This Demon Slayer Finally Displayed His Awesome Full Potential (2024)

The shonen demographic of manga and anime nearly always focuses on personal growth and development. After all, shonen is meant for young male viewers, so anime like Demon Slayer tend to feature young heroes who have plenty of growing to do, characters whom any young viewer can relate to. Thus, these shonen anime have an "unlock your potential" theme to them, from the original shonen "big three" to modern shonen hits. Of course, that includes protagonist Tanjiro Kamado, who has come a long way since his family was slaughtered, but his growth was actually rather slow.

Tanjiro was already training hard by Demon Slayer's third episode and has made many strides since then, but his most substantial growth had to wait until partway through Season 3 and in much of Season 4 — those being the Swordsmith Village and Hashira Training arcs respectively. Before then, Tanjiro was just going through the motions as a shonen hero, and his patented combo of water breathing and heartfelt empathy was actually getting old rather quickly. Tanjiro is a bit of a late bloomer, but his recent growth has made up for lost time, and he is now displaying his awesome full potential, just in time to face Muzan Kibutsuji the demon king in Demon Slayer's final trio of movies.

Before Now, Tanjiro's Training Was Too Conventional, Even Boring

Tanjiro Was Following a Linear Path to Progress

Even though Tanjiro Kamado has been training hard since the anime's earliest days, only recently has he actually unlocked his full potential with his practice swings. By design, the Hashira training regiment helped slayers like Tanjiro learn new moves and truly achieve his own version of My Hero Academia's famous "Plus Ultra" phrase with that unprecedented training regimen, and fans might wonder if that came a little too late in Tanjiro's arc. By contrast, Tanjiro's other training sequences were short, straightforward, and not the least bit memorable. For brevity's sake, it's fair to make Tanjiro's other training sequences brief, so the anime can make its point and then push Tanjiro into more exciting scenes, such as the final selection battle against the hand demon. Still, Tanjiro's training regimens at the time were just obligatory and basic, and that held them back.

That may be a symptom of how relatively grounded Demon Slayer's story is compared to truly fantastical shonen series like My Hero Academia, Naruto, and One Piece, among others. Of course, superhuman demons and the demon slayer mark are total shonen fantasy, but even so, Tanjiro's adventure and his world are quite grounded for the most part. No one needs jutsu or Quirks to complete the basic training that Sakonji Urokodaki put Tanjiro through, and aside from having a wooden robot in the swordsmith village, Tanjiro's training at that village was pretty ordinary, too. In fact, aside from the Yoriichi Type Zero training doll, there's nothing in particualar to remember about that training sequence, no matter how rigorous it seemed at the time. The same is true for Sakonji's mountain training early in the Demon Slayer anime.

The Demon Slayer anime needed to keep things grounded at first to ease anime fans into Demon Slayer's world, most of all with Sakonji's training, but the anime soon had no need for such restraint. Even the training at the Butterfly Estate felt simple and obligatory, and that went double for Tanjiro's training at the swordsmith village. Such simple training would never push him to the next level or reveal more about who and what he is, so he was going in circles all that time. Only recently has Tanjiro properly unlocked his potential with the Hashira Training story arc in Season 4. It's true that Demon Slayer is somewhat restrained compared to the likes of My Hero Academia and the classic big three, but it still needs better training than "hit the practice dummy 10,000 times" or anything to that effect. Tanjiro won't become the hero Nezuko needs him to be if he's just going through the motions.

The Hashira Training Regimen Expanded Tanjiro's Fighting Style

Rather Than Relying on The Same Moves, Tanjiro Is Showing Growth

Unlike Sakonji's training and the Yoriichi Type Zero doll, the Hashira are actually expanding Tanjiro's understanding and expertise of swordplay through sheer variety, not just hard work. Demon Slayer fans already know that Tanjiro can push himself to overcome any physical challenge, such as dueling that wooden robot and running Sakonji's obstacle course, so he needs to practice something new, not just sharpen his existing physical skills. That is how both Tanjiro Kamado and his fellow slayers will actually make serious strides in their training and tap into whatever potential they may still have inside. Tanjiro did expand his reportoire earlier on with the Hinokami Kagura technique, but even that his threatening to become stale.

While Sakonji taught Tanjiro to use Water Breathing and Tanjiro is largely self-taught with the Hinokami Kagura, Tanjiro had little experience using, fighting against, or even witnessing other breathing styles. Tanjiro saw Flame Breathing with Kyojuro Rengoku and may have caught glimpses of Sound Breathing when fighting alongside Tengen Uzui, but that's not enough to enrich Tanjiro's own swordplay.Tanjiro is handy with his own styles, but he won't unlock his potential until he's forced to feel a new breathing style in battle, and the Hashira training arc delivered. The first example was Tanjiro getting used to Tengen's stealth and ambush-based attacks at night, and then Tanjiro actually learned to use Serpent Breathing himself to fight Obanai Iguro on equal grounds. Tanjiro also felt Mist Breathing in battle when he traded blows with his new friend, Muichiro Tokito.

All that did much to enrich Tanjiro's style, new ways to draw out more of his potential in ways that Water Breathing no longer could. And it wasn't just swordplay, either — Tanjiro also became a user of Repetitive Action, a technique independent of any breathing style. Tanjiro had to level up in an entirely new way, tapping into his deepest emotions over and over to fuel his new power and move that boulder one cho away, as Gyomei Himejima asked him to. It was a totally new kind of challenge, and for a time, Tanjiro thought it impossible to move such a big, heavy boulder like that. That task took Tanjiro out of his element, forcing him to grow in entirely new ways and draw up on his potential with new tools, and it worked. Not even Inosuke, with his sharp instincts and well-honed body, could accomplish what Tanjiro did so swiftly.

Tanjiro Has Reached His Full Potential With Diplomacy and Teamwork

As Each Hashira is Different, Tanjiro's Communication Skills Had To Rise To The Occasion

From the very start, Tanjiro Kamado has been a kind-hearted boy who would gladly cooperate with others and befriend them, as shown in the anime's very first season. At first, however, it was nothing special for Tanjiro to convince Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira to fight with him as part of a new shonen trio. That's the bare minimum for an anime like this, so Tanjiro didn't show his true potential for empathy and teamwork until later on, when it was less obligatory and more challenging. Starting in Season 3, Tanjiro's friendships were no longer freebies from the plot, and he actually had to make an effort to understand and connect with people, which was rewarding to see. One of the first examples was Genya Shinazugawa, who returned to the fore in the Swordsmith Village arc. He and Tanjiro hadn't gotten along when they first met in Season 1.

Tanjiro made a serious effort to connect with Genya, and gaining a new friend was far from guaranteed. Yet Tanjiro did befriend Genya and become a key ally of his in the fight against Hantengu, so that was a serious example of Tanjiro's actual potential for friendship and teamwork. It felt truly earned to see those two boys fighting side by side when, just a few episodes earlier, the grouchy Genya wanted nothing to do with Tanjiro. Something similar could be said about Muichiro Tokito, the young Hashira with steely walls built around his wounded heart. Despite his cold behavior and focus on duty for duty's sake, Muichiro listened when Tanjiro urged him to fight to protect others as an idealistic hero. Then, in the Hashira training arc, Muichiro became Tanjiro's best friend, smiles and all.

Not only that, but Tanjiro has also won the trust and respect of Gyomei Himejima, which isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. No matter his monk persona, Gyomei is actually quite cynical, having seen humans sell out their own kind for survival's sake, so he was skeptical of Tanjiro at first. Then, Gyomei heard that Tanjiro was ready to sacrifice his own sister to uphold his promise to defend the swordsmith village's people, and that changed everything. If Tanjiro can win over the most cynical Hashira and become Genya's best friend while defending him from his brother Sanemi Shinazugawa, then Tanjiro is no longer just that nice guy who cries for demons. Tanjiro Kamado is a truly empathetic, wise, and insightful slayer who knows how to connect with anyone and get in touch with their humanity, and that kind of trust and teamwork will all but guarantee Muzan's downfall in good time.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

TV-MA

Animation

Action

Adventure

Release Date

January 22, 2021

Cast

Natsuki Hanae , Zach Aguilar , Abby Trott , Akari Kitō , Yosh*tsugu Matsuoka

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

4