Warning: Spoilers for Demon Slayer: Swordsmith Village Arc, episode 6Demon Slayer takes a moment from the action at the Swordsmith Village to dive into Genya’s backstory, and the tragic reveal has implications for a Hashira who hasn’t really appeared much in the series to date.
When the demons began their attack on the village, only a few Slayers were on hand: Tanjiro and Nezuko, the Mist Hashira Muichiro Tokito, Demon Slayer’s Love Hashira Mitsuri Kanroji, and Tanjiro’s fellow rookie Slayer, Genya Shinazugawa. Genya has aspirations of being a Hashira himself, but he’s still too new to the Demon Slayer Corps to achieve such a feat. However, the episode reveals that Genya’s brother is not only a Demon Slayer as well, but the Wind Hashira himself, Sanemi Shinazugawa, and what drove them to become Slayers is every bit as tragic as Tanjiro and Nezuko’s story.
Genya is Actually the Wind Hashira’s Brother
As Genya feels the Anger demon’s lightning staff coming for his head, he tearfully reflects on his past, and how his journey to become a Hashira has ended in failure. Genya thinks back on his childhood, where it’s revealed that their abusive father was murdered in a disagreement, leaving their family in a rough spot. Genya and Sanemi’s mother spent all day caring for the kids and all night working, leaving the two brothers to look after their five younger siblings in the evening. However, on one fateful day, their mother was late returning, and Sanemi went out to look for her, leaving Genya to guard the others. A knock at the door led the kids to gleefully open it, expecting to see their mother, when they were instead greeted by a beastly figure which killed the younger siblings instantly; as the sun came up, Genya saw Sanemi fighting the beast, only to realize it was actually their mother, who had been turned into a demon, and who promptly vanished at sunrise. With no family left of their own, the two brothers dedicated themselves to stopping this from happening to anyone else, and to avenge both their family and their mother.
Genya & Tanjiro Are More Similar Than Demon Slayer Fans Thought
The Hashira backstories have varied a lot, but no one has had a past that was quite so similar to Tanjiro’s; yet, somehow, Genya and Sanemi’s history is somehow worse, since at least it was a random demon that went after Tanjiro’s family, rather than a family member turned against them. Genya has behaved as if he has a chip on his shoulder this entire time, and it’s finally clear why. Genya wants to prove to his brother that he didn’t fail that day, and that he’s strong enough to protect them now, even if he couldn’t then. As a Hashira already, Sanemi has clearly been driven to great heights by this tragedy, so it’s up to Genya to prove that he’s capable of the same.
Given that Sanemi hasn’t had much of a role to play yet, it’s interesting that his backstory would be revealed already. Demon Slayer has been good about divulging Hashira’s backstories and looking at what pushed them to dedicate their lives to such a cause, and this may be one of the most compelling Hashira origins yet.
New episodes of Demon Slayer are currently released on Sundays at 1:45 PM EST, via Crunchyroll.