44 pages • 1-hour read
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 1
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Themes
Sympathy as Strength
Befitting a hero, Tanjiro’s most consistent traits are his kindness and sympathy. As he begins his quest to become a demon slayer and find a cure for his transformed sister Nezuko, his sympathy is seen as weakness by other demon slayers. However, he never loses his gentle nature and even turns it into one of his many strengths. Tanjiro was kind and sympathetic well before tragedy befell his family. When he arrives in the nearby village to sell charcoal, people clamor for his attention. Someone says, “Thanks for fixing my shoji door the other day!” (13), while another person exclaims, “Aaah! Tanjiro! You’re just in time!” (13), and yet another person says, “Tanjiro! Will you help me carry some bundles?” (14). Tanjiro clearly has a history of helping people with their problems, to the extent that he is known in the village as someone who will always lend a helping hand.
When Nezuko transforms into a demon, Tanjiro instinctually protects her rather than fight her. In parallel illustrations, Tanjiro is pinned to the ground by a starving Nezuko (28). In a close-up frame, Tanjiro and Nezuko’s eyes are filled with tears and his brows are knit together in concern. The parallel illustration depicts Nezuko in a close-up frame, her eyes filled with tears and her brows knit together in concern. These mirrored panels use the conventions of illustration to visually depict Tanjiro’s sympathy for his sister’s condition through their literal proximity on the page to one another.
While Tanjiro’s kindness makes him reliable to the village and Nezuko, the demon slayers see it as a liability. When veteran demon slayer Giyu attacks, Tanjiro’s instinct is to protect Nezuko rather than attack Giyu. He bows and pleads for Nezuko’s life. This earns Giyu’s ire, as Tanjiro’s personality leaves him (and Nezuko) vulnerable: “How can a weakling like you, who bows down when it’s time to fight […] cure his little sister? […] The meek have no power and no options! The strong will crush them in every way!” (39). Yet, sympathy is not inherently a weakness; weakness and strength are determined by how someone channels their emotions. Tanjiro doesn’t channel his sympathy productively in his interaction with Giyu, as he is still learning how best to use his nature to grow stronger.
Tanjiro’s sympathy is put to the test again when he encounters his first demon and is unable to kill it because he doesn’t want it to suffer. Urokodaki notices how Tanjiro’s “kindness prevents him from taking decisive action. When facing a demon, he still reeks of sympathy and consideration. He even feels sympathy for a demon” (92). While the veteran demon slayer thinks little of Tanjiro, sympathy for a demon is what saved Nezuko. Since this volume of Demon Slayer is the first of a 23-volume manga series, by the end, Tanjiro has yet to “master” his kindness and sympathy in a way that will protect him from less forgiving foes (unlike Giyu and Urokodaki, who exercise “tough love”). However, whether characters see Tanjiro’s sympathy as strength or weakness, this attribute makes him different from other demon slayers, and will serve a key role in his quest to save Nezuko.
Perseverance Through Hardship
The manga opens with a grisly scene: Tanjiro arrives home to find his family has been attacked by a demon. All of them are dead except for his younger sister Nezuko, who has been turned into a demon (due to exposure to demon blood). In the span of one night, Tanjiro’s happy life is turned upside down. While the life of a poor family in rural Japan was not easy, after their family’s murder, Tanjiro and Nezuko face a series of hardships unlike anything they’ve experienced. However, both exhibit perseverance, bolstered by The Power of Familial Bonds, that helps them endure these hardships.
Both siblings face physical and emotional hardships. Nezuko struggles with her demonic nature: When she wakes, she attacks Tanjiro out of hunger, until the power of their familial bond makes her remember who Tanjiro is. From then on, Nezuko wears a bamboo muzzle to prevent her from accidentally biting anyone. She is determined to fight her demonic nature and never harm a human. She also faces new physical hardships as sunlight can kill demons. When Tanjiro goes to a nearby farm to get a basket, he hides Nezuko in a cave. He returns to find her hidden well into the darkness—“her face is scrunched up. She must really not want the sunlight to hit her” (62). Despite these new struggles, the siblings are determined to think of creative ways to solve their problems. On Tanjiro’s urging, Nezuko discovers she can grow and shrink herself at will. Shrinking herself to toddler size allows Tanjiro to carry her in a basket during the daytime.
Tanjiro’s perseverance comes through in his training with Urokodaki, and later with Urokodaki’s deceased students, Sabito and Makomo—who embody perseverance in their own right. He writes to Nezuko that during his training, “Many times I’ve thought that I would die” (120). Urokodaki gives him physical challenges that are life-threatening, but he perseveres and pushes his body to the limit because his fear of losing Nezuko is greater than his fear of death. The only time Tanjiro admits to being scared is when Nezuko falls into a two-year slumber: “I was scared. I thought I’d wake up in the morning to find you dead. And…that’s still how I feel every night” (120). Still, he doesn’t let this fear control him, instead using it to bolster his resolve to become a demon slayer. Fueled by determination and love, Tanjiro and Nezuko push each other to persevere.
The Power of Familial Bonds
On the first page of the manga, Tanjiro carries the bloody, unconscious Nezuko and vows, “I’m gonna save you. You can’t die! Your big brother is definitely going to save you!” (5). Immediately, the manga establishes the strength of Tanjiro and Nezuko’s familial bond—a bond that drives Nezuko’s humanity and Tanjiro’s vow to turn Nezuko human again. Tanjiro and Nezuko’s strong sibling bond was nurtured by the Kamado family as a whole; a flashback establishes the family as loving. When Tanjiro volunteers to sell charcoal in a nearby village, his mother expresses worry for him. However, she smiles and thanks him when he says he wants to provide for their new year’s feast: She recognizes his compassion and the sacrifices he makes for their family. Nezuko says their four younger siblings started looking to Tanjiro after their father died. They clearly love Tanjiro and want to spend time with him, and he feels the same about them.
When Tanjiro discovers his family murdered and starts to carry Nezuko down the mountain, he is shown frantic, sweating and crying in utter devastation (18-20). His grief is channeled into his resolve to save Nezuko: “how [his family] must have suffered…and I wasn’t there to help them. I have to save Nezuko if I can!” (27). When he pleads with Nezuko to fight her demonic nature, she is illustrated with tears welling up in her eyes as she recognizes Tanjiro (28). In this moment, Tanjiro’s use of Sympathy as Strength reminds Nezuko of their familial bond, allowing her to retain her humanity.
The strength of Tanjiro and Nezuko’s bond makes them different from other human-demon pairs. When Tanjiro swears Nezuko recognizes him and won’t hurt humans, veteran demon slayer Giyu doubts him, as he has seen demons kill and eat their own families. However, he is shocked when Nezuko shields her unconscious brother. This persuades Giyu that “these two may be different” (54), fueled by their bond as siblings. Not only does familial love help Nezuko retain her humanity, but it motivates Tanjiro to be compassionate toward other demons. After Giyu spares the unconscious Tanjiro and Nezuko, Tanjiro is illustrated laying on his stomach with a black backdrop (54-55). His murdered family members stand around him with looks of concern; his mother says, “I’m sorry I had to leave you, Tanjiro. Take care of Nezuko” (55). Whether literal or metaphorical, the spirits of Tanjiro and Nezuko’s family are clearly looking after them. Even from beyond the grave, the spirits lend Tanjiro in particular strength and encouragement. The power of familial bonds transcends the physical realm altogether.
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