Sanemi Shinazugawa

Sanemi Shinazugawa is a major supporting character of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a Demon Slayer of the Demon Slayer Corps and the current Wind Hashira.

Sanemi lived in a family of roughly half a dozen siblings, including his younger brother, a Demon Slayer, Genya Shinazugawa. Unfortunately, his mother was accidentally turned into a Demon and murdered all of Sanemi's siblings except Genya, and as the oldest child, he took it upon himself and ended his mother's life. Afterwards, he was found by a Demon Slayer by the name of Masachika Kumeno and introduced to a Wind Breathing cultivator, and together they defeated the former Lower Rank 1, Masachika dying in the process and Sanemi alone becoming a Hashira.

Appearance
Sanemi is a tall, muscular, and slender man with spiky white hair and large eyes. His face and body are covered with scars, accrued over his many years of fighting Demons. He cuts his hair short somewhere in between the Functional Recovery Training Arc and the Demon Train Arc.

He wears a green-tinted version of the standard Demon Slayer uniform, unbuttoned to expose his chest and abs with a white long sleeved shirt over it, white buckles around his shins and tabi socks with a pair of white zōri with green straps.

During his battle with Kokushibo, he loses his right index finger and his right middle finger.

Personality
Sanemi is abrasive, hot-blooded, and stubborn, often times impulsive and quick to lash out. The only person he displayed reverence towards was Kagaya Ubuyashiki, and only after realizing the man was much more than his outward appearance suggested.

Sanemi's cold, rude, dismissive behavior is the result of losing too many people he cared about in the past. Later, when he sees those people who have passed, such as his mother, he can't help but give her a smile to be able to see her again. When Genya joins the Demon Slayers in search of Sanemi, Sanemi hurls verbal abuses at him, but Tanjiro Kamado is able to tell Sanemi didn't truly hate him; and in fact still bore the same brotherly love he had for him in childhood. This was however never expressed outwardly as he tried to push Genya away from him and the Demon Slayers so he wouldn't be exposed to danger.

Because of all those he lost to Demons, he harbors a deep hatred towards Demons and is convinced that humans and Demons can never coexist. When Sanemi makes up his mind about something, it is extremely difficult to dissuade him. He does not believe Tanjiro's insistence that Nezuko Kamado wouldn't eat humans and moves to prove his own point by stabbing through the box with Nezuko inside. After riling her up, he slashes his own arm to try and bait her into attacking him due to his rare blood's effect. Even after she doesn't, and Kagaya uses this as proof Nezuko won't attack humans, Sanemi doesn't truly accept the Kamado siblings.

Tanjiro is ultimately right about Sanemi. Despite his poor treatment of his brother, Genya, Sanemi truly did love and care for his brother. He even expresses that he wished that Genya would settle down and have a family.

Following the battle with Upper Rank 1, Sanemi shows not only great anger and a certain emptiness towards Muzan, but more cooperation with the likes of Giyu, someone he clearly did not get along with. Even when Sanemi is launched out of the battle against Muzan, he displays undeniable courage and determination, like his fellow Hashira.

When the showdown with Muzan is finally over and time has passed, Sanemi has clearly mellowed out a bit. He is able to smile with Giyu, even after their past confrontations. Most surprisingly, he admits his mistakes and apologizes to Nezuko about his actions. He can't help but give her a smile and a pat on the head, as he even sees Genya in how she responds.

Abilities and Powers
Overall Abilities: As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Sanemi is a very powerful swordsman. According to Kokushibo, Sanemi's physical abilities and techniques have reached their peak and that him, alone with Gyomei Himejima, are the 2 strongest Hashira of this generation.

Physical Abilities

 * Enhanced Strength: Due to years of harsh training, Sanemi has honed his strength to an incredible caliber. During the Hashira Meeting, he lifted Nezuko Kamado in her box with a single hand without effort. In the Hashira Training Arc, he knocked out Zenitsu Agatsuma with a single strike, broke a wooden sword just by simply swinging it, and caused the ear of Tanjiro Kamado to be cut and bleed with a single kick.


 * Immense Speed & Reflexes: As the second strongest Hashira of the current generation, Sanemi possesses incredible movement speed. During the Hashira Training Arc, when he was disputing with Tanjiro Kamado about his brother, Genya Shinazugawa, Sanemi managed to blitz him, moving using a burst of speed so fast it made it seem like he teleported. In his battle against Kokushibo, he managed to keep up with his insanely quick movements, which even a marked Muichiro Tokito described to be "in a different dimension".


 * Immense Stamina & Endurance: Sanemi has displayed incredible stamina and endurance. Despite sustaining dozens of scars and cuts all over his body, he never once showed signs of pain or agony, to the point he was willing to cut himself with his katana to test Nezuko Kamado, and didn't even flinch. In the Sunrise Countdown Arc, he could fight the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji for almost an hour straight, exerting his physical and mental capabilities to its limit without tiring to severely. When Muzan was cornered, he was one of the first ones to take action, having enough energy to unleash 2 more Wind Breathing techniques.

Supernatural Abilities



 * Demon Slayer Mark: Later during the battle against Upper Rank 1, Kokushibo, Sanemi awakened his own Mark that resembled a single paper origami windmill with two dots on both sides on his right cheek. The mark dramatically increases his power and abilities, as seen when Sanemi was still able to fight and contend with Kokushibo on even ground, despite being grievously injured and slashed across his abdomen. However, even though his physical endurance, strength, and tolerance to pain dramatically increased, he couldn't land a significant hit on Kokushibo without assistance from Gyomei and Muichiro. In addition, he would have been put into a near-death state twice by Kokushibo if it weren't for their intervention.
 * Crimson Red Nichirin Blade: During the battle against Kokushibo, Sanemi strikes Gyomei's spiked flail with his sword, turning both of them briefly red. Later in the fight against Muzan, Sanemi, learning from his previous encounter, forcefully clashes his sword together with Giyu's turning both of their blades temporarily red. Turning his blade red granted him the ability to hamper the enhanced regeneration of Demons.


 * Intoxicant Blood (Marechi): Sanemi's blood was revealed to be one of the rarest blood types, making it incredibly intoxicating and mouth watering to Demons. It is also unique due to its intense potency that the smallest whiff of his blood immediately causes Demons to salivate and lose focus, as his blood was able to affect the strongest of the Upper Ranks, Kokushibo. Despite his blood's potency, Nezuko was shown to be able to resist it due to her own strong conviction and will not to eat humans, which is even further cemented and strengthened by the hypnosis planted in her brain by Sakonji Urokodaki.


 * Muscle Control: Sanemi has also shown the ability to manipulate his own muscles to close up and prevent fatal and mortal wounds from opening up and bleeding out during mid battle, as seen when he was fatally slashed and cut up across his abdomen by Kokushibo, he was still able to fight on by manipulating his own muscles to close up his wounds.

Fighting Style

 * Master Swordsman: Being a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Sanemi is one of the most powerful and skilled swordsmen in the entire organization. Sanemi's skills and sword techniques are incredibly powerful and refined, impressing even Upper Rank 1 Kokushibo, a Demon with hundreds of years of skill and experience behind him.


 * Weapon Flexibility: In his battle against Kokushibo, Sanemi used his brother's sword and gun in conjuction with his own blade, albeit briefly. Furthermore, when fighting Muzan, he utilized fire by dumping oil on the Demon and lighting it.

Swordsmanship
Wind Breathing (の): One of the five Breathing Styles derived directly from the Sun Breathing. The Wind Breathing combat and breathing style mimics wind with the user's movements, techniques and swordsmanship. Its known forms are mainly comprised of many sword techniques that utilize the air around the user to generate powerful whirlwind and tornado attacks that can be used for both offense and defense. Sanemi learned and mastered this combat style with Masachika Kumeno from an unknown cultivator.


 * 1) First Form: Dust Whirlwind Cutter (ノ ・ぎ) - Sanemi dashes forward and slashes in a horizontal cyclone pattern.
 * 2) Second Form: Claws-Purifying Wind (ノ ・) - Sanemi lifts the sword upwards towards the right, above his head and unleashes four vertical slashes down on the enemy like claws.
 * 3) Third Form: Clean Storm Wind Tree (ノ) - Sanemi unleashes a whirlwind of slashes around his body that can defend him from incoming attacks and slice up his surroundings.
 * 4) Fourth Form: Rising Dust Storm (ノ) - Sanemi creates several slashes above him from below his target.
 * 5) Fifth Form: Cold Mountain Wind (ノ らし) - Sanemi creates several circular arched slashes that increase in size from above his target.
 * 6) Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist (ノ) - Sanemi rotates his body in a uppercut movement, creating a tornado of slashes.
 * 7) Seventh Form: Gale - Sudden Gusts (ノ ・) - Sanemi leaps into the air while swinging his blade which generates gale-force winds to shred his opponent apart.
 * 8) Eighth Form: Primary Gale Slash (ノ り) - Sanemi leaps into the air and swings his blade which generates circular torrents of wind.
 * 9) Ninth Form: Idaten Typhoon (ノ) - Sanemi backflips into the air and while upside-down, unleashes a powerful gust of circular wind.

Equipment

 * Nichirin Blade: Like the majority of Demon Slayers, Sanemi harbors a standard Nichirin Blade. His katana has a jagged pattern resembling the jaw of a beast in a shade of green, complementing his breathing style, Wind Breathing. His hilt is in an abstract shape with 8 points with an overlapping pattern; each plate has a forest green core with a silver border, his katana's scabbard a shade of deep gray with silver marks resembling scars strewn on it. Sanemi's katana has the words Destroy Demons engraved on one side.

Trivia

 * Sanemi's rankings in the popularity polls are as follows:
 * Sanemi ranked 15th place in the first popularity poll with 207 votes.
 * Sanemi ranked 9th place in the second popularity poll with 5,716 votes.
 * As revealed during his bout against Giyu, Sanemi loves ohagi and considers it his favorite thing, frequently cooking it. However, his pride refuses him from saying anything about it.
 * Like Kiyoshi, Sanemi is a marechi, and his blood is considered rarer even for a marechi as it can intoxicate Demons and disrupt their senses and movement speed.
 * Sanemi always keeps his uniform open, as he is proud of his muscles.
 * Sanemi owns a Japanese rhinoceros beetle.
 * Sanemi lost his right index finger and right middle finger in the battle against Kokushibo.

Quotes

 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "Is that the idiotic corps member who travels with a Demon? Just what is going on here anyway?"
 * (To Kokushibo, after the Upper Rank identifies him as the Wind Hashira) "That's right! And that wind... is going to wrench off your head!"
 * (To Genya Shinazugawa) "You should've gotten married, had some goddamn kids, and lived until you became a goddamn old geezer. For all the times we couldn't do a thing for mom, and for all the times we couldn't do a thing for our little siblings, you should've made your goddamn wife and kids happy as they would have been. Because I would've made sure that no demon would be heading your way..."
 * (To Kokushibo) "How dare you dice my little brother up, you fuck-eyed bastard! You're dead! Dead! Unforgiveable!!"
 * (To Kiriya Ubuyashiki) "We don't need any of your gratitude! The biggest reason why the Demon Slayers stayed together is because of the efforts of the Ubuyashiki family!"
 * (To Nezuko Kamado) "Take care."

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