‘Demon Slayer’: Who Is the Asakusa Demon & Why Is He Important?

The Demons of Demon Slayer are a truly fascinating lot. They come in all shapes and sizes, and while they are evil in their demonic form, their backstories and their lives while they were human usually contain a tragic note that makes you feel sorry for them. And while we usually talked about the Twelve Kizuki or Muzan in such articles, there is a lesser-known demon from the series who also deserves our attention and who, although being present for a short time only, had a big impact on the story. The demon in question is the unnamed Asakusa Demon, who appeared early on in the story and was not heard of again until the very end of the Swordsmith Village Arc. Who is he, and why is he so important? Keep reading to find out!

The Asakusa Demon was an unnamed demon from the beginning of the story. While he was walking with his wife in Asakusa, an unnamed man was swiftly turned into a demon by Muzan, who picked him as a random victim because he was close to him. The Asakusa Demon was then captured by Tamayo, who kept him under lock until she managed to devise an antidote for Muzan’s demonification procedure. He was her first test subject, and she successfully healed him and turned him back into a human.

The remainder of this article will give you a detailed overview of who the Asakusa Demon is and what his story was like, as it happened on the pages of the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga. You already know what happened and how it happened, so we will just bring you the details so you know the whole context. Be careful, though, as the article will contain many spoilers, so if you don’t know all the details, be careful how you approach the text.

The Asakusa Demon was Muzan’s victim, but also the first demon who was healed by Tamayo

To tell you the story we are about to tell you, we need to go back to the Asakusa Arc, which was a small arc that took place at the beginning of the story. Asakusa was a vibrant and lively city, a city where Tanjiro was when the events we are about to describe to you took place. A lot of people were there, and the city was, in that aspect, quite busy, with crowds of people enjoying the pleasant evening.

A man was strolling in Asakusa with his wife one evening. The two of them were not named, but we got a good look at them. They were perfectly normal and also seemed to be perfectly happy. But, they had the misfortune of passing by Muzan Kibutsuji, his human wife, and their daughter on the street.

It was a chance encounter, and Muzan was disguised as a human at the time, so no one really suspected anything, and had Tanjiro not been there, a fact that Muzan sensed, nothing would have happened. Probably. But Tanjiro was there, and he sensed the presence of a Demon. So, in order to hide his presence, Muzan Kibutsuji used his exceptional speed and sliced the unnamed man’s neck, injuring him seriously, as he started bleeding.

Tanjiro witnessed the attack, but he could do nothing about it. The man suddenly stopped and seemed hurt, but as Muzan’s blood was taking effect and turning him into a demon, he kept his head down to hide the transformation, although some signs were visible even under such conditions.

Noticing that the man is transforming into a demon, Tanjiro tries to intervene, but he cannot reach him in time as the man, now a demon, attacks his wife and bites her shoulder. Tanjiro, luckily, manages to reach them and stops the demon from further injuring his wife while successfully tackling him down to the ground. He then puts a scarf into his mouth to prevent him from biting others.

The concerned wife wants to help, and Tanjiro tells her to press on the wound while he is holding her husband down; Muzan, in the meantime, escapes the scene with his scared wife and daughter. The police arrive soon, and they order Tanjiro to release the man, not knowing that he is actually a Demon; while Tanjiro pleads with them to let him do what is needed, a Blood Demon Art focusing on flowers suddenly blinds the policemen and a female demon arrives, taking Tanjiro and the couple fo her house.

There, she introduces herself as Tamayo. She takes care of the wife and locks the demon in a room in her mansion. She then explains everything to Tanjiro, and the two of them become allies in their shared fight against Muzan Kibutsuji, the Demon King.

The man was named the Asakusa Demon, and Tamayo kept him under lock until she agreed with Tanjiro to come up with an antidote and heal him. As per that same agreement, Tanjiro kept sending Tamayo samples of Nezuko’s blood and the blood of the Twelve Kizuki, all of which had a high concentration of Muzan’s blood. She used these samples to come up with an antidote, and by the end of the Swordsmith Village Arc, as her letter revealed, she seemed to have done it. An antidote was made, and all that was left now was to test it.

On whom? Luckily, Tamayo had a perfectly healthy demon in her mansion, the Asakusa Demon, on whom she tested her antidote. She administered the potion to him, and after a while, he was, indeed, healed. He regained his humanity once more and was fully free from Muzan’s influence on just a small amount of blood.

His importance thus proved to be pivotal for the story. Namely, he was the first demon healed from Muzan’s influence, and he also was the first test subject for Tamayo’s anti-demon antidote, a cure that would prove essential later in the story.

So, there you have it. The Asakusa Demon is, as we’ve said, a relatively unknown character for most fans; he appeared only briefly and early on in the story, so most of us actually forgot about him until the very end of the Swordsmith Village Arc, when he reappeared again and was mentioned as Tamayo’s first successful test subject. His powers would also be used later against Muzan, but this was a relatively small segment of his story and more of a homage than anything else.

The real importance of the Asakusa Demon lies in his role in battling Muzan’s influence. As we’ve said, the Asakusa Demon proved that Muzan was beatable, that his influence was beatable, and that one could simply fight the guy off with a little help from science. He proved that there was an effective cure and that Nezuko could be saved, and although the story would not resolve itself so smoothly, it still proved that Muzan was certainly beatable.