Demon Slayer couples: who ends up with whom?

In a series where people fight every night to survive, love often takes a back seat. The heroes of Demon Slayer have other things to do than declare their feelings, and the author, Koyoharu Gotouge, prefers gestures to big scenes. Yet the question comes up for every reader at the end of the manga: who ends up with whom? The answer is in the very last chapter, which jumps a century ahead and shows the characters’ descendants in present-day Japan.

Here are the Demon Slayer couples, those the series confirms, those it breaks, and those the fans invented. Our page on all the Demon Slayer characters presents each of them, and our article on the ending of Demon Slayer explained looks back at the last chapter.

Who ends up with whom?

The last chapter of Demon Slayer, the two hundred and fifth, is set in the present day. In it we meet high school students, a university student, a botanist, police officers, all descendants or reincarnations of the characters. It is through them that we learn of the marriages, since the series shows none of them directly.

The table brings together the couples the series confirms, suggests or breaks, with what the ending says about them. Wedding dates are never given: we only know that everything happens after the last night, once the demons are gone.

Tanjiro and Kanao

Kanao Tsuyuri is Shinobu’s disciple, a girl sold as a child by her family and taken in by the Kocho sisters. She has suffered so much that she can no longer decide anything: she flips a coin to choose for her. Tanjiro, at the end of the Rehabilitation Training, flips the coin for her and tells her to listen to her heart. It is the beginning of a closeness the series builds in small touches.

Their story peaks at the very end. When Tanjiro becomes a demon after Muzan’s death, it is Kanao who injects him with the cure prepared by Shinobu, at the risk of losing the sight of her last eye, already damaged by her technique. She brings him back among humans. The last chapter confirms they married: two brothers, Kanata and Sumihiko Kamado, are their descendants. Our article on Tanjiro and Kanao, from the coin to the wedding tells their story in detail.

Our laundry basket shows them face to face, Tanjiro on his green and black checks on one side, Kanao on the other, in the Kanao Tsuyuri collection.

Zenitsu and Nezuko

Zenitsu Agatsuma falls in love with Nezuko as soon as he sees her come out of her box, in the wisteria house where the three boys rest after the Tsuzumi Mansion. He then spends the whole series proclaiming it, offering her flowers, outraged that Tanjiro has such a cute sister, and protecting her with a courage he only finds for her. On the Mugen Train, asleep as always when he fights, he defends her against the demon’s flesh invading the carriages.

Nezuko, long unable to speak, does not say much in reply. But once human again, she chooses Zenitsu. The last chapter shows their great-grandchildren, Toko and Yoshiteru Agatsuma. Yoshiteru reads in tears “The Legend of Zenitsu”, his great-grandfather’s autobiography, and Toko, the spitting image of Nezuko, scolds him for believing a novel full of lies. Our article on Nezuko and Zenitsu tells their story.

Our New Year bedding set shows them together in kimono, in the Zenitsu Agatsuma collection, next to the pink teddy jacket where Nezuko and Zenitsu pose in a frame decorated with two little hearts.

Inosuke and Aoi

Aoi Kanzaki is one of the healers at the Butterfly Mansion, the Corps’ hospital. She is strict, organised, and not impressed by the demon slayers she treats. Inosuke, raised by a wild sow in the mountains, has no manners, no politeness, and does not know how to say thank you. The two spend their time bickering during the Rehabilitation Training.

Theirs is the most discreet couple of all. The series gives them almost no scenes together, and Inosuke, who cannot say what he feels, would be quite incapable of declaring himself. The last chapter clears up any doubt: a botanist named Aoba Hashibira, their descendant, discovers the blue spider lily, the flower Muzan sought for a thousand years, and lets it wilt by mistake. Our article on Aoi Kanzaki and the girls of the Mansion presents the young woman, and the one on the blue spider lily explains the irony of this discovery.

Mitsuri and Obanai

Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira, and Obanai Iguro, the Serpent Hashira, are the readers’ favourite couple. Obanai loves her silently, writes her letters, gives her the long striped socks she wears everywhere, and is jealous of Tanjiro during the training. He believes himself tainted by his clan’s blood and forbids himself from declaring his love.

They confess their love while dying, in each other’s arms, after the night against Muzan, and promise to marry in another life. The last chapter keeps the promise: two lookalikes, husband and wife, run a small restaurant with gigantic portions. Our article on Mitsuri and Obanai, the Hashira love story tells their whole journey.

Tengen and his three wives

Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira, is the only character married from his first appearance, and to three women at once: Hinatsuru, Makio and Suma, three kunoichi trained in the same shinobi clan as him. Multiple marriage is a tradition of this clan, which Tengen left because he rejected its cruelty.

Tengen gave them a rule that says everything about him: their lives come before the mission. He loves all three of them, openly, and they love him back. After the Entertainment District battle, where he loses an eye and a hand, he leaves the Corps and lives with them. It is one of the few couples in the series who end happily without waiting for another life. Our article on Tengen’s three wives presents each of them, and the one on Tengen Uzui, the Sound Hashira tells their husband’s story.

Couples broken by demons

Demon Slayer also tells of loves that demons destroyed, and they are often the strongest in the series. Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the head of the Corps, and his wife Amane stay united to the end: when Muzan comes to kill him, Kagaya blows up his mansion, and Amane dies at his side with two of their daughters. Our article on Kagaya Ubuyashiki, the head of the Corps tells their last night.

Hakuji, the human Akaza once was, was to marry Koyuki, the daughter of his martial arts master. Rivals poisoned the dojo’s well, killing Koyuki and her father. Mad with grief, Hakuji slaughtered the culprits, then Muzan turned him into a demon. He forgot everything for more than two centuries, until his death, when Koyuki comes for him. Our article on Akaza’s story, Hakuji before the demon tells this story, and our diorama brings them together on a base scattered with petals, in the collection devoted to Akaza.

Yoriichi Tsugikuni, the greatest demon slayer of all time, had married a young woman named Uta. She was expecting a child when a demon killed her while her husband was away. It was this grief that led him to the Corps. Tamayo, finally, was turned into a demon by Muzan while she was ill, and devoured her husband and children before understanding what she had become. Yushiro, her assistant, has loved her silently since she saved him. Our page on the Demon Slayer demons tells the story of those who lost everything.

The heroes’ parents

The strongest couples in Demon Slayer may be the ones we see least: the parents. Tanjuro and Kie Kamado, the parents of Tanjiro and Nezuko, make a poor and happy home in the mountains, with six children. Tanjuro, sick, dies before the story begins, and Kie raises their children alone until the night Muzan kills almost all of them. In Tanjiro’s memories, they are a tender couple who never argue in front of the little ones. Our article on Tanjuro Kamado, Tanjiro’s father tells this father’s story.

With the Rengoku family, the story is darker. Shinjuro, the former Flame Hashira, was married to Ruka, an upright and gentle woman who taught her eldest son that strength is for protecting the weak. Her death, from an illness, broke Shinjuro: he abandoned his post, started drinking and stopped training his sons. Kyojuro kept his mother’s words all his life, and it is thinking of her that he dies on the Mugen Train, smiling. Our article on Shinjuro Rengoku, Kyojuro’s father tells this grief.

These two couples have one thing in common: they passed on to their children what keeps them standing. The dance and the earrings for the Kamado, an idea of strength for the Rengoku. The series shows almost nothing of their love, but it shows its legacy in every fight.

The fans’ couples

Alongside what the series confirms, readers have imagined their own couples. The most popular pairs Giyu Tomioka and Shinobu Kocho, two Hashira who are complete opposites and have each lost a sister. Their Mount Natagumo scene, where Shinobu tells him everyone hates him and Tomioka replies that he is not hated, was enough to launch thousands of illustrations. Our article on Giyu and Shinobu separates the series from the fans.

Other imaginary couples circulate, around Tanjiro, Rengoku or Muichiro, but none has the slightest support in the story. For a cosplay duo at a convention, though, this is what works best: two characters recognised together at first glance, and a scene to replay in front of the camera. Our page on the nine Hashira presents their outfits, and the Demon Slayer bedding collection gathers the fans’ favourite duos, from Shinobu and Giyu to Nezuko and Zenitsu.