Genya Shinazugawa

Genya Shinazugawa is a major supporting character of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a Demon Slayer in the Demon Slayer Corps and also the younger brother of the Wind Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa.

Appearance
At the time of his debut during the Final Selection, Genya was a short, young man with large, inward-slanting eyes. The space where his eyebrows would've been is constantly furrowed, which gave him a permanently angered appearance. His hair is styled into a buzz cut, with only a small clump of messy black hair left to grow on the top of his head. He also possessed a large, jagged scar that ran over his right cheekbone from his ear and to over his nose. Genya is seen wearing a purple, sleeveless yukata over a plain black shirt with long sleeves.

Later on, when seen again in the Butterfly Mansion, Genya had a much more feral appearance, having undergone a growth spurt that put him at almost six feet tall. His hair is also much longer, worn in more of a mohawk style, the strands much longer and visible around his neck. It is also noted that he became more muscular and gained many more scars all over his body. His outfit changed to a dark olive-green version of the Demon Slayer uniform, over which he still sported his old purple yukata.

Personality
Genya was initially a foul-mouthed and ill-tempered individual; a "lone wolf" who refused any help from others and did not show any interest in being polite or having any manners. During Final Selection, he roughly handled Kanata Ubuyashiki by grabbing her hair and yelling at her due to his impatience. His ill temper and brash way of speaking heavily resembles that of his older brother, Sanemi.

He became more open to cooperation during the battle against Hantengu, an Upper Rank, where he worked alongside Tanjiro Kamado, Mitsuri Kanroji, and Nezuko Kamado. After some time, he learned to become more sociable and less ill-mannered towards others, particularly towards Tanjiro and his friends.

Genya also appears to be very confident in battle, telling Aizetsu to focus on him despite the latter already having stabbed Genya with his Yari, and later announced his name to the demon and declared that he is the one who will kill him.

As a child, Genya was caring and loving towards his family, looking out for them due to their father's abuse and being the second oldest of his siblings. His protective attitude stems from a promise he had made with Sanemi following their father's death, when he stated that it was now their job to be a role model for their siblings and look after their mother. He was deeply regretful of his inability to save his brothers and sisters following their mother's transformation and blamed himself heavily for his own accusation of Sanemi killing her, despite acknowledging later that he was not at fault and she transformed into an uncontrollable demon.

Sanemi's refusal to acknowledge Genya made him insecure as he came to realize just how weak he is compared to his companions. Nonetheless, he did whatever he could to help his allies, even if it got him horribly maimed in the process. Despite his brother's harsh rebukes, he bore no ill will towards him, a belief reinforced by Tanjiro and eventually by Sanemi himself.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: As one of the five that survived Final Selection, Genya possesses a relatively strong foundation as a Demon Slayer even without utilizing a Breathing Style. His skills were exemplified in the battle against Hantengu, the fourth strongest Upper Rank, when he snuck up on two of his clones and successfully shot two of them and proceeded to decapitate them. When he consumed the flesh of Aizetsu, Genya managed to overpower the Upper Rank, stabbing Aizetsu into a tree with his own Yari and ripping off his head. When Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, was nearly struck and killed by Zohakuten, Genya, along with Tanjiro Kamado and Nezuko Kamado, managed to save her before the attack connected. After gaining power from Zohakuten, Genya became strong enough to pick up and fling a gigantic tree without much effort, surprising the likes of Tanjiro and Nezuko, and then proceeded to throw 3 more. Genya was also capable of ripping both of Urami's arms off.

Against Kokushibo, the strongest Upper Rank, Genya consumed his hair and a chunk of his flesh katana, gaining enough strength to develop his own Blood Demon Art which played a pivotal role in the defeat of the Upper Rank. Demon Consumption & Empowerment: Genya possesses unnaturally strong jaws and special digestive organs which allow him to tear off and consume the flesh of demons without any adverse effects. By devouring demon flesh, Genya gains demonic characteristics, such as fangs, dark sclera, and unique yellow tips in his hair. Sometimes, presumably because of how concentrated a demon’s blood is, Genya can gain attributes related to the demon he devours, like when he gained Kokushibo’s eyes, hair, and Demon Slayer Mark, with his shotgun even gaining the appearance of the Upper Rank’s katana. More importantly, Genya is able to become stronger after consuming a demon. For the most part, Genya gets an enhanced physical constitution (which makes up for his inability to use Breathing Styles) along with potent regeneration. The physical attributes he gained enable him out-speed Aizetsu and nearly decapitate him as well as pick up enormous trees and hurl them over tremendous distances quite easily. His regenerative abilities enable him to heal after Aizetsu's technique tore numerous holes straight through his body, though it doesn't allow him to heal from decapitation, with Nichirin or otherwise.

Upon consuming the hair of Kokushibo, his regenerative abilities were greatly heightened, allowing his severed torso to reconnect immediately and even caused him to hear orders Muzan Kibutsuji telepathically gave Kokushibo. After eating a chunk of his katana, Genya even developed a unique Blood Demon Art.

Repetitive Action: A technique taught to him by Gyomei Himejima to help him compensate for his inability to use Breathing Styles. This technique mainly focuses on Genya repeating a set of words or phrases that assists him to focus on his given task properly and keep his mind clear and block out pain. For Genya, he repeats a set of prayer of the Amida Sutra to help him focus and steel his mind, as seen where he used this technique to focus his mind after being fatally injured fighting Aizetsu and to a degree, replicate the effects of Total Concentration Breathing.

Fighting Style
Dual Wielding: Genya utilizes both a double-barreled shotgun with Nichirin cartridges and a Nichirin Wakizashi placed on his rear hip. He is shown to excel in blending both long-ranged and short-ranged combat against demons. Against strong targets, Genya usually sneaks up on them to fire his shotgun and switches to using his Wakizashi should he fail in doing so. Genya has quite a high degree of marksmanship, being able to shoot off Sekido's head and blow off a huge portion of Karaku's and Aizetsu's neck. He also nearly beheaded Sekido even while shocked by electricity. It has also been stated that he is more adept at using his shotgun than his Wakizashi.

Blood Demon Art
Vampiric Trees: After devouring a chunk of Kokushibo's katana, Genya developed a unique Blood Demon Art. It is formed out of his altered double-barreled shotgun which fire flesh cartridges which he can control the path and direction of. Once implanted into the target's body, the flesh bullets grow into gigantic trees which root into the ground, enough to trap the likes of Kokushibo for a short period of time. As long as the bullets remain in his target's body, Genya can keep activating his Blood Demon Art.

On top of being used to imprison enemies, because the trees absorb a lot of blood to grow, it can be used to prevent targets from using their own Blood Demon Arts, as shown when Kokushibo was unable to unleash a technique with a tree on his back.

Equipment
Double-Barreled Shotgun: Genya harbors a western double-barreled shotgun which he uses to shoot down targets from afar. Instead of normal cartridges made of metal, it is made with the same metal used to create Nichirin swords, which allow him to permanently kill demons if he shoots off their necks. After consuming a chunk of Kokushibo's katana, his shotgun gained a similar appearance to the Upper Rank's flesh katana, with fleshy veins and eyes, and instead fires flesh cartridges.

Nichirin Wakizashi: Genya also carries a Wakizashi with two hollow ovals as its tsuba that overlap its core and are a dull shade of brown for its handguard. Along with his sword, Genya also has a sword sheath tied to the rear of his hip.

Trivia

 * Genya's surname contains the Nanori for "immortality, eternal life" and the Kun'yomi rendaku for "river, stream". His first name contains the Go-on'yomi kanji for "mysterious, occultness" and the Kun'yomi for "all the more, increasingly".
 * Genya is one of the few characters in the series who does not primarily use a sword and is the only Demon Slayer named who cannot use any of the Breathing Styles.
 * Instead, he uses a technique referred to as Repetitive Action, which acts as a substitute for Total Concentration Breathing. It's important to note that this technique was taught to Genya by Gyomei Himejima, who himself is a Breathing user, implying that it is possible to use both techniques in conjunction with one another.
 * Generally, Genya is better at wielding a gun than a sword, as he's very good at hitting targets.
 * Kokushibo mentions that Genya is not the first Demon Slayer he has encountered that consumed demons to gain power.
 * In contrast to his brash, somewhat abusive attitude when he was first introduced, Genya has become shy around women. This is seen when he could not say a word to Mitsuri (who initially interpreted his ignorance as hostility), Kanata Ubuyashiki, who he meekly apologizes to for his past actions (which she gently accepts), and the girls who work at the Butterfly Mansion.
 * Due to his unique demon-eating powers, Genya regularly goes to the Butterfly Mansion for health check-ups.
 * Genya ranked 15th place in the second popularity poll with 2589 votes.
 * Genya shares his Japanese and English voice actors as Garfiel Tinsel from Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World.
 * In Kimetsu Academy, Genya is a 1st year student belonging in Class Kabosu. He is the shooting club's ace, and despite his hair breaking school rules, they let him keep it since he wouldn't be able to score bullseyes with a shaved head. This is because he uses his hair to read the wind.
 * He is the younger brother of math teacher Sanemi Shinazugawa. He once won 1st place in a competition but his brother stormed the place and ripped his certificate apart, all while screaming "Who cares about this shit?! Learn your damn math!!".
 * His big body and angry demeanor led to him being misunderstood and friendless. This changed after the competition incident with his brother, to which the students sympathized with Genya and became friends with him.

Quotes

 * (To himself) "Can I do this? Can I be any use? Will he notice me right away again... and cut me in half so that's the end? Sanemi... I can't let him die... I definitely mustn't fail. Himejima... Tokito... If only I were stronger!! If I were a Hashira!! The more I want to help, the more my body stiffens up making it difficult for me to move. I'm scared... that I'm no use and can't protect my comrades. Why am I so weak? It's frustrating! It's frustrating to be weak."
 * (To himself) "I'll do it. I'm gonna do it. I have to do it. Think only about winning. I will not let my brother, or my master, or any of my comrades die!"
 * (To Sanemi Shinazugawa) "I don't want... you to die. Because... my big brother... is... the nicest person... in... this world."

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