Akaza

Akaza is a major supporting antagonist of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, holding the position of Upper Rank Three (の).

Over a century ago, Akaza was a human by the name of Hakuji before being turned into a demon personally by Muzan Kibutsuji.

Appearance
As a demon, Akaza took the form of a tall and muscular young man with skin so fair that appears bright green-tinged white, decorated by a pattern of thick blue lines, which resemble the criminal tattoos he had as a human. Akaza had short, bright pink hair that fluffed out around his head, and inward-tilting yellow eyes with pink eyelashes and blue sclera that looked somewhat like cracked glass. The kanji for "Upper Rank" and "Three" are etched into his irises as well. The lines on his face curved through each of his eyes from below his ears to over his temples, another blue line running from the center of his hairline to the bridge of his nose, with two more lines running around his neck, three others branching off the lower one to his torso.

The center line ran directly down his chest to halfway down his stomach, and the other two branched off to the sides over each side of his chest to join the two other lines, this same three-line pattern there also repeating around his waist. On his arms there were lines running down the front of his shoulders that ran into to two more, which went around his biceps, before continuing to run down to his wrists, below which it could be seen that each of his fingers are also dark blue with an orange fingernail, his toes also sharing this unusual appearance.

He wore little, only sporting a short, sleeveless dark purple-pink haori that was cut off at his waist, left open to expose his chest, that was decorated by a square pattern on his back. Below this, he sported a pair of baggy white pants that he rolled to just below the knee with a blue rope belt to secure them at his waist. Akaza prefers to go barefoot, but wears a chain of large round pink pearls around each of his ankles.

During his human days as Hakuji, he had the same hair, just colored black rather than pink, and pale blue eyes with unusually-colored pink eyelashes. He was also very muscular as a human, and, on each of his forearms, he bore three black criminal tattoos. He also wore a dark blue-gray yukata.

Personality
Akaza is a strong, stubborn and battle-crazed Social Darwinist who enjoys fighting, especially against strong Demon Slayers. He purposefully drew out fights so as to savour every moment of it, also complimenting his opponents when they unleash strong techniques or land blows on him, usually remarking that their technqiues and swordsmanship are magnificent and intriguing. Akaza looked down on anybody he deemed weak, so much so that his skin would crawl at the sight of them. However, he genuinely respected those who were strong in his eyes, demanding to know their names, and would not stop until he finds out; he remembers all the names he's committed to memory as tribute to their strength. Akaza also presents an opportunity for those he recognizes the strength of to become demons, believing that preserving their refined techniques and skill was right and feels pain watching the deterioration of those blessed with extraordinary gifts as they age, and going so far as to kill them in order to preserve their magnificent skill himself should they decline his offer to become a demon. Akaza also doesn't discrimate strong warriors that were weak before, as shown when he praised and complimented Tanjiro Kamado despite knowing how weak he was during their first encounter, even going so far as to thank Kyojuro for Tanjiro's growth. Akaza believes strongly in Social Darwinism, believing that the law of nature dictates that all weaklings shall be eliminated.

Akaza had a deeply-rooted psychological need to become stronger, and did not get along with his fellow Upper Ranks, seeing them as his rivals. He is especially antagonistic towards and somewhat jealous of the two Upper Ranks above him, Doma and Kokushibo, lashing out at Doma and vowing to kill Kokushibo. Even after being beaten down and beheaded during his fight against Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka, he stubbornly held on and continued to fight, remarking that he must become the strongest no matter what, to the point of overcoming all demons' shared weakness of decapitation by Nichirin Swords through nothing but sheer willpower and resolve. It was later revealed that Akaza's desperate and stubborn pursuit of strength was to heal his sick father and to protect the ones he loved and cared about, namely his fiancée Koyuki and his teacher Keizo.

Akaza also possesses a deep hatred for his past life as a human, believing that it was absoltuely worthless, and hated anyone or anything that reminded him of it, such as Tanjiro's own view of how the strong should help the weak and Giyu's unwavering resolve reminding Akaza of Keizo, both instances which he reacted to negatively.

As a human, Akaza possessed the same stubborn and resilient personality. Despite resorting to crime, Akaza did so genuienly out of worry for his father, pickpocketing in order to buy medicine for him. Even after receving countless beatings that would make a grown man go numb, Akaza's resolve never wavered, further decalring that he would endure those same beatings for a hundred years just for his father to heal, showing how much Akaza valued the well-being of his loved ones more than himself. This was also shown when he nursed Koyuki despite having no connection to her before, never even feeling that it was a burden before and decling her offer of going to see the fireworks instead of tirelessly nursuing her.

Even after becoming a demon and losing his memories of his human life, parts of Hakuji's memories influenced Akaza's decisions; he refuses to eat or kill women, despite knowing it would make him stronger if he did so. Koyuki's name and hairpin influenced the shape and design of his Compass Needle technique, the martial arts style he uses as a demon was mainly inspired by the style Keizo taught him, and the naming of his attacks were based on fireworks, a reference to Akaza's promise to take Koyuki to see the fireworks after she was healed. His hatred of weak people and belief of Social Darwinism stemmed from a corruption of his human memories, where a rival dojo poisoned his dojo's well because they were never able to beat him.

After remembering the entirety of his past, Akaza started to regret his actions both as a human and demon, realizing that he never respected his father's words to live an honest life and bloodied Keizo's precious Soryuu Style by using it to murder others. He came to the realization that he hated himself for all of the times he wasn't there to save or protect those he loved, and that he himself was the person he really wanted to kill all along. With the knowledge that the people that he wanted to protect had already died a long time ago, Akaza lost the will to continue fighting as his pursuit of strength was already for naught and decided to end his own life. In his final moments, Akaza showed that he still had a lot of humanity left in him, remarking that Tanjiro's technique was magnificent and that he had lost fair and square, even smiling and feeling gratitude towards him for reminding him of his past.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: As the holder of the third highest position in the Twelve Kizuki, Akaza is an extremely powerful demon and combatant, having been able to defeat Kyojuro Rengoku and numerous Hashira as well as countless Demon Slayers in the past. Akaza possesses incredible abilities and attributes, most notably his martial arts prowess, which can outmatch the swordsmanship of even the most skilled Demon Slayers, and his ability to sense Fighting Spirit which allows him to predict his opponent's attacks and discern their weaknesses, making him nigh-unbeatable if they are unable to create a countermeasure against this ability.

During the Infinity Castle Arc, he was able to fight and overwhelm both Tanjiro and Giyu during their fight, even when they were both Hashira-level swordsman using their Demon Slayer Marks and when Tanjiro had access the Transparent World. Akaza was only defeated with Tanjiro awakening the Selfless State which directly countered his extrasensory perception. Even after being decapitated, Akaza managed to regrow his head through sheer willpower and his extraordinary regenerative abilities, continuing to attack Tanjiro and Giyu. If not for Akaza losing his will to continue fighting, he would have certainly killed both Demon Slayers as he had already rendered them extremely fatigued. As a further testament to his might, he attainted the Upper Rank Three title and became the fourth strongest demon in existence without killing or eating any women, which would've hindered his growth as a demon drastically according to Doma.

As a child without martial arts training, Akaza could defeat and knock grown men unconscious on his own. At the age of 18, after learning the Soryu Style from Keizo, he was capable of singlehandedly annihilating 67 trained adult swordsmen with his bare fists, a feat which even Muzan thought was performed by a demon.

Extrasensory Perception: Akaza possesses supernaturally honed sensory abilities able to sense things outside the normal range of perception. His extrasensory perception ability can physically manifest as his Compass Needle technique. On top of being able to sense the auras of demons and humans, he can also tell how strong or weak an individual is just by looking at them. He also seems to possess long-ranged senses which he used to find Tanjiro and Giyu. His senses are so sharp that he can overpower Giyu without his head, making him effectively blind and deaf.

Additionally, Akaza can also sense something he calls "Fighting Spirit", the will of a person to fight as well as their murderous intent. Every person emits Fighting Spirit, even infants radiate it faintly. The stronger a person's Fighting Spirit, the stronger his detection gets. This greatly increases his proficiency in battle, allowing him to predict where and how his opponents will attack and where their weak spots are, along with sensing where they are within the environment, allowing him to react to attacks from his blind spots. As stated by Giyu, this ability also allowed him to instantly evolve and adapt to any attack or technique that he uses, to the point that he can predict when his opponents will strike and how to counter them with equal power.

Flesh Manipulation: Like all demons, Akaza possesses the ability to control and alter his own flesh to a certain extent. He briefly displayed this ability when trying to escape Kyojuro's death grip by consciously detaching both his arms and later regrowing them.

Immense Durability: As an Upper Rank demon, Akaza's body is exceedingly durable as he harbors an extremely high concentration of Muzan's blood. During his fight with Kyojuro, the Hashira had trouble cutting various parts of his body despite using a katana and possessing superhuman physical strength, showcasing Akaza's immense durability. Like all demons, Akaza's neck is much tougher compared to the rest of his body, so much so that Kyojuro only managed to cut two-thirds of his neck before the Upper Rank escaped, albeit Kyojuro was severely injured then.

Immense Regeneration: Akaza possesses one of the most incredible regenerative abilities in the series due to assimilating a massive amount of Muzan's blood, which he displayed constantly. He was capable of instantly recovering from slash wounds both minor and severe and even limbs slashed off by his opponents with little effort. During his battle against Giyu and Tanjiro, his regeneration evolved even further as he didn't die even after having his head cut off by a Nichirin Sword and then completely regrow a new one afterwards, a feat considered impossible for demons and one only Muzan, the Demon King, had accomplished beforehand. Even without a head, Akaza's regeneration speed was still nigh-instantaneous.

Furthermore, Akaza seems to be capable of controlling his own regeneration speed to a certain extent. This was shown on multiple occasions like when Kyojuro sliced Akaza's arm in two, where the Upper Rank slowed down his own recovery speed to show off his sliced arm only to heal the injury instantaneously, as well as when Akaza didn't heal a slash wound Kyojuro inflicted on his chest only for his regeneration to take effect as he placed his hand on it. Most prominently, Akaza purposefully stopped his own regeneration after he lost the will to fight and accepted his defeat.

Immense Speed & Reflexes: Akaza is extremely fast, as shown during his fight with Kyojuro when he moves at imperceptible speeds, moving so quickly that even Tanjiro and Inosuke couldn’t perceive his blisteringly fast movements, the latter even remarking that he was in "a different dimension". This is further exemplified from the fact that he could move in bursts of speed so fast that he appears to teleport, which he frequently displayed, managing to do so even for Tanjiro who can smell the future. Akaza has shown to be more than capable of keeping up with the movements and reflexes of the Hashira, the most pwoerful and skilled combatants in the Demon Slayer Corps, and can even easily out-speed and overpower them. Even Giyu, one of the fastest Demon Slayers, was instantly matched by Akaza in speed despite him awakening the Demon Slayer Mark just moments before.

Immense Strength: Akaza possesses incredulous physical strength, which has been showcased multiple times, most notably when he punches or kicks, which is strong enough to break the ground and easily kill people. Every one of his strikes is strong enough to cause cuts, shatter ribs, smash eyes and later pierce the body of Kyojuro Rengoku, a Hashira who possesses above average durability. Akaza also easily broke Giyu's sword in half with a single side punch and completely shattered Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword with a flurry of punches. He was also shown to be capable of destroying the head and jaw of Upper Rank Two, Doma, despite the latter possessing higher levels of durability. Furthermore, Akaza could tear through the Infinity Castle with ease, even causing massive tremors in his wake. Combined with his Blood Demon Art, his strength is further increased, allowing him to cause craters in the ground by simply punching it.

When he was a human at the age of 11, he is able to completely knock several grown men unconscious in a fight with nothing but his bare fists and legs. At the age of 18, even before he became a demon, he is easily able to decapitate, dismember and mutilate 67 armed adult kendo masters with his bare fists, to the point that even Muzan thought that it is a demon who performed these feats.

Indomitable Will: Akaza possesses an immense willpower and undaunted spirit. Despite being beheaded by Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword, he refused to disintegrate and die, instead forcing his headless body to keep fighting. He pushed his regeneration to evolve to the point where he could regrow his head, all because he simply refused to allow himself to lose. Even before he became a demon, he would relentlessly take blows from opponents way bigger than him and receive countless beatings all because of his goal to heal his sick father.

Tactical Intellect: With over a century of combat experience and martial arts training under his belt, Akaza is able to fight effectively with foresight and tactical intelligence. This even surprised Giyu, who stated that Akaza could instantly evolve and adapt to any attack or technique that he uses, to the point that he can predict when his opponents will strike and how to counter them with equal power. Before he became a demon, Akaza has displayed natural aptitude in martial arts, shown when he was capable of beating up trained swordsmen from neighboring dojos while still in the midst of learning Keizo's Soryu Style. This is further exemplified when he could fight and defeat grown men without martial arts training.

Unlimited Stamina & Endurance: Like all demons, Akaza possesses infinite stamina and vitality, never tiring and always remaining in optimal physical and mental condition all the time as well as being able to endure waves of onslaught as if it were nothing. In the Mugen Train Arc, Akaza's hand got split open in half by Kyojuro's Rising Scorching Sun technique, but yet he seemed completely nonchalant about it, even proceeding to complement his katana, displaying Akaza's immense resilience to pain and endurance. This was also the case when Kyojuro unleashed his Rengoku technique, this time, he had a chunk of his arm torn off, a part of his head sliced clean off and his torso being slashed in two, which he reacted to nonchalantly. Additionally, across all his battles he has never showed signs of pain or agony even after getting his limbs sliced off or when he was inflicted with numerous slash wounds and injuries, even those caused by Hinokami Kagura techniques which are known to cause pain even to Upper Rank demons, such as Daki. Furthermore, Akaza is one of the only ones to withstand Tanjiro's headbutt without any signs of pain afterwards, even complimenting it.

Prior to being transformed into a demon, Akaza demonstrated superhuman endurance at the age of 11 as he endured beatings that could make a grown man go numb (100 beatings) thus earning the title of "Demon Child". Akaza stated that he would endure those beatings even if lasts hundreds of years just for his father.

Blood Demon Art
Destructive Death: Akaza's Blood Demon Art takes the form of a martial arts style that combines shockwave-like attacks and his Soryu Style he mastered when he was human. The shockwaves Akaza manipulates are blue in color and can take on many forms, such as nigh-invisible air pressure, flowing streams, or cannon-shaped spikes. He is capable of generating them at will, from any distance, and seemingly from any part of his body. In combat, Akaza has his shockwaves accompany his own punches and kicks to amplify its destructive capabilities, making his attacks covered in a faint blue light.

At the start of a battle, Akaza initiates his Blood Demon Art by deploying a special technique called Technique Development. Akaza starts by going into a stance unique to the Soryu Style which there are 2 versions of. The first stance is performed by bending his knees in a half-crouch position, extending his right arm with a half-clenched fist facing his body and bending his left arm with an open palm; the second version is nearly identical except he opens his palm on his right arm while fully clenching his fists in a downwards bend on his left arm. Destructive Death, similar to the Soryu Style, is a bare-fisted martial arts style that utilizes both the user's arms and legs to unleash swift and powerful strikes that target an opponent's neck and weapon. This Blood Demon Art combined with his superhuman strength and speed makes him a formidable opponent in both close and ranged combat.

Fighting Style
Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Akaza's most notable attribute as a human and as a demon is his extraordinary skill in unarmed combat and bare-fisted martial arts. Even before transforming into a demon, Akaza has displayed prodigious abilities and skills in hand-to-hand combat, being able to completely lay waste to several grown men at the age of 11 without any prior martial arts training. When he was 18, Akaza singlehandedly annihilated 67 adult kendo masters, brutally mutilating their bodies until they were mangled piles of flesh with his bare fists.

After becoming a demon, his hand-to-hand combat prowess was further augmented to the point he could fight effectively at speeds faster than the eye can see while fully utilizing his bare-fisted martial arts skills for both offense and defense against the most powerful of Demon Slayers. Furthermore, when combined with his Blood Demon Art and superhuman physique, every single one of his punches and kicks become extremely lethal, with each blow being capable of shattering the ground or breaking ribs, making him an extremely dangerous opponent. That combined with his centuries worth of martial arts experience essentially makes Akaza unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat.
 * Soryu Style: A bare-fisted martial arts style taught to him by Keizo, a martial arts expert, when he lived with him and took care of Koyuki. The Soryu Style utilizes both a user's arms and legs to unleash swift and powerful strikes that target an opponent's neck and weapon. At the start of a battle, the user begins by going into a stance performed by bending their knees in a half-crouch position, extending their right arm with a half-clenched fist facing his body and bending his left arm with an open palm or a nearly identical stance except they open their palm on their right arm while fully clenching their fists in a downwards bend on their left arm. After becoming a demon, he used the Soryu Style as his main inspiration of his Destructive Death martial arts.
 * Bell Splitter (り): A technique likely created from the Soryu Style where Akaza strikes a sword from the side as it is descending to break it with little effort.

Techniques

 * -|Description =
 * Compass Needle: Akaza deploys a light blue snowflake-shaped compass underneath him with numbers ranging from 1 to 12. This technique allows Akaza to sense a person's "Fighting Spirit", allowing him to detect and track the locations of his opponents, even from his blind spots, and where and how his opponents will attack him. This technique can also be used to discern an opponent's weak points, as stated by Tanjiro when Akaza always instinctively aimed for his vitals as if his fists were magnets attracted to them. Akaza always has this technique activated when engaging in combat, making all other techniques he unleashes extremely difficult to counter and evade while making his attacks all the more lethal.


 * Air Type: Akaza punches the empty air in front him, creating a shockwave from the pressure of his fists and then sends it flying towards his enemies. These airborne shockwaves can be created multiple times in quick succession and can be unleashed in the sky or on the ground.


 * Disorder: Punching rapidly in front of himself, Akaza creates a barrage of ranged shockwaves. This attack was capable of overpowering Kyojuro's Flame Tiger technique.


 * Annihilation Type: One of Akaza's most powerful techniques. Akaza lunges forward, punching with so much force it creates a powerful shockwave that is capable of going through Kyojuro's most powerful attack, Rengoku.


 * Eight-Layered Demon Core: Akaza unleashes eight powerful punches, each strike creating large shockwaves in a similar fashion to his Disorder technique.


 * Leg Type: Techniques where Akaza uses his legs as the main form of combat.
 * Crown Splitter: A reverse, rising axe kick that creates a shockwave that deals additional damage to the target. Tanjiro noted that a slight scrape from this kick caused him to bleed.
 * Explosive Flurry: A flashing flurry of powerful straight kicks, each creating shockwaves capable of launching Giyu a great distance while being fast enough to evade his reflexes.
 * Flying Planet Thousand Wheels: Akaza kicks his opponent with both legs in a flowing motion from under them that slowly rises upward.


 * Crushing Type: Techniques that solely involve attacks of brute force that aims to pulverize the enemy.
 * Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow: A powerful downward punch that delivers a large shockwave into the ground that expands outward.


 * Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow: Akaza's ultimate martial arts technique. Akaza creates an omni-directional barrage of thin and sharp shockwaves that seemingly strike out of nowhere from a flurry of punches. This attack was so powerful that it could completely negate Giyu's Dead Calm technique, a move known for its immense defensive capabilities.

Game Exclusive Techniques

 * Collapse - Similar to his Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow technique, Akaza leaps into the air and delivers a downward punch that shatters the ground.


 * Disorder, Shatter (・) - Similar to his Disorder technique, Akaza unleashes numerous straight punches in front of himself.


 * Annihilation Type, Punish (・) - Akaza deploys his Compass Needle technique before rushing to his target and delivering a multitude of powerful shockwave-enhanced punches and kicks before unleashing his Annihilation Type technique.


 * -|Demonstrations =

Trivia

 * Akaza's alias contains the respective kanji for "luxuriant growth" (猗), "cave" (窩), and "sit, cushion" (座).
 * His name as a human contains the On'yomi/reading pronunction of the kanji for "komainu" (狛) and "cure/heal" (治).
 * Due to the first kanji being the On'yomi reading of "Haku". It is easily mistaken for the kanji of "White" (白) or others of the same radical '白' and pronunciation.
 * Akaza's Compass Needle technique forms the shape of a snowflake; possibly due to the influence of his fiancée (Koyuki's name contains the kanji for "snow", and she wears three snowflake-shaped hairpins).
 * Akaza is ranked 17th in the second popularity poll with 1982 votes.
 * Akaza is the only member of the deceased Upper Ranks who encountered the people he knew in life while disappearing. There are two members of the Twelve Kizuki who have been shown experiencing this, the other being Rui.
 * Akaza's Japanese voice actor has the role of Gaara from Naruto: Shippūden.
 * Akaza's English voice actor has the role of Mahito from Jujutsu Kaisen.
 * Akaza was one of Muzan's favorites since he was loyal and serious.
 * Akaza was the only demon of the Twelve Kizuki who refused to eat or kill women, and was given special permission to do so.
 * Despite his loyalty, Akaza never felt respect nor awe for Muzan. He only saw him as someone who gave orders and saw himself as someone who must obey.
 * Before becoming a demon, Akaza's favorite and most proficient move is the Bell Splitter, though it is uncertain whether this is still the case after his transformation.
 * His proficiency and favoritism of the technique is likely because of his negative relationship with the swordsmanship dojo next door.
 * It is implied that Akaza retained most of his human features as a demon, including his tattoos. As his crimes grew more and more by killing and devouring people, the tattoos from his arms spread more to symbolize the amount of crimes that he has committed.
 * Many of Akaza's attacks and techniques are named after fireworks, a reference to his promise to Koyuki to see the fireworks.
 * Akaza once battled Kokushibo for his position as Upper One; he was defeated but spared because Kokushibo enjoyed his challenge.

Quotes

 * (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "Let me tell you why you can't enter the realm of the highest. Because you're a human. Because you're going to grow old. Because you're going to die. Become a demon, Kyojuro. Do that, and you can go on training for a hundred, two hundred years. You can become stronger."
 * (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "There were never any Flames among all the Hashira I've killed until now. And no one ever took me up on my offer, either. Why do you think that is? As a fellow martial artist, I just don't get it. Not when only the chosen ones can become demons!... Watching the hideous decline of someone blessed with extraordinary powers... it pains me! I can't bear it! Die, Kyojuro... while you're still young and strong."
 * (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "Even if you fight to death, you can't win, Kyojuro. Those impressive slashes you inflicted on me... have already healed completely. But what about you? A smashed left eye, shattered ribs and damaged internal organs... all irreparable. If you were a demon, you'd heal in the blink of an eye. Those would be mere scratches a demon. You can struggle all you want, but a human can never beat a demon."
 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "You misunderstand, Tanjiro. I only despise the weak. I only spit on weaklings. Yes. Weaklings make me sick. It is the law of nature that they be weeded out."
 * (To himself) "Are the poor not even allowed to live? Father... To Hell with this world! To Hell with every last one of them! Why do these rotten people get to live but my father had to die? He wasn't a bother. What did he have to apologize for? My father didn't do anything wrong! I could take the punishment. They could whip me savagely or break all my bones... but I could take it for even a hundred years for my father's sake![...] My father was rapidly losing weight. His ribs were beginning to show through his back. I wanted to feed him something more nutritious. I was sure I could heal him. Why did he hang himself? I would have been happy to die instead, if it were for my father's sake. For my father!!"
 * (In regards to Koyuki) "I will cure you for sure. Help you. Protect. My life was worthless, filled with nothing but empty promises."
 * (In regards to himself) "I became a demon, lost my memories and again began seeking strength. There was nothing left I wanted to protect. I didn't even want to continue living in a world without my family. For over a hundred years I committed pointless acts of carnage. It's a horribly sad... laughable... and ridiculous story."
 * (To his family) "I'm home, father. I'm back. Master. Koyuki. I'm home."

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