New Masculinity:
How Demon Slayer perfects soft strength in Tanjiro (contains spoilers for Demon Slayer and Yu Yu Hakusho)
The critically acclaimed ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’ is worth every single award it has earned and then some. I literally think they should include anime in new categories of entertainment purely so that this show can earn itself some sort of Emmy award. Its that good. The show tells the story of Tanjiro Kamado, a teenager growing up in Taisho era Japan, who after returning from a harmless errand from town discovers his entire family has been murdered by demons. To put the icing on the cake, his sister Nezuko ends up transformed into a demon and immediately tries to sate her newfound hunger on her brothers blood. Overarching story is one that inverts every single demon hunting trope that exists, and to highlight this I will compare it side by side to the story of my favorite demon hunter in existence Yusuke Urameshi.
Yu Yu Hakusho; an established Standard
I chose to talk about “Yu Yu Hakusho” for several reasons. Firstly it and “Demon Slayer” are in the same bracket of earnings, both selling between 50 and 99 million copies with Demon Slayer edging out in front of Yusuke’s 50 million copies by roughly 10 million more. Secondly they both hunt demons and lastly Yu Yu Hakusho is also an exemplary standard of emotional masculinity in the time of its development in the early 90’s.
Yu Yu Hakusho is an up front show about a teenaged boy Yusuke Urameshi, who after dying is brought back to life by the Jr. ruler of the spirit world Koenma. With the newfound powers awarded to him by Koenma, Yusuke is tasked with catching demonic criminals hiding out in the living world like a criminal bunker, and forcing them to return to spirit world to serve out their punishments. Find bad guy, beat him/get beaten by him, elevate in power level due to training, rinse and repeat. What made the show stand apart was watching Yusuke confront emotional turmoil and reach new heights in power as the ‘blocks’ between himself and his emotions are removed.
Yusuke was at the forefront of an emerging trope, confronting the traditional ideas of masculinity and emotional unavailability with the reality of the fact that he has softer feelings for the people he loves. This softer emotion, love, is what took Yusuke to new heights of power time and time again in exposition that at this point is played out, but at the time was still relatively new and pretty well executed.
The problem with this model is that it defaults to the idea that men are naturally closed off to their emotions, and need to be beaten into submission in order to access them. In each instance where Yusuke needed to raise his power level, training alone was never enough. Yusuke never truly reached new heights until his feelings were aligned with his new powers. They would always complete the puzzle and allow him to access depths to his strength that were previously unimaginable. His knowing that he needed to do this also usually had no effect on weather or not he was actually able to do it. This is a trauma response.
The role of Family
Yusuke comes from a broken home. He and his mother were abandoned by his father when Yusuke was a small child. His mother, Atsuko, is an alcoholic who frequently goes on public benders. It is heavily implied in the manga that when she is hard up for cash she sells herself for sex. Yusuke is a high school dropout, who robs people his age in order to purchase money for groceries to feed his mom. He spends all of his time when not doing that, beating up people who talk about what a hoe she is. There are a lot of them. Yusuke spits in the face of authority figures on sight, doesn’t like or feel any affinity toward most of his peers, and actually identifies more with the demons he fights than with the people and planet he is tasked with protecting. This actually almost gets him killed in season four when he encounters another spirit detective who doesn’t share his world-views. This doesn’t stop him from doing his job but it does make it very difficult for him to access the emotions that don’t serve to protect him or put food on his table on a day to day basis. Love doesn’t really have a huge place in Yusuke’s formative existence and therefore is hard for him to access when he needs it.
Tanjiro, on the other hand, comes from an extremely loving and well-adjusted family. Tanjiro’s flashbacks to his home life aren’t a source of trauma to be overcome but, serve to connect him with his reason for fighting. His strong loving feelings for his family and the empathy he feels for people who have also had their lives ruined by demons provide him an endless well of inspiration. Tanjiro’s home life was positively picturesque before everyone he loved was murdered. He is determined above all else to find a way to restore Nezuko to her status as a human because he cannot stand the idea of losing someone else in his beloved family. Tanjiro’s feelings come first and create his will to fight, not vise versa as in the case with Mr. Urameshi. This is showcased in his first meeting with Tomioka Gyu, where Tanjiro is easily defeated but the loving bond between himself and his sister Nezuko, which somehow still exists despite her demon transformation, actually moves the slayer, who then lets Nezuko live and sets Tanjiro on his journey. Tanjiro’s love immediately provides him both inspiration for his journey and absolution from the harsh judgement of those who would kill his sister on the grounds of her very existence.
The role of Friends
Yusuke’s journey over the course of the show was his slow discovery of softer emotions by realizing that he loved people. Specifically these people who he brought into his life, and had been through so much with over the course of the series. Keiko, his childhood friend and sweetheart. Kwabara, his lifetime sparring partner and best bro, Hiei and Kurama his stalwart demon buddies who help him in every single hour of need. Yusuke is kept grounded by his friends, who serve as a new family and reason for life. This is epitomized in ‘The Death of Genkai’ when Yusuke, through the death of his beloved sensei, realizes that she was so much more than his teacher. She was like a mother to him. She raised him up from a lowly power level, never took his shit, helped him whenever he asked and even let him play her prized games. The fact that Yusuke didn’t realize that he loved her until she was brutally killed right in front of him is because he is walled off from his emotions. His journey over the course of his show was realizing this wall existed, and working to dismantle it by taking care to love those around him while they were still around him.
‘Demon Slayer’ inverts this trope with Tanjiro, usually placing Tanjiro as a grounding element for everyone else to learn from. Tanjiro is well adjusted. Perhaps the only one on the show who truly is. Zenitsu, his friend in the yellow haori, seems well adjusted until you put him in close proximity to a lady. Then it all goes out the window in a series of sexual assault style tropes that are very well known in the anime community. Tanjiro is openly disgusted by this behavior and actually rescues the local women from Zenitsu. My favorite line is Tanjiro’s reaction to Zenitsu recognizing him by his uniform. He scorns the very idea of knowing Zenitsu by saying “No one I know is anything like you! I don’t know you!” Tanjiro clearly feels like Zenitsu is far too classless to ever be caught dead in the same room with, and does not hesitate to educate him about it with these hands.
Tanjiro’s relationship with Inosuke is an even greater example of Tanjiro’s effect on those around him. Inosuke is a man who was clearly raised in isolation and has no experience at all with human affection. Inosuke is so out of touch with his feelings he doesn’t even acknowledge being physically hurt. This is epitomized his boar mask which, aside from making the connection between Inosuke and his beastly ways, also serves to hide the only soft thing about him, his face. When we first meet Inosuke he thrives on the pain and discomfort of those around him, doesn’t understand expressions of kindness and seeks to bait Tanjiro emotionally so he can sink to a level Inosuke understands. Instead of fighting back, Tanjiro pours sweetness on Inosuke, gifting him with his food after Inosuke is caught purposefully stealing it to anger him. Piling patience and empathy on Inosuke’s every mean and petty act. Tanjiro acts as a socializing force on Inosuke and everyone around him by teaching through example. Tanjiro intrinsically understands that people lash out because they are coming from a place of hurt, and as such he cannot respond with further hurt or the people around him will never truly heal. Tanjiro is patient and kind with Inosuke and as the series progresses we watch him grow as a direct result of Tanjiro’s teachings. Gradually Inosuke learns to stop these aggressive and unfortunate behaviors in favor of a more thoughtful and temperate approach. Tanjiro has this effect on people.
The Role of the Enemy
Yusuke’s enemies serve the purpose of pushing him and his friends to new heights. Usually by murdering someone he truly loves. This is shown most outstandingly in the ‘Sensui’ arc of ‘Yu Yu Hakusho’. Yusuke is targeted by a big baddie, named ‘Shinobu Sensui’. Over the course of their battle, one in which Yusuke was outmaneuvered and outgunned, Yusuke is summarily executed and the team loses. This is a gut wrenching moment for the team and a total plot twist for the viewer. You wouldn’t think that an anime that started with the death of the main protagonist would do it again but it does and it works. Everyone, shattered by the death of their comrade in arms, jumps to a new, elevated power level including Yusuke who… death clearly has no power over. After this jump in power is achieved by his friends, Yusuke revives from the dead, newly strengthened, and proceeds to off the bad guys Kufi.
In ‘Demon Slayer' the enemies serve to highlight the collective trauma experienced by both humans and demons. Demons, while not innocent by any stretch of the imagination, also suffer. The show does a masterful job of giving you insight to the demons motivations and humanizing them while not taking away the evil of their actions. This juxtaposition turns the battle from one inherently about humans vs demons and transforms it into trauma vs humanity. The presence of trauma dehumanizes whoever it touches be they human or demon. Tanjiro understands this and views every death as a tragic loss. Even the demons. He frequently cries as he takes them down because all demons were once human too. As such their deaths are also a blow. This empathetic approach makes Tanjiro stand out even amongst demon slayers, and doesn’t endear him to many of the leaders of the demon slayer community, the Hashira’s.
Tanjiro’s level of true empathy demonizes these leaders. Transforming them from the justified arm of humanity into mindless killers in their own right. It is the presence of trauma inflicted by demons, that has transformed them into the mirror image of that which they hunt. This is put on stark display after Nezuko, a demon, is discovered with Tanjiro by the Hashira’s and is nearly killed, even though she is completely innocent. Nezuko did nothing but exist as a demon and that was enough for the Hashira to stand back and let her be treated like an animal. No questions asked. After watching poor Nezuko be stabbed and tempted with human blood by Sanemi (pictured above) we are forced to ask ourselves if the Hashira are fighting demons because they want to protect humanity or if they are fighting demons because… they are filled with hate for those demons.
‘Demon Slayer' is truly an incredible leap for men in the anime genre and I am truly proud of the writers who birthed Tanjiro into the world. Tanjiro is an inversion of every problematic male stereotype that exists so far and the show is worth every award contrary to what the haters say. I find myself disappointed that instead of a traditional season two for ‘Demon Slayer’, the next arc is to be released in a movie format. I feel like I am losing out on hours of quality Tanjiro but I still cant possibly avoid it because I have to know what happens on that Mugen Train! This season 2 movie will air on October 16, 2020. So until then, if you are interested in a re-watch of the series you can check out season one on Hulu, Crunchyroll, and VRV.
