Demon Slayer General Info
This begins my coverage of the anime Kimetsu no Yaiba, or Demon Slayer in the English speaking parts of the world. The anime is based on a manga series of the same name, which began in Shonen Jump Magazine in 2016 and concluded its run in 2020. The anime began airing in April of 2019 and is currently ongoing. Once the series has officially concluded I will do a full review. Over the next few posts, I want to break down some of the characters, relationships, and story elements that reflect aspects of the gospel message. Today, I want to look at the relationship between two of the main characters, Tanjiro & Nezuko Kamado.
Tanjiro & Nezuko: The Core of Demon Slayer- SPOILER WARNING!!!
The core of Demon Slayer is the relationship between siblings Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado. The two siblings are born into a large family of charcoal makers. They live with their mother, another younger sister, and three younger brothers outside a rural village in the mountains. After the death of their father, some time before the series begins, Tanjiro takes over the majority of the work for the family business to put food on the table for his mom and siblings. He also functions as a care-giver for the younger children, as Nezuko remarks: “Ever since Father passed away, it seems like everyone follows you (Tanjiro) wherever you go.” As the show begins, they appear to have an almost idyllic life, but unfortunately, it doesn’t last.
When Tanjiro arrives home, after a long trip delivering charcoal to the nearest town, he finds an injured Nezuko, laying on the ground. She’s covered in blood. Their youngest brother, who is only a toddler, is laying face-down, under Nezuko’s arm, like she was using her own body as a shield. He runs into the house and is blindsided by what he sees. His mother, his other sister, and the older two of his three little brothers are all dead. Upon further inspection, Nezuko is the only one who is still alive. Thinking there might still be time to save her, he picks her up and carries her on his back, racing toward town as fast as his legs will carry him.
Along this journey, Nezuko begins to undergo a terrifying transformation from injured human girl, into a demon. Initially, she attacks her brother, and due to her increased strength, it’s all he can do to hold her off with the wooden handle of his hatchet. Yet, when Tanjiro looks up, Nezuko is crying in pain and confusion. She doesn’t want to hurt him, the sister he loves is still in there, and she still recognizes her eldest brother.
Suddenly, a demon slayer comes and retrains Nezuko. When Tanjiro protests, the slayer tells him exactly what his sister has become and that as a result, she must be killed. Tanjiro continues to protest, arguing that Nezuko couldn’t be the one who attacked their house the night before because he found her on top of their youngest brother like she was protecting him. The slayer agrees, stating that Nezuko was likely attacked as well and was the only one who survived to undergo the transformation. The slayer also takes responsibility for the attack on the Kamado family. He admits that if he had arrived half a day sooner, he could’ve stopped it from happening. But, he says that doesn’t change the fact that Nezuko was now a demon and needed to die since there was no way she could ever go back to normal.
Tanjiro refuses to believe him, yelling that there must be away to get her back and he will find it. The demon slayer then moves to attack Tanjiro only to be stopped by Nezuko, and she moves to protect her brother, who has been knocked to the ground. This is unusual behavior for a demon in this universe. Especially since, Nezuko should have been starving for human blood at that point. Seeing this, the slayer realizes that Nezuko might actually be different than the demons he’s encountered before. So he gives Tanjiro directions on how to find someone who can train him to be a demon slayer. Then he knocks out both Nezuko and Tanjiro and when Tanjiro wakes up, Nezuko is wearing a bamboo muzzle.
From that moment on, protecting Nezuko and finding a way to turn her human again becomes Tanjiro’s entire purpose. He carries her on his back, in a basket, or in a wooden box, so that they can travel in daylight without Nezuko burning in the sunlight. He undergoes more than two years of training to become a demon slayer so that he can find the demon who did this to her and find out how to reverse it. He completes that training by surviving for a solid week on a demon infested mountain. He protects her from herself by not letting her eat humans, and fiercely defends her from other demons and demon slayers alike. At one point, he almost gets himself killed protecting her from a powerful demon who wants to claim Nezuko for himself.
What does this have to teach us as Christians?
Those who know scripture may recognize some of the parallels here. Most notably:
“Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
We often read this passage in the context of marriage, but it applies to any loving relationship. In this case, the love between siblings.
This is the kind of love we see Tanjiro display toward Nezuko in her demonic state. He doesn’t complain, he doesn’t blame or get angry with her about the situation. He doesn’t allow her to fall even further by actually eating a human, as most demons in this series do. He endures back-breaking training, exhausting battles, and the scorn of those around him because he’s laser focused on his hope, his unshakable belief, that Nezuko can and will be saved.
If you haven’t already seen Demon Slayer and would like to do so, please support the official release on Crunchyroll at the link below, and keep an eye out for my review of the first movie, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train, coming soon!
Watch Demon Slayer Here —–> https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GY5P48XEY/demon-slayer-kimetsu-no-yaiba