Zenitsu vs. Kaigaku: Who Would Win and Why?
The protagonists of this article are going to be Zenitsu and Kaigaku, whose duel has yet to appear in the Demon Slayer anime, but has appeared in the manga. In preparation for the anime, we are going to tell you whether Zenitsu is stronger than Kaigaku.
Although he behaves like a coward, Zenitsu is actually very skilled and has been taught well, which is why he is stronger than Kaigaku. This has also been shown and proven in the manga, where Zenitsu and Kaigaku clashed. The outcome of the duel was as follows: Zenitsu managed to defeat and behead Kaigaku, effectively killing him for good.
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 Zenitsu truly is stronger than Kaigaku, and what the exact difference in their powers and abilities is.
Zenitsu Agatsuma and his powers
Zenitsu Agatsuma is a Demon Slayer who is a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. He is Tanjiro Kamado’s traveling companion and one of the protagonists of the manga and anime Kimetsu no Yaiba. He is a former pupil of Jigoro’s.
Superhuman Hearing
Zenitsu has superhuman hearing, allowing him to detect danger with even the faintest sounds. He is also able to hear people’s inner thoughts if he uses his senses to the fullest. He can use this gift to help him locate demons by comparing the sounds produced by a demon and those produced by a human.
Unconscious Combat
Zenitsu is most powerful when he sleeps. When his life is in danger, the fear he feels exceeds the limits his body can withstand and causes him to pass out, causing him to reach his true potential; when Zenitsu is asleep, he wields the sword at a high level based solely on his instincts. However, as the story continues, he hones his skills and courage and relies less and less on this ability, beginning to show the same talents by being self-aware.
Thunder Breathing
It was taught to him by the former thunder Hashira, Jigoro Kuwajima. This technique increases his strength and agility to reach those of a demon. There are six moves, but Zenitsu could only learn the first one, which is the basis for the others, but he perfected it to the point where he could defeat several powerful demons. He later creates the seventh movement and defeats his eldest who has become the Upper Moon Six of the Twelve Kizuki.
The forms of Thunder Breathing that were shown used are these:
First Form: Thunderclap and Flash | The user dashes forward and attacks their opponent with incredible speed. Zenitsu has perfected this ability to the point where he can repeat the move multiple times in quick succession. Zenitsu usually uses the move with the Sixfold variation, but has been able to use the Eightfold variation to quickly dash up to eight consecutive times and use the technique at once. |
Seventh Form: Honoikazuchi no Kami | This stance was created by Zenitsu on his own. The user creates a dragon-like creature that emits fire and thunder. This stance in combination with God Speed was what allowed him to defeat his former training partner and Upper Moon Six Kaigaku. Shortly before Kaigaku died, Zenitsu confesses that he created that stance himself in hopes of fighting alongside him one day. |
Kaigaku and his powers
Kaigaku was a member of the Twelve Kizuki, holding the position of the Upper Moon Six, succeeding Daki an Gyutaro after their deaths. He was originally a demon hunter and member of the Demon Slayer Corps, and a student of Jigoro Kuwajima along with Zenitsu.
Enhanced Breathing Techniques
Due to him becoming a Demon, Kaigaku’s breathing techniques suffered a sharp increase in power, being enough to fill the vacant position of Upper Moon Six. However, Kaigaku was just beginning to adjust to the changes that his transformation into a Demon brings, so his exact power was only growing. Yushiro comments that if Kaigaku had been allowed to live another year, it is possible that Zenitsu would have died if they had faced each other after that time.
Thunder Breathing and Elecrokinesis
Taught by Jigoro Kuwajima, Kaigaku barely knew five of the six existing Thunder Breathing attack stances, despite not learning the first stance, which was the most basic and main of the other attacks. Like Kokushibo, Kaigaku uses his Demon Blood Technique to increase the power of his attacks allowing him to break the skin and burn the flesh of his opponent. In the visual aspect of him, all of his attacks had a black coloration.
Zenitsu vs Kaigaku: Who would win?
And now for the most important and interesting section of our article – the analysis. Here, we are going to use what we have found out 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.
As you might know, Zenitsu and Kaigaku have a common history because Kaigaku was Jigoro’s former student who opted to become a Demon so he could gain more power, which is why Jigoro was so hard on Zenitsu. This is why Kaigaku was, on the one hand, a nemesis of Zenitsu. Inside the Infinity Castle, he and Zenitsu finally meet.
Zenitsu shows his disappointment to learn that his former partner turned into a Demon and gets angry when he remembers how he knew that his teacher had committed suicide and how no one assisted in completing his Seppuku ritual which caused him to die. His death was slow and agonizing.
Kaigaku, with a mixture of glee, comments that he is not sorry for the decision he made and that he doesn’t care at all what happened to his teacher. Kaigaku then begins to attack Zenitsu with all his techniques, leaving him seriously injured, until Zenitsu finally, after remembering his teacher, decides to attack him.
Kaigaku was ultimately decapitated by the Honoikazuchi no Kami technique. Kaigaku mockingly commented that his teacher favored Zenitsu more for teaching him that style, until Zenitsu admitted that this attack was his own creation, to fight alongside Kaigaku as equals, without needing to become a Demon.
Kaigaku points out that Zenitsu was going to die of severe exhaustion only to be saved by Yushiro in the last few seconds. Finally, Kaigaku’s head screams in anger as he disintegrates. According to Yushiro, if Kaigaku had evolved into his demonic transformation for another year, it would have been fatal for Zenitsu.
This short summary of their final duel also gives us the answer we needed, as it is now completely clear why Zenitsu is the stronger of the two and why we had him down as the winner in this situation.