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Good evil institutions are the backbone of a goodshonen anime. They’re an incrediblypopular tropeand are practically everywhere, from the Arrancar inBleachand the Akatsuki inNarutoto the League of Villains inMy Hero Academiaand the Marines inOne Piece. So, it’s no surprise that the Twelve Kizuki inDemon Slayerare as popular as they have become.
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The main villains featured in the fourth season are two of the Twelve Kizuki, i.e., theUpper-Rank Five Demon, Gyokko, and theUpper-Rank Four Demon, Hantengu. While Gyokko is fightingthe Mist Hashira, Hantengu takes the stage against the main character, Tanjiro, showing extremely unique and interesting powers that have fans on the edge of their seats.
Demon Slayer
The Personality Of The Nervous Demon
Making his first appearance at the start of the season in the meeting called by Muzan, Hantengu showed a verynervous and twitchypersonality from the start. Keeping track of the exact amount of time passed between meetings, he hesitates to even lift his head off the ground at the best of times and does his best to make himself as small as possible at others.
Hantengu has some form of mental disorder that gives him different personalities that come out at different times. Though in Hantengu’s case, this coming out is more literal than metaphorical. He can make clones of himself that take on these identities and act in his stead, doing their best to protect him.
Hantengu’s Human Past
Even as a human, Hantenguwasn’t very stable. After committing a multitude of crimes, he pretended to be blind and blamed his hands, separately from the rest of his body, rather than own up to his mistakes. This showed hisunstable mental stateeven back then.
According to the 2nd Demon Slayer Fanbook, Hantengu was even more twisted than his initial backstory suggested. He lied about his name and age, so much so that he himself forgot them. He married and had children many times in his life but ended up killing them all in the end because of perceived mistreatment.
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He was sentenced to death for his crimes, at which point he was approached by Muzan, who decided to turn him into a demon. Now, even as a demon, he refuses to see the sins he commits andconsiders himself innocentand free of blame, even after killing and eating hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
Hantengu’s Power And Abilities
Cloning/Emotional Manifestation
Hantengu’s unique blood demon artlets himmake clones of himselfthat split apart to make even more clones, for a total of four different types of clones, each havingdifferent personalities and abilities. These clones can make more clones when they are split apart. But the new clones will be less powerful than the original clone, leading to diminishing returns.
Even if these clones get decapitated, they can easily regenerate, though it does take a few seconds for them to get back to full functionality. This makes them formidable opponents, even seasoned demon slayers like Tanjiro and Genya struggling to last long against them. The only way to defeat Hantengu is to deal with the main body.
Size Alteration
Hantengu doesn’t like to fight. He has optimized his fighting style such that his main body has as little to do as possible. One of these optimizations has to do with his size.
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When he thinks he is being threatened, Hantengu will reduce his size all the way down to the size of a mouse. This makes it hard to get into the proper stance to deal significant damage to him and also makes it hard to find him in the first place. According to Genya, it’s like playing a game of cat and mouse.
Enhanced Durability, Reflexes, And Speed
It’s worth noting that Hantengu’s neck is also incredibly hard, to the point whereGenya’s blade snaps in twowhen he tries to decapitate him. Even Tanjiro using Nezuko’s burning blood alongside the Sun Breathing technique, is unable to cut through in a single stroke.
Furthermore, Hantengu’s speed and reflexes are top-notch. He was able to dodge a strike from the Mist Hashira with ease and appear in a different part of the room before any of them had a chance to blink.
Stealth Capability
One of the biggest boons of Hantengu is his ability to hide in plain sight. He made use of this ability when he first found the Swordsmith village, entering it without alerting any of the guards. Even when first approaching Tanjiro and Muichiro, Hantengu walks up, or crawls up, in his case, to their room and opens the door.
At first, even Tanjiro, who’s well known for his ability to smell demons, isn’t alarmed and almost dismisses the pathetic-looking demon as inconsequential before realizing his mistake. Similarly, the Mist Hashira takes a few seconds before he grabs his sword and attacks Hantengu.
During fights, his prowess with stealth ties into the rest of his battle strategy. The main body of Hantegu becomes incredibly small and goes far away from the main battlefield, where he hides until the battle is over. Even Tanjiro had a hard time finding the elusive demon during the fight.
