Demon Slayer mangaka unveils Tanjiro's dark side like never seen before (2023)

Koyoharu Gotouge’s magnum opus, Demon Slayer, is extremely successful and has garnered fans from around the world. However, the origins of the manga were quite different from what we have come to love and adore today. Before it was called Kimetsu no Yaiba, Koyoharu Gotouge’s earlier version of the series was known as Kisatsu no Nagare.

This version of the series featured a protagonist who was everything Tanjiro wasn’t. The protagonist seemed incredibly serious, and looked like someone who was fueled by bloodthirst and vengeance after losing their dear ones.

Let us take a deeper dive into Kisatsu no Nagare and understand how the Demon Slayer series came into being.

Origin of Demon Slayer series and its protagonist

Tatsuhiko Katayama, who became the editor of Demon Slayer, gave us some insight into the origins of the manga by partaking in interviews. At that time, Katayama worked in the editorial department and Koyoharu Gotouge was one of the first manga artists he worked with.

They released a few one-shot series in the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine.

The mangaka then expressed an interest in creating a manga series. The two started working off Ka Gari Gari, which was one of Koyoharu Gotouge’s works that were received well by the audience.

The editor knew that a simple plot and motif were required in order to accentuate Koyoharu Gotouge’s art style. This was the reason why Ka Gari Gari was chosen, and after creating a storyboard, this series was later called Kisatsu no Nagare.

However, this was not nearly similar to the Demon Slayer manga series that we love.

The protagonist of Kisatsu no Nagare was incredibly serious, and the story was quite dark. Given that the story revolved around demons devouring human beings, this wasn’t all too surprising.

However, Katayama-san gave his feedback to Koyoharu Gotouge and told him that the manga wouldn’t be serialized. He stated that the manga was incredibly dark and lacked comedic relief. The protagonist was also serious and lacked elements of empathy. It was at this point that Katayama-san asked Koyoharu Gotouge for a slightly normal and brighter character.

This was how Tanjiro came into existence. In the tweet below, the protagonist looks incredibly serious, like someone who has plunged himself into abject darkness.

In Tanjiro's original design, we see that the character doesn’t have an arm as well. His facial expressions, paired with his ability to fight despite losing an arm, showcases his extremely ruthless side.

Given that he lost his entire family to demons, this demeanor is certainly more realistic, and it led to Koyoharu Gotouge creating a darker version of the story. However, Tanjiro is one of the most beloved characters today and fans are quite happy with how Gotouge-san approached the character design and writing for the Demon Slayer series.

Origin of the name “Kimetsu no Yaiba”

The Japanese name for Demon Slayer is Kimetsu no Yaiba. However, it was first called Kistasu no Nagare.

Katayama-san found that the word Kisatsu was too strong since the Kanji also read as “to kill”. In order to make it sound less harsh, they decided to replace the word “Kisatsu” with “Kimetsu” and the official name of the manga was born.

Stay tuned for more Demon Slayer anime and manga news as 2023 progresses.

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