Zenitsu Agatsuma

## Portrayal

**Zenitsu Agatsuma** was one of the main characters of the original Demon Slayer, and has since returned in Demon Slayer: Blade of the Night as a minor supporting character, having the position of Thunder Pillar.

## **Appearance:**

Zenitsu is a relatively tall man, with a fair-skinned, muscular completion. He keeps his yellow-to-orange hair fairly long, tied in a low ponytail, with an uneven fringe up in front. While his bangs were considerably more angular before, as time passed and he grew more and more stressed, individual strands grew apart, rendering his hair spikier than when he was younger.

Zenitsu's hair used to be black, but due to a lightning bolt, it permanently turned blonde, and has since grown as such.

Zenitsu wears a traditional Pillar Uniform, alongside a black colored haori, with yellow triangle patterns. Said patterns form a gradient, growing darker further down the cloth. He originally wore a yellow version of this Haori, but it was irreparably damaged in his battle against Kaigaku.

## **Personality:**

Zenitsu's maturity and growth can be pointed out as his most defining character traits. Zenitsu, once a loud, publically perverted child with a penchant for complaining and running in fear, only becoming useful once his consciousness was out of the way. These traits, who made him extremely unlikeable among regular slayers, were slowly but surely shed off as he grew older.

Zenitsu is now serious, focused, if not a little aloof. While a bit of it may be a result of stress, a lot of his new personality does come from simple maturity. Zenitsu is notably stern, as mentioned that his students are put through quite an intense training regiment, with a perfectionist mindset. This spartan behavior made Zenitsu to be quite popular among more conservative members of the Core, such as Obanai and Seiji. He is shown to not make exceptions to his own family, as his relationship with his daughter Kyoko is implied to be somewhat strained, as he refuses to promote her to any role of relevancy due to her unruly behavior. This mindset and motives all stem from his failure to kill Kaigaku during their first meeting with him as a demon, putting Zenitsu in a constant state of emergency that has yet to disappear.

Zenitsu is shown to prefer to be alone when struck by something intense, both with the news of his master's passing at the Pillar Training, and Kaigaku's message at the doors of the Thunder Pavilion.

Despite it all, Zenitsu is shown to be quite clever, and even capable of a subtle level of manipulation in order to achieve his goals, which are admittedly well-meaning. One of these instances is the simultaneous and unheard of promotion of Takao Umirashi and Junko Enrai both for the same position, all the while he knew about their rivalry. The reason for this choice is yet to be revealed, but it is heavily implied that Zenitsu has plans for them.

Zenitsu is also shown to grow considerably more energetic when his friends, Tanjiro or Inosuke, meet him.

## **Synopsis:**

Zenitsu was orphaned from a young age, left to fend off for himself in what was, at the time, a large city. Due to a poor choice in finances (giving his money to a girl that had no interest in him beyond his money), Zenitsu fell into debt, despite being so young. Jigoro Kuwajima, sympathetic to his story, paid his debt off and recruited him to be a Demon Slayer.

Zenitsu began to refer to Jigoro as 'Gramps' and began to train alongside Gramps' other disciple, Kaigaku. One day when he was training, Zenitsu climbed up a tree out of fear that he was being trained to death and as he began to panic, a stroke of lightning hit him causing his hair to turn blonde

## **Abilities:**

**Monumental Strength:** Zenitsu, as a Pillar, is immensely physically powerful.

**Monumental Speed:** Zenitsu, beyond the amazing speed inherent to a Pillar, is further talented in the area, being regarded as the most agile Pillar in the entire Demon Slayer Core, surpassing others such as Tanjiro, Muichiro and Gyomei in that department.

**Enhanced Hearing:** One of Zenitsu's strongest assets, his hearing is immensely powerful, to the point where Zenitsu can fight relying entirely on sound.

**Total Concentration Breathing:** Zenitsu has mastered Total Concentration Breathing, using it to achieve inhuman heights of power.

**Demon Slayer Mark:** While not shown, Zenitsu is known to have unlocked a Demon Slayer Mark.

## **Fighting Style:**

**Master Swordsman:** Zenitsu is one of the most powerful Swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Core, and by extension, the entire world. He has achieved a realm beyond that of regular humans.

### **Breathing Style:**

**Thunder Breathing** *(Kaminari no Kokyu)*: Zenitsu has mastered the Thunder Breathing, being arguably the strongest user of the Style of all time. He has since developed five new techniques for it, having successfully succeeded his master Jigoro Kuwajima.

#### **Techniques:**

* **First Form: Thunderclap and Flash** *(Ichi no Kata: Hekireki Issen)* - The user unsheathes their katana, dashes forward at blinding speeds and decapitates their opponent faster than they can react, before sheathing it back. This versatile Form can be used multiple times in succession, up to eight times.

* **Second Form: Rice Spirit** *(Ni no Kata: Inadama)* - The user releases an uninterrupted series of five arched slashes in quick succession. This attack possesses great range and speed, the slashes can be done at any chosen angle, giving the user the option to go around or destroy the opponent's defences.

* **Third Form: Thunder Swarm** *(San no Kata: Shubun Seirai)* - The user jumps up in a wave-like motion, surrounding the foe with continuous, incredibly long-ranged slashes from every single direction.

* **Fourth Form: Distant Thunder** *(Shi no Kata: Enrai)* - The user draws their blade, slashing all around themselves in a defensive motion, proceeding to dash while slashing in a manner similar to the First Form. While more defensive, this form is slower and less accurate than Thunderclap and Flash.

* **Fifth Form: Heat Lightning** *(Go no Kata: Netsu Kairai)* - The user unleashes a quick, long ranged upwards slash, causing immense damage. This attack is incredibly heavy, despite its speed. The user can utilize the momentum to avoid any other attacks around themselves, or to increase the attack's strength.

* **Sixth Form: Rumble and Flash** *(Roku no Kata: Dengo Raigo)* - The user unleashes continuous slashes mimicking the previous forms, combining their attacks into a chaotic vortex of attacks that devastates what it crosses, using dashes and slashes to strike all around themselves, the user turning into a storm itself.

* **Seventh Form: Flaming Thunder God** *(Shichi no Kata: Honoikazuchi no Kami)* - The user dashes forward at blinding speeds and unleashes a singular forward slash at a low stance. This technique, much like the Water Breathing's Eleventh Form, is technically part of the official Forms, but only its creator, Zenitsu Agatsuma, has been able to perform it.

* **Eighth Form: Lightning's Ground** *(Hachi no Kata: Inazuma no Jimen)* - The user will lunge, slashing downwards. This can be done from high ground for increased power using momentum and gravity itself. This move works best as a stealthy maneuver, to catch the opponent off-guard, as it is a nearly unblockable move, albeit easy to dodge.

* **Ninth Form: Lightning Burst** *(Ku no Kata: Renzokukiri Harai)* - The user unsheathes their blade and performs three arching horizontal slashes at blinding speeds in quick succession. This technique is reminiscent of the Sixth Form, but is meant to be used as a quick guard over an offensive move

* **Tenth Form: Ball of Lightning** *(Ju no Kata: Inazuma no Tama)* - The user slashes all around themselves in a defensive move, or as a counter to multiple targets at once, in every direction. This move is, much like the others, an improvement upon previous forms.

* **Eleventh Form: Stinging Thunder** *(Ju Ichi no Kata: Kaminari Tsuretsu)* - The user continuously jabs the opponent from afar, delivering powerful thrusts that stun and push the opponent off-balance at incredible speeds, imperceptible to the eye

## **Equipment:**

**Standard Nichirin Sword:** Zenitsu carries around a regular Nichirin Katana, colored black with a large, yellow cracking mark resembling a thunder bolt running through its blade. His handguard is circular shaped with 4 slight indentations, the center has a silver tone with small triangles and has a golden border.

## **Familiars:**

**Chuntaro:** Chuntaro, or Ukogi, is a diminutive sparrow that, for whatever reason, was assigned for Zenitsu. It cannot speak, and Zenitsu originally couldn't understand it. Nowadays they are on the same page

## **Battles:**

* Zenitsu vs Tongue Demon
* Zenitsu vs Spider Son
* Zenitsu, Tanjiro and Inosuke vs Enmu
* Zenitsu, Tanjiro, Inosuke, Nezuko and Tengen vs Gyutaro and Daki
* Zenitsu vs Kaigaku

## **Trivia:**

* Zenitsu's name can be broken down into [Zen], meaning "Good", [Itsu], meaning "Special/Unique". His surname, [Agatsuma], means "My Wife".
* Zenitsu, after failing to kill Kaigaku, has mastered all five original Thunder Breathing Forms to a level of ability parallel to his mastery of the First Form.
* Zenitsu's openness is about 35%
* Zenitsu's opinions on his fellow Pillars are: