Tanjiro Kamado's Influence

 Tanjiro Kamado Changes People

Every anime has their protagonist who changes the course of their series, but what makes Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer so special?

Compared to other anime protagonists, what makes him stand out is how his kind and selfless personality changes the rest of the characters in the series. Many have pointed out the changes in the character designs, namely in the animated version, of less cheery and more despondent characters.

Most people don't remember this demon from season one, and it's not a shocker; he had only appeared in a small portion of season one and helped to introduce Inosuke, who would later become a major main character. Kyogai, who was formerly Lower Moon Six, was one of Tanjiro's first most challenging demons to beat. While witnessing this fight had everyone on the edge of their toes, Tanjiro changed how the battle ended. When an antagonist is defeated in any piece of media, the traditional response is to feel happy about their death and to expect the main character to react the same. This wasn't entirely the case for Tanjiro.

There was no reason for Tanjiro to give Kyogai any kind words before decapitating him, so what made him do this?

Well, at his core, Tanjiro is empathetic.

 

Even towards the most deplorable demons he's come across in battle, he still feels sorry for them. Knowing what demons must go through from Nezuko's perspective aids him may aid him to feel this way, but these words still shape the type of fighter he is.

Aside from demons, Tanjiro proved he was able to make a strong enough impact to change how we see more major characters.

 

These two frames are from the Hashira Training Arc season. In Giyu's frame, he's expressing the most emotion we've seen on his face for the longest period of time brought about by Tanjiro. In Muichiro's frame, this takes place after they had battled together in the previous season, where they had a chance to bond, and he was able to remember his past. Both of these things were strongly influenced by Tanjiro's kindness, even when he wasn't consciously trying to be kind; he was simply speaking his mind.

While Tanjiro still has plenty of steps to go with others, like Sanemi and Obanai, this doesn't change the fact that he's capable of changing the behaviors in many characters, even minor ones. There's no doubt that in the future of the anime, he'll be able to make peace with the rest of the Hashira along with the rest of the Demon Slayer Corps who seem to despise his kindness.