As a proper shonen action anime, Demon Slayer is filled with deadly and exciting villains for heroes like Tanjiro Kamado to fight. These villains – almost all of them demons – vary greatly in their powers, abilities, appearance, and backstories. They also vary quite a bit in how evil they are, as some demons are relatively tame or have never had the chance to prove how evil and horrific they are.

Regardless of powers and abilities, some Demon Slayer Villains are much more cruel and vicious than others, meaning that some have the true heart of a villain, while others are just acting as antagonists for the demon slayers to fight. True acts of evil are almost impossible to forgive or forget, such as abusing the weak, pitting friends against each other, or creating sadness and misery just for fun.

Related

10 Darkest Demon Slayer Villains

While some Demon Slayer demons like Gyutaro have suffered personal tragedies, others like Muzan are irredeemable monsters.

10 The Swamp Demon regularly attacked teenagers

The swamp demon was the least evil of Demon SlayerOne of the most evil villains, making his debut very early in the series. At the time, Tanjiro only had his younger sister Nezuko to back him up, so it was easy for the swamp demon to split himself into three bodies to overcome Tanjiro's small team. Luckily, Tanjiro's water breathing was the perfect style to finish him off.

As for his evil deeds, the swamp demon regularly preyed on teenage girls, considering them the most delicious prey of all. It's usually the most cruel and twisted demons that go after specific prey like this, and he terrorized an entire town for some time with those swamp kidnappings until Tanjiro arrived to save the day.

9 Akaza killed Kyojuro Rengoku in cold blood

Related

Apparently Demon Slayer's villains don't need sympathy

Demon Slayer's third season proved that not all of its villains have sympathetic backstories, and fans are free to hate them all they want.

It has been argued that Akaza was never truly evil, despite his immense power as the Upper Moon 3. True, he had a sense of honor while fighting Kyojuro Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, but he still killed Kyojuro in cold blood, and it was too late to save Enmu anyway. Akaza apparently challenged Kyojuro to a fight just for the sake of fighting.

Akaza repeatedly offered to turn Kyojuro into a demon, pressuring the honorable Flame Hashira to abandon his humanity and principles, an insidious offer for any demon to make. Kyojuro refused, so Akaza simply killed him with a punch to the stomach. Then Akaza fled, and now he intends to kill Tanjiro Kamado next, as if killing Kyojuro wasn't bad enough.

8 The Hand Demon sought out and killed Sakonji's students

The so-called hand demon was the first notable demon Tanjiro killed in Demon Slayerfrom the anime, and it was truly personal for both of them. While Tanjiro has few mentors in the shonen style, he did train with Sakonji Urokodaki, who captured the Hand Demon and put that creature through the final selection training camp.

Since then, the hand demon has personally sought out and dispatched Sakonji's students to take revenge on the demon slayer who humiliated him, and this is a very evil act for any demon to do. However, being sympathetic, Tanjiro still saw and appreciated the hand demon's humanity despite everything, and cried when the enormous hand demon finally died.

7 Gyutaro tormented Tanjiro to defend his younger sister.

Gyutaro was the true Upper Moon 6, a terrifyingly powerful demon who has killed several Hashira over the past decades. He was made even stronger by his bond with his younger sister Daki, as neither of them will die by decapitation as long as the other has the head. As for his personality, Gyutaro is distinctly vile and aggressive.

Gyutaro fought hard to protect his younger sister, which was the only non-evil thing he ever did. As a human living on the fringes of society, Gyutaro often attacked people, and this did not win the hearts of his younger sisters. Demon Slayer fans. Then, in the present, Gyutaro playfully tormented and hurt Tanjiro during the fight, and even mocked Tanjiro for seemingly failing to protect his own younger sister.

6 Daki lured people to their deaths in her Oiran guise

Related

10 Demon Slayer Fights Fans Want to See in Season 4

Demon Slayer Season 4 has already begun, and fans can't wait to see who will fight who as the story draws to a close.

The other half of the Upper Moon 6, the cruel himedere Daki, hid in plain sight in the entertainment district, where she posed as an oiran. Daki, like her brother, suffered from poverty and hardship growing up, and this left her desperate for validation. After nearly dying, she became a demon and fulfilled her dreams of being strong and beautiful for all to see.

Daki did not have Rui's spider theme, but she behaved like a spider, using the entire entertainment district as her web to capture unsuspecting prey and store them in her lair for later consumption. Daki was also quite abusive even in her oiran disguise, as Zenitsu saw for himself in his own disguise before the battle began.

5 Rui abused his found family

Rui held the position of Lower Moon 5, although he could have risen in the rankings if he made the right moves. No matter his position among the Kizuki, Rui is still in the middle. Demon Slayerof the most evil villains thanks to his abusive ways towards the family he built.

Rui gathered other people and turned them into demons to join his found family, with himself being one of the sons. However, demons are not very prone to healthy family dynamics, least of all Rui, who regularly mistreated most of the other family members with his words and violence. The exception was the nightmare spider father, who earned Rui's respect as a powerful warrior.

4 At home, happily dead, Kanae Kocho

At first glance, Upper Moon 2 may not seem so bad, but he was actually one of the most evil demons to ever serve Muzan Kibutsuji – or at least, he is the least capable of good, since he cannot feel emotions, finding such things strange. Doma is seemingly incapable of caring about other beings or sympathizing with them for any reason. Even Gyutaro and Daki cared for each other, but Doma wouldn't go that far.

Doma was also the one who killed Shinobu's older sister Kanae Kocho, and it is a tragic loss that such a gentle demon slayer was dispatched. Doma also makes a point of feeding on women, believing them to be the most nutritious prey, as it is their sex that nourishes the babies. Only a twisted demon would think and act in this way.

3 Gyokko has melted villagers into a grotesque mass

Related

10 Best Episodes of Demon Slayer (So Far)

Over the course of three seasons, fans watched Tanjiro, Nezuko, and the others overcome many obstacles with fantastic fights and shocking twists.

Gyokko, the Upper Moon 5, enjoyed creating and selling artistic vases, a venture that Muzan approved of. He also participated in the attack on the blacksmith village alongside Hantengu, with Gyokko clearly being the evil one of the two Upper Moons.

Gyokko used more than porcelain to make his beloved art. To everyone's horror, he fused a variety of villagers into a fleshy mass and admired what he had created, and there is no doubt that Gyokko has done such a thing before or would do it again if given the chance. Thankfully, the himbo Hashira Muichiro Tokito put an end to him.

2 Enmu manipulated sick children to obey him

At one point, Muzan killed most of the Lower Moons out of sheer frustration, but spared the Lower Moon 1, Enmu. After Enmu consumed Muzan's blood to strengthen himself, he set out on his latest mission, attacking Kyojuro and Tanjiro's squad one night aboard the Mugen Train. In a way, Enmu was actually the Mugen train itself.

Enmu didn't even directly fight his enemies at first. He put them to sleep with his special abilities and then sent a squad of children to finish off Tanjiro and the others while they slept. Enmu, like a true villain, coerced some sick children into being his personal assassins, something not even the Upper Moons have been seen doing.

1 Muzan Kibutsuji became the scourge of humanity for selfish reasons

The Demon King himself, Muzan Kibutsuji, has clearly established himself as the most evil character in anime. Centuries ago, Muzan became the world's first demon, and has been determined to find a cure ever since. Unfortunately, Muzan's chosen methods have come at a high cost, with Muzan regularly creating demons that would attack and kill people. Muzan didn't care how many people suffered, as long as he got the cure he wanted.

No matter his guise as a loving family man in Tokyo, Muzan is a cruel, selfish, and exploitative creature with no particular redeeming qualities. He even casually transformed a passing man into a demon, who attacked his wife, just so Muzan could create a distraction to escape Tanjiro. He will also capriciously kill his minions if they fail to meet his lofty expectations.

Demon Slayer

When Tanjiro Kamado returns home to find that his family has been attacked and killed by demons, he discovers that his younger sister, Nezuko, was the only survivor. As Nezuko slowly becomes a demon, Tanjiro sets out to find a cure for her and becomes a demon slayer in order to avenge his family.

Release date

April 6, 2019

Cast

Natsuki Hanae, Zach Aguilar, Abby Trott, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka

Seasons

3

Studio

ufotable

The Creator

Koyoharu Gotouge