Demon Slayer: Who Killed Akaza Upper Moon 3? His Odd Death Explained!

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 sad for them. But there are also exceptions, and one such exception is the protagonist of this article – Akaza. The Upper-Rank Three of the Twelve Kizuki, Akaza was an exceptionally powerful demon who wished to gain even more power and become the strongest. And while he did not succeed, he was nevertheless one of the strongest Demons in the series. Still, he was eventually killed, and in this article, we will tell you what happened to him and how he died.

Akaza was killed in a fight against Tanjirō and Giyū Tomioka, both of whom he praised. After evading death at the hands of Kyōjurō Rengoku, Akaza faced the Demon Slayers once again later in the story. And while Tanjirō and Giyu managed to defeat him, his regenerative skills would’ve enabled him to survive, especially after Muzan’s intervention, but Akaza regained his human memories and simply refused to regenerate, opting to die rather than continue living as a Demon.

The rest of this article will focus on Akaza and his death in the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. Akaza is a villain but an exceptionally important and very peculiar character. His death was odd compared to the deaths of the other Upper Ranks, so we have decided to dedicate this whole article to him and his death. This article will contain some spoilers from the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba manga, so be careful how you approach it.

Akaza almost died early on in the story, but he survived and ultimately decided by himself that he wanted to die

Akaza is one of only a few powerful Demons who evaded death once before ultimately dying; the others are Muzan himself, who avoided being killed by Yoriichi before dying, and Kokushibo, the Upper-Rank One, who also avoided death by Yoriichi’s hand before ultimately dying. Akaza’s first close encounter with death happened during the Infinity Train Arc when the combined efforts of Kyōjurō Rengoku, the Flame Hashira, and Tanjirō Kamado almost killed him.

After Enmu was defeated, Akaza appeared and started a battle with Rengoku. Tanjirō attempted to help him again, but Kyōjurō simply warned him to stay out, knowing how powerful Akaza was and thinking of saving Tanjirō’s life. After a fierce battle, Kyōjurō Rengoku was severely hurt by numerous wounds and organ damage on his body, while Akaza fully recovered from the attacks due to his regeneration. In fact, Akaza had one of the best regeneration powers in the whole series.

This time, determined to kill him, Kyōjurō gets to his feet and declares that he will carry out his duty and ensure that no one perishes. He lunges at the demon using the ninth form of flame breathing, and the monster strikes back in return. It only lasted a moment, but by the time the dust cloud cleared, Akaza had pierced his chest and killed him. Kyōjurō remembered his mother at that moment, and it was enough to give him some additional power, so he used all of himself to chop off the demon’s head while maintaining control of its arm.

In response, Akaza did not think twice and aimed a blow at Kyōjurō’s head, but Kyōjurō deflected the blow. As a result of being unable to assault each other, Tanjirō and Inosuke rushed to assist their superior, who was in a hold with Akaza, in keeping him from escaping because the sun would rise shortly.

He escaped his hold by running away before the other hunters reached him, but he had to sacrifice his second arm in the process. Helpless, Tanjirō threw his Nichirin sword at the Demon, screaming at him that he was a coward and Kyojuro had actually won this match. Akaza, thus, survived the first attempt, but he would end up fighting Tanjirō once again, this time with Giyū Tomioka, the Water Hashira, whom Akaza complimented in the same way as he did Rengoku.

What you need to know about Akaza is that he is a demon who despises the weak and offers those strong enough the chance to become demons; this is why he praised both Rengoku and Tomioka, as he respected and even admired their powers, considering them worthy candidates for Muzan’s army. But this was just a digression. To fully understand Akaza’s death, we have to talk about his human past a bit.

Akaza was once a human named Hakuji, who stole as a child to care for his sick father who would end up committing suicide to free his burdened son. Hakuji was adopted by a martial artist and trained by him while falling in love with the daughter of his teacher, Koyuki. But Hakuji lost his new family when a dojo student told him the rival dojo had contaminated the well from which Koyuki and her father drank. While Hakuji was away, both of them passed away shortly after consuming this water. Hakuji was furious and used his bare hands to slay all sixty-seven opponents of the opposing dojo, mutilating their bodies to become unrecognizable.

Muzan Kibutsuji became aware of this tragedy and, despite being disappointed to learn that a human, not a demon, had carried out such a heinous deed, he chose to turn Hakuji into one of the Twelve Kizuki, a group of his strongest Demons. Hakuji accepted and changed into the demon Akaza since he had nothing to defend and lost all desire to live.

But, this changed during his fight against Tanjirō and Tomioka. It was a fierce fight, and while Tanjirō used the Hinokami Kagura on Akaza and decapitated him at one point, with Tomioka even activating his Demon Slayer Mark, Akaza’s ability to regenerate even his head would’ve seen them lose the fight. But, during the battle, Akaza started to remember his time as a human and remembered both the martial artist who took him in, Keizo, and his daughter, Koyuki, whom he loved.

While going through these memories, Akaza ultimately realizes that he had sullied his “father’s” teaching and that he is not the person Keizo and Koyuki would have wanted him to be, regardless of how the two of them lost their lives. And while he did manage to recover half of his head later and tried to use his Destructive Death: Annihilation Type to kill Tomioka, Tanjirō’s intervention made him rethink his deeds.

When Tanjirō intervened to save Tomioka, Akaza finally realized that he was at fault and used what power he had left to use his annihilation move on himself. And while Muzan tried to force him to regenerate, it was too late, and Akaza simply accepted his death, knowing that he would meet Keizo and Koyuki once again in the afterlife. So yes, Akaza technically died while fighting Tanjirō and Tomioka, but they did not kill him, at least not effectively, as he died because he himself chose to.