“Demon Slayer”: Tragedy in Action
During the summer lineup of anime in 2019, we found a late hit in horror action series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Demon Slayer is the story of Tanjiro, who is thrown into the world of demon hunting when his family is slaughtered and his sister is turned into a demon. The show has garnered praise for its stunning animation and well-paced fight scenes. The action is combined with a mixture of horror and dread that can leave viewers worried about the protagonist’s plot armor. However, it is not simply great action that drives Demon Slayer but rather its character development; especially in the demons themselves.
At the beginning, it seemed that the demons, (humans who are fed the blood of powerful demons in order to become one), would simply be cannon fodder like the standard “Monster of the Week” baddies we see in other horror action anime like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or Blood Blockade Battlefront. The protagonist meets the monster, enters a heated battle, and emerges victorious, if only barely. Demon Slayer chooses to keep the formula fresh by using a narrative development more akin to tragedy than action.
Note: spoilers ahead for the first half of season one.
The series begins it’s tragic story-telling right from the beginning, a full two episodes before Tanjiro meets his first demon as a demon-slayer. Tanjiro’s combat teacher, Urokodaki, who hides behind an ever-present tengu mask, is hesitant to train Tanjiro at first, believing that the young man’s kindness will be his death. His walls begin to slowly and cautiously come down and he let’s Tanjiro into his life. Despite this, he still keeps the young man at arms length.
Then there are the children Sabito and Makomo, pupils of Urokodaki who wear distinctive fox masks, appear in the second episode to further train Tanjiro. Throughout the episode, we learn more about the two children including that they were adopted by Urokodaki after they were orphaned. When Tanjiro finally defeats Sabito in a fight, it is revealed that the two are ghosts.
In the following episode, the final moment of setup is revealed with the appearance of the Hand Demon. The demon has at every opportunity, targeted and slaughtered Urokodaki’s students, identifying them by their distinctive fox masks which Sabito, Makomo, and now Tanjiro wear. In total, the demon has killed 13 students before meeting Tanjiro. The demon taunts Tanjiro with this information and the fight begins.
At the conclusion of the fight, the audience is treated to an image of the Urokodaki’s slain students moving on to the next life. We become witnesses to some of the history of the Hand Demon, who previously was a small child who desperately wanted someone to hold their hand because they were scared of being alone. Tanjiro, recognizing the demon’s fear, holds their hand as they turn to ash.
By the time the Hand Demon arrives, we have long since been primed by the tragedy in the other episodes. We are suddenly given a source of the previous tragedies, and the natural reaction is to revel in the downfall of such a creature. Then, just as you feel the vindication on behalf of the victims, that victory is dulled by the tragedy in the demon’s own experience. This does not absolve the actions of the demon, but we are almost involuntarily empathetic to its own suffering.
Another use of tragic storytelling with the demons is through the drum demon Kyogai. Unlike the Hand Demon, we don’t get a multi episode lead in for Kyogai. The horror introduction starts right away, Tanjiro comes across a pair of siblings whose brother was taken into the nearby mansion. Immediately, a broken and bloody body is flung out of the mansion in front of Tanjiro and the children, though it is not that of the brother.
Prepared for a raging monster, we are surprised that Kyogai is not rampaging through his mansion, but rather is searching methodically and calmly for the captured child. The only anger we witness is annoyance at people breaking into his mansion, and frustration in finding the child because he is hungry. What the writers choose to show, is the Kyogai’s history of rejection and feelings of inadequacy which drive him forward. This is shown through two flashback scenes interspersed within the demon’s search for the child and his confrontation with Tanjiro.
One scene is of a notable kill of Kyogai’s. He was trying to break out as a writer, but an unnamed man berates Kyogai for a lack of originality in his writing, stating that he has become boring because he never leaves his house and only bangs on his drum. The man then proceeds to leave, stepping on Kyogai’s writing as he walks out. This action causes the outraged demon to lash out and kill him.
The other scene consists of a meeting between Kyogai and the leader of the demons. Kyogai is attempting to eat a human but finds he is full. The leader then informs Kyogai that he has reached his limit as a demon and strips him of his rank in the demon hierarchy. The leader leaves Kyogai there, bleeding and begging him to reconsider.
With Kyogai, tragedy is used not to introduce the depravity and danger of the demon but rather to force the viewer to view Kyogai as a person. This transforms the confrontation between Kyogai and Tanjiro from a simple clash between monster and monster-hunter, into one of two people whose goals have come into conflict. When Tanjiro is found victorious, he acknowledges Kyogai as one worthy of respect and Kyogai passes in peace.
Demon Slayer is no stranger to the epic battles, flashy moves, and larger than life characters that define many action shonen series, and would still likely be successful on that alone. It would be easy for the writers to commit to the same old formula and leave it to the gorgeous action. By choosing to add depth through the narrative lens of tragedy, the creators elevate the series beyond a fun popcorn action romp. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is an excellent example of how to utilize aspects of outside genres to enhance the story and I recommend it if you are a fan of great character design and a bit of horror.
