Thread by @knyesta

The beauty of Demon Slayer’s character designs: a thread on Koyoharu Gotouge’s detailed designs and their ability to tell a story through appearance

for starters, obvious spoilers going forward. Kny designs are famous for being so recognizable and imbuing its cast with personality and flare. with RLD anime wrapping up i’ll start with the stars of our current arc, Gyotaro and Daki.

Upper Moon 6: Gyotaro
Gyo has a sickly appearance. he’s emaciated, covered in marks and has yellow tinted eyes. as a human he had a similar appearance. As a human he displayed many symptoms of the disease Sickle Cell Blood disease. the breakout spots, the yellow skin, eyes etc-

as a demon Gyo’s main ability is called Flying blood sickles. his blades are also the shape of sickle blades in addition to the slashes being the shape of blood cells when sick with this disease. Gyo’s skinny stature combined with his name tells the story of a sick and poor kid-

who became a p_mp debt collector to take care of him and his sister. his sisters human name Ume can be interpreted as an abbreviation of Uveitic cystoid macular edema which is a disease that infects the eye. this ties to daki as her true ability grows a third eye and she states-

that it’s her “true strength” and she can “see their true movements now”. a clarity of vision. also, daki’s design is that of a prostitute which she was forced into as a child to make ends meet. from digging at their appearance alone you can see the life story of these siblings

Upper Moon 3: Akaza
tied for for my favorite character, Akaza is a character who’s design screams at you and is instantly recognizable. the extreme tattoos, the martial arts outfit, the hair etc. everything has meaning especially connecting to Akaza’s former wife, Koyuki.

Koyuki was his human wife. a fair sickly girl with a Pink haori and pink eyes. Akaza’s demon design consists of pink hair and a pink open shirt, a direct connection. Akaza being the third upper moon ties into his design and character as well. the 3 tattoos he had as a human, the

idea he had three important people in his life, Koyuki’s three snowflake pins, the three universal buddhist truths that heavily influence his character(will dive into that in a different thread). the pants he wears are a reference to the Soryuu style his master taught him as a-

human. the next part of his design is the ankle beads. in many cultures ankle beads are thought of as a charm for protection. Akaza life as a human was all about protection and the irony was he failed to protect anything. the name Hakuji is a direct reference to the stone lion-

dogs that protected shrines. honorable animals that were adored in mythology. when his loved ones died however, Hakuji became somewhat of a mad dog and murdered dozens before being turned into a demon by muzan, having his memories taken away and becoming muzans obedient dog.

in hindsight, the story of akaza’s criminal past and his failure to protect anything he loved can be told through his design. the fireworks that show in the design of his attacks, the snowflake compass. Akaza’s design is brilliant and shows the care Gotouge puts into characters

Upper Moon 1: Kokushibo
the final example i’ll use is the intimidating first Upper Moon. The former demon slayer and brother of prodigy and breathing originator Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Kokushibo’s character is imbedded in irony and his design more than ties into that

koku wears a purple kimono accompanied by a purple shaded sword. Purple is a color that strongly represents royalty and regality in japan and many other cultures. koku’s “dignified” appearance shows that is a form of royalty among demons as he is the strongest below muzan

Kokushibo uses Moon breathing. the design of this was certainly intentional as in japanese symbolism and buddhist beliefs the moon is a symbol of enlightenment. the irony being koku wasn’t an enlightened being. he was attached to jealously and rage and hatred towards his brother-

and was unable to let those emotions go even in death. the flute that was given to him by yoriichi ironically was a bamboo shakuhachi flute which is used by japanese monks and played as a step towards enlightenment of the mind. adding to the irony that koku was supposed to be-

the superior swordsman and yoriichi was to become a monk. koku never reached the enlightenment that so much of his design and others hints at as he couldn’t even understand why he was born, leaving 0 legacy on the world other than the lives he stole.

Koku’s design goes so far to show his endless internal struggle to overcome yoriichi. he even grows 3 sets of eyes to enhance his battle perception. this is a callback to the swordsmith village yoriichi doll that built 6 arms onto the doll to try and replicate yoriichis-

unbelievable speed and precision. koku’s equivalent of this was to have 6 eyes, which in buddhist beliefs is also a direct reference to spiritual enlightenment as well.

Koku held onto his former Demon Slayer persona as a demon, wearing the kimono wore by those in his era, creating a sword out of flesh to use a “breathing technique” which was really just a BDA. his design accentuates his inability to let go of the past, forever chasing the-

image of his brother and attempting in vain to leave a legacy behind. the legacy that he threw away the moment he became Muzan’s partner. Koku’s story as a powerful demon slayer and a regal demon who failed to leave anything behind or reach a state of enlightenment even in death-

is tragically portrayed through his seemingly powerful and intimidating design. The one who symbolized the moon, struggling endlessly in the shadow of the sun.

i could go on and on about the designs but there’s not enough space on twitter to talk all day. if you read this far, thank you! i hope you enjoyed and follow for more demon slayer content :)

gyuutaro gave her that eye btw just used the term grow an eye for the sake of shortening the thread

meant to say took from yoriichi* sorry for the oversight