Tanjiro is a kindhearted person who loves his family and is willing to be the type of sibling everyone can rely on and look up to. This is changed when he returns from a day of work to find his family completely slaughtered, the only survivor being his little sister, Nezuko. This set fate in motion for what we’ve currently seen: The training, harrowing battles, and strenuous persistence against demonic resilience. The effort required to achieve his current level of strength was no easy feat, and I believe this was done extremely well within Demon Slayer.
Protagonists becoming able to fight against the strongest of opponents is nothing new in anime, but often times we’re conflicted by how exactly this comes to be. Do we see genuine effort and resolve which makes their power level believable? Or do we feel that the MC simply benefits from unfair circumstances and shenanigans which allows them to rise to the occasion despite their inexperience and unworthiness?
I believe Tanjiro has earned his level of power, and is fairly scaled considering his training and effort. Let’s talk about it.
First let us address the elephants within the room, as the two biggest things people will state that make Tanjiro’s power illegitimately gained are his Sun Breathing style and the “Demon Slayer Mark”.
For those of you who do not know: Sun Breathing is the original breathing technique in which all other forms are derived from, and Demon Slayer Marks are what appears on the body of those who have met certain conditions and enhances their physical capabilities past those of a normal human.
The Sun Breathing style, “Hinokami Kagura”, was taught to Tanjiro by his father. This was a ritual performed to ward off evil spirits and diseases at the start of every new year, the dance being performed from sunset to sunrise. It is passed down within the Kamado family, and just also happens to be the legendary Sun Breathing technique which birthed every other style.
Regardless of Sun Breathing being a family secret and essentially the strongest breathing technique (being the originator), it must also be learned. Tanjiro still had to put in the effort to become proficient within this breathing style, meaning that it would be completely unrealized unless he’d already learned the Hinokami Kagura with his father and then honed it. Also, this isn’t some magical style which has no drawbacks or limitations; the stronger Tanjiro is normally, the better he’s able to utilize this ability. In fact, without him being sufficiently strong, this acts more-like a double-edged sword; boosting his power considerably while also depleting all of his stamina in the process.
As time goes on, and as of the time of Infinity Castle, Tanjiro is able to use this as easily as his Water Breathing techniques. However, this is only because he’s had to train relentlessly and come to terms with how this power is used in order to not suffer as severe of a drawback as when he first began to utilize Hinokami Kagura within his core fighting style.
Tanjiro’s origin story begins with confronting Giyu to save the life of his sister. While it was very apparent that Giyu was completely out of Tanjiro’s league, Kamado was still willing to attempt the battle to save his little sister. The rock he threw to distract Giyu while tossing up the Axe shows how strategy plays apart of whatever Tanjiro does. One of my favorite quotes from the Air Gear manga was, “The strong are always sharpening their fangs while the weak are always quickening their wits”. His ability to strategically fight is also shown in several places; such as versus the Upper-Moon Ranked 6 in deceiving him to go for his neck, or using the Upper-Moon Ranked 4’s ability to fly so that he could make it back to his sister. While he’s continuously shown his mind since the beginning, what earned him most of his strength is the effort he’s put in.
Giyu introduced Tanjiro to Sakonj Urokodaki, the man who trained him. However, Tanjiro was never supposed to actually go face the trial to become a Demon Slayer since he’d already had too many students who died due to a specific demon. Training for additional years, aided by the spirits of those who passed (Sabito and Makomo), Tanjiro was able to face and defeat this demon while passing the trial to become an official Demon Slayer. It makes sense that Tanjiro was able to do what none of the others did since he was given a higher goal to finish before even being able to take the test; those additional years spent building strength, technique, and constantly testing his mettle would put him up and above those without that same level of grinding. Also, those spirits gave him guidance, as hindsight is always 20/20.
Tanjiro was able to go and fight demons on his own, completing missions and gaining the battle experience needed to feel more confident within himself. Fighting through pain, his own worries, and even realizing that sometimes you must use unorthodox approaches and critical thinking to best an opponent who may have an edge on you.
During his battle with Lower-Moon Lower-Five, Rui, Tanjiro discovered and implemented the Sun Breathing Style. While incomplete and draining him fully, he got a powerful technique to hone and use in his upcoming battles.
After his battle against the Lower-Moon Ranked Five, Rui, Tanjiro had to undergo “Rehabilitation Training”. This included getting his stamina and strength back up, which lead into him finding out and learning “Total Concentration Breathing Constant”. With more mastery and control over breathing, he even learned how to use it in order to stop minor bleeding.
Also, when the Swordsmith Village Arc arrived, we got to see him take on the Yoriichi Type Zero. While Muichiro was able to handle this easily and broke off one of the arms, Tanjiro was able to receive the full benefits of this training. One of the arms being broken means he was able to fight a nerfed version, making it easier to handle but still very much a challenge. Being able to spar against this meant his techniques improved; as in, his ability to both attack, defend, and be aware of his surroundings and possible openings.
If you keep going past this, Tanjiro received training from the Hashira, being one of the only Demon Slayers who was able to gain the tutelage of multiple ones. Each time he endured a training, something new was learned and more skill and strength was built. It was during the Hashira Training Arc that honed Tanjiro into a more finely tuned Demon Slayer by being under direct supervision and instruction of the best the Corps has to offer.
Within Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle, Giyu has thoughts after seeing Tanjiro evade Upper-Moon Ranked 3’s Akaza attack and counterstrike him. Saying that his skills were finely honed, and he’s comparable to a Hashira. While Tanjiro’s is blessed with The Demon Slayer Mark, Hinokami Kagura, and ability to enter “The Transparent World”, it’s not as though these alone would have gotten him to be comparable to a Hashira. No. We see many times throughout the series where Tanjiro doesn’t stack up against these powerhouses, and it’s only now that he’s able to fight side-by-side with them.
The first fight where we see the massive difference in power is when he needed to fight the Lower-Ranked Five, Rui. Despite fighting against him desperately, despite manifesting the power of Hinokami Kagura, and despite Nezuki utilizing her Blood Demon Art…Tanjiro failed. However, immediately afterwards, we see Giyu take Rui down with absolutely no effort. This marked the biggest gap in power I’d seen within this series so far, and an immediate telling of how absolutely insane the Hashira were. For all of Tanjiro’s effort and struggle, he still paled in comparison to the Demon Corps best.
When they made it to the Butterfly Mansion to be rehabilitated, it was very apparent how much stronger and faster Kanao was than Tanjiro. While she was not a Hashira, it was obvious she was much stronger than a normal member of the Demon Slayer Corps. This in itself showed a massive gap between him and more elite members, and Total Concentration Breathing was the technique which brought his strength inline with her’s. Kanao went from someone unstoppable against Tanjiro to being someone he could actually best, this showed a boost in his strength and technique through the power of Total Concentration Breathing.
The Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaibi – The Movie: Mugen Train showed once again how much disparity there was between Tanjiro and The Hashira, even if he’d already learned Total Concentration Breathing. For reference, there was 8 train cars and Rengoku was able to handle five by himself. Tanjiro was having difficulty with just one. However, the fight against Lower-Ranked One, Enmu, showed that Tanjiro had indeed grown. While he was unable to take down Rui with his sister’s help, he was able to defeat Enmu with Inosuke. While this is to be celebrated, they immediately showed that our MC was still far from the ideal.
When Upper-Moon Ranked 3 Akaza and Rengoku fought, Tanjiro stood on the sidelines unable to do anything. The battle was happening too fast for him to keep up, and he felt a true sense of helplessness. Being only able to watch a great man die without aiding had to have hurt, but there was nothing he could do. Giyu’s word echo this sentiment, “The weak have no rights or choices! Their only fate is to be relentlessly crushed by the strong!”.
Another massive power gap was shown during the “Entertainment District” arc. While Tanjiro had to once again enter into Hinokami Kagura, and was close to beheading Daki…he failed. Much like Goku’s kickback after using Mastered Ultra Instinct, Tanjiro’s body betrayed him and he immediately felt the ramifications of not being able to handle that power. Comparatively, Tengen was able to behead Daki without any effort and called her “weak”. The strength to effortlessly handle an enemy which our MC’s best technique under duress could not shows the difference. Tanjiro was stronger than he’d ever been with Total Concentration Breathing mastered and the slaying of a Lower-Moon demon beneath his belt…but still not enough.
Regardless of this, Tanjiro was actually able to step in and help Uzui when the decisive blow to Upper-Rank 6 Gyutaro was dealt. Sure, Gyutaro was preoccupied with Uzui and wasn’t on par with Upper-Rank 3’s Akaza, but this was MASSIVE for Tanjiro. Before, he was only able to sit on the sidelines and watch as a Hashira fought an Upper-Rank demon that resulted within his death, now he was a factor in achieving the first slaying of an Upper-Rank demon in 100 years.
Another great comparison is within the Swordsmith Village Arc. Hantengu split himself into many forms, and even though it made him weaker, it gave him the ability to fight multiple targets while keeping himself safe. Tanjiro had trouble when dealing with just one of them after they were split apart, where as the Love Hashira (Mitsuri Kanroji) was able to battle the combined form for a significant period of time. Anyone else who was not a Hashira would have perished long before Tanjiro was able to behead the weak main body of Hantengu.
Next is a comparison of Tanjiro to regular Demon Slayers. The “Hashira Training Arc” gives us a good opportunity to see how our MC stacks against regular people; and we see that it’s not even close. Being stronger, more endurance, and simply having better techniques showed that he was miles above regular Slayers of the Corps. As far as I see, he was one of the only people outside of the core group which was able to train under multiple Hashira. While this further along Tanjiro’s skill for what’s to come, it also showed that he truly was special compared to regular candidates because of the effort and battle experience.
The final comparison comes from Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle. Remember that Tanjiro was unable to keep up with the attacks that Akaza and Rengoku had before, let alone be skilled enough to intervene to help The Flame Hashira. More than that, Rengoku had to defend Tanjiro when Akaza was going to attempt to kill him immediately since “he was weak”. Not only did Tanjiro dodge Akaza’s initial attack, he was able to do so again immediately after while countering him. Being able to stand toe-to-toe with a serious Akaza put him on par with Rengoku, and the Demon Slayer Mark and “Transparent World” helped him to surpass him.
Main characters in anime and manga are always going to be more talented or gifted in some way than others; it’s why the series is about them and not someone else who cannot achieve the level of greatness required for genuine change. Tanjiro was born within the family that keeps the Hinokami Kagura alive, and he has the ability to manifest the “Demon Slayer Mark”. However, that doesn’t dismiss all of the hard work he has put in to achieve the level of prowess as a Demon Slayer. More so, there’s never been a time I’ve felt that his status as a main character factored into the strength he needed within a given situation.
Tanjiro has never been able to use Hinokami Kagura to defeat an opponent who was clearly stronger than him, and he has never been able to make huge jumps in his strength without genuine training and strenuous effort. Those who should be more powerful than him show it within waves that are obvious, and he is brought inline with them on a timeline which feels believable and natural. While his strength played a major factor, let’s not forget his change in mentality.
Being someone who was so non-violent and empathetic means that he’s also had to change his mentality when it comes to fighting demons. In fact, when he was going to be trained initially, his lack of decisiveness and soft-hearted nature was one of the things which lead to Sakonj Urokodaki doubting he’d make it. Tanjiro never lost his empathetic and kind heart, but his resolve grew as he understood the monsters he was facing and what he needed to do. That even if he thought his opponents were amazing or possessed some level of redemption, that he couldn’t forgive them for the evil they’ve done. I applaud him for taking a pragmatic approach; continue to have a kind heart but understand that somethings simply must be done.
Overall, I think Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba did an excellent job. The mangaka Koyoharu Gotouge did an excellent job in his storytelling and what this series is most known for, but I think the power-scaling is really well done.
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