Akaza (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Akaza is a male anime and manga character who features in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Biography

Hakuji (Japanese: 狛はく治じ, Hepburn: Hakuji?)

After transforming, he lost his memories of the time he became a human, with only one single desire to become stronger despite not knowing the reason why he wanted to become strong. Despite this, as noted by Doma, he refused to ever eat or harm women. Due to his strength, loyalty and will to become stronger, he became one of Muzan's favourites and dispatched him only for special missions, such as searching for the Blue Spider Lily. During his time as a demon, Akaza noted that he had met and battled several Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps during his hundreds of years of life. During these meeting, Akaza had invited every single one of them to become a demon due to Akaza liking the natural strength, genius and skill the Hashira had possessed, wishing to continue battling against them forever. However Akaza was turned down by every single one of them due to them wanting to stay as humans, causing him much confusion as he could not understand their desire to stay as humans. In all these years, it was noted that he had never fought a Flame Hashira.

Under orders to eliminate Hashira, he was dispatched to the Mugen Train that had been derailed following the recent defeat of the Lower Moon Enmu at the hands of Demon Slayers. Whilst there, Akaza came to encounter the Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku where at first he looked to eliminate his foe's junior ranking Demon Slayers that included the wounded Tanjiro Kamado. However, Rengoku managed to stop Akaza who was impressed at the Hashira's strength and looked to recruit him by offering to turn him into a demon. Kyojuro refused as he was adamant in his duty to slay demons leading to a battle between the pair. Akaza and Kyojuro battle fiercely, with Tanjiro and Inosuke looking from a distance, both knowing the two are on a completely different level of power. Akaza is repeatedly cut but instantly regenerates his wounds, all while taunting Kyojuro by saying all the Hashiras he had killed had never once taken his offer to change. Akaza again taunts him for his weakening human stamina compared to his demonic physiology and tries again to persuade Kyojuro to change, which fails as Kyojuro repeats he will not become like him. They trade attacks again, with even Inosuke noting that if he tried to help Kyojuro, he would be too slow and killed instantly. Akaza starts to make contact with his attacks, severely injuring the Hashira . All of Kyojuro's sword blows are futile with the demon's rapid healing abilities and he starts to become desperate with multiple Flame Breathing attacks. Akaza suddenly backs away, allowing Kyojuro to catch his breath, only for Tanjiro and Inosuke to see him bleeding profusely, in contrast to a completely fine and healed Akaza. Akaza, once again, taunts Kyojuro for his numerous injuries, whereas his had already healed instantly because of being a demon and for fighting a losing battle as a human. Kyojuro's body suddenly becomes engulfed in fire, declaring he will fulfil his duty as a Hashira, to the demon's confusion and wonder. Kyojuro decide he would try to injure him as much as possible, even if it means dying, and speeds forward with Flame Breathing: Esoteric Art. Akaza is amazed at his opponent's fighting spirit, and decide he must become a demon so they can battle forever. They hit each other; with Kyojuro slicing Akaza's arm, torso and almost through his neck, and Akaza driving his arm through Rengoku's solar plexus. Akaza desperately begs him to become a demon, knowing the wound he inflicted is fatal and amazed at his opponent's will to fight, declares him one of the few chosen strong ones. Kyojuro refuses once more, remembering his mother's promise to him to protect the weak, and drives his sword deeper through his neck, even catching his fist when Akaza tries to punch him with his free hand, shocking the demon. The sun begins to rise and Akaza attempts to flee but is held in place by Kyojuro refusing to surrender. Tanjiro and Inosuke attempt to aid the Hashira, Inosuke using Fang One: Pierce to attack the demon. Akaza suddenly rips off his own arms from Kyojuro's body and stomps the ground, creating a shockwave to knocks Inosuke away and giving him the chance to flee. Tanjiro frantically gives chase and hurls his Nichirin Blade at the Upper Moon, piercing his chest. Akaza hears Tanjiro's cries, calling him a coward for retreating, enraging him as he mutters to himself that he was fleeing from the sun, not him. Deciding the battle over and Kyojuro will soon die, Akaza flees to safety in the forest, leaving Inosuke and Tanjiro with a dying Kyojuro.

Akaza appeared before Muzan and reports to him that he could not find the Blue Spider Lily, instead, he took down one of the Hashira. Muzan retorts it was only one Hashira and declaring his desire is for all to be dead. Angered at his failure, Muzan takes control of Akaza's cells and causes him to bleed heavily. The Demon Lord mocks him for acting proud when three other demon slayers were still alive and he could have killed them as well, ending his rant by claiming "even Upper Moon Three was brought to the ground". When dismissed by Muzan for his failure, he takes notice of Tanjiro's nearby blade. Remembering how he called him a coward, he furiously smashes it to pieces and declares he would spill his brains the next time they meet. Some time later, Akaza is suddenly transported to the Infinity Castle by Nakime. He is greeted by Gyokko and Hantengu but is disinterested in talking to them. He asks the Biwa Demon on Muzan's whereabouts and where is Upper Moon One when he is cheerfully greeted by Doma. Annoyed by his attempts to have a conversation with, he irritably asks Doma to take his arm off him, then violently shatters his jaw when he doesn't. An unfazed Doma continues trying to talk and evens believes the attack is simply a sign of their "friendship". Nakime answers his question and states that Upper Moon One is the first to arrive, who then announces Muzan's appearance. Muzan voices his disappointment in Gyutaro and wonders aloud why the Upper Moons are still around with no longer a proper purpose, shocking them all; Akaza himself doesn't respond knowing his recent failure. Gyokko suddenly states that he has new information for their leader and Doma unwittingly asks if he can participate in a mission, causing Akaza to angrily destroy his superior's head for 'disobeying Muzan's orders'. Suddenly, his hand falls off, and Kokushibo appeared before him, reprimanding him for disrupting the hierarchy. A regenerated Doma tries to calm down Upper Moon One but he angrily tells Akaza if he wanted to take Doma's place and beat him, he should do so in a proper battle. A silent Akaza overhears Doma's statement that such a battle would be fruitless, since even the more recently turned Doma was far more powerful than he was thus earning his ire. Doma continued to try defending Akaza but Kokushibo directly asked him if he understood what he declared. Akaza complied but quietly threatened to kill him as well. As Kokushibo disappeared, Akaza rushed out of the Infinity Castle, ignoring Doma's attempts at another conversation.

Overview

Personality and attributes

In appearance, the demon Akaza was a tall and muscular young man with skin so fair that it appeared bright green-tinged white. It was decorated by a pattern of thick blue lines which resembled those of criminal tattoos.

Akaza came to relish being a demon and noted that he could not die easily. In fact, all injuries to him simply healed allowing him to survive wounds and the passage of time.

As a demon, he was strong, stubborn and battle-crazed person who enjoyed fighting, especially against strong opponents. It was shown that he purposefully drew out fights so as to savor every moment of them. Against worthy foes, he often showed excitement and was intrigued at their techniques. He would demand to know the name of the person who was fighting in such cases. He remembered all the names of all his worthy foes which were committed to memory as tribute to their strength.

He despised weaklings where he commented that their mere presence made his skin crawl. It was this reason that he sought to kill them even when a stronger opponent was present on the battlefield. According to him, the law of nature claimed that the week needed to be weeded out.

In spite of his cruelty and wrath, Akaza had one special code; he never devoured any women, in spite of the fact that eating females would have actually made him even stronger, and Muzan gave him special permission to do so. He also showed a serious self-loathing tendency, valuing others above the good of himself.

Ultimately, it was 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 in his former life as a human.

When fighting strong opponents, he was noted to offer them a chance to become an immortal demon like himself. This was because he was excited at the thought of fighting such an enemy constantly over the decades. Akaza had given such offers to numerous Hashira over the years but all had refused him with him often puzzled at the reason. He had noted that in all his battles that he had never fought against a Flame Hashira.

It was revealed that Akaza had a deeply-rooted psychological need to become stronger with him not getting along with his fellow Upper Ranks as he saw them as his rivals. He was particularly antagonistic towards and somewhat jealous of the two Upper Ranks above him namely Doma and Kokushibo. During gatherings, this saw him regularly lashing out at Doma and even vowing to kill Kokushibo.

Powers and abilities

Originally, Hakuji was noted to had been a human being who from a young age came to train the martial arts to the point of being a skilled fighter. As a child, he could defeat and knock grown men unconscious on his own. At the age of 18, he came to learn the Soryu Style (素そ流りゅう式しき Soryū Shiki?) from his mentor Keizo. By this point, he was capable of singlehandedly annihilating 67 trained adult swordsmen with his bare fists.

Later on, he came to be turned into a Demon (鬼おに Oni?) by Kibutsuji. He came to be an extremely powerful demon having been able to defeat numerous Demon Slayers and slaying several Hashira in his life. As an Upper Rank demon, Akaza's body was extremely durable as he harbored an extremely high concentration of Muzan's blood. The demonic blood gave Akaza incredibly regenerative ability allowing him to easily recover from slash wounds both minor and severe. Like all demons, Akaza possesses infinite stamina and vitality, never tiring and always remaining in optimal physical and mental condition all the time as well as being able to endure waves of onslaught as if it were nothing. In fact, he was able to regrow limbs slashed to his opponents with little effort. One of his notable traits was his incredible speed where lower ranking Demon Slayers could not even perceive his movements. However, like all demons, he was vulnerable to effects of sunlight where exposure to it was capable of killing him unless he was hiding in shadows. With over a century of combat experience and martial arts training under his belt, Akaza is able to fight effectively with foresight and tactical intelligence.

He was also able to sense something he called a person's Fighting Spirit (鬭とう氣き Tōki?) which was their will to fight and their murderous intent.

Upon becoming a demon, he was transformed and given various superhuman abilities including strength, endurance, speed and regeneration. All injuries sustained by him simply healed within a moment allowing him to fight even after taking a number of wounds.

As a powerful demon, he had access to his own Blood Demon Art (血けっ鬼き術じゅつ Kekkijutsu?) that was unique to him. This was Destructive Death that was a martial arts style that combined shockwave-like blasts and attacks that operated alongside his Soryu Style (素流そりゅう式しき Soryū Shiki?) that he mastered when he was human. The shockwaves Akaza manipulates are blue in color and can take on many forms, such as nigh-invisible air pressure, circular energy-like shockwaves, or cannon-shaped spikes. He is capable of generating them at will, from any distance, and seemingly from any part of his body. In combat, Akaza has his shockwaves accompany his own punches and kicks to amplify its destructive capabilities, enveloping his every strike in a faint blue light.

In combat, he initiated his unique Technique Development (術じゅつ式しき展てん開かい Jutsushiki Tenkai?) which involved bending his knees in a half-crouch position.

Among the techniques known to him included:

• Compass Needle (羅ら針しん Rashin?) :
• Air Type (空くう式しき Kūshiki?) :
• Disorder (乱らん式しき Ranshiki?) :
• Annihilation Type (滅めっ式しき Messhiki?) :
• Leg Type: Crown Splitter (脚きやく式しき 冠かむろ先さき割わり Kiyakushiki: Kamuro Saki Wari?) :
• Leg Type: Explosive Flurry (脚きやく式しき 流りゅう閃せん群ぐん光こう Kiyakushiki: Ryūsengunkō?) :
• Eight-Layered Demon Core (鬼き芯しん八や重え芯しん Kishinya Eshin?) :

As an Upper Moon, he was noted for being incredibly skilled and powerful to the point that he had killed numerous members of the Hashira who were the strongest of the Demon Slayers.

As one of the Twelve Kizuki (十じゅう二に鬼き月づき Jūnikizuki?, lit. Twelve Demon Moons), he came to hold the position of Upper Rank Three (上じょう弦げんの参さん Jōgen no San?).

Notes

• Akaza was created by Koyoharu Gotōge where he featured in the setting of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba universe.

Appearances

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:

External Links

• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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