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teamfreewill56-blog · 2 years

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Nezuko’s Hypnosis

Nezuko being hypnotized, even though the hypnotic suggestion wasn’t physically harmful to her--always creeped me out a bit. I fully understand the mechanic for it, and the why its useful and all that, but I’ve never been a fan of it and I wasn’t when it first got introduced. I remember I was so relieved that Tanjiro wasn’t blindly okay with it, and he only accepted it when he was able to see that Nezuko still had a will of her own. And even then, he isn’t a huge fan of it because he still looked out for Nezuko afterwards and didn’t just always assume “oh she sees them as our family it’s fine”. But I noticed something here recently, Nezuko’s “hypnosis” is actually very short-lived, when Sanemi baits her with his blood, she stops seeing humans as her blood family members when she looks at them. She hears Urokodaki’s suggestion again, but what she says after is “humans are to be protected and saved”.She says Humans not “my family”. She moved from a literal sense of the word family to a philosophical one. She still considers humans family, but she was not seeing a sibling when she was looking at Sanemi. She was seeing Sanemi and remembering her family. That’s why it was showing all of them, and not Sanemi merging into an image of one of her brothers. And after that, she continues to follow that philosophy of “all humans are family” and acts as such. On the Mugen Train she was defending at least 20+ people at a time, Nezuko only has seven family members and she is aware of this fact. She is usually shown remembering the younger siblings and her mother Kie, so if Nezuko was still seeing humans as her actual family then she would have seen a lot of repeats of her family while running back and forth slicing up Enmu. Even if we assume her mental age in demon form is toddler-ish, she still would have been very confused once she started protecting passengers and seeing 4 Kies, 3 Takeos, 8 Rokutas etc. And even if she only sees them when she’s directly looking at someone, she was running all around the cars, at one point she would see a sleeping Rokuta on one end of the train and then suddenly see him again in a totally different spot. Nezuko may not know what its called, but as a demon she’s still aware of object permanence. This would make her assume another demon’s at play and then there runs a risk of her actually hurting the passengers thinking they’re a Blood Demon Art. But because she now is able to see people as they actually are, she didn’t run into a problem, and was able to just defend people. We see it also with her interactions with Mitsuri:

Mitsuri is an older sibling, and she treats Nezuko like a younger sibling, she tickles her and Nezuko initiates wanting hugs with her instead of just giving Mitsuri hugs. Nezuko is the second oldest, so she wouldn’t have experienced the kind of play and tickling Mitsuri is giving her, and while she does cling and hold onto Mitsuri she also very willingly waves goodbye to her with Tanjiro when Mitsuri leaves. Also the Taisho Secret notes:

Which means Nezuko was able to see Mitsuri as Mitsuri herself, liked her braids and wanted to have her hair braided the same. I do wish that the story had made it a little clearer that Nezuko made this transition, but I’m grateful to see that the hypnosis thing truly was a short-lived mechanic and a stepping stone and not a constant mechanic in the story.

#Urokodaki's hypnosis #suggestion #kny meta #kny analysis #analysis #demon slayer #mitsuri kanroji #kanroji mitsuri #hypnotic suggestion #nezuko kamado #kamado nezuko #agency #mugen train

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sunsetsmakemesad · 8 months

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The Tsugikuni twins make me so-??? I love them so much. They're so sweet yet so tragic and it hurts my very soul.

From birth they were separated and not allowed to see each other even though they were literally t w i n s. This would have been sad already if it were siblings, but twins???

Granted, they couldn't form much of a connection, but they met with each other every now and then. Michikatsu pitied his brother, and Yorichi admired his. Though they were somewhat starting to create a bond, it all came crashing down because of how different they were.

Yorichi was a natural with the sword, yet he was sensitive and didnt like hurting others.

Michikatsu was average at best, but he didn't care much for how his opponents ended up and in the end only cared about being the strongest.

Now imagine you are Michikatsu, youre training like usual, then you see your brother. He talks, and then smiles, things you've never seen him do. Then he says he wants to be a samurai alongside you, asks if he can try wielding a sword, and then OBLITERATES, the man you struggled to beat, with a literal bamboo stick. I'd be shocked, and him feeling jealousy isn't at all unnatural.

Then, to top it all of, his little brother DOESNT CARE. He did what you were trying to do for years WITH EASE, and HE DOESNT CARE. He's asking to fly kites. Kites. As if the situation isn't bad enough, apparently he can see through bodies. What.

Now let's look at it from Yorichi's perspective. He's been quiet for years, too afraid to stand out too much because he might bring demise to the whole family(this was mentioned in a sengoku rumour)(like taisho rumours but for the sengoku era) and now hes feeling very happy and carefree, so he speaks up to his brother, he wants to play with him, like any 7 year old would, so he wants to do something his brother likes: sword fighting. He soon learns that he doesn't like it, because it involves hitting people. He thinks it's boring, so he asks to fly kites. He also finds it wierd how his brother is asking about simple things like the see-through stuff. Everyone can see through bodies, right.

There's a LOT of misunderstanding in this relationship. Anyway, as we see from these two scenes, each twin values something different. Michikatsu wants to get better at wielding a sword, because it's all he's ever known, Yorichi wants to spend time with his brother. It's kinda sad, honestly.

Michikatsu wanted power, but he was always beneath his brother, who DIDNT EVEN CARE about what he yearned for so much. He had family, but oh well, not more important than samurai stuff.

Yorichi HAD power, but he didnt want it. He wanted to bond with his brother, later on, to spend the rest of his days with his wife, hold his unborn baby, he didn't get to do either of that.

I love them so much they make me so sad.

Lol sorry for my ramblings, anyway this is my first analysis(ish?) so I hope It makes sense.

#kny #demon slayer #yorichi #michikatsu #kokushibo #kny yorichi #kny kokushibo #analysis #kny analysis

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akaza-chaos · 9 months

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Something I find really interesting about Tengen is how he uses his obsession with theatrics to achieve certain effects with his desired audience. I personally have trouble distinguishing between when he’s being genuine, when he’s exaggerating, and when he’s putting on a show because he wants to put certain people at ease/make his enemies afraid.

#kny #text post #demon slayer #tengen uzui #kny Tengen #kny uzui #kny analysis #kimetsu manga #kimetsu no yaiba

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corvidcentral · 9 months

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Shinobu lives au analysis

(Spoilers for kny and also gore warning)

I love everyone lives kny aus, but something I don’t see a lot of people looking into is HOW Shinobu specifically would live and have to survive afterwards. Of course, I love a good “everything is hunky dory” situation, but logically, that wouldn’t happen

Slapping the big ole reminder sign - Shinobu fought Doma with the intent to die. At this point, it’s near impossible to deny the fact she was genuinely suicidal. Perhaps not in the “traditional” sense, and in a more angry, confrontational way, but she definitely was.

Obviously, this would lead to immense mental health issues if she managed to escape unscathed - highly unlikely, in any case

Shinobu died when Doma broke her neck/spine. It’s a little hard to tell in the scans I’ve read, but the katakana in this panel is obviously a cracking sound, and the fact Doma is holding Shinobu in a “hug” just further reinforces this

Obviously, neck snapped, spinal cord severed, instant death.

Of course, if, say, Doma had held her around her waist instead of her neck/shoulder area, he would still break her spine. He very well could have simply cut her in half if this were the case, but I doubt he would.

He did actually scold Kanao for attempting to attack him while he was absorbing Shinobu, so I have a feeling he would have tried to preserve her entire body and keep it whole to “enhance the experience” or something along those lines

Getting off topic-

If Doma had held her lower, her back would have been broken, and she would’ve been paralyzed. Perhaps she could have lived, but also, we have to look at her other injuries.

She mentions severe blood loss and a punctured lung.

Plus, we know Dina’s Blood Art can shred the body from the inside out, so we also know that Shinobu’s dealing with ice crystals in her respiratory system. Growing and cutting and making it harder to breathe.

If she were to survive, again, she would be severely injured. She would likely have to live with chronic respiratory issues and fluid buildup from the ice, and even potential lost limbs from frostbite.

Which brings me onto another point - how Doma absorbed Shinobu’s body.

It’s always a bit hard to see in the manga, but I’m positive that Doma is absorbing Shinobu’s arms (and consequently her legs) first. Meaning that if Kanao hadn’t been fast enough to get her right away, but just enough to save her from being completely absorbed, she would’ve been a quadruple amputee.

Paralysis is a life altering event. It would be difficult enough to adjust and survive after that. But losing limbs, especially hands in a doctor’s case, is catastrophic, both career and mental health wise (think Doctor Strange, as little as I know of Marvel)

So, even if Shinobu did survive, she would be dealing with many many issues with her health. Chronic lung issues, paralysis, loss of limbs, and a festering suicidal rage that would only be exacerbated by her inability to take down Doma on her own

(Which we know that Shinobu has lots of issues pertaining to her size and strength as seen

here)

I love when characters survive, but also, realism would definitely make the outcome much more devastating for the survivor, especially in Shinobu’s case.

Perhaps, with help, she could eventually overcome some of her problems, but I doubt she would be very happy with her life.

Anyways, Shinobu’s battle with Doma is a very, very complex one with lots of different smidges of information to be found!

(Forgive me if I phrased some things weirdly, I just had to get this out after thinking for all of 10 minutes about it)

#shinobu kocho #kny shinobu #kny #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer #kny analysis #Kimetsu no yaiba analysis #demon slayer analysis #analysis #I love Shinobu but if she lived she would Not have a Fun Time

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nudibranchlover · 1 year

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Sorry, I need to post this right now to get it out of my system!!!

Zenitsu is autistic-coded

I was just thinking about how drastically people view Zenitsu. How a single character can seperate an entire fanbase for a series… and then I realised that this has happened before in real life.

I realised that the reason so many people hate Zenitsu is because he’s annoying and weird and people don’t like weird characters or people… “weird”.

I realised that the reason so many people love him is because he’s honest and isn’t ashamed of his emotions, not to mention how kindhearted he is when you look past those “weird” attributes.

People don’t like Zenitsu because he behaves like, and is likely, a neurodivergent teen. I cannot believe I didn’t realise before, but that’s exactly it.

He’s abnormal because he behaves differently to everyone else and is loud and often makes people uncomfortable because of how obnoxious he seems… like how people view autistic teens specifically?

Same can be said for Douma, but I already picked up on his autism-coding a while ago, but Zenitsu being neurodivergent makes so much sense to me.

The fact he doesn’t mask or present himself in an easier-to-swallow way for neurotypical people makes him unlikeable to a large audience!!! Oh my god! Zenitsu is autism-coded as well!

I just needed to get that off my chest because it makes so much sense why I, a neurodivergent person, like him so much… I relate to his autistic qualities 💀 I can’t believe I never realised before

#demon slayer #kny #kimetsu no yaiba #zenitsu #zenitsu agatsuma #agatsuma zenitsu #character analysis #kny analysis #autism #nd traits #neurodivergent #zenitsu has autism #neurodivergent poster #holy shit

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kimetsutrash · 2 years

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[Manga Spoilers]

I think Akaza and Douma are opposites narrative-wise.

(This is coming from someone who has not read the manga but has been around enough to have picked up details in many of the Uppermoon’s backstories, so I apologize if I get anything wrong.)

When Akaza/Hakuji and Douma were born, there was already a stark difference between them.

Hakuji was labeled a “demon child” while Douma was regarded as a blessed child due to his eyes.

Hakuji was born into a life of poverty and Douma was given a lavish lifestyle.

Hakuji is driven by his compassion and will to protect those he cares about. His rise and downfall is his love for others, as seen with his father, Keizo, and Koyuki.

Douma has no drive. His ability to express emotion and compassion was stolen away from him the moment he was born, and thus he really had no way to go but down.

And this is the key difference that makes Akaza and Douma opposites.

Akaza, despite living in poor conditions and losing everything he’s ever loved, still holds onto his compassion, even if that had been smothered when he turned into a demon. His love is his driving factor. It’s the reason why he wants to get stronger. Even as a demon, where he had forgotten his previous life and everything that made him who he was, his humanity was carved deep into his bones. He never quite forgot who he was.

He was raised and taken care of by people who loved and supported him even at his lowest point. This alone shapes Akaza’s character and is why he is arguably the most humanized and honorable demon among the Uppermoons.

Douma was never given the same chance as Akaza. From the moment he opened his eyes, the people that were supposed to support and take care of him used him for their own, selfish purposes. Despite having seemingly everything, Douma was never allowed to be a child. Douma’s childhood was stolen away when he was forced to listen to the problems of his followers daily, when his father cheated on his mother, and when his mother stabbed his father to death and committed suicide. He was forced to grow up too young and too soon, which stunted his emotional growth.

He never had a safety net—people he could fall back on when he was in his lowest moment. His followers regard him as a god, and his fellow demons never liked him. He has never felt security. He was never allowed to grow his compassion, his love.

Akaza and Douma both live for other people. It’s part of their identity.

Akaza’s identity is built around other people, but that is because he loved and cherished the people in his life. Ultimately, his love is what saves him.

Douma has never loved or been loved. His only sense of identity was built by people were never cared for him they way he needed them to, and he has no other identity than the one that he clings to.

Akaza’s upbringing brings him back to humanity.

Douma’s upbringing never gave a chance at humanity.

#kny #Kny analysis #demon slayer #kimestu no yaiba #kny akaza #demon slayer douma #hakuji #analysis #character analysis #manga spoilers #sorry if this makes no sense it’s late and I wanted to ramble #people don’t give Douma enough credit #his backstory is a lot more tragic then it is presented #Akaza’s however #I was bawling my eyes out so

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thestarlessdark · 2 months

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The scene where Mitsuri's parents secretly watch her as she dyes her hair black in order to look like an acceptable bride is a scene I think about a lot.

The look of sheer pain and sadness on their faces feels like a punch in the gut to me, mainly because I've never encountered any parent who actually cares that much about their child. In fact, I nearly cried when I first saw that scene.

Where I live, first impressions are everything. If you mess up in front of others, you are seen as a disappointment and parents can go to almost any length to make their children seem like perfect angels in public, going as far as pressuring them to hide their true self and craft a more palatable persona for others to interact with.

Mitsuri's parents are the opposite of this. They love her for who she is and are never seen telling her to 'act like a lady,' which is amazing considering the time KNY takes place in. They are anguished instead of thrilled when they see Mitsuri trying to cover up her real personality.

Seeing parents truly love their child for who they are will never feel boring or overdone for me, considering how rare it is in real life.

#unfortunately most of what i said about parents in my country comes from experience #sure mine aren't as bad as most of the others but they've certainly done a lot of damage my self-worth and mental health #plus it's really annoying when people don't take mitsuri's trauma seriously and boil her down into a 'boy-obsessed romantic'#character analysis #sort of #mitsuri's parents #mitsuri kanroji #mitsuri #demon slayer mitsuri #kny mitsuri #kny kanroji #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #kny

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regrator-the-ninth · 10 months

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An overly detailed analysis of Muzan’s walking patterns

The way Muzan walks in this scene has been criticized for being “careless” or “rude,” and I see why people would say that considering his seeming disregard for the dead bodies, but I would like to propose an alternate theory. When I was watching this episode (and before I had seen anyone else comment on this scene), I noticed that his walk seemed oddly familiar to me and I think I’ve figured out why. It’s the way someone walks when they are actively thinking about how they’re walking.

I have an autoimmune joint condition that causes pain in my hips and back, and when it flares up, I have to force myself to stand up super straight and take really calculated steps when I walk to avoid doing things that cause the pain to get worse. I try take the straightest possible path, to not to change my steps by stepping over things to reduce variables that could make me “mess up” and move in a way that hurts. Muzan’s walk here looks a lot like my walk when I am doing this. He’s consistent, he’s stiff, he keeps a straight line, and he avoids stepping over or on things.

This makes sense given his backstory. Not only did he grow up chronically ill, he’s also permanently injured from Yoriichi’s past attacks on him. He’s probably in some amount of pain (or at least is very familiar with chronic pain). Even despite him becoming a demon and gaining a stronger body, you can still see it in the way he moves. He’s methodical about using his body in a way that only those who have suffered through chronic pain would be.

#muzan #demon slayer #kny #kimetsu no yaiba #muzan kibutsuji #meta #analysis #he's the blorbo that resonates most strongly with my personal experience of chronic illness #and he is very dear to me as a result #I know I'm reading too much into it but let me have this

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secretsofflowers · 1 month

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Hairstyles of Shinobu Kochou

Today, I'm discussing hairstyles of Shinobu and Kanae. Throughout the anime, we see two styles of hair for Shinobu. Earlier on, when it shows a younger version of Shinobu (image below), she has short, mostly black hair with slight purple ends, and tied up neatly in the back. The way Shinobu's hair is tied back makes her look stern, and fierce. And the way only two strands hang down in the front make her look angry, and short tempered. Some may say this hairstyle character design is similar to Aoi Kanzaki's, which is also short and stern. Young Shinobu wore her hair like this because she wanted to seem tougher than she physically was. Shinobu was never strong physically, so she had to make herself look tough in order to get by. She made herself look like that, even though she knew that Kanae's looks were enough to help them both get by, and that no one would mess with Himejima-san, who was the size of a bear. As mentioned in the anime and in the manga, Shinobu always had a boiling rage inside her, which is why she was open about her anger to a point in the beginning.

Later in the story (picture below) after Kanae died and Shinobu moved out of Himejima-san's estate, Shinobu changed her hair. She grew out another strand on each side of the front, and worked on softening her facial expressions. She grew out her hair to look more like Kanae's, because Kanae had two long strands of hair in the front. Kanae also always had soft, kind, expressions, which Shinobu tried to model herself after, after Kanae's death.

Comparison below.

You can see a change in her eyebrows, eyes, cheekbones, and hairstyle.

»»————> below is a comparison of how Shinobu's hair would have looked in Kanae's hairstyle<————««

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teamfreewill56-blog · 2 years

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Ruka Telling Kyojuro She Was Proud

Maybe I’ve already said this, maybe it doesn’t need to be said, but I feel like it does:

Ruka telling Kyojuro she was proud of him, and that he did well, wasn’t her saying that she condoned his actions of self-sacrifice, of neglecting his emotional and mental needs. She wasn’t telling her beloved oldest that he was perfect, that everything he did was exactly right. She was telling him that he, Kyojuro, as a whole person made her proud. That as someone who wasn’t perfect, how he lived his life, how he treated others in his life, how he chose to live his life, the fact that he chose a way to live and did it, he tried, he did what he thought was the best thing to do she was proud of that. He did have flaws, he did make some mistakes, but she was proud of him anyway. She wanted the last thing he heard before he joined her, the last thing he heard in life and be able to hear was his beloved mother tell him that she was so proud and that he did do well. That he lived a life that he should be proud of.

Ruka never intended for Kyojuro to take her counsel of protecting the weak and put it above his needs, health, relationships and emotions. But she wasn’t going to say those things to him in his last moments of life. They weren’t the things he needed to hear right before dying, she wasn’t going to chastise or even gently admonish her child in his last freaking moments. That wasn’t what he needed in the moment, and that’s not what she wanted him to hear.

Ruka and Kyojuro were very close, and very open with each other even when he was really young. Kyojuro was extremely receptive to his mother’s counsel and words. And after they were reunited in the afterlife, had that warm reunion, I believe Ruka would have brought up her concerns about some of the things he did, not to chastise him, but to share her feelings about it, to clarify and to let him know that she hadn’t wanted him to give his whole being to the cause in the way that he did. And its no one’s fault that that happened the way it did, it’s just how it happened. I know she would have got him to talk about everything that he kept close to the chest, she would have got past that brave big brother shield he hid behind his whole life and got him to put it down. She would have given him the emotional love and care that he had needed in his life but never asked for.

And it hurts to know he didn’t get those things while he was alive, because he should have got them. But it’s also comforting to know that he did eventually get it. To know that Ruka would have given it to him, his mom, who honestly was probably more of his hero than even his father, gave him the things he needed most, even if they both had to wait until he returned to her.

#ruka rengoku #kyojuro rengoku #the mothers in demon slayer are amazing #they were so close #she wasn't condoning everything he did she was prioritizing what she felt he needed to hear while still alive #he made mistakes but he definitely lived a life he and his mother could be proud of #flame hashira #flame pillar #mother child relationship #the beauty of a mother and child relationship #they were so close and you can see it #rengoku kyojuro #rengoku ruka #rengoku family #analysis #meta #demon slayer analysis #kny analysis #kny

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linkspooky · 10 months

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Rengoku vs. Akaza

Hello, I’m back talking about Demon Slayer and what is probably considered to be the most iconic fight in the manga. So iconic, that they made the entire fight into a high budget movie that destroyed box office records. What makes the fight so iconic isn’t just that Rengoku is so likable a character, that his heroic sacrifice is one of the most heartbreaking moments in the manga.

The fight is good because it’s got a strong thematic backbone, it is like many things in the demon slayer manga about death, and the way both Rengoku and Akaza react to the deaths they’ve experienced in their lifes. The parallels between the two become even stronger when we learn about Akaza’s backstory during his second fight.

Weak vs. Strong

Rengoku and Akaza don’t only represent opposite elements (Akaza is ice/water, and Rengoku is fire), they also represent opopsite social ideals. Akaza is a social darwinist who believes in the right of the strong. Whereas, Akaza’s entire character is based around the idea of noblesse oblige. Strong people are obligated to protect weak people because they are more capable.

Akaza pursues strength at the cost of everything else, even begging Rengoku to accept a demon’s blood and become immortal because that will give him even more time to grow stronger. His opening act is to even attack Tanjiro while he’s helpless on the ground and injured, because he wanted to eliminate another weak person so he could talk to Rengoku without being interrupted. While he is a demon Akaza’s worldview that the only option the weak have is to die off and be taken care of by nature.

Akaza however, only defines strength as martial combat ability. Rengoku is able to counteract his argument right away by pointing out that people can be strong in more ways than one, which cuts to a panel of the innocent people on the train who are not demon slayers but have the strength to keep going and crawl their way out of the wreckage of a disaster. In Rengoku’s world it’s difficult just to live because life itself is fleeting, therefore surviving is it’s own strength.

Rengoku’s opinions on weakness go even further in his own spinoff chapters, where you learn that his philosophy on strength vs. weakness doesn’t just come from his mother telling him he’s obligated to help others because he’s born strong, but his father also constantly trying to discourage him from becoming a Hashira by insisting he’s weak. His father’s own mental breakdown into lounging around all day drinking, came from the fact that he felt that flame breathing was inferior to sun breathing therefore it wasn’t worth trying if he could never measure up.

In response to his father’s words, Rengoku instead of insisting that the only people who are strong have value, searches for other values people have and other strength besides physical strength. His brother Senjuro being the example, despite Senjuro being incredibly eager to train he’s not talented enough to become Rengoku’s Tsuguko. In spite of that fact, Senjuro keeps trying without getting discouraged which Rengoku sees as a strength.

In Rengoku’s mind a weak person striving to be strong, even if they don’t accomplish anything, or make progress is a strength, because that ability to put effort in and strive is what matters not the results. Rengoku’s chapter further on goes to praise the rank and file members of thedemon corps who never become Hashira simply because they don’t have the talent to advance and yet risk their lives all the same. In his mind value lies in effort and striving for something not talent or results.

Rengoku’s ideas of strength and weakness comes from his admiration of the people around him and humanity in general he praises their strengths. While we learn in Akaza’s backstory, his social darwinism comes from the actions of people around him poisoning his viewpoints, to the part where he can only see their faults.

The irony of Akaza’s backstory is how different his behavior as Kyojuro is from that of him as a human. Hakuji’s loved ones are two weak people entirely dependent on other people for their care, the kind of person that Akaza claims to despise.

Hakuji’s father dies because of the same social darwinist philosophies that Akaza espouses. His father needed medicine but couldn’t afford it because he was poor. Rather than just give him the medicine, society lets him die off like it was his fault in the first place for being poor, therefore he doesn’t deserve medicine that could heal him. Society punishes Akaza for simply trying to steal money for medicine when he was no other options, rather than just making the medicine cheaper, because the rich are right by the virtue they have more strength in their society.

His second loved one is obviously Koyuki, the girl he nursed after being taken in by his teacher. Koyuki is also someone weak that everyone has written off as dead simply because she needs care from other people and can’t get better on her own. The simple task of taking care of her is apparently so dificult that her mother commits suicide and her father leaves it to somebody else entirely.

However, Koyuki’s recovery proves that this social darwinist philosophy is wrong, because after three years of nursing her Koyuki is fully recovered and finally able to take care of herself simply because someone put the effort in of giving her help when she needed it rather than letting her die. Because, society doesn’t actually function on social darwinist ideals, it’s cooperative. If everyone was out for themselves, people wouldn’t form cities and towns, they wouldn’t have jobs, they wouldn’t even bother taking care of the sick.

Hakuji believes similiar to Rengoku that it’s worth the effort to nurse sick people, and take care of people that can’t take care of themselves, he never once felt like either of them were a burden. They’re even both inspired to help others because of the dying request of a parent. Rengoku’s mother was too sick to continue living and told Rengoku before he died to live his life taking care of others. Hakuji’s father kills himself so Akaza will no longer have to steal to support him, and his last words are a request for Akaza to start his life over again.

They’re also very self-sacrificing in nature, Hakuji said repeatedly he didn’t care at all if he was beaten or marked as a crimminal for his father he would have endured all of it just to help him get better. Rengoku himself even endures his drunken father’s constant abuse with patience because he understands that his father became that way out of grief for their mother, and his dying words to his father are just requesting for his father to take care of himself.

They are both strong people who wish to take care of the weak people in their lives, so what exactly was the branching off point where Hakuji turned into Akaza.

Life vs Death

Demon slayer is a manga about death, and more particularly the difficulty of living in a world where no matter what you do all life ends in death and there’s no controlling when either you or someone you love dies. It’s why the first event in the manga is the senseless slaughter of Tanjiro’s entire family, which Tanjiro was not even around to witness simply because he slept in town for the night because it’d be dangerous to climb up the mountain in the dark.

Akaza turns into Hakuji after the senseless death of his loved ones, something that just like the death of Tanjiro’s family happened when he was not with them. Hakuji only leaves for a day to visit his father’s grave to tell him of his marriage, and he’s back by nightfall on the same day only to discover they’re dead by a poisoned well.

Of course if Akaza had been there, it’s likely there was little he could have done but drink the poisoned water and died alongside them because nobody knew that the well was poisoned. There are two differences in this scenario of course, number one Tanjiro still had one person left in his life to take care of while Akaza was stranded alone. Number two, at that point Akaza gave up on living entirely and only wished to die alongside his family.

After this point Hakuji becomes Akaza, and his views towards life resemble nihilism. In his mind death makes life meaningless, because no matter how much you strive to take care or protect someone it’s always going to end in their death. Of course if he’d been allowed to make a few more happy memories with Koyuki instead of suffering such an early and tragic loss things might have been different, but the sudden loss of her robbed him of all strength to continue believing in any value in life.

This is in contrast to Rengoku who insists that life’s epehemeral nature is what makes it beautiful. What makes it special and unique is that it doesn’t last forever, therefore people need to value the loved ones and the times of happiness they have because they’re not going to have them forever. Rengoku gives worth to what is fleeting, but Akaza suffered too much loss and seeks immortality even if it’s a pointless one.

Hakuji and Rengoku have the same values of protecting the weak, but Rengoku is able to live up to his goal of protecting weak people, even finally giving his life having succesfully protected not only everyone on the train but Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke. Rengoku succeeded at his duty, and Hakuji failed at his.

Which causes Hakuji out of guilt for his failures to flip his entire identity around. Even in the symbolism of his name. Hakuji has the same character as “Koma” in Komainu, and he lives his life like a Komainu protecting a shrine.

This philosophy of life vs. death even incorporates budhist values. Akaza is the third pillar because he represents the three universal truths held be budhism. Dukha, suffering (the idea that all suffering is inherent to life), Anicca (impermanence, the idea that everything is change) and Anatta (Non-self soulless / lack of self) the third being the way that he’s beaten by Tanjiro.

Akaza’s driven to become who he is because of his inability to cope with the first two values, the suffering inherent to life and it’s impermanence. His reaction to Koyuki’s death causes him to veer into nihilism, the belief that his whole life was worthless including his love of Koyuki, his father, and his master (there are three people in his life he decided to protect as well, and when he loses all three he’s no longer able to uphold the values in his life).

In fact, impermanence is a running theme to his character. His relationship with Koyuki is symbolically tied to fireworks, she fell in love with him out of his belief that she’d be able to see the fireworks next year so she didn’t have to apologize for missing them this year. When the two of them officially get engaged there are fireworks exploding in the background. Akaza’s moves are all named after fireworks. Fireworks are, brief and beautiful explosions in the sky that fade quickly.

When he becomes a demon he also violates all three of those values, he becomes immortal instead of impermanent like a human being, he causes suffering to others, and he’s unable to reach the state of “no-self” that Tanjiro climbed to in order to defeat him. However, Akaza prolonging his life only keeps him trapped in the cycle of suffering. This is also inherent to budhism, that as long as people are alive, their human desires will cause them suffering because they’re inherently selfish. In the cycle of reincarnation, people are born again and again until they purify themselves and escape the cycle completely.

When Akaza embraces both his painful memories of the past, he’s finally able to remember the things that were good about his life, the love that he had no matter how brief. It’s through embracing his suffering (finally remembering the people he lost instead of forcing himself to forget), and the impermanence of his life, that Akaza is finally able to die and escape the cycle of suffering.

Rengoku and Akaza are finally the same in that their last and greatest act is to die. Rengoku dies protecting three innocent people and is consoled by his mother for his hard work in life, and Akaza’s redemptive moment is to finally let himself die rather than keep fighting pointlessly and he is similiarly embraced and reunited by Koyuki who makes the decision to go to hell with him. Even though death is tragic for both of them they’re also offered that final comort.

#kyojuro rengoku #akaza #hakuji #koyuki #demon slayer #kny meta #kimetsu no yaiba #demon slayer analysis #demon slayer theory #demon slayer meta #kimetsu no yaiba analysis #kimetsu no yaiba theory #kimetsu no yaiba meta

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risingscorchingsuns · 1 month

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Do you think it had to be rengoku who died? Or could it have been a different character or hashira and still give the same effect?

AA THIS IS SUCH A GOOD QUESTION!! Okay im likely gonna go back and edit this later once i think of Better Words, but prepare for a Long Ass Leon Analysis Post

I think that while a similar effect could have happened had it been another Hashira, the fact that it was Rengoku affected not just Tanjiro, but the rest of the Corps in a massive ripple effect. I’m assuming that by asking this you’ve read my “why Rengoku’s death impacts the outcome of the series” analysis post, but regardless, im gonna start rambling now lol

Let’s turn it into a cause-and-effect formula. If [Hashira] dies after the Mugen Train Incident, it affects Tanjiro with [x] and the rest of the Corps with [y]. When Rengoku died, it devastated Tanjiro because of both his personal connection to Rengoku (Flame Breathing vs Sun Breathing, as well as Rengoku’s infectious brotherly attitude) and his respect for the Hashira as a whole. X is Tanjiro’s devastation and his exposure to the Actual Strongest Demons. Y, on the other hand, is much more powerful, because of Rengoku specifically. He was like an older brother to Mitsuri. He was an icon of strength and persistence for Tengen. He was a beacon of encouragement for everyone he encountered, and Rengoku was uniquely inspiring in that way. Rengoku, specifically. The latest link in the Flame Hashira chain, the Rengoku family legacy, he was really more legend than man. He was an unfalteringly blazing beacon of constant courage and flaming strength, and his loss hit especially hard, because of how unstoppable he always strove to be. Even the surlier Hashira like Sanemi and Obanai respected him, because he’s just that bright. He’s open, and approachable, and kind. He may be a legend, but he’s a human, living legend. He was friends with everyone, and impacted everyone’s lives just by being in them. The unceremonious and sudden nature of his death is what causes X to hit so hard for Tanjiro, and what causes Y to extend far beyond him.

If, for example, Sanemi was the one who dies at Mugen Train, things would’ve turned out much differently. Sanemi never accepted Nezuko, and probably would’ve died scorning her. This would cause X to be much less impactful for Tanjiro. He would still be devastated, because he’s Tanjiro, and because he holds a deep respect for all the Hashira, but Sanemi’s refusal to acknowledge Nezuko would significantly dampen the impact of his death. X would still hit hard, because Tanjiro is exposed to an immensely powerful warrior being unceremoniously taken out by a demon like Akaza, but Sanemi’s generally unapproachable nature as well as the fact that he stabbed Nezuko would significantly dampen the impact on Tanjiro. Additionally, Tanjiro doesn’t know Genya yet, so he wouldn’t have any personal motivation for sympathy. In the case of Rengoku, when he mentions Senjuro, that hits hard for Tanjiro, because they’re both eldest brothers. As for the rest of the Corps, they’d be devastated for the same reasons as Tanjiro- a Hashira has fallen, and that’s a rare and devastating casualty of war. But Sanemi doesn’t have the same social impact that Rengoku does, so ultimately I think neither X or Y would hit as hard.

Honestly im trying to stop myself from plugging every Hashira into this equation just for the sake of analysis, so I might come back to this later when I’ve gotten a bit more sleep lmao

Now let’s take a Hashira that Tanjiro has a personal connection to, like Shinobu or Giyuu. If Shinobu had come with Tanjiro to personally investigate Mugen Train, he would almost certainly blame himself for her death, and X would be a different flavor of powerful, because of her conversation with him in about Kanae’s dream. The death of any Hashira would cause Y to have some ripple effect, purely because it’s a Hashira, but ultimately, the only Hashira I believe could even start to rival Kyojuro’s influence is Gyomei, purely because he’s been a Hashira for so long. But no other Slayer had the same warmth and personable character that Kyojuro had, and that’s why his death in particular hits so hard. If Giyuu had died, Tanjiro would likely have been just as upset as he was with Rengoku- he’s witnessed Giyuu’s strength on multiple occasions, and Giyuu has staked his life on Nezuko. That’s something that Tanjiro won’t easily forget, and if Giyuu had died, it would easily devastate him to push himself harder, giving X the same emotional weight as Kyojuro’s death. However, because it’s Giyuu, Y would be MUCH less impactful, because a lot of the Hashira actively dislike him. ( @princeblue actually has an excellent analysis post on why he pisses the other Hashira off, I would recommend reading it, they make some excellent points!!)

Anyway, to restate my thesis, Rengoku’s death was as impactful as it was not just because he was a Hashira, but because he was Rengoku. He’s an infallible beacon of hope and warmth, and his unceremonious death sent a ripple effect through the entire Corps. He touches the lives of everyone he meets, intentionally or not- it’s just who he is. Much like Tanjiro, his passion is infectious, and his spark and drive spread to everyone who loved him after his death. It would still devastate Tanjiro to no end to watch a Hashira die in front of him, but it was Rengoku’s personal connection to not just Tanjiro, but the entire Corps that ultimately made him as impactful of a character as he was.

That last paragraph was a little shaky, I have a nasty habit of only doing analysis writing when it’s 4:30am and I should be sleeping, please ask me to clarify anything if I fucked up! I promise it makes so much sense in my head lmao

Thank you so much for this ask I’m literally happy stimming sitting here poking away at analysis posts nothing makes me happier than media-dissecting my blorbos

#leon rambles #leon askbox #rengoku kyojuro #demon slayer #analysis #demon slayer analysis #kny

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scrimblyscrorblo · 13 days

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There’s an element to the demon designs in KNY that I am like not getting over. The extent to which their physical forms change can be connected to extent their personality changes idk if I’m being clever w this and it’s most notably the kizuki. And I think this also links to what they can remember.

E.g Gyutaro as a human, although he very much was a product of his environment, still revelled in the cruelty he inflicted. As a demon he’s just taller w different clothes, his insecurities that he still keeps far more visible. He remembered his life in extreme poverty because it shaped his personality

Rui on the other hand completely changes: his hair, eyes, clothes and even skin. Nothing stays the same because Rui was a sweet boy who just wanted to go play in the snow and that was taken advantage of. And as a demon he’s cruel, manipulative and abusive. (My poor boy TT) Rui forgot about his parents and goals because he couldn’t have them anymore. He wants family but it’s sure why entirely

The same for Akaza, Hakuji was of course capable of violence but he didn’t want to act upon it. He wanted to live happily with his wife and was of course forcibly turned after murdering a lot of people in revenge. Akaza is playful and mocking with humans and loyal to an employer he doesn’t care for. And so his hair, eyes, skin clothes etc are completely different. Akaza almost entirely forgot about his wife, but I love that she was still very present in everything he did <3 Like Rui w family, she’s still significant but he can’t remember why

And of course, Nezuko. After being turned, her personality and values dominated her desire to eat. Her clothes, the checkered pattern her family wears, doesn’t change at all. Her hair does and of course that’s symbolic but she still keeps her little bow. Nezuko, of course, gradually remembered what happened to her mother and siblings and she doesn’t get much of a chance to really process it but family and protection is the entire reason her and her brother’s journey even began.

She chooses to make a choice in who she wants to perceive as family, even if they’re demons (Yushiro and Tamayo) and lets herself burn in the sunlight to save her brother.

Anyways Nezuko is underrated and I love her very very much and I keep this design philosophy in mind when designing demons.

E.g. Yuzuka’s personality didn’t change too much, she already was cruel to an extent, apathetic and selfish. And so she doesn’t change too notibly, even in her colour palette. Aside from the addition of the purple belladonna pattern and her lack of eyes.

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princeblue · 5 months

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I’m thinking about Sanemi possibly being in a romantic relationship and how I don’t think it would work again, and besides the whole “I believe Sanemi would shut down after the death of Genya” there’s also the fact in my mind he’ll always be that 12 year old boy who killed his mom, not necessarily in regards that he’s typically childish. But in regards that his anger is childish, fast and violent and easily provoked. He dedicates himself to one goal (protecting Genya) similar to how a child dedicates themselves to one goal (like let’s say being a veterinarian or a mom, something they don’t think about what that might entail and see it as something straightforward if not “easy”)

He’s petulant/petty, childish, aggressive and pretty much the only person willing to stand by him thru all of that canonically is his brother, others describe him as Dangerous or Wild, and it just makes me think of my earlier statement of how Sanemi would shut down, it’s not a healthy approach to being “better/matured ” but rather desperation to fulfill a dying goal.

I still pretty much believe in AroAce Sanemi, and I still think if you ship Sanemi with people that’s fine, but for me I think I’ll always find reasons as to why Sanemi wouldn’t work in a relationship whether he was AroAce or not.

I always feel like I feel like I look like a Sanegen shipper because I write them in such a specific way, but the way I write them is very codependent siblings who only have each other and developed an already close bond by being the two eldest parentifed siblings, which, tbh I feel like isn’t too far off from canon anyway.

#character analysis #I guess #sanemi Shinazugawa #Genya Shinazugawa #demon slayer #kny #blue rambles #kimetsu no yaiba #I want to clarify I don’t SEE him as a child #BUT I do think he is childish in aspects

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sad-drake-lyrics · 10 months

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alright, i’m having a lot of feelings™ about giyushino & i have to talk about it because otherwise i will implode. i’ve liked the idea of them together from s1, like most people who ship them seem to; but then i stopped thinking about them much due to obsession with other ships, and also because after their initial altercation on Mount Natagumo they don’t really get much screentime together, so i just lost interest.

but in my modern day obamitsu AU (you can find my ao3 link on my page!), i’m featuring giyushino as a background ship, & i am starting to catch fucking feelings myself from writing them. (if you head off to read the fic, there’s only two chapters posted so far & Giyuu + Shinobu are not in it yet, but will be very soon.)

so, here we go. gimme a moment to ramble about what inspired these HCs / character analyses before i get to the meat & potatoes.

youtube

street lights by killedmyself is one of my favourite songs despite the fact it being really more of a piece of audio art than a song - it’s mainly a movie dialogue sample mixed with sad boi lo-fi beats, but i play it all the time because it somehow hurts so good. so i was listening to it when thinking of the aforementioned modern AU, & i had an epiphany like “holy fuck, this is exactly how a giyushino relationship would go down, whether in a canon AU or any other story.”

the sample in the song is from No Strings Attached, a typical romantic comedy/drama about two close friends who have a deep understanding of each other and casually have sex, but the guy catches feelings and the girl wants nothing to do with a relationship.

(honestly, most people would probably find this movie boring - it’s a basic white het ship storyline; i only watched it because of the song, & the conversation in the song is literally the best part - otherwise the movie is hella bland & i wouldn't care if i never saw it again LOL so i’m def. not saying “go watch this” here.)

anyway, i’m listening to this song, and i’m like “omg, i can hear Giyuu & Shinobu saying every fucking line.”

basically, in my mind, Giyuu & Shinobu would start hooking up just for the sake of it - probably as a result of a quiet development of closeness born essentially out of convenience (they are always at the Ubuyashiki Estate together or working together), and then one night boning goes down. they’re attracted to each other; they like each other as people; and then the sex is good, so it keeps happening.

& very quickly, sad boi Giyuu, who is typically self-isolated and depressed, starts crushing hard. he’s alone and he’s desperate for human interaction and affection, even though he doesn’t realize it - and Shinobu is beautiful, and he admires her. plus they’re starting to have a lot of sex; & it’s pretty common for that to bloom some sense of love, ranging from base level attachment to infatuation to real feels - and it gets to the point where Giyuu wants to be with her.

but Shinobu doesn’t want the same thing. she cares about him (more than she can admit), but she’s fiercely independent and immensely dedicated to her work (with all her research and crafting of medicines & poisons). she puts this work above absolutely everything else with self-denying devotion - her happiness doesn’t matter; like she tells Tanjirou, she’s angry, and all that matters is success. a relationship for her would be a distraction, & she doesn’t need it - doesn’t want to deal with it; too many emotional ups & downs; too much drama; too much risk; too much intimacy with someone else, which actually terrifies her. so when Giyuu tells her he wants a relationship, she rejects him.

now let’s take the samples that slap me in the face with giyushino feels from street lights, which i can literally hear coming out of their fucking mouths.

Shinobu: You know me, this stuff freaks me out. It's fake. What’s wrong with what we’re doing? It’s working, we don’t have to fight -

Giyuu: Maybe I wanna fight.

Shinobu: Yeah, well I don’t.

Giyuu: What are you gonna do - you’re just never gonna feel anything? How are you gonna do that?

Shinobu: I don’t know. I’ll figure it out.

^ this exchange already starts murdering me because i feel like once Giyuu realizes he has legitimate feelings for Shinobu, and is wrestling with his own self-denial and inability to accept love from others because of how much he hates himself - he sees that Shinobu does the same thing - she doesn’t want to feel anything too deeply because she’s traumatized from Kanae’s death. she doesn’t want to love anyone else in a way that makes them more important than anything else (though, yes, we have to also acknowledge her love for Kanao here, but i imagine that's it for her - no more), so that she can’t experience loss again. she’s scared; she protects herself by being self-sufficient and dedicating herself to her work.

she's also stubborn asf, and sincerely believes in herself and what she's capable of, and so "I don't know. I'll figure it out." is literally what she would respond to this challenge.

Shinobu: I don’t need you to take care of me. I take care of myself. That’s what I do.

^ destroying me because this is exactly what Shinobu does. this is her MO; her armor.

Shinobu: Why don’t you go find some other girl who’s not gonna hurt you?

Giyuu: Because I love you.

^ help. why are they like this. it’s because Giyuu’s so alone, but when he feels, he feels deeply (seen even in his initially inexplicable sentimentality for Tanjirou & Nezuko from the beginning, all the way to when we finally hear his backstory with Sabito). he’s smart and intuitive, he can see right through Shinobu - right through everything she does to protect herself. he also doesn’t give up on people he cares about, and his sad boi meter is off the charts - he probably thinks he deserves rejection. plus we have Shinobu pushing everyone away so hard because she can’t handle it.

also going off the HC here that they’re casually hooking up throughout this: oh boy is this a mess of confusing emotions for both of them, both struggling to keep it bottled up, and Giyuu is clearly the weaker link. he just would be. he’s too sensitive.

Giyuu: It’s obvious, I completely love you - there. You’re such a wimp.

Shinobu: I am not!

Giyuu: Well then be with me.

^ why is this dialogue like, canon. it’s their personalities to a T - the way they push at each other in a way of making fun of each other; the way Giyuu is honest despite his problems with feelings; the way strong, independent Shinobu would be so offended at him calling her a wimp (which he totally would fucking say) - calling her out on how she blocks out feelings for others to stay focused on her mission so she can protect them, but so she also can’t get heartbroken, because she can’t go through that again.

*cough*

anyway. there’s my roughly 1k word count essay on how i envision a romantic giyushino dynamic. i’ll be trying to work this into my modern AU - but considering Giyuu and Shinobu are secondary characters, i don’t know how much i can explore this; still, i don’t have the full fic planned out, so nothing’s off the table.

but seriously, this shit hits me in my gut so hard i could probably write an entire fic about them just on this premise lol.

anyway, yeah. woke up at 7:30, made a cup of coffee, sat down on the computer and just wrote this essay out of nowhere in an hour because suddenly giyushino is also ruining my life.

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