Demon Slayer’s main characters usually have tragic and painful memories of their families, such as protagonist Tanjiro Kamado returning home to find his family dead or Muichiro Tokito losing his parents and brother one after another. However, the love Hashira, Mitsuri Kanroji, bucks this trend in surprisingly deep ways with her own flashbacks.
Recent Demon Slayer episodes depicted Mitsuri’s childhood; for once, a demon slayer could look back fondly on the good old days. Mitsuri had a great family and a cozy home life, which means she had to dig deep within herself to find the courage and motivation to become a demon-fighting warrior who actually had a lot to lose.
Mitsuri’s Flashbacks Balance Demon Slayer’s Mood
Earlier in Season 3, Demon Slayer depicted a heartbreaking flashback for Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira, but Mitsuri Kanroji’s own flashback in the last episode was the inverse. Mitsuri’s brief flashback depicted a happy, normal family where everyone supported and loved one another, which served a few narrative purposes. This unusually happy flashback helps balance the anime’s overall mood because, for all its darkness, violence, and drama, Demon Slayer is still a shonen story that’s meant to inspire its viewers and make them feel good. Mitsuri’s relatively happy flashback is an essential reminder that after all is said and done, love and hope will prevail, and some characters simply have a head start, like Mitsuri.
Mitsuri’s flashbacks aren’t just comic relief to help ease the tension, either. Her flashbacks with her happy family actually contribute a lot to Mitsuri’s character arc and explain how she became the person she is today, and humor is just a cosmetic. Mitsuri’s life is a genuinely positive one with lots of love and kindness, which, among other factors, inspired her to defend innocent people with the power of love and muscles. Mitsuri’s happy life is not a gag or a comedy skit — it’s an essential piece of who she is and why she fights, and it reminds Demon Slayer fans that not everyone needs a traumatic backstory to become a demon slayer. Many roads lead to Kagaya Ubuyashiki’s Demon Slayer Corps, and some of them are filled with flowers.
Mitsuri Kanroji Finds Her Motivation From Within
Mitsuri Kanroji’s unusually happy, wholesome flashback also means that unlike Tanjiro and most of the Hashira, Mitsuri has almost no external motivation to become a Hashira. She’s not fighting to make sure other people don’t suffer; she isn’t fighting for revenge or even fighting to prove a disapproving family member wrong. The tragic Muichiro Tokito simply has nothing else to lose and thus fights hard. Kyojuro Rengoku and Tengen Uzui both became Hashira to break away from their dysfunctional families, but Mitsuri is different. Her family life was so comfortable that she could have been a civilian forever and never touched a sword in her life — but she did become a demon slayer.
This means Mitsuri Kanroji needed internal motivation to become a demon slayer, and she practically had to make up the reasons herself. Without the need for revenge or proving a critic wrong, Mitsuri had to invent her own path to the Demon Slayer Corps, and she did just that. That is even more impressive than someone like Muichiro or Tanjiro having nothing else to live for, or someone like Kyojuro working so hard to make a point to his father.
Mitsuri chose to risk her life as a demon slayer even though she had a lot to lose and a wonderful family to fall back on, which is deeply admirable. She is a demon slayer because it’s the right thing to do, and no external circumstances had to force her hand. That proves her worth as the true Love Hashira, someone who loves her family, loves her job, and, most of all, has learned to love herself for who she is.