Demon Slayer is a shonen fantasy anime that may have plenty of dark moments, such as Daki and Gyutaro’s flashback and Kyojuro Rengoku’s death, but it also has some charming and cartoony elements, such as “smol” Nezuko and even talking animals. Demon Slayer’s kasugai crows are the best example, being enhanced messenger hawks who directly talk to their demon slayer partners.
Protagonist Tanjiro Kamado gets along with his kasugai crow, and Mitsuri Kanroji is good friends with hers, but Inosuke Hashibira is totally different. His crow is hardly ever seen, and some Demon Slayer fans worry that it’s already dead. Fans are eager to know the fate of Inosuke’s crow and what it means for both characters — and the story as a whole.
Does Inosuke Have a Crow?
According to Demon Slayer fluff lore, Inosuke was indeed assigned a kasugai crow after he joined the demon slayer corps, the same as all other demon slayers. Inosuke’s crow is named Dongurimaru, which is said to be a highly intelligent creature, unlike Inosuke, but Dongurimaru is hardly ever around to prove it. Amusingly, Inosuke tried to kill and eat Donguimaru several times, and the terrified avian now avoids Inosuke and is rarely seen. This means that Inosuke almost never receives direct orders from his superiors, so Inosuke relies on Tanjiro’s crow, Matsuemon Tennoji, to get updates on where demons can be found.
For the sake of variety, most kasugai crows in Demon Slayer have different personalities and even different appearances, such as Tenten Uzui’s gaudily decorated crow Nijimaru or Mitsuri Kanroji’s shy but sweet crow Urara. These crows also have varying relationships with their demon slayer partners, with Muichiro Tokito’s crow Ginko taking great pride in its mist Hashira owner and Isuzu worrying for her owner, the silent dandere Kanao Tsuyuri. For comedy’s sake, and to play up Inosuke’s feral nature, Dongurimaru is afraid that Inosuke is about to eat him, so the two of them obviously don’t get along or trust one another. It’s ironic, too, since Inosuke is a survival expert and understands animals, yet he can’t even get a talking crow to trust him or work with him.
How Demon Slayer’s Crows Compare to Other Shonen Animal Messengers
A variety of shonen anime series depict the main characters using talking animals to convey messages in place of technology like radios, cell phones or pagers, with Demon Slayer being just one of several examples. The messenger animal trend is also seen in Bleach, for example, with Soul Reapers sometimes using black Hell Butterflies to convey messages. Given how many similarities Demon Slayer has with the older Bleach franchise, it’s possible that Hell Butterflies even inspired the kasugai crows.
Meanwhile, One Piece‘s characters make regular use of transponder snails — large, docile mollusks that have telephone receivers on their shells. These snails are psychic and can be used to speak with anyone around the world who has their own snail to receive the call, and transponder snails may even visually mimic their owners to some degree. However, these snails don’t have names or personalities, and neither do Bleach‘s Hell Butterflies.
This makes Demon Slayer’s kasugai crows a charming evolution of the messenger animal idea, mostly for the sake of fluff lore and entertainment. Kasugai crows have distinct personalities and unique relationships with their owners, which often reflects not just on the crows themselves but also on the demon slayers they’re assigned to. Tanjiro, being an agreeable and cooperative person, is often fussed at by his crow to hurry along to the next mission. A kind boy like Tanjiro simply can’t bring himself to argue with or defy his crow.
By contrast, Tengen Uzui and his crow are two peas in a pod, both being proud, confident and flashy creatures who set an example for everyone else. Most of all though, Dongurimaru’s fear of Inosuke proves that Inosuke really is an instinct-driven individual who holds nothing sacred and will impulsively do whatever he feels like, even if means breaking the rules. If Inosuke’s official messenger crow is just another meal to devour in Inosuke’s eyes, there’s no telling what this feral demon slayer will do next — but Donguimaru certainly won’t be involved.
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