Gyūtarō

* Anime
* Manga

Gyūtarō Shabana (謝 (しゃ) 花 (ばな)  妓夫 (ぎゅう) 太 (た) 郎 (ろう) , *Shabana Gyūtarō*?) (Kimetsu Academy)

## Characteristics

### Race

Demon
 Human (Formerly)

### Age

>26 (Human)
 18 (Kimetsu Academy)
 126 (Chronologically)

### Hair Color

Black to Lime Green (Demon)
 Black (Human)

### Eye Color

Lime Green with Yellow Sclera (Left)
 Red with Yellow Sclera (Right) (Demon)
 Blue (Human)

## Affiliation

### Partner(s)

Daki
 Nikki

### Base of Operations

Yoshiwara, Tōkyō
 Kyōgoku House

## Personal Status

### Relative(s)

Unnamed Mother
 Daki (Younger Sister)
 Nikki (Fiance)

## Portrayal

### English VA

Brandon McInnis

**Gyūtarō** (妓夫 (ぎゅう) 太 (た) 郎 (ろう) , *Gyūtarō*?) was one of the primary antagonists in the Entertainment District Arc of *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba*. He was a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, holding the position of **Upper Rank Six** (上 (じょう) 弦 (げん) の陸 (ろく) , *Jōgen no Roku*?), a position he shares with his younger sister, Daki.

Over a century ago, Gyūtarō was a human who worked as a debt collector in the Rashomon Riverbank of Yoshiwara, the lowest class in the Entertainment District, before he and Daki were turned into demons personally by Dōma, who was Upper Rank Six at the time.

## Appearance

Gyūtarō was a tall man of a fairly muscular build, with a black-dotted, pale grayish complexion. His anatomy was quite strange in that his upper torso, arms and legs were all extremely muscular, whereas his waist was incredibly skinny, his pelvis jutting out at an unnatural angle. He possessed thin, green and red eyes, their sclera bright orange, that were slanted drastically downwards at the sides, the kanji for "Upper Rank" (上 (じょう) 弦 (げん) , *Jōgen*?) and daiji for "Six" (陸 (ろく) , *Roku*?) carved across them. He has unruly black hair that transitions to a brighter lime green around the crown of his head, worn messily styled with uneven bangs and several locks. His body and face have noticeable ink-like markings in the form of black spots on his body and a flowing water-like pattern on his face. Gyūtarō has been described to look very ugly.

Gyūtarō wore little, only sporting a pair of baggy blue pants and seven pieces of pattern red cloth to decorate his body, one large one around his neck and three smaller ones around each arm.

As a human, Gyūtarō had similar facial features as he did as a demon, notably the ink-like blotches on his face. He also possessed the same strange contorted anatomy and hair that he had when he turned into a demon. His eyes were notably bloodshot and were a pale blue color, with visible veins lining his sclera, and he had missing and uneven teeth, which seemed to grow into sharper ones as a demon. He was seen wearing a dirty, tattered kimono when he was a child, but after Ume was born and he started working for a brothel as her collector, his clothes changed to a short-sleeved wide-striped kimono with a notably cleaner and firmer fabric. He remained barefoot in both his lives as a human and a demon.

## Personality

Gyūtarō was cruel, ruthless, petty, and envious of anyone blessed with a better life than him, owing to a life of near-constant poverty and the harsh tragedies he experienced as a human. He developed a habit of sarcastically complimenting a person's best traits and then trying to vindictively kill them afterwards, as he did to the samurai who attempted to kill him and Tengen. Because of the hardships he faced as a human, Gyūtarō attained a personal belief that to take from those who have a better life than he had as a human was justified. A habit that developed from this belief was the penchant to inflict harm to himself whenever he was angry, frustrated or jealous, as seen when he scratched himself hard enough to tear deep wounds into his own flesh when he grew jealous of Tengen. He also appeared to possess a high pain tolerance, never once showing any signs of pain from his self-inflicted wounds.

Having lived over a hundred years and battled many Demon Slayers and Hashira, Gyūtarō become arrogant and prideful in combat, developing the habit of underestimating his opponents and looking down on them as beneath him, as he did with the team of Demon Slayers dispatched to kill him by having his sister fight and deal with them first rather than himself. He has also shown himself to be intensely sadistic, revelling in the defeat of the Demon Slayers by horrifically injuring them and tormenting the helpless Tanjirō for his own enjoyment.

Despite his negative traits, Gyūtarō possessed a genuine, strong love for his younger sister, Ume and his Companionship partner in crime soulmate Nikkiwho fall in love with him For being sympathized and symbiotic towards the both of them and remain loyal to him even after his death and Having raised her himself due to his mother's mental instability and death, this familial love was so strong that, even after becoming a demon and nearly forgetting his life as a human, he still retained a considerable attachment to her. Due to this, he occasionally spoilt and allowed her to do whatever she pleases, even if her actions went against his best interests. However, his love for her does not stop him from screaming and insulting her out of frustration. When he first exposed himself, he tenderly attended to his sister's cries and injuries, both praising her efforts while insulting her lack of intelligence.

Upon his death and final thoughts, Gyūtarō possessed no regrets in the choices he made throughout his life, especially his choice of willingly becoming a demon and his subsequent actions of killing and eating hundreds of people for hundreds of years, showing how misanthropic and bitter he had become due to his terrible and harsh circumstances as a human. However, he later recognized that his only true regret he holds in his life was his sister, Ume, showing that deep down, Gyūtarō regretted that his negative influence through how he raised her was the cause for her growth into a selfish person.

During his final moments, Gyūtarō wondered if she could have experienced many other wonderful things and lived many different lives without having to walk on the path of becoming a demon if he wasn't in her life. He genuinely wished that she was born and raised by someone other than himself, completely shouldering the blame for all of her deplorable actions and showing just how much he loves her. In death, Gyūtarō was shown to have Ume's best interests at heart by telling her to go to the opposite direction where the light was better, showing that he wished Daki would have a fresh start to a new life without him being a bad influence on her and wanted to start a family with nikki until he was killed leaving the young oni widow unfortunately not getting the chance to married him and try to make a demon child which sadly cost her to go Haywired.

## Abilities

**Overall Abilities:** As the true Upper Rank Six, Gyūtarō was an extremely powerful demon with over a century's worth of combat experience under his belt, having killed and devoured 15 Hashira in the past. His strength and his abilities were made evident when he was able to easily combat both Tengen, the Sound Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, and Tanjirō, a talented Demon Slayer who had fought Lower Rank demons in the past, at the same time and eventually overwhelm them in battle. Even when the battle turned in the favor of the Demon Slayers, Gyūtarō and Daki quickly managed to take control of the situation and drive them into a corner.

Another testament to his power was the fact that despite being killed in battle, Gyūtarō was still capable of severely injuring Tengen, Tanjirō, Zenitsu, and Inosuke and would have likely killed them all had it not been for Nezuko, who neutralized his final attack with her Blood Demon Art. Even as a human, Gyūtarō was a naturally talented fighter, as displayed by how he was able to kill an adult samurai in one strike without ever having received any combat training beforehand.

**Core Detachment:** Gyūtarō possessed the ability to completely detach his "core" from his own body, with it seemingly taking the form of his right eye that he then implants into his sister Daki's forehead, that then enhances and strengthens all of his sister's abilities and powers. Through this, Gyūtarō also developed a psychic connection with her, which allowed him to see, hear and sense everything she does and even possess and take control of her body in order to better coordinate their attacks.

* **Conditional Death and Decapitation Immunity:** Additionally, through detaching his "core" from his body, Gyūtarō was immune to death by decapitation by Nichirin Swords. This effectively ensures that both he and his sister cannot be killed unless both of their heads are cut off simultaneously.
* **Extrasensory Perception:** Through his psychic connection with Daki, Gyūtarō can sense everything around her as well, allowing them to coordinate their attacks. This was shown when Gyūtarō act on the information given to him on pure instinct and maneuver both his and her attacks and actions perfectly while in battle, as seen during their battle against Tengen, Tanjirō, Inosuke and Zenitsu, where he perfectly coordinated his attacks with Daki's to both launch several simultaneous assaults on all four opponents despite the both of them fighting in separate locations and facing two entirely different pairs of opponents by manipulating his sister's actions and controlling her sashes to strike in tandem with his blood slashes to create powerful surprise attack combos.
* **Shared Biology:** Gyūtarō and Daki possessed a rather abnormal trait not seen in most demons. Despite the fact the siblings are two different people, the two have essentially a single body. This can be seen with how Gyūtarō normally remains concealed within Daki without altering her physical mass in the slightest. Even though Gyūtarō was inactive for the majority of the time, he was still more powerful than his sister who was an active predator. This implies that humans consumed by Daki also serve as nutrition for Gyūtarō, allowing the two to grow stronger at the same time. Gyūtarō also has control over his sister, being capable of not only reattaching her head for her, but also healing her burnt tissue for her when she was under emotional distress.

**Flesh Manipulation:** Like all demons, Gyūtarō possessed the ability to manipulate his own flesh to a certain extent. He mainly uses this ability to shape his flesh into an extremely sharp kama which he can control telekinetically. This was also evident as Gyūtarō could merge his body with Daki's and later managed to encroach and infect the swords of Tengen and Tanjirō with his flesh kama in order to prevent them from pulling out their blades, effectively keeping them in place. He also displayed the ability to twist his neck backwards.

**Immense Durability:** Gyūtarō possessed an incredibly durable body. This was shown when Tengen and Tanjirō both used their Nichirin Swords to attack Gyūtarō's kama made from his own flesh but to no avail as they couldn't even slice through it. When Tanjirō landed a surprise attack on Gyūtarō's neck, his blade failed to make a dent in the Upper Rank's body. Tanjirō only managed to slice off Gyūtarō's head when he "summoned a hundred times" the strength in his body, which awakened his Demon Slayer Mark in the process, to successfully cut through his neck.

**Immense Regeneration:** As a member of the Upper Ranks, Gyūtarō's regenerative powers were extremely potent. With his immense recovery speed, he could instantly heal the scratches he inflicted upon himself in a matter of seconds. More impressively, he could regenerate from the damages dealt to him by Tengen's explosive beads that possess enough explosive force to harm the bodies of Upper Rank demons. Even when he was hit with kunais that was coated with wisteria extract that could paralyze an ordinary demon for half a day and seal the movements of Lower Rank demons, Gyūtarō still managed to regenerate instantly.

**Immense Speed & Reflexes:** As an Upper Rank demon, Gyūtarō has assimilated an extremely high concentration of Muzan's blood which have greatly enhanced his own speed and reflexes to levels that can out-match the Hashira. As seen with most demons, Gyūtarō can also use bursts of speed so fast he appears to teleport. He could also keep up with the blistering movements Tengen, the Hashira with the fastest running speed out of all his peers, sometimes moving fast enough to evade his reflexes and land hits on him before he can even react. Gyūtarō was also fast enough to block a barrage of fast kunai.

**Immense Strength:** Gyūtarō possessed incredible physical strength, being able to clash head-on with Tengen, a Hashira who himself possessed a very large and muscular build. He was also able to break two of Tanjirō's fingers without much effort, send him flying into a building at high speeds, and cause Tanjirō to cough up blood with a single kick to the stomach. Gyūtarō was also able to send Tengen flying back a great distance with another kick.

**Poison Generation:** Gyūtarō possessed the ability to generate extremely lethal poison, which he uses to coat his blood sickles. The poison was strong enough that it would almost instantly kill someone inflicted with it, and those who don't will be severely weakened and might be rendered unable to fight. Even Tengen, who has developed a high tolerance to poison from his shinobi training, was greatly weakened by Gyūtarō's poison to the point he had to forcefully stop his heart to prevent it from spreading even further. The poison had much worse effects on Tanjirō and Inosuke, despite the latter having a form of natural poison resistance. Tanjirō was almost immediately incapacitated when he was inflicted by Gyūtarō's poison just moments after getting stabbed while Inosuke was left in a near-death state after a while.

**Tactical Intellect:** Gyūtarō displayed incredible tactical foresight and intelligence. He was able to use the information he gathered from Daki to coordinate their attacks against his opponents. Gyūtarō was also able to use his Blood Demon Art tactically to create inescapable attacks. After seeing Hinatsuru fire a barrage of kunai, Gyūtarō correctly surmised that mounting an attack that would normally be easily mitigated by his regeneration had an underlying motive and chose to deflect the attack rather than taking it head on. He was also shown to use his flesh manipulation ability in creative ways, such as trapping Tengen's and Tanjirō's blade in his flesh kama to keep them from moving. Lastly, albeit post-facto, Gyūtarō figured out Tanjirō's strategy which was to disguise the scent of the wisteria-laced kunai with a prostitute's incense bag in order to land a surprise attack on him.

**Unlimited Stamina & Endurance:** Like all demons, Gyūtarō possessed an infinite amount of stamina and endurance. He was able to engage in combat with both Tengen and Tanjirō for the entire duration of the battle without showing any signs of fatigue or exertion. Gyūtarō also showed immense resilience to pain when he constantly scratched himself, twisted his own neck backwards to block Tengen's sword attack, had both his legs sliced off, and when Tanjirō headbutted him. Even before becoming a demon, when Gyūtarō was slashed in the back by a katana, he still retained enough strength and stamina to retaliate against his would-be killer, and carry Ume's body all throughout their district to find help.

## Fighting Style

**Kama Proficiency:** Gyūtarō has displayed mastery in dual wielding his flesh kama in combat. As an Upper Rank demon, he has lived for over a century and has refined his skill to the point he can surpass the Hashira, the strongest swordsmen in the Demon Slayer Corps, in close ranged combat. Even before he became a demon, Gyūtarō has shown to be apt in utilizing his kama for violence, easily killing a woman and later slicing an adult swordsman's head in two with them when he was enraged. With his demon abilities, he can even control and move his flesh kama telekinetically, which Gyūtarō used to make them fly back to him like a boomerang. As noted by Tengen and Inosuke, Gyūtarō's fighting style was comparable to that of a praying mantis. Gyūtarō's combat style seems to revolve around aiming to piercing his opponent's neck with the tip of his kama.

### Blood Demon Art

**Blood Manipulation:** Gyūtarō's Blood Demon Art allowed him to manipulate his own body's blood in various ways. He was shown to generate them from his flesh kama or from open wounds on his body or release blood at will from his veins. It was implied that Gyūtarō doesn't run out of blood due to his regenerative abilities, giving him a virtually infinite source of blood to fuel his techniques. In combat, he usually created barrages of solidified sickle-shaped blood as sharp as blades that can travel at immensely fast speeds to attack his opponents. Gyūtarō was capable of freely manipulating these blood slashes at will, altering their movements until they hit his opponent or shaping them however he pleases. Furthermore, his blood sickles are coated in deadly poison.

Gyūtarō can use his Blood Demon Art tactically to create inescapable attacks that can overwhelm the likes of Tengen and hold off the combined efforts of Tanjirō, Zenitsu, and Inosuke. Moreover, the poison in Gyūtarō's blood slashes appear to be extremely deadly as Inosuke noted that a single scratch from them would be enough to kill him. The blood he manipulated was shown to be quite durable as well since Tanjirō deduced that his sword would shatter if he took the technique head on without deflecting it. Furthermore, Gyūtarō can create a shield of blood in the form of a dome, which he used to protect himself from a barrage of kunai, further exemplifying its immense durability. More impressively, Gyūtarō can create long-ranged circular torrents of razor sharp blood that can decimate the surroundings with ease.

### Techniques

* **Flying Blood Sickles** (飛 (と) び血 (ち) 鎌 (がま) , *Tobi Chigama*?) - Gyūtarō releases multiple sharp and durable sickle-shaped blades of solidified blood by swinging his kama.

* **Rampant Arc Rampage** (跋 (ばっ) 弧 (こ) 跳 (ちょう) 梁 (りょう) , *Bakko Chōryō*?) - Gyūtarō creates a dome of sickle-shaped blades of solidified blood around him that defend from incoming attacks.

* **Rotating Circular Slashes: Flying Blood Sickles** (円 (えん) 斬 (ざん) 旋 (せん) 廻 (かい) ・飛 (と) び血 (ち) 鎌 (がま) , *Enzan Senkai - Tobi Chigama*?) - Gyūtarō unleashes circular waves of sharp solidified blood from his body. This technique has massive range and he is even able to activate it as his head is being cut off.

## Equipment

**Flesh Kama:** Gyūtarō carried around a pair of kama fashioned from his own flesh and blood. They served as his main tools in combat and are extremely durable and sharp, being able to easily cut through flesh and block attacks from Nichirin Swords with ease. They have a fleshy exterior and are blood red in color. Gyūtarō briefly displayed the ability to move his kama telekinetically, making it fly back towards him as if it were a boomerang. When he was a child, Gyūtarō possessed a similar-looking kama which someone left behind and was most likely his main source of inspiration for using a pair of kama as a demon.

## Battles

Gyūtarō Battles

**Entertainment District Arc**

* Demon Slayers vs Daki and Gyūtarō

## Trivia

* During the meeting with the Upper Ranks, it is revealed that Muzan only acknowledged Gyūtarō as Upper Rank Six.
* Gyūtarō was one of Muzan's favorite Upper Ranks, since he highly values his circumstance and greedy personality.
* The word 'gyū' refers to the barkers who would entice customers to enter the Entertainment District. After working as a Gyū, he took the word and used it to name himself as Gyūtarō, with 'tarō' being a common ending for male names.
* Since it was implied that Gyūtarō's mother died from syphilis, it was likely that Gyūtarō suffered from congenital syphilis, which occurs when a mother was pregnant while being infected. That would explain Gyūtarō's ugly appearance, as the symptoms include deformed skeletal structures, crooked teeth, inflamed gums and blotches caused by rash.
* In *Hinokami Chronicles*, the word "sickles" in his **Rotating Circular Slashes: Flying Blood Sickles** technique is replaced with "scythes" instead, thus dubbing the technique **Rotating Circular Slashes: Flying Blood Scythes**. This may possibly due to localization.

## Quotes

* (To Tanjirō Kamado, Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira and Tengen Uzui) "*People mistreated us and put us through hell, so we do the same to get what we're owed. We've got to make the fortunate pay us what we're owed for our misfortune, or we won't be able to make our losses back. That's the way we live our lives, you know? We've always killed anyone who has a problem with that, you know?*"
* (To himself) "*I realized I was a strong fighter, and started work as a debt collector. I unsettled and frightened everyone. It felt good. I began to take pride in my ugliness. The fact I had a sister as beautiful as you meant I had no need to feel inferior. I felt like our lives were taking a turn for the better. We were on the up and up.*"