Since you want to know who Demon King Tanjiro is, I assume you already know a bit about the story. The Demon Slayer manga is finished, so the readers already know about this, but if you are an anime-only fan, then just know that you are about to enter the “spoiler” territory!
The story of Demon Slayer is a straightforward one where a group of Demon Slayers hunt down and kill demons and eventually the King of Demons, Muzan, to prevent others from turning into demons as well.
Tanjiro Kamado, the story’s main character, is a demon slayer on a mission to turn his sister back into a human. However, during the course of the story, Tanjiro faces many tribulations and loses several of his comrades in the fight against the demons.
Since Muzan Kibutsuji was responsible for killing Tanjiro’s family and he also turned Nezuko into a demon, you might be wondering if Tanjiro also, at some point in the story, becomes a demon himself.
The answer is yes, Tanjiro does become a demon during the all-out final war against Muzan, and it wasn’t in the best interests of the Demon Slayer Corps.
When Does Tanjiro Become a Demon?
Tanjiro becomes a demon towards the end of the story during the final battle against Muzan. As of the writing of this article, this portion of the story has yet to be animated but is readily available in its manga, in chapters 201 to 203, which is aptly named “Demon Slayers vs. Tanjiro Kamado.”
The chapters cover the last final fight of the series and feature Muzan’s last ditch effort of achieving his dream for immortality through Tanjiro as he was able to overcome many weaknesses demons usually had and mastered the strongest “Breathing” style there was.
How Does Tanjiro Become a Demon?
During the final chapters, after a long battle between the Hashiras and the Demon Moons, Muzan faces eventual death at the hands of the remaining Demon Slayers and also as a result of getting exposed to sunlight.
Tanjiro was almost at death’s door following a rough fight with Muzan; his heart and breath had stopped, but he was still technically alive, as not every cell in his body died. That was enough for Muzan to bring Tanjiro back to life, not as a human, but as a demon – the King of Demons!
During his last moments, while he was being burned by the sun, Muzan used his last remnants of power and energy to pump all of his blood into Tanjiro’s body. Since Tanjiro has the same blood as Nezuko, Muzan was confident that he too would conquer the sun and become the strongest demon ever, and that’s exactly what happens!
It didn’t take much time after Muzan’s death for Tanjiro to wake up, not as a human, but as a demon, and start attacking his fellow Demon Slayers.
How Strong is Demon King Tanjiro?
Despite only being a demon for a short amount of time, Tanjiro made for an incredibly difficult foe to overcome. He quickly took the title of the Demon King right after Muzan’s death, as the former Demon King had remarked on his potential to become the strongest demon to exist.
Although Tanjiro was being burned by the sun initially, it didn’t take long for him to develop an immunity against sunlight. Muzan knew this would happen when he injected his blood into Tanjiro’s body.
And it’s not just his immunity against the sun, Tanjiro is also the only person who can perform the Sun Breathing techniques, the strongest breathing style in existence. Sun Breathing was the original breathing technique that brought down Muzan and served as the basis for all the subsequent breathing techniques developed later. When you combine these two factors, there is virtually no cap to how strong Demon King Tanjiro was.
Demon King Tanjro’s defenses are just as fearsome as his offenses, as he inherited all of Muzan’s capabilities and abilities while he was alive. He was shown to be invincible to all forms of physical harm due to his regeneration being just as fast and powerful as Muzan’s while also having the same stamina and endurance as others.
All of his strength and seemingly zero weaknesses were showcased by how Tanjiro could easily hold his ground against the last remaining members of the Demon Slayer Corps, including his close friends, the last remaining Hashiras, and his own sister.
Does Tanjiro Turn Back into a Human?
Despite Tanjiro’s overwhelming strength and the impression that made him look like he had no weakness, Tanjiro was still able to turn back into a human by the end of the fight. This was all thanks to the drug developed by Shinobu, Tamayo, and Yushiro, which was able to turn demons back into humans.
The path to Tanjiro turning back into a human was a difficult one; however, the fight against Muzan left the entirety of the Demon Slayer Corps wiped out, with several deaths of the Hashira’s resulting in the aftermath.
The last remaining forces of the Demon Slayer Corps were barely struggling to keep Tanjiro at bay and were only able to do so with the help of Nezuko, albeit the former was struggling to keep up with her sibling.
Thanks to the arrival of Kanao, Tanjiro was able to turn back into a human as she brought the medicine that could turn him back into a human. Through the use of her Flower Breathing’s Final Form, she was able to evade Tanjiro’s attacks and close the gap between them to inject him with the medicine.
Tanjiro also played a vital role in his return to humanity as he continuously fought against his desire to become an ultimate being and Muzan’s will to kill all the Demon Slayers in his subconscious during the fight. Without his unwavering will and refusal to Muzan, Tanjiro might not have been able to return to his senses and become a human.
Also Read: Does Tanjiro Become a Hashira?