The Demon Slayers of the Demon Slayer manga and anime are very peculiar characters with a lot of history and development behind them. Now, while it is interesting analyzing them, comparing them seems to be even more interesting. But, while Tanjirō Kamado is going to be the focus of this article, we’re going to compare him to another powerful swordsman from the anime world, but who is not part of the Demon Slayer franchise. The character in question is Guts from the Berserk manga, and we are going to reveal who would win in a fight between him and Tanjirō Kamado.
Guts would win in a fight against Tanjirō Kamado. Despite Tanjirō’s great powers at the end of the series, Guts is simply too powerful for him. Guts is on equal terms in most secondary aspects, but when it comes down to strength and sword fighting skills, Guts would easily defeat Tanjirō. Guts has defeated and killed monsters and demons much stronger than Tanjirō himself so he could easily defeat the Demon Slayer as well.
Now that you have the short version of the answer, the rest of the article is going to be divided into three sections, with the first two introducing the characters, their powers, and their abilities. In the end, we’re going to give our final verdict and explanation on why Guts would ultimately be able to defeat Tanjirō in a direct clash.
Guts and his powers
Guts is the protagonist of Kentarō Miura’s manga Berserk. He also appears in the two derivative anime television series and the Berserk film series, as well as video games based on the series. Guts is a mercenary who has spent most of his life on the battlefield. After meeting Griffith, the latter forces him to join his army, the Band of the Falcon, after defeating him in a duel. The feeling of friendship, and later of hatred and revenge, which binds the two characters is the point on which the manga focuses.
Guts lacks any superpowers. All of his enormous strength, both mental and physical, comes exclusively from his continuous training from an early age. Guts is a man who has transcended the extreme limits of the human body, in fact despite using very heavy weapons and armor he is able to move and fight against even dozens of enemies on his own, he also has excellent reflexes.
His mental preparation as a warrior and his past experiences lead him to have an iron will and a resistance to phenomenal pain, moreover always due to his enormous resistance he can bear mortal wounds that would lead a man to die only by bleeding continuing to fight at bitterness. If he has to do it, Guts is also ready to throw himself into the flames or get skewered simply to gain an advantage over his opponent. His mastery of the sword is such that no one has yet demonstrated superior swordsmanship to his.
The only one who ever cornered him was Serpico, who put him in serious trouble on two occasions. However, it should be said that on both occasions Guts won even if Serpico had studied circumstances favorable to him, such as a room full of columns (which Guts knocked down effortlessly) or a narrow mountain path, where Guts would have struggled to wield such a large weapon. In addition to the titanic Dragonslayer sword, in his arsenal, he has several throwing knives, some small bombs equipped with thorns to attach to demons and/or soldiers, a magnetized mechanical hand to guarantee him a better grip on the sword on which a repeating crossbow can be mounted and inside which there is a small but powerful cannon.
His incredible physical abilities are enhanced when he dons the Berserk armor. In addition to increasing his speed and strength to superhuman levels, this armor insulates his nervous system and prevents him from feeling pain. The armor then keeps it whole, repairing fractures and wounds (this is not healing, however). Excessive or careless use of armor makes Guts violent and if possible even more implacable. Guts has hidden within himself a dark, ferocious, and bloodthirsty side that turns out to be his inner demon. It has the features of a monstrous demonic wolf bristling with fangs. After Guts obtains the Berserk armor the demon wolf can finally physically manifest itself in reality.
Tanjirō Kamado and his powers
Tanjirō Kamado is the main protagonist of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a Demon Slayer from the Demon Slayer Corps who joined to find a cure to turn his sister, Nezuko Kamado, back into a human and to hunt down and kill demons in order to protect others of the same fate as him. Before becoming a Demon Slayer, his entire family was slaughtered by the Demon King, Muzan Kibutsuji, while his younger sister, Nezuko, was turned into a demon.
Tanjirō anjiro quickly established himself as an exceptional combatant with a strong natural talent for conflict, particularly fencing. Tanjirō has already proven to possess superhuman traits including keen senses, an enhanced sense of smell, tremendous willpower, and high IQ. One of the most formidable demon slayers, Giyu Tomioka, was outwitted and caught off guard by the man with naturally acquired powers that allowed him to almost kill him with nothing more than his heated emotions.
He was able to effortlessly defeat several low-level demons on his own after mastering Water Breathing and making the final choice, including the Swamp Demon and Kyogai, who both held the Blood Power and had previously belonged to the Twelve Demonic Moons. His father told him as a boy, according to the Hinokami Kagura, that he would have defeated Rui, the Eleventh Moon, if Rui hadn’t earlier severed his head—a feat that many thought could only be accomplished by a Hashira.
The most amazing thing about Tanjirō is his incredible pace of growth, which has surprised Sekido and allowed him to face demons of higher rank despite battling those of lesser rank only a few months before. As he awoke his Demon Slayer Mark and continued to exercise, his strength grew even greater.
Tanjirō was able to battle Muzan alone, despite being poisoned by him, who had recently vanquished the other Five Hashira by himself along with Zenitsu and Inosuke. Due to Tanjirō’s resemblance to Yoriichi, the most formidable demon slayer and swordsman ever, Muzan expressed concern about him, expressing his great power.
By the end of the series, while he didn’t become the strongest Demon Slayer, there’s no denying his extraordinary strength and growth on his journey.
Tanjirō initially learned the Water Breathing technique under the instruction of the former Water Hashira Sakonji Urokodaki. This was Tanjirō’s original breathing technique until he moved to Hinokami Kagura, which he claims suits him better and was given to him by his father when he was a young child. However, in the area where he practiced Water Breathing, he became incredibly skilled, which enabled him to compete against Rui and Enmu, two members of the Twelve Demonic Moons.
Tanjirō also practiced Hinokami Kagura, also referred to as the Dance of the Fire God. In particular, Tanjirō discovered a memory of his father teaching him this Breathing method during his near-death experience in his struggle with Rui. Tanjirō’s physique was not yet prepared to withstand the strain of the Breathing method, but after facing numerous challenges, he was able to do so.
Tanjirō awakened the Hinokami Kagura in the fabled Sun Breathing when he saw Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s twelfth form in its entirety and became conscious. Tanjirō was able to combine two breathing techniques—the initially taught Water Breathing and the awakened Hinokami Kagura—during his fight with Upper Moon Six, Gyutaro. This ultimately allowed him to significantly increase his speed for a brief period of time and perform attacks that combine the best elements of both breathing techniques. This is an extremely challenging and uncommon method.
Guts vs. Tanjirō Kamado: Who would win?
And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we will use what we have learned about these two characters and analyze how all these facts would (or would not) help them in a fight against each other. Let us continue.
This comparison was a truly interesting one. Namely, we had two very different worlds to compare. The world of Berserk is dark, filled with monsters and perils that Demon Slayer, despite all of its demons and the dangers that Muzan posed, could not match. Demon Slayer was always a shonen manga, whereas Bersesk is one of the best and most typical seinen titles. This is why all the powers presented in Berserk were – from the very start – on a higher level than those in Demon Slayer, as the stakes were higher from the beginning.
As far as Tanjirō is concerned, he never even became the most powerful Demon Slayer in the series, as he was too young and too inexperienced to fight more experienced Hashira, but he did become a powerful swordsman. He also mastered more than one Breathing Style, which made him an even more powerful fighter by the time the series was over. But, he was only able to defeat Muzan thanks to his friends and allies, whereas Guts would probably have defeated him with much more ease.
Guts, on the other hand, is a monster. He is at least as fast and as agile as Tanjirō, but he is much stronger in terms of pure physical strength and he is a much better swordsman. He is also more experienced than Tanjirō since he has killed monsters and opponents that are far more dangerous than anything Tanjirō has ever faced. In that aspect, Guts actually surpasses Tanjirō in all major aspects, and while Demon Slayer‘s protagonist might really be powerful, he is simply not on the same level as Guts, and that is why Guts wins this duel.
