Demon Slayer: Was Gen’ya’s Mother a Demon? Meet Shizu Shinazugawa!

When one decides to talk about Demon Slayer, one usually talks about the demon slayers themselves or the demons, despite the fact the series has offered us a variety of other intriguing characters. One of these ”other” characters is going to be the topic of this article as we are going to tell you a bit about Shizu Shinazugawa, the mother of Gen’ya and Sanemi Shinazugawa, whose story is revealed in the third season of the anime. Shizu Shinazugawa is a secondary character but a character with an important role in the story, which is why we are going to tell you everything you need to know about her in this article, focusing on whether she was a demon or not.

Shizu Shinazugawa was a demon. Shizu Shinazugawa was the mother of Gen’ya and Sanemi, who cared for them after her abusive husband died. One night, she was indeed turned into a Demon, and she attacked her children, killing all of them aside from Gen’ya, whom she injured, and Sanemi, who protected his siblings and killed Shizu in self-defense.

The rest of this article will focus on Shizu Shinazugawa and her role in the story, history, family of the Shinazugawa siblings, and her influence on the plot. Shizu Shinazugawa might be a historical supporting character, but she is nevertheless a very important one, which is why we will tell you everything you need to know. Be careful, though, as the article will be filled with spoilers.

Shizu Shinazugawa was a caring and hard-working mother

Shizu Shinazugawa’s personal history before her marriage is unknown. We know that she married a vile man named Kyōgo Shinazugawa, who was an abusive alcoholic and who would beat both Shizu and the children. The family had seven children, but their lives weren’t all that happy and cheerful. Shizu was a very hard-working mother, whereas Kyōgo was a despised, abusive father. But, the hatred did not remain in the family, as their father was hated in their village as well and was, at one point, killed by an unknown person, an unnamed rival, after which the family lived in peace for a while.

Their mother continued to work hard to support her children, and she would be working throughout the day, coming back home every night at the same time.

The children greatly loved their mother, as she worked hard to support them. They lived in very poor conditions but were loved, and their mother did her best to protect them. As Sanemi and Gen’ya were the oldest siblings, they would take care of their younger siblings, especially Sanemi, who was the oldest Shinazugawa child and was, basically, the man of the house after their vile father’s death. This is how the life of the Shinazugawa family played out during their childhood, and it was a very poor existence but one filled with love, which is why the events that happened are so shocking.

She was turned into a Demon and then killed by her own son

As we have said, Shizu would always come home from work simultaneously, so her children knew when to expect her. This happened every night except one night. Namely, one night, Shizu Shinazugawa, who was never late, did not come home from work although it was late, and the siblings started to worry. As the oldest among them, Sanemi, decided to go look for her, while Gen’ya remained with the remaining siblings, telling them that Shizu and Sanemi would soon return. But he was, at the same time, both right and wrong.

While Sanemi was looking for their mother, a loud bang was heard on the house door, where Gen’ya remained with the other siblings. When they heard the bang, his younger siblings ran towards the door, hoping it was their mother, but they were horribly wrong, as everyone would soon realize. Namely, just as they approached the door, happily, they were struck down and killed by a dark figure who also injured Gen’ya during the same attack. The figure entered and wanted to finish the job, but before the figure could do what it had intended, Sanemi Shinazugawa appeared, tackled it and pushed it out of the window into the streets so he could protect his siblings.

As Sanemi was fighting the creature outside, Gen’ya was the only sibling who survived, although he did not know at the time that the younger siblings were already dead, which is why he still wanted to do everything in his power to help them. Gathering his strength, Gen’ya went outside to find a doctor for the injured children but stopped when he saw Sanemi with a knife above the figure that attacked them; at that moment, he realized that the figure was their mother’s corpse.

Namely, their mother had been turned into a Demon and then decided to go back home to eat her own children (as children are a potent nutrient for Demons). Sanemi attacked her in order to protect his siblings, and while fighting her, he killed her in self-defense. Gen’ya arrived when everything was done, so all he was was a scene with his brother holding a knife in his hand, with their dead mother beneath him.

Gen’ya did not know the whole story behind the scenes, so he accused his brother of being a murderer, creating a rift between them that lasted until the final battle against Kokushibo when Gen’ya died. Gen’ya did not know at the time that their mother was turned into a Demon and that Sanemi had to kill her in self-defense; when he found out the truth, he tried to apologize to Sanemi, but he would not listen. That is why Gen’ya decided to become a Demon Slayer, but it wasn’t until their final fight against the Upper-Rank One that the two brothers actually reconciled, but it was a bittersweet reconciliation as Gen’ya died soon after that battle, leaving Sanemi as the only surviving member of their family.