Mitsuri Kanroji, the Love Hashira of Demon Slayer

She blushes, gushes, eats for five and cries easily, to the point of seeming miscast in Demon Slayer. In a story as dark as Demon Slayer, Mitsuri Kanroji stands out so much that she is underestimated every time she appears.

This portrait traces what led her to the Corps, her physical strength, her Love Breathing, her unique weapon and her end, among the nine Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps.

Who is Mitsuri Kanroji?

In Demon Slayer, Mitsuri can be spotted from afar: three long pink braids with green tips, an open uniform, striped socks and a pleated skirt. The colour of her hair is said to come from her excessive consumption of sakura mochi.

Her character fits in one word: enthusiasm. She marvels at a dish, at a uniform, at a comrade who improves. She treats the youngest like a big sister and cries when one of them falls.

What the enthusiasm hides is a fighter whose muscle density is out of the ordinary. Mitsuri lifts loads that no other Hashira can move, and her strength has nothing to do with her figure.

This silhouette is one of the most requested among the cosplays of the demon slayers: the white cape, the pleated skirt and the high socks are all there, with the wig depending on the option you choose. You will find her other products in the collection devoted to Mitsuri Kanroji.

Why did she join the Corps?

Mitsuri’s path to the Demon Slayer Corps is unlike any other. Before joining, she was looking for a husband. Her strength, her appetite and her pink hair scared off her suitors. At seventeen, for an arranged marriage, she dyed her hair black, ate less and hid her strength to look fragile.

She soon realises she cannot live in hiding, and decides to look elsewhere: a man able to protect her, or at least to look at her without flinching, might be found among the demon slayers. The motivation may raise a smile, yet the story takes it seriously.

Her master is Kyojuro Rengoku. He immediately recognises her potential, teaches her Flame Breathing, then encourages her to create her own, suited to her body and the way she moves. The full portrait of her mentor can be found in our article on Kyojuro Rengoku, the Flame Hashira.

Love Breathing and the whip blade

Love Breathing derives from Flame Breathing, as our page of every breathing style in Demon Slayer details. Mitsuri built it around two assets: her flexibility and her strength.

Her Nichirin sword is the strangest in the Corps: a blade so thin and so supple that it is wielded like a whip and wraps around obstacles. Only Mitsuri can use it, because it takes considerable strength to control it without getting hurt.

The other weapon types used among the nine are compared in our article on the Hashira’s weapons, and how the blades are made on our page about Nichirin swords and their colours.

You will find this blade among the katana replicas, and in a light-up version in the LED katana section. The replica reproduces the flower guard and the character’s colours, on a straight bamboo blade.

The Swordsmith Village

The Swordsmith Village arc is the one that reveals Mitsuri to the Demon Slayer audience. She is on a mission there when the demons attack. She faces one of the forms of Hantengu, Upper Moon Four, while Muichiro deals with Gyokko.

The fight shows her true colours: she takes the blows, protects the artisans and displays a speed no one expected of her. It is also there that she awakens her demon slayer mark, whose price is detailed in our article on the Hashira marks.

Her duo with Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira, works through contrast: she talks all the time, he says nothing, and the two complement each other. This arc’s place in the story is detailed on our page of every arc of Demon Slayer.

What Mitsuri brings to the group

In a Corps where everyone is in mourning, Mitsuri plays a role no one else fills in Demon Slayer: she makes life bearable around her.

• She brings the Hashira together by being the only one who talks to everyone, including Tomioka, whom the others avoid, and Sanemi, whom the others fear.
• She defuses tensions during meetings, asking the questions the youngest do not dare to ask.
• She encourages the recruits at the Butterfly Mansion as in the Swordsmith Village, and several demon slayers hold on thanks to her.

Her enthusiasm is not naivety: Mitsuri knows exactly what the war against demons costs, she watched her master die, and she still chooses to stay light-hearted. It is this contrast that readers remember.

Mitsuri and Obanai

The relationship between Mitsuri and Obanai Iguro runs through all of Demon Slayer without ever being spoken. He gives her the striped socks she wears everywhere, because she felt uncomfortable in her uniform. She finds him thoughtful and does not understand that he feels something more.

Obanai stays silent for a specific reason, linked to his family’s blood and to what he believes he is worth. His story is told in our article on Obanai Iguro, the Serpent Hashira.

The two fight side by side against Muzan, fall on the same day, and finally talk in the last scene, when there is nothing left to lose.

The final battle

This section reveals the end of the manga.

The final battle of Demon Slayer gives her no respite. In the Infinity Castle, Mitsuri first faces Nakime, then finds herself facing Muzan with the last Hashira still standing. She takes an attack that leaves her gravely wounded, her body torn open, and keeps fighting.

Her last gesture is for others: she blocks an onslaught aimed at a group of demon slayers. Obanai joins her, and the two die together in the early morning. The full list of losses can be found in our article on the Hashira who die in Demon Slayer, and their opponents’ profiles on the page about the demons and the demon Moons.

The epilogue shows their reincarnations in modern times, together, which makes their story one of the few to find a delayed happy ending.

Mitsuri’s station during the Hashira Training

Before the final battle of Demon Slayer, each Hashira runs a station. Mitsuri’s is the second, devoted to flexibility: the demon slayers have to hold a posture and chain movements their bodies refuse at first.

The atmosphere there is the most relaxed of the six, which does not mean the easiest. Mitsuri encourages, congratulates, brings food, and no one comes out unscathed. The details of each station are described in our article on the Hashira Training.

Mitsuri and the other Hashira, and why she divides opinion

Her place in power comparisons may surprise you: our ranking of the Hashira by power explains why she ranks higher than people think, and the conditions for becoming a Hashira recall what her rank implies.

Few characters in Kimetsu no Yaiba make such a misleading first impression. Her open uniform, her apparent sappiness and her initial motivation make part of the audience roll their eyes, until the Swordsmith Village overturns that judgement.

Three things win readers over. First, the reveal of her physical strength, which explains in hindsight why her suitors rejected her. Then her attitude in battle, where she protects the weak instead of seeking glory. Finally, her death shows her clear-eyed about what she is sacrificing.

The character says something simple about the work: in Demon Slayer, being gentle and being formidable are not mutually exclusive. Our page on every character in the series places her trajectory among those of the others.

Mitsuri in the anime, the manga and the games

Her playable version is among the characters of the video games based on Demon Slayer, and the order in which to follow her appearances is detailed on our page about the order of the seasons and movies.

As figures, the 22-centimetre figure poses the character on a floral base, and the lamp figure lights up through its base. The other eight swordsmen await in the collection of demon slayer and Hashira figures, itself part of the figures of the universe.

Trivia about Mitsuri Kanroji