The “Taisho secrets” of Demon Slayer

After the end credits, Demon Slayer often keeps a little surprise in store. The tone changes all at once: the characters who have just fought to the death appear in a comic version, look at the camera and share a secret about one of them. Then they announce the title of the next episode. These few seconds have become a regular treat for fans, who learn details there that are absent from the main story.

Many of these anecdotes come from the bonus pages of the manga volumes and from the character guides, where the author slips in information about everyone’s tastes, habits and past. The anime stages them and brings them to life. Our article on the first season of Demon Slayer presents the episodes where they begin, and the one on ufotable, the anime’s studio tells who animated them.

What the Taisho secrets are

In Japanese, the segment is called Taisho kosokoso uwasabanashi, literally “the whispered rumours of the Taisho era”. The word kosokoso evokes whispering, what people tell each other in secret. In English, they are known as the Taisho secrets. The principle never changes: a short comic scene, a character who breaks the fourth wall, a revelation, then the title of the next episode.

In the first season, Tanjiro and Nezuko present almost all the secrets. Afterwards, other characters take over: Zenitsu, Inosuke, Tengen, Kotetsu, Mitsuri. During the Hashira Training, Tanjiro announces that he will present one Hashira a week, and each one invites themselves into their own sequence, often to interrupt him. Some episodes have none, replaced by a Kimetsu Academy sketch, the high school version of the series. In the first one, Giyu plays an uncompromising teacher who orders Tanjiro to take off his earrings, Inosuke to button his shirt and Zenitsu to dye his hair black.

An amusing detail: Nezuko, who says almost no words in the story, speaks normally in these sequences. She finds Sabito more impressive than her brother, worries about him after the fights, and she is the one who reveals where Tanjiro gets his hard head from.

These sequences add nothing to the plot, but they change the way you see the characters. A terrifying Hashira becomes a beetle collector, a cruel demon a failed writer who dreamed of writing a novel. Our article on the Hashira in Kimetsu Academy presents the high school version of the series, and our page on the Demon Slayer universe places the anime among the other works.

The secrets of the first season

The first secrets revolve around Urokodaki. In one, the old master asks Tanjiro whether he wants meat and potato stew or oden for dinner, and scolds him for his indecision as soon as he hesitates. In another, Tanjiro reveals that his master wears a tengu mask because demons made fun of his face for being too gentle. Tanjiro was also about to reveal his master’s age, but Urokodaki interrupts him just in time.

In Asakusa, we learn that Yushiro keeps a diary about Tamayo and adds seven to ten pages to it every day. Tanjiro reads an extract, in which Yushiro notes to the minute the moment Tamayo said his name, twice. We also learn that Yahaba and Susamaru, the two demons sent after them, met on the way and became friends while chatting, and that the udon noodle seller in Asakusa was born there and sells his noodles there because he loves his town.

Other secrets shed light on the world of the series. Tanjiro’s crow has a name, Matsuemon Tennoji, and every crow has one. Kyogai, the demon of the drum house, loved the novel Satomi Hakkenden and was writing his own before becoming a demon. After festivals, Tanjiro’s parents used to grill rice cakes for their children. Our article on Kyogai, the drum demon tells about the writer he wanted to be.

Zenitsu, Inosuke and their animals

Zenitsu’s sparrow is the subject of one of the best-known secrets. Zenitsu calls him Chuntaro, but his real name is Ukogi, after his favourite kind of rice. Zenitsu knows nothing about it and keeps feeding him beans, much to the bird’s annoyance. Another sequence reveals that Zenitsu goes completely to pieces in front of girls, and a third that he is a very gifted shamisen player, who trained in spite of himself.

Inosuke gets his own. Tanjiro reveals that he pronounces someone’s name correctly only once in seven times, and Inosuke immediately rattles off wrong names for Tanjiro, Gonpachiro Kamaboko, Tangoro Hamado, Janjiro Amado, before stopping at “Kamado” without going all the way. His crow, Dongurimaru, almost got eaten by his master, despite their friendship, and has stayed invisible ever since. One episode ending also reveals that Zenitsu prefers salmon rice balls, a piece of information delivered by Inosuke.

These anecdotes fit the characters. Zenitsu, who understands nothing about his sparrow, is the same one who listens to no one when Nezuko is in danger. Inosuke, who mangles names, is the same one who ends up calling Tanjiro by his real first name in serious moments. Our article on the animals of Demon Slayer presents the sparrow, the crows and Obanai’s snake.

The Entertainment District

In the second season, Tengen Uzui takes the floor. He tells that he was born into a family of shinobi, that he led a dull life as a child and that his taste for flamboyance came later, when his resentment finally “exploded”. He also explains that for his muscle mice he chooses only the most devoted, vain enough to fall in love with their own muscles. We also learn that among the Uzui, when a family member turns fifteen, the head of the family chooses three wives for him, but that Suma volunteered herself.

Two secrets talk about the Kamado family. Nezuko, says Tanjiro, never threw a tantrum: when their grandmother and then their father died, she was the one who told the whole family to cry for one day, then to be strong to honour those who were gone. Later, Nezuko reveals that Tanjiro gets his hard head from their mother, who is said to have once driven off a wild boar with a headbutt. Our article on Tengen’s three wives presents Makio, Suma and Hinatsuru.

Swordsmith Village

The third season gives the floor to the swordsmiths. Kotetsu’s face looks so much like his hyottoko mask that he was advised to stop wearing it. Hotaru Haganezuka has wind chimes on his hat because he loves them, and as a child, he only calmed down from his tantrums when he heard the adults ring them. Kotetsu even gives Tanjiro a wind chime, just in case. He trains in secret with a thirty-kilo weight, because a swordsmith must carry the weight of the life he puts into his blades, and his knives are so formidable that Kotetsu does not dare use them in the kitchen.

Mitsuri dominates the end of the season. For her birthday, the swordsmiths offer her an all-you-can-eat buffet, which she empties at once before asking for more. Tanjiro reveals that her favourite dishes are tonkatsu and omurice, two fashionable Western dishes. Another secret explains the colour of her hair and eyes: she ate 170 sakura mochi a day for eight months. Muichiro doubts it, and Mitsuri shuts him up with a cake.

Our article on Hotaru Haganezuka, Tanjiro’s swordsmith tells about the most short-tempered of the swordsmiths, and the one on the characters’ favourite dishes lists what each one likes to eat.

The Hashira Training

The fourth season devotes a secret to each Hashira. Shinobu, strict but caring, handed a handkerchief to Mitsuri, red with embarrassment, during a meeting. Giyu’s haori combines Sabito’s fabric and that of his sister Tsutako, and Tomioka invites Tanjiro to share salmon simmered with daikon, adding that it will not be a race. Tengen, retired, spends his time looking for secret hot springs. Muichiro already slept through thunderstorms before joining the Corps, and nothing spoils his appetite.

Obanai interrupts Tanjiro, convinced that he is flirting with Mitsuri, before we learn that his snake is called Kaburamaru and that his eyes have been two different colours since birth. Gyomei cries over nothing, even a piece of litter on the ground, and Tanjiro catches him in tears with a cat in his arms. Sanemi, finally, raises rhinoceros beetles and loves ohagi, which makes him furious when Tanjiro reveals it. Mitsuri says she emptied a big pot of sweet potato fried rice with Kyojuro, her former master.

These sequences humanise Hashira we first saw as cold or threatening. Tanjiro’s trial showed them ready to kill Nezuko, and here they are fond of cats, beetles and hot springs. Our page on the Demon Slayer Hashira presents each of them, and our article on the fourth season, the Hashira Training tells of the season in which they reveal themselves.

What these secrets say about the characters

Demon Slayer is a harsh series. Entire families die from the very first episode, the Hashira fall one after another, and the demons almost all have a tragic past. The Taisho secrets act as a release valve: after a gruelling fight, a few seconds of comedy remind us that these characters also have an ordinary life, habits, favourite dishes and friends.

They often add a layer of tenderness where the story shows only harshness. Urokodaki, the strict master who sets a boulder in front of Tanjiro, has a face so gentle that demons mocked it. Sanemi, who stabs Nezuko’s box in front of all the Hashira, raises beetles and loses his temper as soon as anyone mentions his sweets. Gyomei, the strongest in the Corps, cries while stroking a cat. The violence of the fight scenes feels all the stronger once you know these details.

Some secrets even make the demons sadder. Knowing that Kyogai dreamed of writing a great novel gives another weight to the scene where Tanjiro, before killing him, tells him that his powers were remarkable. Knowing that Yahaba and Susamaru had just become friends makes their death less trivial. Our page on all the Demon Slayer characters presents each of them in more detail.

Where can you find the Taisho secrets?

To see them, watch each episode to the very end, past the end credits: the sequence comes just before the title of the next episode. A few episodes replace them with a Kimetsu Academy sketch or a simple announcement. Our page on all the Demon Slayer arcs places each part of the story. The secrets told in the anime are only part of what the author wrote: the bonus pages of the manga volumes and the character guides contain many more.

Our article on the Demon Slayer spin-offs, novels and fanbooks presents the books where this information can be found, and our Zenitsu Agatsuma Demon Slayer collection gathers the items of the boy with the sparrow. Our Demon Slayer figure section includes secondary characters such as Yushiro, our Tengen Uzui Demon Slayer collection the items of the Sound Hashira, and our Sanemi Shinazugawa Demon Slayer collection those of the ohagi-loving Hashira. Items are delivered in 5 to 12 days depending on where you live.