Demon Slayer tells the story of how a seemingly ordinary boy named Tanjiro Kamado goes on an extraordinary journey of revenge after his family is brutally slaughtered by a demon. The world of Demon Slayer is plagued by demons that regularly terrorize and kill humans, all led by the leader of the demons, Muzan Kibitsuji. Tanjiro joins the organization that fights back against these demons, the Demon Slayer Corps, and through his training learns how incredibly powerful he actually is.
Tanjiro and the other Demon Slayer Corps members fight using breathing techniques that unlock special powers and abilities, with different slayers using different kinds of techniques based on what they are attuned to. Tanjiro is uniquely powerful, though, and has more forms and abilities than average demon slayers do. While they are all powerful and useful in fights against demons, nothing compares to his ultimate form, which is unleashed in the final arc of the Demon Slayer manga.
The following contains spoilers for the end of the Demon Slayer manga. Read at your own risk if you are waiting for the anime to be completed.
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Character |
Tanjiro Kamado |
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Series |
Demon Slayer |
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Chapter |
193 |
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Why Does Tanjiro Have an Ultimate Form?
What Makes Him So Strong?
Tanjiro is a unique member of the Demon Slayer Corps in more ways than one. One of the reasons he is so powerful and able to fight such high-level demons without the years of experience other members of the Hashira have is that he can control multiple forms of breathing techniques. While characters like Zenitsu can only do Thunder Breathing, and Inosuke can do Beast Breathing, Tanjiro is able to do Water Breathing (or so we are first led to believe, more on that soon), and also use elements of other breathing forms to bolster his abilities.
For example, while Tanjiro starts with what seems to be the usual forms of Water Breathing, his abilities continue to advance throughout the series. His first ten forms are all water-based, and then begin to evolve from there. Tanjiro is able to use some elements of Zenitsu’s Thunder Breathing combined with his own abilities to defeat the demon Hantengu. After nearly dying fighting Rui, Tanjiro also awakens to a mysterious but incredibly powerful technique from a strange figure in his memories.
This technique is called Hinokami Kagura, or Dance of the Fire God. As the series progresses, Tanjiro comes to understand that the strange figure he sees in fragments of his memories is actually Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the creator of the very first breathing technique, Sun Breathing, which is based on the Hinokami Kagura. It is a form that has been passed down from father to son throughout family lines, and it turns out that Tanjiro’s own father had passed this form onto him, along with his Hanafuda earrings.
Because Sun Breathing was the first breathing technique used to fight back against the demons, it is also one of the most powerful. While Hashira like Rengoku do tell Tanjiro that they have heard if it, they believe that it has been lost to time, and will never be used again. Tanjiro proves everyone wrong, though, by reawakening Sun Breathing through his ancestor’s memories. The first time that he uses it even a little in his fight against Rui, though, his body is not ready, and it nearly kills him.
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What is Tanjiro’s Ultimate Form?
Sun Breathing, Explained
As Tanjiro learns how to control his Sun Breathing techniques, he unleashes abilities stronger than any he ever did when practicing Water Breathing. This is because all demon slayers are at their strongest when they use the Breathing Technique that they are most attuned to, and Tanjiro is much more suited to Sun Breathing because of his lineage. He begins to use the breathing technique more and more in the second half of the series, with moves that look similar to Flame Breathing.
However, Sun Breathing is not Flame Breathing. It mimics not flames, but the sun itself. The Kimetsu no Yaiba Wiki describes the form (along with Hinokami Kagura, which Tanjiro begins with) as,
…Breathing Styles that mimic the sun and replicate it with the user’s movements, techniques, and abilities. All techniques and forms are extremely varied and have no set pattern, making it the most versatile and effective against demons. Users of Sun Breathing visualize themselves seemingly manipulating solar flames when unleashing its techniques.
As Tanjiro continues to learn the twelve forms of Sun Breathing through memories of Yoriichi, he begins to notice that there are unnecessary moves in the way the technique was used in the past. Tanjiro is able to eliminate those moves, streamlining Sun Breathing into its purest form. This became known as the Thirteenth Form, a form of Sun Breathing never used before, which uses the other twelve forms over and over again in succession. This Thirteen Form gives Tanjiro power like he has never had before, and is his Ultimate Form.
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When Does Tanjiro Use His Ultimate Form?
An Epic Conclusion
In the Demon Slayer manga, Tanjiro only uses the Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing one time – but it is when it is most important. In the final arc of the manga, the Demon Slayer Corps make it to the Infinity Castle to try to end Muzan, and thus all the demons, once and for all. However, Muzan mows through their forces, and Tanjiro himself loses an eye and ends up poisoned by the leader of the demons.
It is during his recovery from this, though, that Tanjiro is able to see and analyze the Sun Breathing techniques of Yoriichi and figure out how to perfect them. When Tanjiro faces Muzan again, even with one eye missing and poison still in his body, he is able to use the Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing to hold him off. Other than Yoriichi, Tanjiro is the only human who is ever able to hold his own in a one-on-one fight against Muzan.
As Tanjiro cycles through the twelve forms of Sun Breathing over and over again, his accuracy continues to improve, and he is able to strike Muzan in his twelve vital organs, his seven hearts and five brains. Muzan even sees Yoriichi sometimes instead of Tanjiro during the fight, as Tanjiro channels his powers. By using this perfected version of Sun Breathing, Tanjiro is able to hold Muzan off until dawn, letting the sunrise kill the leader of the demons once and for all. Without Tanjiro’s ultimate form, it is unlikely that the Demon Slayer Corps would have succeeded in the Infinity Castle. But thanks to Tanjiro, Muzan was defeated, and the rest of the demons along with him.
Right now, you can only see Tanjiro’s ultimate form in the Demon Slayer manga, where it premiers in Chapter 193 of the Infinity Castle arc. However, this arc is being made into a trilogy of movies set to come out in 2025, so it won’t be long until we can see the Thirteenth Form of Sun Breathing brought to life through anime as well. Tanjiro’s perfection of Sun Breathing lets the rest of the characters in the world of Demon Slayer enjoy a peaceful life at last, thanks to his ultimate power.
Watch Demon Slayer now on Crunchyroll.
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