Demon Slayer: Does Tanjiro Have a Love Interest? (& 14 Other Questions About the Character Answered) (2024)

Tanjiro Kamado is the main protagonist in the hit anime series Demon Slayer. But Tanjiro has become pretty unique for a shonen main character. Unlike Izuku Midoriya in My Hero Academia, or Naruto, or Luffy from One Piece who aim to be the best they can be in their field (hero, ninja, and pirate, respectively), Tanjiro's main goal for doing everything he does is to save his sister, Nezuko.

Tanjiro is an extremely humble character. He starts out being a simple boy who lives in the rural parts of Japan with his family. After Muzan Kibutsuji slaughtered the Kamados and Nezuko's change into a demon, Tanjiro spends years trying to learn the ways of fighting so that he may join the Demon Slayer Corp to figure out a way to save his sister. But Tanjiro is utterly kind and tries to help everyone he meets through his actions oftentimes rather than his blade.

Updated on June 6th, 2024 by Louis Kemner: Fans are always curious about the personal details of Demon Slayer characters like Tanjiro Kamado, and if fans don't mind some anime and manga spoilers, then they're bound to learn much more about what makes Tanjiro Kamado who he is. It's fluff details like his love life that make Tanjiro such a wonderful and well-rounded protagonist, after all. This list also answers five more fun questions about Demon Slayer's sword-slinging hero.

15 Does Tanjiro Have A Love Interest?

Yes. She Is Kanao Tsuyuri

People who have only seen the one season of the anime may be unaware that Tanjiro has any kind of love interest. Most shonen anime make it clear from the get-go as to who likes who and which character the protagonist usually has their eyes on.

But Demon Slayer introduced Tanjiro's main love interest briefly, and she doesn't really return until the end of the season, when she is fighting against him. His love interest that develops as the story goes on is Kanao Tsuyuri and their romance is quite adorable.

14 How Old Is Tanjiro?

He Is 15 During the Anime's Main Events

Pretty much all of the characters in Demon Slayer look incredibly young, even the nine elite Hashira, who are meant to be older than Tanjiro and his friends. The art style makes the characters appear much younger than they are so many fans probably feel a bit confused as to how old they actually are.

Nezuko often looks like an actual child when she is in her small form, which makes sense considering she is 12 years old physically and 14 biologically. Tanjiro is her older brother and is currently 15 years old in the anime, but started the series at 13 years of age in the year 1913. Thus, he was born right around the year 1900.

13 How Many Siblings Does Tanjiro Have?

Tanjiro Came From a Big Family

At the beginning of the series, it is shown that Tanjiro has a number of siblings that he helps his mother take care of as he is the oldest brother to all of them. His siblings all love and look up to him and he tries to help them as much and as often as he can.

Tanjiro has a total of five siblings, which means there are six children in total. Himself, Nezuko, Takeo, Hanako, Shigeru, and Rokuta. Of course, all of his siblings besides Nezuko were killed by Muzan and make little appearances in dream-like sequences after.

12 Who Are Tanjiro's Parents?

Tanjuro and Kie Kamado Had Six Children Together

Tanjiro's parents are Tanjuro and Kie Kamado. Fans see a lot of his mother, Kie, in those first couple of episodes when they also meet the rest of Tanjiro's siblings. Kie became a single mother after her husband, Tanjuro passes.

Tanjuro appeared to be a wise but very sick and frail man in his later years and succumbed to an illness a bit before the massacre of the family, which is why Tanjiro helps his mother care for his siblings. Tanjuro definitely had some kind of association with the demon-killing world, but never showed as such and continued to be an inspiration to his two living children.

11 How Long Did Tanjiro Train?

Tanjiro Spent Two Years Training With Sakonji Urokodaki

Tanjiro isn't like most shonen characters who just magically came into a ton of power. While training arcs are super important in shonen anime, Tanjiro needed one from the get-go as he didn't even really know how to properly wield a sword. He also needed to build up his endurance and stamina.

Tanjiro trained for two long years, mastering his water breathing technique, under Sakonji Urokodaki. During that same time, Urokodaki had Nezuko under a spell to control her demon abilities. Tanjiro continues to train hard throughout the series to master new skills he learns along the way.

10 What Is Tanjiro's Connection To Yoriichi & Kokushibo Tsugikuni?

Tanjiro Has None, and It's Only Teased as a Plot Misdirect

In season one of the anime, fans get to see hints that Tanjiro may have some deeper connection to two figures from his past that may also be currently involved with Muzan and the Twelve Moon Demons. We see that these two twin brothers share Tanjiro's Hanafuda earrings, scars and seem to look a lot like him, but the connection between them all is still unclear.

This is a spoiler, but the truth is that Tanjiro doesn't really have any connection to them. Their shared appearances are meant to act as a red herring as Tanjiro's ancestor was just close friends with Yoriichi, who he keeps seeing in his dreams (which are really memories passed down from Sumiyoshi).

9 How Many Breathing Styles Does Tanjiro Know?

Tanjiro Has Used Water Breathing and Sun Breathing

It wouldn't be a shonen anime without main character syndrome. So, of course, Tanjiro ends up learning more than one breathing style, a pretty uncommon trait to make sure the protagonist doesn't become too repetitive and stale with how he fights. Even if shonen leads tend to have a signature attack, there must be some variety, as Tanjiro Kamado shows.

Tanjiro is training in the water breath at the beginning of the series but eventually discovers that he also has the ability to learn to harness the Sun Breath and the Hinokami Kagura, both of which were learned and passed down from his ancestors. The latter is a fighting style that is known as Dance of the Fire God.

8 Why Does Tanjiro Have More Than One Breath?

Tanjiro Learned One on His Own, and the Other Was Passed Down Through His Family

As mentioned, the Kamado line actually learned the Sun Breath and passed it down to each generation. Sumiyoshi Kamado is the grandfather to Tanjiro and Nezuko. He was saved by Yoriichi Tsugikuni, a close friend who developed the Sun Breath on his own.

Yoriichi taught the Sun Breath and the Dance of the Fire God to Sumiyoshi, which he then passed down to his son, Tanjuro, along with Yoriichi's earrings. Tanjiro ends up learning of his family's connection to the Sun Breath and ends up learning it for himself.

7 Who Are Tanjiro's Closest Friends?

Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira Are Tanjiro's Best Buds

Tanjiro quickly befriends two quirky boys who compete in the Demon Corps entrance exam alongside him, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira. Zenitsu was trained in Thunder Breathing and only actually knows one style (in the anime, at least). But that one move always packs a huge punch. The thunder boy also starts the series of being terribly nervous and afraid of everything he encounters which leaves a ton of space for him to grow.

Inosuke is a master of Beast Breath and channels the boar whenever he is in combat. Inosuke is loud and obnoxious, always eager for a fight, but has a distractingly pretty face which is why he always wears his boar helmet. More recently, in the Hashira Training story arc, Tanjiro built a strong friendship with Muichiro Tokito, with Tanjiro being the only person who can make Muichiro smile happily.

6 Does Tanjiro Have Any Natural Talent?

Tanjiro Has a Superhuman Sense of Smell

Something that set Tanjiro on the right path before he even trained in sword fighting, and what impressed Giyu enough to help Tanjiro and Nezuko, was the young boy's sense of smell. Tanjiro was able to read through people's movements, actions, and even species based on how they smelled to him.

This has saved Tanjiro's life a few times in battles, because unlike typical slayers, he can actually smell the moment when his enemy is most vulnerable. It works on demons and humans alike, since he was once seen using this ability to catch Giyu off guard in their first encounter. It also served him well against lower-tier demons in Season 1, though fighting Upper Moons calls for a little more than sniffing out an opening. Still, it's a fine tool in Tanjiro's arsenal.

5 How Does Tanjiro Get So Strong, So Fast?

Tanjiro Is Highly Adaptive and Has Plot Armor, Too

When a shonen protagonist like Tanjiro Kamado gets stronger over time, there are both in-universe and meta reasons why that hero keeps getting stronger within a relatively short time frame. The meta answer is the less glamorous one, since a shonen hero must survive and win, so the writer will make sure that hero gets strong enough to get the job done. This may or may not end up with contrived results.

Tanjiro's power-ups feel fairly natural and earned, so Demon Slayer fans can rest assured that there's nothing contrived about him. The simple in-universe answer is that Tanjiro is more adaptable than typical demon slayers, so he can adjust his fighting style and think in creative ways to overcome tough odds against the likes of the hand demon, Kyogai, Gyutaro, Hantengu, and more.

4 At What Age Does Tanjiro Die?

Tanjiro Passes On at the Young Age of 25

Shonen action series don't typically explain at what age the hero inevitably dies, since that would put a damper on the story's happy ending and rarely even matters anyway. Protagonists like Ichigo Kurosaki, Naruto Uzumaki, and Natsu Dragneel are still alive and well when their stories end, so fans can presume and hope that they will die at a ripe old age, having lived a long and fulfilling life.

The same probably won't be true for Tanjiro Kamado, however. He has awakened his demon slayer mark, meaning that he and the other mark-using slayers will die young at age 25, which is a part of Demon Slayer lore. Yoriichi Tsugikuni was an exception, but fans can't count on Tanjiro being the exception, even if he is the main character. It's almost certain that Tanjiro died in his mid-20s, tragically enough.

3 What Does Tanjiro Do After Defeating Muzan Kibutsuji?

Tanjiro Returns to Civilian Life With His Friends

Defeating the main villain is usually the endgame goal for any shonen lead, but even when that's settled, the story may have an epilogue to show what the hero is up to after the day is won. Naruto became Hokage at last, while Ichigo settled down with Orihime Inoue, and so on. Demon Slayer fans want to know if Tanjiro also gets his happily ever after.

Following Muzan Kibutsuji's final defeat, Tanjiro indeed got his happy ending, even if he suffered lasting injuries in his eye and arm. He then returns to his family home with Nezuko, Zenitsu, and Inosuke in tow, allowing Tanjiro to get some well-earned rest and go full circle, since his adventure started in that home.

2 Does Tanjiro Become a Hashira?

No, Because the Hashira Aren't Needed After Muzan's Defeat

In recent Demon Slayer episodes, the miserable Giyu Tomioka said he doesn't view himself as the true Water Hashira, so instead, he wants Tanjiro to focus more on Water Breathing and claim the title of Water Hashira for himself. Now Demon Slayer fans wonder if Tanjiro will live up to Giyu's high hopes for him sometime in the near future.

For all the right reasons, Tanjiro will not become a Hashira. Following Muzan's defeat, demonkind is no more, meaning the Demon Slayer Corps can finally be disbanded, its members returning to civilian life. With no Corps, there are no more Hashira either, so Tanjiro won't become one. If the war dragged on long enough for Tanjiro to reach the rank of Hashira, then something must have gone horribly wrong.

1 Does Tanjiro Become a Demon?

Yes. It Happens While Fighting Muzan

The whole story of Demon Slayer happens because Tanjiro's little sister Nezuko is turned into a demon, making them an odd pair of a demon and a human swordsman. Tanjiro Kamado is determined to restore his sister's humanity, but some anime fans can't help wondering if the Kamados will become more alike because Tanjiro will mutate into a demon himself.

Tanjiro indeed joins his sister in demonhood during the story's final arc, as Tanjiro faces off against the demon king himself, Muzan Kibutsuji. In a moment of desperation, Muzan turns Tanjiro into a demon, and the latter goes berserk. As Muzan hoped, Tanjiro turns on his allies as a ferocious monster, but after ingesting wisteria, the anti-demon flower, Tanjiro is cured before he can do too much damage.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba

TV-MA

Animation

Action

Adventure

Release Date

January 22, 2021

Cast

Natsuki Hanae , Zach Aguilar , Abby Trott , Akari Kitō , Yosh*tsugu Matsuoka

Main Genre

Animation

Seasons

4