One of the best parts about Demon Slayer, outside of its beautiful and expressive animation, is its cast. Filled with colorful and unique character designs with equally eccentric personalities, Demon Slayer’s cast is among the series’ strongest selling points. For members of the Demon Slayer fandom, character birthdays are some of the best times of the year between anime seasons now that the manga is over. Fans often celebrate by sharing fan art or posting official artwork, and 2024 was no different.
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One of the most popular – albeit prickly – members of the Hashira, Sanemi Shinazugawa, celebrated his birthday on November 29. Ufotable, the studio that produces the absolutely stunning anime adaptation of Demon Slayer, released a special promotional image of Sanemi on the official Demon Slayer X (formerly Twitter) account to commemorate the Wind Hashira’s big day.
The chibi-fied Sanemi illustration makes the Wind Hashira far less menacing and throws in some adorable details about his favorite things outside battling demons. The illustration includes some of Sanemi’s favorite foods, including a beetle-shaped manju (a sweet bun with bean paste filling) and ohagi (sweet rice cakes). There’s also a matcha whisk pictured beside him in the illustration. Seeing Sanemi surrounded by his favorite sweet treats proves that the toughened demon slayer has a soft spot and an unexpected sweet tooth, making him even more endearing to fans.
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Sanemi Might Seem Scary, but He’s One of Tanjiro’s Greatest Allies in Demon Slayer
Sanemi doesn’t have a great first impression of Tanjiro and the rest of the gang when he’s first introduced in Demon Slayer. When he first appears in Episode 22 (Chapter 45 of the manga), Sanemi immediately decides to act violently toward Nezuko and presents himself as aggressive and abrasive. Sanemi doesn’t get much time to develop before the final battle in the Infinity Castle, but it does become clear that there are things he’s passionate about outside of his duties as a Hashira.
Without giving away too many spoilers regarding his character arc, this ultimately makes him more sympathetic. When things are all said and done, he reaches out to and shows a modicum of genuine affection toward Nezuko. His ability to change proves that Sanemi is deeply complex as a character and, like other members of the Hashira, is deeply devoted to finding a solution to Muzan’s reign of terror. Because of that, it’s not at all a surprise that fans of the series would take time to celebrate Sanemi and share their love for his contributions in the final arc of Demon Slayer.
