u/Ok-Storage7159

People don't realize how insane the difference in portrayal is between these two fights.

The panels above show the Hashira fighting a fresh white haired Muzan in close quarters and a fresh serious Muzan as well. They're weaving through his attacks, getting into his range, and repeatedly landing hits on him. And none of them even had STW.

Now compare that to Kokushibo.

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Let's look at what it took just to reach close to Kokushibo

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Gyomei and Muichiro had STW. Was that enough?

No.

Sanemi, Gyomei and Muichiro had to charge him simultaneously, gambling their lives just to create an opening. Was that enough?

No.

Gyomei had to manipulate his blood flow to disrupt Kokushibo's predictions and throw off his attacks. Was that enough?

No.

Along with all that they had to use Gyomei's bead as a distraction to momentarily stop Kokushibo's offense.

Muichiro had to sacrifice himself.

And what did all that effort accomplish?

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Not a beheading.

Not a victory.

Just a single hit.

The aim wasn't killing him it was just to reach close to him, and that was an achievement.

This is a level of combat dominance we never see from any other demon in the series.

So I've seen a lot of people argue that because Sanemi and Gyomei pushed base Kokushibo to use Long Sword (LS), those two should automatically scale above characters like Douma or Akaza.

But there's a major issue with that logic.

Throughout the entire series, demons constantly abuse their regeneration. Akaza, Douma, and even weaker demons willingly take hits because they know they can instantly recover and create openings.

Kokushibo, however, barely did this at all.

His samurai mentality made him avoid getting hit, even in situations where tanking a blow and immediately counter attacking would've gotten him easy fatal hits.

This makes scaling from his base form extremely tricky.

How do you even compare that to demons like Akaza or Douma, who have no issue sacrificing body parts, taking damage, or abusing regeneration to secure kills? The way they approach combat is fundamentally different.

There's also the STW / See through world

A lot of people assume Kokushibo was using STW from the start, but there are clear signs and mention from Gyomei himself proving that he wasn't fully utilizing it in base.

Once he entered Long Sword state, he suddenly began predicting Gyomei's attacks before they were even launched. And that's how Gyomei finds out about the See through world.

LS Kokushibo is also where his speed and offensive increase by a huge margin.

So is it really fair to say that Sanemi and Gyomei automatically scale above Akaza or Douma because they pushed Base Kokushibo?

At this point in the fight, Marked Gyomei and Marked Sanemi are already at point blank range, yet Kokushibo is able to

1 ) Notice Genya's bullets

2 ) Change actions

3 ) Intercept the bullets

4 ) Still launch another attack afterward getting trapped

All before the Hashira can do anything

His swing speed was already causing them to struggle even at long range. What are they supposed to do at point blank distance?

And they can't just power through his attacks either.

Throughout the fight, their answer to the larger moon blades was usually to evade them because of their size and force, even Gyomei wasn't powering through them.

So that leaves them with absolutely no options in this circumstance.

One thing I think people overlook about the Kokushibo fight is that the goal wasn't even beheading him for most of the battle.

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Gyomei, Sanemi, Muichiro, and Genya were spending the majority of the fight just trying to land a meaningful hit in the first place.

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Compare that to almost every other fight in the series. Against Akaza, Doma, Muzan, the slayers are constantly exchanging blows and landing attacks throughout the fight.

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Against Koku, even getting through his defenses once required coordination, sacrifice, and a bit of luck.

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People debate whether they could've beheaded him, but tbh the bigger issue was that they could barely touch him to begin with.

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This is part of why I think Kokushibo gets underrated. The gap wasn't just about regen or durability it was about how incredibly difficult it was to land even a single clean hit on him.

Doma admits he couldn't properly react to base Shinobu's speed, while Akaza never seemed to struggle against base Hashira level opponents to that extent.

Does this suggest Doma's base stats were lower than Akaza's and Kokushibo's, or is Shinobu's speed simply being underrated?

Looking back at the fight, it’s interesting that Kokushibo only starts launching those massive moon blade barrages when he’s cornered or in some Long Sword forms

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Before that, while fighting Gyomei, Sanemi, and Muichiro, he mostly sticks to smaller, more controlled crescent attacks. Yet later panels show that even his short sword is capable of producing absurdly large moon blades.

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It seems like Kokushibo was deliberately holding back and limiting his AoE in his base.

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What do you think?

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Most people already consider movement blitzes incredibly impressive since the character has to physically cross the distance rather than just attack faster.

But this takes it a step further. Kokushibo doesn't just reposition instantly, he moves so fast that Gyomei can't even perceive where he went.

That's what makes this feat so absurd. It's not just a movement blitz, it's a perception blitz on top of it.

If a weakened Kokushibo can do this, his peak speed must have been terrifying.

When it comes to scaling 13th Form Tanjiro, the community is largely split into two camps.

One side places him around Kokushibo’s level or even above, while the other argues he remains below that tier somewhere around strong Hashiras or Gyomei

Let’s break down both interpretations and then examine which one aligns more closely with what the manga actually presents.

Argument One: 13th Form Tanjiro ≈ Kokushibo Level (or Higher)

The core argument here is straightforward:

Tanjiro fights a version of Muzan who previously blitzed the Hashira.

That same Muzan struggles to put Tanjiro down.

From this, the conclusion follows that Tanjiro must scale far above the Hashira, and by extension, above all Upper Moons, potentially even Kokushibo.

If Tanjiro can contend with someone who overwhelmed everyone else, shouldn’t he be operating on a completely higher tier?

Argument Two: Context and Narrative

The opposing view places heavy emphasis on context.

First, the Hashira who were blitzed were severely fatigued and injured.

Inosuke states that several of them lost limbs while protecting others, which matters. This indicates their injuries weren’t simply the result of being unable to react, but of situational sacrifices and positioning under extreme conditions.

Second, Tanjiro himself explains in Chapter 192 that Muzan’s whip attacks were unexpected, framing the blitz as situational rather than a pure, overwhelming speed gap.

Third, Muzan directly states that he cannot kill Tanjiro and immediately realizes why.

The drugs are aging him rapidly and slowing his movements.

Finally, Muzan comments that Tanjiro’s movements are sluggish and lacking sharpness, reinforcing that the fight is defined more by Muzan’s deterioration than by Tanjiro overwhelming a peak opponent.

In other words, Tanjiro isn’t outperforming peak Muzan.

He’s surviving and adapting to a severely declining one.

Final Take / Conclusion

The claim that 13th Form Tanjiro is Kokushibo level runs into a major narrative problem:

Where does the jump come from?

Tanjiro already has the Demon Slayer Mark

He already has Transparent World

Sun Breathing/13th form does not provide a direct raw stat amplification on its own

In Demon Slayer, major jumps in strength are tied to power ups. Tanjiro receives no new major amp between his fight with Akaza and the battle against Muzan.

Suggesting that Tanjiro leapt from " strong Hashira tier " to Kokushibo level within a few hours without any new transformation or stated boost clashes with how the series portrays progression.

The interpretation that best fits the manga is this:

Muzan was weakening rapidly due to the drugs

The Hashira were exhausted and injured

Tanjiro’s performance is good, but context dependent and not enough to put him near Kokushibo level

If Kokushibo had started even a few feet closer, Gyomei likely would've taken a fatal hit.

That's why I find this feat so impressive. We really don't see this level of movement speed from anyone else in the series except Yoriichi.

And the craziest part is that this is only Base Kokushibo

Monster/Long Sword Kokushibo is significantly faster than this version, but that's a discussion for another day.

It always seemed like Muzan treated Kokushibo with far more respect than the other Upper Moons.

He insults, threatens, or humiliates demons like Akaza and Doma, but his interactions with Kokushibo feel completely different.

Why do you think that is? Was it his strength? Or did Muzan genuinely value him more than the others?

It was established early in the manga that Muichiro's extraordinary talent is connected to his lineage and relation to Yoriichi.

Later, Kokushibo himself attributes Muichiro's strength and potential at such a young age to Michikatsu's genes

Muichiro is repeatedly portrayed as having the potential to reach Gyomei's level, or even surpass it with enough time

So the source of that strength and talent who's Michikatsu naturally should scale above

Even with Gyomei right beside him, it didn't take Long Sword Kokushibo more than five seconds to completely overwhelm him. The moment Kokushibo got serious, the gap became obvious.

That's why I've never really understood the downplay. If Muichiro doesn't show up at that exact moment, what was stopping Kokushibo from finishing Sanemi right there?

In Chapter 165, Kokushibo states that Muichiro is his descendant. This later dialogue's purpose is to explain why Muichiro is this exceptional at such an early stage, complimenting Muichiro and then tying his extraordinary ability directly to Michikatsu’s genes.

This was teased several arcs back as well, how Muichiro was related to Yoriichi and how that ties to his exceptional talent

And Muichiro is someone who has the potential to reach Gyomei level