The Absolute Saddest Deaths In Demon Slayer, Ranked

Highlights

• Most of Demon Slayer’s tragic deaths are caused by literal Demons who eat humans, leading to emotional moments.
• Characters like the Kamado family and Sabito & Makomo have early tragic deaths, setting the tone for the series.
• Major characters like Gyomei Himejima and Tamayo also face heartbreaking deaths, adding depth to the story.

Demon Slayer, one of the most popular manga and anime series in recent history, has a whole lot of tragedy packed within its story. This setting is infested with literal Demons who eat humans for food, so of course, there are going to be a lot of tragic deaths over the course of that tale.

And, with how large the cast around Tanjiro Kamado eventually becomes, it becomes hard to figure out which characters have their days numbered or not. So, let’s go through some of the most tear-jerking deaths in Demon Slayer, what makes them so sad, and what caused these heroes to lose their lives in the first place.

Updated April 3rd, 2024 by Jacob Buchalter: Anime enthusiasts have truly been blessed in recent years. Just this season (Winter 2024, at the time of writing this) anime lovers have been blessed with shows like Freiren: Beyond Journey’s End, Delicious in Dungeon, and even The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic. However, one of the anime adaptations that brought a huge new surge of people into the anime scene was Demon Slayer. And, the anime still has quite a while to go with its adaptation (with the next season starting May 12th, 2024). With that in mind, for those who know what happens, let’s take a look back and talk about some of the absolute saddest deaths in this series, because anime viewers need to start getting prepared for heartbreak.

Disclaimer: Heavy spoilers for any and all character deaths in the Demon Slayer anime and manga are below. Read at your own risk.

11 The Kamado Family

The Tragic Deaths That Started it All

People don’t really think about it after the first couple of episodes, but Demon Slayer’s whole plotline started from a series of tragic deaths. Tanjiro only becomes a Demon Slayer to protect and cure his sister, Nezuko, after Muzan kills their entire family and turns her into a Demon. And, from all the flashbacks and moments where readers/viewers get to see Tanjiro’s father, mother, and siblings, they’re all such likable characters.

So, why is such a loving family that was cut down before their time so low in these rankings? Well, simply because the audience didn’t get to spend a lot of time with them outside of the Sun Breathing-related flashbacks of Tanjiro.

10 Sabito & Makomo

Finding Out About These Deaths Still Hit Pretty Hard, Despite Their Lack of Screentime

These next two deaths are discovered not long after the deaths of the Kamado family, as Sabito and Makomo are two of Sakonji Urokodaki’s previous students, with Sabito actually being trained alongside Giyu.

As it turns out, Sabito died during his Final Section Test to a Hand Cemon, a powerful monster who specifically would go after those trained by Urokodaki, such as Makomo and Sabito. Thankfully, Tanjiro manages to slay this horrifying demon, thereby freeing both Sabito and Makomo from their unfinished grievances and allowing them to pass on to the next life. Still, the sheer fact that Urokodaki and Giyu lost their friends and children like this is heart-wrenching.

9 Gyomei Himejima

The Stone Hashira Finally Gets The Apologies He So Deserves

At first, Gyomei Himejima seems like he’s going to be a one-dimensional character, going for that whole ‘always praying, always crying monk’ vibe. And, while he does fall into that category a lot, there’s a lot more to this guy than meets the eye. Not only is he one of the strongest Pillars with his Stone Breathing techniques, but the guy has an incredibly tragic backstory that connects him to one of the most twisted Demons, Kaigaku.

Thankfully, when Gyomei does tragically pass while fighting Muzan, he finally sees the children from the monastery again and they apologize profusely to him for falsely accusing him.

8 Tamayo

A Demon Who Truly Redeemed Herself

Tamayo is one of the sweetest characters throughout the entirety of Demon Slayer. She takes care and treats humans without a word of thanks and is one of the only Demons that seem remorseful of their actions and is trying to atone. But, underneath that kind and almost “motherly” outer personality is a white-hot hatred for the long-lived Muzan, and it’s what actually drives her forward. Finally, after the Ubayashikis manage to wound Muzan in a suicidal attack, Tamayo is able to restrain him and inject her “Anti-Demon Drug” which has a variety of effects, including turning Demons back into humans.

Of course, due to Muzan’s absurd power, it doesn’t immediately work and he sadly kills Tamayo right after, but Tamayo’s plans accounted for this. Still, to have such a nice character completely sacrifice herself just to give a better chance of defeating Muzan (despite her villainous past) is really tragic.

7 Jigoro Kuwajima

The Previous Thunder Hashira & Zenitsu’s Mentor

Jigoro Kuwajima, the previous Thunder Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, is such a loveable character. He’s the one who mentored Zenitsu, who is undoubtedly one of the most disliked main characters by the audience. But, in comparison to Zenitsu, Jigoro is such a charismatic and gentle (mostly) old man. He loved Zenitsu like his own grandson, put up with his absurd cowardice, and was constantly helping others.

But, his death was anything but sweet, as the poor man forced himself to commit Seppuku as a way of “atoning” after his other protege, Kaigaku, defected and became a Demon. And, because no one else was there beside him to cut his head off (which was customary for those committing Seppuku), Jigoro bled out slowly and went through a lot of unnecessary pain. And just to remind Demon Slayer fans, Kaigaku is also the one who led the Demon to Himejima’s monastery as well, effectively ruining the lives of two different pillars.

6 The Ubayashiki Family

Well, the Majority of Them, to Be Precise

The Infinity Castle Arc and the Sunrise Countdown Arc are the two primary parts of Demon Slayer where a lot of the cast meets their tragic end in this frantic and desperate race to sunrise. These two arcs encompass the final confrontation against the “Demon King” Muzan after all, and it starts off with a bang.

To be more precise, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the head of the Demon Slayers, baits Muzan into sneaking into his home to kill him. But, this was all an act, and Muzan had actually fallen for his suicidal trap. Ubuyashiki, after saying what he wanted to say, then blows up his estate, killing himself, his wife, and his two oldest daughters, all of whom were acting, perfectly by the way, as if they weren’t about to meet their deaths.

While this doesn’t kill Muzan, the initial damage and shock from this attack are what allows Tamayo to inject him with her Anti-Demon serum, which is a major part of what eventually leads to his end. But, up until this point, Ubuyashiki was always seen as one of the kindest more ‘pure’ characters in the whole series, literally convincing people to join his cause with just a few words. So, to see him so vindictive, hateful, and destructive right up until the moment of his demise is so shocking.

5 Mitsuri Kanroji & Obanai Iguro

The Love Hashira & Serpent Hashira are Listed Together For a Reason

Hopefully, there aren’t any anime-only fans reading this entry, as Mitsuri Kanroji only just appeared in the anime again, but yes, she does tragically die alongside most of the other Pillars. Mitsuri Kanroji and Obanai Iguro were two more Pillars of the Demon Slayer Corps. More specifically, they were the Love Pillar and Serpent Pillar, and they were close friends. But, both of them only realize (or accept) their true love for each other in their final battle against Muzan during the Sunrise Countdown Arc, which is the height of tragedy.

Both Obanai and Mitsuri give their all in this battle with their Flower Breathing and Serpent Breathing techniques to heavily contribute in killing the evil existence that was Muzan. But, as a result, they both also die, unable to spend any time with the one whom they now realize they love.

As such, before they pass, they swear to find each other in their next lives. And, in the epilogue of Demon Slayer (which takes place years later), there is an adorable married couple running a diner that looks just like them.

4 Shinobu Kocho

The Insect Hashira Has Such A Sudden & Wrath-Filled Death

Shinobu Kocho, the Insect Pillar of the Demon Slayer Corps, is another character who hides their true emotions beneath a mask. Like Tamayo, Shinobu is warm and kind on the outside but is constantly burning with anger and hatred toward Demons. Tanjiro is the first to notice this, and during her battle with Doma, the terrifying Upper Moon Two, Shinobu expresses her true self again.

Ultimately, she does fall to Doma, who actually absorbs her into himself. But, before being completely absorbed, Shinobu manages to use hand signals to tell her disciple, Kanao, how exactly Doma fights and what to watch out for.

Additionally, Shinobu had also been working with Tamayo so that she could slowly and safely ingest Wisteria Flower poison over the last year, meaning that Doma had just absorbed over seven hundred times the lethal dose of Wisteria. This genius-level spite-filled move is what ultimately led to Doma dying, but Shinobu having to die to achieve this still hurts.

3 Genya Shinazugawa

Everyone Expected Sanemi to Be the One to Die

Genya Shinazugawa is one of those characters in Demon Slayer that readers/viewers tend to not even realize they like until it’s too late. When he first appears, Genya is a bully and a jerk to everyone around him. But, through the constant pestering of Tanjiro’s kindness, Genya becomes a bit more bearable. The majority of this ‘warming up’ to Tanjiro occurs over the course of the events in the Swordsmith Village Arc. And, once fans find out about his past with his brother, Sanemi, Genya is an even more tragic character.

But, this is also exactly the reason his death hurts so much. Not only does Genya contribute heavily to Kokushibo’s, the number one Upper Moon, death, but he does so without using any Breathing Style. That said, after taking Kokushibo by surprise, Genya dies and literally fades to ash in front of his brother’s eyes. Most Demon Slayer fans had thought that, out of the two brothers, Sanemi would die before Genya would, and the fact that it was the opposite made things pretty rough emotionally.

2 Akaza

As a Human He Was Haku, as a Demon He Was the Third Upper Moon

This might seem like a truly off-the-wall inclusion, considering Akaza is the Third Upper Moon and the actual Demon who killed the Flame Pillar, Rengoku, in the Mugen Train movie.

But, like many Demons, Akaza came from a truly tragic life and was simply taken advantage of by Muzan. This isn’t to say that Akaza was blameless, the guy was a murderer even as a human. But, in his final moments just before managing to re-grow his head (which shouldn’t be possible), Akaza decides to pass on instead. It’s a tragic death overall because this boy had so much potential and was one of the more interesting Demons in the series overall.

1 Kyojuro Rengoku

The Flame Hashira Had The Most Valiant Death

And finally, let’s get to the number one saddest death in the franchise, and of course, that’s the death of the brightly burning Flame-Breathing user that is Kyojuro Rengoku. Not only is this likely one of the more popular characters in the series, thanks to the success of the Mugen Train movie, but his death will probably still remain the most tragic event even when the anime eventually ends.

The sheer spectacle of the anime and the movie added so much to Kyojuro as a character through his dreams that it made his death that much more depressing. Originally, while sad, his death didn’t hit quite as hard in the manga, simply because it was a picture on a page, with no movement, sound, or anything else added to it. But now that this moment has been gorgeously recreated in a full-budget movie, it hits so much harder. Especially since, after everything is said and done, Akaza is a difficult character to ‘hate’.