Demon Slayer: Every Upper-Rank Demon And Their Powers Explained

While certainly not the primary antagonists of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the Upper-Rank Kizuki or Moons are the closest in power under their master, Muzan Kibutsuji. Several of these enemies are fittingly featured in the story’s penultimate arc and current storyline of the record-setting Infinity Castle movies, frequently featuring as bitter nemeses to the Hashira and various members of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Having consumed significant amounts of Muzan’s blood, the Upper-Ranks are particularly supercharged against the rest of their kin, each boasting unique and terrifying abilities as well as ruthless efficiency. After all, one particularly iconic Upper Rank was shown rather early on to dispatch one of the most unwaveringly heroic Hashira to bear the title. But as the Corps breaches Muzan’s lair and attempts to cut down this threat, it’s worthwhile to dive into just what makes them so terrifying in Demon Slayer.

Daki

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 73, Episode 36

Daki is one of the original Upper-Rank Six Kizuki. Once a promising courtesan named Ume, Daki and her brother became demons after Daki was almost burned alive by a client, and ever since then, Daki has run a red-light district as a means of gathering humans to eat and become stronger.

Daki’s Blood Demon Art allows her to turn her flesh into powerful sashes that she can manipulate at will, even being able to turn her neck into a sash to avoid decapitation. Not only that, but because of her symbiotic relationship with Gyutaro, Daki can only die when they’ve both been decapitated, making for a notably complicated fight.

Gyutaro

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 86, Episode 40

Gyutaro is the second half of the original Upper-Rank Six Kizuki. Gyutaro worked as Daki’s bodyguard when they were humans struggling in poverty, and after Daki was almost burned alive and Gyutaro was beaten half to death trying to save her, they became demons to survive and vent their frustrations out on the world.

Gyutaro fights with powerful sickles and the ability to weaponize poisonous blood, and just like with Daki, Gyutaro can’t be defeated unless he and Daki are decapitated together. Gyutaro, alone, was nearly strong enough to defeat Tanjiro and Tengen, and despite his low ranking, there’s no denying how powerful he was.

Kaigaku

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 34, Episode 17

Kaigaku is the newest Upper-Rank Six Kizuki and Zenitsu’s former fellow student of the Thunder Breathing technique. Kaigaku always positioned himself as superior to the cowardly Zenitsu, but in reality, Kaigaku was even more of a coward than him, as he willingly became a demon so he wouldn’t be killed in battle.

Related

Demon Slayer: All 13 Hashira, Ranked Weakest to Strongest

Demon Slayer’s Hashira are some of the strongest characters in the series, but some Hashira are much stronger and more powerful than their peers.

Kaigaku fights with near mastery of the Thunder Breathing technique, and as shown in Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle part 1, his Blood Demon Art allows him to infuse his attacks with real lightning instead of visual effects. Zenitsu might have defeated Kaigaku, but if he had more time to master his powers, it probably would have been a different fight.

Gyokko

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 98, Episode 45

Gyokko is the Upper-Rank Five Kizuki and one of the main antagonists of season 3. Gyokko is an incredibly vain demon obsessed with fine art, something made especially ironic by how ugly and inhuman he is, and owing to his demonic nature, he sees killing humans and violating their corpses as the ideal way of expressing his creativity.

Gyokko’s Blood Demon Art mostly revolves around using vases for water-based attacks, and when desperate, he can take on a mermaid-like form that gives him powerful scales and the ability to turn anything he touches into fish. Muichiro defeated Gyokko fairly easily after unlocking his Demon Slayer Mark, but that doesn’t make him any less tough of an opponent.

Hantengu

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 98, Episode 45

Hantengu is the original Upper-Rank Four Kizuki and one of the villains of season 3. As a human, Hantengu was a sniveling coward who never owned up to his countless crimes, and even as a demon, he’s still cowardly and acts like he’s never the one causing problems, going so far as to call Demon Slayers evil for killing demons.

Hantengu can split his body into four different forms, each with distinct powers and emotions, and they can combine into a fifth form with powerful wood-based abilities. The only way to kill Hantengu is to destroy his tiny core self that hides away from the fight, making him one of the hardest demons Tanjiro has ever had to deal with.

Nakime

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 51, Episode 26

Nakime is the newest Upper-Rank Four Kizuki. Nakime was once an amateur musician who killed people to psych herself up for performances, and after becoming a demon, she was put in charge of Muzan’s Infinity Castle and eventually promoted to Upper-Rank 4 in preparation for the final battle between Muzan and the Demon Slayers.

Nakime’s Blood Demon Art allows her to control the Infinity Castle, and not only does the constant manipulation of her surroundings make it hard to fight, but she can also manipulate the architecture offensively when the situation calls for it. Nakime might not strictly be a fighter, but that didn’t make her any less of a problem to deal with.

Akaza

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 63, Demon Slayer: Mugen Train

Akaza is the Upper-Rank Three Kizuki. As a human, Akaza was a boy named Hakuji who stole to get money for his sickly father. Eventually, Hakuji’s father killed himself so he wouldn’t burden Hakuji, and at the height of his despair, Hakuji was taken in by a martial artist named Keizo and his daughter, Koyuki.

Unfortunately, Keizo and Koyuki would be killed by a local kendo dojo after their land, causing Hakuji to kill the entire dojo in a fit of rage. After that, Hakuji, with nothing left to live for, became the demon Akaza, and his trauma slowly devolved into a general obsession with power.

Akaza’s martial arts skills became even deadlier as a demon, with him becoming strong enough to create shockwaves by punching the air, and he even possesses the unique ability to track opponents by sensing their fighting spirit. Akaza was always one of the strongest villains in the series, and that remains true even after Akaza’s death in Infinity Castle.

Doma

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 96, Episode 44

Doma is the Upper-Rank Two Kizuki. Doma’s jovial nature masks his sadistic and manipulative nature as a cult leader, but all of that seems to stem from his inability to understand emotions, something that even demons should be capable of, and pointing that out is the one thing that can make Doma drop his facade of a nice person.

Doma’s Blood Demon Art allows him to fight with powerful ice techniques that are not only powerful on their own, but also create toxic air that makes it almost impossible to breathe around him. Doma’s powers more than justified his high rank, and it was only through Shinobu’s tricks with weaponizing her death that he was finally defeated.

Kokushibo

First Appearance: Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Chapter 99, Episode 45

Kokushibo is the Upper-Rank One Kizuki who was once Michikatsu Tsugikuni, the twin brother of the legendary Demon Slayer Yoriichi Tsugikuni. While Yoriichi was seemingly slow and frail as a child, he was actually far more talented a fighter than Michikatsu from birth, something that infuriated Michikatsu to no end.

Michikatsu’s resentment only increased when he and Yoriichi became Demon Slayers, as no matter how strong Michikatsu became, he couldn’t come close to Yoriichi’s power. Michikatsu’s jealousy led to him becoming a demon in pursuit of further power, but that only made his relationship with Yoriichi more complicated than before.

Kokushibo maintains his powerful Moon Breathing technique, Demon Slayer Mark, and knowledge of the Transparent World, and with a shapeshifting blade and a Blood Demon Art of moon-shaped weapons, he’s even stronger than ever. Kokushibo more than earns his status as the strongest Upper-Rank Kizuki, and he was easily the toughest villain in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba after Muzan.

Release Date

2019 – 2024-00-00

Network

Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, Gunma TV, BS11, Tochigi TV, Kansai TV, Tokai Television Broadcasting, Fukui TV, Hokkaido Cultural Broadcasting, Iwate Menkoi Television, Sendai Television, SAGA TV, TNC, OHK, Ishikawa TV, Kochi Sun Sun Broadcasting, TV Shizuoka, UMK TV Miyazaki, Television Shin Hiroshima System, NST, NBS, Sakuranbo TV, TSK, Ehime Broadcasting, KTS, NIB, Fukushima TV, TOS, AKT, Toyama Television, TV Kumamoto, Okinawa Television Broadcasting

Directors

Hideki Hosokawa, Shinya Shimomura, Akihiko Uda, Takuro Takahashi, Shuji Miyahara, Masaru Takeuchi, Toshiyuki Shirai, Takuya Nonaka, Yuki Ito, Ken Takahashi, Takahiro Majima, Yusuke Shibata

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  Natsuki Hanae

  Tanjiro Kamado (voice)

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  Akari Kito

  Nezuko Kamado (voice)