The 15 Saddest Backstories in 'Demon Slayer,' Ranked

If there's one thing that Demon Slayer is known for, it's tragic backstories. Both the villains and the heroes have been through some serious trauma. But who has the saddest backstory in Demon Slayer? That's a matter of opinion, but there are some pretty strong contenders.

Did you cry when you learned about Gyutaro and Daki's miserable, impoverished childhoods? Or were you moved by Kanao's abusive upbringing? Or what about Tanjiro and Nezuko's story, which led them to become Demon Slayers in the first place? No matter what you choose, they're all devastating.

Keep in mind that some of the most tragic Demon Slayer characters haven't had their backstories explained in the anime yet. So if you see a name and you don't already know the story, you might want to skip that section.

1. Gyutaro & Daki

As humans, Gyutaro and Daki grew up in abject poverty and had to resort to some seriously shady business to survive. At birth, Gyutaro was considered extremely ugly. His mother hated him and frequently beat him, and his neighbors weren't any better. He almost never had anything to eat and sometimes resorted to eating bugs and rats.

When his sister - then named Ume - was born, things changed. Ume was beautiful, and in their world, beauty was lucrative. As she got older, she could begin doing sex work, with Gyutaro collecting her money. But she hated the way she was treated and ended up stabbing a client in the eye. As punishment, she was set on fire. Gyutaro ended up destroying the people involved, then trying desperately to find someone who could help his sister. Sadly for them, instead of medical help, they found Doma, who turned them into demons.

2. Sanemi & Genya Shinazugawa

Sanemi and Genya grew up in a large family with an abusive father and a mother who tried desperately to protect her children. Things looked like they might turn around when an unknown villager stabbed their dad, and he perished - but there was still the problem of income. Their mother had to work long hours outside of the house, so Sanemi and Genya made up their minds to protect their siblings in her absence.

One night, it was much later than usual, and she hadn't come home yet. While worrying about her, a mysterious figure appeared and began attacking everyone in sight. All of the children except for Genya and Sanemi perished.

Sanemi ended the assailant's life and saved Genya, but it turned out that the assailant was actually their mother, who had been turned into a demon. Not understanding what was going on, Genya accused Sanemi of being a murderer. The siblings' relationship was never quite the same after that.

3. Muichiro Tokito

When Muichiro was a child, he lost both parents in rapid succession. His mother passed away from bronchitis. His father left during a storm to buy some medicine for her, and ended up falling off a cliff. Muichiro and his twin brother Yuichiro were left alone. Yuichiro immediately turned cold and practical, keeping them both alive but ruining their relationship.

During this time, Amane Ubuyashiki was trying to recruit them to the Demon Slayers because of their heritage, but Yuichiro did not trust her offer and refused, much to Muichiro’s dismay.

Ultimately, their fragile peace is interrupted by a demon attack. Yuichiro passes away, and Muichiro nearly does before he’s rescued by the Ubuyashiki family. It’s only after his brother is gone that Muichiro understands how hard Yuichiro worked to protect him.

Since Muichiro managed to fight off the demon and has no other prospects, he accepts the offer. Not long afterward, he loses his memories and adopts his brother’s stoic behavior.

4. Obanai Iguro

Obanai hailed from a family of thieves that worshipped a snakelike demon. Not only that, but they fed her human children as sacrifices in exchange for wealth and prosperity. Because of his heterochromia and the fact that he was the only boy born into the family for 370 years, the demon was particularly interested in him.

His parents locked him in a cell for the first twelve years of his life, feeding him rich food to make him tastier for the demon, who planned to eat him eventually. When he was twelve, he finally got to see the demon up close. She said that she wouldn't eat him yet, but insisted on having his mouth cut to look like hers.

After that, he tried to escape and finally succeeded… but as a result, the demon annihilated nearly everyone in his family. The only other survivor was a cousin, but she blamed him for what happened.

5. Akaza

Before he became a demon, Akaza lost everything - not once, but twice. The first loss came when his father took his own life because Akaza - then named Hakuji - was arrested for stealing medicine that his dad needed to live.

He eventually found a new home in a dojo. There, he mastered martial arts and took charge of caring for the dojo master's sickly daughter Koyuki. He worked his way up to marrying Koyuki and becoming the dojo master's successor.

Sadly, this wouldn't last either. A rival dojo poisoned the water from the dojo's well, ending his master and his future bride. Furious, Akaza went on a rampage and killed all 67 members of the rival dojo. This got Muzan's attention and led to his becoming a demon.

6. Kanao Tsuyuri

Many of the characters in Demon Slayer lost loving families, but that’s not the case for Kanao. Her parents repeatedly beat and even tried to drown Kanao and her siblings as punishment for the most mild of misbehaviors. She once woke up to find that a few of her brothers had passed away from the severity of the beatings they’d received.

Things got even worse when her parents got sick of her and decided to sell her into slavery. The trauma she suffered caused her to stop speaking. She also feared punishment for every action to the point where she couldn’t make decisions on her own. Though she was ultimately rescued by Kanae and Shinobu, it would be a long time before she was able to fully heal.

7. Tanjiro & Nezuko Kamado

Tanjiro and Nezuko’s painful backstory is the backbone of the series. Life isn’t easy from the jump: they live in poverty and their father passed away early on from an illness. But things soon get much worse.

After their entire family is slain by a demon, Tanjiro and Nezuko are the only survivors. Because Tanjiro was away when it happened, he’s physically unharmed. Nezuko survived the attack, but she was transformed into a demon.

So not only did they have to deal with losing their family, they also had to quickly adjust to a new and frightening reality.

8. Giyu Tomioka

Most people who lose their families to demons don't have to prove what happened - they're believed. But when Giyu's sister Tsutako sacrifices herself to save him from a demon, everyone he tries to tell assumes he has a mental illness. He's sent away to stay with a relative who is also a doctor. He ran away during the trip and nearly perished on a mountain. Luckily, he was rescued by Sakonji Urokodaki, who trained him to take the Final Selection Exam.

During the exam, Giyu was injured and rescued by his friend Sabito. Sabito ended up passing away during the exam, but not before taking out nearly every demon in the area. As a result, Giyu felt like he was only Sakonji Urokodaki's successor by default, and not because he actually deserved it.

9. Yoriichi Tsugikuni

When Yoriichi was born, twins were considered a bad omen, and his birthmark was even worse. His father wanted to end his life, but his mother insisted on sparing him. They compromised, and decided Yoriichi would go be a monk at ten years old. He was treated much differently from his brother Michikatsu. He was given inferior food, lesser education, and worse living conditions overall. For these reasons, he didn't speak until he was seven.

Once he started speaking, he proved to be superior to Michikatsu in just about every way. He was a far superior fighter, having basically invented Breathing Styles by intuition, and he was also much more intuitive about other people's needs.

When their mother passed away from illness, Yoriichi ran away, claiming that he'd be going to the temple. He left before his father could take him because he knew his dad had changed his mind and was planning on taking Michikatsu instead.

Things got worse after that. He met a woman and fell in love with her, but just before she gave birth to their child, both she and the unborn baby were slain by a demon. This is what led Yoriichi to enter the Demon Slayer Corps and perfect his Breathing Styles. But even that wouldn't last long. His brother, who also joined the Corps, ended up becoming a demon and annihilating multiple people, leading to Yoriichi nearly being executed but instead just banished.

10. Tamayo

When Tamayo was 19 years old, she developed a life-threatening illness. While seeking treatment, she encountered Muzan Kibutsuji. He offered to treat her illness, and she accepted. While he did get rid of her disease, he also transformed her into a demon and let her run rampant. With no control over her behavior in her new demon form, she ended up annihilating her husband and children.

At some point, she pulled herself out of her misery enough to try and claim Muzan's life. But the power difference was too vast, and instead of destroying him, she ended up becoming his servant. It was only when Yoriichi Tsugikuni did enough damage to Muzan to force him to flee that she was able to escape.

11. Shinobu & Kanae Kocho

After watching every member of her family except for her older sister Kanae be eaten by demons, Shinobu is devastated and furious. Still, she thinks she can go on because her sister is still with her, and the two of them plan to work hard and become Demon Slayers so that they can protect each other and prevent anyone else from experiencing the same pain they did.

Sadly, they wouldn’t be together for long. When Kanae was 17 and Shinobu was 14, they had an encounter with Doma that ended in Kanae’s demise. As she passes away in Shinobu’s arms, Kanae tries to convince her sister to quit the Demon Slayers and go live a normal life. Shinobu can’t do that, because she’s burning with the desire for revenge.

12. Gyomei Himejima

Just losing your parents would be bad enough, but things get much worse for Gyomei from there. He starts living at a temple with a group of younger children who he devotes himself to caring for and thinks of as his family. In order to stay safe from demon attacks, he burns wisteria incense and warns the kids never to leave the temple.

One child not only leaves but also gets attacked by demons. The child leads the demons to the temple in the hopes of saving his own life. There, Gyomei tries desperately to save the kids, but only one of them will actually listen to him - because he's blind, they don't trust him to understand what to do. He does manage to save one little girl, but she accidentally gets him thrown in jail when other people confuse her description of the demon with a description of Gyomei. He was eventually set free by Kagaya Ubuyashiki and taken to train as a Demon Slayer, but man was that a rough road beforehand.

13. Tengen Uzui

Tengen was born into the Uzui clan, a group of ninjas who use training methods that make the Zoldyck Family in Hunter x Hunter look gentle. Not only do Tengen and his siblings have to endure punishing routines, but they're also forced to end each other's lives. Tengen first realizes this when he and his siblings are told to fight one another - but because they're all wearing bags over their heads, none of them are aware that they're doing that. Tengen ends more than one sibling before he realizes the truth.

After one of his few remaining brothers starts to swallow his family's ideology, Tengen decides to leave alongside his three wives. Though he feels guilty for deserting his clan, he ultimately feels that he made the right decision.

14. Rui

As a human, Rui suffered from an unnamed chronic illness that left him without the energy to do things like walk and speak. Muzan Kibutsuji, whose own backstory also involves severe illness, offered to give him a stronger body. This meant turning into a demon and dealing with the resulting desire to consume human flesh. After trying to resist for a while, he ends a human life.

His parents love him, which is why they can't allow him to fully turn into a monster. For this reason, his father makes an attempt on his life. Rui can't understand why his parents would try to hurt him and decides that they must not really love him after all, so he ends their lives. But he soon learns that they actually love him so much that they were willing to take their own lives after taking his in order to save him.

The swirl of emotions this situation left him with is what caused him to create the Spider Family. It would take losing to Tanjiro and Nezuko and seeing their genuine sibling bond for him to see where he went wrong.

15. Inosuke Hashibira

Inosuke may seem like a totally comedic character, but he actually has a pretty devastating backstory. When he was a baby, his mother fled her abusive husband with Inosuke in tow. She soon found refuge at the Paradise Faith cult, but that didn't last long. When she learned that Doma, the leader of the cult, was actually devouring followers, she tried to escape with her son.

Naturally, Doma tried to stop her. Inosuke's mother eventually found herself at the edge of a cliff. She threw her son off it in the hopes that he would somehow survive before being eaten by Doma. Inosuke was eventually found by wild boars and raised as one of them.

Conclusion:

The world of Demon Slayer is filled with heartbreaking backstories that highlight the resilience and pain of its characters. From the traumatic pasts of Gyutaro and Daki to the tragic losses experienced by Tanjiro and Nezuko, each story leaves a lasting impact on the reader's heart.

These backstories serve as a reminder that the path of a Demon Slayer is not one of mere glory and triumph. It is paved with tears, loss, and the struggle to find meaning in the face of adversity. The characters' journeys from darkness to light make their triumphs all the more meaningful, and their resilience in the face of despair is an inspiration.

While each character's story is unique and tragic in its own way, it is their shared pain and the bonds they form with one another that make Demon Slayer a truly unforgettable and emotional journey.

FAQs:

1. Are all the backstories in Demon Slayer equally sad?

   No, the sadness of each backstory varies, and it depends on the individual's perspective and emotional connection to the characters.

2. Which character's backstory is the most heart-wrenching?

   This is subjective and may differ from person to person. Some may find Gyutaro and Daki's poverty-stricken childhoods deeply moving, while others may resonate more with Tanjiro and Nezuko's devastating loss of their family.

3. Are there any backstories that haven't been revealed in the anime?

   Yes, there are some characters whose backstories have not been explored in the anime yet, leaving room for future revelations and emotional storytelling.

4. Do all the characters with tragic backstories become villains?

   Not all characters with tragic pasts become villains. Some, like Tanjiro and his allies, channel their pain into becoming Demon Slayers and fighting against evil.

5. How do these tragic backstories impact the plot of Demon Slayer?

   These backstories play a crucial role in shaping the characters' motivations, actions, and personal growth. They add depth to the narrative and evoke empathy from the audience.

In conclusion, the world of Demon Slayer is one filled with heartbreaking backstories that tug at the heartstrings of its readers. Each character's journey from despair to strength is a testament to the power of resilience and the enduring human spirit. As we delve deeper into the lives of these tragic characters, we can't help but be moved by their stories of pain, loss, and eventual redemption. Through the shared experiences of these characters, Demon Slayer delivers a poignant and emotionally resonant narrative that continues to captivate fans worldwide.