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"Mature Content!" |
| “ | This world is beautiful in every single way. I believe being born into this world is a blessing in itself. [...] My dream was to live a quiet life with my family. A small home was fine. I wanted to sleep with our futons side by side. A distance where I could see the faces of my loved ones. A distance close enough to immediately grab their hands if I reached out. That would've been enough for me. But even that would never come true. Because demons exist in this beautiful world. | „ |
| ~ Yoriichi giving his view on life to Sumiyoshi. |
| “ | What is the value of a life to you? | „ |
| ~ Yoriichi asking Muzan after subduing him. |
Yoriichi Tsugikuni (繼國 緣壱, Tsugikuni Yoriichi) is the overarching protagonist of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba franchise.
He is a legendary swordsman from the Sengoku era and the inventor of the Breathing Style techniques. Blessed with superhuman abilities, he dedicated his life to hunting down demons and eliminating them from the face of the earth so that less people would suffer. Using Sun Breathing, the very first Breathing Style ever created, he almost killed the Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji but ultimately failed. He later died during an encounter with his demon-turned twin brother Kokushibo. Fortunately, Yoriichi’s legacy was passed down to Tanjiro Kamado who managed to carry out his will by defeating Muzan once and for all.
He is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue in Japanese and by Mick Lauer in English.
What Makes Him Pure Good?[]
In General[]
- Despite his seemingly stoic and aloof nature, Yoriichi is one of the most kindest characters in the series as he helped many people in his life, even before becoming a Demon Slayer.
- Despite appearing as a flashback character, he still stands out in terms of admirable standards due to inventing the Breathing Styles and nearly killing Muzan Kibutsuji, which would lead to Muzan making irrational choices that would lead to his downfall.
Background[]
- As a child, he supported his sick mother on her weak side every time she had to stand and walk.
- He disliked violence to the point that, despite his talent, he didn’t want to practice fighting and instead wanted to play with his brother.
- Showed no desire to usurp Michikatsu's position as successor and wished to be the second strongest Samurai after him.
- When his father planned to make him the next head of the Tsugikuni clan, leaving his twin brother Michikatsu to be sent to the temple to become a monk, Yoriichi fled so that Michikatsu would be able to achieve his dream of becoming a samurai.
- Before leaving, he said goodbye to his brother and promised to keep the flute Michikatsu had offered him as a memory of him, which he did until his death.
- He cheered Uta up after she was left alone and filled her loneliness by living with her, eventually becoming her husband.
- While searching for a midwife for his pregnant wife, Yoriichi stopped to help an old man travel across the mountain with no benefit in return.
- After Uta was murdered by a demon, he mourned her for ten days. Immediately after that, he decided to join the Demon Slayer Corps to rid the world of demons.
- He saved his brother from a demon attack and apologized for not coming sooner to save his comrades.
- Roughly at the same time, he saved a charcoal seller called Sumiyoshi and his family from a similar threat.
- He invented Sun Breathing, which was pivotal in defeating Muzan Kibutsuji, and tried to teach it to his fellow Demon Slayers.
- Because of this, Sun Breathing would then become the ancestor to all Breathing techniques, making him responsible for empowering the whole Demon Slayer Corps for generations and generations.
- His training also made his Demon Slayer mark spread within the Demon Slayer Corps, enhancing the abilities of the Demon Slayers, even those who lived long after him and defeated Muzan.
- He almost killed Muzan, which would have ended his reign of terror and supremacy. This also makes him reach an admirable standard, as Muzan is the strongest demon to have ever existed.
- Upon encountering the Demon King, he believed that he had been born to defeat him, showing how dedicated he is to freeing the world from the demons. He also deeply regretted having let Muzan escape.
- During the fight, he displayed his Selfless State, a state of mind completely devoid of anger or hatred. He simply carried out his duty by fighting Muzan, but he was not motivated by rage or vengeance.
- Despite his failure, his actions terrified Muzan to the point that he became irrational and paranoid, which would ultimately lead to his downfall in the future.
- He spared Tamayo’s life when he saw that she had freed herself from Muzan’s curse and didn’t represent a threat, showing that he can be compassionate even towards demons.
- It's because of sparing Tamayo's life that he ended up being responsible for Tamayo's heroic deeds, especially her involvement in defeating Muzan once and for all, making Yoriichi indirectly responsible for Muzan's inevitable defeat.
- After he was banished from the Demon Slayer Corps for letting Muzan and Tamayo escape, he went to Sumiyoshi and taught him Sun Breathing, which is the reason why Tanjiro Kamado (Sumiyoshi’s descendant) was eventually able to defeat Muzan and most Upper Moons.
- He expressed his anti-nihilistic view of the world to Sumiyoshi, claiming that the world was beautiful and that it was the reason demons had to disappear from it.
- After leaving Sumiyoshi, he kept on hunting and killing demons for decades, often giving a helping hand to his former comrades from the Demon Slayer Corps under the Master’s guidance.
- He cried upon seeing his brother having turned into Muzan’s strongest demon, but he nonetheless decided to fight him to fulfill his mission.
- He still loved his older brother even decades after he became a demon, and sheds tears at knowing he must kill him to stop him from hurting anyone. This is further proven when it's shown that he still kept the flute his brother gave him when they were children, showing he still loved him immensely.
- It is pretty unclear why Yoriichi failed to kill Kokushibo, though it is heavily implied he simply couldn't bring himself to kill his twin brother, which can be easily justified, so this doesn’t prevent him from qualifying as Pure Good.
External Links[]
- Yoriichi Tsugikuni on the Heroes Wiki
- Yoriichi Tsugikuni on the Kimetsu no Yaiba Wiki
Trivia[]
- His personality provides a contrast to his brother Kokushibo, who proved that he could be corrupted, though he retained his more honorable qualities after the transformation.
- Yoriichi has a six-armed robot doppelgänger named Yoriichi Zeroshiki who appears in the Swordsmith Village arc.
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 Pure Goods
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