Demon Slayer: Why Does Muichirō Keep Forgetting Things? His Amnesia Explained!

When discussing Demon Slayer, one usually talks about the demon slayers themselves or the demons. And while the series has offered us a variety of other intriguing characters, we will talk about one specific Demon Slayer – Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Hashira. In this specific article, we will tell you everything you need to know about Muichiro, his story, and his career in the Demon Slayer Corps. Muichiro Tokito is one of the principal characters in the third season of Demon Slayer, and in this article, we are going to discuss one of his trademark features – his amnesia. Namely, it was seen, in the recent episodes, that Muichiro keeps forgetting things and that he seemingly, does not have any memories of his past. In this article, we are going to explain that phenomenon.

Muichiro Tokito does not have amnesia, dementia, or any other disease of the mind. He experienced severe trauma as a child, and his mind simply blocked out those memories as a reaction to the trauma, which is not unusual. He is also a bit airheaded – which is symbolic in relation to his Breathing Style – but he manages to regain his memories and his focus later in the story.

The rest of this article will focus on Muichiro Tokito and why he keeps forgetting stuff, but also on all the other relevant information tied to this story, including those related to his role in the story, history, and his family, and his influence on the plot. Muichiro Tokito has a lot to offer in terms of his story and personality, which is why we reckoned that he deserved proper treatment in a standalone article, especially because he is now one of the major characters in the currently airing third season of the show. There will be spoilers, so watch out!

Muichiro suffered a horrible trauma as a child

The root of Muichiro’s amnesiac behavior lies in his traumatic past, so we will quickly go over that here before we actually explain the whole thing to you. Muichiro and his twin brother Yuichiro were born into a lumberjack family. When they were ten years of age, their mother became very ill. She eventually developed bronchitis and died in her bed. Before that, their father was very worried about his wife’s condition; therefore, despite the snowstorm, he went to look for medicines and other medical assistance, but on the way to the village, he fell off a cliff and died. This left the Tokito twins orphaned.

When spring came, Kagai Ubuyashiki’s wife Amane found them and invited them to join the Demon Slayer Corps, observing their potential in them. Muichiro was excited and accepted the offer, but his brother was not. In fact, he was quite mean in rejecting Amane. In a fit of rage, Yuichiro even blamed his parents’ overworking and benevolent nature for their deaths, pointing out that they should have made all decisions with a cold head.

Muichiro failed to convince his brother to join the organization. Amane never stopped visiting the twins, but every time Yuichiro chased her away. And this ritual repeated for some time. Muichiro did not fully understand such behavior, but he went along with it, probably due to his gentle nature.

At the beginning of summer, when the twins were eleven years old, a Demon came to their house and attacked them. Yuichiro stood up to the Demon and attacked it to protect his younger brother, but he lost his left arm in the process. This resulted in Muichiro, in a fit of rage, attacking the demon and beating him to death in the street with everything he could get his hands on, from various tools to logs.

When the sun rose in the morning, the Demon disappeared because the sunlight killed it, and Muichiro managed to drag himself back to their home. When he arrived home, he saw his brother, covered in blood and on the verge of death, praying for Muichiro’s life. While dying, Yuichiro talked about how good his brother was, who wanted to help others, and that he only got in the way under his feet.

Muichiro took his hand, but Yuichiro was already slowly dying and finally stopped breathing at the end. The twins were later found by Amane and her daughters, who then took Muichiro to their place to heal him. After the incident, he lost most of his memories and started working as a Demon Slayer for the Demon Slayer Corps, subjecting himself to intense and rigorous training.

Muichiro became a Hashira very quickly: according to Tengen Uzui, he became one just two months after joining the organization. One day, he meets Kyojuro Rengoku, who advises him to do his best to be a good Hashira. Muichiro’s memories remained lost until the events occurred in the Swordsmith Village. Gradually, he began to recall the image of his brother and other episodes from his former life, which will be the focus of the next section.

Muichiro is not ill, he has simply blocked out the traumatic memories

When we first met Muichiro, he seemed to be a bit absent-minded, but he was not featured too much, so we didn’t really get a proper analysis of his personality at the time. He is, as fans know, heavily featured in the third season, and already in his debut, we saw that Muichiro was quite absent and that his mind did not work normally.

Namely, when he meets Tanjiro, he doesn’t immediately remember who he is, although the two of them have met, and later, when they eat together, he seems to have forgotten their earlier talk, remembering it only when his mind is triggered by something. We also saw him “fighting” his memories before he jumped in to save Kotetsu from Gyokko.

All of this was confirmed to be a trait of Muichiro’s and not just an irrelevant detail. And while we can confirm that he does not suffer from any mental or neurological disease, such as amnesia or dementia, he is a bit airheaded. He sometimes loses focus, getting lost in his own thoughts. This also has a symbolic role in the story as Muichiro is the Mist Hashira, so we could say that his mind is trapped in a mist and that he has to make some effort to clear it to properly perceive everything.

But, during his fight with Gyokko, Muichiro remembers how his mentor, Kagaya Ubuyashiki, told him that he has to find himself once again, and from that moment on, Muichiro starts to remember things slowly; at one point, he will completely regain his memory and his focus, becoming even more powerful at that point.

Namely, the reason for this is the trauma we have explained above. Muichiro lost his whole family, and being as gentle as he was, he simply blocked out the tragedies and opted to live without them; this resulted in him not remembering his past but also constantly searching his mind for something, which is why he always seemed to be airheaded and absent.

All of this is – basically – a normal psychological reaction to trauma. People cope with trauma in different ways, and this is a perfectly normal and valid way to cope with it, which is why we can confirm that it does not imply that Muichiro is ill or anything like that; in fact, once he embraces his trauma, he quickly returns to normal.