This article contains major spoilers from the Demon Slayer anime and manga
The 4th season of the immensely popular shonen anime Demon Slayer is set to begin airing on May 12th, 2024, Sunday. This season is set to cover the Hashira Training Arc from Koyoharu Gotouge’s manga. But anime watchers have a question, does the protagonist Tanjiro turn into a demon in this arc?
The simple answer is no, he does not turn into a demon in this arc. However, he does turn into a demon for a very short while at the tail end of the manga. As it is pretty easy to become a demon in the Demon Slayer world, it should not come as a surprise if Tanjiro does turn into a demon, however, his transformation happens a bit differently than others.
When and how does Tanjiro turn into a demon?
As mentioned before, Tanjiro does not become a demon in the Hashira Training Arc. However, it does happen at the end of the Final Battle Arc, after Tanjiro and his remaining comrades are able to defeat Muza, the original Demon.
Now the demons in Demon Slayer are very similar to vampires in the way they cannot go out in the sunlight and their sustenance comes from the human body. But becoming a demon is pretty easy in the sense that if Muzan feeds someone his blood, they will turn into a demon, which is the same thing he does to Nezuko. Much like vampires, if the creator of all demons Muzan dies, so do all the other vampires in the world.
With that in mind, the remaining Hashira and other demon slayers were finally able to kill Muzan, aka The Demon King, in the final battle. However, as both Tanjiro and Muzan were dying, the latter fed Tanjiro his blood as a way to continue the demon lineage. As the essence of Muzan, the Demon King, flowed through Tanjiro’s body, he became a demon that surpassed pretty much everyone else in power. As Tanjiro had the same bloodline as Nezuko, he was also immune to sunlight just like Nezuko. The fact that he also mastered the Sun Breathing Technique while fighting Muzan meant that he became a demon of unparalleled power.
What happens to Tanjiro after he becomes a demon?
Tanjiro becomes a demon at the very end of the battle and his mind immediately goes berserk as he starts to attack his friends who just fought alongside him. With Muzan’s blood coursing through his brain and his words of evil encouragement messing with his judgment, Tanjiro not only becomes a demon, but an extremely dangerous one. He mindlessly attacks people in front of him but his friends, who fought beside him for so long, are unable to kill him, despite his condition.
In the end, however, after another vicious struggle against the extremely strong demon Tanjiro, his friends are able to turn him back into a human. It was all thanks to Tamayo’s medicine which Kanao Tsuyuri had the will of Tanjiro and the love his friends had for him that was finally able to bring the boy back from the brink of evil. Tanjiro, Nezuko, and their friends survive.
But if the manga had ended differently, then we might have seen a demon Tanjiro rampaging the world just like Muzan. He probably would have been worse as he could also withstand sunlight, making him immune to the Nichirin blades of the slayers. Thankfully, Tanjiro was able to overcome the effects of Muzan’s blood and returned to a life of peace and happiness.
The spoilers provided here are not official and should be taken with caution. Fans are advised to wait for the official release for canonical content. Keep your eyes on Pinkvilla for more anime and manga related content.
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