Akaza (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba)

Become strong.

* Kill those he deems weak.
* Recruit those he deems strong.
* Apologize for being unable to protect his father, teacher, wife and reunite with them (succeeded).

### Crimes

Mass murder
Assault
Terrorism
Theft

### Type of Villain

Tragic Social Darwinist

**Akaza** ( *Akaza*?) is a major supporting antagonist of *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba*. He is a demon affiliated with the Twelve Kizuki, holding the position of **Upper Rank Three** (の *Jōgen no San*?).

Over a century ago, Akaza was a human by the name of **Hakuji** ( *Hakuji*?), a prodigious martial artist who trained under Keizo, a martial arts instructor who took him in as a student, while nursing his daughter, Koyuki, who would later become Akaza's fiancée.

**Akaza** is a major antagonist in the manga/anime series *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba*.

He is a demon serving directly under Muzan Kibutsuji, and currently holds the position of **Upper Rank Three** of the Twelve Kizuki. Over a century ago, Akaza was a human by the name of **Hakuji** before being turned into a Demon personally by Muzan. He first appeared as the secondary antagonist of *Mugen Train Arc*, and grew to despise Tanjiro for humiliating him after Muzan reprimanded him for being unable to take his life. Later, he fought Giyu and Tanjiro in the Infinity Fortress to his death, but not before he managed to recall his past and took his own life as an act of remorse and finally reuniting with his loved ones as his life fades away.

He is voiced by Akira Ishida (who also voiced Fish Eye from *Sailor Moon* *SuperS*, Fyodor Dostoevsky from *Bungo Stray Dogs,* Zeref Dragneel in *Fairy Tail*, Gaara in the *Naruto* franchise, Gabriel Miller in *Sword Art Online*, Regulus Corneas in *Re:Zero − Starting Life in Another World*, Hyoga in *Dr. Stone*, Ryuunosuke Uryuu in *Fate/Zero*, and Hideo Shimada in *Parasyte*) in Japanese and Lucien Dodge (who also voiced Toshikazu Hazamada in *JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond Is Unbreakable* and Mahito in *Jujutsu Kaisen*) in English.

## Appearance

Akaza was a very muscular young man of average height with skin so fair, it appears bright green-tinged white, decorated by a pattern of thick blue lines, which resemble the criminal tattoos he had as a human. Akaza had short, bright pink hair that fluffed out around his head, and inward-tilting yellow eyes with pink eyelashes and blue sclera that looked somewhat like cracked glass. The kanji for "Upper Rank" ( *Jōgen*?) and the daiji for "Three" ( *San*?) are etched into his irises as well. The lines on his face curved through each of his eyes from below his ears to over his temples, another blue line running from the center of his hairline to the bridge of his nose, with two more lines running around his neck, three others branching off the lower one to his torso. The middle line runs directly down his chest to halfway down his stomach, and the other two branched off to the sides over each side of his chest to join the two other lines, this same three-line pattern there also repeating around his waist. On his arms, there are lines running down the front of his shoulders that run into two more, which go around his biceps, before continuing to run down to his wrists, below which it could be seen that each of his fingers are also dark blue with an orange fingernail, his toes also sharing this unusual appearance. Akaza wore little, only sporting a short, sleeveless dark purple-pink haori that was cut off at his waist, left open to expose his chest, that was decorated by a square pattern on his back. Below this, he sported a pair of baggy white pants that he rolled to just below the knee with a blue rope belt to secure them at his waist. Akaza prefers to go barefoot, but wears a chain of large round pink pearls around each of his ankles. During his human days as Hakuji, he had the same hair, just colored black rather than pink, and pale blue eyes with unusually-colored pink eyelashes. He was also very muscular as a human, and, on each of his forearms, he bore three black criminal tattoos. He also wore a dark blue-gray yukata.

## Personality

Akaza is a headstrong, stubborn and battle-crazed Social Darwinist who enjoys fighting, especially against strong Demon Slayers. He purposefully drew out fights so as to savor every moment of it, always complimenting his opponents when they unleash strong techniques or land blows on him, usually remarking that their techniques and swordsmanship are magnificent and intriguing. Akaza looked down on anybody he deemed weak, so much so that his skin would crawl at the sight of them. He genuinely respected those who were strong in his eyes, demanding to know their names, and would not stop until he finds out; he remembers all the names of strong past opponents and committed them to memory as tribute to their strength. Akaza also presents an opportunity for those he recognizes the strength of to become demons, believing that preserving their refined techniques and skill was right and feels pain watching the deterioration of those blessed with extraordinary gifts as they age, and going so far as to kill them in order to preserve their magnificent skill himself should they decline his offer to become a demon. Akaza also doesn't discriminate strong warriors that were weak before, as shown when he praised and complimented Tanjiro Kamado despite initially attempting to kill him over how weak he was during their first encounter, even going so far as to thank Kyojuro for Tanjiro's growth. Akaza believes strongly in Social Darwinism, believing that the law of nature dictates that all weaklings shall be eliminated. Akaza has a deeply-rooted psychological need to become stronger, and did not get along with his fellow Upper Ranks, seeing them as his rivals. He is especially antagonistic towards and somewhat jealous of the two Upper Ranks above him, Doma and Kokushibo, lashing out at Doma and vowing to kill Kokushibo. Even after being beheaded during his fight against Tanjiro and Giyu Tomioka, he stubbornly held on and continued to fight, remarking that he must become the strongest no matter what, to the point of overcoming all demons' shared weakness of decapitation by Nichirin Swords through nothing but sheer willpower and resolve. It was later revealed that Akaza's desperate and stubborn pursuit of strength was to heal his sick father and to protect the ones he loved and cared about, namely his fiancée Koyuki and his teacher Keizo. Akaza also possesses a deep hatred for his past life as a human, believing that it was absolutely worthless, and hated anyone or anything that reminded him of it, such as Tanjiro's own view of how the strong should help the weak and Giyu's unwavering resolve reminding Akaza of Keizo, both instances which he reacted to negatively. As a human, Akaza possessed the same stubborn and resilient personality. However, as a human, his personality was also much more noble and kind, and even somewhat honorable. The only reason he committed crimes was out of sheer desperation, as he needed money to buy medicine for his father. Even after receiving countless beatings that would make a grown man go numb, Akaza's resolve never wavered, further declaring that he would endure those same beatings for a hundred years just for his father to heal, showing how much Akaza valued the well-being of his loved ones more than himself. This was also shown when he nursed Koyuki despite having no connection to her before, never even feeling that it was a burden before and declining her offer of going to see the fireworks instead of tirelessly nursing her. Even after becoming a demon and losing his memories of his human life, parts of his human memories influenced his decisions; he refuses to eat or kill women, despite knowing it would make him stronger if he did so. Koyuki's name and hairpin influenced the shape and design of his **Compass Needle** technique, the martial arts style he uses as a demon was mainly inspired by the Soryu style Keizo taught him, and the naming of his attacks were based on fireworks, a reference to Akaza's promise to take Koyuki to see the fireworks after she was healed. His hatred of weak people and belief of Social Darwinism stems from a corruption of his human memories, where a rival dojo poisoned his dojo's well because they were never able to beat him. After remembering the entirety of his past, Akaza started to regret his actions both as a human and demon, realizing that he never respected his father's words to live an honest life and bloodied Keizo's precious Soryu Style by using it to murder others. He came to the realization that he hated himself for all of the times he wasn't there to save or protect those he loved, and that he himself was the person he really wanted to kill all along. With the knowledge that the people that he wanted to protect had already died a long time ago, Akaza lost the will to continue fighting as his pursuit of strength was already for naught and decided to end his own life. In his final moments, Akaza showed that he still had a lot of humanity left in him, remarking that Tanjiro's technique was magnificent and that he had lost fair and square, even smiling and feeling gratitude towards him for reminding him of his past.

## Synopsis

### Human Life

Akaza, born Hakuji, was born and raised in the slums of Edo to a sickly father he deeply loved. In order to pay for medicine, Hakuji pickpocketed from people in town, but was caught three times. The magistrate beat him and marked him with tattoos, threatening to cut his arms off the next time he was caught and calling him a "Demon Child." When Hakuji returned home after his third beating, a villager informed him that his father, having heard of his arrest, hung himself. In the letter he left, he stated he wanted Hakuji to live a full life and didn't want to take medicine if it was earned by dishonest means. With his criminal tattoos and no home to return to, Hakuji was eventually banished from Edo. Devastated by the loss of his father and enraged at the society he lived in where he couldn't afford his father's medicine, he picked fights with people and beat them up. One day, after nearly killing seven adult men in a village, he was approached by Keizo, the owner of a local Soryu dojo. Annoyed by the man's cheerful demeanor, Hakuji challenged him to a fight, but was defeated with ease. Keizo then took him under his wing so he could nurse Koyuki, Keizo's sickly daughter. Koyuki's mother, her previous caretaker, drowned herself due to stress and Keizo had to work handyman jobs to keep them afloat, so Hakuji was tasked with tending to her. Already accustomed to caring for his father, he had little trouble, though he found it awkward when she burst into tears seemingly at random. One of those times, unbeknownst to him, he had indirectly motivated her by telling her that "there will be a next year" to see a local fireworks show. One day, he discovered that Koyuki had been forced outside Keizo's dojo by the heir of the nearby kenjutsu dojo that sought Keizo's land for themselves, and prevented him from getting any students before Hakuji. Enraged, Keizo and Hakuji fought the dojo, and after defeating nine people, Hakuji made them promise to never get involved with their dojo or Koyuki again. The heir of the rival dojo became enraged and swung a sword at Hakuji, only for him to use his **Bell Splitter** technique and punch the side of the blade, breaking it. The other members of the dojo were so moved by the beauty of this technique that they accepted their loss and apologized for the rudeness of the heir, leaving the Soryuu dojo in peace. Two years later, Koyuki's health improved enough that she could stand and do chores. Hakuji continued training as Keizo's pupil of the Soryu Style, and the dojo began to grow. One day, Keizo offered to let Hakuji take over the dojo and take Koyuki as his bride, to Hakuji's surprise and embarrassment. He agreed, silently vowing to protect both of them, even at the cost of his own life. At a festival, Koyuki told him of her past, asking if he was really okay with the proposal, to which he reaffirmed his vows to her, promising to protect her for the rest of his life. The heir of the rival dojo heard about Hakuji's marriage to Koyuki, so he gathered some of his angered disciples and fought Hakuji, but they lost. Tragically, this victory was short-lived. Hakuji went to visit his father's grave to inform him of his marriage, but quickly realized something was amiss upon his return. A student from the dojo informed him that the rival dojo had poisoned the well where Koyuki and Keizo drank water from. The two died shortly after drinking that water while Hakuji had been away. Enraged, Hakuji killed all sixty-seven members of the rivaling dojo with his bare hands, pulverizing them to the point where their corpses were no longer recognizable. This incident caught Muzan Kibutsuji's attention and, though he was disappointed to find it had been a human rather than a demon who'd done such a gruesome act, he decided to make Hakuji one of the Twelve Kizuki. Hakuji, with nothing left to protect and having lost his will to live, accepts Muzan's offer and becomes a demon.

### Becoming A Demon

After transforming into a demon, Hakuji, now known as Akaza, lost his memories of his human past, with with his only desire being to become stronger despite not knowing the reason why he wanted to become strong. As noted by Doma, Akaza refused to ever eat or harm women. Due to his strength, loyalty and will to become stronger, he became one of Muzan's favorite members of the Twelve Kizuki and dispatched him only for special missions, such as searching for the Blue Spider Lily. During his time as a demon, Akaza noted that he had met and battled several Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps during his hundreds of years of life. During these meeting, Akaza had invited every single one of them to become a demon due to Akaza liking the natural strength, genius and skill the Hashira had possessed, wishing to continue battling against them forever. However Akaza was turned down by every single one of them due to them wanting to stay as humans, causing him much confusion as he could not understand their desire to stay as humans. Although not exactly specified, it has been stated by Akaza that each of the Hashira that he battled did not use the Flame Breathing, showing that his battle with Kyojuro Rengoku was the first time he had come across a Flame Hashira. Fifty years prior to his battle and death against Tanjiro and Giyu in the Infinity Castle, Akaza had come across and battled a powerful Water Hashira of noteworthy skill and power in the usage of the Breathing Style and successfully killed him and for the next half century did not come across anyone else of the same skill level until his duel against Giyu.

## Mugen Train Arc

Akaza appears shortly after Tanjiro Kamado, Kyojuro Rengoku, Inosuke Hashibira, Zenitsu Agatsuma, and Nezuko Kamado have defeated Lower Rank One Enmu and rescued the passengers. Noticing a downed Tanjiro, he immediately rushes forward to kill him, when Kyojuro stops the attack and slices his arm in half. Quickly healing the wound and complimenting his blade, Akaza is then asked why he would attack an already injured person, to which he states he simply wanted to rid him quickly before talking to Kyojuro. Deeming him as at the peak of his fighting spirit as a Hashira, he attempts to persuade him to become a demon. He states that as a human, he would eventually become old and die, whereas as a demon, he could continue to become more powerful. When Kyojuro repeatedly refuses the offer and refutes his statements, an annoyed Akaza declares he would instead kill him, and activates **Destructive Death: Compass Needle.** Akaza and Kyojuro battle fiercely, with Tanjiro and Inosuke looking from a distance, both quickly realizing that the two are on a completely different level of power. Akaza is repeatedly cut by the Hashira but instantly regenerates his wounds, all while taunting Kyojuro by saying all the Hashiras he had killed had never once taken his offer to change. The demon launches in the air and hits Kyojuro with **Air Type**, knocking him back temporarily, though the attack is quickly fended away. Knowing a battle at a distance will be difficult, the Flame Hashira rushes forward and tries to attack up close, though all his swings are deflected and dodged. Akaza again taunts him for his weakening human stamina compared to his demonic physiology and tries again to persuade Kyojuro to change, which fails as Kyojuro repeats he will not become like him. They trade attacks again, with even Inosuke noting that if he tried to help Kyojuro, he would be too slow and killed instantly. Akaza starts to make contact with his attacks, severely injuring the Hashira . All of Kyojuro's sword blows are futile with the demon's rapid healing abilities and he starts to become desperate with multiple Flame Breathing attacks. Akaza suddenly backs away, allowing Kyojuro to catch his breath, only for Tanjiro and Inosuke to see him bleeding profusely, in contrast to a completely fine and healed Akaza. Akaza, once again, taunts Kyojuro for his numerous injuries, whereas his' have already healed instantly because of being a demon and for fighting a losing battle as a human. Kyojuro's body suddenly becomes engulfed in fire, declaring he will fulfil his duty as a Hashira, to the demon's confusion and wonder. Kyojuro decide he would try to injure him as much as possible, even if it means dying, and strengthens himself one more time with **Flame Breathing: Esoteric Art**. Akaza is amazed at his opponent's fighting spirit, and decide he must become a demon so they can battle forever. Declaring he is the Flame Hashira, he uses **Flame Breathing, Ninth Form: Rengoku**, and rushes forward. Akaza responds with **Destructive Death: Annihilation Type.** They hit each other; with Kyojuro slicing Akaza's arm, torso, and almost through his neck, and Akaza driving his arm through Kyojuro's solar plexus. Akaza desperately begs him to become a demon, knowing the wound he inflicted is fatal and amazed at his opponent's will to fight, declares him one of the few chosen strong ones. Kyojuro refuses once more, remembering his mother's promise to him to protect the weak, and drives his sword deeper through his neck, even catching his fist when Akaza tries to punch him with his free hand, shocking the demon. The sun begins to rise and Akaza attempts to flee but is held in place by Kyojuro refusing to surrender. Tanjiro and Inosuke attempt to aid the Hashira, Inosuke using **Fang One: Pierce** to attack the demon from above. Akaza suddenly rips off his own arms from Kyojuro's body and stomps the ground, creating shockwaves to knock Inosuke away and stall Tanjiro's advance, giving him the chance to flee. Tanjiro frantically gives chase and hurls his Nichirin Blade at the Upper Rank Demon, piercing his chest. Akaza hears Tanjiro's cries, calling him a coward for retreating, and becomes enraged as he mutters to himself that he was fleeing from the sun, not him. Deciding the battle over and Kyojuro will soon die, Akaza flees to safety in the forest, leaving Inosuke and Tanjiro with a dying Kyojuro.

## Entertainment District Arc

Akaza appears before Muzan in his fake human family's home and reports to him that he could not find the Blue Spider Lily, and instead, he took down one of the Hashira. Muzan retorts it was only one Hashira and declaring his desire is for all to be dead. Angered at his failure, Muzan takes control of Akaza's cells and causes him to bleed heavily. As Akaza fights the pain, the Demon King mocks him for acting proud when three other Demon Slayers were still alive and he could have killed them as well, ending his rant by claiming "*even Upper Moon Three was brought to the ground*". When dismissed by Muzan for his failure, he takes notice of Tanjiro's nearby blade from when he threw it at him. Remembering how he called him a coward, he furiously smashes it to pieces and declares he would spill his brains the next time they meet, now able to recognize his face. Following the deaths of Upper Rank Six demons Daki and Gyutaro, Akaza suddenly finds himself within the Infinity Castle and deduces that his presence in the dimension means that an Upper Rank has been killed by the Demon Slayers.

### Swordsmith Village Arc

Leaping from the open hallway, Akaza descends the Infinity Castle, passing by hundreds of levels and a large water garden castle before landing at the bottom. He then catches himself on a moving platform and is taken high above the shifting rooms near the castle's upper levels before suddenly being taken by Nakime to a platform before her. He is greeted by Upper Rank Five Gyokko, who was surprised to see him as he had feared he was killed, but Akaza is disinteresting in making smalltalk. They are then joined by the skittish Upper Rank Four, Hantengu, who informs them that 113 years have past since the last gathering of the Upper Ranks. Akaza then asks Nakime on Muzan's whereabouts; when she answers he has not arrived, he inquires on Upper Rank One's status. The demons are then joined by Doma, Upper Rank Two, who suddenly appears behind Akaza and pats his shoulder, asking Upper Three if he was not as worried as he was for his fellow demons. Irritated at the pale haired demon touching, Akaza demands he move his arm and violently shatters his superior's lower jaw when he does not immediately comply. However, Doma is unfazed and slyly wonders if he had gotten stronger from the last time he hit him, annoying the demon further. Nakime then informs Akaza that Upper Rank One Kokushibo had been present all along, who then informs them of Muzan's appearance. Above all of the demons, Muzan voices his disappointment in Gyutaro for helping Daki and getting killed by the Demon Slayers. He admonishes the demons as worthless and states that they now fall under the ranks of lasting humanity, citing their failures as their inability to kill the Ubuyashikis and locate the Blue Spider Lily. He angrily remarks that he is now unsure why they exist, leaving Akaza to remain silent knowing his recent failure. When Gyokko provides him with new information, Muzan sends the potted demon and Hantengu to a joint mission before demanding the Upper Ranks fight harder than ever. Doma approaches Gyokko and attempts to pry in for his information, leading Akaza to destroy Upper Two's head for attempting to join a mission without Muzan's orders. Suddenly, his hand falls off, shocking him silent. Kokushibo instantly appears before him and deems his actions have crossed a line. A regenerated Doma tries to calm down Upper Moon One but he coldly tells Akaza if he wanted to take Doma's place and beat him, he should do so in a proper battle. A silent Akaza overhears Doma's statement that such a battle would be fruitless, since even the more recently turned Doma is far more powerful than he is, earning his ire. Doma continues to try defending Akaza but Kokushibo directly asks him if he understood what he declared. Akaza complies but quietly threatens to kill him as well. As Kokushibo disappears, Akaza rushes out of the Infinity Castle, ignoring Doma's attempts at another conversation.

## Infinity Castle Arc

During the Infinity Castle Arc, Akaza appears causing a powerful tremor throughout the area in which Tanjiro and Giyu are near. He breaks through the cover that the two are under and slams into the ground in front of them. “It sure has been a while. I’m surprised your still alive being the weakling you are.” Akaza immediately charges toward Tanjiro unleashing an attack toward him. The attack is however avoided which leads into a short clash between Akaza and Tanjiro which ends in Tanjiro successfully landing a few slashes on Akaza without major injury. Akaza surprised by Tanjiro’s growth admits that Kyojuro was right, and Tanjiro wasn’t weak. Showing his respects toward Tanjiro, Akaza uses his Technique Development commencing the battle. Giyu and Akaza start to engage combat, Akaza stating that it had been 50 years that he ran into someone as good as Giyu, the current Water Hashira. Akaza also notes Giyu’s unqiue Dead Calm technique, a form Akaza had not seen from the last Water Hashira he fought. Tanjiro joins the battle and attacking along with Giyu. Akaza keeps up with the both of them evading while striking back, managing to overpower their techniques at times. Akaza enjoys the battle and compliments Giyu’s techniques asking for his name. However, Giyu refuses and tells Akaza to not talk to him. Akaza then releases a flurry of powerful kicks which results in Giyu being launched through multiple walls of the Infinity Castle. Tanjiro yells out Giyu’s name, which Akaza notes. Akaza and Tanjiro clash for a while before Tanjiro is momentarily overpowered and pushed back. Akaza commends Tanjiro’s movement, praising him for his growth and training. Claiming that his growth makes Akaza glee with happiness. Akaza continues explaining that he was glad Kyojuro died that night as he wouldn’t have grown stronger and his worldview was dumb. Tanjiro angered by Akaza’s words tells him to stop talking, and that he’s just badmouthing Kyojuro despite Akaza seeing it as praise. Akaza explains that he only hates weaklings, and that the law of nature depicts that they should be eliminated. Tanjiro explains otherwise, and that the strong should protect the weak. Finding the way Akaza thinks unforgivable. Akaza hearing Tanjiro’s words feels irritated and and unpleasant. Akaza becomes puzzled as to why he still is unhappy with Tanjiro. Originally believing it was because he was weak, however he doesn’t feel any pleasure or happiness despite the slayer becoming stronger. He deduces it down to it being Tanjiro’s mere presence and everything about him being unpleasant and irritating. Akaza suddenly hears and feels the touch of his former teacher, his teacher saying similar words to Tanjiro. Akaza instinctively releases a backhand toward the figure he thinks is there. He faces Tanjiro once more stating how truly unpleasant he is before releasing powerful oppressing techniques against Tanjiro. Akaza’s techniques prove pierce through Tanjiro’s defense with ease and precision. Tanjiro utilizing **Hinokami Kagura: Solar Heat Haze** manages to cut Akaza’s neck a bit. The two continue to fight before Akaza gains a grasp of Tanjiro’s sword between his hands. Tanjiro uses all the physical means he can to try and force Akaza to let go, all proving fruitless before Akaza’s hands are slashed off by Giyu. Giyu reappears on the battlefield standing off against Akaza before charging towards him, dodging Akaza’s attack and attempting to strike toward his neck. Akaza dodges the attack notices that the Hashira has unlocked their Demon Slayer Mark, their combat speed increased as a result. Giyu lands a few strikes on Akaza, out speeding the demon for a short while before Akaza immediately matches his speed. Akaza and Giyu continue to clash as Tanjiro attempts jumps in but is immediately noticed and countered by Akaza. Tanjiro barely avoids incoming Akaza’s attack and gets out the way as Giyu and Akaza continue to fight. Akaza manages to land a fatal attack on Giyu as he starts to anticipate Giyu’s moves. Akaza decides its time to end the battle, as Giyu has run out of forms to use. Giyu’s Nichirin Blade is broken before Akaza attempts to kill them by impaling his fist through their chest. However before the attack can land, his hand is slashed off by Tanjiro. Akaza’s senses suddenly urge him and tell him to kill Tanjiro immediately, something about him has changed. Akaza uses his Technique Development and releases his most powerful technique **Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow**. Akaza’s technique lands a number of blows on Giyu, but the Hashira survives the technique. Akaza unsurprised that the Hashira was able to survive the technique goes on to say “Don’t die like Kyojuro and like Tanjiro”. Unable to sense Tanjiro, who well still alive. Tanjiro yells out at Akaza while dashing towards him, Akaza caught off guard strikes toward him, Tanjiro avoiding the attack. Surprised that Tanjiro, he uses his Compass Needle technique to try detect Tanjiro’s attacks. However to his surprise once again, he is unable to sense anything, Tanjiro’s Battle Spirit completely erased. Predicting an incoming attack, Akaza attempts to calm down. But despite his attempts, Tanjiro completely evades Akaza’s attack using Transparent World and Selfless State and counters by decapitating the Uppermoon. Akaza stunned at the events that had just taken place reflected on what had happened. Tanjiro was able to make his Battle Spirit completely disappear, such a feat that no one he had ever encountered in his centuries long life. However Akaza doesn’t accept that factor was the cause for his defeat, believing that he should have been able to deal with any sort of unexpected situations in battle. Yet Tanjiro was able to do that and even surpass Akaza’s speed after understanding the counter against his Compass Needle. What he saw in Tanjiro’s eyes was no hatred, anger, or intent to kill. Akaza deducing the down that Tanjiro had most likely achieved the “Supreme Territory” that he had been chasing after for centuries. He had a feeling it existed but also he should have reached it at his point already. In an attempt to grow even stronger, knowing that this isn’t his limit, Akaza grabs his decapitated head attempting to reconnect it to his neck, however Giyu throws his blade with enough force for it to slip out of his grasp and fall. Akaza however refuses, saying that he’ll continue to grow stronger and stronger. Before his head ashes away. However his body does not and soon slams its foot into the ground, activating Compass Needle. Akaza’s head appears to start regenerating to gain another new head. Akaza releases a strike nearly crushing Tanjiro’s neck however the latter avoids the attack. A kick right after is sent into Tanjiro’s side, causing him to fly into the wall. Unable to stay conscious Tanjiro blacks out, while Akaza continues to regenerate and fight. As Akaza attempts to kill Tanjiro, Giyu dashes forward utilizing **Fourth Form: Striking Tide** to cut through Akaza’s body. However Akaza regenerates, retaliating causing Giyu to quickly fall. Giyu stands once more declaring he won’t let Akaza kill Tanjiro. Akaza faces off against Giyu, before Akaza suddenly recollects his human memories. Koyuki in the conscious of Akaza’s memories holds onto his arm telling “Hakuji” to stop. Akaza responds saying to let go, asking the women who they were. Koyuki responds saying “Let’s go to the other side.”. Akaza declines, as has to kill these people and get stronger. He needs to get stronger so he can back the medicine for his father. Get stronger so can run away with the money he’s stolen, to beat those who come back for revenge. So he doesn’t get beat by the magistrate. Akaza’s human memories are suddenly triggered, questioning the people his mind. Akaza after remembering all his human memories knows he can’t go to the same place as the people he loved the most. At this point, Akaza’s head has almost completely regenerated as Tanjiro wakes up. Akaza about to engage Giyu, Tanjiro yells out telling him to stop from behind. Surprised that Tanjiro can move at all, he turns around to find Tanjiro attempting to behead him again. However, Tanjiro’s blade slips out his grip. Despite so Tanjiro continues to fight outright punching Akaza. Akaza envisions his master once more, his hate for the weak flashing in his eyes. Never fighting fairly and lack patience. Akaza realizing what he has done, tainting his teacher’s fighting style and disrespecting his father’s wishes. Akaza shifts turning toward Tanjiro and Giyu, before Tanjiro tackles and attempts to protect Giyu from Akaza’s attack. As he does, Akaza for a second lets out a smile accepting his defeat which Tanjiro notices, before using his own technique on himself. Akaza’s body becomes mangled and destroyed, and starts to regenerate however Akaza stops it. Recognizing he has been defeated fair and square, Akaza decided he wanted to die and go to hell like a man. Akaza’s physical body appeared to wander aimlessly as his conscious interacted with his father and master. Both deciding to stay with Hakuji, although they couldn’t go to heaven. Muzan’s will however appears, grasping a hold of Akaza. Reminding him of his goal and what he worked up too, asking if he was really just going to end here. Akaza’s body starts to regenerate once more as he recognizes his promise and goal once more. Claiming that it doesn’t matter if he gets decapitated, he’ll get stronger and keep his promise. However Koyuki appears once more relieving Hakuji that he has done enough and thanking him, it is okay now. Muzan attempts to control Akaza, however it fails. Akaza in that moment “turns back into a human” or his Hakuji self. He cries while embracing Koyuki apologizing for not being there for her. Koyuki just responds being glad that he is back and remembers them. Akaza’s body attempts to regenerate however finally gives in ashing away completely. The battle and Akaza’s demon life concluding.

## Biography

### Past

Before he became a Demon, Hakuji was born and raised by his father, who suffered from sickness. In order to pay for the medicine to cure his father, Hakuji pickpocketed the townspeople, three times, but sometimes got caught for his misdeeds. Beaten and given tattoos, they threatened to cut off his arms the next time he commits theft and was called a "Demon Child". Afterwards when Hakuji headed home after his third punishment from the town, a villager informed him about what happened to his father, having heard about his arrest and later hung himself. In a letter his father sent to him, he stated that all he wanted was for Hakuji to live a full life without worry and didn't need to take the medicine if it was earned by dishonesty and misdeeds. With the loss of his father, his criminal tattoos, and no home to return to. Hakuji was banished from Edo for his Theft. Devastated by his father's death and enraged at society for how he lived and couldn't afford the medicine to cure his father, he ends up picking a fight with other people he encounters and later beats them up. However, one day later he beat up seven men and nearly killed them off in a village, until he was soon approached by the village's dojo owner, Keizo. Annoyed by the owner's cheerful demeanor, Hakuji challenges the owner to a duel, but during the fight, he was defeated easily. After the Duel, Keizo takes him into his dojo, then introduces Hakuji to his daughter, Koyuki. Koyuki suffered from a sickness; her mother drowned herself due to the stress she had as Keizo had to work as a Handyman to keep things in balance. Keizo would later task Hakuji with taking care of her. But reminders of how he had a problem tending to his father, Hakuji had problems trying to tend Koyuki. He did, however, find this awkward at first but till Koyuki burst into tears, crying because of his sickness. But Hakuji would indirectly motivate her by telling her that "there's always next year to see the fireworks". As three years have passed. Koyuki was finally in good health, now willing to do the chores and could stand again. Hakuji on the other hand, continued training as Keizo's pupil of the Soryu style at the dojo. One day afterward, Keizo offered Hakuji to take over the dojo and marry his daughter, Koyuki. Being embarrassed and surprised by this, Hakuji immediately agrees, now promising to protect both his master and his wife, even if the cost of it was his own life. At the festival, he would later tell Koyuki about his troubled past and his father's death; then she asked if he was alright with the proposal, which reaffirmed Hakuji's vow to protect her for the rest of his life. However, this vow was short-lived. Hakuji then visits his father's grave and informed him of his marriage, but then he would quickly realizes something was amiss from his return. A student from the dojo informs Hakuji that their rivaling kenjustu dojo, which had sought to Keizo's land for themselves and had prevented him from getting any students, had poisoned the well. Keizo and Koyuki drank the water from it, and the two died shortly after, leaving Hakuji in despair, also causing his promise to protect them to be broken. Enraged from the despair, Hakuji then immediately picks a fight with the rivaling kenjutsu dojo. He killed 67 members of the dojo with his own bare hands, pulverizing them one by one to the point where their corpses were unrecognizable. Because of this, it brought Muzan Kibutsuji's attention, but he would later feel disappointed that a human rather than a demon would commit such a gruesome act towards what Hakuji had done. Muzan then offers Hakuji to become a demon and a Member of the Twelve Kizuki, but as an Upper Rank. With nothing left to protect and having lost his will to continue living, Hakuji accepts Muzan's offer to become a demon under the name of Akaza. After becoming a Demon, he lost all of his memories of when he was once a human, but now with only one desire: to become stronger, but despite never knowing why he wanted to become stronger in the first place. But as said by Doma, Akaza has refused to let himself harm or eat women or girls. Due to the strength he has now, Muzan would dispatch him on a special mission on finding the Spider Lily. And to this day, Akaza never remembered who he truly was.

### Mugen Train

After the battle on the train ends with Enmu's defeat and the train derailed, Akaza arrives and tries to kill the injured Tanjiro, but is stopped by the Flame Hasira, Kyojuro Rengoku. Impressed by Kyojuro's strength, Akaza extends an offer to turn him into a demon to achieve eternal life and strength. Kyojuro rejects Akaza's offer and engages him in battle. Despite putting up an amazing fight, Akaza recovers from any damage he receives while Kyojuro takes on the damage. After a final clash of techniques, Kyojuo manages to slice almost all the way through Akaza's neck, but Akaza also manages to mortally impale Kyojuro through his solar plexus with his fist. Akaza, further impressed by Kyojuro's fighting spirits and strength, begs him to become a demon so he won't die. Kyojuro again refuses the offer and with his remaining strength, holds Akaza in place as the sun begins to rise. Akaza struggles to break free to escape the sun and Tanjiro and Inosuke attempt to help hold him down. However, Akaza escapes by ripping his arms off and creating a shockwave to repel the demon slayers before fleeing. Tanjiro frantically gives chase and hurls his Nichirin Blade at the Akaza, piercing his chest. Tanjiro condemns the flee Akaza calling him a coward for retreating and declaring that demons like him do not have the same strength as the demon slayer corps, enraging the Upper Moon.

### Entertainment District Arc

After the battle with Kyojuro, Akaza reports to Muzan, who is currently living as a young boy in a pharmacy house, that while he has failed to find the Blue Spider Lily, he did defeat a Hashira. Muzan is displeased with Akaza's "accomplishment", declaring that one victory is meaningless until the entire demon slayer corps are destroyed and that Akaza failed to kill the other three Demon Slayers at the train. He punishes Akaza by making him bleed profoundly and dismisses him. Afterward, Akaza destroys the blade Tanjiro impaled him with and furiously vows to destroy Tanjiro for calling him a coward. Eventually, after the Upper Six duo Daki and Gyutaro's deaths at the hands of the Demon Slayers, Akaza is summoned to the Infinity Castle with the rest of the Upper Ranks on Muzan's orders, as he gets into an argument with Doma. Kokushibo stops the two of them as Akaza venomously declares that he will surpass both of them, to which Kokushibo expressed his wishes.

### Infinity Castle Arc

During the battle at the Infinity Castle, Akaza ambushes Tanjiro and Giyu. He immediately goes after Tanjiro, but the latter's drastic improvement allows him to hold his own against the upper moon. Akaza recognizes Tanjiro's growth and acknowledges it before reengaging Tanjiro and Giyu. Despite it being 2 on 1 Akaza overpowers the pair and explains his disgust for the weak, infuriating Tanjiro, who counters with his own beliefs that the strong should protect the weak. Tanjiro's words briefly remind Akaza of his forgotten memories as a human, angering him to point he attacks the memory of Keizo despite nothing being there. Akaza intensifies his attacks and using his powerful instincts to detect killing intent and perceive attacks, overpowers him. He grabs Tanjiro's sword and tries to break it, but is stopped by Giyu, who awakens his demon slayer mark. While Giyu holds Akaza back Tanjiro realizes from a previous conversation with Inosuke how Akaza is foreseeing all their attacks and how to eliminate his own killing intent using a technique called "transparent world" from a memory of his father. Despite utilizing his demon slayer mark, Giyu is still unable to defeat Akaza because of his battle sense. Akaza eventually breaks his sword and seemingly impales Giyu, but in actuality, Tanjiro cut off his hand with his new technique before he could kill Giyu. Akaza then unleashes his strongest technique and overpowers Giyu and approaches him to kill him. However, Tanjiro gets behind Akaza without him noticing, but instead of killing him with a surprise attack, Tanjiro deliberately makes himself known and declares he shall decapitate him. Akaza tries to kill Tanjiro, believing his battle sense will give him the edge, but discovers Tanjiro's killing intent has vanished, making his sense useless. In that moment Tanjiro completely surpasses Akaza's speed and senses then decapitates him with the very technique he has been striving to achieve. However, Akaza refuses to submit and tries to resist death by putting his head back on, only for Giyu to knock it off by impaling it with his sword. As Akaza's head hits the ground and disintegrates, his thoughts focus solely on getting stronger and his body doesn't disintegrate and keeps attacking the weakened Tanjiro. Tanjiro passes out from overexertion and Giyu desperately tries to protect him. As Akaza tries to continue fighting, he is held back by the spirit of Koyuki.

### Redemption

As Koyuki's spirit holds Akaza back, she asks him why he still seeks to becomes stronger. Akaza begins to remember his past and answers that if he isn't strong enough, he won't be able to steal the medicine his sick father needs. Akaza remembers his past as a thief trying to tend to his ailing father, becoming Keizo's student, falling in love with Koyuki, and ruthlessly murdering those responsible for his loved ones' murder with his bare hands before being turned into a demon. After remembering Akaza's consciousness returned to that of Hakuji, but his body begins to regenerate its head and attacks again. Unwilling to resume being a demon and acknowledging his defeat at Tanjiro's hands, Hakuji takes back control of his body and has it destroy itself. Hakuji begins passing to the afterlife where he meets his father and Keizo, who forgive him for his crimes. Muzan's spirit appears and tries to return Hakuji to being Akaza, but Koyuki's spirit pulls out away from Muzan's influence for good and the two reunite as Akaza is sent to hell, finally reunited with his loved ones.

## Abilities

* As the third highest ranking member of the Twelve Kizuki, Akaza is an exceptionally powerful demon and the fourth strongest in existence, after Doma, Kokushibo, and Muzan Kibutsuji. Even as a human child without martial arts training, Akaza could defeat and knock grown men unconscious on his own, and at the age of 18, after learning the **Soryu Style** ( *Soryū Shiki*?) from Keizo, he was capable of singlehandedly annihilating 67 trained adult swordsmen with his bare fists, to the point where Muzan initially thought it was a demon who had killed all these men. Upon becoming a demon, his combat prowess only grew, eventually obtaining the title of Upper Rank Three among the Twelve Kizuki despite his growth rate being hindered by his refusal to eat women. Akaza was able to fight on par with the Flame Hashira Kyojuro Rengoku and eventually kill him, although he was almost killed himself in their encounter, and has also killed numerous other Hashira and Demon Slayers in the past. Akaza was also able to simultaneously combat both the Water Hashira Giyu Tomioka and Tanjiro Kamado, a Hashira-level Demon Slayer, despite being outnumbered by the two and both of them utilizing their Demon Slayer Marks, dominating the majority of their battle and only losing to them once Tanjiro had accessed the Selfless State and Transparent World. Although Akaza was unable to defeat Kokushibo when he challenged him for his position of Upper Rank One, the latter decided to spare his life due to finding his challenge entertaining, suggesting that Akaza was at least able to give Kokushibo a decent fight despite the power gap between the two.
* **Indomitable Will:** Akaza possesses an immense willpower and an undaunted spirit. Despite being beheaded by Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword, he refused to disintegrate and die, instead forcing his headless body to keep fighting. He pushed his regeneration to evolve to the point where he could regrow his head, all because he simply refused to allow himself to lose. Even before he became a demon, he would relentlessly take blows from opponents way bigger than him and receive countless beatings all because of his goal to heal his sick father.
* **Tactical Intellect:** With over a century of combat experience and martial arts training under his belt, Akaza is able to fight effectively with foresight and tactical intelligence. This even surprised Giyu, who stated that Akaza could instantly evolve and adapt to any attack or technique that he uses, predict when his opponents will strike and how to counter them with equal power. Before he became a demon, Akaza has displayed natural aptitude in martial arts, shown when he was capable of beating up trained swordsmen from neighboring dojos while still in the midst of learning Keizo's Soryu Style. This is further exemplified when he could fight and defeat grown men without martial arts training.

### Demon Abilities

* **Immense Regeneration:** As Upper Rank Three, Akaza possesses one of the most incredible regenerative abilities ever seen, due to assimilating a massive amount of Muzan's blood. He was capable of instantly recovering from slash wounds both minor and severe and even limbs slashed off by his opponents with little effort. During his battle against Giyu and Tanjiro, his regeneration evolved even further as he didn't die even after having his head cut off by a Nichirin Sword and then completely regrew a new one afterwards, a feat considered impossible for demons except for Muzan Kibutsuji. Even without a head, Akaza's regeneration speed was still nigh-instantaneous. Furthermore, Akaza seems to be capable of finely controlling his own regeneration speed. This was shown on multiple occasions, such as when Kyojuro sliced Akaza's arm in two, where the Upper Rank slowed down his own recovery speed to show off his sliced arm only to heal the injury instantaneously, as well as when Akaza didn't heal a slash wound Kyojuro inflicted on his chest only for his regeneration to take effect as he placed his hand on it, as a demonstration that his attacks could never truly harm him as a demon. Most prominently, Akaza purposefully stopped his own regeneration after he lost the will to fight and accepted his defeat at Tanjiro's hands.

### Physical Abilities

* **Immense Durability:** As an Upper Rank demon of the Twelve Kizuki, Akaza's body is exceedingly durable as he harbors an extremely high concentration of Muzan's blood. During his fight with Kyojuro Rengoku, the Hashira had trouble cutting various parts of his body despite using a katana and possessing superhuman physical strength, showcasing Akaza's immense durability. Like all demons, Akaza's neck is much tougher compared to the rest of his body, so much so that Kyojuro only managed to cut two-thirds of his neck before the Upper Rank escaped, albeit Kyojuro was severely injured then.
* **Immense Speed & Reflexes:** Akaza is extremely fast, as shown during his fight with Kyojuro when he moves at imperceptible speeds, moving so quickly that even Tanjiro and Inosuke Hashibira couldn’t perceive his blisteringly fast movements, the latter even remarking that he was in "a different dimension." This is further exemplified from the fact that he could move in bursts of speed so fast that he appears to teleport, which he frequently displayed, managing to do so even for Tanjiro who can smell and discern future events. Akaza has shown to be more than capable of keeping up with the movements and reflexes of the Hashira, the most powerful and skilled combatants in the Demon Slayer Corps, and can even easily out-speed and overpower them. Even Giyu Tomioka, one of the fastest Demon Slayers, was instantly matched by Akaza in speed despite him awakening the Demon Slayer Mark just moments before.
* **Immense Strength:** Akaza possesses incredulous physical strength, which has been showcased multiple times, most notably when he punches or kicks, which is strong enough to break the ground and easily kill people. Every one of his strikes is strong enough to cause cuts, shatter ribs, smash eyes and later pierce the body of Kyojuro Rengoku, a Hashira who possesses above average durability. Akaza also easily broke Giyu's sword in half with a single side punch and completely shattered Tanjiro's Nichirin Sword with a flurry of punches. He was also shown to be capable of destroying the head and jaw of Upper Rank Two, Doma, despite the latter possessing higher levels of durability. Furthermore, Akaza could tear through the Infinity Castle with ease, even causing massive tremors in his wake. Combined with his Blood Demon Art, his strength is further increased, allowing him to cause craters in the ground by simply punching it. Even as an 11-year old boy, Akaza was able to completely knock several grown men unconscious in a fight with nothing but his bare fists and legs. At the age of 18, even before he became a demon, he was easily able to decapitate, dismember and mutilate 67 armed adult kendo masters with his bare fists, to the point that even Muzan thought that it was a demon who performed these feats.
* **Unlimited Stamina & Endurance:** Like all demons, Akaza possesses infinite stamina and vitality, never tiring and always remaining in optimal physical and mental condition all the time as well as being able to endure waves of onslaught as if it were nothing. In his battle against Kyojuro, his arm was split open by Kyojuro's **Rising Scorching Sun**, yet he remained unfazed by the slash, even complimenting his blade. Akaza's immense resilience to pain and endurance is most evident when Kyojuro unleashed his most powerful form on him; this time, Akaza's arm and head were sliced open and his torso was slashed twice. Despite the intense attack, Akaza seemed more focused on marveling at Kyojuro's technique rather than the damage he sustained. Additionally, throughout all his battles, he has never showed signs of pain or agony even after getting his limbs sliced off or when he was inflicted with numerous slash wounds and injuries, even those caused by Tanjiro's Hinokami Kagura which are known to cause pain even to Upper Rank demons, such as Daki and Karaku. Furthermore, Akaza is one of the only ones to withstand Tanjiro's headbutt without any signs of pain afterwards, even complimenting it. Prior to being transformed into a demon, Akaza demonstrated superhuman endurance at the age of 11, as he endured 100 consecutive beatings that could make a grown man go numb, thus earning the title of "Demon Child."

### Supernatural Abilities

* **Extrasensory Perception:** Akaza possesses supernaturally honed sensory abilities able to sense things outside the normal range of perception. On top of being able to sense the auras of demons and humans, Akaza can also sense something he calls the "**Fighting Spirit** ( *Tōki*?)", the will of a person to fight as well as their murderous intent. He can use this to tell how strong or weak an individual is just by looking at them, predict where and how his opponents will attack, where their weaknesses are, along with sensing where they are within the environment, allowing him to react to attacks from his blind spots. As stated by Giyu, this ability also allowed him to instantly evolve and adapt to any attack or technique that he uses, to the point that he can predict when his opponents will strike and how to counter them with equal power. He was also able to find the location of both Giyu and Tanjiro from a relatively far distance. Akaza's senses are so strong that he is able to fight effectively and determine the location of his opponents in the surroundings without a head, making him deaf and blind, and even overpower Giyu in the process.

## Fighting Style

* **Master Hand-to-hand Combatant:** Akaza's most notable attribute, both as a human and as a demon, is his extraordinary skill in unarmed combat and bare-fisted martial arts. Even before transforming into a demon, Akaza has displayed prodigious abilities and skills in hand-to-hand combat, being able to completely lay waste to several grown men at the age of 11 without any prior martial arts training. As a young adult, Akaza singlehandedly annihilated 67 adult kendo masters, brutally mutilating their bodies until they were mangled piles of flesh with his bare fists. After becoming a demon, his hand-to-hand combat prowess was further augmented to the point he could fight effectively at speeds faster than the eye can see while fully utilizing his bare-fisted martial arts skills for both offense and defense against the most powerful of Demon Slayers. Furthermore, when combined with his Blood Demon Art and superhuman physique, every single one of his punches and kicks become extremely lethal, with each blow being capable of shattering the ground or breaking ribs, making him an extremely dangerous opponent. That, combined with his centuries worth of martial arts experience essentially makes Akaza unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat.
* **Soryu Style** ( *Soryū Shiki*?): A bare-fisted martial arts style taught to him by Keizo, a martial arts expert, when he lived with him and took care of Koyuki. The Soryu Style utilizes both a user's arms and legs to unleash swift and powerful strikes that target an opponent's neck and weapon. At the start of a battle, the user begins by going into a stance performed by bending their knees in a half-crouch position, extending their right arm with a half-clenched fist facing his body and bending his left arm with an open palm or a nearly identical stance except they open their palm on their right arm while fully clenching their fists in a downwards bend on their left arm. After becoming a demon, he used the Soryu Style as his main inspiration of his **Destructive Death** ( *Hakai Satsu*?) martial arts.
* **Bell Splitter** (り *Suzu Wari*?): A technique where Akaza strikes a sword from the side as it is descending to break it with little effort. When he was a human, Akaza was most proficient in this technique, likely due to having fought the neighboring dojo's swordsmen and murdering 67 of them when he was 18, which would likely require him to utilize that move many times in order to overpower them.

### Blood Demon Art

* **Destructive Death** ( *Hakai Satsu*?): Akaza's Blood Demon Art is centered around martial arts, combining the manipulation of destructive shockwaves and the Soryu style martial arts he mastered when he was a human. The shockwaves Akaza manipulates are blue in color and can take on many forms, such as nigh-invisible air pressure, circular energy-like shockwaves, or cannon-shaped spikes. He is capable of generating them at will, from any distance, and seemingly from any part of his body. In combat, Akaza has his shockwaves accompany his own punches and kicks to amplify its destructive capabilities, enveloping his every strike in a faint blue light. At the start of a battle, Akaza initiates his Blood Demon Art by deploying a special technique called **Technique Development** ( *Jutsushiki Tenkai*?). Akaza starts by going into a stance unique to the Soryu Style which there are 2 versions of. The first stance is performed by bending his knees in a half-crouch position, extending his right arm with a half-clenched fist facing his body and bending his left arm with an open palm; the second version is nearly identical except he opens his palm on his right arm while fully clenching his fists in a downwards bend on his left arm. Using the shockwaves of his Blood Demon Art and the Soryu Style, Akaza is able to attack his targets with both destructive long-ranged barrages and precise short-ranged strikes. During his battle with Kyojuro Rengoku, he was able to keep the Flame Hashira at bay with his shockwaves, forcing him to close the gap and putting him in range of his bare-handed fighting style, which was to the Upper Rank's advantage. The shockwaves generated from his Blood Demon Art are extremely powerful, once being able to smash Kyojuro's ribs and even internal organs, after he took a barrage of larger shockwaves head on, the same Hashira who survived explosions being rained down upon him with insignificant injuries. Akaza can also use his Blood Demon Art in his kicks to generate additional destructive force to launch his opponents an extremely far distance. More impressively, he can create countless shockwaves that surround his target with a hundred blows that strike them everywhere almost at the same time. Another crucial part of his Blood Demon Art is in the form of his **Compass Needle** technique, which is essentially a form of advanced extrasensory perception that enables him to sense a person's will to fight. He uses this information to instinctively aim for their vitals and weak points, determine their strength at a glance, predict where and how his opponents will attack, sense their location in his immediate surroundings, enhance the lethality and accuracy of his punches and kicks, and evolve and adapt to their attacks over time.

### Techniques

* **Compass Needle** ( *Rashin*?): Akaza manifests a light blue snowflake-shaped compass underneath him with numbers ranging from 1 to 12. This technique allows Akaza to sense a person's "**Fighting Spirit** ( *Tōki*?)", a person's will to fight, which he uses to achieve numerous effects while in combat. Firstly, he is able to determine the strength of anyone at a glance, such as when he discerned that Kyojuro was a Hashira just by looking at him. Secondly, Akaza is able to detect the presence of his opponents in his immediate surroundings (even in his blind spots) and can use this to predict where and how his opponents will strike him. This technique also allows Akaza to tell where his target's weaknesses are located and instinctively aim for them. Furthermore, the precision of Akaza's attacks are greatly enhanced, to the point where Tanjiro stated that it was like magnets were pulling his fists towards his vitals, and even described them as having "unparalleled precision". This is hinted at when a slight scrape from his kick (even while his sword had blocked it) caused Tanjiro to bleed. Moreover, Tanjiro also stated that Akaza was able to pierce through any opening in his attacks without fail. Another trait of his **Compass Needle** allows him to reactively adapt to his opponent's attacks, learning to anticipate their techniques and attack forms and even strike back with equal accuracy over time. Additionally, the stronger a person's Fighting Spirit, the stronger the response of his **Compass Needle**. His Fighting Spirit detection is so accurate that he can find the location of Tanjiro in his surroundings and fight and overpower Giyu without a head, meaning that he is performing those feats while basically being deaf and blind.
* **Air Type** ( *Kūshiki*?): Akaza punches the empty air in front him while creating a shockwave that flies towards his target and hits them from afar. These airborne shockwaves can be created multiple times in quick succession and can be unleashed in the sky or on the ground.
* **Disorder** ( *Ranshiki*?): Punching rapidly at the target, Akaza creates a barrage of large shockwaves, destroying anything in front of him. This attack was capable of matching Kyojuro's **Flame Tiger** technique.
* **Annihilation Type** ( *Messhiki*?): One of Akaza's most powerful techniques. Akaza crouches with both his arms at the side of his body poised to strike. He then lunges forward, creating two powerful circular shockwaves from the palm of his hands which he uses to strike his target with tremendous force. This technique was strong enough to rival through Kyojuro's most powerful attack, **Rengoku**.
* **Leg Type: Crown Splitter** (  *Kyakushiki: Kamuro Saki Wari*?): A reverse, rising axe kick that produces a shockwave once it connects with the target.
* **Leg Type: Explosive Flurry** (  *Kyakushiki: Ryūsengunkō*?): A flashing flurry of powerful straight kicks so fast that they create afterimages, with each kick producing powerful shockwaves. This technique was powerful enough to launch Giyu an extremely far distance.
* **Leg Type: Flying Planet Thousand Wheels** (  *Kyakushiki: Hyūsei Senrin*?): A kick that utilizes a flowing motion which strikes Akaza's target from below and launches them upward.
* **Eight-Layered Demon Core** ( *Kishinya Eshin*?): Akaza unleashes eight powerful punches, each strike creating large and strong shockwaves in a similar fashion to his **Disorder** technique.
* **Crushing Type: Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow** (  *Saishiki: Manyōsen Yanagi*?): A powerful downward punch that delivers a large shockwave into the ground which expands outward.
* **Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow** (　 *Shūshiki: Aogin Ranzankō*?): Akaza's ultimate technique. Akaza unleashes an omni-directional barrage of countless thin and sharp shockwaves that deliver a hundred blows to his target coming from everywhere almost at the same time. This attack was so powerful that it could negate Giyu's **Dead Calm** technique, a move known for its immense defensive capabilities.

### Game Exclusive Techniques

* **Collapse** ( *Hōraku*?) - Similar to his **Ten Thousand Leaves Flashing Willow** technique, Akaza leaps into the air and delivers a downward punch that shatters the ground.
* **Disorder, Shatter** (・ *Ranshiki - Sai*?) - Similar to his **Disorder** technique, Akaza unleashes numerous straight punches in front of himself before sending his target flying with a shockwave-enhanced punch.
* **Annihilation Type, Punish** (・ *Messhiki - Kai*?) - Akaza deploys his **Compass Needle** technique before rushing to his target and delivering a multitude of powerful shockwave-enhanced punches and kicks before unleashing his **Annihilation Type** technique.

## Relationships

### Father

When he was human, Hakuji loved and cared for his ailing father, but since they could not afford his medication, Hakuji had to resort to stealing in order to afford his father's treatment. When his father discovered that Hakuji had been arrested and beaten for his crimes, he felt guilty and committed suicide. In his letter to Hakuji he mentioned that he "didn't want to live on if it meant stealing from people" and he felt remorseful for troubling Hakuji to care for him. Hakuji grew frustrated and angry after his father's death, and proceeded to violently fight throughout the town, resulting in his exile. Hakuji would take his rage out on the townspeople, trying to make sense of why his father needed to die as opposed to anyone else, showing the immense emotional pain he was in over his father's death. Later on when Hakuji becomes engaged to Koyuki, he traveled all the way back to his hometown despite being banished, and visits his father's grave to inform him of his engagement. After becoming a demon and like with his fiancée, Koyuki, Akaza faintly remembers and treasures the memory of his father. This is mostly seen in his physical appearance as a demon, where the black arm band tattoo's he had received due to his crimes to help provide for his father had seemingly grown and spread all across his body. Hinting that Akaza still faintly remembered his father from his human life and felt subconscious remorse at continuing to live a life of sin and crime as a demon and going against his father's last wishes for him to live an honest and good life. When Akaza remembers his father in the afterlife, he immediately asks him if he is suffering, still showing concern over his health. He falls to his knees before his father and apologizes to him for continuing his life of crime as a Demon, displaying his remorse.

### Koyuki

When Hakuji arrives at the Dojo, he is introduced to Keizo's daughter, Koyuki, and is told that he will be in charge of nursing her. Since he had experience caring for his father, Hakuji performed minor tasks such as changing her towels and bedding, as well as assist her to move around. Although Koyuki needed to rely on his assistance to survive, she constantly felt sorry for taking his free time away from him. Three years pass and the two grow closer to each other as Koyuki's health improves. One day, Keizo asks Hakuji to become his successor for the dojo and tells him that Koyuki said she liked him causing both of them to blush. When the pair went out to watch the fireworks, Koyuki reveals her feelings of wanting to give up on life, but by meeting Hakuji she became happy and wanted to live out her life. Following her confession, she proposes to Hakuji who agrees to grow strong and be with her for the rest of her life. However, before they are able to wed, Koyuki and her father are unexpectedly poisoned, and killed by the rival dojo leader. Her death caused Hakuji to go into a blinding rage, to the point where he killed 67 members of the rival dojo. Following the massacre, Hakuji wandered aimlessly until Muzan discovered him and transformed him into a Demon. After his transformation, he lost his memories and once again seeked to become strong, not wanting continue living in a world without a family, Hakuji — now Akaza — resorted to committing pointless acts of carnage to ease his pain. Despite losing his memories, Akaza was noted to have subconsciously retained his strong feelings for Koyuki, this is seen where Doma noted that Akaza absolutely refused to kill and eat women during his hundreds of years as a Demon, despite his obsessive desire for more strength and power. This aversion, was likely due to him vaguely remembering Koyuki. As shown his physical appearance, such as his pink hair, the same color as Koyuki's kimono ,and even his Blood Demon Arts as a demon, his Compass Needle shaped into a snowflake similar to Koyuki's hairpins and firework shaped/based techniques, likely based on his promise to watch fireworks together once she was healed, is due to him partially remembering his past as a human and treasuring his memories of her. After Tanjiro managed to decapitate Akaza, he was about to regenerate and to strike back as ordered by Muzan. However, Koyuki's spiritual apparition appears before him and thanks him, saying that he has done enough. At first Akaza doesn't remember her, but after remembering his memories. Akaza then uses his own blood demon art on himself, killing him. Akaza's spirit then reverts back to his human form as he cries and apologizes to Koyuki for failing to protect them. Koyuki tearfully welcomes Hakuji with open arms and the two embrace, as Koyuki seemingly accompanies Hakuji to hell.

### Keizo

Following the death of his father, Hakuji goes on a rampage and begins to fight with a crowd of men. As a result of the commotion, Keizo is called to settle the fight and discovers that Hakuji has knocked all of the men unconscious. He attempts to recruit Hakuji as a student at his dojo after being impressed by his fighting skills, and notices the criminal brandings on his arms. Keizo comes to understand Hakuji's situation and promises Hakuji that he will be reborn as one of his students, showing his genuine concern for his well being. He further provokes Hakuji by challenging him to a fight, but when Hakuji attempts to attack Keizo, he is swiftly knocked out by the dojo instructor. After defeating and seeing Hakuji's potential, Keizo happily invited him to become a pupil of his dojo and instructed him to become the caretaker of his sickly daughter. For the next couple of years, Hakuji proceeded to diligently train under Keizo's instruction and soon became well loved by his teacher to the point where he offered his daughter to marry Hakuji. Keizo's warm acceptance of Hakuji brings joy to his life and he begins to see Keizo as an inspirational father figure as well as a respected teacher. However, upon learning of Keizo's and Koyuki's murder at the hands of the rival dojo, Hakuji once again falls into a homicidal rage and proceeds to brutally murder 67 members of the dojo. Their death affect him greatly to an extent that he doesn't attempt to fight back when Muzan converts him into a demon, even saying that "I don't care anymore, I don't care about anything."  Displaying his realization that he had lost the most important people in his life, yet again. As a Demon and much like with Koyuki and his biological father, Akaza continued to treasure his memories with his teacher despite his memories as a human becoming corrupted as a demon. This is seen where Akaza's hatred for weaklings and belief in Social Darwinism is due to him vaguely remembering the circumstances of his teacher's death. Where the enemy dojo had resorted to using an underhanded method such as poisoning his teacher's well in order to kill him was due to them never having been able to defeat him in a straight on fight due to Keizo's immense strength. Resulting in Akaza developing an intense hatred for weaklings, as he believed them all to be the most repulsive and underhanded creatures who do nothing but drag down the strong using such unscrupulous methods. During his battle against Tanjiro, Akaza gets punched by the swordsman with such an impact that he remembers Keizo disciplining him. The vision of his master causes Akaza to slightly regain his humanity and cease his will to fight. Keizo's spiritual apparition comes forth to remind Akaza once again that "even in death he will not forsake him" but that he must pay for the sins he has committed. Even within Akaza's final moments, Keizo still guided him as a son and pupil, eventually welcoming him to the afterlife.

### Tanjiro Kamado

Upon first meeting Tanjiro, Akaza attempted to immediately kill him without engaging in battle, seeing him as a "weakling" not worthy of his attention. Later on, when Akaza successfully defeated Kyojuro Rengoku, he fled the scene in order to escape the sunrise, but was stabbed in the back with a blade thrown by Tanjiro. During that instance, Tanjiro began to call Akaza a coward for trying to escape while insulting Kyojuro claiming that he was the true winner of the battle. Enraged by Tanjiro's comments, Akaza's veins can be seen visibly protruding through his skin as he solemnly specifies that he was running from the sun, not from the demon slayers. Later on, when Akaza finishes his meeting with Muzan, he angrily destroys the blade that was thrown at him into pieces. He envisions Tanjiro's face, and promises that he will "spill [his] brains" the next time they meet. When they meet again in the Infinity Castle, Akaza excitedly ambushes Tanjiro and Giyu where he then proclaims that he's "surprised a weakling like [Tanjiro] is still alive."  As the three of them proceed to engage in battle, Akaza expresses his delight to see that Tanjiro had improved vastly in skill and power compared to when they first met, and goes on to "praise" Kyojuro for dying in order to aid in Tanjiro's development. His comments enrage Tanjiro, who claims that he has no choice but to defeat Akaza in order to protect mankind and expresses his pity towards him, for not feeling any empathy as a Demon. Baffled by his words, Akaza remembers a faint memory from his past of someone mentioning something similar to Tanjiro. The subtle memory causes Akaza to grow angry with Tanjiro, and he proceeds to launch a rush of attacks towards him. However, when Tanjiro manages to decapitate him, Akaza becomes furious and continues to attack them while trying to regenerate his head. His mind becomes foggy as he undergoes an inner conflict, and ends up getting punched in the face by Tanjiro. The impact of the punch, causes Akaza to remember his beloved teacher and the morals he was taught as a student. Having remembered all along he wanted someone to kill for the outcome of his life, Akaza decides to kill himself by directing his attack at his own body. Having witnessed Akaza's attempt to destroy himself, Tanjiro realizes that Akaza had smiled at him, and he later senses the scent of gratitude from Akaza's ashes.

### Muzan Kibutsuji

Muzan hears word of a "demon" slaughtering members of a dojo nearby, but doesn't recall sending one to that area so he sets out to investigate. Upon travelling to the location, he discovers a human — Hakuji —soaked in blood and decides to utilize him as a demon for his needs.Throughout his life as a demon, Akaza never felt any sort of awe, hatred or respect for Muzan, instead viewing him simply as someone who gives orders and himself as someone to carry them out. Muzan became fond of him, due to his loyalty, will to become stronger and gave him special permission to not eat women. Following his first encounter with Tanjiro, Akaza meets with Muzan to report the events which had occurred. He informs the Demon Lord that he had defeated a Hashira, but failed to gather any information regarding the Blue Spider Lily which infuriates Muzan. He proceeds to berate Akaza for being a failure and cruelly tortures him by destroying his skin until he begins to bleed. However, Akaza maintains his composure and continues to bow before Muzan. At the Upper Ranks Meeting, Akaza immediately kneels before Muzan and refers to him as "Lord" showing his respect towards him. When Doma loiters around following the conclusion of the meeting, Akaza becomes angry at his disobedience and destroys his head. Following his defeat against Giyu and Tanjiro, Akaza regains his human memories and attempts to join his family in the afterlife. However Muzan tries to intervene and influences him to continue to fight, not wanting to lose another Demon to the Demon Slayer Corps. Despite his attempts to control him, Akaza manages to overcome Muzan's control and stops his body from regenerating.

### Upper Ranks

Akaza's only loyalty to the demons is only seen with Muzan and he does not get along with his fellow Upper Rank Demons. Although he is only dismissive of Gyokko, Hantengu and Nakime, he harbours an envy and hatred with his two superiors, Kokushibo and Doma. During the Upper Ranks Meeting, he ignores Gyokko and Hantengu's attempts to speak to him but is suddenly approached by Doma and nonchalantly asked if he was worried about him, while putting his arm around him. However his bubbly personality does not sit well with Akaza, and he proceeds to command him to move, before destroying part of Doma's jaw. Akaza's hatred for Doma and Kokushibo can be further seen when he loses his patience and destroys Doma's head, after he asks to join a mission without Muzan's orders. During this, Kokushibo slices his hand off, accosting him for attacking Upper Rank Two. Doma tries to diffuse the situation but Kokushibo only tells him he is punishing Akaza for disrupting the hierarchy, telling Akaza if he wanted to attack Doma, he should do so in a blood battle. To this, Doma explains that such a battle would be pointless as he is far more powerful than he is and alludes that Akaza's hatred towards him was due to the fact that he had surpassed him in rank, despite becoming a member of the Twelve Kizuki long after him. Akaza doesn't deny Kokushibo's words but also threatens to kill him as well.

## Quotes

* (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "*Let me tell you why you can't enter the realm of the highest. Because you're a human. Because you're going to grow old. Because you're going to die. Become a demon, Kyojuro. Do that, and you can go on training for a hundred, two hundred years. You can become stronger.*"
* (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "*There were never any Flames among all the Hashira I've killed until now. And no one ever took me up on my offer, either. Why do you think that is? As a fellow martial artist, I just don't get it. Not when only the chosen ones can become demons!... Watching the hideous decline of someone blessed with extraordinary powers... it pains me! I can't bear it! Die, Kyojuro... while you're still young and strong.*"
* (To Kyojuro Rengoku) "*Even if you fight to death, you can't win, Kyojuro. Those impressive slashes you inflicted on me... have already healed completely. But what about you? A smashed left eye, shattered ribs and damaged internal organs... all irreparable. If you were a demon, you'd heal in the blink of an eye. Those would be mere scratches to a demon. You can struggle all you want, but a human can never beat a demon.*"
* (To Tanjiro Kamado) "*You misunderstand, Tanjiro. I only despise the weak. I only spit on weaklings. Yes. Weaklings make me sick. It is the law of nature that they be weeded out.*"
* (To himself) "*Are the poor not even allowed to live? Father... To **Hell** with this world! To Hell with every last one of them! Why do these rotten people get to live but my father had to die? He wasn't a bother. What did he have to apologize for? My father didn't do anything wrong! I could take the punishment. They could whip me savagely or break all my bones... but I could take it for even a hundred years for my father's sake![...] My father was rapidly losing weight. His ribs were beginning to show through his back. I wanted to feed him something more nutritious. I was sure I could heal him. Why did he hang himself? I would have been happy to die instead, if it were for my father's sake. For my father!!*"
* (In regards to Koyuki) "*I will cure you for sure. Help you. Protect. My life was worthless, filled with nothing but empty promises.*"
* (In regards to himself) "*I became a demon, lost my memories and again began seeking strength. There was nothing left I wanted to protect. I didn't even want to continue living in a world without my family. For over a hundred years I committed pointless acts of carnage. It's a horribly sad... laughable... and ridiculous story.*"
* (To his family) "*I'm home, father. I'm back. Master. Koyuki. **I'm home**.*"

## Trivia

* Akaza is the first Upper Moon confronted by Tanjiro and the first one who made his official appearance in the series.
* Akaza is not as much of a Demon as opposed to Doma. Akaza is portrayed as sympathetic and tragic, but Doma has a wickedness comparable to Muzan Kibutsuji and no excuses. Akaza trains and builds strength, Doma cannibalizes and builds strength. Besides, Akaza is honorable and respectful, while Douma is not.
	+ Akaza also refuses to kill or eat women, while Doma specifically targets women as his main source of food.
* Akaza is the only current Upper Moon to be a boss in the video game adaptation, *Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: The Hinokami Chronicles*, with his fight occuring after Enmu meets his demise.
* Muzan considered Akaza to be one of his favourite Upper Moons, due to his loyalty and serious behavior.
* As seen from Akaza having appeared in the wreck of Enmu's Train after his attempt to devour humans in mass failed, Muzan likely did not have high expectations for him despite allowing sparing him and injecting him with more of his blood. This is seen where despite having Akaza stationed close to the train, he did not lend any assistance or back up to the Lower Rank One and only entered into the battle after Enmu had been killed. Alluding that Muzan likely expected him to fail to begin with and ordered Akaza to follow him in secret to eliminate the demon slayers who successfully killed him when they are weakened from their battle against Enmu.