Highlights
- Tanjiro’s kindness and respect make him well-liked, but not everyone appreciates his virtues, triggering intense hatred from powerful enemies.
- Characters like Akaza and Enmu despise Tanjiro for interfering with their plans, leading to growing resentment and intense animosity towards him.
- Muzan Kibutsuji sees Tanjiro as a reminder of his mortal enemy, fueling deep hatred and causing him to formulate elaborate plans to eliminate Tanjiro.
Tanjiro Kamado has always been a kind and virtuous young man. He always tries to see the goodness in everybody, even demons, and be as respectful as possible to his peers, seniors, and elders. This is true when he was a regular boy living in the mountains, and it is still true even when he becomes one of the strongest swordsmen in the Demon Corps.
But just like in the real world, you can’t please everybody. There will always be people out there who hate you for one reason or another. The same thing applies to a good kid like Tanjiro. Thankfully, the hate mostly comes from his enemies. Tanjiro is well-liked by everybody around him. The only ally who is sometimes mad at Tanjiro is the swordsmith Hotaru Haganezuka because Tanjiro often breaks his precious Nichirin Sword. So, with that in mind, here are seven characters who hate Tanjiro the most.
7 Yahaba
Tanjiro Destroys Yahaba’s Dream
Yahaba is one of the two demons sent to kill Tanjiro while he is visiting Tamayo’s house. Unlike the other demons in this list, Yahaba is not part of the Twelve Kizuki. But make no mistake, he is still way stronger than your average run-of-the-mill demons.
Another important part of his character is the fact that Yahaba is a clean freak. From his appearance to the way he hunts his prey, Yahaba likes to do everything as cleanly and as neatly as possible. When Tanjiro slices his neck, however, Yahaba’s head inevitably touches the ground. Yahaba is already mad at Tanjiro for ending his life, but the fact that he has to spend the last moment of his life in such a dirty place makes Yahaba hate Tanjiro even more.
6 Enmu
He Blames Tanjiro for His Demise
Enmu is the Lower Rank One demon of the Twelve Kizuki. Enmu is the main antagonist of the Mugen Train arc and that is when he first encountered Tanjiro and his fellow demon slayers. Enmu’s initial goal is to consume everybody aboard the train in order to grow stronger. Unfortunately for him, the moment Tanjiro and co. hop on board, Enmu’s nefarious plan is basically doomed to fail.
It takes quite a long time and the demon slayers, especially Tanjiro, experience multiple near-death situations while fighting Enmu, but they prevail and Tanjiro eventually manages to cut Enmu’s head off. In the minutes before his body evaporates, Enmu’s hatred toward Tanjiro grows exponentially. He can’t believe a new demon slayer like Tanjiro manages to ruin his otherwise perfect plan and end his life prematurely.
5 Akaza
He Despises the Weak
Akaza is the Upper Rank Three demon of the Twelve Kizuki and he first met Tanjiro near the end of the Mugen Train Arc. That is also when he takes the life of the Flame Hashira, Kyojuro Rengoku. He is undoubtedly one of the most powerful demons in the series. What many people may not know, however, is the fact that Akaza’s strength comes from a lifetime’s worth of training and experience.
From the time he was still a human to the time he was reborn as a demon a hundred years ago, Akaza keeps on honing his skill by fighting against strong opponents. In his mind, it’s only natural for the strong to prey on the weak. He praises the strong and despises anybody who allows themselves to be the prey. This is doubly true for people who live as a fighter, such as demons and demon slayers. That’s why he despises Tanjiro who is considerably weaker than him at the time.
4 Rui
Rui Despises Tanjiro’s Perfect Life
Rui is the Lower Rank Five demon of the Twelve Kizuki. He is the main antagonist of the Mount Natagumo arc. Rui is obsessed with having a loving family to the point he enslaves other demons to pretend to be his parents and older siblings. However, since his fake family is built on top of the fear of the other demons towards Rui, he never feels a genuine connection with them, which greatly upsets him.
That’s when Tanjiro comes along with his sister, Nezuko. Rui sees with his own eyes how Tanjiro never gave up on his sister even after she was turned into a demon. Likewise, Nezuko who is supposed to lose her sanity is still willing to sacrifice herself for her brother. For the first time in nearly a hundred years, Rui witnessed a true unbreakable bond within a family. To him, Tanjiro has everything that he ever wanted and he despises him for it.
3 Urami (Hantengu)
He is the Embodiment of Hantengu’s Resentment
Hantengu is the Upper Rank Four demon of the Twelve Kizuki. He is one of the antagonists of the Swordsmith Village arc. Unlike the other members of Twelve Kizuki, Hantengu can transform into different forms with each one representing his suppressed emotions. Sekido represents his anger, Karaku represents his pleasure, Aizetsu represents his sorrow, Urogi represents his joy, Zohakuten represents his hatred, and Urami is the embodiment of his resentment.
As the representation of hatred, Zohakuten can easily be on this list, but his hatred is nothing compared to Urami’s resentment. Urami resents everything in this world and considers himself the victim despite the fact that he has killed countless innocent humans. He is enraged at Tanjiro for being a bully who wants to hurt his weaker self (i.e. Hantengu) while he himself is ready to crush Tanjiro’s body with his bare hands. Urami has nothing but hate and resentment in his body and all of it is directed to Tanjiro until he inevitably ceases to exist.
2 Kokushibou
Tanjiro Reminds Him of His Brother
Kokushibou is the Upper Rank One demon from the Twelve Kizuki. He is one of the most powerful demons in the country, second only to Muzan Kibutsuzi himself. Kokushibou used to be one of the founding fathers of the breathing-style sword technique, with him wielding the Moon Breathing and his younger brother, Yoriichi Tsugikuni, wielding the Sun Breathing. These two techniques would branch out into water breathing, thunder breathing, and many others.
Despite being one of the most powerful and influential swordsmen who contributes so much to humanity’s effort against demons, Kokushibou has always felt inferior to his prodigious brother. He lived the rest of his human life consumed by jealousy to the point he willingly chose to be a demon in order to gain more power than his brother. Over time, that envy turns into hatred. And now, seeing Tanjiro use the same Sun Breathing technique as his brother, all of that buried hatred comes rushing back. This time around, however, the subject of his loathsome is the young Tanjiro Kamado.
1 Muzan Kibutsuji
Tanjiro Reminds Him of His Mortal Enemy
Muzan Kibutsuji was the first human who turned into a demon, hundreds of years ago, and he is also the most powerful demon in existence. Thanks to that immense power, Muzan enjoyed a long reign of terror. At least that was the case until Yoriichi came along. Yoriichi is often considered to be a genius swordsman who would only come once in a century. As fate would have it, Muzan and Yoriichi would accidentally cross paths. For the first time in his long life, Muzan was scared for his life. No matter what demonic power he uses, Yoriichi nearly kills Muzan several times during their fight. In order to adapt to Muzan’s unique body, Yoriichi even modified his swordsmanship style on the spot, which led to the creation of the sun-breathing technique that we know today. So in a sense, Sun Breathing is a technique that was specially developed to kill Muzan Kibutsuji.
Fast forward a couple of decades, and Yoriichi finally succumbed to old age. But just when Muzan thinks that he is finally free, a young man who wields the same Sun Breathing technique suddenly appears in front of him. All of that hatred, fear, and trauma come rushing back to Muzan. His hatred towards his mortal enemy is now directed towards Tanjiro Kamado. He even goes out of his way to formulate all kinds of plans to eliminate the kind young man. That is the reason why Muzan Kibutsuji is undoubtedly the one character who hates Tanjiro the most.
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