Kotetsu

Kotetsu is a supporting character in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba. He is a young villager from the Swordsmith Village. His ancestors built the battle doll Yoriichi Type Zero.

Appearance
Kotetsu is a child of short stature, pale skin tone, and black hair. He wears a striped yukata and a Hyottoko mask (with notable eyebrows and cheek prints) that fully conceals his face. It is said that his face looks exactly like his mask. The kanji for Hyottoko is written on the back of his yukata.

Personality
Kotetsu is a kind and energetic child. He is full of passion for his job of maintaining the battle doll Yoriichi Type Zero, even though he has not yet mastered the repairs. This causes him much initial grief and fear, as should the doll break, no one but him is skilled enough to fix it. However, after meeting Tanjiro Kamado he realizes that he cannot give up. He is often very frank and blunt at times. Despite this, he means the best and tries his hardest to help those around him.

While at times he seems insecure and weak-willed, as shown when he attempting to argue with Muichiro Tokito's harsh but true statements, Kotetsu can also be hot-headed and barbed tongued. Without Muichiro to see him in the company of Tanjiro, he openly insulted the Hashira on multiple occasions, which shocked Tanjiro with his sharp contrast in demeanour.

Despite initially bearing a grudge on the Mist Hashira, Kotetsu openly wept and repeatedly thanked Muichiro for saving him from a demon attack, even taking back his hatred and insults (which Muichiro did not even know about). He began begging Muichiro to save Kozo Kanamori and Hotaru Haganezuka, showing that he is open to changing his feelings towards people and be on better terms.

History
Kotetsu was born to a family of swordsmiths dating back to the Sengoku period, over 300 years before the Taisho period. His ancestors built an advanced battle doll modelled after a Demon Slayer named Yoriichi Tsugikuni and it was used to practice swordsmanship and refine the skills of other Demon Slayers.

His father died unexpectedly, leaving him a lonely orphan; he was an only child. Unfortunately, this also meant that he alone had the knowledge about the inner workings of the doll and should it break, no one but him can repair it. This led him to be protective of the doll to avoid further damage.

Muichiro Tokito
In the beginning, their relationship was not very good, as Muichiro tried to force Kotetsu to lend him the key so he can fight against Yoriichi Type Zero, even going into lengths to almost insult Kotetsu's job as a swordsmith. This made Kotetsu bear a grudge against Muichiro, talking behind his back like calling him "seaweed head." However, later when Gyokko uses his blood demon art to summon fish demons, Muichiro saves Kotetsu after being reminded of Tanjiro telling him to help others in need of it. Shortly after he saves Kotetsu, they were quickly on better terms with each other.

Tanjiro Kamado
Kotetsu sees Tanjiro as a friend. At first, Tanjiro defended Kotetsu when Muichiro and Kotetsu were arguing over the key, but Kotetsu shoved Tanjiro away when he tried to help him. Tanjiro was knocked out by Muichiro afterwards but woke up to see Kotetsu still there, who thanked him for standing up to him. Whilst watching Muichiro fight against Yoriichi Type Zero, Kotetsu runs off and Tanjiro follows him. Tanjiro later finds Kotetsu in the tree and encouraged him to keep going and work hard, even getting to the point where he appears in front of Kotetsu and flicked his chin. Later, Tanjiro trains with Yoriichi Type Zero while having Kotetsu scold him for each of his failures. However, Kotetsu helped Tanjiro work hard and eventually Tanjiro won against Yoriichi Type Zero. Kotetsu was said to have a "venomous tongue" by Tanjiro.

Abilities
Overview: Despite his young age, he has shown to be a skilled teacher and trainer, as shown when he asks Tanjiro to face Yoriichi Type Zero. Kotetsu also corrected the posture and mistakes that Tanjiro made and how he had survived this way, which indicates that Kotetsu has had some trouble with demons.

Trivia

 * Kotetsu's actual face bears a striking resemblance to his mask, so much so that people say he doesn't really need to wear the mask.
 * He is an orphan with no siblings.

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