Akaza

Akaza (猗あ窩か座ざ, Akaza?) is a major supporting antagonist of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, holding the position of Upper Rank Three (上じょう弦げんの参さん, Jōgen no San?).[3]

Over a century ago, Akaza was a human by the name of Hakuji (狛はく治じ, Hakuji?)[4], a prodigious martial artist who trained under Keizo[5] while nursing his daughter, Koyuki,[6] who would later become Akaza's fiancée.[7]

Akaza was a very muscular young man of average height with skin so fair it appeared bright green-tinged white, decorated by a pattern of thick blue lines, which resembled the criminal tattoos he had as a human. Akaza had short, bright pink hair that fluffed out around his head and inward-tilting yellow eyes with pink eyelashes and blue sclera that somewhat resembled cracked glass. The kanji for Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) and the daiji for Three (参さん, San?) were etched into his irises as well.

The lines on his face curved through each of his eyes from below his ears to over his temples, another blue line running from the center of his hairline to the bridge of his nose, with two more lines running around his neck, three others branching off the lower one to his torso. The middle line ran directly down his chest to halfway down his stomach, and the other two branched off to the sides over each side of his chest to join the two other lines. This same three-line pattern also repeated around his waist. On his arms, lines were running down the front of his shoulders that ran into two more, which went around his biceps before continuing to run down to his wrists, below which each of his fingers was also dark blue with an orange fingernail, his toes also sharing this unusual appearance.

Akaza wore little and only sported a short, sleeveless dark purple-pink haori cut off at his waist, left open to expose his chest, and decorated by a square pattern on his back. Below this, he sported a pair of baggy white pants that he rolled to just below the knee with a blue rope belt to secure them at his waist. Akaza preferred to go barefoot but wore a pair of chains of large, round, pink pearls around his ankles.

Akaza was a headstrong, stubborn, and battle-crazed Social Darwinist who enjoyed fighting, especially against strong Demon Slayers. He purposefully drew out fights to savor every moment of it, always complimenting his opponents when they unleashed powerful techniques or landed blows on him, usually remarking that their techniques and swordsmanship were magnificent and intriguing. Akaza looked down on anybody he deemed weak, so much so that his skin would crawl at the sight of them. He genuinely respected those who were strong in his eyes, demanding to know their names, and would not stop until he found out; he remembered all the names of strong opponents of the past and committed them to memory as a tribute to their strength.

Akaza also presented an opportunity for those he recognized the strength of to become demons, believing that preserving their refined techniques and skill was right and feeling pain watching the deterioration of those blessed with extraordinary gifts as they age, and going so far as to kill them to preserve their magnificent skill himself should they decline his offer to become a demon. He also did not discriminate against strong warriors who were weak before, as shown when he praised and complimented Tanjiro Kamado despite initially attempting to kill him over how weak he was during their first encounter, even going so far as to thank Kyojuro for Tanjiro's growth. Akaza believed strongly in Social Darwinism, believing that the law of nature dictates that all weaklings shall be eliminated.

Akaza had a deeply rooted psychological need to become stronger and did not get along with his fellow Upper Ranks, seeing them as his rivals. [8] He was especially antagonistic towards and somewhat jealous of the two Upper Ranks above him, Doma and Kokushibo, lashing out at Doma[9] and vowing to kill Kokushibo.[10] Even after being beheaded during his fight against Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka, he stubbornly held on and continued to fight, remarking that he must become the strongest no matter what, to the point of overcoming all demons' shared weakness of decapitation by Nichirin Swords through nothing but sheer willpower and resolve.[11] It was later revealed that Akaza's desperate and stubborn pursuit of strength was to heal his sick father and to protect the ones he loved and cared about, namely his fiancée Koyuki and his teacher Keizo.

Akaza also possessed a deep hatred for his past life as a human, believing he was absolutely worthless, and hating anyone or anything that reminded him of it, such as Tanjiro's view of how the strong should help the weak and Giyu's unwavering resolve reminding Akaza of Keizo. During both instances, he reacted negatively due to his own grief of not being strong enough to protect Keizo and Koyuki despite his heartfelt promises that ultimately "amounted to nothing", which led to his obsession with becoming strong.

Akaza exemplified a stubborn and resilient personality as a human. However, he also possessed a noble, kind, and even honorable side. The crimes he committed were only driven by sheer desperation to obtain money for his father's medicine. Despite enduring numerous beatings, Akaza remained resolute, expressing his willingness to endure them for a hundred years if it meant his father's recovery. This unwavering determination showcased his deep prioritization of his loved ones' well-being over his own. Furthermore, his selflessness extended to his care for Koyuki, whom he nursed without any prior connection, declining her offer to attend the fireworks display in favor of tirelessly tending to her.

Even after becoming a demon and losing his memories of his human life, parts of his human memories still influenced his decisions; he refused to eat or kill women, despite knowing it would make him stronger if he did so.[12] Koyuki's name and hairpin influenced the shape and design of his Compass Needle technique, the martial arts style he uses as a demon was mainly inspired by the Soryu style Keizo taught him, and the naming of his attacks were based on fireworks, a reference to Akaza's promise to take Koyuki to see the fireworks after she was healed. His targeted hatred of weak people and belief in Social Darwinism stemmed from a corruption of his human memories, where a rival dojo poisoned his dojo's well because they were never strong enough to beat him.[13]

As the third highest-ranking member of the Twelve Kizuki, Akaza was an exceptionally powerful demon and the fourth strongest in existence after Doma, Kokushibo, and Muzan Kibutsuji. Even as a human child without martial arts training, Akaza could defeat and render grown men unconscious on his own.[14] At the age of 18, after mastering the Soryu Style (素そ流りゅう式しき, Soryū Shiki?) from Keizo, he singlehandedly annihilated 67 trained adult swordsmen with his bare fists, to the point where Muzan initially thought it was a demon who had killed all these men.[15] Upon becoming a demon, his combat prowess only grew, eventually earning him the title of Upper Rank Three among the Twelve Kizuki, despite his growth rate being hindered by his refusal to eat women.[16] Akaza was able to fight on par with the Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku and kill him, and had also claimed the lives of numerous other Hashira and Demon Slayers in the past.[17]

Akaza displayed remarkable skill by engaging in combat with both the Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and the Hashira-level Demon Slayer Tanjiro Kamado simultaneously. Despite being outnumbered and facing opponents utilizing their Demon Slayer Marks, Akaza dominated the majority of their battle. He only succumbed to them once Tanjiro accessed the Selfless State and Transparent World. Even though Akaza was unable to defeat Kokushibo when challenging him for the position of Upper Rank One, Kokushibo spared his life, finding the challenge entertaining.[18] This suggests that Akaza was able to put up a good fight against Kokushibo, despite the significant power gap between the two.

Indomitable Will: Akaza demonstrated extraordinary willpower and unwavering determination. He defied death even after being beheaded by Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword, refusing to succumb and instead continuing to fight with his headless body.[19] His powers of regeneration evolved to the point where he could regrow his head, driven solely by his refusal to accept defeat.[20] Even before becoming a demon, he endured relentless attacks from much larger opponents and sustained numerous beatings, all in pursuit of healing his sick father.[14]

Tactical Intellect: Akaza possessed over a century of combat experience and martial arts training, enabling him to fight with exceptional foresight and tactical intelligence. Even Giyu was astonished by Akaza's ability to instantly adapt and evolve, predicting and countering attacks with equal power.[21] Even before becoming a demon, Akaza demonstrated natural aptitude in martial arts by defeating trained swordsmen from neighboring dojos while learning Keizo's Soryu Style, doing the same to grown men before he even started training.[14]

Soryu Style (素そ流りゅう式しき, Soryū Shiki?):[5] A bare-fisted martial arts style taught to him by Keizo, a martial arts expert, when he lived with him and cared for Koyuki. The Soryu Style utilized a user's arms and legs to unleash swift and powerful strikes that targeted an opponent's neck and weapon. At the start of a battle, the user began by entering a stance performed by bending their knees in a half-crouch position, extending their right arm with a half-clenched fist facing his body and bending his left arm with an open palm[48] or a nearly identical stance except they open their palm on their right arm while fully clenching their fists in a downwards bend on their left arm.[49] After becoming a demon, Akaza used the Soryu Style as the main inspiration of his Destructive Death (破は壊かい殺さつ, Hakai Satsu?) martial arts.[47]

Bell Splitter (鈴すず割わり, Suzu Wari?): A technique where Akaza struck a sword from the side as it was descending to break it with little effort.[50] When he was a human, Akaza was most proficient in this technique, likely due to having fought the neighboring dojo's swordsmen and murdering 67 of them when he was 18, which would likely have required him to utilize that move many times to overpower them.Using the shockwaves of his Blood Demon Art and the Soryu Style, Akaza could attack his targets with destructive long-ranged barrages and precise short-ranged strikes. During his battle with Kyojuro Rengoku, he could keep the Flame Hashira at bay with his shockwaves, forcing him to close the gap and putting him in range of his bare-handed fighting style, which was to the Upper Rank's advantage. The shockwaves generated from his Blood Demon Art were extremely powerful, once being able to smash Kyojuro's ribs and even internal organs after he took a barrage of larger shockwaves head-on,[53] the same Hashira who survived explosions being rained down upon him with insignificant injuries. Akaza could also use his Blood Demon Art in his kicks to generate additional destructive force to launch his opponents extremely far.[54] More impressively, he could create countless shockwaves that surrounded his target with a hundred blows that struck them everywhere almost simultaneously.[55]

His Blood Demon Art also included his crucial Compass Needle technique, essentially an advanced form of extrasensory perception that allowed him to sense a person's will to fight. With this information, he could instinctively aim for their vitals and weak points,[44] determine their strength at a glance,[43] predict his opponents' next moves,[56] sense their location in his vicinity,[56] enhance the lethality and accuracy of his punches and kicks, and evolve and adapt to their attacks over time.[21]