| “ | Rushing yourself makes things even more difficult in the spiritual world. It's better to just sit and wait things out.
— Shinsuke Kazamatsuri
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” |
Shinsuke Kazamatsuri was born as Takekichi, a peasant during the Sengoku Period in Japan. Takekichi, despite having no talent with the blade, would practice under a master who never acknowledged him. Seeking the ability to create his own path through life, he left his village under then name Shinsuke Hyodo to live as a traveling Ronin. He eventually encounters and travels with Tama, a fox demon, and Jinka Yamato, a human who wants to turn into a demon. They come into conflict with an organization of monks known as the Dangaishu, who are conducting experiments on fusing humans and demons. They soon come across one of these experiments, Shakugan, who had gone berserk.
After Jinka defeats Shakugan in her demon form, she joins the trio on their adventures. The four gradually make their way towards the Dangaishu main temple, with Shinsuke and Shakugan falling in love along the way. The monks send out their strongest fighters to head them off, starting with Raidou Zanzou, the wielder of the demonic blade Arabuki. Raidou loses his second bout against Jinka, and gives Shinsuke some training as well as Arabuki.
They then encounter Higan, another of the Dangaishu's strongest as well as another subject in their human/demon fusion experiments. After Higan's death, they take her remains to the village of the Rock Demons, the hometown of the demons fused into Higan and Shakugan. While there, the group assists a pregnant woman in giving birth. This is interrupted by the arrival of two more monks, Douren and Resshin. While Douren seeks honorable combat against Jinka, Resshin utilizes curses to send a boulder towards the pregnant woman.
Shakugan stops the boulder by turning into a stone herself, entering a coma. This puts Shinsuke in a state of near-constant fury, and he swears revenge on the Dangaishu as a whole and Resshin in particular. He, Jinka, and Tama seek out a mountain goddess, Ooyama Mitsuchi-hime, to assist them in assaulting the main temple. They succeed in getting her help, at a cost, and manage to trick her into sealing away the Dangaishu's strongest warriors: Jinun and his ten-year-old son, Senya. The assault on the temple succeeds, with Shinsuke getting his revenge. Jinka, however, awakens as the Thousand-Tailed Fox, a berserk being capable of destroying the world.
Tama and Shinsuke split up, with Tama seeking out acquaintances to help her plan how to save Jinka and Shinsuke training under the mountain goddess. At one point in Shinsuke's training, Senya gets released from his seal, though with amnesia. Shinsuke prevents the mountain goddess from killing Senya, and flees with the child. He eventually lands in a village where humans and demons peacefully coexist, and decides to raise Senya there. Shinsuke picks up a drinking habit, while Senya befriends the village children, growing particularly close to a girl named Tsukiko.
This was not to last, as a mad god attacks the village. Senya tries to fight it off, but Tsukiko's father is killed during the fight. Senya and Shinsuke leave the village, and are joined by Tsukiko and an orphaned water god named Nau. The four head to Kyoto and the court of Yoshiteru Ashikaga, where Shinsuke reunites with Raidou Zanzou. They enter the shogun's service, with Shinsuke teaching Senya spiritual interference, until a dragon kidnaps Tsukiko and breaks Arabuki to goad Senya into a fight.
At the same time, Yoshiteru reveals that he can see the course of his entire life, and that his death at the hands of Hisahide Matsunaga is approaching. Shinsuke and Raidou help Yoshiteru and Hanatora, a land god who has taken a liking to the shogun, prepare for his death. Yoshiteru dies as he envisioned, and Shinsuke uses Arabuki to fly him over the clouds, fulfilling his wish as he dies. Shinsuke and Raidou accompany Hanatora to a hidden village, which they are then bound to.
During his stay at the village, he refines Spiritual Interference and rehabilitates violent demons. He has Arabuki reforged into a pair of short swords, giving one to Tsukiko and retaining the other. He remains in the village as Senya and Tsukiko set off on a journey to find more information on Jinka's fate and the Tribe of the Void hunting the youth. He is set free shortly after Senya's return, and joins Tsukiko when she pursues Senya after the youth's departure.
They stop by the village of the Rock Demons along the way, where he learns that the Tribe of the Void awoke Shakugan and brainwashed her into serving as a soldier in the army of demons the tribe gathered. They make haste to the site of the former main temple of the Dangaishuu, and arrive at the final battle just in time to prevent Shakugan from killing Tama. Shinsuke swiftly disables Shakugan, and uses spiritual interference to free her from the tribe's control. He plays a key part in the battle by freeing every demon the Tribe of the Void captured from their control, and gives Senya critical advice on utilizing the spiritual world.
He accompanies Senya to his fight against Jinka, creating the basic battle plan. The plan is executed successfully, and Shinsuke, Tama, and Shakugan are successfully able to use spiritual interference to return him to sanity. Shinsuke then tracks down and disables the Dangaishu's chief researcher, and finally returns to the village he was formerly bound to. He marries Shakugan, and lives the rest of his life in peace.
Battle vs. Tanjiro Kamado and Nezuko Kamado alongside Shakugan (by Leolab)[]
Tanjiro stumbles through the forest, Nezuko’s box on his back and the sun rapidly setting. He was completely, utterly lost, with no idea where or, thanks to the time-manipulating demon he was tracking, when he was. A few steps later, Tanjiro comes to a halt, hearing some rustling ahead as the trees thinned out. As his eyes grew used to the starlight, he spied a waist-high boulder, with a figure on either side leaning against the trees.
On the right was a man in a yukata, with a daishō and straw hat, pouring sake into a pair of dishes on the rock. One was picked up by the red-haired woman on the left, dressed in a sleeveless garment. She uses it to point at Tanjiro as the man drains his own dish.
“Hi! Who’re you?” Shagukan asks.
“And why are you out here so late?” Shinsuke continues, placing the empty dish back on the rock and smiling gently at the boy.
“I’m Tanjiro, from the Demon Slayer Corps,” Tajiro replies, cutting off further explanation as Shinsuke’s gentle demeanor sharpens in an instant, his hand moving to the wakizashi at his waist. Tanjiro, not needing his nose to sense the other man’s hostility, reflexively places his hand on the grip of his own blade.
“Shinsuke-sama?” Shakugan asks, transforming her arms into rock.
“If he means harm to the village, we have to stop him here,” Shinsuke says, nudging Arabuki a fraction of a centimeter out of its sheathe. The motion creates a gust of wind, launching a pebble at Nezuko’s box. Narrative contrivance arcs it perfectly to hit the clasp, and Nezuko tumbles to the ground behind her brother.
She hisses behind her bamboo muzzle as she rises, forming claws with her hands. Sensing the danger to both of them, she charges, making the first move. Shakugan intercepts her, firing off a Goushentin that stalls her momentum. Shinsuke rushes past her, creating a wind tunnel as he draws Arabuki fully. Tanjiro draws his own sword to parry, but before he can get it fully out of its sheathe Shinsuke slams his palm into the hilt, forcing the blade back into its sheathe.
Tanjiro’s life flashes before his eyes as the cursed steel comes towards his neck, and Nezuko – not his memories – bails him out. She kicks Shinsuke in the chest, sending him back a few meters. Tanjiro gets his sword out just in time to parry another blast from Shakugan, who charges in to defend her husband. She ducks low, under a slash from Tanjiro, lashing out with her stone fist.
Shinsuke dodges as well, and slices over his wife’s head, forcing Nezuko to break off her attack and leap back to avoid getting sliced. He manipulates the wind, knocking Tanjiro off balance. Shakugan hits him full force in the stomach, sending him reeling back. Shinsuke steps in, cutting downward as his wife swings her stone arm at Nezuko, again preventing the demon from interfering.
Steel hits steel and stone hits flesh, both blows parried. Shakugan aims and fires a blast with her other fist, hitting Nezuko in the face and sending her flying into a tree. Shinsuke generates a blast of air under Tanjiro’s feet, sending the demon slayer into the air. He flies after him as Nezuko charges at Shakugan anew, his younger opponent using their clashes to maneuver in the air. The youth leaps off a branch in an awkward manner, and Shinsuke wastes no time in making a shallow cut in his opponent’s elbow, aiming for the tendon.
His eyes widen as he sees a hit, but doesn’t feel it. He drops, the change in altitude saving his life as Tanjiro’s blade sends his hair flying as it passes. Shinsuke twists, flipping in the air to kick Tanjiro in the face.
The sound of him hitting a tree reaches the women on the ground, drawing Nezuko’s attention for a split second. Shakugan uses the distraction to punch the younger girl in the face, but Nezuko simply shrinks under the blow and grows back to full size with an uppercut. Shakugan stumbles back, and as her foe closes to follow up she slams her fist into the younger girl’s gut. Shakugan fires a Goutenshin at point-blank range. The blast sends Nezuko flying backwards, slamming into a tree yet again. A branch pierces her palm, and she groans in pain as she picks herself back up.
She flings the blood in front of her, activating her Blood Demon Art to generate flames to keep Shakugan at bay. The two glare at each other as they catch their breath, each waiting to see how the other would react. Their staredown is broken when a black sword plunges down into the forest floor, and Shinsuke lands next to Shakugan with a Tanjiro bound by the wind and struggling.
The sight of her bound brother infuriates her, activating her transformation into a full demon. She is unable to hear Tanjiro yelling at her to stop as she bites through the bamboo muzzle, a horn growing out of her forehead as her sanity fades. Shinsuke and Shakugan, noting Tanjiro’s reaction, look at each other and nod.
He releases Tanjiro, using Arabuki to create a path for Shakugan to circle around and grab Nezuko from behind while he charges in and presses his hand to her forehead. As Tanjiro staggers to his feet and reclaims his sword, he sees Nezuko revert to her normal form and sag to the ground, asleep. Shinsuke turns to him and slowly, deliberately sheathes Arabuki.
“I saw her trauma,” he says, as Tanjiro sheathes his own blade, “Our village has humans, demons, and fusions of the two alike. You’re welcome to rest there, though I’d keep quiet about the whole ‘Demon Slayer Corps’ bit quiet while you’re there.”
“Thank you,” Tanjiro says, bowing, “I apologize for the misunderstanding.”
“No, no,” Shinsuke replies, smiling sheepishly as Shakugan lifts Nezuko over her shoulder, “I’m the one who jumped to conclusions. Haven’t had the best of experiences with self-proclaimed ‘Demon Slayers’”
And with that, the three start down the path leading to the village, regaling each other with tales of their adventures.
Expert's Opinion[]
Both teams were fairly evenly matched. While Shinsuke had more raw power at his disposal thanks to Arabuki, Tanjiro brought a high level of skill and a variety of techniques to counter Shinsuke. Shakugan, similarly, had a high level of skill and experience fighting stronger opponents to counter Nezuko's raw power.