Agatsuma Zenitsu

As one of the 5 survivors from the Final Selection[12], he is characterized by habitually repeating negative words, saying that he is going to die. He is afraid of crows and receives sparrows instead, and is afraid even of the petty bickering between Tanjirou and Genya, highlighting his timid and weak personality.

Like Tanjirou, he was educated under an educator from the Pillar. The breathing technique he uses is the Breath of Thunder. In terms of age, he is the same age as Kanawo and Genya, who are his Final Selection comrades, but among the main 4, he is one year older than Tanjirou and Inosuke, who he spends time with as if they were the same age, and two years older than Nezuko, making him the oldest.

He is often depicted as a coward who feels fear very easily in the story, and in severe cases, he even faints from fear. However, when he faints like this, he becomes a completely different person, which will be discussed later.

Overall, he is characterized by two-tone hair that is blonde with orange tips, thick eyebrows, and dark yellow eyes. His hairstyle is also quite unique, with the shape of his hair being angular, as if several layers of square paper have been cut and pasted together. Moreover, because it is yellow, many people say that it resembles a dandelion, and even Nezuko's impression of Zenitsu is that he is a strange dandelion.

Among the Pillars, Obanai Iguro has a similar hairstyle. However, Obanai's hair is longer and black, so it is not very noticeable, but Zenitsu's hair is blonde, which is a bright color, so it stands out more, and there is even talk that it resembles a bird's nest.

Originally, before becoming a Demon Slayer, he had black hair and eyebrows. Then one day, to avoid the harsh training of his master, Jigoro Kuwajima, he climbed a tree, crying and whining that he didn't want to, when he was suddenly struck by lightning from the sky, and his hair and eyebrow color turned yellow, becoming his current state. In Kimetsu Academy, he is a natural blonde, but he is falsely accused of dyeing his hair yellow even though he is a member of the student council, and is unintentionally labeled as a violator of school rules, and is receiving tremendous tackles from a crazy gym teacher.

Also, his eyebrows and the corners of his eyes are lowered, giving him a generally gentle, small animal-like impression, but when he is completely angry or serious, he becomes sharp enough to be unrecognizable. In particular, he showed a proper outrage in the battle against Kaigaku in the final phase, and the timid or gentle impression he usually has disappeared, and his face even turned red, showing a cold impression. In the original work, his eyes are droopy like in the anime, but the corners of his eyes are slightly raised, which is the point, but this was omitted in the anime. It seems that it was difficult to implement, like Shinobu's layered eyes and Tamayo's new pupils.

It is not revealed in the artwork, but he is said to have buck teeth, which are revealed in some gag scenes.

If you look closely, his pupils have no highlights, which is a dead fish eye attribute, but despite this, his gag character aspect is so strong that his lifeless appearance is hardly highlighted compared to other dead fish eye attributes.

His outfit consists of a dark brown uniform with a yellow triangular patterned haori given to him by his master, and the gaiters on his ankles also have the same yellow background and triangular pattern as the haori.

He is the biggest crybaby in the story, and he is a gag character who gets scared at the first sign of danger and makes a fuss with his unique high-pitched voice. Moreover, his hearing is several times better than ordinary people, so if he wants to, he can hear the sounds of the body, such as the sound of the heart, and keenly discern the thoughts of others, but even if he realizes that the other person is deceiving him, he continues to believe them because of his desire to trust people. Because of this, even though he knew that what was in Tanjirou's box was a demon, he knew that Tanjirou valued it, so he protected it until Inosuke's sword came to the side of his neck. (At this time, he said that he was excited even though he didn't know who Nezuko was in the box.)

Unlike the stoic Tanjirou, he is the most licentious among the group. In the Mugen Train arc, when a man entered his subconscious while he was sleeping, he was extremely wary and attacked him. During the recovery training at the Butterfly Mansion, he showed no signs of distress, happily saying that a girl was giving him stretches that were so painful that even Inosuke was tearing up. However, the reason why he begged a woman to marry him to the point of crying in the beginning seems to be due to the fact that he was an orphan from a young age and had been alone for a long time, so he wanted to create a family that would love him completely. According to the description in Chapter 2 of the Flower of Happiness, he longs for romance and marriage more than others because he grew up without knowing the warmth of a family. He also learned about the importance of friends after meeting Tanjirou and Inosuke.

He also has extremely low self-esteem and a high degree of self-loathing. Zenitsu's characteristic and disadvantage is that he has such a strong self-loathing that he blames himself, not others, for all the unfortunate situations that befall him. When Tanjirou praised him, saying, "I knew everything because my nose is good. That Zenitsu is kind and strong," Zenitsu became serious and said, "Wait. I'm not strong. Stop talking nonsense," which embarrassed Tanjirou. Also, when he was chased by the brother demon on Mt. Natagumo and climbed a tree, trembling, he thought to himself that the person he hated the most was none other than himself, self-certifying his self-loathing. Even Zenitsu's subconscious, revealed by Enmu's Blood Demon Art, was depicted as a pitch-black darkness, reflecting his self-loathing and loneliness.

He is currently head over heels for Nezuko. When Tanjirou and Inosuke left him behind and went into the mountains to solve the mission, he trembled, but remembered that Tanjirou had carried Nezuko on his back, and ran after them at an incredible speed, worrying that Nezuko would be in danger. The last words he utters just before being defeated by the poison are, "Nezuko... I'm sorry..." Also, in the Butterfly Mansion arc, he shows Nezuko things that she might be interested in (such as goldfish), tells her about her daily routine when she is in the box, and takes her to various places at night so that she doesn't get bored. Of course, Nezuko is currently in a state of infantilization, so she has almost no ego, so it is impossible to know what she thinks of Zenitsu, but she seems to be doing well for now. In the Mugen Train arc, when Zenitsu rescues Nezuko, who is caught by Enmu's tentacles, and says coolly, "I will protect Nezuko," Nezuko makes a surprised expression.

He is a serious coward, but at the same time, he has a very kind and responsible personality, as his name contains the Chinese character 善 (good). Unlike common characters of this type, he never bluffs, and even if he is scared, he never runs away from things that risk people's lives. In fact, he has cried and complained that he was scared in every incident, but he has never given up fighting or run away even once. An example is the selection test. He complained that he didn't want to go to the final selection and was beaten up and came to the final selection (so he looks swollen in the final selection), but he didn't drop out on the way to the selection test and took the test, even though he showed a negative attitude throughout. He doesn't have the cowardice to abandon the weak as a disposable piece or inflict violence to save his own life. Rather, he is a generous person who worries about others even in situations where he might die, and if he was like Hantengu, who is inherently fearful, or Muzan Kibutsuji, who fears death more than anyone else, he would not have joined the Demon Slayer Corps.

Perhaps because he had a rough life in the city since he was young, he is the most sensible among Tanjirou's group. Inosuke has no common sense because he lived in the wild from the beginning [19], and Tanjirou is not as bad as Inosuke, but he has only lived in the countryside, so he is not familiar with urban civilization. So, when he saw the train for the first time (he actually rode it), Inosuke thought it was a giant monster, and Tanjirou thought it was the guardian deity of the land, while he looked at them with disdain and rebuked them as country bumpkins.

When he faints during a fight, he moves unconsciously, which is never a disadvantage in battle. In the story, it is publicly stated that he is a man who becomes stronger when he falls asleep. Usually, he is in a state of constant tension due to his glass-like mentality, so he cannot exert his full potential at all, but when he is driven to the extreme, he falls asleep as if he has fainted. At this time, his fearful personality disappears and he becomes the true self that he wants to be, brave, strong, and saving others, although there is a limit. In this way, he calmly shows the dignity of slicing around with only 'Thunderclap and Flash'.

After meeting Tanjirou and going through incidents together, he showed a growing appearance that he trembled but did not faint, even if he was afraid. Comparing his first appearance and his current appearance, you can see that he has changed a lot.

He also accepts advice from others well. When his master gave him the teaching that if he is good at even one thing, he should hone it, or when Tanjirou told him that if he keeps acting like a spoiled child, Nezuko will see him as a younger brother, not a lover, and that he will no longer be able to show a cool appearance as a swordsman, so he should fix his daily life, he accepted this well and showed an effort to improve.

Because he has hardly received proper affection, he is very weak to compliments. Even if he is not in a good mood, if you praise him a little, he will immediately feel better and become happy. In particular, he has a strong desire to help others, so he likes compliments such as being kind or being helpful the most. Even if he whines that it is difficult, if he receives encouragement that he can do it, he uses it as a driving force and does it until the end.[20] However, he thinks he is weak, so he rather dislikes being praised for being strong.

He is often underestimated because of his cowardly nature, but Zenitsu is also one of the most talented Demon Slayers. When he falls asleep, he does not feel fear, so his judgment improves and he shows a different level of combat power than usual. So much so that even Inosuke said in the Entertainment District arc that he should just keep sleeping. He even made correct judgments and led the way, and Inosuke could not hide his surprise, saying that his senses were good. He can only use one technique, but he can use any applied technique with just that, so it is not a disadvantage. [2][3] Later, it was revealed that he was one of only two Thunder Breathing Tsuguko.[4] His talent is guaranteed.

He completed the constant Total Concentration Breathing (Total Concentration Breathing - Constant) in 9 days along with Tanjirou and Inosuke, which is the first step towards mastering it. It is a high-level passive skill that allows you to use Total Concentration Breathing even in normal times, which other Demon Slayers could not even imagine. When Shinobu Kocho encouraged him, saying that she supported him more than anyone else, he made an effort to do it, even though it was forced.

The reason why Zenitsu becomes stronger when he falls asleep is because he unconsciously wants to become the person he wants to be. Zenitsu also hates himself for being weak and whining all the time, and he wants to change. The ideal version of himself that his grandfather (master) trained him to be, strong, helping and protecting others, awakens when he falls asleep. In other words, you can see that he is using somnambulism as a kind of adrenaline-like doping method.

As revealed in the above items, his hearing is quite good, so he can hear things that others cannot hear. He has had experiences of being treated as a bad guy because he can hear people talking even when he is sleeping, and he can even know people's minds by reading the sound of their heartbeat, the sound of blood flowing, and the sound of breathing. Like Tanjirou, who distinguishes demons by smell, he can also distinguish people and demons by sound. He even seems to be able to tell whether they are Upper Moons or Lower Moons. However, it seems difficult to know as accurately as Tanjirou. About Shinobu, he only felt that the sound he heard was unfamiliar and irregular, so he was scared.

He has such good ears, but he cannot understand Jaktaro's words, which Tanjirou understands by smell. Looking at this, it seems that he is not good at listening to and interpreting the sounds of animals.

It is not explained in the story, so it ends as a guess, but the reason why Zenitsu can fight even when he faints is probably because of Zenitsu's excellent hearing. Even if he can fight unconsciously, it would be different to avoid the enemy's position or terrain with his eyes closed, so he identifies the enemy's position or the position of the terrain through hearing and moves.

He is not just good at hearing, but also has perfect pitch, so he is well versed in music. However, the emotions he puts into his music are very impure, so apart from his excellent playing ability, he makes the listener feel uncomfortable. It is mentioned that it is full of resentment and resentment towards the man who sold him out. In the anime, it is mentioned that he can play any instrument, whether it is a shamisen or a koto, once he hears it. He makes the 'shiiiiiiii' breathing sound that he uses when he performs the Breath of Thunder and even emits sparks while playing at a fast tempo, showing how deep his resentment was (...).

Breath of Thunder: One of the five basic lineages of Total Concentration Breathing. The Breath of Thunder originally has six forms, but Zenitsu can only use the first form, Thunderclap and Flash. Instead, to compensate for this deficiency, he has honed it to the limit, and its strength and skill are on a different level. All the demons who have been defeated by Zenitsu realize that they have been cut only after their heads have completely fallen off. And he also uses it in rapid succession based on his high level of skill.

Due to the nature of the Breath of Thunder, the first form is the basic and core, and the remaining forms are mostly used for checking and attacking in combination. In other words, whether you can properly use the first form or not can evaluate your level as a Thunder Breath swordsman, and because of this aspect, some readers argue that Zenitsu is better than Kaigaku.

First Form: Thunderclap and Flash: A very powerful and fast Iaidō technique. In the above Iaidō stance, he waits for a moment, then dashes forward at lightning speed and slashes horizontally. It is the basic form of all forms of the Breath of Thunder, and it is characterized by slashing with Iaidō and then quickly sheathing the sword. By the way, following the master's words that he should be faithful to the basics from the old days, he continues to hone and use only this 1st form.

Thunderclap and Flash Sixfold: A technique that uses Thunderclap and Flash six times in a row. When used, it is covered with a force that shakes the air and is accompanied by a roar like lightning.

Nichirin Blade: As a user of the Breath of Thunder, it is yellow and has lightning patterns on the blade. Seeing that Kaigaku also has a Nichirin Blade with the same design and shape but with a different color, it seems that he received it from his master along with Kaigaku before entering the Demon Slayer Corps. Since he only uses Thunderclap and Flash, an Iaidō technique that kills demons in one blow, you only see him showing the blade halfway out just before the battle, so there is hardly any chance to see it in detail.