin tone, the Official Digital Color release, on the other hand, gives Doma light blond hair and an Undeathly Pallor.
• An Ice Person: Doma's blood magic takes the form of manipulating ice and using the cold to his advantage.
• Agent Peacock: He's the flamboyant, fan-wielding Upper Rank 2 with flower-themed techniques.
• Arc Villain: He serves as one of the Main Antagonists of the Infinity Castle Arc, along with Kokushibo and Akaza.
• Arch-Enemy: To Shinobu Kocho until he fell in love with her in his dying moments. He also serves as one to Kanao for killing her sisters and Inosuke for killing Shinobu and being responsible for his biological mother, Kotoha's death.
• Ax-Crazy: A sociopathic, nihilistic, misanthropic and sadomasochistic mass murderer who enjoys brutally killing and eating women.
• Believing Their Own Lies: Even with the Eternal Paradise cult being born out his parents trying to scam people, after becoming a demon Doma has grown to honestly believe him eating the subjects of his cult to be a real form of salvation, he doesn’t believe is any form of gods or afterlife; to Doma his subjects being consumed by an immortal demon is akin to live inside him for eternity, thus a "practical" afterlife. Challenging this view is what made Doma eat Kotoha, since he actually enjoyed her company as much as a sociopath could, as Doma says he actually tried to explain himself to her after she saw him eating someone, only eating Kotoha after she refuted his insane belief and ran away.
• Berserk Button: The only thing that gets a rise out of Doma is someone mocking him for his lack of true emotions. So when Kanao insults him for it, he suddenly gets all serious, immediately dropping his Faux Affably Evil personality.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Doma has an unusually cheerful personality and is prone to bouts of giddiness, being one of the only villains with several moments that are Played for Laughs, but he is the Upper Rank-2 for a very good reason.
• Big Eater: A dark example. Doma loves to eat human beings, especially women and devours them in large numbers, which is why he's so powerful. Shinobu exploited this so he would eat her, consuming a huge dose of wisteria poison in her body in the process. Since wisteria is so toxic to demons, it's pretty much guaranteed that eating Shinobu will cripple Doma.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: He has distinctively thick and bushy black eyebrows, a feature he's had since he was a child. They contrast quite a bit with his feminine features and silver hair.
• Black Bead Eyes: He is notably the only villain in the series that is ever shown briefly with this Art Shift feature, something usually reserved for comedic moments involving the heroes. This conveys his apparent playfulness while also highlighting his generally disturbing behavior, as everything he says and does comes off as fake despite the friendly personality he outwardly presents.
• Body Horror: He uses his index finger to stab his own skull and literally pick at his brain, as a playfully twisted way to try to remember where he'd seen Inosuke's face. Also his death.
• Brick Joke: A very dark example. At the Upper Ranks meeting in chapter 98, Doma remarks to Gyokko that he still has the pot that he gifted to him long ago and even planted a woman's severed head in it, eliciting a confused yet intrigued reaction from Gyokko. Much later, during a flashback in chapter 142, Doma is shown cheerfully tending to the still flowing hair of an otherwise barren skull that is sticking out of a pot.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: Initially, he can't remember fighting and killing Shinobu's sister, though her being a Hashira jogs his memory soon enough. It takes even longer for Doma to remember Inosuke's mother.
• A Child Shall Lead Them: Being born with silver hair and rainbow colored pupils inspired Doma's parents to groom him as a cult leader from childhood. His unique hair and eye colors made others believe he was divine, which was perpetuated by Doma's parents and allowed them to spread the notion that people would lead happy resourceful lives by just worshipping Doma in their Eternal Paradise Cult. He's been at the center of the cult ever since then.
• Combat Hand Fan: He fights with a pair of elegant and razor-sharp metal fans, using them as both melee weapons to slice apart enemies and as support items to augment his demonic ice powers by expanding his range considerably.
• Condescending Compassion: Views his followers that he's trying to "help" as a bunch of pitiful morons.
• Contempt Crossfire: On the receiving end of this. After Akaza punches him in the head, Kokushibo chides Akaza for attacking a fellow Upper Rank, but then makes it clear that he doesn't care for Doma either.
• Creepy Child: His thought after his mother stabbed his father to death and committed suicide herself? "Please don't dirty this room" with an annoyed expression.
• Creepy Souvenir: Doma has a room within his headquarters that is filled with the skulls of the women he has killed. This is also where he keeps the pot gifted to him by Gyokko, which still contains the skull of the woman whose head he "planted".
• Cult: Doma is a cult leader, the founder of the Eternal Paradise, which believes in 'eternal happiness.' He usually achieves this by murdering and devouring people to 'relieve their suffering.'
• Death Equals Emotion: In a strange, twisted and unmoving example, he feels attraction toward Shinobu in the afterlife.
• Dissonant Serenity: Doma rarely acts anything but relaxed and serene to highlight how disturbing he is. Even as a human, when his mother violently murdered his father before killing herself, his only priority was airing the room out. This is up to the point where he doesn't feel anything when dying.
• Doppelgänger Attack: Doma can create smaller clones of himself out of ice to fight alongside him. They can use all the same abilities that the real Doma can, making it a truly overwhelming technique.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In his debut appearance in the manga, during his Upper-6 days, the odd stain effects on Doma’s hair extended to his sideburns too, but just a few chapters later where his current Upper-2 appearance is seen, the stain is exclusively on top of Doma’s head and would remain that way throughout all his following parts in the story. Doma’s anime debut reconciled this discrepancy, Doma’s hair stain is only on top of his hair too during that same flashback, making his appearance completely consistent in the animated adaptation.
• Emotionless Boy: Kanao points out that despite his cheery demeanor, Doma is incapable of any real emotions.
• Establishing Character Moment: Doma is first introduced in Gyutaro's flashback carrying a woman's severed head in his arms while toting her mangled body on his back before offering to help the siblings he refers to as pathetic, establishing his sinister and faux-benevolent traits early on. Only in later chapters are his more comedic elements shown, disturbingly undercutting any humor he provides with the fact that he is an incredibly vile and callous demon.
• Evil Is Deathly Cold: Doma's demonic powers manifest as the ability to manipulate ice, which reflects his cold and detached view of the world.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Doma has numbered irises. Otherwise, he has the most normal-looking eyes of the Upper Ranks. Oddly enough, as a human, he had rainbow-colored eyes.
• Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon: The prettiest of the Upper Ranks, pleasant looking and all angelic smiles. Then he casually mentions keeping a girl's severed head in a pot for decoration and is a remorseless murderer who glories in his demon nature.
• Faux Affably Evil: Acts bizarrely pleasant and friendly to everyone, which enrages Akaza. However, it's clear that it's simply an act, which causes him to come across as condescending and insincere, rather than friendly.
• Flash Step: Does this a few times during his fight against Kanao and Inosuke, most notably to steal the former’s sword and the latter’s mask without them immediately realizing it.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: Despite being groomed to be a cult leader since he was born, Doma believes that there is nothing after death, and when one dies, they simply 'return to the ground,' believing religion to be a waste of time. Given he's an immortal, centuries-old demon, this is quite noticeable.
• Foil:
  • Interestingly, he is one to Giyu. Both utilize water (in Doma's case, actual ice) to fight their opponents, have connection to a Brother–Sister Team on their respective ranks who they saved on a bitter winter, being received unfavorably by their respective colleagues, and catching Shinobu's interest. Their differences set in: first, while Giyu is aloof and reserved, he is ultimately sincere and idealistic individual, Doma is an abhorrent nihilist underneath his vivaciousness and cheerfulness. Secondly, the former is genuinely concerned about Tanjiro and Nezuko and even risks his position to protect them, while the latter ultimately doesn't give a damn when Daki and Gyutaro died. And lastly, Shinobu really cares for the former despite the times where she messes with him, while she doesn't extend the same courtesy to the latter, being the one who killed her older sister.
  • He is also one to his fellow Kizuki member, Akaza. Both are high-ranking members of the Twelve Kizuki who are extraordinarily powerful, both have killed a current member of the Hashira (Akaza to Rengoku, Doma to Shinobu) and both have an affable side to them. However, it's much more genuine with Akaza who has an incredible sense of honor and even shows respect to his opponents when they are strong enough to take him on; Doma is very fake on the other hand and is condescending towards anyone he comes across, even to his allies. Their honor is even shown in their fighting methods: Akaza would rather fight fair, and goes as far as to accept defeat and commit suicide when Tanjiro is able to behead him. Doma however resorts to cheap tricks, such as summoning a giant statue as a last-ditch effort to kill Kanao and Inosuke when the poison from consuming Shinobu gets to him. And finally, their treatment of women cannot be anymore different: Doma has a rather creepy fetish for eating them believing they are high in nutrients; Akaza refuses to eat any of them out of honor of his dead wife. Naturally Akaza hates Doma's guts and can definitely see right through the latter.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: With possibly the exception of Gyokko, none of his peers like him, finding his fake friendly attitude irritating. A databook of the manga mentioned that even Muzan never liked him.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: At first, he was a child exploited by his religious parents, but after being turned into a Demon by Muzan, he became a Demon that drove many people to suffering and death.
• The Gadfly: Provokes Akaza with ease.
• Graceful Loser: According to the official fan book, when asked about his opinion about Insect Breathing and Shinobu (the style and Demon Slayer that helped kill him) he responded "It's fine, she was so beautiful, so I kind of give her a pass."
• Hated by All: No one likes him for how relentlessly vile he is and his insane nature in general, with the slight exception of Gyokko, although his tolerance for Doma is limited. As much as he may complain about his demon peers being "cold" to him, he doesn’t care about it. Even Muzan of all people doesn't like him.
• Hero Killer: Killed both Kanae during one of her Demon hunting sessions, as well as Shinobu during their confrontation in the Infinity Castle.
• Hidden Depths: The Volume 19 extras revealing that Doma has also killed Kotoha’s abusive husband and her mother-in-law, but did not eat them, has a deeper meaning when Doma’s cult leader practices is brought into question; Doma, in his twisted mind, wholeheartedly believes that he is saving the people he consumes in his cult, because according to him they will live forever inside him, instead of just fading into nothingness, as Doma didn’t believe in the existence of gods nor the afterlife, with that Doma has left the husband and his mother to rot away, while he completely consumed Kotoha after she ran away from him.
• High-Class Fan: Doma, one of the highest ranking demons, is frequently wielding a fan to demonstrate his status as an Agent Peacock with a flair for flamboyance.
• Hollywood Atheist: He doesn't believe in Gods, Buddhas, and afterlife. And view those who do believe in them as dumb, pitiful, and pathetic.
• Hypocritical Humor: In a Black Comedy sense. He tells a young Gyutaro that life is precious and offers to save his sister by turning them both into demons. All while he's munching on a woman's corpse.
• I'm Melting!: When Shinobu's wisteria poison starts to kick in, Doma's flesh and some organs like his eyeball start to disgustingly melt off of his body. The melting of his flesh also prevented him from moving around his domain and allowed Kanao to defeat him once and for all.
• Immortality Begins at Twenty: Doma is one of the few demons to retain the same youthful and beautiful features he had as a young man, with his teeth and fingernails (and maybe skin tone) being the only real indications of his demonic nature. He is also a literal case of this trope, as he was turned into a demon at age 20.
• "Instant Death" Radius: He is capable of freezing his blood and turning it to fog, chilling the air around him to a lethal degree as it can destroy a normal person's lungs in seconds or freeze their skin. This forces his opponents to fight at a distance and use hit-and-run tactics, but he can still get around this by using his fans to blow the lethal cold outwards with much greater range and precision.
• Irony: Despite being an atheist who doesn't believe in an afterlife, he has many attacks that create religious symbols. Examples include the Frozen Lotus attack, which creates ice lotuses with razor-sharp ice shards (the lotus is a common Buddhist and Hindu symbol that represents purity). Also, after the wisteria poison in Shinobu's body kicks in and he's left severely weakened, one of his last-ditch efforts to repel Kanao and Inosuke is to summon a huge Bodhisattva statue made of ice.
• It Amused Me: He intended to keep Kotoha around because he enjoyed her beauty and singing.
• Just Toying with Them: He spends almost his entire fight with Kanao and Inosuke messing around with them despite having several chances to kill them, such as when he effortlessly snatched away their sword and boar mask, respectively. This comes back to bite him hard, as doing so only wasted time and allowed Shinobu's poison to begin breaking down his body. Only then does he begin fighting seriously by summoning his powerful Boddhisattva statue, but it is too late and the two of them are able to work together and behead him as he attempts to escape.
• Karmic Death: Dies due to the combined efforts of Shinobu, Kanao, and Inosuke, three people whose families died because of him.
• Keet: Doma is shockingly cheerful, outgoing, and bouncy. Of course, it's all an elaborate act, and the underlying insincerity behind it is nearly as disturbing as the attitude itself to most people.
• Lack of Empathy: Doma is incapable of normal human empathy. He was like this even before being turned into a demon.
• Last Ditch Move: After he begins succumbing to Shinobu's wisteria poison, Doma makes one final attempt to fight back against Kanao and Inosuke by summoning a massive Boddhisatva statue of ice.
• Laughably Evil: Doma is the only villain with several comedic moments and is even drawn with the series' distinct Black Bead Eyes for such moments of levity. However, any of these instances are undercut by his cruel nature as a demon and his insincere personality.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: During his dying inner monologue he tries to have some kind of internal revelation or reveal that he feels sorry for what he did before indirectly addressing the audience that he really doesn't feel anything about his predicament, even death is boring to him.
• Logical Weakness: Taking a huge dosage of wisteria poison from the inside will have heavy effects on even Upper Ranks, as Doma discovers the hard way after absorbing Shinobu and once the poison starts to work.
• Magic Knight: While most of the Twelve Kizuki are either magically or physically oriented, Doma uses a combination of ice magic and high speed to fight.
• Major Injury Underreaction: He compliments Akaza's strength when the irate demon socks his lower jaw away, and Kokushibo reprimands Akaza for disrupting the hierarchy by lopping the top part of Doma's head off, which the latter calls it "simple horseplay."
• Mask of Sanity: Despite his evident insanity, he is very good at hiding it.
• Monster Misogyny: Doma prefers to eat women because, according to the Databook, they are more nutritious than men due to their reproduction capabilities, which lends to more natural body fat under normal circumstances.
• More Despicable Minion: Heavily downplayed. Both Muzan and Doma are sociopathic, amoral demons demons with a penchant for killing humans. However it's worth noting that Muzan, in all his cruelty, treated certain demons in way different than his usual Bad Boss shtick. On the other hand, Doma rarely displayed such kindness, and that's nothing to say of how he's hated by all Upper Ranks and Muzan himself.
• Nightmare Fetishist: In a similar manner to Lower Rank-1 Enmu, Doma seems all too happy at the thought of Muzan violently punishing the Upper Ranks during their meeting (much like how the Lower Ranks were eradicated), having an excited smile on his face and offering to gouge his own eyes out as compensation for losing Gyutaro, which Muzan refuses. Later on during the Infinity Castle arc, Doma demonstrates his healing prowess by sticking his index finger into his temple and digging it around, all while having a maniacal expression on his face, and gets very elated once Shinobu is able to damage him with her poison. This all gives the impression that Doma gets off on receiving gruesome injuries and the pain that comes with them.
• No Name Given: Despite being one of the most powerful demons in the series, and with a detailed backstory, his name when he was a human is never given; not even in the 2nd Databook which gave Gyokko a name and a backstory, Doma’s human name is simply listed as "unknown".
• No Sense of Personal Space: Greets Akaza with a hand on his shoulder and leaves it there until Akaza tries to punch him out. He also grabs Gyokko's severed head after Muzan tears it off and holds it close to his face as he asks to assist him and Hantengu at the Swordsmith Village, making Gyokko visibly uncomfortable.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • When Kanao calls him out for his lack of true emotion, Doma drops all his smiles and gets ice cold.
  • Happens again when Shinobu's poison kicks in. Doma drops all the smiles and taunting again and immediately whips out his ultimate move to try and kill the Slayers.
• Perpetual Smiler: It's rare Doma lacks a playful smile. The one time where he wholly drops it is when Kanao calls him out for his true lack of emotions.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Doma seemed as fond of Inosuke's mother Kotoha as he could possibly be of a human being, stating he enjoyed her purity and enthusiasm, intending to keep her at his side until she died of natural causes. While it's unknown if Doma truly meant this given his track record and he did eventually murder her when she discovered him snacking on his followers, he did try to 'explain' himself first. For someone like Doma, this is an insane level of attempted benevolence.
  • When he stumbles upon a young Gyutaro carrying a severely burned Ume/Daki, he turns them both into demons seemingly out of pity. While becoming literal and figurative monsters was definitely not what the two needed, Doma did technically save Ume's life when he could've killed or ignored both her and Gyutaro.
• Powers Do the Fighting: He can make miniature clones out of ice that are capable of acting autonomously and using any of his offensive techniques. He creates several to fight Kanao and Inosuke while he attempts to leave in order to attend to other matters.
• Power Stereotype Flip: In opposition with his ice powers, Doma is flamboyant, approachable and tries to befriend the other Upper Ranks.
• Psycho for Hire: Out of all the Twelve Kizuki, Doma is the one who better fits the archetype, being a deeply disturbed individual who is visibly enthusiastic about his position as Muzan's henchman. Even Muzan himself isn't fond of that.
• Psychopathic Manchild: Type 3, He has high intelligence and intimidating powers, but the meaning of his name and the way he speaks and behaves shows that overall he behaves like a child.
• Rank Up: Doma is one of the few demons who is ever given background with the Blood Succession Battle system, he once was the Upper-6 when scouting Gyutaro approximately a century ago, later Daki and Gyutaro become the Upper-6 while Doma went on to become the Upper-2.
• Shadow Archetype: To Kanao, if she didn't get over her issues and remained emotionless and uncaring to anything and anyone around her. Part of the reason why her "The Reason You Suck" Speech against Doma is so biting because she sees herself in him until her Character Development.
• Straw Nihilist: Doma sees life from a futile point of view, and when humans die, they only return to the dust, but they pity those who believe in the afterlife.
• The Sociopath: Confirmed in Chapter 157. Kanao calls Doma out for all his attempts at emotion being farcical. Doma feels no emotions and can't feel them to where Kanae states she would feel sorry for him if she did not hate him so much. He's so detached that even while beheaded and dying, he doesn't really feel anything and doesn't mind.
• Tareme Eyes: They make him look more laid back than the comparatively uptight Akaza.
• Technicolor Eyes: As a human, he was born with rainbow colored eyes. His parents saw this as a sign that he must be some kind of supernatural being, leading them to groom him as the religious leader of the Eternal Paradise Cult.
• This Cannot Be!: After getting his head cut off by Kanao with Inosuke's help, Doma is in disbelief that he lost to Shinobu, Inosuke, and Kanao. His thoughts told him to try and regenerate just like Muzan and Akaza did, but thanks to Shinobu's poison, he realizes that his efforts to regenerate were pointless since the overdose of poison had broken down his entire body. Becomes a Graceful Loser after realizing this fact and seeing Shinobu's spirit.
• Undignified Death: Dies while trying to flee from Inosuke and Kanao as his body is broken down by Shinobu's poison.
• Villainous Breakdown: Inverted. He certainly tries to pretend to have one, but he cannot bring himself to care. If anything, he seems disappointed that he cannot care at all about how he is dying.
• Villainous Crush: As he's dying, Doma begins feeling a genuine emotion for the first time in his life. He then realizes that he is crushing like mad for Shinobu, even asking her spirit to come to hell with him. She, of course, rejects him with a smile on her face.
• Villainous Friendship: Subverted. Doma treats the other Upper Ranks like his best buddies, especially Akaza, even bursting into tears when Akaza dies. The closest relation he has is with Gyokko, both of whom share a few traits and similar personalities. Kanao, however, notes that all this is fake, and Doma is devoid of all emotion. He can't consider them his friends because he can't even feel friendship.
• Villainous Glutton: Doma's character is defined by his gluttony towards devouring human women, messily eating countless numbers to gain greater strength while viewing them as nothing more than nutrition to fulfill his appetite.
• What Is This Feeling?: After an entire lifetime of feeling no emotions and just faking them, in his final moments he is delighted by the sudden and strange feeling he has towards Shinobu, wondering if it is "love".
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Deconstructed. As a child, his parents created a religion with him as the leader because of his unique eyes and hair. Because of his disbelief in Gods, he looks down on them and his followers. He only played along out of pity.
• Worf Had the Flu: Doma soared through the Upper Ranks in less than a hundred years, settling at Upper-2. He playfully asserted his dominance by bluntly saying the Upper-3, Akaza, could never defeat him in a blood battle, after letting him slice the top half of his head off as a mere banter between friends, and Akaza truly wasn't able to take the Upper-2 spot for himself, despite hating Doma that much. Yet in the end, a combination of Doma's own lack of care for anything and being poisoned by Shinobu's effort made his fight against Kanao and Inosuke more of a race against time than a battle of pure strength, and Doma was killed without ever showing his true power.
• You Are Already Dead: He pulls this off on the young woman that Shinobu rescues from his clutches. After Shinobu gets her a safe distance away, the woman begins bleeding before gruesomely exploding into pieces in Shinobu's arms.
• You Killed My Father: Doma killed and ate Inosuke's mother Kotoha when Inosuke was just a baby after she found he was eating his followers.

Akaza

Voiced By: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Lucien Dodge (English)^{Other VA} José Antonio Toledano (Latin American Spanish), Carles Teruel (European Spanish), Sébastien Desjours (French), Gerrit Schmidt-Foß (German), Federico Viola (Italian), Charles Emmanuel (Brazilian Portuguese), Ho Zhiwei (Taiwanese Mandarin)

^{Click here to see his former human form}
Hakuji, the tragic Soryu Style successor.

Upper-3. He has been part of the Twelve Kizuki since its original formation. Presumably, he was Upper-2 before Doma usurped him. Unlike many demons, Akaza seeks to perfect his ability as a martial artist and searches for powerful foes to push his strength even further.

• Achilles' Heel: Akaza's martial arts center around reading the killing intent of his opponents. When you erase that, he's far less effective. Tanjiro makes use of this by making his fighting spirit undetectable, thus giving him the upper hand in their battle.
• Affably Evil: Akaza usually is civil and highly respectful towards Demon Slayers who are strong and worthy foes in his eyes. If they manage to impress him enough, he offers them to become demons.
  • During the Mugen Train Arc, he's genuinely impressed by Rengoku's strength and really does want him to agree to become a demon (and perhaps even his Friendly Enemy).
  • During the Infinity Castle Arc, he speaks rather respectful and civill with Tanjiro, after seeing how strong he's become, admitting he was wrong about Tanjiro being weak. He's also this towards Giyu, giving him great respect as well. Because of this, he offers them to become a demon.
• Alas, Poor Villain: One of the most poignant in the series, Akaza flashes back to how he lost his father, his teacher, and his love Koyuki when he was preyed upon by Muzan at his lowest. With the help of their souls, he overcomes Muzan and becomes Hakuji, weeping with guilt at having failed to protect Koyuki, who weepingly tells him "welcome home, my love," just as he forces himself to stop regenerating and disintegrates.
• An Arm and a Leg: While demons losing limbs and having them regenerate isn't a rare thing in Demon Slayer, Akaza stands out in those trope as his method of close combat against swordsmen coupled with his speedy regeneration makes him lose his limbs more often than other demons.
• Arc Villain:
  • Ultimately becomes this in the climax of the Mugen Train Arc, after Enmu fails to kill the Demon Slayers and is killed as a result, leaving Akaza as the Final Boss of the story arc.
  • He later becomes one of the Main Antagonists of the Infinity Castle Arc, alongside Kokushibo and Doma.
• Arch-Enemy: He's serves as one to Tanjiro Kamado, mainly for Tanjiro's case, killing his idol, Kyojuro Rengoku. and in Akaza's case, wants payback for the humiliation he suffered from because of Tanjiro.
• Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: Downplayed. Because of his overall strength and power, Akaza greatly looks down upon humans that are weaklings to his eyes. But he does have respect humans who are strong enough to stand equal grounds with him, such as in the case of Kyojuro and later on, Tanjiro (Who he previously saw as a weakling) and Giyu and offers them to become a demon. In the end, after Tanjiro decapitates him and breaking free of Muzan's corrupting influence, Akaza takes his defeat very well, which is a far cry from how he took his defeat by Rengoku.
• Baddie Flattery: Akaza respects Rengoku's strength in doing reasonably well against him, but these compliments are carried with sneering and disappointment over how a human, no matter how strong, can never be a real match against powerful demons such as himself. When Akaza faces Tanjiro in the Infinity Castle he repeats the same compliments he had to Rengoku and now directs them at Tanjiro, backtracking on his previous dismissal of Tanjiro as being weak and worthless, that only enrages Tanjiro as he sees Akaza's half-handed compliments as insults, especially in disrespect of Rengoku's memory as Akaza only compliments him to be disappointed over his death, this coming from Rengoku's own killer.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Akaza is a master martial artist who attacks with strong, barehanded blows. Tanjiro and Giyu note on how precise and refined his martial arts moves can be during their fight.
• Bare-Handed Blade Block: Akaza's reflexes are so enhanced that he managed to stop the blade of Tanjiro with his bare hands two times in a row.
• Blood Knight: Akaza really likes fighting strong opponents, as best seen with his fight against Kyojuro and later on, Tanjiro and Giyu.
• Bloodbath Villain Origin: Akaza's Start of Darkness was the murder of his fiancee and her father by a rival dojo, which led him to brutally slaughter all 67 members with his bare hands in revenge over the course of a single night. The reports of the event were so unbelievable that it was regarded as an exaggerated tall tale and eventually forgotten by time. Those who believed the stories thought it to be the work of a demon, which is what caught Muzan's attention and led to Akaza joining him.
• Body Horror:
  • To showcase the rapid regeneration of Upper Ranks, Akaza's arm is sliced down the middle, and he simply flops the mutilated arm in different directions before instantly healing and licking his wound.
  • When he breaks free of Rengoku's grip in order to hide away from the sunlight, he rips both his own arms off, and Rengoku's red sword blade is still lodged in his neck.
  • His final attack on himself to commit suicide leaves him a heavily mutilated mess. He is headless despite just regenerating his head, his arms are twisted so much they look almost emaciated, several chunks of flesh are missing, and and his spine is exposed as well as his ribs which are poking out and stabbing his body in various directions.
• Break the Haughty: Let's just say Akaza did not it have easy after losing to Kyojuro. Despite killing the Flame Hashira, Akaza is forced to retreat from the sun, getting called a coward by Tanjiro, something that pissed him off greatly, all while a sword pierced his chest. To add more salt to his broken pride, Muzan brutally chews him out for killing a Hashira, but not three Demon Slayers, who weren't even Hashiras. This pretty much pisses off Akaza and he promises to kill Tanjiro for the humiliation he has to suffer from.
• Broken Tears: His spirit as Hakuji breaks down in tears and asks for forgiveness from his lover Koyuki.
• Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: He is the Brooding Boy while his fiancee, Koyuki, is the Gentle Girl.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Back in his Hakuji days, a mere human, he was already billed as an unusual person who seemed to be way more durable and stronger than the average man, and that was before Hakuji was taken in by Keizo, who taught him martial arts. When the final tragedy of losing Keizo and Koyuki struck, Hakuji’s murderous revenge showed how super human he was by literally tearing apart the bodies of 67 men, the account was so absurd the local authority shrugged off as a tall tale.
• Combat Compliment: Akaza loves when a slayer gives him a good challenge, he was quick to praise Kyojuro for doing quite well against a demon as powerful as him, but Akaza doesn't see humans going too far against him no matter how strong they seem to be, so Akaza tries to convince Kyojuro to become a demon like him so both of them could fight each other for eternity, so they could grow stronger forever; the ever diligent Kyojuro naturally refuses the offer, preferring to fight as a human to the end, dying in the process. When Akaza fights Tanjiro later in the story, he comes to accept Tanjiro as becoming strong too; after recovering his human dignity Akaza goes further with respecting Tanjiro's strength, forcing his demon body to just stop regenerating and accept Tanjiro's timely beheading him as just too good, he has to die from it.
• Crippling Overspecialisation: While his ability to sense the killing intent of attacks normally allows him to perfectly predict where any blow is coming from, once Tanjiro develops the ability to eliminate his own killing intent he is completely unable to react to Tanjiro's attack even after Tanjiro loudly declares that he's about to decapitate Akaza.
• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: His Destructive Compass simply pushes his body in the direction to both defend and attack, depending on the opponent's fighting style.
• Dark and Troubled Past: And possibly one of the saddest pasts to be ever seen. He was once a young fighter named Hakuji, who stole in order to get his sick father's medicine. Then his father hanged himself while wishing for his son to live a virtuous life instead of continuing to steal for him. And then he was taken in by a kind martial artist by the name of Keizo and fell in love with Keizo's daughter, Koyuki. After a few years of happiness together, Keizo and Koyuki were murdered by a rival dojo, while Hakuji was out of town. Hakuji killed all of the members of the rival dojo, in a single night, and then encountered Muzan, who turns him into a demon after being impressed with his strength and the brutal massacre he unleashed.
• The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: Becoming a demon made Akaza slowly lose his memories of his humanity, his father, his beloved teacher and his fiancee Koyuki. All that remained was the savage need to get stronger and fight more. It takes Tanjiro punching him in the face after he beheads him before Akaza realizes what monster he's become and finally accepts his loss.
  "There was nothing left that I wanted to protect."
• A Day in the Limelight: 3 entire chapters are dedicated to his backstory alone, and the 2 chapters featuring the Upper Ranks meeting held after Daki and Gyutarou die are largely from his point of view.
• Death Seeker: It's implied Akaza felt this way deep down after the deaths of Keizo and Koyuki, not wanting to live in a world without the ones he loved, but becoming a demon almost made him completely forget this. When he finally remembers, he stays true to his by killing himself.
• Despair Event Horizon: He was already beginning to reach it when his ill father hung himself over his stealing. Then the death of his goodhearted mentor Keizo, and Keizo's daughter Koyuki, Akaza's fiancee, sent him over the edge. With nothing left to protect, he succumbed to Muzan and became one of the first Twelve Kizuki, even stating that he didn't care about anything anymore.
• Determinator: Akaza is devoted to fighting and winning. Even when decapitated, he instantly tries to seize and hold his head in place to heal, and when this fails, his body, animated by his fighting spirit, continues to fight on autopilot. But once he finally acknowledges his loss to Tanjiro, he attacks himself and wills his body to not regenerate.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Due the lack of a full presentation of what transpired the day the rival dojo decided to poison the water well Keizo and Koyuki drank from, it is unknown if the entire kendo school was in on the nefarious plan to kill Hakuji's loved ones, and possibly him as well, or just the ones actually seen poisoning the well: the master's son and his goons; nevertheless Hakuji's blood curling anger led him to kill the entire school, 67 men slaughtered, no questions asked, only a female maid was spared.
• Driven to Suicide: Akaza realizes the one he hated and wanted to kill most is himself. The one who sullied his master's beloved Soryu style by using it for murder and couldn't protect the ones he loved. After destroying his own body, with help from Koyuki's soul, he forces himself to stop regenerating and dies at peace.
• Dub Personality Change: A minor example. When the Upper Moons are summoned after the deaths of Daki and Gyutaro, Akaza asks Nakime if Kokushibo had somehow gotten himself killed, due to his presumed absence, not knowing that he was present but hidden. However, in the Latino Spanish dub he flat out states that he hopes Kokushibo's absence was because of his death making his disdain for the demon more poignant.
• Dying as Yourself: As he dies, 'Akaza', the demon who served Muzan is gone, and he becomes Hakuji, the boy who loved his father, master, and Koyuki once more. He goes to hell with Koyuki willingly following him.
• Dynamic Entry: After the Infinity Train Arc, Akaza makes his reappearance in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress arc by crashing through several levels of the fortress from above and greeting Tanjiro and Giyuu with a fist.
• Empowered Badass Normal: Akaza was a talented martial artist even before he became a superpowered demon.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He used to live with his father, master, and lover and cared very much for their well being in the past. He trained in his master's martial arts and made a vow to himself to protect them. And it was their spirits that brought him back to his original self.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Doma reveals Akaza would refuse to eat or even kill women despite the former's insistence that they would have made him stronger. That could also explain why Akaza hates Doma with extreme passion, besides power. It's implied that this is because of Koyuki.
• Evil Virtues: Akaza possess two:
  • Determination. Akaza has a strong sense of determination on winning, no matter what. Case in point, despite being decapitated by Tanjiro during the Final Battle, he doesn't die immediately and continues to fight, all while regenerating his head. If he didn't lose the will to fight, he would've easily killed both Tanjiro and Giyu, both of whom were really exhausted from their fight.
  • Respect. Akaza tends to have strong respect for warriors that manage to impress him, to the point of offering them to become a demon. Case in point, he gave respect to Kyojuro for his strength, swordsmanship, and later on, in the Final Battle, he gave his respect to Tanjiro for growing stronger, and to Giyu, for his strength and skills. In the end, after being decapitated by Tanjiro, he takes his defeat well and praises Tanjiro.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His number is carved into his irises, and his sclerae appear bloodshot or cracked. Additionally, he has an odd kind of fluffy eyelashes that surround his eyes completely.
• Facial Markings: Stripes. They're on the rest of his body, too.
• Fantastic Racism: Believes that humans are inferior to demons because they will grow old and die. He wants to "save" strong humans like Rengoku from this fate by offering them the opportunity to become demons. In the end, he remembers the actual weak humans he hated were those like the member of the rival dojo, who poisoned his fiance and mentor because they couldn't defeat either him or Hakuji in a fair fight, and himself, who forgot his father's last wish and sullied his beloved mentor's fighting style with blood.
• Flash Step: Akaza is capable of moving fast enough to appear behind his opponents for a suprise counter.
• Final Boss Preview: He broadly serves as this for the Upper Ranks as a whole. He makes a surprise appearance at the ending of the Train arc, providing a brief, but extremely difficult fight and even claims Rengoku's life. The actual climactic showdown with him doesn't actually take place until much later, and his first apperance was basically a taste of the might of the Upper Ranks.
• First-Name Basis: Goes straight to using Rengoku's given name, Kyojuro, during their confrontation. He also does the same for Tanjiro when they meet again, as well as for Giyu; despite Giyu refusing to give his name, Akaza hears Tanjiro when he cries out Giyu's name.
• Forced into Evil: Due to losing the will to live, Hakuji accepts Muzan's offer to become a demon, not caring about his fate anymore. And as a result on becoming the demon, Akaza, he loses the memories of his human life.
• Foreshadowing: Many of his lines to Rengoku about his view of human weakness and his anger at Rengoku's refusal to become a demon are big hints towards his past and heartbreaking obsession to become stronger.
  • His reaction to Tanjiro calling him a coward is rather unique. He stops dead on his tracks for a second as he looks like he is about to cry. Bear in mind that he has a sword impaled in his chest and the sun is about to come out and fry him, but what gets him is getting called a coward. The most tragic event in Akaza's life was the murder of his mentor and his fiancee, which was performed by a rival dojo, which Akaza considered a bunch of coward fools, who poisoned them. His uniquely startled reaction at getting called one is a hint that there is more to the murderhappy demon we just saw, something that was helped by Tanjiro subconsciously reminding Akaza of his mentor.
• Full-Contact Magic: With most demons' powers working in ways that simply allow their powers to do the fighting for them, Akaza is unique in how his Blood Demon Arts manifest solely in ways that make him better as a physical fighter. Every single technique he uses is related to martial arts.
• Genius Bruiser: Akaza proves that he's not only a stronger fighter, but he's also a strategic tactician, being capable of instantly evolving and adapting to any attacks or techniques his opponents uses, to the point of even predicting them, allowing him to fight more effectively. Even as a human, Akaza was able to beat up grown adults without martial arts training.
• Go Out with a Smile: Akaza's final act befor e self-destructing is to give a warm smile to his enemy Tanjiro. He is the only demon among the Upper Ranks who dies content without suffering some form of Undignified Death, thanks to regaining his memories and Dying As Himself.
• Graceful Loser: When Akaza is finally free of Muzan’s influence due the workings of all his long-dead loved ones’ spirits still trying to reach the human Hakuji buried deep inside the demon Akaza, he ceases all his bloodlust for winning against Tanjiro and Giyu, forcing himself to stop regenerating, reasoning that Tanjiro’s Transparent World attack was the pinnacle of martial arts so he should have been killed by it if he hadn’t "cheated" by overcoming death through decapitation by a nichirin blade; that’s a far cry from his desperation to survive lest the sun burnt him down way back against Rengoku.
• Happily Married: Tragically Subverted. Hakuji and Koyuki weren't really official just yet, but the two were seen to be heavily happy with each other and even look more happy about becoming a married couple. Tragically, she and her father were poisoned by a rival dojo, causing Hakuji to lose the will to live and becoming a Death Seeker as a result. And then Muzan had to show up...
• Having a Blast: Akaza’s many barrages of punches and kicks are named similarly to certain japanese fireworks, and they have an added visual effect akin to that of a pulse blast, made more clear while it is shown in animated form. It is another reference to his happy days as a human being, the event in which he could finally take his fiancé Koyuki to watch a fireworks festival.
• Healing Factor: He shows the best one of all the Twelve Kizuki so far, with him regrowing entire limbs pretty much the same second after they are cut. Justified in that his fighting style requires for his body to be intact since he makes no use of weapons.
• Heir-In-Law: Was poised to become his mentor's successor and son-in-law in one fell swoop, and he couldn't have been happier about it. Only for everything to go wrong before he became this.
• Hero Killer: Ends up killing Rengoku in the Mugen Train Arc. It's also revealed that he defeated several of the previous Pillars in the past as well.
• Humanizing Tears: As he finally regains his humanity, Akaza begins showing tears as he sees Koyuki in his final moments, showing that Hakuji has finally regain his humanity.
• Hypocrite: For all his posturing of the nobility of perfecting oneself as a martial artist with the goal of dying by the hands of a Worthy Opponent, Akaza, as all demons are, is ultimately still a cowardly parasite that scurried into the shadows like a cockroach at the first sight of the sun, by tearing his own arms off like a fleeing lizard's own tail as Rengoku clamped onto them in an ironclad death grip. If he had been a true warrior like he proclaim himself to be, Akaza would have let the sun obliterate him with dignity, and received his idealized martial artist's death from a foe he respected. Once he reawakens his human memories, however, he subverts this, as he accepts that Tanjiro had defeated him and destroys his own body, stopping himself from regenerating.
• Instant Runes: When Akaza gets in stance to use his power Destructive Compass, a rune in the form of a snowflake-like compass manifests below his feet, representing his ability to tell which direction that all attacks with deadly intent are coming from. The snowflake-like appearance is also a subconscious reference to his deceased fiancee Koyuki, who had snowflakes as her motif.
• Ironic Name: Hakuji, his original name, derives from the same kanji as the komainu, statues of lion-dog guardian deities who ward off evil spirits. The tragedy of his situation is from him being unable to protect anyone he loved and becoming a demon as a consequence.
• Irony:
  • Throughout his appearances, he's been attempting to get stronger than Kokushibo and Doma. When he finally has the opportunity to become stronger than them, he obtains his life memories and remembers he wanted to be stronger to protect the people he loved, but they are long dead. As he's embraced by the spirits of his father, teacher, and fiancee, he willingly discards the opportunity and peacefully passes away.
  Kokushibo: Akaza... weren't you going to defeat me? A path had open for him to attain further heights... but he renounced it himself.
  • His Start of Darkness began when a dojo of samurai poisoned his mentor and fiancée to death over the fact they couldn't beat him or Keizo in a straight fight to claim Keizo's dojo. What finally gets Akaza to accept his loss and pass on in peace is being punched in the face by Tanjiro, a sword wielder.
  • He has one of the most tragic backstories in the series by far, yet Tanjiro who usually feels pity for equally tragic demons in their final moments spared none of that to Akaza, during their fight Tanjiro just refuted Akaza's twisted world view and was bewildered by his suicide, feeling something changed inside him. Two factors might have contributed to that: 1) Tanjiro was still irate with Akaza for being the one who killed Kyojuro, and 2) Akaza's backstory is only given to the reader, while Tanjiro doesn't pick up during their battle why Akaza turned out to be like that as a demon.
• It's Personal: After suffering a humiliating defeat by the hands of Rengoku and Tanjiro calling him a coward for retreating from the sun, Akaza is gunning out the opportunity to kill Tanjiro. The feeling is clearly mutual with Tanjiro.
• It's Personal with the Dragon: While Tanjiro has his sights set on Muzan for destroying his peaceful life by killing almost his entire family, Tanjiro also developed a very personal grudge against Muzan's third best demon, Akaza, for being the one who killed Kyojuro Rengoku the Flame Hashira whom Tanjiro bonded with so quickly. Tanjiro vs. Akaza by the Infinite Castle arc ends up being a fight where Tanjiro reserves his ire to the fact Akaza killed Rengoku and keeps spouting his survival of the fittest ideal, unlike many other instances where Tanjiro brings up the fact demons are terrible for preying on humans in general; made more poignant with the fact Tanjiro never gets know why Akaza became such a twisted demon, the man has one of the most tragic stories in the series by far, but since Tanjiro (who often feels some pity for tragic demons) doesn't know that, he has none to spare for Akaza.
• Kick the Dog: Akaza decides to gloat about being glad that Rengoku died, since his death made Tanjiro stronger than before and stated that his wordview was dumb. While Akaza meant it as a compliment, Tanjiro justifiably sees it as him insulting Rengoku, and it greatly pisses him off.
• Knight of Cerebus: He is the first Upper Rank that appeared and since then more Upper Ranks showed up, and the named Demon Slayers started dropping like flies one by one.
• Launcher Move: Two of Akaza's kick-based Demon Blood Art moves involve him kicking high enough to launch his opponent into the air. One move is doing a reverse rising axe kick while the other move is doing a high rising side kick.
• Life-or-Limb Decision: At the end of his fight with Kyojuro, as the sun was coming up his limbs were to still held in place by the almost dead Hashira. He was forced to tear off his own arms to escape in time.
• Lightning Bruiser: Even for the Upper Ranks, Akaza is insanely fast, and his fighting style revolves around dealing out monstrous blows while also tanking lots of damage.
• Made of Iron: In his human life, Hakuji's inhumane endurance allowed him to endure 100 beatings, something that could make a grown man go numb. And he was eleven years old at the time.
• Mark of Shame: Those ring-like tattoos on his arms are brands to mark him for repeated theft, those stripes eventually covered his entire body as a demon, as symbolism for him becoming a bigger criminal than he could ever hope to be as a mere human being.
• Major Injury Underreaction: During his introduction in the Mugen Train Arc, Akaza tries to kill Tanjiro. When Kyojuro cuts his arm in a split, Akaza calmly jumps back away and proceeds to regenerate it back quickly, complimenting his sword and licking his wound.
• Missing Mom: Raised by a single father with absolutely no mention or appearance from his mother.
• Morality Pet: The spirits of his father, his fiancee, Koyuki, and his mentor and father-in-law, Keizo helps Akaza remember who he truly was before in the past and regains his humanity in the end.
• Near-Villain Victory: His body fights on even after Tanjiro and Giyu cut his head off, leaving them with pretty much no options for killing him. He only dies by killing himself.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: The 2nd Databook states that while Akaza is completely loyal to Muzan, Akaza doesn't personally like him or any of his fellow demons, nor personally cares about Muzan's goals, Akaza is loyal for loyalty's sake, almost in a professional manner; he is a demon with no recollection of his past life but Akaza's diligence as a warrior seemly was too deeply imprinted on him, so even as a malicious demon Akaza respectively follows his demonic master without question because that's what a dutiful warrior does. When Akaza finds his humanity again during his final fight, all that loyalty goes straight back his beloved human family trying to reach his heart from beyond the grave, nurturing enough willpower to directly break Muzan's influence over his mind.
• Off with His Head!: Tanjiro successfully cut Akaza's head off with Giyu throwing his sword to ensure that he doesn't stick it back on. However, Akaza's extrodinary willpower allows him to continue fighting even without a head and would have regrown it back if he didn't concede and self-destruct.
• One-Man Army: He killed all 67 members of the rival dojo when they poisoned his fiancee and her father, the only people who trusted him, sparing only a single maid. As a human.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Albeit not quite Keet, Akaza is a fairly friendly and upbeat fellow, as much as a demon seeking to kill the main characters can be. In both of his fights, he converses casually and remains gleeful without being bloodlusted, just enjoying the combat on itself. However, when Doma and Kokushibo are around his demeanor becomes extremely cold, prone to anger and trigger happy.
  • Akaza returns to his upbeat and sociable personality when fighting Tanjiro and Giyu. However, when Tanjiro rebukes his social Darwinist philosophy, it triggers memories of his old mentor/father-in-law Keizo. Angry and confused, he drops his previous demeanor and becomes dead serious.
• Pay Evil unto Evil: He kills the entire dojo involved in the poisoning of his fiancee and her father which was conducted just to grab their land and the dojo associated with it. It was so vicious that Muzan himself was highly impressed by it and used it to recruit Akaza. Despite the event marking his Face–Heel Turn and Bloodbath Villain Origin, it is hard to say the rival dojo didn't deserve what they got.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The polite villain to Kyojuro's rude hero, albeit downplayed regarding the latter.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Some of Akaza's Demon Blood Arts involve him punching really fast and really hard. He can also kick really fast as well.
• Razor-Sharp Hand: Akaza's hand chopping martial arts moves are sharp as blades and are capable of breaking the ground.
• Razor Wind: He does a fist fighting variation where he punches the air so hard, it converts into air projectiles that knockback his opponents.
• Redemption Equals Death: The only demon in the series, still bound to Muzan, who managed to regain his will before dying, unlike others who regained theirs on death's door; the enduring, centuries long, love from Hakuji's father, wife and father-in-law wielded results at the climax of Akaza's fight against Tanjiro and Giyu, as it started to unlock Akaza's memories of his time as the human Hakuji, when Akaza was actually set to grow in power to new heights after overcoming decapitation it's when Hakuji takes over, embracing his humanity again, giving the demon path away, attacking his own regenerating body to finally die and go to hell with his wife Koyuki, who refused paradise to be there with him.
• The Reliable One: The databook has Muzan’s relationship chart link Akaza as the one Upper Rank he values in being diligently loyal towards him, other than Kokushibo who is linked as his official right-hand. That being the likely reason for why Muzan allowed Akaza to only eat men, as Doma remarked that Akaza being able to refuse devouring women was by Muzan's own permission.
• Removed Achilles' Heel: He survives decapitation with sheer willpower, and continues fighting without a head until it almost regenerated.
• The Resenter: Badly loathes Doma and Kokushibo for being stronger than him, even if he became a demon before Doma did.
• Revenge Before Reason: The backstory behind the cowardly poisoning of Hakuji’s fiancé Koyuki and father-in-law Keizo showed only a few members of the rival dojo was part of this underhanded maneuver, but Hakuji was so blinded with murderous rage that he ended up killing every single member of the dojo, more than sixty men, only their female maid was spared.
• The Rival: Akaza has special hatred and envy for both Kokushibo and Doma, due to the two of them being stronger than him and wants to kill them in order to take over their rank. He even declares that he'll kill Kokushibo if it's the last thing he'll do, to which Kokushibo simply wishes him luck. However, Doma is possibly the one demon Akaza hates with true passion, since it's implied that Akaza was Upper 2, before Doma came and took the rank. There's also the fact that Doma tends to kill and devour a lot of young and beautiful female humans, something that Akaza hates, since he doesn't devour women.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: As a human when his mentor and beloved died, Akaza slaughtered the dojo who murdered them with his bare hands, only sparing a single maid who went mad. The carnage was so brutal; the written account was regarded as fictitious.
• Say My Name: After encountering him again in the Infinity Castle Arc, Akaza greets Tanjiro by screaming his name. In return, the furious boy responds by screaming Akaza's name.
• Shadow Archetype: Akaza is quite similar to Giyu in terms of backstory, with both being burdened by their past failures to protect people dear to them. Except Akaza is Giyu without someone like Tanjiro to snap him out of his guilt-ridden mindset, which leads him past Despair Event Horizon and into Muzan's influence.
• Smug Super: Akaza loves a good a fight, usually smiling confidently throughout most of his battles, however, that confident smile is for when he believes to be having the upper hand, when things get serious Akaza gets calm and focused; however, when things seem to be turning against him he isn’t above showing sincere frustration.
• The Social Darwinist: Tied with his immense need for fighting strong opponents Akaza shows extreme disdain for those he deems to be weak, saying word for word their natural outcome is to simply perish in the wake of those in power culling them along the way; Akaza also shows he is kind of a determinist, believing the strong are fated to be so, but the the weak will always be weak. However, as the story unfolds Akaza's ideology is shown to be a result of his quite tragic past, where his great physical strength as a human didn't help those he loved in the slightest, they died in ways his might was unable to prevent it from happening - his sick father committed suicide to spare his son a life of constant worry, and even thieving, to support him; his bride (who was sickly when he met her at the first time) and father-in-law were fatally poisoned in the middle a dispute against a rival dojo - all of that led Akaza to a downward spiral, which corrupted him when forcefully turned into a demon, forgetting his life as the human Hakuji, his new demonic mind warped his pain from losing his loved ones to a sick love for strength, and complete hatred for the weak, which ironically was his total opposite belief back when he was human, Hakuji loved his weak and sick father and later his would-be wife and liked taking care of them.
• Sore Loser: Despite killing Kyojuro at the climax of the Mugen Train Arc, Akaza was forced to retreat due to the sun, failing to kill Tanjiro and the others, making Kyojuro the true winner. Getting called a coward by Tanjiro and Muzan brutally chewing him out for failing his mission only added more salt to Akaza's pride, causing him to develop a personal grudge against the boy.
• Super-Reflexes: Akaza has very fast reflexes and can easily dodge and block moves. This is due to having his Destructive Compass Demon Blood Art that allows him to read his opponent's movements.
• Super-Strength: Akaza's natural strength is enhanced by his demon blood, so every move he makes is extremely powerful. In fact, the force of his strength is so powerful, even resisting his moves can take a huge toll. Tanjiro had attempted to block Akaza's moves, but the forceful impact of Akaza's moves directly went through Tanjiro's resistance and caused internal damage to him such as nose bleeding and vomiting.
• Tears of Remorse: After finally regaining his humanity, Akaza begins heavily crying, as he embraces Koyuki, apologizing for not being there for her.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He doesn't exactly have good relations with his fellow Upper Ranks. He hates Doma for his friendly and casual demeanor, which he sees through as fake. He also has a deep-seated rivalry with Kokushibo, who often reprimands the demon for picking fights with his superior Doma, with the disgruntled demon vowing to kill Kokushibo. He also doesn't seem to be friends with Gyokko, as when he first meets Gyokko after a 113 year period, the Upper 5 demon teases Akaza by stating that he thought Akaza might've perished which made his heart "sing", before coughing to say that he was actually full of anguish. Akaza simply scowled at this interaction.
• Token Good Teammate: Shares this spot with Kokushibo, as they are the only two surviving members of the Kizuki (excluding Gyutaro and Daki) with genuinely tragic backstories and a certain degree of respect for humans, unlike the other members, who view humans as beneath them and are Faux Affably Evil at best.
• Torso with a View: Akaza's main finishing move is sticking a fist through his opponents abdomen. He did one to Rengoku and would have done the same to Giyu, had Tanjiro not intervened and disarmed Akaza.
• Tragic Villain: Probably the worst example in the entire series, which is already full of very Tragic Villains, such as Rui, Gyutaro, and Daki. Like so many demons, Muzan preyed upon him at his lowest point when he was just broken after losing the people that he truly loved. Because of Muzan's corrupting influence, Akaza slowly forgot his love for his father, his mentor and his fiancee Koyuki until all that remained was the thrill of fighting and the hunger for strength.
• Tsurime Eyes: Not the only character in the manga to have them, but his are especially distinct.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The unscrupulous dojo next door when Akaza was still known as Hakuji. He was so close to turn his life around, offered to be the dojo successor as well as taking his master's daughter in marriage. But their poisoning of the family just to possess their land put a kibosh on that route, Muzan offered Hakuji power, thus Akaza was born and much bloodshed and tragedy ensued.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Akaza was once a boy named Hakuji who although was a rambunctious delinquent, loved his sick father, and eventually dearly loved his mentor Keizo and Keizo's daughter Koyuki. Then they were poisoned and Hakuji succumbed to his rage and despair...which is where Muzan found him.
• Undying Loyalty: Akaza is known for being a loyal follower of Muzan, often showing anger at those who show any sign of disrespect and/or disobedience towards him, as best seen with Doma. Because of his strong loyalty, Muzan is highly fond of him. This surprisingly becomes Subverted, since Akaza only follows Muzan not out of respect, awe, or fear of his power, instead simply viewing him as a superior who gives orders and he carries them out. In the end, after being defeated and decapitated by Tanjiro, he overcomes Muzan's control of him so he could stop his regeneration and finally die.
• Vibration Manipulation: Akaza's Blood Demon Art is a combination of the Soryu Style martial arts he mastered as a human and the ability to manipulate devastating shockwaves.
• Villain Cred: Surprisingly enough, averted with Muzan. According the databooks, he has no emotional attachment to Muzan, not fear, not respect, not hate, just blind loyalty for the sake of it.
• Villain Respect: Akaza has genuine respect for Rengoku's skills and wishes him to become a demon to get stronger alongside Akaza. Even when he has his fist sticking through Rengoku's chest, he's practically begging Rengoku to become a demon like him, so he won't die. He later admits he was wrong about Tanjiro being weak and offers him respect as well, saying the same to Giyu Tomioka. And in Akaza's final moments after self-destructing, he admits that he lost the match fair and square to Tanjiro after he used the Transparent World state to defeat Akaza.
• Villainous Valor: Up to an awesome degree. Despite being decapitated by the hands of Tanjiro, Akaza refused to die and with sheer willpower, he continued to control his headless body and kept on batting the already tired Tanjiro and Giyu. He even managed to nearly regrew his head with his regenerative abilities, a feat that none of the other demons (with the sole exception of Muzan) have ever achieved up until that point. If he didn't remember his past life and lost the will to fight, then he would've successfully kill Tanjiro and Giyu.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: The Twelve Kizuki up to this point had been tough, but beatable and the Hashira could easily bring them down, as seen by Tomioka delivering a Curbstomp Battle to Rui, and Tanjiro (who is not even a Hashira) is able to provide the final blow to Enmu. But Akaza is a monster and even if Rengoku is able to do impressively well, he has no true chance in a straight fight, his death demonstrating exactly how the Upper Ranks are no joke.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Akaza tends to wear very little on his upper body.
• Walking Spoiler: More so than all the other Twelve Kizuki, as evidenced by how censored his entry is here. It is very difficult to talk about him at all, as the context of his very first appearance is a spoiler in of itself and one of the first things he does is killing Rengoku. On top of this, the details of his character and motivations are themselves enormous spoilers.
• Why Won't You Die?: Even when being decapitated by Tanjiro, Akaza still kept fighting and began regrowing his head, thanks to his strong sheer will. If he hadn't lost the will to fight, then Akaza would've successfully survive his battle with Tanjiro and Giyu.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Akaza is one of the strongest and most dangerous of Twelve Kizuki, which he demonstrates in his Establishing Character Moment where he immediately attacks an already injured Tanjiro and punches a hole through Rengoku's stomach, killing him. However, upon learning just how pitiful his life was (from his father commiting suicide to save him from a life of crime, to his master and fiancee being poisoned while he was away) it's hard not to understand why he became so unhinged.
• Worthy Opponent: Whenever someone is strong enough to stand their ground against, Akaza tends to declare them worthy foes and offers them to become demons. For example:
  • He considers Kyojuro Rengoku to be this, wanting him to become a demon to preserve his amazing skill and so they can fight forever.
  • After meeting again, he believes Tanjiro is a worthy adversary, as well. He also extends this to Giyu, inviting him to become a demon during their battle.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: According to Doma, Akaza would not eat or kill women, something he found strange. It's implied to be because of his fiance.
• Wound Licking: Gloats over his closing wounds by licking them.
• Wrecked Weapon: Akaza has a unique move of his own called Bell Breaker, where he hits the side of an incoming blade with his back hand and breaking the blade in the process. Giyu unfortunately gets the short end of the stick by Akaza's move.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: The reason for his Tragic Villain status. Born in poverty, he's been committing crimes to take care of his ailing father, until he committed suicide to spare his son from a criminal lifestyle. Akaza almost had a happy ending when a dojo master took him in, and offered to make him successor as well as take his daughter's hand in marriage. Unfortunately, the unscrupulous dojo next door used poison to murder the family while Akaza was away, and things went downhill from there.
• You Are Worth Hell: As Hakuji is going to Hell for his crimes, Koyuki decides to join him to ensure he doesn't have to be alone. In a Freeze-Frame Bonus moment, the silhouette of his father and mentor are seen standing with them, heavily implying that they too will join Akaza in Hell.

Gyokko

Voiced By: Kosuke Toriumi (Japanese), Brent Mukai (English)^{Other VA} Raúl Anaya, Emiliano Montaño (Demon Fish) (Latin American Spanish), Marc Saez (French), Marcel Collé (German), Paolo De Santis (Italian), Sun Cheng (Taiwanese Mandarin)

^{Click here to see his true form}

Upper-5. Gyokko is a sadistic demon with an insane anatomical appearance and holds a deep infatuation with his own artistry.

• All There in the Manual: Gyokko is dispatched without a single mention of his backstory in the manga and anime. Like Nakime, his time as a human is only disclosed in the second Fanbook. He was a poor kid named Managi, with a seemingly ugly appearance, living in a village of fishermen. Managi had a creepy pastime of killing and skinning animals as means to complete his artworks and vases, which he developed after witnessing the drowned corpses of his parents with his own eyes. This behavior made him an outcast in his village, bullied relentlessly by others until he killed one of them. As a result, Managi was lynched and had his eyes gouged out. Muzan hears of Managi's infamy soon after, taking an interest in his art.
• Arc Villain: Of the Swordsmith Village Arc, along with Hantengu, due to assaulting the village in order to cripple the Demon Hunters.
• Art Attacker: Gyokko's main weapons are ornate pots that he uses for a variety of both offensive and defensive purposes, including summoning sea creatures to attack or protecting himself from harm by teleporting between them.
• Art Imitates Art: Gyokko's unique appearance as a chalk-white upper torso lacking arms is a clear Shout-Out to the legendary work of art Venus de Milo, a white marble statue depicting a woman's upper torso that is known for its missing arms.
• Attention Whore: Clearly the case. More than the people who try to murder him, it's the blacksmith not paying any attention to him what makes him angry, and he is later irate at how Muichiro doesn't seem impressed towards him.
• Ax-Crazy: Gyokko is an incredibly crazed, sadistic, and twisted demon, who has a morbid and grotesque sense of art.
• Berserk Button: Having the designs of his vases insulted puts him into a frenzy, to the point that his blood vessels burst.
• Bloody Hilarious: The scene where Gyokko reveals his "art" to Muichiro and the swordsmiths is so over-the-top that it almost seems like something out of a Black Comedy. Gyokko is at his absolute hammiest while describing, in excruciating detail, what the various aspects of his corpse sculpture represent while Kanamori and Kotetsu invoke He Had a Name for each poor soul that is part of the abomination. The contrast isn't lost on Gyokko, who had deliberately left a half broken hyottoko mask on the face of one man, juxtaposing the mask's comical expression with the sad, lifeless face of the deceased, sickly reveling in both the comedy and tragedy of his creation. The ludicrous scene is shut down by a Precision F-Strike from Muichiro, leading to their battle.
• Body Horror: He is the most grotesque looking demon in the entire Twelve Kizuki, being just a ghostly white upper torso without normal arms, only several disturbing baby-sized arms sprouting from his back. His head has two mouths with large green lips where his eyes should be, and an eye where his mouth should be with an additional eyeball on his forehead. In addition his mouth-eyes are emotionless, with his lower mouth displaying his eyeball being the one to emote frowns and smiles.
  • Heck, Muichiro even lampshades this at one point:
    Muichiro: From the way you look and talk, everything about you is creepy.
• Bond Villain Stupidity:
  • Muichiro takes a flurry of poison needles meant for Kozo and Kotetsu, and instead of finishing him off as he slowly succumbed to the poison, Gyokko traps him in an aquatic prison for him to drown in. Muichiro awakens his Demon Slayer mark, escapes, and utterly humiliates Gyokko in battle, even after he transforms.
  • Upon finding Haganezuka right when he's in the middle of refining the old sword Tanjiro found, he needlessly tortures him and gouges out one of his eyes instead of killing him immediately, out of a petty desire to break the man's concentration. This gives Muichiro enough time to escape his deathtrap and rescue the swordsmith.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: When Muichiro awakens his Demon Slayer Mark and starts overwhelming Gyokko in their fight, he transforms into his true form, which resembles a massive lamia. However, Muichiro struggles far less against him than he did against his previous form, due to him abandoning his Demon Art in favor of raw strength and speed, as well as his escalating anger making his movements sloppy and predictable. Muichiro effortlessly decapitates him the second he gets an opening, then slices the head into pieces for good measure.
• Confusion Fu: One of his primary tactics is to teleport between his pots in an instant to disorient his opponents, leaving them confused before attacking with his sea creatures.
• Combat Tentacles: He can summon octopus tentacles from his pots to battle.
• Comically Missing the Point: On the one hand, he's shocked that Muichiro was able to escape his water prison. On the other hand, it shows how attentive he was on stopping Haganezuka from refining his sword. In his words, "Yes!!"
• *Cough* Snark *Cough*: At the Upper Moons meeting upon seeing Akaza, Gyokko cheerfully greets him and starts saying that the possibility of Akaza being killed made his heart sing, before cutting it short by fake coughing then saying it made him sad. Akaza gives him a displeased glare in response.
• Creepy Child: Similarly to Doma, before he became Gyokko, Managi, as a child, reacted to seeing his parents' drowned bodies not with the reaction of horror or heartbreak, but with that of a fascination, which developed his morbid adoration of corpses which he used in his artworks.
• Cruella to Animals: Before becoming Gyokko, Managi had killed and skinned animals as a means to complete his artwork and vases, leading him to become an outcast in the village.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • His first fight with Muichiro is over in an instant, as Gyokko is able to trap him within a water prison immediately before leaving him to drown.
  • Their second fight is an entirely different story. Muichiro returns after escaping and awakening his Demon Slayer mark, making quick work of Gyokko despite his One-Winged Angel transformation.
• Early Installment Character-Design Difference: A minor case. His debut in the manga has the arms that protrude from his head look rather underdeveloped and noodley. In the anime, they are drawn chubbier and resembling infant-like arms.
• Enemy Summoner: His fighting style mainly consists of summoning water-themed abominations, mainly fish and cephalopods, to do his bidding. Some are basically used as disposable projectiles, but others can stick around and act independently, allowing him to easily overrun the Blacksmith Village without needing to be physically present.
• Even Evil Has Standards: He hesitates in giving Doma the information he acquired for whatever reason, possibly due to Doma technically going rogue and acting without orders. He's also quite perturbed when Akaza lops the top of his head off moments later.
• Evil Is Hammy: Gyokko is quite possibly the hammiest villain in the series, befitting his status as a Mad Artist.
• Evil Laugh: "Hyohyohyo".
• Exotic Eye Designs: In addition to being in the wrong place, his eyes have his number carved into the irises.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: He has mouths where his eyes should be and an eye where his mouth should be and another on his forehead.
• Fatal Flaw: His arrogance and obsession with his art. It leads him to needlessly torture Hagenezuka thus giving Muichiro time to escape his water prison and kill him.
• Faux Affably Evil: He’s rather cheerful, but it hides how much of a monster he is.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Very much. He is constantly praising himself during fights, and is more concerned about his enemies appreciating his "beauty" and skills than with killing them.
• Fog Feet: He has no visible legs or feet, only having his upper body appear out of his pots like a djinn. This is due to him being a snake-like demon, with his 'tail' being what appears to billow out of his pots like smoke. This is best shown when he molts into his serpentine One-Winged Angel form and the discarded skin of his normal form is seen on the ground.
• Foil: To his opponent, Muichiro. Besides the fact that one's a demon and the other human, Gyokko has an over-the-top, hammy personality and, like most demons, sees humans as inferior to demonkind. Muichiro, by contrast, is The Stoic and an Emotionless Boy, though is capable of heroism and has moments where he's Not So Stoic.
• Gag Lips: Has very large, poofy green lips where his eyes should be, and they always show his teeth, making him appear even more hideous and creepy.
• Glasgow Grin: Has one in his true form on the eye where his mouth should be.
• Gonk: See Body Horror.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: After going One-Winged Angel, he forgoes the use of his pots and attacks with his scale-reinforced fists instead.
• Gratuitous French: The name that Gyokko gives to his corpse sculpture is "L'Agonie des Forgerons", meaning "The Agony of Swordsmiths".
• Green-Eyed Monster: He gets jealous when he sees Haganezuka put all of his focus into forging Tanjiro’s newest sword to the point of ignoring him, because even he has never concentrated that hard and it makes him feel inferior as an artist. He ends up wasting time trying to break Haganezuka’s concentration, instead of killing him outright when he could’ve, which leads to his death at Muichiro’s hands when the latter manages to break free of his watery prison and awaken the Demon Slayer mark.
• Hammerspace Hideaway: His pots are relatively small but can fit things much larger than them inside, including Gyokko's body, the corpses of several grown men, building-sized fish, giant octopus or thousands of demon piranha.
• Hate Sink: Apart from being a bit humorous due to his hamminess and goofy laugh, Gyokko is a repulsive character in terms of appearance and personality, with basically no redeeming qualities. Not helped by the fact he is given no backstory and is killed unceremoniously. Even with his backstory, there is nothing to sympathize with, as in life he was a borderline necrophilic, animal abuser and child murderer.
• Hit-and-Run Tactics: While in his standard form, Gyokko likes attacking from one position before swiftly retreating within his pots and reappearing somewhere else to attack from another angle.
• Honor Before Reason: His obsession over his art being appreciated leads him to not just kill his opponents when he could easily do so, and Muichiro's lack of reaction to him causes Gyokko to become enraged, leading to him vastly underestimating Muichiro's awakened state.
• Improbable Weapon User: Gyokko's main fighting style is centered around the use of pottery, and it doesn't make him any less deadly.
• Kick the Dog: Gyokko kills several swordsmiths and turns their mangled corpses into a horrifying sculpture, something that he is quite proud of. The gruesome display deeply angers Muichiro and leads to their fight.
• Killed Mid-Sentence: After getting beheaded by Muichiro, Gyokko has a full Villainous Breakdown, maniacally ranting at his enemy before Muichiro shuts him up mid-rant by vertically slicing his head before slashing and cutting it into multiple pieces.
• Laughably Evil: He's such a hammy character that most of his scenes (even those who are meant to be creepy or unsettling) come across as twistedly amusing. Even in death, Muichiro comically slices his head off multiple times so he would finally shut up.
• Lightning Bruiser: After transforming, his fighting style incorporates the use of blinding speed to strike his opponents with diamond-hard fists, as opposed to using his pots and sea creatures to attack.
• Losing Your Head: During the Upper Ranks meeting following the deaths of Gyutaro and Daki, Gyokko speaks out of turn and addresses Muzan without the proper respect, swiftly getting his head torn off for it. Muzan holds Gyokko's head in his hand while reminding him of his place, before releasing it and allowing him to regenerate, a treatment that Gyokko considers to be a great honor. The Databook reveals that Muzan considers Gyokko to be one of his favorite subordinates, explaining how he could get away with behavior that would lead to almost any other minion getting butchered.
• Mad Artist: Slaughters multiple innocents and fuses their bodies into twisted sculptures for 'art.' Strangely enough the pots he makes are actually conventionally appealing enough as art pieces that Muzan makes quite a bit of money just selling them as a side business, which earns Gyokko some favor.
  • Gyokko is also legitimately passionate about art to the point that he lets it take priority over the urge to kill and eat humans when he insists on trying to get Haganezuka to pay attention to him instead of finishing his newly-crafted sword for Tanjiro.
• The Magic Touch: After transforming, small fish demons begin spawning from wherever Gyokko's fists make impact.
• Making a Splash: His Blood Demon Art allows him to control water and water-related creatures.
• Meaningful Name: His name slightly means "jaded vase".
• Mook Maker: Gyokko can create a variety of man-eating fish monsters from his pots that he sends out to act on their own, using them to terrorize the Swordsmith Village while he confronts Muichiro. They range in size from miniscule fish demons to giant, building-sized monstrosities.
• Multiarmed And Dangerous: Sort of. While he has several arms, both on his torso and face, they are all baby-sized at best. He manifests his pots from the arms and can use up to ten of them simultaneously, one for each hand.
• Mundane Utility: Along with creating magical, blood-infused pots for combat and personal satisfaction, Gyokko creates pots that are sold within human society for extravagant prices, where they are actually considered to be very well-crafted and beautiful.
• Nightmare Face: Gyokko has mouths where a human would have eyes, and an eye appears on his forehead and another in his mouth.
• Nightmare Fetishist: Gyokko’s image of art is macabre and nightmare-inducing, including the creation of fish monstrosities or stitching live swordsmiths into a grotesque figure while swords stick out of them for extra pain. Like Enmu, he also seems to enjoy Muzan’s carnage, even if he inflicts it on him, visibly blushing when his boss decapitates and then grabs his head with anger. He’s also not against improvisation, as, though dismayed at first when Doma tells him he decorated a pot he gave him with the severed head of a woman (something Gyokko states wasn’t the purpose of the pot), he comes to like the idea. He was like that even back when he was human, as he had a creepy pastime of killing animals and making them into his artwork, and it was revealed that the reason why he developed such morbid fascination with corpses and mangled bodies in the first place was because he was inspired by witnessing his own parents' drowned corpses.
• Non-Standard Character Design: A good look at him is very self-explanatory. Furthermore, he is the only Twelve Kizuki demon that doesn't have a demon's fangs or pointed teeth.
• One-Winged Angel: Can shed his skin and turn into a bigger, sea-serpent like version of himself, which he says no one has survived against. Muichiro is unimpressed, however.
• Picky People Eater: He partially eats a random swordsmith and complains about the horrible taste. Subverted when he then claims that the taste is what made it intriguing.
• Piranha Problem: One of his techniques allows him to summon thousands of demon piranhas, each secreting poison liquid, from his pots. This attack requires him to use all ten of his arms with a pot in each hand.
• Poison Is Evil: Quite a few of his attacks make heavy usage of poison, and sure enough he is profoundly depraved.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: The polite villain to Muichiro's rude hero. That being said it's more of a Faux Affably Evil politeness, as he's only courteous before and when he encounters Muichiro, Kotetsu, and Kanamori, and presents "Death Throes of the Smiths" to them.
• Powerful, but Incompetent: Gyokko is able to teleport, and his Blood Demon Art can unleash devastating sea-themed attacks from his various pots. And then there's his extremely broken "true form" which gives him immense speed and flexibility, scales as hard as diamonds, and the ability to transmute anything he touches into fish. Personality-wise however, he's an arrogant braggart who has a habit of underestimating his opponents. In addition, doing anything that hurts his ego as an artist makes him completely lose his composure. These traits allow him to be easily and comically defeated by a Demon Slayer Mark enhanced Muichiro Tokito.
• Sadist: Most definitely. For example, when he introduces and explains his "Death Throes of Swordsmiths" work to Kotetsu, Hanamori, and Muichiro, he does it with maniacal glee and is elated at seeing the former two's horrified reactions.
• Satellite Character: Gyokko receives the least characterization out of all the original Upper Ranks, with his personality revolving entirely around his narcissism and dedication to Muzan. His partner during the Swordsmith Village arc, Hantengu, receives similarly little, but at least his backstory is shown in flashback so we have an idea of what his deal is.
• Scaled Up: He transforms into a snake-like being when fighting seriously and covers his upper body in scales that he claims to be hard as diamonds.
• Scary Teeth: invoked Ironically he has the most human-like teeth out of the the Upper Moons. However, they're drawn in a more hyperrealistic manner, while the teeth of other characters are usually a simplified white shape (as is common in most forms of animation in general, not just this anime), which gives Gyokko a more uncanny appearance.
• Sculpted Physique: His ultimate form has an incredibly muscular upper body, a body he claims to have perfected by strengthening it to the hardness of diamonds.
• Signature Laugh: Hyo, hyo, hyo!
• Sissy Villain: A colorful demon with large feminine lips that look like have been covered in green lipstick, and a flamboyant voice.
• Snake People: Though not apparent at first due to his strange, djinn-like appearance, Gyokko is actually some sort of snake demon, with his tail being what appears to billow out of his pots like smoke. This becomes clearer with his One-Winged Angel form, which is achieved by shedding his skin and has a more serpentine appearance, resembling the mythical Naga.
• Squishy Wizard: He is a much less physical threat than the other Upper Kizuki, relying primarily on his Teleport Spam to avoid attacks and his Summon Magic to overwhelm enemies, seemingly lacking any kind of combat skills. Ultimately subverted when he goes One-Winged Angel and becomes a physical fighter, although even in this form, the greatest threat about him is not his strength, but the fact that his physical strikes transmute matter into fish. Regardless, it doesn't help him much.
• Sore Loser: Other than his Villainous Breakdown during death, according to the official fan book he is still furious at Muichiro for killing him, calling the Mist Hashira, a "shitty, sassy brat."
• Summon Magic: His Blood Art allows him to summon sea creatures, like piranhas or octopus, from his pots to help him fight. After transforming, he is able to summon demon fish with nothing but his punches.
• Supernatural Suffocation: His Water Prison Vase art traps enemies within a vase-shaped water bubble that prevents them from utilizing breathing techniques.
• Teleport Spam: He has the ability to teleport his body between any of his specially-made pots in an instant, a skill he makes liberal use of in combat.
• Terrible Artist: Needless to say, "Death Throes of the Smiths" is a horrid piece of art. In addition, his main pot is described as being asymmetrical by Muichiro, and a good look at it proves him right. But don't say this to Gyokko because he will get overtly defensive of his art.
• Too Kinky to Torture: After he is beheaded non-fatally by Muzan as punishment for attempting to give him unconfirmed information, his adoration of Muzan makes him rather aroused instead of terrified like most demons who upset Muzan. In addition, although he initially sulks after Muzan orders him to be accompanied with Hantengu, he then finds the treatment "intriguing" and blushes. Later on, when he first arrives to the Swordsmith Village, he complains about the taste of a mountain swordsmith he maimed and ate, before immediately claiming that the horrid taste made it intriguing.
• Too Many Mouths: He has two mouths where his eyes should be. One mouth says positive things, while the other speaks negatively. Sometimes, he uses both when talking and/or shouting.
• Underestimating Badassery: He does not respect the skills of Muichiro, and pays for it by suffering the most humiliating defeat of all the Upper Ranks.
• Undignified Death: After transforming into his One-Winged Angel form, claiming himself to be unbeatable, he is beheaded by an awakened Muichiro without much effort. All of the original Upper Ranks take incredible amounts of effort by multiple heroes to bring down, but he is easily defeated by a single opponent. He spends his final moments ranting before unceremoniously getting his head sliced in two, before getting further hacked into tiny pieces. Furthermore, while the Upper Moons' deaths are either incredibly somber, dramatic, or victorious, Gyokko is the only Upper Moon with a comical death.
• Verbal Tic: Often peppers his speech with the word "hyo", which also serves as his Signature Laugh.
• Villain Ball: Gyokko's demonic persona is entirely based around his desire to have his artistic performances, which involves killing people, appreciated; such an abominable concept is completely alien to the human demon slayers and so Gyokko's attempt at being praised for his actions all fall flat. However, when Gyokko feels irreparably insulted by someone who he begrudgingly perceives as being a better artist than he is, the demon actually delays any chance of outright killing said person whom he could kill at any second to then take his sweet time trying to take their focus away from working; that's exactly what happened when Gyokko saw how focused Haganezuka was with working on Tanjiro's newest blade, that insulted Gyokko to his very core, to the point him wasting time with just pestering Haganezuka with light attacks was the beginning of his downfall against Muichiro.
• Villainous Breakdown: Really loses it once he loses against Muichiro, ranting about how he is a supreme being, a chosen one, and how he doesn't deserve to lose. Having heard enough of his pathetic breakdown, Muichiro proceeds to cut his head in multiple pieces.
• Villainous Friendship: Gyokko seems to be the only demon among the Upper Ranks who gets along well enough with Doma, as the other members can see through Doma's friendly behavior and treat him with either contempt or indifference, and in Hantengu's case, fear. The two share similar personalities and have visited each other several times in the past, with Gyokko even gifting Doma one of his prized pots (which he used to place a woman's head). Given the nature of the two, it's likely Gyokko enjoys all the flattery Doma pours on despite it being so transparent. However, Gyokko is very hesitant in allowing Doma to tag along with him and Hantengu to the swordsmith village, possibly fearing Muzan's reaction to Doma acting without orders. He then orders Nakime to send him and Hantengu to the swordswmith village immediately, clearly wanting to get away from Doma as quickly as possible in order to prevent him from getting another chance to ask to tag along.
• Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Gyokko succeeds in capturing Muichiro in a vulnerable state where he cannot escape...but he ends up just leaving him alone to investigate Haganezuka refining the sword instead of finishing him off.
• The Worf Effect: In the end Gyokko was only a narrative tool to show how strong a Hashira who awakened the Demon Slayer Mark is, his defeat was made to look relatively easy compared to his predecessors in descending order, Gyutaro and Daki, which at first might make one wonder if Gyokko was strong at all, but the reality of things is that the Hashira with their abilities boosted by a Demon Slayer Mark are just that strong.
• Would Hurt a Child: Not surprising given his cruel personality and demon biology. But he notably does his absolute most to kill the 14 year old Muichiro, and according to the Second Fanbook, he enjoyed to specifically eat children. Then there's his fish Mook stabbing Kotetsu.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: His eyes are mix of yellow and orange, and he's a tricky demon who resorts to a lot of trickery to get his way, like ambushes and teleporting.
• You Fight Like a Cow: Engages in a war of Volleying Insults with Muichiro after they both begin fighting seriously. It doesn't work out too well for him.

Daki

Daki voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (Japanese), Erica Lindbeck (English)^{Other VA} Lupita Leal (Latin American Spanish), Laura Blanc (French), Farina Brock (German), Gea Riva (Italian), Bruna Laynes (Brazilian Portuguese), Long Xianhui (Taiwanese Mandarin)

Daki’s Sentient Sash voiced by: Shizuka Itō (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)^{Other VA}Qian Xinyu (Taiwanese Mandarin)

^{Click here to see her sentient obi sash}

^{Click here to see her as a human}
Ume, a destitute beauty in the poorest side of Yoshiwara.

The Upper-6. Unlike most other demons, she prefers and has the capacity to mingle with human society openly in her disguise as Warabihime, a well-known oiran.

• Absurdly Sharp Blade: Daki's Clothing Appendages are even more ridiculous in the sharpness department than Rui's threads. For the record, she could slice open multiple people and buildings simply by swinging those things around for a bit.
• Abusive Parents: Gyutaro and Ume/Daki’s mother was a low-ranked prostitute, living in extremely poor conditions, she hated the fact she birthed a son first since that is not good for the business she has partaken in and that’s one more mouth to feed; Gyutaro took the bulk of his mother’s relentless physical abuse, Ume suffered less in her hand. Their mother ended up dying of syphilis when they were still young, Gyutaro and Ume were left off to fend for themselves thereafter.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Tanjiro and Nezuko take the time to witness Daki and Gyutaro's final moments and feel sorry for them, with Tanjiro taking the initiative to state to the siblings that they still had each other to look after and comfort. Although Daki screams and whines like a petulant child at Tanjiro for pitying her and to Gyutaro to help her before Daki dissolves to dust, the scene plays out in a very somber tone. The siblings' reunion in the afterlife, where Daki volunteers to join her brother in hell furthers the tragic nature of their upbringing.
• All There in the Manual: The full explanation for what exactly happened when Ume stabbed a Samurai in the eye is given in 2nd Databook; it wasn’t just about the samurai wanting to have her body, it is that he actually insulted Gyutaro while at it, that’s what enraged Ume to the point of stabbing the guy’s eye socket in.
• Ambiguous Situation: Considering that their mother was a poor prostitute who couldn’t be choosy about her clients, it seems unlikely that Gyutaro and Ume/Daki were fathered by the same man. That would make them half siblings instead of full ones, but they never refer to each other as anything but brother and sister.
• Arc Villain: Of the Red Light District Arc, for being an Upper Rank and the one responsible for the disappearances of its women and Sound Hashira Uzui's wives. Later turns into a Big Bad Duumvirate with her older brother, Gyutaro, who's the true Upper Six demon.
• Ax-Crazy: Daki is sadistic and whimsically violent.
• Bastard Bastard: Daki and Gyutaro's mother was a low-ranking prostitute, and it is all but stated that they were fathered by her clients. They're both very nasty demons.
• Beauty Is Bad: She relishes in both her status as the most beautiful oiran in the district and her nature as a demon. Muzan even states that her beauty is only matched by her cruelty.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: While in her human guise as Warabihime, Daki likes to put on a polite Yamato Nadeshiko act to get what she wants, but those who work closely with her are aware of her cruel and petty nature.
• Blaming the Victim: As Warabihime, Daki blamed the victims of her abuse for irritating her in the first place, therefore justifying her actions.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: The official Viz English translation for the manga has Gyutaro narrate in his backstory that it was when he turned 13 that Ume defended herself from the Samurai who attempted to take her after insulting Gyutaro, that sentence in Japanese is Gyutaro saying that it was when Ume turned 13 that said event occurred; the second Databook corroborates this, with 13 being Ume's age as Gyutaro's human age is listed as unknown.
• Boisterous Weakling: While Daki certainly is strong (by observing her performance she'd likely comfortably claim a spot as a Lower Rank) and she revels in that strength to no end, she is just not at the level of the Upper Ranks even as the Upper-6 and stands no chance against a Hashira from the current generation. When Tengen told her this she actually had a crying tantrum over it.
• Brainless Beauty: Gyutaro and Muzan consider Daki to be rather unintelligent, as she uses her beauty to get what she wants and acts on impulse without rationally thinking her actions through.
• Brother–Sister Team: Both Daki and her older brother Gyutaro have the position of Upper-6. However, their actual teamwork proves to be rather mediocre compared to that of the demon slayers that ultimately take their lives.
• Cannibal Larder: She has an underground lair where she stores living victims in her sashes to eat for later. The floor of it is littered with the skeletons of humans she ate.
• The Chain of Harm: In life, Gyutaro and Ume were born into the lowest rung of society—hated, abused, and mistreated by everyone, including their mother. As a demon and oiran, Daki takes sadistic enjoyment in abusing those of lower rank than her.
• Clothing Appendage: Daki's body seems to be made of prehensile fabric.
• Clothing Combat: Daki is surrounded by many sashes made of her flesh that she can manipulate to attack or bind foes, with each having the strength of steel. The sashes have additional properties, including the ability to absorb humans into them, which is how she kidnaps her victims, or splitting off parts that can act on their own and spy for her. She even uses this to keep herself from being decapitated multiple times, turning her neck into a sash that's too stretchy to cut. It takes both Inosuke and Zenitsu cutting at the same time from opposite directions to finally defeat her.
• Cheated Death, Died Anyway: She survives four decapitations, once because she beheaded herself, and thrice because Gyutaro's presence kept her alive. When both are decapitated, Daki's fifth beheading proves to be her last.
• Children Are Innocent: After their defeat, it's strongly hinted that if she had chosen not to join her brother, Daki would have been allowed to reincarnate immediately. It also helped that she is one of the few demons not to have chosen to become one, having been near death at thirteen when Gyutaro made the decision for both of them. It also helps that unlike Rui who was also a child and not given a choice she didn't commit any major Buddhist sins like killing her parents which Rui had done. Instead she honored her brother (who was technically her parental figure) from being badmouthed and got herself killed for it, showing filial piety.
• Cute Monster Girl: Even when in her full demon form, Daki still retains the features of a very attractive young woman, and she knows it.
• Dark Action Girl: Daki is cruel, vicious and is able to give Demon hunters a hard time. She's not as good of a fighter as her brother, however.
• Depending on the Artist: Within Gotouge’s coloring scheme, Daki was one of the demons whose skin complexity was just like a normal healthy human, the anime makes her skin be like the other demons with pale and deathly complexion.
• Designated Girl Fight: Daki is the first demon that Nezuko truly has a one-on-one fight against, and it is an incredibly brutal fight at that.
• Defiant to the End: Daki's last moments consist of her decapitated head yelling at Tanjiro to shut up and futilely begging Gyutaro to "do something" even as they are both dying.
  Daki: Waaaaaaaaaah!! Why don't you mind your own damn business! What gives you the right to sit there and lecture us!? As if a brat like you knows anything! Do us all a favor and get lost!! I can't believe this is happening...! I'm not ready to die yet!! Please do something! Do something, brother! I don't want to die! I don't want to die!! Help me, brother! Help me, brother!!
• Diseased Name: As a human, Daki's birth name was Ume, meaning "syphilis", after the disease that eventually killed her mother.
• Dual Boss: Once Gyutaro comes out, the demon siblings proceed to fight like this, with Gyutaro taking the main offensive while Daki provides suppressive attacks to keep the rest of the Demon Slayers on their toes and unable to gang up on her brother.
• Dumbass Has a Point: While she's not any less cruel for it, Daki was technically right that Omitsu was Too Dumb to Live for confronting her, an Upper Rank demon, armed with nothing but a knife.
• Dumb Muscle: While he might love her, Gyutaro doesn't hesitate to make his opinion of Daki's lack of intelligence clear despite her considerable power. He is correct, as this trope is one of the reasons to their downfall.
  Gyutaro: My dear little sister was doing her best with what little brain she's got.
• Dying as Yourself: In the afterlife, Daki transforms back into the innocent young girl she used to be, so many years ago.
• Emergency Transformation: While it doesn't excuse her cruelties, Daki is one of the few demons who did not choose to become what they are. When she was a young girl, she was burned alive for stabbing out the eye of a samurai who had assaulted her. As she lay dying in Gyutaro's arms, Doma approached the siblings and offered to transform them into demons, which Gyutaro accepted without hesitation to save himself and his sister.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Daki and Gyutaro love one another dearly, even if they viciously bicker and insult one another. When the chips are down, all they have is one another.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Daki is genuinely perplexed to see Tanjiro losing it after destroying half of the Entertainment District and killing dozens of civilians, wondering why he is so furious on behalf of the "ugly humans".
• Evil Counterpart: In many ways, Daki and Gyutaro are indeed Tanjiro and Nezuko's evil counterparts: both are unconditionally devoted to one another, both are each other's only family, Daki rides on her brother's back, Gyutaro doesn't tolerate anyone harming her and emerges from Daki's own back when she invokes him. Additionally, Daki is Gyutaro's younger sister and she was also killed and brought back to life as a demon, with the difference being that Gyutaro is now a demon too and they both embraced evil a long time ago.
• Evil Is Petty: Oh! Just everything will piss her off instantly, like for example; abusing one of her servants for not cleaning her room properly and being challenged face to face either way.
• Facial Markings: Daki has a pink flower-like pattern on her cheek and forehead.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Eye color is the only physical trait Daki and Gyutaro have always shared; Azure as humans, green/orange as demons.
• Faux Affably Evil: She seems like a Yamato Nadeshiko. In reality, she’ll gladly tear off anyone’s limbs should they cross her.
• Foil: Daki and her brother is this to Tanjiro and Nezuko. They are both pairs of siblings fighting and caring deeply for each other. But while Tanjro and Nezuko, at least back when she was human, can live independent from each other and think about other people, Daki and Gyutaro only care about each other.
  • Meanwhile, Nezuko used to be, and somewhat still is, a nice and mature girl while Daki is a selfish womanchild who only thinks about herself and her brother. This gets emphasized further when they are both shown crying after their fight: while Nezuko cries out after realizing she almost lost her humanity in her bloodlust (not to mention remembering her family), Daki (as Tengen accurately pointed out) was having a full-blown tantrum about how "everyone is bullying her".
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Gyutaro is far more level-headed and rational in comparison to Daki, who tends to act impulsively based on her emotions and has apparently gotten herself in trouble over it in the past.
• Freudian Excuse: Several tragic demons in the series have this going for them, but Gyutaro and Daki are the ones who vehemently justify their evil ways with it; Gyutaro hates the world for dealing him such a terrible childhood where no one ever offered him any help or kindness, made worse by his own prostitute mother who hated him, often beating him; that hatred was passed on to Daki and she fully agreed with her brother, as no one helped her when she was burned alive for merely defending herself against a sleazy Samurai, nor answered Gyutaro's cry for help after finding out what happened to his sister. Turning into demons was the only help they ever got, with that both siblings say in unison what the name Gyutaro means: the debt collector, the prostitute manager who's only collecting from the world that hated them so much by killing the privileged ones who dare to have better lives than they did, and in their twisted minds their lives were so miserable that every single person out there is having it better, so killing anyone to sustain themselves is only right.
• Gemini Destruction Law: It doesn't matter how many times you decapitate Daki and Gyutaro; unless you behead them both at the same time or at bare minimum behead the second one before the other one can reattach their severed head, they'll treat it like an annoyance.
• Given Name Reveal: As Daki is fading out of existence, Gyutaro suddenly remembers his sister's true name and calls it out — Ume.
• Green and Mean: Her eyes are a ominous yellow green, and when she absorbs her belt, her hair turns white with lime green tips. She is also an exceptionally cruel and petty demon.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Daki kidnaps and devours any women who she feels are a threat to her status as the most beautiful oiran in the Yoshiwara Red Light District. Her mother held the same envy for beautiful women, having tried to cut off Ume's/Daki's hair out of jealousy when she was a baby.
• Head-Turning Beauty: Her big brother Gyutaro notes that even when they were children, she was so lovely that people on the street would stop to look at her.
• Hellish Pupils: As Warabihime, her pupils are triangular and sharp, making it very obvious to the audience that she's a demon.
• Hero Killer: While she was no match for the contemporary Hasira Tengen Usui (his generation of Hasira are overall the most powerful) or a full-power Nezuko, she did boast she had personally killed 7 Hasira before (Gyutaro then chimes in and mentions he killed 14). This is significant as it establishes that she's well above the power level of the Lower Twelve, of which none of them have ever managed to kill a Hasira. So even if she may not necessarily deserve her Upper level status, she's certainly far above someone like Rui.
• Hidden Buxom: Only when initially introduced. She passes herself off as the headlining high class oiran of one of the houses of the red light district. As a result she's meant to embody purity, poise and immaculate beauty - meaning she tends to dress in long, eye-catching kimonos that completely conceal her physique. But upon shedding her disguise she strips down to basically a thong, bikini top and obi belt - revealing that she actually has enormous breasts that she keeps hidden under her kimono. Given how she spends the rest of the arc dressed like this her bustiness doesn't really stay hidden for long, though. It's not known if she actually slept with men as part of her job as an oiran despite being a demon, so presumably her curvy physique was also unknown to patrons and residents of the district as well.
• High-Class Call Girl: Daki's human alter ego, Warabihime, is an oiran, a type of Japanese courtesan.
• Humiliation Conga: She's at the receiving end of one after she royally pisses Tanjiro off by killing civilians. She is attacked and almost beheaded by a determined Tanjiro using Hinokami Kagura techniques, gets a brutal beatdown by a demon enhanced Nezuko, and is unceremoniously decapitated and berated by Tengen. It culminates with her finally cracking and summoning Gyutaro to kill her "bullies".
• Hypocrite: After getting beheaded and calling upon her older brother to help, Daki whines to Gyutaro that the Demon Slayers had been bullying her. This coming from the woman who had mercilessly bullied those she viewed as beneath her, along with kidnapping and devouring any women who she felt could challenge her beauty.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Played with — while Daki did become a top-ranking oiran after growing up in poverty, she also slaughtered and devoured countless people during her lifetime, leaving a long legacy of pain and misery behind, and her final fate was to die alongside Gyutaro with no one to mourn her. As Gyutaro is dying, he thinks that his sister was the only one of them with the potential to be a good person, and could have lived a long, happy and prosperous life, had he raised her better. He imagines her growing up as a human, becoming a truly successful oiran the honest way, and having a husband and children of her own.
• I Have Many Names: As a working girl, and a demon, Daki had several names throughout her life, the known ones are: Daki, her demon name, Warabihime, her current name as a Oiran; Yatamahime, her past Oiran name; Ume, her former human name, and Shiraume, her former human prostitute name; these five are just the known ones, Daki's settled in Yoshiwara's Red-Ligh District for at least a century as a demon in disguise, it is implied she had more Oiran names in the past.
• Immortal Immaturity: Daki is incredibly immature despite being well over a hundred years old which makes sense as she was turned into a demon at age 13. This also makes the battle with her shift tones quite drastically after Tengen defeats her, as she starts the arc acting like an adult woman who sees everyone else as children to a spoiled child who just wants to be praised endlessly.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Ume had these as a human child and regained them in the afterlife.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: Daki has a bad habit of acting superior against her opponents in combat, especially when they're down or badly injured. This leaves her very much open when either their opponent pulls out a hitherto-unrevealed technique or powers through despite massive and near-fatal injuries or disadvantages. This was what landed her a beating from Nezuko as she tries to exploit Tanjiro's Heroic RRoD. Her other half, Gyutaro, isn't much better in this regard—with them acting like victory is theirs when they've maimed Tengen. This ultimately gives Tanjiro an opportunity to pin Gyutaro down, which was subsequently followed by everyone else's Last Ditch Move, ending with the decapitation of both demons.
• Jerkass: The moment Zenitsu first meets her as Warabihime, he already knows that she's a contemptuous bitch by viciously abusing one of her young servants over a minor thing and then giving him an undeserved punch for defending her. There's also her trash-talking and belittling Tanjiro for being a human who fights demons for a valiant cause.
• Kick the Dog:
  • One of Daki's establishing moments has her drop Omitsu, the madam of her workplace, to her death after she correctly concluded Daki's inhumanity, cruelly taunting and insulting the poor woman before killing her.
  • Daki disciplines one of the girls in her house by pulling on her ear so hard that she draws blood. Zenitsu is furious over her mistreatment of her coworker.
  • She uses her belt to cause major devastation to the village, seemingly as a way to distract the good natured Tanjiro.
• Kill It with Fire: Daki was burned alive by her john after poking his eye out and likely would have died had she not been turned into a demon. This gave her severe pyrophobia, as seen when she is left near catatonic after getting engulfed by the flames of Nezuko's Blood Demon Art.
• Knows the Ropes: Her primary mode of attack is lashing out with her long pink obi sashes, which can ensnare opponents and are powerful enough to smash straight through buildings.
• Lap Pillow: In a couple of scenes, she is seen laying her head on Muzan's lap.
• The Load: A villainous example. Even though she is quite powerful and destructive, it is revealed by Muzan that he considered Gyutaro the real Upper-6, who would have easily won against the Demon Slayers had he just fought alone from the beginning. Muzan perceives Gyutaro making Daki his partner out of brotherly love as a weakness and the last remaining fragment of his humanity. This is even visually conveyed in the series itself, as Gyutaro is shown several times literally carrying Daki on his back, including when they enter hell together.
• Losing Your Head: Daki is beheaded but to the surprise of everyone around, she doesn't die. That's because Daki cannot die unless both she and her brother are beheaded together.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Daki means "fallen princess" and sounds remarkably close to Dakki, the Japanese name for the Chinese Nine-Tailed-Fox concubine Daji. Her human name, Ume (梅), even has a more tragic edge: Gyutaro remembers that she was named after the disease that killed their mother. The Japanese term for that particular illness, syphilis, is "baidoku" (黴毒, literally 'mold poison', probably in reference to the rashes a syphilis patient develops). As it happens, the kanji for Bai and Ume are interchangeably acceptable to use/write when referring to syphilis.
  • Her oiran name Warabihime means "bracken princess". Bracken ferns are poisonous, which alludes to Daki's awful personality and a subtle way of putting Bitch Alert on her since most oiran names tend to be pleasant. This also foreshadows her brother's ability to utilize poison in combat.
• Meaningful Rename: After becoming a demon, Ume changed her name to Daki. Considering that her original name literally meant "syphilis", it's no surprise that she would want to cast it off. Gyutaro calls it a "godawful" name, but says "Ume" was also pretty bad.
• Monster Brother, Cutie Sister: If only in the superficial sense. Daki is much more conventionally beautiful than her hideously scarred brother Gyutaro, but under the surface, they're both bloodthirsty monsters.
• Mook Maker: Daki can create a sentient sash to trap people she wants to eat or to act as a spy for her. The sash seems to possesses a personality of its own, but is still linked to Daki and can be mentally ordered by her in case of need. It's also a decent fighter on its own and can keep up with two Demon hunters at the same time (though it’s much weaker than Hashiras). Doing this takes away some of Daki's power, so when the sash is defeated it returns back to her and allows her to regain her complete power and adopt her true white-haired appearance.
• Moral Myopia: Daki remorselessly kills many civilians during her fight with Tanjiro, yet is surprised when the demon slayers decide to kill her for it and is pissed off when someone attacks her or her brother in order to stop them.
• Ms. Fanservice: Daki is the most gratuitous example of this in the series, thanks to her skimpy outfit. Countless panels with her feature examples of Navel-Deep Neckline and Male Gaze. This also lends itself to plenty of Fan Disservice, as she suffers several gruesome injuries, such as having half her face melted off, yet still has a lot of focus drawn towards her body.
• Mystical White Hair: She has black hair when disguised as a human, but white hair in her demon form. The white is her natural hair color, as she had it when she was a human girl.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Played With. Her outfit has a plunging neckline that goes down to her navel, but she also has a sash wrapped around her waist, which partly cover her midriff.
• Never My Fault: Tragically ends up like this for Daki and Gyutaro, when it’s certain they are about to die both siblings start to blame each other for losing against the demon slayers, whom they had at their mercy several times during their battle. The petty insults escalate to both saying one last thing that deeply hurt the other; Daki lashes out at Gyutaro by claiming someone so ugly can’t possibly be her actual brother, and Gyutaro furiously retorts that he wasted his life caring for such a useless sister. This prompt Tanjiro to calmly shut them up by saying that all they have is each other, as demons no one will love or forgive them, so they can’t die cursing each other like that.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Like Enmu, she makes the grievous error of putting '''Zenitsu''' into an unconscious state.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Daki suffers an absolutely brutal beatdown from Nezuko once she gives in to her demonic nature. Daki goes from effortlessly dealing with Nezuko to getting literally stomped and set on fire, with all of her attacks having no real effect.
• Picky People Eater: Daki is so vain that she will not eat anyone old or ugly, and prefers eating only young, beautiful men and women. However, just because she wouldn't eat someone doesn't mean she won't kill them.
• Pink Means Feminine: Her facial markings and sashes are a bright, garish shade of pink. Even as a little girl, she wore a tattered, pale pink kimono.
• Prehensile Hair: Daki can manipulate her hair to attack or bind enemies, though this is much weaker than her sashes.
• The Promise: When Gyutaro disowns Ume, trying to persuade her to leave him behind and go to heaven without him, she begs him to remember the promise he made to her when they were children. He remembers that, one freezing winter's day, he hid in a straw pile with her to share body heat and promised her that they would always be together.
• Phantom-Zone Picture: The people captured within Daki's sashes are visible from the outside, appearing as patterns on the sides.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: Bleaches it white, in Daki's case. Turns out it was her original hair color, though.
• Power Floats: Daki is shown suspended high in the air as she taunts the hostess Mitsu before dropping her to her death, but she never displays this ability again after this scene.
• Puppet King: Implied to be how Muzan sees her when it comes to her Upper Rank 6 position; nominally, she is considered to be the Upper Rank 6, with everyone being left to believe it to be the case, with the existence of Gyutaro being kept a secret to the most. In truth, however, Muzan have always considered her brother Gyutaro to be the true Upper Rank 6, with Daki being kept around to share the rank with him simply as a way to control Gyutaro, since he'll never abandon his sister. Otherwise, as far as Muzan is concerned, Daki is just a weak, dumb demon who only serves as a chain that holds Gyutaro back.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: Due to their abusive upbringing and circumstances behind the siblings' transformation into demons, both of them display this regarding different targets. While Daki hates her colleagues who are more beautiful and successful than her and kills them once they decide to leave or they manage to draw her ire, Gyutaro hates those who had more privileged upbringing than them (read:almost everyone else) and decided to kill them so as to exact revenge upon the world.
• Psychopathic Womanchild: Daki is extremely immature and childish, which makes sense as she was turned into a demon at age 13.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Daki is renowned for her beauty when in disguise as Warabihime, with immaculate black hair and pale, unblemished skin. Her distinct beauty led to local legends told by old women who remember seeing the same beautiful but seemingly ageless oiran at different points in their lives.
• Refusing Paradise: Despite her crimes, Daki is given a chance to go to heaven because she was so young when she became a demon, and also possibly because she did not become one by her own choice; the decision was made for her by her brother (if only to save her life). However, she refuses it and chooses to enter hell with Gyutaro instead, so they will never be apart.
• Rich Bitch: Daki is this to a tee (towards the people who work with her, not her clients) when she's taking human form—she isn't just physically abusive, but also uses verbal and emotional tactics to demean and humiliate her employers, her fellow oiran and the younger oiran in training, apparently even driving at least one girl to suicide.
• Shameless Fanservice Girl: Daki greatly enjoys flaunting her body while in her true demon form with her Stripperific outfit, and has a habit of perching herself with her legs spread wide in a very crude and unladylike manner, giving anyone in view an explicit look at her crotch.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: While both are equally cruel, Daki is a beautiful and sexually attractive demon but is also childish and petulant, while Gyutaro is her creepy and deformed brother who is much more tactical.
• The Smurfette Principle: The only female Upper Rank so far but shares her position with her brother Gyutaro, who is the far more dangerous and skilled of the two. Subverted that both the afterlife and Muzan himself deem Gyutaro as the true Upper Rank Six with Daki being the cover, showing this trope goes to Nakime.
• Son of a Whore: Daughter in this case. Her mother was a dirt-poor prostitute in the Entertainment District, and Daki would grow up to work in the same industry as a High-Class Call Girl.
• Sore Loser: After getting beheaded by Tengen, Daki throws a huge tantrum which leaves the Hashira in disbelief, ultimately calling on her brother to emerge and kill the people that had hurt her.
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: One part of Daki’s past as the human Ume not present in the manga, being revealed in the 2nd Databook instead; her mother was actually jealous and terrified of Ume’s natural beauty, coupled with her perfectly bright natural white hair when Ume was just an infant, this irrational jealousy of her own daughter prompted her to one day try to cut Ume’s hair out of spite; that marks the beginning of Gyutaro’s role as a true protector for his little sister, Gyutaro fought back against his mother for the first time ever, shielding Ume so her hair wouldn’t be ruined, since then their horrible mother put some distance from her children, afraid of her son, till she died from syphilis.
• Stripperiffic: Daki's demonic outfit is equal parts lingerie and kimono.
• Superior Successor: In a rather tragic and ironic way, Ume, or rather Daki, ended up becoming a far better ranked prostitute than her mother, she ascended to the absolute Oiran rank while her mother was a lowly ranked, dirty poor worker; Gyutaro in his final moments wished his little sister were grown into a better life, without his influence.
• Tempting Fate: Daki is confident that she knows how fast Zenitsu's Thunder Clap and Flash technique is after seeing it so many times. Too bad for her that he takes the opportunity to unleash his God Speed technique and goes even faster than before.
• They Look Just Like Everyone Else!: Unlike most demons who hide away from society and prey on human victims during the night, Daki pretends to be human and works as a high-class oiran in the Entertainment District.
• Together in Death: Upon dying, Daki and Gyutaro enter hell together. But not before arguing about it first.
• Tragic Monster: A 13-year-girl who was burned alive for defending her brother's honor from a cruel samurai. Her big brother Gyutaro made the choice to accept Doma's offer to turn both into demons to save her.
• Transhuman Treachery: Daki thinks of herself and other demons as superior to lowly, ugly humans, because of their power and immortality.
  Daki: Blah, blah, blah...don't you ever stop your prattling? I don't remember such things. The past is the past. I'm a demon now, that's all that matters. We don't get old. We don't need money to eat. We don't get sick...and we never die. We never lose anything! We never fade. We're eternally young and beautiful. And we're strong! Demons can do whatever we want!
• Trauma Button: Despite being a very strong demon, one very cocky at that, Daki has extreme pyrophobia, as it is a reminder of her life as human and how it almost ended back then, she was burned alive for stabbing the eye of a samurai who spoke ill Gyutaro; when Nezuko uses her fire blood on Daki she is struck with paralyzing fear along with all the burnt flesh.
• Turn Out Like His Father: Despite getting away from her mother's abuse, she and Gyutaro tragically ended up like her: an irrational, spiteful, and childish bitch who took out their issues to people who have nothing to do with their suffering. Like her, they are molded by the cruel and harsh environment that they were borned and raised in.
• Two Beings, One Body: Gyutaro spends his time inside Daki's body until she calls for his help. Neither of them can be killed unless both have been beheaded.
• Unkempt Beauty: Even as a little girl living in poverty with disheveled hair and a torn kimono, she was considered so beautiful that she could make people stop and turn their heads.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: This terrifying, vicious, bloodthirsty courtesan-demon who eats humans and Demon Slayers for breakfast? She used to be a sweet, innocent little girl named Ume...but that's farther back than anyone alive can remember.
• Vain Sorceress: Daki definitely gives off this vibe. Prettiness? Check. Hatred towards women who're as pretty as her? Check. Magical powers that are both feminine and malevolent? Check.
• The Vamp: A completely evil seductress who uses her charms and beauty to exploit her victims for her own benefit.
• Villain Respect: According to the official fan book, when asked about her opinion on Tengen Uzui, she calls him a "real ninja, through and through". Although she did also say that she hated him.
• Vocal Evolution: She starts out with a menacing and mature voice, but as she's continuously humiliated and overwhelmed by the slayers, it becomes a high-pitched and shrill whine, foreshadowing her true mental state as a 13-year-old.
• Voice of the Legion: When using extrasensory perception and talking in unison, her voice and Gyutaro's will be heard simultaneously.
• Walking Spoiler: It’s hard to talk about Daki without mentioning her brother Gyutaro.
• White Hair, Black Heart: Daki has white hair and is a vicious demon.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Daki grew up in poverty in the Red Light District, got burned alive at the young age of 13, and was turned into a demon while barely hanging on to life against her will by her brother and Doma. In spite of all the evil she did, Daki has the mind of a child and doesn't even recognize her actions, to the point where she was given the opportunity to go to heaven after death.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Daki/Warabihime is considered the most beautiful oiran in the district and is the top breadwinner of her house. Even as a little girl, people would be stunned by the sight of her beautiful face.
• Would Hurt a Child: When she finds out one of the young servant girls hasn't cleaned her room, she pulls on the girl's ear so hard that it bleeds.
• Yōkai: Her ability to transform her neck into an extendable sash appears to be based on the rokurokubi, a human-looking apparition with a long extendable neck. Her sentient sash may be based on the ittan-momen, a bolt of cotton cloth that flutters around at night attacking people.
• You Are Worth Hell: Daki follows Gyutaro to hell despite him telling her that she should go towards the light. She doesn't care and states that she will always be his little sister no matter how many times they are reborn.

Gyutaro

Voiced by: Ryōta Ōsaka (Japanese), Brandon McInnis (English)^{Other VA} Alejandro Orozco (Latin American Spanish), Cédric Dumond (French), Marius Claren (German), Davide Farronato (Italian), Italo Luiz (Brazilian Portuguese), Meng Qingfu (Taiwanese Mandarin)

^{Click here to see him as a human}

The true Upper-6 and Daki's older brother. Having made the choice for both of them to become demons, he spends his time sleeping inside her body until she's pushed to the point he needs to come out and deal with whoever's made her cry.

• Abusive Parents: Gyutaro and Ume/Daki’s mother was a low ranked prostitute, living in extremely poor conditions, she hated the fact she birthed a son first since that is not good for the business she has partaken in and that’s one more mouth to feed; Gyutaro took the bulk of his mother’s relentless physical abuse, Ume suffered less in her hand. Their mother ended up dying of syphilis when they were still young, Gyutaro and Ume were left off to fend for themselves thereafter.
• Alas, Poor Villain: His death is curiously somber, reflecting upon how he wanted to protect his baby sister, his painful life and accepting Hell for his sins. Daki, who became a demon at age thirteen and is far more innocent, refuses to leave him alone, rejecting Heaven itself to follow him into Hell. Even Tanjiro feels a measure of sympathy for them, even covering Gyutaro's mouth to stop him from insulting his younger sister further, and begging them to get along and make up even in their final moments.
• All of the Other Reindeer: His past as a human, the son of a low ranked prostitute, living in extreme poverty his mother hated the fact she had to earn her keep and feed a son while at it, so she vented her frustrations by relentlessly beating Gyutaro up. In the poor area Gyutaro lived in, he was constantly bullied for his ugly appearance, odd voice and poor grooming; life was just constant hell for him, no one loved him; when tragedy struck with his sister Ume being burned alive for retaliating against a Samurai, Gyutaro just lost his mind at no one in the world ever showing him and his sister any kindness, when the opportunity to become a demon knocked to save Ume's life, Gyutaro took it without thinking twice; both siblings became terrible evil demons ever since, hating the world itself for casting them out as humans.
• Animal Motifs: He is compared several times to a praying mantis, with his emaciated figure and sickles resembling the body of the insect. The praying mantis is also associated with patience and calmness, which is reflected by Gyutaro's behavior in comparison to his sister's impulsive and reckless actions.
• Arc Villain: Alongside with his younger sister, Daki, Gyutaro serves as the primary antagonist of the Red Light District Arc.
• Ax-Crazy: He appears more collected than Daki, but in battle also goes into screaming, self-mutilating fits of rage.
• Bastard Bastard: Gyutaro's and Daki's mother was a low-ranking prostitute, and it is all but stated that they were fathered by her clients. They're both very nasty demons.
• Berserk Button: Being attractive, being well-off, having wives... anything that sets off Gyutaro's inferiority complex, and also (perhaps especially) harming Daki, is liable to guarantee you some pain.
• Big Brother Instinct: Though they argue, Gyutaro wants to protect his little sister.
• Bloody Murder: Though all demons, by nature, use blood to power their techniques, Gyutaro is one of the few whose power manifests as actual blood, weaponizing it to create slicing blades or vortexes capable of shredding his opponents.
• Body Horror: When going on an envious tangent before fighting Tengen, he mutilates himself by scratching his body hard and leaving scars where his fingernails dug. Luckily they all heal due to his status as a demon.
• Bond Villain Stupidity: After seemingly succeeding in defeating the Demon Slayers, instead of quickly finishing them off, he gives Tanjiro "The Reason You Suck" Speech and offers him a chance to become a demon, giving Tanjiro and others enough time to recover and defeat him and Daki.
• Break Her Heart to Save Her: At the border between heaven and hell, he tries to disown Daki so she will go towards the light while he goes toward the darkness. She refuses and says she will always be his little sister, and they walk into hell together.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: Downplayed. While Ume ended up just as messed up as Gyutaro, especially after becoming demons, it is very clear that he is a better option compared to their mother, who did the opposite of what any sane and rational parent is supposed to do to their children. And this is coming from someone who spent his formative years being given nothing but contempt by everyone else.
• Brother–Sister Team: Both Daki and her older brother Gyutaro have the position of Upper-6. However, their actual teamwork proves to be rather mediocre compared to that of the demon slayers that ultimately take their lives.
• Determinator: From a very young age, Gyutaro had to become one just to survive, born to a mother who hated and tried to kill him many times, and surrounded by people who bullied and taunted him because of his ugliness.
  My body was weak like a withered leaf, but I clung on to life as tightly as I could.
• Dual Boss: Once Gyutaro comes out, the demon siblings proceed to fight like this, with Gyutaro taking the main offensive while Daki provides suppressive attacks to keep the rest of the Demon Slayers on their toes and unable to gang up on her brother.
• Dual Wielding: He wields a pair of sickles made from his own flesh that are coated in poison. It is revealed in his flashback that he was proficient with the weapons since a young age.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Daki and Gyutaro love one another dearly, even if they viciously bicker and insult one another. When the chips are down, all they have is one another.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He is surprised to see Tanjiro reject his offer to be a demon, not understanding why Tanjiro might be against the idea of becoming a man-eater.
• Evil Counterpart: In many ways, Daki and Gyutaro are indeed Tanjiro and Nezuko's evil counterparts: both are unconditionally devoted to one another, both are each other's only family, Daki rides on her brother's back, Gyutaro doesn't tolerate anyone harming her and emerges from Daki's own back when she invokes him. Additionally, Daki is Gyutaro's younger sister and she was also killed and brought back to life as a demon, with the difference that Gyutaro is now a demon too and both embraced evil a long time ago.
• Evil Debt Collector: He learned from a young age that he was good at fighting and worked as a debt collector, getting violent with people who couldn't pay. However, he did this not out of greed, but the need to provide for himself and his sister.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Well, uglier. He was borderline deformed as a human, but he has an emaciated torso, jaundiced yellow eyes, and a mouth full of fangs as a demon.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Gyutaro's voice, quite notably so. He speaks in a sickly vocal fry, in accordance to his unnaturally thin body, his weird zombie stance, his Psychotic Smirk and his strange complexion.
• Facial Markings: He has mottled patterns on his face and other body parts, though it is more likely that those are birthmarks or scars since he had them as a human too.
• Family Eye Resemblance: Eye color is the only physical trait Daki and Gyutaro have always shared; Azure as humans, green/orange as demons.
• Foil: Daki and Gyutaro are this to Tanjiro and Nezuko. They are both pairs of siblings fighting and caring deeply for each other. But while Tanjro and Nezuko, at least back when she was human, can live independent from each other and think about other people, Daki and Gyutaro only care about each other.
  • In a more detailed contrast, Tanjiro is a caring, gentle, and honest young man with a good looking face while Gyutaro is an ugly, violent loan shark who hurts people. Finally, in extreme situations, Tanjiro would (reluctantly) abandon Nezuko to fulfill his duty as a demon hunter while Gyutaro will only have his sister as his sole priority.
• Fond Memories That Could Have Been: As Gyutaro is dying, he thinks of the happy, peaceful and prosperous life his little sister could have had, if only he had raised her better.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: He is far more level-headed and rational in comparison to Daki, who tends to act impulsively based on her emotions and has apparently gotten herself in trouble over it in the past.
• Freudian Excuse: Several tragic demons in the series have this going for them, but Gyutaro and Daki are the ones who vehemently justify their evil ways with it; Gyutaro hates the world for dealing him such a terrible childhood where no one ever offered him any help or kindness, made worse by his own prostitute mother who hated him, often beating him; that hatred was passed on to Daki and she fully agreed with her brother, as no one helped her when she was burned alive for merely defending herself against a sleazy Samurai, nor answered Gyutaro's cry for help after finding out what happened to his sister. Turning into demons was the only help they ever got, with that both siblings say in unison what the name Gyutaro means: the debt collector, the prostitute manager who's only collecting from the world that hated them so much by killing the privileged ones who dare to have better lives than they did, and in their twisted minds their lives were so miserable that every single person out there is having it better, so killing anyone to sustain themselves is only right.
• Gemini Destruction Law: It doesn't matter how many times you decapitate Daki and Gyutaro; unless you behead them both at the same time or at bare minimum behead the second one before the other one can reattach their severed head, they'll treat it like an annoyance.
• Green and Mean: Gyutaro's hair is a sickly shade of green, and he is a very scary, very dangerous, completely Ax-Crazy Upper Moon demon.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Due to his poor upbringing, Gyutaro is very envious of those he perceives as being more privileged than him. After meeting Tengen, he sarcastically compliments him on his good looks, large physique and popularity with women before declaring that he will give him a tortuous death for being born with everything that he never had as a human.
• Grew a Spine: The first time Gyutaro ever stood up to their abusive mother was when she tried to cut off Ume's beautiful white hair out of nothing more than jealousy.
• Hand Gagging: As Daki's and Gyutaro's heads land next to each other, they argue over whose fault it was that they lost, and then start to viciously insult each other, with Daki calling her brother ugly and Gyutaro calling his sister useless. Tanjiro comes and puts a hand over Gyutaro's mouth to stop him from insulting his sister any more, telling the siblings that they only have each other.
• Heel Realization: In his final moments before death, he finally remembers their past back when they were living a terrible childhood in the poorest area of the Red Light District, under a prostitute mother who abused him and his sister to no end. He realizes that once their mother died, he and his sister Ume/Daki should have struggled more just to run away from all of that life; what Gyutaro did instead was basically become a pimp to his own sister and teach her that she shouldn't take crap from anybody. This indirectly pushed her to stab a samurai who badmouthed her brother in the eye, causing Daki to be burnt alive as retaliation. Gyutaro, in his desperation to save her, accepted the offer to become demons. Now at the brink of their death, Gyutaro wished he taught his sister better instead of letting her be a prostitute when she could have better things in life.
• History Repeats: As it was back when they were human, his selfishness once again plays heavily in Daki's demise, as he becomes so fixated on defeating the protagonists that he neglects to protect her.
• Homing Projectile: One of his techniques allows him to manifest his blood as sickle blades that move independently and can track an enemy's movements.
• I Regret Nothing: Zig-Zagged. Gyutaro admits privately that he doesn't regret becoming a demon and he would have made the same choice all over again if he could, but he does regret not raising his sister right and chose instead to drag her on his path with him.
• Kick the Dog: When he finds Tanjiro after the Entertainment District is decimated by Daki's belt, he proceeds to sneer at Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Tengen, whom he mistakingly perceives as dead, while also taunting Tanjiro claiming that he isn't able to protect Nezuko despite his job as an older brother. He proceeds to rub salt in the wound by breaking two of his fingers.
• Knight of Cerebus: While Daki herself was already a difficult opponent for the heroes to deal with, things get even more serious for the Entertainment District arc when Gyutaro comes out of her body and proves himself to be even worse.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: He does not take kindly to anyone who harms his sister, as shown with his violent and swift retaliation against Tengen after the Hashira had beheaded Daki. This is also a crucial aspect of their backstory, as Gyutaro's revenge against the man who burned his sister led to the two of them becoming demons.
• Lean and Mean: His body is unnaturally thin and he's actually the one who embraced evil for its own sake out of the two.
• Limp and Livid: His default stance when he's out of his sister's body.
• Love Is a Weakness: It is in Muzan's belief that Gyutaro's love for his sister made him significantly weaker, viewing it as the last shred of humanity in an otherwise powerful demon. In the end, Gyutaro's love for Daki indirectly led to their deaths, as he only hesitated to kill Tanjiro and Nezuko because their bond reminded him of his own with Daki and offered to make Tanjiro a demon rather than outright kill them both when he had the chance.
• The Man Behind the Man: Gyutaro is this to Daki, and she even becomes more childless and reckless when he exits her body to battle the protagonists on his own.
• Meaningful Name: His name comes from a word meaning "prostitutes' manager."
• Moral Myopia: Gyutaro freely admits he cares nothing for other people's little sisters, even if he cares for his own.
• My God, What Have I Done?: While dying, Gyutaro regretted pressuring Daki to become an Oiran for better prospects in life, which led to the villagers nearly murdering the girl and their subsequent transformations into demons, and not giving Daki better opportunities to grow into.
• Nervous Tics: He presents a rather disturbing nervous tic that fully drives the point home of just how insanely envious he is of anyone he perceives to be more privileged than him. Gyutaro is prone to self-harm in these envious episodes, scratching his face and chest to skin tearing depths; since he has demonic regeneration, Gyutaro pays no mind in tearing his skin apart whenever he wants.
• Never Given a Name: It is implied that his mother never named him, as he can remember his sister's true name but cannot remember ever being named anything but Gyutaro, the name he gave himself (a gyu is a barker who draws customers to the Entertainment District, while "-taro" is a common suffix for male Japanese names). The 2nd Databook lists his human name as Gyutaro as well, not "unknown" like some other Kizuki who are left with their human identities hanging, so Gyutaro started calling himself as such back when he was human, being Ume’s handler. It shows how twisted Gyutaro already was after living such a harsh life that becoming a demon didn’t warrant a new name for him.
• Never Had Toys: When he was a child, he was very poor and had an abusive mother, so he never had any toys except for a rusted sickle that one of his mother's customers had left behind. This sickle would become his preferred weapon as a human and a demon.
• Never My Fault: Tragically ends up like this for Daki and Gyutaro, when it’s certain they are about to die both siblings start to blame each other for losing against the demon slayers, whom they had at their mercy several times during their battle. The petty insults escalate to both saying one last thing that deeply hurt the other; Daki lashes out at Gyutaro by claiming someone so ugly can’t possibly be her actual brother, and Gyutaro furiously retorts that he wasted his life caring for such a useless sister. This prompt Tanjiro to calmly shut them up by saying that all they have is each other, as demons no one will love or forgive them, so they can’t die cursing each other like that.
• Nothing but Skin and Bones: Gyutaro is so emaciated that his ribs and spine are visible through his skin. It doesn't seem to hamper his fighting ability at all, however.
• People Puppets: He can fully coordinate Daki's body so her movements can become even more deadly than when she is acting independently. In the end, Daki even tries to excuse herself not doing better against the slayers because her brother just didn't control her body well enough.
• The Promise: When Gyutaro disowns Ume, trying to persuade her to leave him behind and go to heaven without him, she begs him to remember the promise he made to her when they were children. He remembers that, one freezing winter's day, he hid in a straw pile with her to share body heat and promised her that they would always be together.
  Young Gyutaro: The two of us together can't be beat! Being cold or hungry doesn't bother us at all! I promise you! We're always going to be together! I'm never going to leave you! See? You're not afraid of anything now, are you?
• Poisoned Weapons: Gyutaro's sickles are coated in a deadly poison, allowing him to ensure death against most opponents with a single landed attack.
• Promotion to Parent: Gyutaro and Daki's abusive prostitute mother died when Daki was very young with Gyutaro essentially raising Daki by himself for years. Even if Gyutaro didn’t quite lead Daki to a good life, they loved each other and seemed to be better off than living with their mother.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: Due to their abusive upbringing and circumstances behind the siblings' transformation into demons, both of them display this regarding different targets. While Daki hates her colleagues who are more beautiful and successful than her and kills them once they decide to leave or they manage to draw her ire, Gyutaro hates those who had more privileged upbringing than them (read:almost everyone else) and decided to kill them so as to exact revenge upon the world.
• Psychological Projection: His mix of interest and disgust in Tanjiro is precisely because he sees himself in him; an older brother who failed to protect his younger sister. The insults he uses on Tanjiro are the same insults Gyutaro was labeled with when he was human, to put a fine point on it.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives a brutal one to Tanjiro, explaining how his weakness prevents him from protecting what is precious to him. This speech in particular comes from the heart, as he sees Tanjiro's struggle to protect Nezuko as a reflection of his own failure to protect his younger sister Daki when they were both human.
• Reduced to Ratburgers: When he was young, his mother cared so little for him that he had to scrounge for insects and mice to eat.
• Scary Teeth: While the other Upper Moons have fanged but relatively normal teeth, other than Gyokko who has regular human teeth, Gyutaro has a full set of shark-like triangular teeth. He also had pretty jacked-up teeth as a human, although this is mostly because living in poverty obviously couldn't afford dental.
• Secretly Selfish: Inverted; As humans, Gyutaro used Ume's beauty to distract from his own hideous face and destitute standing, regarding her as a prize to show off. However, in his final moments, Gyutaro realizes he regrets not providing a better life for Ume, meaning his love for his sister truly was unconditional. He even orders Ume's soul to leave for heaven rather than be damned alongside him.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: While both are equally cruel, Daki is a beautiful and sexually attractive demon but is also childish and petulant, while Gyutaro is her creepy and deformed brother who is much more tactical.
• Smug Snake: His confidence in their unique composition causes him to act with increasing recklessness as the protagonists refuse to die, mentally falling back on how he can attack with abandon so long as they don’t behead Daki. Which they do.
• Son of a Whore: His mother was a dirt-poor prostitute in the Entertainment District who hated him for being born a boy, because she couldn't pimp him out when he came of age.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: Anyone who experienced his life would surely make them embittered and misantrophic. However, he regrets that he let his negativity ruin his younger sister's growth and her chances for a better life.
• Stronger Sibling: He is more powerful than Daki by a large degree, to the point that Muzan thinks Gyutaro would have been better off without her and considers him the true Upper Rank 6. He demonstrates this in his first appearance, critically wounding Tengen before he can even react, when Tengen had just done the same thing by beheading Daki without her realizing.
• Stronger Than They Look: He had a very scrawny body when he was human yet he apparently was very strong, he himself seems surprised by the fact, once Gyutaro became proficient with a sickle he played with by himself he could easily overpower men bigger than him to collect debts; as a demon Gyutaro got big muscular arms but his torso remained extremely thin.
• Taking You with Me: After getting beheaded by Tanjiro, Gyutaro's headless body unleashes several large vortexes of blood in a final attempt to kill him and Tengen. They miss their targets but still destroy all the surrounding buildings.
• Third Eye: He is capable of manifesting one of his eyes on Daki's forehead. Gyutaro can see through the eye, giving him greatly enhanced perception and allowing the siblings to coordinate their attacks to devastating effect.
• Together in Death: Upon dying, Daki and Gyutaro enter hell together. But not before arguing about it first.
• Tragic Mistake: He believes that his greatest mistake was teaching Daki his "eye for an eye" mentality, which caused her to stab the samurai in the eye in self-defense and get burned alive in retaliation.
• Turn Out Like His Father: While he was noble enough to stand up against his mother's abuse and do what she was supposed to do by raising his sister, tragic circumstances arranged for them to end up becoming like their horribly jealous and mean-spirited mother.
• Two Beings, One Body: He spends his time inside Daki's body until she calls for his help. Neither of them can be killed unless both have been beheaded.
• Vague Age: His human age is never given, not even in the 2nd Databook for some reason, and the official Viz English manga translation made the mistake of attributing Ume's human age, 13, to him instead; however, considering the Gakuen/Academy universe makes him be 18 years old to Ume's new 16 years old age, Gyutaro might be 2 years older than Ume in the main universe as well, theoretically being 15 years old when he was human.
• Verbal Tic: Gyutaro ends most of his sentences with the syllable -naa, which usually translates to "ain't it?" or "right?" in English.
• Villain Respect: According to the official fan book, when asked about his opinion on Tengen Uzui, the Demon Slayer that helped kill him, he claims that his movement was very detailed.
• Voice of the Legion: When using extrasensory perception and talking in unison, his voice and Daki's will be heard simultaneously.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: Gyutaro goes shirtless at all times, which is major Fan Disservice considering how sickly and emaciated he looks.
• Walking Spoiler: There are several reasons none of his entries here are whited out, least of all being his status as the real Upper-6.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: While Akaza had already made it clear what the stakes of a fight with an Upper Rank demon would be, the fight with Gyutaro drives it home despite being the "weakest" of Muzan's strongest demons. While Daki goes down relatively easy at first, once Gyutaro (considered by Muzan the actual Upper-6) joins the fight it quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival the Demon Slayers only win due to a Moment of Weakness on Gyutaro's part when victory's in the siblings' grasp, and the injuries they inflict on a Hashira of Tengen's caliber are severe enough to be a Career-Ending Injury.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Gyutaro was dealt a horrible hand in life, being born in extreme poverty to a sickly and mentally unstable mother and becoming a young parent to his younger sister. No one ever showed him kindness, and he ultimately became demon out of both desperation to survive and save his sister and a desire for revenge against the world.
• Would Hit a Girl: Unsurprising given that demons don't typically spare victims based on gender, but Gyutaro very nearly succeeds in killing Hinatsuru.

Nakime

Voiced By: Marina Inoue (Japanese), Amber Lee Connors (English)^{Other VA} Jocelyn Robles (Latin American Spanish), Nadine Heidenreich (German)

The new Upper-4. She controls the Infinity Castle, a dimensional castle that Muzan and his demon army reside in.

• All There in the Manual: Her entire backstory is only given in the second Databook, a little while after the manga series had finished its run. She used to be a Goze, a destitute Blind Musician who lost her mind back when her deadbeat husband sold her most precious kimono to sustain his gambling addiction. Nakime killed him by bashing his skull with her hammer. Curiously, the night she killed her husband, her music session got more public appreciation than normal. With that, Nakime became a twisted Serial Killer, ending people’s lives with her hammer, correlating her playing skills to how many people she killed with the tool. Her last intended victim was Muzan, since she didn't know who he was.
• Affirmative Action Girl: Averted. She is indeed the second female Upper Rank demon in the story and appears early on but only becomes an Upper-4 after Hantengu's demise, Daki and Nakime are never seen together.
• All Take and No Give: A victim of this. Before she became a Serial Killer as a human, Nakime was married to an addicted gambler who squandered her earnings and savings while contributing nothing to improve their lives.
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She's pale, has dark hair and possesses a cold and quiet behaviour, barely showing any emotion.
• Cyclops: She is a demon that only has one eye on her head.
• Didn't See That Coming: Yushiro manages to sneak up behind her to blind her with his Blood Demon Art, causing her to misinform Muzan of Mitsuri and Iguro's presence. She also loses control of the castle by Yushiro.
• Domain Holder: As mentioned, she is the one who holds control of the Infinity Castle. This is the reason Muzan always has her nearby, and probably also played a part in her ascension to Upper-4.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: She's a one-eyed demon with black hair and pure white skin.
• Emotionless Girl: Nakime is calm and quiet, not flinching even once when fighting against Mitsuri and Iguro.
• Ice Queen: Quite blatantly so. She has an overal frigid disposition and remains mostly unresponsive to anything around her, talking only when necessary and handling any task Muzan assigns her with confidence and cold efficiency.
• Last of Her Kind: She is the last Upper Rank to die, and her death marks an end to the Twelve Kizuki in general.
• Load-Bearing Boss: Her death would mean the immediate collapse of the entire Infinity Castle, something Muzan attempts to exploit by killing her while all the Demon Slayers are still within.
• Mook Maker: She can create miniature eyeballs to scout and spy around an area. This is how Muzan was able to find the headquarters of the Demon Slayers in search of Nezuko, who can walk in the sun currently.
• Mugging the Monster: How she met Muzan. As a Serial Killer, Nakime would kill people before performing for her audience. During one fateful day, she chose her target randomly and happened to pick Muzan. Although she couldn't kill him, Muzan was so impressed by Nakime's searching skills and her homicidal tendencies that he offered to turn her into a demon, which she accepted.
• Musical Assassin: She wields a biwa to manipulate and shift the environment of the Infinity Castle to her advantage, similar to how Kyogai could manipulate his house domain through small drums. However, she is even more powerful as she is able to create objects such as doors and windows out of thin air to defend herself and can create large protruding pillars for offense, all with the stroke of her biwa.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: She may not look like she can do much on her own and seems to be more of a supporting member in Muzan's army, but keep in mind that when entering into the Infinity Castle, she has full control of its entire environment. That means that she can simply stroke her biwa to open up a dimensional portal to keep her opponents away from her. Iguro comments on how irritating their battle will be. And keep in mind that her scouting ability is what led to the Infinity Castle fight while looking for Nezuko's location.
• Portal Door: With her demon powers having full control of the Infinity Castle, she is able to create portals through dimensional windows. When Mitsuri attempts to cut Nakime, she just opens a dimensional window at the end of Mitsuri's jump to teleport her off of her platform. Mitsuri falls down in a comical manner before managing to grasp onto a ledge. Nakime then uses another dimensional window to teleport Iguro off of her platform.
• Powers Do the Fighting: The most extreme example in the series, Nakime's fighting prowess is entirely dependent on her Blood Demon Art to warp space within the Infinity Castle, unlike other demons who have long ranged abilities but can at least do some minimal close quarters combat when cornered; granted, Nakime is virtually untouchable within the Infinity Castle by simply trying to brute force a way against her, which is why her eventual defeat was only achieved through getting her sufficiently distracted by two Hashira so Yushiro, an actual demon with a direct counter-ability to hers, could take her down, with Muzan preferring to kill Nakime off lest his opponents take control of the Infinity Castle.
• The Quiet One: Nakime doesn't say much, only speaking when higher ranked demons directly address her. She doesn't even partake in the usual battle banter against Mitsuri and Obanai, remaining silent the whole fight.
• Satellite Character: Although she had a few moments of expression, she is overall just another pawn of Muzan and her character is never explored.
• Secretary of Evil: Before her Rank Up as the new Upper 4, that was pretty much her role. She would handle all the information gathering and all the logistics for Muzan.
• Serial Killer: According to the second Databook, Nakime was a serial killer who killed people by bashing their heads in with a hammer, correlating her playing skills to how many people she killed with the tool. This began after she killed her deadbeat husband for selling her most precious kimono and she got more public appreciation for her music sessions than usual. Her last intended victim was Muzan, not knowing who he was at the time, but Muzan was so impressed by her searching skills and what she did that he made the offer to turn her into a demon.
• The Smurfette Principle: Played With. While Daki was also an Upper Rank, by the time Nakime becomes the new Upper Rank Four, she's long dead, making Nakime the only female Upper Rank at the time of her ascension. Also, if you count Gyutaro as the true Upper Rank Six, then she's the only female member of the Upper Rank shown in the whole manga.
• Space Master: Her Blood Demon Art allows her to have full spacial control of the Infinity Castle by playing her biwa. Not only can she teleport her targets anywhere she pleases within the castle and create Portal Doors as listed above, she can also weaponize the castle by manipulating its many structures and surfaces to slam into her enemies. For even more disorientation, Nakime can shift the castle's environment to create illogical perspectives, like the Relativity painting created by M.C. Escher.
• The Spymaster: After the loss of half the Upper Ranks, she serves as Muzan's primary source of intelligence gathering, using countless eyeballs formed from her body to discreetly monitor the Demon Slayers. She is able to discover the long hidden Ubuyashiki estate this way.
• The Stoic: She rarely shows emotion and nothing seems to faze her. Not when Muzan reprimands his subordinates, not when he's punishing them, not when facing two Hashiras, not while being controlled by Yushiro, and not even at her own death.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: A variation. She's no ghost but she does have the hairstyle, pale skin and the overall aesthetic.
• Superior Successor: Possibly, to Kyogai above. Her Domain Holder powers and its general utility for Muzan means he doesn't really need two of them.
• Support Party Member: A classic case. She doesn't fight physically herself but her powers over dimensions and her superior capacity to gather intelligence still make her dangerous enough to be an Upper Rank Kizuki.
• Terse Talker: She rarely speaks, but when she does it is in a very blunt and straightforward manner, only conveying the necessary information in as few words as possible. In a rare instance for the villains, this is Played for Laughs when she curtly shuts down Doma's attempt to flirt with her.
• Undying Loyalty: From what little we see of her, Nakime seems to serve Muzan out of genuine loyalty rather than fear, obeying his every command without question.
• Weak, but Skilled: Nakime's Blood Demon Art isn't lethal or deadly by any means, but her mastery of it allows her to play keep-away by manipulating the Infinity Castle to warp or smack around her opponents and keep her out of their reach.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Despite being one of Muzan's closest subordinates and showing up before any of the original Upper Ranks, she is unceremoniously killed by Muzan once she becomes a liability due to Yushiro's interference. She, like Gyokko, is another Upper Rank with the distinction of getting no backstory or scene in the afterlife upon her death. Nor is she even given any real personality by the time she dies, being a simple tool of Muzan's.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: For the majority of the series she was one of Muzan's most valuable followers thanks to her demonic abilities, but the moment she is compromised by Yushiro's control, Muzan disposes of her so that her power can't be used against him.
• Your Head A-Splode: Muzan telekinetically crushes her skull once she is put under Yushiro's control, preventing him from manipulating her powers for the Demon Slayers' benefit.

Kaigaku

Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya (Japanese), Alejandro Saab (English)^{Other VA} Luis Navarro (Latin American Spanish), Dario Torrent (European Spanish), Fabrice Josso (French), Konrad Bösherz (German), Alessandro Fattori (Italian), Henrique Reis (Brazilian Portuguese)

^{Click here to see him as a human}

• Actually Pretty Funny: When Zenitsu calls out his unjustified pride over simply filling a vacant spot in the Upper Ranks, Kaigaku is more amused that Zenitsu grew out of his cowardly shell and learned to talk trash instead of insulted.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Downplayed. While Zenitsu, and the audience have little to no patience and sympathy for Kaigaku, Zenitsu does lament that he could never find happiness in his heart, comparing it to a box with a hole. In addition, his past as a destitute orphan before training under Kuwajima can cause some to feel bad for him.
• Arch-Enemy: Quickly becomes one to Zenitsu Agatsuma. In the past, he and Zenitsu were the former students of the former Thunder Hashira, Jigoro Kuwajima. Kaigaku served as a rival to Zenitsu, always treating him like crap, but Zenitsu always admired him and hoped to fight alongside each other as equals. But when Zenitsu learns that Kaigaku betrayed the corps by becoming a demon, causing Kuwajima to commit seppuku, he suddenly becomes more serious as his hatred of Kaigaku began brewing.
• Baddie Flattery: He had always seen Zenitsu as nothing but a worthless waste of space, leeching off their master Jigoro's goodwill (something Kaigaku also hated to see in Jigoro as well, considering it to be misplaced); however, seeing Zenitsu so serious and capable of talking back to him, the newly appointed Upper Rank 6, does impress Kaigaku a little, sarcastically noting Zenitsu has finally learned how to bark back.
• Berserk Button: Reminding him that he never learned the First Form of the Thunder Breathing Style. It especially stings when it's coming from Zenitsu, who never mastered anything beyond that.
• Big Brother Bully: Zenitsu viewed Kaigaku as a big brother figure and always looked up to him, but Kaigaku clearly didn't act the part towards Zenitsu, always insulting him and never understanding all the good Zenitsu was doing for him.
• Black Eyes of Evil: His scleras become pitch black after becoming a demon and he's an arrogant, cowardly, and jealous jerk.
• Broken Pedestal: Zenitsu used to deeply admire Kaigaku's talents despite his nasty behavior and even developed his own Thunder Breathing form to one day fight at his side as an equal, but that is shattered once he becomes a demon and drives their master to suicide. Kaigaku's petty insults towards their master's death only cement Zenitsu's hatred for his former rival.
• The Bully: An unpleasant, mocking, secretly insecure jerk who pushes around weaker people, especially Zenitsu, just because he can.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Betrayed both Gyomei as well as Jigoro, who showed nothing but kindness to him. He didn't get the chance to betray Muzan because he was killed by Zenitsu first.
• Death by Irony: Kaigaku was a pupil of Thunder Breathing that could use all but the first form (the basis of them all), resulting in his techniques being weaker by consequence. The invented Seventh Form by Zenitsu, who could only use the first form, is a faster and more powerful version of the first form and successfully beheads him.
• Didn't See That Coming: He had no idea Zenitsu created a Seventh Form to the Thunder Breathing... specifically to one day fight at Kaigaku's side as an equal.
• Dirty Coward: He chose to become a demon to avoid death. He also was the child who sold out Himejima and his wards by letting the demons come inside their house after being outed for stealing their funds, leading to all but one dying and Himejima being arrested and almost executed; again, to save himself.
• Early-Bird Cameo: He briefly appears in Zenitsu's flashback in the anime.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He only cared about himself and never understood any acts of goodness towards him. In the flashbacks, Zenitsu tried to defend Kaigaku's honor by punching a trainee who was talking behind his back. Instead of showing gratitude towards Zenitsu, he harshly criticized Zenitsu for hitting some higher-ups. And even when he and Zenitsu would get into arguments, Zenitsu would try to get along with him anyway. Kaigaku just shrugs it off. Finally, he did not understand that his master wanted both him and Zenitsu to share the position of Hashira to fight as brothers-in-arms. Kaigaku only wanted the position to himself.
• Evil Counterpart: The absolute worst parts of Zenitsu without any of his redeeming qualities, Kaigaku and Zenitsu came from the same walk of life. Orphans since birth, they were street urchins who tried their best to survive early in life. Zenitsu tried to approach other people to belong and feel loved, Kaigaku approached other people purely for survival and formed no real attachments, discarding and moving on was always on the table for him. Kaigaku as the prime Thunder Breathing disciple wanted to be officially recognized as the sole successor, only to feed his own ego, self-assured he is the best, Zenitsu just wanted to show gratitude towards his master for giving him a place to belong, the best he hoped for was to fight alongside Kaigaku as an equal. Eventually their differences place Kaigaku and Zenitsu worlds apart, the former ends up betraying the Demon Slayer Corps to become a demon, the latter remains firmly loyal to his master and friends by growing into a heroic and powerful demon slayer.
• Evil Feels Good: He clearly takes pleasure in becoming a demon.
• Evil Orphan: He's the same kid who told a demon to attack the temple where he and other orphans were taken care of by Himejima and put out demon repellent there in exchange for his life. Volume 17 confirmed it was after Kaigaku was outed by the other kids when they found out he had been stealing from their money savings.
• Face Death with Despair: Kaigaku spends his final moments screaming and complaining how Zenitsu managed to beat and survive him as well as facing death's door, the very thing he feared going through and the main reason why he became a demon.
• Fatal Flaw: Selfishness. In the end, Kaigaku is driven by his own self-interest and preservation, including why he became a demon. Yushiro's speech to him remarks how his inability to care for others ultimately left him with nothing as he dies being beheaded by Zenitsu's invented Seventh Form Thunder Breathing technique originally intended for fighting by his side.
• Foil:
  • To Zenitsu. While Zenitsu is a selfless Lovable Coward and a clever fighter who is more limited by his lack of confidence rather than any lack of talent, Kaigaku is a mean-spirited brute driven to mock and belittle others by an overwhelming fear of death.
  • Also one to Kokushibo. Both are former demon slayers, both use breathing arts and swords to fight, and both are driven by envy towards a brotherly figure. However, Kokushibo is a loyal and brave individual in spite of his demonhood and personal flaws, while Kaigaku is a coward and a traitor. Kokushibo loved his brother in spite of it all, while Kaigaku hates Zenitsu and treats him as such. Kokushibo is a massive threat, while Kaigaku was easily put down by Zenitsu. Ironically, Kokushibo was the one that turned Kaigaku into a demon.
• Food Slap: He throws a peach at Zenitsu's head during his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him.
• Freudian Excuse: A more downplayed version than other demons, but his early upbringing as a poor orphan forced to drink muddy water could have led to his chronic self-serving pessimism.
• Green-Eyed Monster: At his core, Kaigaku harbored incredible jealousy towards Zenitsu, believing that their master preferred him over Kaigaku, owing to the fact that Jigoro continued to train Zenitsu despite him being (in Kaigaku's eyes) an incompetent failure. After being beheaded by Zenitsu who used the unheard-of Thunder Breathing, Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami, Kaigaku claims that their master Jigoro really did teach Zenitsu something special. Even after Zenitsu tells him that he created the form himself, Kaigaku refuses to believe it, only finding solace in his own death because he believes that Zenitsu is left too exhausted to save himself. When Yushiro arrives and saves Zenitsu, denying Kaigaku the satisfaction, the latter dies screaming in anger and frustration.
• Hate Sink: Even before he became a demon, Kaigaku was a mean-spirited, self-glorified bully who only earns ire in the eyes of everyone he meets, especially after selling out a fellow group of orphans because he couldn't stand the idea of being caught. Unlike most demons shown, he chose to become one solely because he didn't want to die, and he's a spiteful jackass who'll go as far as to mock his former master and fellow students for being weaker than him. Unlike most demons like Daki, Gyutaro, Akaza, and Kokushibo who were driven by tragic circumstances, and even Doma who can be darkly entertaining despite his own heinousness and is a credible foe in his own right, Kaigaku is a pathetic coward who barks more than he needs to chew on and dies an undignified, yet well-deserved death.
• Hypocrite:
  • He mocks Zenitsu's weakness and him being a coward while he became a demon partly to save himself from dying and in the past sold out Himejima and the other orphans to a demon, resulting in only one surviving and almost getting Himejima executed for the same reason. If anything, he's more cowardly than Zenitsu.
  • He criticizes Zenitsu for not showing their master the proper respect owed to a former Hashira, but by willingly becoming a demon, he ends up disgracing their master and causing him to commit Seppuku.
• It's All About Me: Kaigaku measures everything with how it corresponds to him, stating clearly that what's good for him is good and what isn't is evil. He couldn't comprehend why their mentor wanted him to share the successor position with Zenitsu wanting the position for himself.
• Jerkass: Kaigaku sticks out in just how awfully mean-spirited he is, even in comparison to other demons. In fact, he's been like this since his earliest days as a Demon Slayer, and becoming a demon only made him worse. Unlike most demons, there's no tragedy behind his conversion nor any underlying insecurities and ambition, he only became a demon because he was afraid of dying. The guy is shameless enough that he mocks his master's death right in front of Zenitsu and brags how awesome it feels to be a demon.
• Join or Die: After encountering Kokushibo, Kaigaku surrenders immediately and is essentially given the choice of either joining Muzan's ranks or suffering a swift decapitation. He chooses the former.
• Karmic Death: For all his mockery of Zenitsu's weakness, it turns out Kaigaku is unaware of the seventh Thunder Breathing form that Zenitsu invented and is easily dispatched by it. Furthermore, Kaigaku's final moments are his complaining and ranting about how Zenitsu got the best for him and he dies utterly alone and with no one to care and mourn for him, underscoring how his cowardly nature paid off for him in the end.
• Kenjutsu: Kaigaku was never able to learn the first Thunder Breathing form, despite learning all the remaining five, with that it seems he adapted his fighting style to a personal offshoot of said breathing art - he keeps his sword on his back, forsaking the iaijutsu practices that Zenitsu employs, Kaigaku favors strong and continuous strikes, opposed to one fast strike, as the remaining Thunder Breathing forms show they are consecutive barrages of strength focused moves, which the first form was likely meant to complement with more speed.
• Kick the Dog: Mocking his master, Jigoro, and his death in front of Zenitsu can apply to this, pissing the demon slayer off.
• Lack of Empathy: This is probably due to his harsh childhood that he never had emotional attachments to anyone other than himself. He has no problems sacrificing Himejima and the other orphans to a demon to save himself after being outed by the children for stealing from their funds. And instead of feeling saddened over his and Zenitsu's master's seppuku because of the betrayal that he caused, he insults their master and gloats about himself. This angers Zenitsu very much.
• Lightning Bruiser: As befitting a Thunder Breathing user, Kaigaku's style is all about moving incredibly fast with powerful strikes on paper. But since he couldn't obtain the first form, which is the foundation for all, his other forms are weaker than they should be. So he's more of a Glass Cannon if anything.
• Magic Knight: He uses his Thunder Breathing with his Blood Demon Art to unleash actual black lightning from his Breathing forms and char an enemy's flesh.
• Meaningful Name: His name, when divided, means wily or sly for the first part, and big mountain for the second part. When combined, this means a man who is deluded or thinks himself to be bigger than what he is, which is reflected when he believes Muzan chose him to become a demon because he is a master in Thunder Breathing, but really because Muzan was short on strong demons and had to make do.
• Mirror Character: Kaigaku has a lot of similarities to the equally despicable Big Bad Muzan Kibutsuji, whom he ends up serving under: Both of them are absolutely abhorrent demons who used to be equally abhorrent humans, and didn't care for anything aside from themselves and their own survival, willing to do anything to ensure it even if it means being Dirty Cowards.
• Mortality Phobia: The guy is fearful of dying. So much so that he'll sell out fellow orphans and his teacher to be killed and traumatized just so he could be spared from being a casualty and then do the same thing again to become a demon just so he won't die.
• Offended by an Inferior's Success: Kaigaku always envied and resented Zenitsu because he believed that Jigoro always favored him despite Kaigaku seeing him as an incompetent failure. When he ends up decapitated by Zenitsu’s Thunder Breathing, Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami, Kaigaku frustratingly accuses their master of favoring Zenitsu over him to teach him such a technique, only for Zenitsu to reveal that he developed the technique himself. Kaigaku tries to take solace in the fact that Zenitsu will at least die with him, only for Yushiro to deny him the satisfaction by saving Zenitsu and rub salt in the wounds with his "Reason You Suck" Speech, leading Kaigaku to die screaming in anger and frustration.
• Psycho Electro: He specialises in Thunder Breathing techniques, and is a very petty and psychotic individual. Unlike other users of Thunder Breathing in the series, he seems to generate actual lightning when using his techniques, thanks to imbuing his attacks with demonic blood magic.
• Psychological Projection: Berated Zenitsu for being a weakling and a coward when he himself sold out Himejima and the other children to a demon just to save his own hide, and then sold out Jigoro and his own fellow students to Kokushibou to become a demon. He also never managed to master the First Form of Thunder Breathing, and this impacted all of his subsequent techniques. Of course, all of this leads to his demise.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: A former student of Zenitsu's mentor, who joined Muzan out of a hunger for power and a fear of death.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Gives one to Zenitsu during a flashback in Zenitsu's fight with the Elder Brother demon, saying that Zenitsu doesn't deserve to train under a former Hashira.
• Rival Turned Evil: Once Zenitsu's rival in the Thunder Breathing succession, Kaigaku became a man-eating demon for power and for his own survival.
• Shadow Archetype: To Zenitsu. Kaigaku embodies pre-Character Development Zenitsu without any of his redeeming traits, prioritizing his own self-preservation above anything and everything else.
• Shock and Awe: Becoming a demon allowed Kaigaku to imbue his Breathing techniques with blood demon magic, causing him to generate black lightning that can burn and crack the flesh of anyone who touches it. This makes him one of the only swordsmen in the series to actually generate the element associated with his Breathing style as opposed to the metaphorical depictions shown by other characters.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Of all the Upper Ranks, Kaigaku goes down the quickest and easiest. It's strongly implied he only got the position because Muzan had already lost three Upper Ranks and needed to fill the spots quickly with the most impressive demons available (which Zenitsu bluntly points out). In any case, Kaigaku is far less impressive than he would want to boast, though Yushiro notes after the demon's death that if Kaigaku had even a year to master his new power, he would have been able to live up to said boasting.
• The Sociopath: A cruel, selfish, uncaring demon who, as a human, sold out his fellow orphans in exchange for more power and survival, and feels no remorse for indirectly causing his master's death.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: Kaigaku doesn't mince his words when voicing his displeasure with how his and Zenitsu's master treated them as equals, and continues to spit petty insults towards the man even after learning of his death.
• Taking You with Me: A variant, since Kaigaku doesn't actually inflict a fatal wound on Zenitsu, as the latter was already exhausted from using the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing and about to fall to his death. When Zenitsu manages to decapitate him, Kaigaku is furious that he's been killed by someone he deemed inferior to him but tries to take comfort in the fact that at least Zenitsu will die with him. Then Yushiro arrives and saves Zenitsu, denying Kaigaku the satisfaction, while giving him a good "Reason You Suck" Speech that leads Kaigaku to scream in frustration as his head disintegrates.
• This Cannot Be!: He's shocked and horrified Zenitsu manages to outmaneuver and behead him.
• Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Kaigaku selling out his fellow orphans and Himejima to a demon in his childhood, as well as becoming a demon and betraying both his master and the Demon Slayer Corps, are perhaps his most reprehensible acts. Notably, Zenitsu had respected Kaigaku as his fellow disciple and wanted to fight alongside him as his equal, but after hearing of his decision to become a demon for the sake of survival and power, which drove their master to commit seppuku, Zenitsu's respect for Kaigaku turns into utter hatred. Kaigaku insulting their master ends up making Zenitsu want to kill him more.
• Undignified Death: From his perspective, being killed by a junior Demon Slayer he looked down on as a weakling and a coward is probably the most humiliating way for Kaigaku to die, especially since he had supposedly become stronger than ever as a demon. His last attempt to maintain his dignity by taking satisfaction in Zenitsu's death is denied to him by Yushiro, who saves Zenitsu and tells him that because he never gave anything, he received nothing and will die utterly pathetic and alone, leading Kaigaku to scream in frustration as his head disintegrates.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • In the past, he repaid Himejima's kindness for taking him in by stealing money from him, and then selling him and the other children out to a demon to save his own life when the children found out about his stealing and drove him out.
  • As more details regarding his life as a Thunder Breathing disciple are given in the series and Databooks, it is shown Kaigaku’s respect towards Jigoro was quite limited to basic student and master interactions; Jigoro did approach him with the same care he had towards Zenitsu, even giving a version of his haori that Zenitsu also has and treasures, but Kaigaku rejected it. Jigoro actually held Kaigaku as the standard Zenitsu should work towards achieving, recognizing he is extremely driven as the elder disciple, but in the end Kaigaku was blind to this kind of appreciation, in his eyes Jigoro should have only tutored him alone, the fact Zenitsu was his colleague at all led Kaigaku to believe Zenitsu had preferential treatment.
  • There was an incident where Zenitsu punched another Demon Slayer after he overheard him criticizing Kaigaku, saying that he'll die soon. Kaigaku did not think much about it and callously told him to not get into trouble while once again ordering him to leave.
• Unskilled, but Strong: While treating Zenitsu after his fight with Kaigaku, Yushiro notes that Kaigaku had not had enough time to develop and master his demon abilities. He then states that had Kaigaku been given a year to do so, Zenitsu would have been killed instantly.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Extremely downplayed to the point of going into Ambiguous Innocence territory. A brief glimpse of him while he lived with Gyomei and the other orphans and a manga extra sketch where he was with a young Gyomei showed him looking very chipper, implying that he was at least happy there. However, he clearly valued himself over them.
• Villainous Breakdown: Kaigaku's final moments consists of him screaming in anger and frustration when he ends up decapitated by Zenitsu, a Demon Slayer who's supposedly inferior to him, and his attempt to at least take comfort in Zenitsu dying with him ends up being denied to him by Yushiro, who proceeds to save the former while telling Kaigaku that he'll end up dying alone and pathetic.
• Villain Has a Point: When he allows Kokushibo to turn him into a demon after surrendering to him, he reasons that it isn't shameful to kneel in the presence of an overwhelmingly strong opponent. Although his reasoning can be called into question, it isn't exactly foolish of him to not even attempt to fight Kokushibo.
• Viler New Villain: Mainly in comparison to his predecessors. While Daki and Gyutaro are vicious and brutal just like any other demon, at least they show a level of care towards one another, they have tragic and understandable grievances for why they turned out so hateful towards humans before becoming demons, and when Tanjiro realizes how their final moments are playing out, he takes his time to sympathize and pay his respects for them. Kaigaku has no such luck; he was a shitty person before becoming a demon and becoming one just made him worse. He also makes a point to forgo any chances of burying his pessimistic thoughts on Zenitsu in favor of mocking him and their former master, ensuring that when he does get killed, Kaigaku will have no one and he will die alone and disgraced. Finally, while Daki and Gyutaro's backstory showcases the grim tragedy behind their upbringing and their transformation, Kaigaku's backstory mainly elaborates on how he was absolutely pathetic.
• Walking Spoiler: With out heavy spoilers, he's the faceless student who berated Zenitsu in his flashbacks. His identity as the new Upper 6 and the boy who betrayed Gyomei Himejima's orphanage are major plot twists.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: While he made appearances in Zenitsu's flashbacks, his debut in the main story as a servant of Muzan sees him lasting just a few chapters before Zenitsu kills him. Given how much it takes to kill the other members, this underscores just how pathetic he really was.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Kaigaku was an unpleasant jerk as a human, but becoming a demon just made him worse.