Inosuke Hashibira
Inosuke Hashibira is a male anime and manga character who features in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
Contents |
Biography
Inosuke Hashibira (Japanese: 嘴平 伊之助, Hepburn: Hashibira Inosuke) was a male human born centuries ago in the lands of Japan. He had been born into a family with an abusive father with his mother being forced to run away with her child from their home.
His mother was forced to flee from her and her son's life as they tried to leave the village. Running aimlessly, she ended up at the top of a cliff with no other means of escape. With no options, she made a last attempt to save Inosuke by dropping him into the river before the cliff just as she was then killed. The young boy was later found by boars who came to raise the human as one of their own in the woods.
He later encountered a Demon Slayer in the woods where Inosuke decided to compete with this person in order to see who was stronger. Ultimately, Hashibira was the victor where he claimed his opponent's weapon as a reward. From this encounter, he came to learn about Demons and decided to join the ranks of the Demon Slayer Corps. He then participated in Final Selection at Mt. Fujikasane where he was the first to clear his trial but was unseen by the other trainees attending the event. Later on, Inosuke had wandered into the Kyogai's Drum house presumably looking for a demon to kill to serve as his "catalyst" to becoming stronger, but due to the nature of Kyogai's blood demon arts, he ended up trapped for 3 days. He first appears when Zenitsu and Shoichi are searching for an exit, having been separated from Tanjiro and Teruko. Zenitsu slides open a door which he believed was the exit, and desperately opens another when the first door fails. Behind that door is Inosuke, who immediately hurtles out and knocks down another door before running down the opened corridor. Zenitsu is left shakened, with Shoichi wordlessly judging him.
After resting at the Wisteria House due to their injuries, they are summoned by Tanjiro's crow to head to Mount Natagumo. Inosuke and Tanjiro rushes into the mountain, with Zenitsu lagging behind due to his fear, after seeing a fellow Demon Slayer asking for help. The Demon Slayer was then pulled backwards, back into the forest. After witnessing that, Inosuke acts as the vanguard and orders Tanjiro and Zenitsu to follow him. Tanjiro follows Inosuke while Zenitsu stays near the mountain, refusing to enter. After meeting with an another Demon Slayer who was hiding from the Demons, Inosuke and Tanjiro understands the situation present that the Demon Slayers began to kill each other after entering the woods, due to a Demon's blood art making them into puppets that can be controlled. After trying their best to not kill the controlled Demon Slayers, Inosuke uses his Beast Breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness to find the demon known as 'Mother'. Inosuke and Tanjiro manages to hang the controlled Demon Slayers onto the trees to immobilize them, however, the demon controlling them twists their necks, killing them after they are immobilized. With heavy hearts, they proceed to the demon's location, but was stopped by a headless puppet controlled by the demon.
During the battle with the headless puppet, Inosuke's hastiness gets him injured and almost killed. Thankfully, Tanjiro saves him and encourages Inosuke to fight alongside him. Even though Inosuke was unwilling to, he however, thanks to Tanjiro's instructions, is able to cut the headless puppet diagonally. Inosuke is very competitive with Tanjiro, thinking he can do everything Tanjiro can. Tanjiro defeats the demon known as 'Mother' and Inosuke is severely wounded, although he is not willing to admit to it. Tanjiro tries to get Inosuke to get down the mountain and he refuses. They catch a glimpse of a demon girl, who Tanjiro could not smell due to the putrid scent surrounding the mountains. The demon girl calls for another demon called 'Father', who is a large man with the face of a spider. He is a strong demon, though not a Twelve Kizuki, and Inosuke is staggering due to blood loss. Tanjiro is sent flying away due to the demon's strength and shouts for Inosuke to not die at all costs. Inosuke manages to cut the demon's arm, making him climb up to trees to shed his skin and show an even larger spider-like body. Inosuke tries to behead the demon with his Beast Breathing, Third Fang: Devour, but his blades break and he was strangled by the demon. Luckily, Giyu shows up and kills 'Father' with the Water Breathing, Fourth Form: Striking Tide, saving Inosuke's life.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Inosuke Hashibira was a young Japanese man of average height and pale complexion with an extremely toned and muscular build for his age. It was shown that his face was incredibly pretty and feminine to the point that he was initially mistaken for female. His thick, black hair reached past his shoulders where they faded into blue at the tips and forming an unruly and uneven fringe that falls just above his eyes, puffing out before curving and thinning towards his forehead. As a Demon Slayer, he wore an altered version of their uniform that consisted only of the baggy hakama pants.
He was seen to be an extremely short-tempered and proud young man who always liked to think he was the strongest fighter in a situation. This saw him constantly challenging most people he came across and wanting others to respect and praise him for his skill.
Inosuke possesses a rather vengeful side to his personality, especially when the people he cares about get harmed. He refused to help the injured Train Engineer who stabbed Tanjiro and was convinced he was right in letting him die, only helping him when Tanjiro begged Inosuke to do so and forgave the man. He immediately attacked Doma upon learning he killed and devoured Shinobu and he became truly angered when he found out Doma was also the one who orphaned him, challenging the Upper Moon by himself and declaring he would create hell for him. Most notably, he challenged Muzan directly and demanded he atone himself by dying for mutilating and nearly killing all the other Demon Slayers.
Hashibira was the result of being raised by wild boars which meant that initially he lacked an understanding of normal human interaction. This resulted in him frequently assuming that people approaching him looked to attack with Inosuke not understanding kindness shown to him.
He was shown to struggle to read or write as he was uneducated.
Powers and abilities
Inosuke Hashibira was born an ordinary human though one who was raised in the wild. Over time, he developed a sharp and incredibly sensitive sense of touch with his skin able to feel the smallest vibrations in the air. It was shown that he had a remarkable level of flexability to the point where he could bend backwards so far that his head reached between his feet.
Inosuke possesses superhuman physical strength, being able to dual wield two katanas as opposed to one, even swinging them at tremendous speeds. During his battle in Mount Natagumo, he was able to throw Tanjiro high into the air with ease. He could punch through the Mugen Train's roof immediately upon waking up and slice up the parts of Lower One Enmu's body that had engulfed the train's cabins. In his pursuit of Daki's obi in the Ogimoto House, he incidentally punched a patron's face into the wall, knocking him out and leaving a large hole in the concrete.
Due to growing up with boars in the mountains, Inosuke adopted their habits and started incorporating it into his fighting styles. As a result, both his hand-to-hand combat style and swordsmanship style are very reminiscent of animals and beasts. Tanjiro Kamado noted that his unnatural fighting style which resembles that of a 'four legged beast' due to how his attacks come from an extremely low angle while also being very ferocious and utilizing other unorthodox movements, thus making him very unpredictable and vicious.
Whilst living in the mountains, he had to fight for his own survival where he came to learn Breathing Style (呼こ吸きゅう法ほう Kokyū Hō?) and developed his own version with this being Beast Breathing (獣ケダモノの呼こ吸きゅう Kedamono no kokyū?) that was derived from Wind Breathing.
Among the techniques known to him included:
- First Fang: Pierce (壱いちノ牙きば 穿うがち抜ぬき Ichi no kiba: Ugachi Nuki?) : this move had him stab his target's neck with both blades.
- Second Fang: Slice (弐にノ牙きば 切きり裂さき Ni no kiba: Kirisaki?) : a double slash that used his two blades to create an X-shaped cut.
- Third Fang: Devour (参さんノ牙きば 喰くい裂ざき San no kiba: Kuizaki?) : a simultaneous horizontal slashes towards the target's throat.
- Fourth Fang: Slice 'n' Dice (肆しノ牙きば 切きり細こま裂ざき Shi no kiba: Kiri Komazaki?) : a multiple diagonal double slashes using both of his swords.
- Fifth Fang: Crazy Cutting (伍ごノ牙きば 狂くるい裂ざき Go no kiba: Kuruizaki?) : a move that sliced everything in all directions.
- Sixth Fang: Palisade Bite (陸ろくノ牙きば 乱らん杭ぐい咬がみ Roku no kiba: Ranguigami?) :
- Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness (漆しちノ型かた 空くう間かん識しき覚かく Shichi no kata: Kūkan Shikikaku?) : through his sense of touch he was able to identify the position of enemies and their weaknesses by feeling small disturbances in the air. In Inosuke's case, his technique was so strong that he could sense all the demons spread across an entire mountain.
- Eighth Fang: Explosive Rush (捌はちノ牙きば 爆ばく裂れつ猛もう進しん Hachi no kiba: Bakuretsu Mōshin?) :
- Ninth Fang: Extending Bendy Slash (玖くノ牙きば 伸しん・うねり裂ざき Ku no kiba: Shin - Unerizaki?) :
- Tenth Fang: Whirling Fangs (拾じゅうノ牙きば 円えん転てん旋せん牙が Jū no kiba: Enten Senga?) :
- Sudden Throwing Strike (思おもいつきの 投なげ裂さき Omoitsuki no Nagesaki?) : this move saw him throwing both of his blades at an enemy.
As a Demon Slayer, he made use of special Nichirin Swords (日にち輪りん刀とう Nichirin Tō?) that he could use in battle. However, unlike other members of the Demon Slayer Corps, Inosuke wielded a pair of these blades where he had them chipped with numerous gashes within the blade's edge. This allowed the swords to rip and tear demonic flesh rather than cause a clean slice. They also lacked a hilt or a sword sheath but rather used bandages to improve his grip. At Natagumo Mountain, his swords were destroyed with a fresh pair later delivered to him though Inosuke made modifications to the swords to match his requirements.
Notes
- Inosuke Hashibira was created by Koyoharu Gotōge where he featured in the setting of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba universe.
In other media
Television
- In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Inosuke Hashibira appeared in the setting of the anime television series adaptation where he was voiced by Japanese actor Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and English actor Bryce Papenbrook in the dub.
Films
Video games
Appearances
- Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba:
External Links
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