In the world of Demon Slayer, the titular protagonist Tanjiro Kamado is admired for his courage, kindness, determination, and unwavering spirit. However, like any hero, Tanjiro is not immune to making mistakes and bad decisions along his journey to eradicate the demons that plague his world, find the man who killed his family and avenge them. While his intentions are noble, Tanjiro’s actions and decisions sometimes lead to dire consequences and challenges he must face head-on.
From underestimating enemies to making hasty decisions, Tanjiro’s journey is not without its trials and missteps, ultimately helping to shape him into a stronger and more resilient demon slayer. Here are some of Tanjiro’s biggest mistakes throughout the series, analyzing their impact on the story and some of the lessons he learned from them.
6 Leaving Zenitsu On His Own At Mt Natagumo
Tanjiro, Zenitsu, and Inosuke were assigned to Mt Natagumo, an area that is well known for the disappearance of lower-ranking Demon Slayers that were sent there. On arrival, they all get the feeling that something evil is lurking. Zenitsu stays true to his cowardly self and bursts out in tears, which slows down the group, Tanjiro, and Inosuke decide to leave him behind and go on without him.
Despite being scared, Zenitsu resorted to navigating the thick forest up ahead on his lonesome in search of his dear friends. He encountered a spider demon who poisoned and nearly killed him. If Zenitsu had died, Tanjiro would have been forever plagued by his decision.
5 Telling People To Stay Inside Against Daki
When Daki regained all her offsite obi sashes, she became faster and stronger because creating sentient obi sashes reduces the amount of power she can generate in her main body. With her obi sashes now all connected to her, she proved to be a huge danger to all the bystanders and civilians, so Tanjiro yelled for them to stay inside their houses.
Though his efforts proved to be more harmful than helpful as her obi sashes easily cleaved through the buildings, making them collapse, crushing the civilians inside in the process. He became slightly distraught because he could not save them.
4 Not Helping Rengoku Against Akaza
The extremely tough fight against Enmu on the Mugen Train drove Tanjiro to a state of exhaustion and even made him bleed internally. Despite Rengoku telling him to use Total Concentration Constant to close his wounds, any physically strenuous activity could open them again.
So when Akaza, the Upper Moon Four, shows up, he has no choice but to be a spectator in the battle that ensued between him and Rengoku. When Akaza starts taking out Rengoku’s vitals, Rengoku tries to stall him till the sun fully rises, and Tanjiro tries to summon the strength to help Rengoku out, but he is too late. Akaza detaches his body from Rengoku’s grip and flees.
3 Not Deciding On A Specific Breathing Style
It is said that Demon Slayers who wield nichirin swords with black blades are doomed to die at a young age because they struggle to master a breathing style. Even though Tanjiro could use Water breathing, his sword did not change to blue because he could also perform the Hinokami Kagura technique, which is a derivative of the Sun breathing style.
It was later revealed that the blades turn black because the wielders were born to be Sun breathing users. However, since they did not learn the breathing style they were destined to learn, they struggled to learn other breathing styles, and so they died at the hands of demons.
2 Almost Killing Himself When Under Enmu’s Spell
While on the Mugen Train, Rengoku, Inosuke, Zenitsu, and Tanjiro all fall victim to the effects of Enmu’s Blood Demon Art which puts them to sleep after a whole gets punched into their train ticket. Tanjiro wakes up in a dream where he is living with his family, due to external help from Nezuko, he realizes that he is in a dream.
He resorts to cutting his neck to commit suicide to find a way out of his dream, and he does so multiple times because the spell keeps affecting him. It happened so often that he almost cut his neck in real life, thinking it was a dream, thankfully, he was stopped by Inosuke before he could do anything drastic.
1 Threatening to kill Muzan
While roaming around the streets of Asakusa at night with Nezuko, Tanjiro discovered the same scent that he smelled at his house the day his family was massacred. He tracks the smell, and it leads to Kibutsuji Muzan, the demon who killed his family.
After Tanjiro sees his face, Muzan turns a bystander into a demon and slips away in the commotion that ensues. Tanjiro shouts at the top of his voice, promising to find and kill him. This threat only made Tanjiro Muzan’s number one target and put him in more dangerous situations.