Who is Muzan Kibutsuji?
Muzan Kibutsuji is Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s main antagonist. He is the first Demon King, as well as the progenitor of all other Demons.
Muzan Kibutsuji was turned into a Demon millennia ago while attempting to cure his own terminal illness, and his goal has been to live without fear of death and achieve true immortality ever since. He attempts to do so by overcoming his weakness to sunlight, which he is currently attempting to do in one of two ways: by finding the Blue Spider Lily or by creating more Demons in the hopes that one day one of them will be able to overcome their weakness to sunlight.
Muzan is also responsible for the slaughter of the Kamado family and the transformation of Nezuko Kamado into a Demon.
Voice Actor of Muzan Kibutsuji?
In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Greg Chun provides the English dub voice for Muzan Kibutsuji, while Toshihiko Seki provides the Japanese voice.
Appearance
Muzan has the physical appearance of a late-twenties man, with unnaturally pale skin that can be mistaken for unhealthy and sickly, curly black hair, and sharp, almond-shaped eyes. His pupils are plum red and vertical, like cat eyes. His hands also have razor-sharp blue nails.
Muzan made his first appearance wearing a white fedora with a red ribbon and a rather ostentatious outfit. An embroidered black tuxedo with a white tie was worn over a black dress shirt and white dress pants. He was also dressed in black loafers.
Muzan has the ability to change his form and appearance. He arrived disguised as an elegant woman wearing a long black yukata during his meeting with the Lower Ranks, causing the Lower Ranks not to recognize him at first.
Later, he assumed the form of a young child aged 10 to 11 years old with pale, white skin and black, silky smooth, neatly combed black hair, transforming himself into his latest cover identity – the adopted sickly son of an elderly couple. In this disguise, he wears a plain white button-up shirt and black cargo shorts with long tube socks and loafers as his main outfit.
The Demon King had a slightly different hairstyle and outfit in the past than he did in his first appearance, as seen in Rui’s flashbacks of meeting Muzan. Muzan’s hair was straighter and parted down the middle when he met Rui. He also wore a tuxedo that was too big for him and a white half-cloak over it.
Personality
Muzan is cold-hearted, ruthless, and incredibly smart. He sees no value in any human he has met, and he has little regard for his own subordinates. He is rarely seen upset or happy, and on most occasions, he appears completely monotone and detached, even when he murders his own subordinates.
Only when his vision of perfection is moving forward or when his subordinates completely submit to his will does he show emotion. His facial features are exaggerated to show that he is more expressive in the manga, especially when he is enraged (possibly as a way to display his normally unreadable emotions).
His expressions change slightly in the anime, and his voice tone is nearly constant throughout, emphasizing his monotonous demeanor.
Muzan’s most defining characteristics are extreme narcissism, pettiness, and an obsession with becoming the perfect person. His extreme egocentrism is almost expected, given that he has had nearly 1000 years to live and observe, with few real challenges. He is almost unconcerned about almost anything except his inability to walk in the sun, which is his primary motivation.
Because of his long life and obsessions, he expects every plan he devises to be flawless, and his god complex prevents him from seeing his own failures. Because he believes he is the closest thing to a perfect being, he has no tolerance for failure, and he punishes those who fail him or whom he considers weak, even if the failures are minor.
Abilities and Power
Muzan is the strongest Demon in existence and the progenitor of all Demons, easily holding his own against five Hashira and Tanjiro, Inosuke, Zenitsu, and Kanao at the same time. He can later use his poison to put Tanjiro near death in a single attack, and he would have nearly killed Mitsuri, an incredibly powerful Hashira, if she hadn’t been rescued by fellow Demon Slayers.
If it hadn’t been for Chachamaru’s antidotes, Gyomei, Giyu, Sanemi, and Obanai would have died from his poison. Muzan manifested leg whips after about 30 minutes of fighting the Hashira, which increased his attack speed exponentially to the point where he instantly defeated the exhausted Demon Slayers.
Muzan, on the other hand, is gradually becoming slower as a result of Tamayo’s aging medicine, which has been affecting him throughout the battle. Despite this, he was able to easily defeat the Slayers and maintain an advantage over Tanjiro, who mastered Sun Breathing, in their fight.
Immense Strength: Muzan’s physical strength is greater than the combined physical strength of all Demons in existence. He had enough physical strength to destroy entire buildings, create massive craters in the ground, and effortlessly lift the debris of buildings on top of him despite being severely weakened by the Anti-Kibutsuji Drug.
He could crush vehicles in his infant form and could only be held down by the combined efforts of Gyomei Himejima, the Hashira with the greatest physical strength, and dozens of other Demon Slayers, who still struggled to keep him still.
Immense Speed & Reflexes: Muzan has incredible speed and reflexes, making him one of, if not the, fastest characters in the series. He is faster than all of them because he is the source of all the speed enhancements Demons have. Even after being weakened by a drug designed to defeat him, he was able to massacre dozens of Demon Slayers in less than a split second during the Infinity Castle Arc.
Muzan’s attacks in the Sunrise Countdown Arc were able to outrun all of the Hashira-level Demon Slayers present, including Zenitsu Agatsuma and Gyomei Himejima, severely injuring them. He’s shown he can evade dozens of attacks at once and move faster than the human eye can see.
Limitless Stamina & Endurance: Muzan, like all Demons, possesses limitless stamina and endurance, allowing him to maintain peak physical and mental condition at all times while also enduring waves of onslaught as if they were nothing. Tamayo, Yushiro, and Shinobu Kocho, on the other hand, were able to create a unique effect in the Anti-Kibutsuji drug that severely reduced his stamina.
Immense Durability: Muzan, like all Demons, possesses incredible physical durability, making him the series’ strongest character. To break through his immense durability, it took the combined efforts of nearly a dozen Hashira-level Demon Slayers and a drug specifically designed to defeat him.
Genius Intellect: Muzan is one of, if not the, smartest characters in the series, thanks to his five brains. He has deduced that in order to achieve true immortality, he must find the Blue Spider Lily, and he has also deduced that he can use his blood’s extraordinary transformative qualities to spread his kind in the hopes that one will eventually overcome their sunlight weakness.
Muzan is also said to be very wise and intelligent, as evidenced by his ability to elude capture by the Demon Slayer Corps for over a millennium by devising clever distractions. He would have annihilated the Demon Slayer Corps and arrived at his goals sooner if not for his petty and cowardly personality.
Tactical Intellect: Muzan has lived over 1000 years and has seen and won hundreds of battles. As a result, he has developed an intellect and mental capabilities that are specifically tuned and refined for combat and battle.
This was best demonstrated during the Sunrise Countdown Arc, when he instinctively knew when and how to unleash his more powerful attacks, as well as when and how to exploit the Demon Slayers’ weaknesses. He has been seen devising ingenious strategies and techniques to combat them.
Demonic Blood: Muzan’s blood, as the Demon King, has powerful transformative properties that, when ingested by a normal human, causes their bodies to transform into a different species known as a Demon. This grants those who absorb even a trace of his blood powerful regenerative abilities, immortality, accelerated growth, increased physical prowess, and even access to unique supernatural abilities known as Blood Demon Art.
Muzan can also empower a Demon by giving more of his blood, enhancing pre-existing abilities, or bestowing entirely new abilities. However, the recipient’s ability to withstand and adapt to a large amount of blood is limited. A human’s body would mutate faster than it could withstand if they drank too much blood from Muzan, causing them to self-destruct into a giant mass of flesh before disintegrating into ash. A Demon would presumably suffer the same fate if they were unable to withstand the blood’s effects, as Muzan implies.
Muzan had learned to weaponize this particular trait of his blood, it was later revealed. By coating his attacks in blood, he could inject his blood into an opponent during combat through the wounds he creates. The dosage would be too much to handle, and it would instead act as a poison, destroying the cells in the human body shortly after they entered.
Telepathy: Muzan’s telepathy allows him to read the thoughts of Demons with whom he has shared his blood by simply looking at them. Later, he was seen communicating with Upper Rank 1, Kokushibo, to check how many Hashira he had defeated and order him to keep them at bay until he recovered from Tamayo’s poison.
Muzan has also claimed to be able to sense the whereabouts of all demons. The further they are from him, however, the more difficult it will be for him to interact with and track them. Muzan can see through the senses of other demons as well. However, Muzan’s ability is limited to what they perceive, so if a Demon’s senses are deceived, Muzan will be unable to tell the difference.
Demon Curse: By sharing his blood, Muzan can put a curse on the Demon he creates. Regardless of the original intent of any Demon he created, the curse activates and destroys them if they even utter or say his name out loud. This was demonstrated by Susamaru, who, despite having no malice or ill intent toward him, said his name accidentally and was still cursed, implying that the curse is automatic. Muzan, on the other hand, can use the curse to his advantage. This was demonstrated when he assassinated Nakime, who had been duped by Yushiro.
As a result, many Demons serve Muzan out of fear and respect, referring to him simply as “that Man” when speaking of him. However, it has been proven that if Muzan is weakened or someone has enough willpower, Demons can break free from the curse, as Tamayo and Nezuko have done.
Demon Manipulation: Muzan can control Demons to a degree, as evidenced by his ability to take control of Nakime’s body in order to force Yushiro’s cells to be absorbed in order to stop his interference when he attempted to usurp control of the Infinity Castle. This ability, however, necessitates a high level of concentration, as Muzan lost control of her the moment he lost focus due to the need to defend himself in the middle of a battle. Other Demons can wrest control from him as well. Muzan can also detonate a Demon from afar by closing his fist and crushing the Demon’s head.
Demon Power Nullification: According to Tamayo, Muzan is the only Demon capable of inflicting life-threatening wounds capable of completely destroying the cells of other Demons without the use of Nichirin Blades or sunlight, making him the only Demon capable of completely nullifying a Demon’s natural regenerative abilities and killing them.
Blood Memory Transfer: Muzan is able to transfer the remainder of his blood as well as his memories into a suitable body in his final struggle for survival, turning his new host into a Demon and exerting his influence. With Tanjiro on the verge of death, he was able to restore his damaged body and send him on a rampage against his comrades. Furthermore, this technique is compatible with the host’s own abilities, allowing Tanjiro to use both Demon and his own abilities, as he gains immunity to sunlight and the ability to use the Sun Breathing.
This transfer isn’t perfect, though, because Tanjiro was reduced to a feral state, attacking only because Muzan wanted to kill the Demon Slayers. The Upper Ranks, Daki, and Hantengu were able to see glimpses of Muzan’s memories of Yoriichi Tsugikuni during their battles against Tanjiro Kamado, indicating that he used this ability unknowingly whenever he created another demon or shared his blood with them.
Enhanced Senses: Muzan has shown that he has extraordinary senses. When Zenitsu Agatsuma, Kanao Tsuyuri, and Inosuke Hashibira were completely invisible, Muzan was able to figure out where they were and how many there were based solely on the dust clouds rising and the sounds they made.
He also did this while being attacked by nearly a half-dozen other Demon Slayers, which hampered his senses but allowed him to pinpoint their locations with pinpoint accuracy.
Body Manipulation: Muzan’s Blood Demon Art grants him near-absolute control over all the properties of his body down to a cellular level, complementing his desire for a perfect immortal body. His blood, flesh, bones, organs, and cells are all included. Including, but not limited to, transforming his entire torso and chest into a mouth, manipulating his facial features, replicating his organs, turning his bones into weapons, maximizing the use of every single cell in his body, and contorting his flesh into monstrous creatures.
He’s also used this ability to push his physical and mental limits to their limits.
Fighting Style
Black Blood: Muzan creates several black spiked-barbed wires with his own flesh and blood to entangle his target.
Combat Form: Muzan can take on a more monstrous form when fighting, with a dark-red mass covering his limbs, sharp-toothed wide mouths, and his torso exposed. His hair grows longer, unkempt, and white.
In this form, his speed, strength, reflexes, and power are greatly enhanced, to the point where, despite losing a great deal of stamina and endurance in fending off Tamayo’s human transforming drug, he was still fully capable of easily outmaneuvering several low-ranking Demon Slayers and devouring scores of them within minutes of emerging from his cocoon.
In this form, the sharp toothed jaws/mouths located all over his body serve not only as his main form of offense in battle, but also as a means of aiding his recovery by allowing him to tear apart his opponents and eat their flesh, simultaneously killing them and regaining his strength.
Weakness
Sunlight: Muzan is said to be impervious to decapitation, as evidenced by his ability to regrow his head after Gyomei decapitated him. As a result, the only other way he can be killed is by sunlight. His attempts to track down and devour Nezuko in order to gain her immunity to sunlight support this theory.
Crimson Red Nichirin Blades: Demon Slayers who have awakened the Demon Slayer Mark have the ability to change the color of their Nichirin blade to a crimson red shine. This is especially true for Demon Slayers who use the Hinokami Kagura or Sun Breathing. A hit from a Crimson Red Nichirin Blades can stifle demonic regeneration and even incinerate their cells, rendering Demons with high regenerative abilities disabled or even killed.
Muzan is no exception, as evidenced by his battle with Yoriichi Tsugikuni. Muzan, on the other hand, appears to be somewhat resistant to them, as he stated that the Hashira swords are nothing compared to Yoriichi’s.
Complex Poisons/Drugs: Muzan has also demonstrated a vulnerability to the infliction of extremely complex poisons or drugs that are unfamiliar to him. Tamayo had to take time and concentrate hard to analyze a drug’s composition by transforming into a cocoon of flesh to analyze and immunize himself against the drugs or poison, as seen during his attempt to humanize him via drugs.
Later, after learning about Tamayo’s drug’s aging stage, Muzan realizes that his body is expending the majority of its strength fending off the drug’s extreme aging effect, leaving him with little power to use in combat against the Hashira.
Quotes
- (To Tanjiro Kamado, disguising himself as an innocent civilian) “I’m sorry, is there something I can do for you? Are you alright? You seem to be a bit flustered…”
- (To a female civilian) “I am a perfect creature that is infinitely close to perfection.
- (To the same civilian) “Does my complexion look terrible to you? Does my face look pale to you? Do I look weak to you? Does it look like I haven’t got long to live? Does it look like I’m close to death?”
- (To Yahaba and Susamaru) “I want you to remove the head of that Demon Slayer with the hanafuda earrings.”
- (To the Lower Ranks of the Twelve Kizuki) “I’ve begun to think the upper ranks of the Twelve Kizuki are all that is needed.”
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