Tanjiro Kamado is the protagonist of the Demon Slayer manga and demon-themed anime. A young boy struck by tragedy, Tanjiro overcame his horrid fate and became a Demon Slayer, but not to avenge his family – he did it to find a way to return his sister, Nezuko, into a human once again. Tanjiro and Nezuko had an extremely close bond, as they were the only surviving members of the Kamado family, which is why they were willing to do anything to protect each other. But, who is the older sibling? Is Nezuko older than Tanjiro? Or is Tanjiro older than Nezuko? Keep reading this article to find out!
Tanjiro Kamado was actually the oldest Kamado sibling and he was one year older than Nezuko, according to the official data provided by the manga. Due to him being the oldest sibling, Tanjiro took responsibility for the whole family after Tanjuro, their father died and was the principal caretaker for the family, while Nezuko, as the oldest daughter, helped her mother and took care of their youngest siblings.
The rest of this article is going to focus on Nezuko and Tanjiro. We have now provided you with the answer to the question you were looking for, but we are going to expand on it by talking a bit about the history of the Kamado family, as well as the relationship between Tanjiro and Nezuko. This article does have spoilers, but only for those who haven’t seen or read any Demon Slayer episode or chapter at all.
Is Nezuko older than Tanjiro?
Tanjiro is the firstborn of the Kamado Family, whose components were his father Tanjuro, his mother Kie, and his younger siblings: Nezuko, Takeo, Shigeru, Rokuta, and Hanako. Nezuko was the oldest daughter in the family and she was born a year after Tanjiro. His family made a living selling charcoal in neighboring villages. When his father died, Tanjiro took his place as the man of the house working to support his family. Until one day an event occurred that completely marked his life. During the Taisho era, Tanjiro was a boy who made a living selling charcoal and firewood to nearby villages to support his entire family consisting of his mother and his younger siblings.
One winter day, Tanjiro went down to the nearest village to sell his products in preparation for the New Year festivities and when he is about to return home, a snowstorm forces him to take refuge in a nearby cabin. There, its occupant, a man named Saburo, tells him a rather strange story about creatures that attack people at night and devour them.
Tanjiro at first does not believe in the story and just falls asleep, but when he returns home, he notices a disturbing smell of human blood: upon entering his house, what he finds is a nightmare scenario: all his brothers and his mother, they were brutally murdered and their sister Nezuko, the only survivor of such a massacre, was seriously injured so desperate, she takes her sister for someone to help them. However, during the tour, Nezuko wakes up, but unfortunately for Tanjiro, she was no longer the same: she became a Demon for which she suddenly increases in size and pounces on Tanjiro with the intention of devouring him.
Despite Tanjiro’s pleas, Nezuko unexpectedly tries to contain her transformation by crying at the risk of wanting to eat her brother when at that moment, a Demon Slayer makes his appearance in order to kill Nezuko: his name is Giyu Tomioka and insists that Tanjiro stay away from her as she now poses a threat to him and Tomioka. However, Tanjiro tearfully begs Tomioka not to kill her as he is the only family he has left after losing all of her family to her being killed by a demon.
Tomioka is unwilling to listen to Tanjiro and insists that his family was killed because he was weak and that whining will not remedy things. Tomioka insists on arguing that her sister has become a Demon by allowing herself to be injured during the attack suffered because she received blood from these creatures which caused her irreversible transformation, however, Tanjiro insists otherwise. Despite this, Giyu does not change his position and prepares to cut off Nezuko’s head.
The swordsman is then bowed to by Tanjiro, who begs him to spare his sister’s life. Giyu screams in rage that Tanjiro has no right to decide who lives or dies because he was too frail to defend even his own family from him. Since neither he nor the person who murdered his family would have any respect for such a deplorable performance, he dismisses all of his discourse about finding a cure for his sister’s illness and his family’s murderer as absurd.
Giyu insists that Tanjiro take the ax from him as a sign of his commitment to guarding his sister. Giyu secretly urges Tanjiro to find the willpower to pursue all the admirable objectives he has set for himself as he pauses at these remarks. Then he stabs Nezuko in the chest, inciting Tanjiro to hurl a rock at him.
Were Tanjiro and Nezuko close as siblings?
Tanjiro’s family was slain when he was selling coal, leaving him with just his younger sister Nezuko as a living relative. Tanjiro, who is often composed and polite, will therefore become enraged and fight anyone who threatens Nezuko. He is very protective of her, but that doesn’t stop her from assisting him in fights he can’t win on his own. The brother and sister are incredibly close, and trust, and love each other because they are the only survivors of a low-income family.
Tanjiro is perhaps the only one who can actively call Nezuko by name or sing her mother’s lullaby to her to help her relax. Nezuko continues to reach out to her brother and attempt to restrain him even after Tanjiro is possessed by Muzan and transformed into a Demon, even though she might be hurt by him. Even after tasting her blood, Tanjiro chooses not to assault her. Muzan just asked him to eliminate the Demon Slayer Corps, thus it might be doable.
Ultimately, Tanjiro and Nezuko had to be extremely close as siblings. They come from a very loving family that was, through Muzan’s monstrous machinations, reduced to just them two, and Nezuko herself was turned into a demon; luckily, she was able to resist her urges to eat others and she kept her transformation under control. Tanjiro cared deeply for her because she was his only living family member and he was also responsible for her as her older brother.
