Taro Tokito

## Portrayal

Taro Tokito is one of the main characters in Demon Slayer: Blade of the Night. Taro is the son of the Mist Pillar Muichiro Tokito, and is a Demon Slayer in the Demon Slayer Core.

## **Appearance:**

Taro is mostly similar to his father in nearly every possible way. A notable difference, however, is how his hair is divided into smaller strands rather than the larger clumps that form Muichiro's wig. This is reminiscent of his mother Yae, and it is her only real outward genetic contribution to Taro.

Taro's hair itself has the same minty ends that Muichiro has, and yet, he styles his hair nearly entirely differently. While originally he wore it in the same way Muichiro does, that being a high ponytail, shortly after ending the Final Selection, he began to tie it with a knot. Shortly after the group reunited and he fully broke off from his family, Taro began wearing his hair short for convenience.

Taro's uniform, while starting off with the same cyan tint as his father's, was replaced by one with a brown tint, not unlike Tanjiro Kamado's. His haori is also that of a light cyan, with the same cloud pattern that Muichiro made into his family's "crest". The haori, after being torn during the Tokyo Arc, was replaced by a darker colored one, albeit the clouds in its design remain light.

## **Personality:**

Taro is one of the most extroverted characters in the story, being a social butterfly that was the crux of the main group's formation. With his amiable, forgiving personality, he befriended Ryo despite the boy's harsh walls he ought to break, and proceeded to cater to Kanjuro's weakness, creating an environment for the boy to grow mentally, and forgiving Iwajima for his misdeeds, as he saw the boy wasn't really a bad person, a hunch that went to be proven correct.

Taro is easily one of the most stable characters mentally, standing steely throughout most of the traumatic events he was put through, also being able to sustain his friends in the process. The ease he shows in sliding out of such trauma is mostly what kept a lot of the members of the group afloat.

Taro is determined, perhaps to a fault, as he is even willing to scrap with his father for the sake of his objective. Once Taro has something in his mind, the drive to become the Mist Pillar one day, he cannot have his mind changed by anyone, for better or worse.

This does mean that Taro has a tendency to be incredibly petty, seeing as part of his motivation to surpass his father did come from the full intention of rubbing it in his brother's face.

Taro is also a hopeless romantic, or in cruder terms, a pervert. He has a tendency to be distracted by his female peers or enemies' appearances, no matter how odd or unusual. Taro was willing to… "Date" a woman with the biology of a slug, and one with four eyes and multiple horns. The only women that escape his "gaze" are ones he considers as family, such as, obviously, his mother, and Fubuki and Kaguya, which he sees as sisters.

Taro has a problem when it comes to responsibility, as he has a tendency to see himself as responsible for his group's mental fortitude, being the one to keep them all well. While this is correct for the most part, Taro does not feel well at all when he fails to do so, and when combined with the fact that he is unable to help them when he himself isn't well off, means that every mental issue he faces tends to grow significantly more than it should.

While he also wants to help his friends to the best of his capacity, Taro, at least during a good chunk of the story, does not have enough tact to approach sensitive subjects with enough gentleness, leading to people like Ryo, which are more closed off than most, see Taro's attempts to help as well-meaning, but overall useless.

As displayed in Chapter 113, Taro's biggest fear is that his father and brother are correct, and he is indeed not enough for the world out there, and he should pursue a less dangerous path. This fear is also poignant in his lack of a graspable motive for defying the two, as he himself chooses to remain blind to the notion, rather than face that he has no actual idea why he's moving forward.

## **Synopsis:**

Taro was born into the now prestigious Tokito Family, where, alongside his brother Yuizo, he was instructed by Muichiro into the Mist Breathing for self-defense. Due to Yuizo giving up on his previous dream of becoming a Slayer, Taro has gained an even stronger resolve to prove to his family that he is capable in his own way.

## **Abilities:**

**Superhuman Strength:** Taro, while lacking notoriety in the area, has a physical strength above what could be considered to be humanly possible.

**Superhuman Speed:** Taro has enough speed to be able to perform countless attacks in a flash, having enough dexterity and agility to successfully use some of his Mist Breathing techniques. Notably, Taro is also incredibly swift in movement, being the fastest runner in his entire group currently.

**Indomitable Will:** As stated, Taro is incredibly determined to achieve his goal, and stops at nothing to make it a reality, even if it means he ends up straining his relationship with his father in the process. He does believe it will all come to a close when his objective is achieved and his father is proven wrong.

**Unnamed State of Disconnect:** Taro is somewhat capable of unreliably entering a state of disconnect to his body, leading to it moving nearly entirely instinctively, and allowing him to perform oddly powerful techniques and movement. This was shown in his battles against Toguro, and Urokodaki and Jigoro, in both of which he was only able to maintain said state for a couple of seconds

**Total Concentration Breathing:** Taro, from an early age, reached Total Concentration Breathing, and is able to access superhuman levels of strength and speed with ease, while also being able to jump into a fight without a second of delay, as his Mist Breathing never needs to be actively used, as it is always in action.

**Repetitive Action:** Taro has recently learned the Repetitive Action technique, and while he isn't that adept at it, he is competent enough to use it. His trigger is the phrase "I was born to be happy", that reminds him of his family.

**Demon Slayer Mark:** Taro has awakened his Demon Slayer Mark, composed of cloud-like shapes appearing in his face, and throughout all his body, being strongly reminiscent of his father's Mark.

## **Fighting Style:**

**Skilled Swordsman:** Taro is incredibly skilled when it comes to sheer swordsmanship, despite not reaching the level of a master, he was able to go toe-to-toe with his father, who, admittedly held back considerably, but even in such a state of restraint, Muichiro should be able to easily blitz Taro's technique, and his display of capability by surviving is still notable.

### **Breathing Style:**

**Mist Breathing** *(Kasumi no Kokyu)*: Taro was taught the Mist Breathing by Muichiro Tokito himself from an early age, in order to render him capable of surviving a demon attack should it ever occur, and to boost his physical abilities due to the undeniable health benefits gained by mastering a Breathing Style. Taro has successfully learned all of the basic techniques, even if he lacks mastery in a few, Taro is able to adapt the techniques he knows in order to use them in most situations, attributed to the Mist Breathing's reliability and wide pool of techniques.

#### **Techniques:**

* **First Form: Low Clouds, Distant Haze** *(Ichi no Kata: Suiten Togasumi)* - The user unleashes a powerful thrust attack in front of them.

* **Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist** *(Ni no Kata: Yaekasumi)* - The user unleashes eight forward slashes with each one on top of the other in swift succession.

* **Third Form: Scattering Mist Splash** *(San no Kata: Kasan no Shibuki)* - The user releases a powerful circular slash in front of them that can be used to blow away projectiles.

* **Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash** *(Shi no Kata: Iryugiri)* - The user quickly unsheathes their sword and dashes towards their enemy at blinding speeds and delivers a quick slash from beneath them.

* **Fifth Form: Sea of Clouds and Haze** *(Go no Kata: Kaun no Umi)* - The user dashes forward at high speed and unleashes a flurry of slashes that cover a wide area while obscuring their movements.

* **Sixth Form: Lunar Dispersing Mist** *(Roku no Kata: Tsuki no Kasho)* - The user backflips into the air while upside down and delivers countless ranged slashes downwards, capable of decimating dozens of targets at once.

* **Seventh Form: Obscuring Clouds** *(Shichi no Kata: Oboro)* - A technique in which the user drastically changes the tempo of their movement to disorient their enemy, which seemingly takes the form of clouds of mist enveloping a wide area. When the user shows themselves, their speed will appear to be prolonged but when they hide, the user moves in the blink of an eye.

* **Eighth Form: Moonlit Mist** *(Hachi no Kata: Tsukiakari Kasho)* - The user will repeatedly slash downwards in confusing blinding movements in varying tempos, causing immense area-of-effect damage with an incredible range.

* **Ninth Form: Moon Spirit Clouds** *(Ku no Kata: Tsuki Reiun)* - The user performs multiple curved slashes one on top of the other, causing immense damage at long range. This Form also works to destroy incoming projectiles.

## **Equipment:**

**Standard Nichirin Katana:** Taro, as per basic of a Demon Slayer, carries a regular sized Nichirin Katana, which is diamond blue in color, in accordance to the Mist Breathing's own. Taro's handguard is a black circle with a silver border, having four slight indentations in its edges. It has an accidental resemblance to Yoriichi Tsugikuni's own handguard

## **Familiars:**

**Ikaku:** Taro's crow is an aggressive, short-fused Crow that often finds fun in pecking its owner and bothering him, having yet to provide any displays of true competence.

**Yorumaru:** Shared with his group, Yorumaru is a demon serpent that has displayed at the very least affection for the main group, while also providing support in battles with its abilities.

## **Battles:**

* Taro, Ryo and Kaguya vs Iwajima
* Taro vs Sniper and Piston Demons
* Taro and Ryo vs Akio
* Taro and Ryo vs Slug Demon
* Taro, Ryo and Kanjuro vs Mind Demon
* Taro vs Gikuro (Sparring)
* Taro vs Toguro
* Taro vs Ryo (Sparring)
* Taro, Ryo, Iwajima, Shinku and Fubuki vs Hisame
* Taro and Yorumaru vs Maho
* Taro, Ryo, Kanjuro, Iwajima, Shinku, Fubuki, Aya, Gikuro and Yushibo vs Akaza
* Taro vs Yae (Sparring)
* Taro and Ryo vs Muichiro
* Taro vs Suiryu
* Taro vs Kuwajima and Urokodaki
* Taro vs Fubuki (Sparring)
* Taro, Iwajima, Shinku, Ryo and Yorumaru vs Kosui

## **Trivia:**

* Taro's name has a double meaning, as while [Taro] means [Big Boy, Strong, Eldest Son, Heroic], and while most meanings do fit Taro himself, the "Big Brother" aspect is closer to what he wants to be rather than what he is. The second meaning is that Taro's name is also related to Yae's deceased dog. His surname, [Tokito], is divided in [Toki], which means "time" and [To], which means "transparent, permeate"
* Taro's favorite food is steak.
* Taro's openness level is about 90%
* Taro's favorite color is green
* Taro is a horrible painter, though he really wishes he could draw better. He did try to take private classes with Gikuro, but didn't survive the first day.
* Taro is amazing at playing the piano, however, by this point, he does not remember any songs by the back of his head due to a lack of practise
* If Taro wasn't a slayer, he would become a relatively high positioned salaryman.
* If Taro was in Kimetsu Academy, he would be the social butterfly that is friends with everyone, and he would be the guy that "knows a guy" for literally everything you could possibly need. If you ask him about someone, chances are he'd say he was best friends with them at one point.