| “ | When Kanae died...I'm sorry I couldn't cry. Everyone else was crying...but I didn't. I was very upset. I was sweating all over, but didn't shed any tears. But no one...no one criticized me. Everyone was kind to me. That's why I made so many excuses to fill my heart. |
” |
— Kanao Tsuyuri to herself in Overflowing Heart
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Kanao Tsuyuri (
Appearance[]
Kanao is a young lady of short stature, with large and gentle eyes of a dark lilac color that are framed by thick eyelashes, and pink lips in contrast to her pale complexion. She has medium-length, thin raven-black hair, tied into a side ponytail on the right of her head and fastened by a green butterfly ornament with a pink trimmed and white speckled spots, that once belonged to her adoptive sister Kanae.[3] She has straight cut bangs, a straight fringe, and two loose, chin-length strands that curve downwards from above each of her ears.
Kanao wears a slightly purple-tinted variation of the standard Demon Slayer uniform, consisting of a button-up jacket with a stand-up collar and long sleeves, featuring silver buttons and a shirt pocket on the left breast, with the kanji for Destroy (
When she was a young child living in poverty, Kanao had severely disheveled hair, and a tattered and dirty pink kimono with lighter circular patterns. It is also worth noting that despite likely being a preteen around 12-13 years old, she was abnormally short and had the appearance of a younger child due to severe malnutrition stunting her growth.
Sometime between then and her next appearance in the Infinity Castle, the color of Kanao's hair changes as the ends now appear tinted slightly purple before fading to a neon pink around halfway down her ponytail. After her battle with Doma, Kanao begins to wear Shinobu's hairpin rather than Kanae's, as her's was shattered during the battle. She also loses much of the vision of her right eye due to her using Flower Breathing's final form to take out the Upper Rank with her eye gaining a defined pupil with a dark ring around it and becoming deprived of its gradient.[3]
Gallery[]
.png "Kanao colored profile (half blind).png (156 KB)")
Personality[]
Kanao's quiet and serene demeanour.
At first, Kanao was an indecisive and quiet girl due to the abuse she endured in her past before meeting the Kocho sisters. She became unable to make decisions by herself and repressed her emotions as a defense mechanism, to the point that she believed she lacked emotions and desires. In order to help rectify this problem, Kanae gave her a coin to flip to decide which path to follow when she didn't know what to do.[4] For many years, Kanao continued to show little emotion or desire. However, after seeing what demons did to Aoi Kanzaki, Naho Takada, Sumi Nakahara, Kiyo Terauchi and Shinobu's loved ones, Kanao developed a strong hatred against demons directly from her own will. Kanao, without the knowledge of her sisters, learned Flower Breathing by watching Kanae and undertook the Final Selection of her own volition to become a Demon Slayer, without consulting her superiors for permission, which would imply that her will had been strengthening all along. Shinobu, oblivious to this fact, was afraid that Kanao wasn't acting on her own volition and thus instructed Kanao to simply cut off the heads of demons without thinking since she seemingly had no will of her own.[5]
Kanao repeatedly bids farewell to Tanjiro.
Between Kanae's death and the Rehabilitation Training, Kanao recovers slightly but still relies on her coin to make most of her decisions. She displays a somewhat mechanical response in conversations; when Tanjiro Kamado approaches her to bid to her farewell, she repeats "goodbye" when he attempts to continue the conversation.[6] However, he eventually manages to start bringing her out of her shell and she starts to make more of her own decisions, in turn relying less on her coin. She gains the ability to speak unambiguously[7] and gradually becomes able to express her emotions and wants more openly, as seen when she begins to show her own desire to fight,[5] expresses immense relief when Tanjiro recovers from his injuries, displays joy[8] when she tells Shinobu that she wishes to train alongside her, and expresses shock and distress at Shinobu's plan to defeat Doma.[9]
"Why were you even born?"
In her battle against Doma, Kanao takes uncharacteristically sadistic glee in pointing out his own lack of emotions. Fueled by hatred and spite due to the deaths of her beloved elder sisters by his hand, she attacks him verbally to the point where he drops his normal carefree demeanor. She demonstrates extreme determination and a deep love for her sisters, crying for the first time in the wake of Shinobu's death and expressing that she had wished to go home together with her elder sister.[10] She has now been shown to express a greater sense of camaraderie and care for her fellow Demon Slayers other than her sisters, the residents of the Butterfly Mansion and Tanjiro, as seen when she becomes visibly angry and sympathetic on Inosuke Hashibira's behalf when Doma begins gloating about his mother's death. She shows immense rage at the demon's taunts, insulting him and telling him to silence himself, which is a complete step up from the original emotionally distant relationship she had with her comrades.[11]
During the final battle against Muzan Kibutsuji, Kanao was shown to have completely regained the ability to properly express her emotions and make her own choices. Over the course of the battle, she shows visible feelings of anger and terror towards the Demon King as she and her fellow Demon Slayers take him on. Even after the battle is over, she continues to show emotion, proving herself to genuinely care for both Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko Kamado after watching the latter's desperate attempts to reach out to her now transformed brother, which even reached the point of risking her one remaining eye to inject Tanjiro with Shinobu's last vial of the human-conversion drug to save him.
Abilities[]
Overall Abilities[]
Kanao clashes with Doma, the second most powerful Upper Rank.
Kanao is the Tsuguko of Kanae and Shinobu Kocho who has been personally trained by the both of them in the art of combat. As such, Kanao possesses extremely refined physical abilities, sharpened skills and prowess that potentially marks her as a future member of the Demon Slayer Corps' Hashira. Tanjiro Kamado, another promising candidate, even states that, during their first meeting together, he could already sense that Kanao was the closest to the Hashira out of the existing Demon Slayers, just by smelling her scent and feeling her aura, which further confirms her skills. During her battle against Doma, the second most powerful of the Upper Ranks, he acknowledged her abilities to have surpassed that of Shinobu's.
Indomitable Will: Like most Demon Slayers, Kanao possesses an undaunted will and spirit, refusing to give up and die when fighting even the most formidable foes that defeated her masters, Doma and later on, the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji.
Kanao analyzing and assessing Doma's techniques.
Keen Intellect: As an experienced Demon Slayer, Kanao possesses exceptionally sharp analytical observation along with adept insight and perception skills in battle. She is proven to be very cautiously astute, able to use her eyes to precisely analyze, anticipate and predict the movements of her opponent, and predetermine their next move in advance by watching them closely. Her analytical and observation skills played a role in taking down Doma, as she was able to accurately analyze and observe his techniques, moves, and attacks, quickly move accordingly, and assess his abilities. Her analytical and observation skills played a vital role in her battle against Doma. During the climax of her conflict with the Upper Rank demon, when he was cornered, in his final act of desperation, the demon unveiled his last technique and a massive attack out of desperation. She was able to quickly tell and recognize the Upper Rank’s final gambit, noting that his technique lacks precision and was clearly his last-ditch effort to defend himself with the little energy he had left, and used it to her advantage to take him down for good.
Kanao also was shown to be quite intuitive; right before Shinobu's death, she was sharp enough to immediately read, discern, and quickly understand her sister's hand sign language not to breathe in Doma’s freezing air.
Physical Abilities[]
Kanao slashes through Doma's midsection.
Enhanced Strength: Kanao has attained incredible physical strength through harsh training. She can jump extremely high distances incredibly quickly, showing her incredible leg strength. In terms of arm strength, she can swing her katana at tremendous speeds incessantly without tiring. She was even able to slash through the midsection of Doma, a demon whose body boasts incredibly high durability.
Kanao evades attacks of Doma's Blood Demon Art techniques.
Immense Speed and Reflexes: Kanao is extremely fast. During Rehabilitation Training, she can consistently outspeed Tanjiro Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Inosuke Hashibira all at once before they mastered the Total Concentration: Constant (
Immense Stamina and Endurance: Kanao has incredible stamina and endurance. During her battle against Doma, she is able to exert herself even farther than her limits and fight against the Upper Rank Two demon, being able to endure numerous attacks. She is able to keep fighting despite the injuries that she had suffered from the fight and recover enough to then help in the confrontation against Muzan shortly afterwards.
Supernatural Abilities[]
Enhanced Vision: Kanao possesses extremely sharp eyesight, being able to accurately predict her opponent's next attack and movements by simply observing the subtle shifts of their muscles, joints and the slight movements of their eyes. This allows her to make effective counterattacks and dodges and stay ahead of her opponents. Doma comments on this feat and remarks that due to this skill, Kanao may be more skilled than Shinobu. This ability is enhanced with the Flower Breathing, Final Form: Equinoctial Vermilion Eye.
Fighting Style[]
Master Swordswoman: As an immensely gifted individual, Kanao is an incredibly powerful swordswoman with excellent proficiency with a sword, enabling her to slay demons since she was young, and face on more dangerous ones, such as Upper Rank Two, Doma, to the point that the powerful demon even thought that she was likely more talented than Shinobu Kocho. Her combination of impeccably refined swordsmanship skills and sharply acute sense of vision allowed her to fight against and clash toe-to-toe with the Upper Rank by herself for some time before Inosuke Hashibira's intervention. She was also able to contribute to the battle against Muzan Kibutsuji, alongside her fellow Demon Slayers.
Breathing Style[]
Flower Breathing (
Techniques[]
- Second Form: Honorable Shadow Plum (
弐 ノ型 御 影 梅 Ni no kata: Mikage Ume?)[12] - The user releases several rotating sword slashes that deflects incoming physical attacks.
- Fourth Form: Crimson Hanagoromo (
肆 ノ型 紅 花 衣 Shi no kata: Beni Hanagoromo?)[13] - The user unleashes single sword slash that curves and twists gracefully.
- Fifth Form: Peonies of Futility (
伍 ノ型 徒 の芍 薬 Go no kata: Ada no Shakuyaku ?)[14] - The user unleashes a flurry of nine consecutive attacks that flow and weave in on themselves.
- Sixth Form: Whirling Peach (
陸 ノ型 渦 桃 Roku no kata: Uzumomo?)[15] - A technique used after or during evasion, the user spins around moving with their body weight to deliver an attack.
Kanao using Final Form: Equinoctial Vermilion Eye.
- Final Form: Equinoctial Vermilion Eye (
終 ノ型 彼 岸 朱 眼 Tsui no kata: Higan Shugan?)[16] - A focusing technique that raises the user's kinetic vision to its maximum, while using this technique the user perceives the world as if it were in slow motion. Usage of the technique, however, is highly dangerous, as the tremendous strain on the eyes could cause blood vessels to rupture and lead to partial or complete blindness.[17] This technique is still usable even if the user only has one fully functional eye.[18]
Equipment[]
Standard Nichirin Katana: Kanao carries around a standard sized and shaped Nichirin katana, with the blade being a light pink in color, with a pink outline. The katana's tsuba is circular shaped with a silver center and border, filled three pink five-leafed flowers and a winding pattern that is white in color. The handle is pink, decorated with white cords, and capped with a gold kashira. Along with her katana, she also has a standard sword sheath that is black in color with pink flower design on it.
During the final battle against Muzan, the blade of her katana was broken during the fight.
Gallery[]
Relatives[]
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*Kanae and Shinobu purchased Kanao out of slavery and adopted her as their little sister.
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*The story does not indicate which child of Sumiyoshi carries on the lineage nor the quantity of generations that follow prior to Tanjuro.
Battles[]
Trivia[]
- Kanao's entire surname contains the Nanori for "chestnut" (
栗 tsu?), "flower, blossom" (花 yu?) and "fall" (落 ri?). Her first name contains the katakana characters for "ka" (カ?), "na" (ナ?) and "wo" (ヲ?) respectively. - Kanao herself decided on her own last name from multiple candidates. Aoi Kanzaki wanted a sister, so she was fiercely pestering her to choose her own last name from the side.[19]
- The other options for Kanao's first name were first made by Shinobu Kocho and were Suzume (スズメ Suzume?), Hakobe (ハコベ Hakobe?), Kamasu (カマス Kamasu?), Tanago (タナゴ Tanago?) and Tobiko (トビコ Tobiko?). When Shinobu gave the paper having said names written on it to Kanae Kocho, the latter's face froze making an "Eh?!" sound.
- The options for Kanao's surname were Kocho (
胡 蝶 Kochō?) (Kanae and Shinobu's last name), Kanzaki (神 崎 Kanzaki?) (Aoi's last name), Kuze (久 世 Kuze?), Motomiya (本 宮 Motomiya?), and Tsuyuri (栗 花 落 Tsuyuri?).
- Kanao's birthday was decided to be May 19th, the day Kanae and Shinobu adopted her since her actual birthday is unknown.[20]
- Since Kanao couldn't do housework and nursing at the Butterfly Mansion like her colleagues, she opted to be a Demon Slayer.
- According to Goto, Kanao has been slaying Demons since childhood.[21]
- Kanao is the only explicitly stated Tsukugo in the series.
- Kanao's rank during the events on Mount Natagumo was Tsuchinoto,[20] by the end of the series she rises up to Hinoto.[22]
- Kanao's painful childhood caused her to have difficulty thinking for herself. She would usually freeze up and sweat when asked about what she thought. Because of this, she was told to only think about slicing Demons' necks during battle.[22]
- Whenever Kanao sees a Demon Slayer who is kind to her die in battle, anger builds up inside her. She was unaware of this fact since, as Tanjiro stated, the voice in her heart was too small.[22]
- Kanao keeps the coin given to her by Kanae in a memory box, which was also made by Kanae.[20]
- Kanao's main hobby is blowing soap bubbles. She also enjoys buying sweets and accessories with her pocket money for everyone at the Butterfly Mansion, squishing cat paws and helping with the cooking.[20]
- Kanao's favorite drink is Ramune and she enjoys all of Aoi's cooking.[20]
- Kanao has a habit of gulping whenever she saw her favorite food or drink in front of her. She seems to be unaware of this.[22]
- It was implied that Kanao's original uniform was open chested like Mitsuri Kanroji's, but Shinobu gave her oil and matches to burn it.[23]
- It's also implied that Kanao's skirt was shortened due to Masao Maeda's interference, although the Kakushi denied this.[24]
- On the Volume 18 cover, Kanao was mistakenly drawn with her sword on the right side of her waist. Koyoharu Gotoge made a statement apologizing for this after the volume's release.[25]
- Kanao's rankings in the popularity polls are as follows:
- Kanao ranked 8th in the first character popularity poll with 712 votes.
- Kanao ranked 10th in the second popularity poll with 5305 votes.
- In Kimetsu Academy, Kanao was adopted by the Kocho family, because she has no relatives. They look similar, so people think they are actual sisters. She is one of the three beauties of the Academy. She has very good motor reflexes, so she is busy being scouted and asked to help out in clubs, but she always prioritizes the club she is already part of: the Flower Arrangement Club.
- Kanao shares her English voice actress, Brianna Knickerbocker, with Nichika Ubuyashiki.
Quotes[]
- (Kanao about her childhood) "Day after day I was hungry, sad, empty, suffering, and lonely. But suddenly, one day, there came a sound...and nothing was hard anymore."[4]
- (To herself, about her struggles) "Somehow I feel the people I care for and those important to me will still be alive tomorrow. But that's just my hope and there's no way I can promise that with any certainty. Why do people... believe such things?"[26]
- (To Doma) "People born into this world can feel joy, sadness, rage and other emotions so strongly they tremble. But that's all a mystery to you isn't it? You've never felt happiness. Felt enjoyment. Felt pain. Felt bitterness. In fact, you're nothing but an empty shell. It's quite comical, it's so stupid. Why were you even born?"[27]
- (To herself, in regards to Shinobu Kocho) "I wanted to protect her. I wanted to risk my life for her. I wanted to go home together."[16]
- (To Tanjiro Kamado) "You can't do this Tanjiro. Hurry up and go back. How can you make Nezuko cry...?"[28]
References[]
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba First Fanbook.
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 205.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 163 (Page 12).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kimetsu no Yaiba Extra: Bonus Manga.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Volume 19, Extra Pages.
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 53 (Page 12).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 100 (Pages 10-11).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 99 (Page 18).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 162 (Pages 2-5).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 163 (Page 18).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 157 (Pages 6-14).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 158 (Page 5).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 143 (Page 14).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 158 (Page 4).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 158 (Page 7).
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 162 (Page 18).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 162 (Page 19).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 202 (Page 16-17).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Volume 19, (Extra Pages).
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 Kimetsu no Yaiba First Fanbook.
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 100 (Page 3).
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 Kimetsu no Yaiba Second Fanbook.
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Volume 12, (Extra Pages).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Volume 21, (Extra Pages).
- ↑ Author's Comments (12/22/2019).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 143 (Page 23-24).
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 157.
- ↑ Kimetsu no Yaiba Manga: Chapter 202 (Page 18-19).