u/OmniSnatcher

For those in the back, Justice League Action is a 2016-2018 animated show about Justice League, showing off various heroes fighting various villains in various circumstances, funny and some more serious. Rather light-hearted show for the most part, kinda like Batman: the Brave and the Bold, but with maybe 40% less Batman, freeing up space for really unique and fun character combos, like Mr. Mxyzptlk messing with Captain Marvel for a change.

Booster Gold is one of the lesser known heroes who gets some solid spotlight here, alongside Firestorm and a few others, and between JLA and Brave and the Bold I've come to really like Booster… but it frustrates me how he's characterized because of several particular episodes.

You see, in general, Booster is presented a comedic goof who does heroics to get famous enough he can profit off of merch and, in general, for money. That's perfectly fine and he's funny while doing it. Then in Episode 27, Chronovore, it's revealed that despite his goofiness, Booster can be serious when it comes to keeping timestream in check and he works with Batman to defeat the titular time anomaly, showing himself a competent time-specialized hero who's a bit lonely because he has to goof around and act extra stupid sometimes or people might start poking too much at time-space stuff. Batman gets his memories of that adventure erased, but Booster made a pic he keeps at his base, so he feels a bit better about being valued. Solid character work.

HOWEVER, then Episode 31, Booster's Gold, has him actively goofing around with timestream, bringing dinosaurs from the past to make a Jurassic Park copy, which just goes entirely against his characterization in Ep. 27 and it just freaked me out on first watch.

And the last bit. Not as egregious, but it still pissed me off. One of shorts connected to JLA has a funny/kinda sad bit where Wonder Woman uses her Lasso of Truth on Booster and during the compelled rant he mentions how he's "terrible at caring for things he loves". That turns out to be a bit of foreshadowing, as he gets the show's finale, Episode 52, She Wore Red Velvet, to himself. The titular villainess, Red Velvet, is Booster's fiancee he left at the altar in the future, because he felt he wouldn't be able to support wedded life and that is why he's obsessed with getting rich as a hero. Justice League gets him back, but then Red Velvet reveals that she didn't become a villainess because he left her, but because he came back and their marriage was terrible. As a result, Booster's fiancee runs away, causing a reaction that makes Red Velvet disappear, leaving Booster visibly lost.

Given that Booster had his serious moments and this is the show finale with kinda serious premise and kinda serious presentation that completely wrecked Booster's goals for life, you'd expect some resolution at the end to give Booster a new vector or something? NOPE, literally last seconds are to play Booster up as a womanizer.

>Wonder Woman: How can we be sure this Red Velvet isn't still out there?
Batman, using Watchtower tech for search: There's no record of her, even in the future.
Booster Gold: …Red Velvet she never existed. *covers his face mournfully*
Batman: Booster, I know how difficult this must be, but you'll get over it in time.
Booster Gold: *pause where he uncovers his face*
Booster Gold with a silly grin: ...do you have Giganta's number? I know she's a villain, but I guess that's my thing now?
Batman: *visibly unimpressed, starts walking away*
Booster Gold, being playful: Got Giganta's digits? Hey, it's not like you're gonna use them! Bats, come on!

Reminder, this is a guy who can stop joking around when things get serious and who basically dedicated his heroics to his fiancee so they'd have a rich and happy married life. That dissonance right at the end of the episode SOOOO pissed me off when I was younger and it pisses me off now. Honestly, you could even leave the phrase about getting Giganta's number in, if it was more self-deprecatingly and without being played up as a joke with his tone and background music. But no, we have to be extra light-hearted here.

So annoying. And outside of these inconsistencies, Booster is honestly a hilarious and enjoyable mainstay in the JLA show, even moreso than in Brave and the Bold, given how much more often he appears.

It's the second time I bring up DBZ with some old-fashioned rant point this year, but man, I LOVE DBZ, so I need to rant about it.

So, Yamcha.

One of my favorite DBZ characters, he was beside Goku since the very first arc in his travels as a kid, grown from a desert bandit into a decent man and beloved baseball icon, not to mention one of the strongest humans on Earth. Handsome, sweet, a bit awkward in a cute way and ever reliable. And completely meme'd to death to the point it's depressing and leaking into official works. The worst part I kind of see how it happened, with US receiving DBZ without the original series, which led to wrong first impression of Yamcha. But even then, somehow people just missed the point that Yamcha's infamous death was the result of a surprise attack after the saibaman fight concluded, plus Yamcha took him on instead of Krillin to avoid him getting (what at that point would be) permadeath in case they pulled out a dirty trick just like that.

And, honestly, given how Yamcha's death was played out dramatically and with all the gravitas it deserved, I think it wouldn't have stuck if not for Toriyama's writing decisions surrounding Bulma, Vegeta, Trunks and all around that. I can live with my man being relatively weak, it's something that befell most Z-Fighters. Now, basically getting cucked by the guy who got you killed is something else.

Yeah-yeah, "Yamcha is a cheater" Toriyama says, but even voice actors didn't believe Toriyama, especially with Bulma's characterization where she was hanging up on every handsome guy beforehand, like General Blue (before she learned he's gay), Jackie Chun (before she learned he's an old man) and Zarbon (before he transformed into his monstrous form). Honestly, even Yamcha fits the mold of "badass and powerful" because he was a rugged and intimidating (for ten seconds) desert bandit in his first appearance. Pretty sure there's a fanon thought flying around that since we only know about Yamcha "cheating" from Future Trunks, Future Bulma just lied about because why would she ever admit the opposite, especially with how Bulma is frequently characterized as petty, vindictive and hypocritical.

Now, that's mostly anime characterization, but it genuinely makes her even more unbearable in that after Yamcha become a decent guy and starts living with her, she starts getting jealous about his fangirls outside the house when Yamcha still hasn't fully gotten over his genuine fear of women (according to Toriyama himself, mind you, Yamcha pretty much never got over it). I watched Dragon Ball from the very start and the only thing I kept thinking off was "man, Yamcha deserves better". Honestly, outside of the whole "getting pregnant with the kid of the guy who killed her friends", Bulma and Vegeta deserve each other.

How come Frieza has a better taste than Bulma?

>Excerpt from Dragon Ball FighterZ fighting game.
Yamcha: "This is Frieza, huh? This is the first time I've gotten a good look at him."
Frieza: "Oh ho ho ho! This Earthling is aware of my greatness. I do love how the word of my return gets around!"
Goku: "Oh, yeah, Yamcha. And this isn't even Frieza's full power. Get this… When he's at his strongest, his whole body shines gold like a Super Saiyan."
Frieza: "I would appreciate it if you didn't compared me to you Saiyans!"
Yamcha: "Y-Yeah, that's right, Goku! D-Don't be so rude! Super Saiyans aren't the only gold things around. You know what I mean? Gold medals, championship wrestling belts… Being gold means being number one!"
Frieza: "...Well, this is quite a surprise. I didn't think Saiyans associated with such sensible and handsome creatures."
Goku: "Hmm, well that's all well and good, but can we hurry up and get to the fighting cuz I'm bored?"
Yamcha: "Oh, c'mon, Goku! I just set the mood and you're killing it!"

And yeah, gonna make a note to all insufferable "ackshually Vegeta didn't kill them, the saibaman and Nappa did" and of course it makes it THAT much better. Saw one comment make a strong counterargument "If my dog rips you apart, I feel like the court will still charge me with murder" and Vegeta made the whole point of "I'll kill you if you don't kill them" and stood there with a smug grin.

Now, all that is the canonical basis, right there in the manga and original anime. But then it got worse. DBZ Abridged took its time in kicking Yamcha down at every turn until in Cell Saga even the cast felt they were going a bit far and started throwing him some bones. But of course because of cultural osmosis of this extremely popular parody in the time of DBZ content drought, Yamcha's role in Abridged got mixed up in people's heads with his canonical role.

Then Dragon Ball Super came around. It hit pretty much every member of the cast with a case of flanderization and, honestly, Yamcha got off somewhat easy, but the anime showed him living in kinda poor apartment despite his fame, his non-inclusion in ToP felt genuinely mean-spirited with how he expected to be invited only for his friends to basically forget about his existence, and his supposed "moment to shine" in baseball game culminated with the official material, I must remind you, making fun of his memetic death. Which, as I mentioned previously, was played completely straight and tragic originally. Yeah, on the other hand, manga actually threw Z-Fighters, including Yamcha, an actual bone in having them defeat prisoners Moro set on Earth… but they're literal noname fodder.

There's a supposed girlfriend for Yamcha in Heroes, but he's too young for her because alien species and he gets cucked by time. There's that "Reincarnated as Yamcha" manga with a badass Yamcha, but I never quite got it and its hype because, you know, it isn't EXACTLY our dear old Yamcha. Neither Yamcha nor other Z-Fighters got new fancy moves like Yardrat techniques or even Kaio-ken despite training with King Kai, none of them got any use out of god ki to equalize them with saiyans or something.

IT ALL LEAVES ME SO FRUSTRATED.

In a word, as I said, Yamcha, the guy who stuck around since the very first arc, really got slighted by the writing even more than other Z-Fighters. At this point I'd even just prefer if Puar was confirmed to be his girl/boyfriend (or even wife/husband, depending on the dub) because come on, all Yamcha has ever wanted was a family and you don't even give him that!

TL;DR: sometimes JoJo stand users ARE actually unassuming characters who look like extras and that's very cool.

Let me nerd out about JoJo. This thing started my shonen obsession in recent years and there's so much to love about it. But my little favorite thing is something people meme'd to death. "The stand user can be anyone" they say and the absolutely flashiest peacock of a human appears to reveal themselves as a stand user. Right? Except it's not exactly always true.

Part 3, Stardust Crusaders and the introduction of stands. The first enemy stand and its user, Kakyoin, are kinda the meme, but anime highlights future JoBros, so he kind of slides by. Now, the actual first enemy stand, pure evil, Tower of Gray, actually has a stand user I didn't see coming. During the airflight, an unassuming old man from the background just wakes up to leave for the bathroom, sees the blood, knocks himself out... only to be revealed as a crazy bomber when the stand is defeated and damage reflection goes exactly to that man.

There are conspicuous stand users like Devo and Rubber Soul, but Part 3 also pulls out few genuinely unassuming stand users, my absolute favorite being Steely Dan. The crusaders make a stop after defeat Enya, where Joseph haggles with a common-looking street vendor, the narration putting focus on the art of haggling in that usual way JoJo speeches about random trivia facts go and the scene ends with the vendor cackling to himself because despite Joseph's haggling, he still overpaid the vendor. I genuinely thought that'd be it for the scene, since the vendor seemed like one of numerous "a bit quirky" and functional to the momentary bit, but ultimately background unnamed characters who appeared throughout the story. ...NOPE, there's a stand attack and the vendor actually throws off his cloak to reveal himself as one of Dio's assassins.

Part 4 is a bit odd about unassuming stand users since plenty of stand users in Part 4 look unassuming like Yukako and Tonio, but the narrative puts them in position where you know they're the stand user. Kira, while presented as unassuming, even in his early anime appearances in the background, it kinda noticable with his signature bright jacket. However, there's one brilliant scene in the anime, right after Kira switches faces and escapes in the crowd: there are actually several future stand users right there in the background and even Kira himself, animators didn't slack, he's right there in the crowd, but all of them blend with the rest of the people, really bringing that "anyone can be stand user/Yoshikage Kira" feel.

Part 5 stand users are memetically conspicious, but Part 6, the grand finale of the original timeline, brought the tradition back in my second favorite case. In High Security, Pucci releases four stand users to kill Jolyne. …and there are way more than four prisoners in their in all sorts of flashy outfits, which already confuses the viewer. When one of the guards and his friend escorting Jolyne wrestle to death with little provocation, you'd think these two are just victims of a stand attack, since the two look rather unassumingly, but then there's focus on the survivor who fights Jolyne herself when every prisoner is released for a free-for-all brawl. I'll be honest, I doubted that guard was one of the stand users until the narrative flat-out said it and showed his stand. I was pleasantly surprised one last time (since Part 7 and Part 8 stand users aren't subtle in the slightest and I have no idea about Part 9).

I've been around, writing Demon Slayer rants, interpreting, analyzing and ranting on underrated villains of the series. This one topic has been on my mind for quite a bit and I think it concerns the most obscure and underrated characters yet. My previous rants:

• Muzan Kibutsuji: An Underrated Antagonist
• Douma the Mischaracterized
• Subtleties of Kaigaku
• I Love Kokushibo

Today, I'll be ranting about not one, not two, but, just, A LOT of characters, a specific category that's just generally underrated in the series: Demon Slayer's human villains. Well, in some cases "villains" might be overstating it in comparison to Muzan and his demons, but in other cases humans are just as monstrous as Muzan's demons.

To preface specific paragraphs, I'd note that every single human villain only appears as part of major characters' backstory, either slayers or demons, which, given just how many there are, feels like a deliberate choice, given that surprisingly many of them are actually alive and, presumbly, live well-off lives during Demon Slayer main story, in some cases even outliving characters whose backstories they belong to.

Some villains will be grouped together for one reason or another, and I must also note that while I want to add him here, I've already written about the only human villain who appears in the main story… Kaigaku. Notably, he never appears in main story as a human, only as a demon, so he doesn't disrupt the pattern.

Anyway, with that, I start looking over.

• Kanao's parents and Douma's parents

Two groups of abusive parents I stack together because of their basic concept as selfish parents who use their kids to enrich themselves, whether it's through actually selling them (Kanao) or starting a scam religion using them (Douma). They're also grouped in how both sets of parents contributed to their related characters experiencing issues in showing their emotions. In a way, they're even contrasting each other, intentionally or not: where Douma's parents are shown to be rich via their scheme and psychologically abusive, forcing their sole kid into service of the people and (likely unintentionally) brainwashing him into believing their religion to an extent, Kanao's parents are outwardly poor, taking it out on their many kids right up to killing them and are pretty much physically abusive, to the point Kanao didn't really talk when Kocho sisters found her.

At the same time, both sets of parents are equally unsympathetic, some of the most hated characters in the story, and with how Douma's parents ultimately killed each other in falling to their vices, it's not too hard to imagine something like it would happen to Kanao's parents as well.

• Edo Period Samurai and Rival Dojo Heir

Two nameless individuals from backstories of Upper Moon 6 and Upper Moon 3 respectively. Let me remind you how villainous they are with brief summaries.

The samurai in question was one of the Ume's clients in the Red Light District. Already perfectly considered to be a sleazy, getting services from the beautiful 13-years-old, he insulted her brother, Gyutaro, for no reason, and got stabbed for it in the eye by the hairpin he got for her. In retaliation he went to outright burn Ume alive, which led to Gyutaro killing him (and no tears were spilled) and accepting demonhood from Douma to save her.

The rival dojo of Keizo, Hakuji's mentor, are generally considered a collective villain, but I pick out the heir explicitly due to the extended backstory never adapted from Gotoge's manga notes. While the dojo in general wished to gain Keizo's land and was pissed off at him being a superior fighter, the heir in particular is a more personal rival of Hakuji, harboring a crush for Koyuki, Keizo's sickly daughter who, nevertheless, didn't bother helping her with an asthma attack, unlike Hakuji. So when the two became engaged, he was the one to challenge Hakuji and Keizo to a fight and, when that failed, the one to hatch the plan to poison them all. Since his plan failed to kill Hakuji, Keizo and Koyuki's deaths served as his breaking point before he went on a murderous rampage to brought Muzan's attention to him.

These two are individual villains, but are, just like the previous group, are some of the despised characters in the story due to how they ruined lives of people who would, in the future, become demons, explicitly because of their actions. It's extra notable since Daki, Gyutaro and Akaza are some of the most sympathetic demons, contrasting the humans who created them.

• Obanai's family

Obanai's family are some of the human villains whose villainy is much more pronounced than previous groups, as their bandit clan for centuries lured people to be eaten by the snake demon they hosted. The first boy their clan had in centuries, Obanai, was both kept in cage yet spoiled with meals so rich and fat he couldn't help but feel ill from it. They would smile at him yet they, his mother, aunts and cousins would also cut his mouth open to mimic their patron demon when it wished so. In all honesty, Obanai's backstory is one of the most twisted ones and no tears were shed when the demon killed them all in rage when Obanai escaped.

However, it's also of note that one of Obanai's cousins survived… to promptly victim blame him for their family's death because "he dared to escape", so Shinjuro Rengoku who killed the demon had to hold her back from beating Obanai (after, I suppose, he wrongfully thought he'd be doing good to reconnect the survivors of the family). It's also the most bittersweet part: Obanai holds nothing against his cousin in particular, because she wasn't one of the adults and, from his point of view, didn't have the full idea of what they were doing. At the same time, she, such an unsympathetic girl, according to manga notes, outlived Obanai and built a happy family afterwards. Even if you don't like Obanai for most of the story, it's bitter how Obanai never gets a happy life, dragged down by belief he's tainted by his family, while his cousin picks up what was left of their fortune to life well.

• Tengen's father

Not gonna lie, I think Tengen Uzui's father is the most monstrous human in Demon Slayer, which is rather impressive, since even in Tengen's backstory he never appears in person.

Let me summarize who Tengen's father is. An overzealous and ruthless ninja, most likely specializing in assassination, given the context, who trained his nine children to the bone. Because of the kids wearing masks all the time, when Tengen (the oldest sibling, mind you) was 15, he tricked Tengen into killing two of his siblings, forcing a selection to have the strongest and the most ruthless of his children procreate to continue the clan. That's why he also arranged for Tengen (and, presumably, his surviving younger brother who was successfully molded into his father's likeness) to be married to Hina, Suma and Makio, treating kunoichi as nothing more than baby factories.

Just like with Obanai's family, actions of Tengen's father drag his respective Hashira down, with Tengen fully believing he's going to Hell after death no matter how much good he's done after leaving his clan upon realizing how twisted their life is. Even without appearance, he's a major foil for Tengen himself, who, while bossy and boisterious, also carries a lot of care for the Kamaboko boys working under him and a lot of love for his beloved wives.

Genuinely, Tengen's father, even from what little we don't see of him, sounds like he belongs to a more cruel and twisted setting like Naruto in general. I'll be honest, with this absolutely ruthless set-up I lowkey expected Tengen's brother to make a surprise appearance as new Upper Moon 5 to contrast Tengen, not unlike Kaigaku, since both Tengen's brother and the aforementioned father are still at large during Demon Slayer. Alas, it was not meant to be.

• Kyogo Shinazugawa

The only guy on the list to have a name to put to the face. All things considered, he's the least villainous on the list, being a "mere" violent alcoholic who would beat his family (mostly his wife) but I, surprisingly, have quite a few things to say about him.

The Shinazugawa brothers, Sanemi and Genya, quite transparently parallel the Kamados, very noticeable with both families having many young children who are killed by a demon, leaving only two eldest as survivors of a massacre. What's less noticeable, but, for me, an entirely legit interpretation, is how Kyogo is a complete opposite of Tanjiro and Nezuko's father, Tanjuro.

Both Tanjuro and Kyogo died before anything demon-related happened to their families, with Tanjuro dying because of his illness and Kyogo being shanked by one of the victims of his violent outbursts. Both Tanjuro and Kyogo have strong resemblence to their sons. But most importantly… both of them make posthumous appearances in story despite their deaths. Tanjuro is Tanjiro's spiritual advisor at least on one major occasion, giving him a hint against Enmu's dream ability. Kyogo appears to Sanemi when the latter's on the verge of death after the final fight, forcing him back to life, when Sanemi wanted to comfort his beloved mother in Hell.

There's something ironic in how Tanjuro keeps loving his son even when the advice he's forced to give to Tanjiro against the dream ability is "cut your own throat to escape the dream", while Kyogo keeps being harmful to Sanemi even when he forces him out of the afterlife: at that point, Genya's dead and Sanemi has no family left and given the Demon Slayer Mark he awakened, he's not guaranteed to live past 25, so what Kyogo gives him feels cruel, as does his compliment.

>Sanemi: Okay, mom. I'll carry you and we'll go to Hell together.
Kyogo: Let go. Shizu's coming with me. *throws Sanemi back*
Sanemi: You ass…!! Jackass, let go of mom!
Kyogo: You're not going anywhere, not here, not there. Be grateful you're my son. You're goddamn tough.

It's honestly funny how Kyogo is a very, and I mean very insignificant character, but his nature as Tanjuro's potential foil and his single afterlife scene, a very rare element for such an antagonistic and insignificant character, gives certain layers to his character.

Demon Slayer is, at its core, is a rather bittersweet story, given how many sacrifices heroes make to overcome their adversary. I think a bit of that bittersweet taste lies in how humanity is presented. Yes, humanity is virtuous, as shown with the slayers, but every demon was once human, even Muzan himself, and while slayers have brought down the greatest evils of Japan, others, like surviving human villains, are still there, running in the background, because humanity is imperfect even when striving to be the best it can be.

That's a fourth rant on Demon Slayer I'm doing. Earlier I analyzed underrated and misread antagonists, but this time I just wanted to yap against a universally acclaimed villain. Positive rant incoming. My previous rants:

• Muzan Kibutsuji: An Underrated Antagonist
• Douma the Mischaracterized
• Subtleties of Kaigaku

When I was first reading Demon Slayer, I was spoiled on some things, but Kokushibo, for the most part, remained a complete mystery to me. But at some point I familiarized myself enough with the fandom that I learned a common opinion that "Kokushibo is the best villain of Demon Slayer" and even "Kokushibo is the best written character in the manga". I asked myself if, perhaps, people are overhyping him. After all, I've reached the Infinity Castle Arc and Kokushibo has only had one appearance during the Upper Moon Meeting at the start of the Swordsmith Village Arc where he didn't do much but intimidate Akaza.

I don't think I've ever seen a character so hyped up yet completely living up to said hype. Neither have I ever been so glad to be wrong.

I'll separate my rant into summary of Kokushibo's appearance in story and discussion of Michikatsu Tsugikuni's psychology, geeking out about everything I like about him all the way.

• Kokushibo, the strongest Upper Moon

Kokushibo stays in the background for the most part. His first appearance is the aforementioned Upper Moon Meeting, where he shows he's the strongest of the Upper Moons, though keen-eyed readers can notice how oddly similar he appears to the mysterious slayer from the past who scared the life out of Muzan (something I personally didn't immediately catch in the black-and-white manga). His second appearance is his appearance in Kaigaku's backstory where he intimidates the boy into becoming a demon or facing death. Then he makes a brief appearance after Akaza's death, denouncing him for his weakness.

After Douma's defeated by Kanao and Inosuke, outside of Nakime controlling the Infinity Castle, Kokushibo remains the biggest threat to deal with in Muzan's absence.

From the get-go, Kokushibo proves himself a fascinating and unique character, being a former demon slayer who states his relation to the Hashira who first encounters him, Muichiro Tokito, being his ancestor, Michikatsu Tsugikuni. It's notable, because Tokito has been assumed to be the descendant of the slayer who created the Sun Breathing, the original breathing style from which all slayers' techniques are born.

The battle picks up when the Shinazugawa brothers, Genya and Sanemi, appear and then, Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Hashira. The stakes are much more acute in Kokushibo's fight than any previous one. Tokito, Genya, Sanemi and Himejima - all of them are secondary characters with none of the plot armor offered to Tanjiro, Zenitsu and Inosuke in their respective fights against Upper Moons, and the author has shown herself to be absolutely willing to kill named characters with Shinobu's death against Douma.

There's not reason for me to recount the battle step by step, but Kokushibo shows the ridiculous gap between himself and Upper Two not in brute force, but in ridiculous level of skill. Kokushibo reveals himself to be the wielder of Moon Breathing, a style he refined over centuries, with the largest number of shown techniques of any breathing style by a large margin, 11 various techniques on-screen and they're not even sequential. No, given the names of the forms, Moon Breathing has at least 16 various forms, each enhanced with Blood Demon Art, not unlike Kaigaku's, making the aura of his attacks real. Kokushibo extends his flesh katana for maximum effectiveness, possesses the ability to the Transparent World, retains his composure throughout, shrugging off most of the four's desperate attacks in what might indeed be the most graceful fight in the manga with the finest choreography and desperation seeping through. Really, it's just a SPECTACLE to read and yeah, I'm basic, like most KnY fans, I think it's my favorite fight.

Ultimately, Kokushibo is brought down by all three Hashiras awakening their Demon Slayer Marks that empower them at cost of their lifespan, and with Genya, who gains demonic power from eating demon flesh, awakening a Blood Demon Art from eating broken parts of Kokushibo's flesh katana. Kokushibo, shockingly, become the second demon to regenerate after decapitation, boasting internally of being superior to everyone else, including Akaza who was so close to doing the same but giving up his power for his humanity.

However, Kokushibo's regeneration is monstrous. He catches his deformed appearance in the reflection on Sanemi's blade and the hesitation costs him, allowing the Hashiras to decapitate him once again, definitively. Both Tokito and Genya are bisected by some of Kokushibo's final attacks, giving Upper One some of the most notable bodycounts in the story.

However, while Kokushibo, the demon, was already memorable with the show of unparalleled force, he wouldn't be nearly as great without the human aspect of him, Michikatsu Tsugikuni, implied in his throwaway phrases, brief snaps of past showing when he starts losing and culminating in the two-chapter backstory at the very end, when Kokushibo reflects on his life.

• Michikatsu, the envious brother

Here, we need to go more or less chronologically. Michikatsu Tsugikuni is the twin brother of Yoriichi, the man who became a legend, founding the breathing styles all slayers use against demons. The two were born to a samurai clan and Yoriichi, odd silent child, marked as if a bad omen, was treated poorly, while Michikatsu was brought up as the heir. Michikatsu, in his words, thought him pathetic, even when his brother treasured poorly made flute Michikatsu made for him.

At one point though, Yoriichi revealed his prodigious talent for swordfighting in a spar against Michikatsu's trainer. The disparity between twins was tremendous and that's where Michikatsu's greatest flaw first showed itself, his envy.

Michakutsu felt fear in being reduced to Yoriichi's position in their household and being sent away to the temple in his stead if he was to be the heir, he felt inadequacy in how Yoriichi saw the world transparently, in how better he was. When Yoriichi, after his disappearance, re-appeared in Michikatsu's life, saving him from a demon that mauled his samurai force, Michikatsu's envy swelled up, making him abandon his family to become a demon slayer, it drove him to try and overcome Yoriichi. When he learned that the Demon Slayer Mark he gained would kill him young, his envy made him seek out Muzan for demonic immortality, not even for the immortality itself, but for the fact that he couldn't accept dying before overcoming Yoriichi.

In the end, as a demon, Kokushibo only met Yoriichi once, when the latter was an old man, and he still couldn't surpass him. Yoriichi, even as an old man, stuck him across the neck swiftly, the only slayer to do that before the Taisho Era Hashiras, and would have killed him with the second strike if not for dying of old age right before that.

However… that's where things get truly interesting.

>Kokushibo (narrating the flashback in Chapter 174): Why is it always you? Why do you always, always have to be the special one? You managed to live a long life despite the mark. And even in your old age, the techniques you displayed had the exact power and speed from when you were in your prime. The memories came rushing in wildly. Those resentful days from sixty years ago. The envy that seared through my very bones. You were the only exception to the laws of the world. You lived your life with the favor of gods on your side. I hate you. I want to kill you. But my head was going to get chopped off with your next blow. I was one hundred percent certain of it. That sword technique of his had pushed Him to the brink. Basically, it was no different from the holy techniques of gods. Irritation and defeat twisted through every organ in my body. But that next attack never came. Yoriichi died a natural death from old age as he stood on his feet.

In fury of no longer having the chance to prove himself better to Yoriichi, Kokushibo slashed Yoriichi's body in two. It happened to cut through the small bag he's been carrying on him, a bag that had a poorly made flute, now slashed in two, the same one Michikatsu made for him as a child. Before their fight, Yoriichi, usually very short on showing emotions outwardly, cried for his brother, and once Kokushibo saw the flute his brother carried, a proof of sibling love, he cried himself.

>Kokushibo (narrating, while his past self actively cried upon seeing the broken flute, as shown in extended flashback in Chapter 178): Just stop. I hate you.

One of the most notable things about Kokushibo is that he's an unreliable narrator and while initially it seems his contempt for Yoriichi is genuine, the charade breaks completely in the full backstory where his narration directly contradicts the actions and emotions shown on-screen.

Kokushibo's final internal monologue when he's decapitated for the final time, bares Michikatsu's insecurity when he realizes that for all he's done to satisfy his envy, to overcome Yoriichi, he, in the end, heartbreakingly, achieved nothing.

>Kokushibo (narrating): I could never grab hold of anything. Anything at all. I abandoned my home. I abandoned my wife and children. I abandoned my humanity. I cut down my descendant and abandoned being a samurai. But even all that wasn't enough? You said that those who master their paths all reach the same place. But I never did. I could not see the same world that you did. Every swordsman who knew the breathing of the sun's forms was utterly massacred by me and Him after you died. So why does your breath still remain? Why could I not leave anything behind? Why could I not become someone known? Why are we so different?

Unlike most demons, Kokushibo's clothes aren't made of his demonic cells, it's the same outfit he wore as a demon slayer of the Sengoku Era. When Kokushibo disintegrates fully, his kimono remains. The final panel of Kokushibo is, perhaps, one of the most heartbreaking in the manga, one of very few that made me actually cry: in Kokushibo's kimono, lies the same broken flute Yoriichi carried, the symbol of brothers' love for each other.

>Kokushibo (narrating): Why in the world was I ever born? Tell me… Yoriichi.

I can't say enough how I LOVE the visceral and raw feeling of envy Kokushibo relays, along with how that sin can burn you out. I think it truly hit me when Kokushibo started to cry after slashing Yoriichi's body and their flute, while his narration vehemently tried to convince himself and the audience that he hates Yoriichi. What little of his charade remains crumbles completely with the reveal of Yoriichi's backstory in the following chapters where, from his point of view, Michikatsu has always been a loving brother who tried to take care of his supposedly weak brother despite their stern and even cruel father's wishes. It's because of how loving a sibling Michikatsu was, that Yoriichi was broken so much by his turn to demonism.

>Yoriichi (narrating in Chapter 186): My brother was a nice boy. He was always worried about me. Even the day after my father hit him and told him to forget about me, he made a flute and gave it to me. "Blow this if you need help. Nii-san will come and save you right away." Then he smiled with his bruised face and said, "That's why you don't need to worry about anything."

Kokushibo is unique in that he's written to be tragic without being sympathetic. He abandoned everything good he had in life, his loving family, his esteemed status, his dear brother, to satisfy his envy. Without a doubt, Kokushibo is evil, and unlike most antagonists, he doesn't have an afterlife scene to provide extra clarity or resolution to their character, the cover of Chapter 179, right after Kokushibo's death, shows his point of view, clawing his way as he sinks into flaming hell of his own making.

However, the raw feeling of inadequacy Michikatsu conveys is something very human, a fallible quality most of us can be empathetic towards because we experienced it, unlike some of the extreme circumstances behind most demons' backstories. Ironically, the strongest Upper Moon, despite Muzan's belief that demons become strong when they reject humanity, is the most viscerally human enemy among the Kizuki.

I swear, the writing on Kokushibo is just SO GOOD, it made me tear up just rereading pages for this rant AND I LOVE IT.

In for a penny, in for a pound. I've already wrote two separate rants about underrated and misread Demon Slayer antagonists, might as well go further, why not? I'm in the mood to.

My previous rants:

• Muzan Kibutsuji: An Underrated Antagonist
• Douma the Mischaracterized

Today I'll take a look at the third most mischaracterized and, in a way, underrated demon antagonist of Demon Slayer, Kaigaku, the second Upper Moon 6, Zenitsu's personal enemy he fights during the Infinity Castle Arc.

Kaigaku is a bit more complex case than Muzan and Douma who are explicitly misread by audiences. Unlike them, Kaigaku serves perfectly in his intended role as a very hateable demon, contrasting his more sympathetic predecessors, Gyutaro and Daki. However, I'd say he fulfills his role a bit too perfectly, so that people don't notice certain subtleties of his character.

To start analyzing Kaigaku, let's start with what everyone knows of him, with his role in the story, with all the ways he makes the audience hate him in impressively short amount of time we know him.

• The hateable Kaigaku

I must say, if there's one thing to love the anime adaptation of Demon Slayer, even if it messes up the pace every once in while despite sticking too closely to the script, is that it cleared up Kaigaku's identity before his appearance in the Infinity Castle Arc. That way, no one will argue with me that we're first introduced to Kaigaku as Zenitsu's abusive senior during their time training with Kuwajima, the former Rumble Hashira.

Next time we see him in a decidedly more villainous manner, being one of orphans housed by Himejima, the Stone Hashira, before the blind man became a slayer. Kaigaku stole money from him and other kids shunned him out into the night, where Kaigaku was cornered by a demon who threatened him into extinguishing the wisteria incense Himejima kept against demons, if Kaigaku wished to live. That act saved his life, but doomed almost all other kids and ruined Himejima's life as he was accused of killing the kids.

And, finally, present-day Kaigaku finally appears in person in the Infinity Castle, greeting Zenitsu as the new Upper Moon 6. Upon learning that Kaigaku became a demon (and killed a lot of people, since Upper Moon demons have to consume a lot of people to become as strong as they are), Kuwajima committed seppuku for the shame of his student becoming a demon, which made Zenitsu focus completely on his mission, tearing into Kaigaku for his choice. Kaigaku mocks Kuwajima and his death (which was particularly cruel, as seppuku is supposed to include a second to cut off a person's head, otherwise the death is excruciatingly long and painful, and Kuwajima had no second to him), Kaigaku mocks Zenitsu and his weakness and he despises Kuwajima for the preference he believes he had for Zenitsu.

The fight between Zenitsu and Kaigaku is, perhaps, the shortest in the arc, a part of that being simply because these two are both slayers wielding Thunder Breathing, the fastest swordfighting form. It ends with Zenitsu revealing the Seventh Form of Thunder Breathing, one that shouldn't have existed, which makes Kaigaku cry out in outrage since he believes it to be a confirmation of Kuwajima's bias for Zenitsu. In fact, it's not, since Zenitsu designed the Seventh Form himself, hoping to measure up to Kaigaku, a senior he respected.

Kaigaku, disintegrating upon death as both of them fall deeper into the Infinity Castle, is satisfied knowing they both will die, but Yushiro, the slayers' demon ally, catches Zenitsu, breaking his fall, mocking Kaigaku for his failure as the new Upper Six screams in frustration until his complete death.

In his very brief appearance in comparison to other major characters, Kaigaku very quickly establishes himself as an ungrateful, cowardly and extremely selfish individual, only looking out for himself, degrading and abusive towards Zenitsu and dismissive towards Kuwajima and Himejima who gave him shelter and care about him at various points of his life. I was genuinely impressed with how easy to hate he was, some impressive writing. But much later I took a second look at Kaigaku's character, contemplated it and after seeing the Infinity Castle movie in particular realized even more impressive writing in Kaigaku's subtleties that don't make him sympathetic, but make you wonder.

• The insecure Kaigaku

With this one, we'll start with chronological beginning.

The earliest point of Kaigaku's life that we see, he's an orphan kid who resorts to literally drinking water from holes on the road for sustenance. It's hard to estimate exact timeline, but Kaigaku'd have to be around 10 years old when he was fostered by Himejima with other orphans, painting a rather sad picture of his early years.

Once again, I thank the anime adaptation for all the clarification it made for Kaigaku, since it shows that Kaigaku enjoyed his time with Himejima, looking as happy and thankful for his meals and care as other orphans. More than that, nothing shows Kaigaku to be religious, yet he carries magatamas as a slayer and even as a demon, something he could have only adopted from Himejima. While child psychology is an advanced topic, with the consideration that Kaigaku might have genuinely enjoyed his time with Himejima, as supported by him retaining his magatama motif, ask the question "What would Kaigaku do with the stolen money?". He could have left, true, but he might have just been reverting back to his street habits, to have something on him if Himejima doesn't want to shelter him anymore and something like that came true when other kids forced him out because of the theft, right to be confronted by a demon.

People call Kaigaku the villain of Himejima's backstory… but what can a ~10 year old boy do in the face of a adult demon, a monster right out of the bedtime stories, entirely willing to kill him? Himejima, in his chat with Tanjiro, says that children are selfish, but he doesn't blame them for being so. That's pretty much what Kaigaku was at the time, a cornered kid who thought he didn't have any choice. Even if he put any trust in other kids, they couldn't have helped him if a demon was coming after him, and even if he still had trust Himejima would protect him despite the strength, he likely didn't believe Himejima could protect him from the demon either (other kids later thought that Gyomei himself would need protection because of his blindness, after all). His role in Himejima's backstory is honestly rather tragic, when put in perspective.

Now, his role in Zenitsu's backstory is more complex and even more subtle.

Unlike with Himejima, Kaigaku is outwardly antagonistic towards Zenitsu and never enjoys his presence. He derides Zenitsu for his cowardliness and unwillingness to commit to the slayer profession, he derides Zenitsu for being overly familiar with Kuwajima, calling him "gramps" instead of more respectful "teacher", he derides him for getting into a fight senior slayers because they badmouthed Kaigaku… and you start noticing a bit of a contradiction here with the hateable Kaigaku from the main story, don't you? Kaigaku despised Kuwajima, then why's he so particular about formalities and respect for seniors here? Well, perhaps, because Kaigaku did respect his teacher and hoped to be loved.

The Infinity Castle Movie shows a scene that has only been mentioned in passing in the manga itself as an extra fact after a chapter. Zenitsu's signature haori patterned with triangles doesn't only have a match in Kuwajima's own haori, it's a matched gift set the old man presented to both Zenitsu and Kaigaku. The movie shows the actual moment they got those gifts and Kaigaku was genuinely happy… before he saw Zenitsu wear a similar haori.

Zenitsu described Kaigaku's heart as a box of happiness that was open and the happiness kept leaking from it. Kaigaku wanted to be special and didn't want to share the attention with Zenitsu, even more so because of what Zenitsu represented. Cowardly, weak and pathetic, all those things the audience applies to Kaigaku as well as Zenitsu and it's no doubt Kaigaku has enough self-awareness to hate Zenitsu for the flaws he perceives in himself.

Kaigaku is objectively no slouch, combat-wise. He has mastered all Thunder Breathing forms except for the First Form (the contrast to Zenitsu who only mastered the First Form) and his growth as a demon has to be insane. The news of him becoming a demon must have only reached Kuwajima at most a few weeks before the Infinity Castle Arc where Kaigaku revealed himself as an Upper Moon, which implies Kaigaku made a lot of work, especially to satisfy Muzan who, as we know, is a very demanding boss and would very likely meld Kaigaku with other demons (like he did with every other demon to create his castle force) if he wasn't strong enough for his tastes. However, the comparison between himself and Zenitsu, the implication of Kaigaku's weakness easily gets a rise out of him.

Chapter 145 of the Demon Slayer manga has one of my favorite chapter covers I noted even on my first reading, before I truly thought about the implications of Kaigaku's character. It has six square panels, three with Kaigaku on the left, three with Zenitsu on the right, both boys progressing with time.

• First row shows Kaigaku and Zenitsu, dressed as they were at Kuwajima's place, equally uncertain, exchanging glances between themselves.
• Second row shows Kaigaku and Zenitsu as demon slayers. Zenitsu is happy, surrounded by his friends, Tanjiro and Inosuke… while Kaigaku looks downtrodden and even more unsure, his eyes down, with no one next to him.
• Third row shows Kaigaku and Zenitsu as they are in the Infinity Castle Arc. Kaigaku as the maniacally laughing Upper Moon Six and Zenitsu as a serious demon slayer, focused on his mission.

This little thing stuck with me, because it implied that Kaigaku had no one to connect to and, perhaps, believed there was no one who truly cared for himself. His philosophy, shown through his thoughts, shows pretty much that.

I maintain that for all Kaigaku grew up to be an arrogant swordsman with a poor reputation, his luck was just abysmal at times. As a kid he encountered that demon next to Himejima's place, and as a slayer he encountered Upper Moon One, Kokushibo. Kokushibo, whose oppressive supernatural aura alone immobilizes Tokito, a genius Hashira, upon their first meeting.

>Kaigaku (narrating): There is no shame in kneeling before someone in overwhelming strength. As long as you stay alive, it will work out somehow. Until you die, you haven't lost. You may rub your face in the dirt… you may lose your home or drink muddy water… people may curse you for stealing money… but as long as you live on… you can win someday. You will win. I have moved forward with that belief.

>Kokushibo: Become a demon if you want even more power, and if He accepts you, you will be our ally. It takes time to become a powerful demon, as powerful as a strong swordsman. It took me about three days. And to turn a breath user into a demon I must give a lot of His blood and on rare occasions someone resistant to His blood appears… They do exist. But what about you… Be thankful for the blood. You are not allowed to spill even a single drop on the ground, for if you do… Your torso and head shall have a sorrowful parting.

>Kaigaku (narrating): All the cells in my body were so scared they were crying and screaming.

People say of how cowardly Kaigaku was in becoming a demon, but his turning stretches the definition of "willing" to an extreme degree. It's not like Kokushibo himself, who went out of his way to ask Muzan to turn him into a demon. Kaigaku's fate was pretty much forfeit.

It's a bit funny how no one but Kaigaku and Kokushibo themselves know how little choice there truly was in Kaigaku's turn to demonship. And even believing the worst of Kaigaku, Zenitsu was still sorrowful for killing him and, when on the verge of perishing and seeing Kuwajima on the border of life and death, he still apologized for not managing to get along with Kaigaku, apologizing and blaming himself for how Kaigaku turned out.

Kaigaku can be read as "preview of Kokushibo", a slayer both talented and envious who didn't realize how much he had. But unlike Kokushibo's cause of insecurity, Kaigaku, by the time he came to Kuwajima's, was too jaded to see that Kuwajima truly loved him and always put him as an example for Zenitsu to follow, that Zenitsu, even though he developed animosity from his treatment, still respected his hard work and could have become akin to a brother who would support him no matter what, the exact connection that he lacked back at Himejima's place among other orphans and throughout his life.

>Zenitsu (narrating): You were special. You were just as special and important as gramps was for me. But I guess that just wasn't enough.

As an afterword, I must mention Kimetsu Gakuen, a modern-day AU spin-off of Demon Slayer that developed out of Gotoge writing brief profiles for that AU after some chapters, re-imagining characters in modern day, leaving happier and easier lives. The actual series is very funny, light-hearted and heartwarming exactly because you see characters, who were miserable in the main series, leading better lives. One of my favorite parts is that there, old man Jigoro Kuwajima serves as a foster parent to two students, Zenitsu Agatsuma and Kaigaku Inadama: Kaigaku and Zenitsu are on a more even footing, with AU!Zenitsu pushing back whenever Kaigaku is being a jerk, and despite them being comedically rude with each other, being an actual somewhat functional family with his Kaigaku and Kuwajima is exactly what main series Zenitsu would have loved.

TL;DR: Kaigaku is a trash-talking jerk, but he's also an extremely unlucky kid jaded by his upbringing, too blind to see that people valued him.

You know, for a series that everyone agrees is simple (and it really is in comparison with many other battle shonen with more treacherous plots and detailed worldbuilding), it's rather fascinating, even absurd how various characters in Demon Slayer are misread and mischaracterized by the audience on a regular basis. Of course, some of these, like "Tanjiro cries and forgives demons" is just people not really reading/watching the series, but then there's the most misread character of the series.

Douma, Upper Moon 2.

Honestly, one of my favorite demons, maybe top-5. Let's start by summarizing his role in the story, so we have the framework.

1. Douma's Role in Story.

Peculiarly, he's the only demon who's actively shown to change his rank, moving upwards. He's first introduced at the very end of the Entertainment District Arc, appearing in Gyutaro's (the arc villains) backstory as Upper Moon 6 who found him and his sister, Ume, after the latter was burned almost to death. Douma found them pitiful and offered to turn them both into demons so that Gyutaro could save his sister and he accepted it.

Almost right after the arc is concluded, Muzan summons all remaining Upper Moons to Infinity Castle, where we see present-day Douma as Upper Two, the third strongest demon in existence. The Upper Moon Meeting establishes him as a jolly fellow who's friendly with other high-ranked demons, with some being kinda friendly in return (Gyokko who gave him one of his pots as a gift), some being neutral or finding him mildly annoying (Muzan, Nakime, Kokushibo, Hantengu) and one hating his guts (Akaza). Of course, it's exactly Akaza whom Douma calls his best friend, getting on the guy's nerves.

Once the meeting concludes, Nakime sends him back to his home area and that's where I think we can start addressing his backstory, revealed during his fights in the Infinity Castle Arc. Revealed steadily throughout the fight, might I add, because Douma is one of the demons who remembers his human life as a demon.

Douma's home area is the Eternal Paradise Cult, of which he is considered the founder and spiritual leader. In fact, his parents founded the cult after Douma was born with his signature rainbow eyes, taking it as a sign of godly blessing, or at least something they could pass of as that, since the two were quite the conmen. People would come to this child guru, speaking of their miseries and hoping for a kind word and divine blessing. Though young Douma spilled tears for those miserable visitors, he didn't cry when his parents died: his father was cheating on his mother with female cult followers, so Douma's mother first killed him, then herself. All Douma thought at the moment was "Will someone clean the blood off the floor?"

When he was 20, Douma met Muzan and became a demon.

As a demon, Douma consumes his followers in secret, speaking of them achieving paradise, living forever through him because they were so miserable in life.

At one point he came across the Flower Hashira, Kanae Kocho, and killed her, but didn't have enough time before the dawn to consume her. With her dying words describing his rainbow eyes, Kanae laid base to Shinobu's quest for vengeance that finally came to fruition when she met Douma in the Infinity Castle, the first Hashira to come across one of the five Upper Moons within the castle. Douma proved to be overwhelmingly strong in comparison to Shinobu, eventually killing and consuming her, while crying tears of pity for her, such a weak Hashira who continued to fight uselessly until the very end.

That's when Kanao, Shinobu's adopted little sister and tsuguko successor finds them and enters ready for a fight. Before it starts, though, Douma senses a shift: Akaza has fallen in his fight against Tanjiro and Giyu, and that makes Douma tear up and bemoan his best friend's death.

At this point Kanao tears him down for lying.

>Kanao: I know every word coming from your mouth is a thoughtless lie. You're not sad, right? Not even a little. Your pallor hasn't changed at all, even though your "best friend" died. You haven't paled and your faced isn't flushed with anger.

>Douma: That's because I'm a demon.

>Kanao: Demons' eyes are always moist, so they don't blink, but their blood circulates the same as humans, so their pallor changes. As she died, Kanae said that she was sorry for you. You don't feel anything, do you? People born into this world can feel joy, sadness, anger and other emotions so strongly they tremble. But that's all a mystery to you, right? But you're smart enough to make up for it by lying. You can only pretend to be happy or have fun or be sad so you won't reveal your empty heart. Enjoying happy things, fun things, facing difficult things and painful things… you're actually an empty shell. A ridiculous joke. Tee-hee… Why were you even born?

What Kanao says is truth, Douma is incapable of feeling emotions. He mostly drops his attempts to imitate such at Kanao's insult, showing off his criokinetic Blood Demon Art and easily disarming Kanao at one point. She's stronger than Shinobu, by Douma's estimates, but is only saved by Inosuke's intervention and when Douma manages to snag off Inosuke's boar mask, he recognizes his face: Inosuke is very alike his late mother, Kotoha, and Douma tells him how his cult took her in after she escaped from her abusive husband (whom Douma killed along with his wicked mother when they came looking for Kotoha) and how he enjoyed her presence, almost feeling something, before she discovered his demonic nature and ran away, only to be killed after tossing Inosuke into a river with hopes that he survives.

Nevertheless, Douma continues overwhelming both Inosuke and Kanao, about to leave the fight to his ice copies, when Shinobu's final trump card turns up. Shinobu's been pumping herself full of wisteria, toxic for demons, so when Douma consumed her, he poisoned himself. In his poisoned and half-melted state, even after he summoned the gigantic Bodhisattva ice statue, his ultimate technique, Kanao and Inosuke ultimately managed to cut off his head.

Upon death, Douma still didn't feel anything. In the afterlife scene that most major characters get, he converses with Shinobu, impressed with her poison. He says that his heart beats faster conversing with her and, wondering if it's love, offers Shinobu to join him in Hell, only making her cuss him out and send him alone to Hell.

Despite being one of three big villains of the Infinity Castle Arc, Douma is noticably more of a sideshow compared to Akaza, who's already been established as a major and personal threat for Tanjiro, and Kokushibo, whose true identity ties massively into the larger narrative. I believe this rushness to his character makes people miss the nuance in him. So now we'll take a look at that nuance.

2. Douma's Nuance.

I'll begin with the elephant in the room and one of the most recurring elements that Douma's misread about. "Douma was born with no emotion and that reflects his monstrous nature; he was a demon even before Muzan turned him".

There are layers to it. Let's start with the fact that Douma is an unreliable narrator. It's, perhaps, easy to miss, but his followers refer to him and he introduces himself as the founder of the Eternal Paradise Cult while the founders are, technically, his parents, who built the cult around him. Douma sees no issue with that and he sees no issue with a lot of things that should be concerning, like hordes of adults coming to a child, essentially venting about all their miseries and hoping that child would somehow make it all better. Especially with the parents of the child building that system for their benefit. Sounds rather messed-up, don't you think? The most Douma thought about all that is that all those adults were stupid for believing gods exist when he, a child, figured out they're just constructs people use.

People say how callous he was as a child for only thinking of how someone should clean the blood after his parents' deaths, but for all it seems, there was little love lost between them.

Because he never heard any divine voices whispering to him, Douma came to believe there's no Heaven nor Hell, no gods except those humans created, which would imply he only keeps up the cult charade for his benefit… except he never shares his backstory aloud, it's in his thoughts that we see him speak of how he was "born to help people" and "wanted to help them". And more importantly, when he killed Kotoha's abusive husband and her mother-in-law, supposedly for "being too noisy", he didn't even bother consuming them. Douma, characterized by his gluttony, forgone a free meal no one would miss. That would only make sense if he was genuine in his delusion of people "living through him" and not wanting such people in his twisted version of a paradise, even if he is extremely condescending about his supposed benevolence.

His condescension is glaring in many of his scenes, all the way to his first appearance, how he pities Gyutaro and Ume. Yet, nonetheless, he does show his form of benevolence, offering them demonship. You might have not thought of it, but with how Gyutaro and Ume parallel Tanjiro and Nezuko, Douma lines up quite well as Tomioka's parallel, coming to the tragic siblings' rescue, saving them and giving them a new lease of life. But where Tomioka is outwardly cold with a heart too big inside, Douma is outwardly cheerful with a cold heart within. Where Tomioka is a demon slayer who lost his loved ones, Douma is a demon who never had them.

Douma's condescension, I think, is the reason for the, maybe, most annoying misconception of Douma, "Douma is a sexist". It comes up in Chapter 157, when Douma contemplates Akaza's defeat. He calls it inevitable since he never ate women, while Douma prefers them.

>Douma: I told him women were so nutritious because they can raise babes in their stomachs, so eating lots of them makes you stronger fast.

It's rather telling when you think about it. If anything, Douma considers women stronger for their ability to bear life and that's why he prefers them in his diet, but ultimately he finds all humans equally pathetic.

Somehow, I see little misreading (or any reading, honestly) on Douma's relationship with other demons or his bonds in general. Perhaps, people consider it a non-factor in his characterization, but I think there's some nuance to that. He acts silly and entirely undignified with his other Upper Moons during meeting, in contrast to his playful, but still rather dignified portrayal in the Infinity Castle Arc when he goes against slayers or the patient front he projects towards his followers. He's very friendly with Gyokko who actually gave him a gift and teases Akaza constantly, while also trying to downplay Akaza hitting him in frustration to Kokushibo who threatens Akaza for it.

And then there's Kotoha. I think it got lost in translation, but Douma enjoyed her pure character and if not for her finding out his nature, intended to let her just live out her life in the cult without eating her. He calls her stupid for her choices, but we've already established how extremely condescending Douma is, basically 24/7, whether he does good or evil.

There's a case to be made, speculative it may be, that Douma used to have feelings, hidden so deep he could barely access them. After all, we've established that Douma is an unreliable narrator and Kanao sure aimed to hurt him with her cruel words.

I might be reading too much into it, but why would a completely emotionless character actually fall for Kanao's bait and go into full combat mode at that?

Douma's ambiguous like that about a great many things.

The most ambiguous thing about him is one starkingly blank spot in his backstory: Douma's actual turn into a demon. Most major demons before and after have their turn into demons shown in detail. Not all of them, but most of them. Contrast Douma against Akaza and Kokushibo, fellow antagonists of the Infinity Castle Arc: both Akaza and Kokushibo's backstories have entire chapter dedicated to them, giving details of their motivations, with Akaza having his life ruined twice to the point he just broke by the time he came across Muzan who heard rumors of him, and Kokushibo abandoning everything he had as a demon slayer and coming to Muzan himself to escape death.

And what about Douma? There's just one panel with him kneeling in front of Muzan, narrating in his mind how "he turned into a demon at 20 and lived for over a hundred years". There's nothing about it even in extra materials. There's only what little we can infer from Douma kneeling in front of Muzan, Muzan thinking of Douma as nothing special, Douma making Muzan a venerated figure of the cult and the two of them having peculiarly similar philosophies of "there are no gods, nor buddhas in this world".

>Muzan (Chapter 137): Despite the hundreds, thousands of humans I've killed, I've been left off the hook. And I have never seen a god or buddha over these thousand years.

>Douma (Chapter 142): How sad that paradise does not exist. It's a fairy tale that humans created with their imaginations. The gods and buddhas don't exist either.

There are many ways you can interpret it, but there's nothing concrete.

People say how Douma "turned into a demon for fun, that's why he's monstrous", but we don't actually know Douma's true motives for turning into a demon. In fact, we known precious little about him, not even his true name, since the second fanbook reveals that "Douma" isn't even his true name and his human name remains unknown.

I think that's the last major misreading I need to take apart, so I'll leave it at that.

To cap off, I just find it funny to consider that Douma is the only Upper Moon we see who, as far as we know, didn't kill a single person as a human, either directly or indirectly.

You might call it a very old-fashioned topic, but I really want to put in my five cents, harping on one of Dragon Ball's biggest (in my humble opinion) wastes.

Raditz.

You know, Goku's older brother. The guy who arrived at the beginning of Z-portion of the story, COMPLETELY upended the established lore by introducing space elements and saiyans, absolutely dominated the strongest men on the planet, established over the course of all previous story (Goku and Piccolo), got Goku killed for the first time. …and proceeded to NEVER matter in the main story, in any prequels or sequels or side-stories and barely appear in other media such as games. Dragon Ball FighterZ has like ten Goku variants and no Raditz, when even NAPPA got in with a story role.

This is ridiculous. It makes sense in-universe, as Raditz got killed and was simply never brought back, while Vegeta survived his first encounter because of Goku's generosity and Krillin's respect for his friend and just happened to be included in several mass revivals down the line, but narratively it's frustrating when I compare these two. Vegeta is several degrees more evil than Raditz, being the commander and all, taking pleasure in Nappa killing off Z-Fighters, killing non-revived innocents on several occasions (Namek village, bystanders in Vegeta vs Android 18 in anime), just being an awful boss who didn't even think about reviving Raditz who, mind you, had faith in him, and killed a saibaman and Nappa for their defeats. The callous attitude really shines when Vegeta learns about Planet Vegeta's destruction along with saiyan race. In both filler episodes where he admits possibility it might have been Frieza and in DBS Broly where he receives the news, he shrugs it off while Raditz's cool guy attitude cracks a bit.

What does Vegeta get for being absolute bastard? A wife, kids, shiny life and fame. Raditz, for being half the bastard, gets permadeath and ridiculous amounts of oblivion. So dissatisfying and it's always been in the back of my mind through hundreds of episodes until Vegeta went self-destruct on Majin Buu and even then I only fully warmed up to Vegeta in GT.

People might say "it's the point that he's not important despite being Goku's brother" and sure, I might even accept it… as long as I don't remember Super exists, because there, Goku's family gains prominence, Super establishes Goku's family as sympathetic outliers among saiyans. Still not the best people, but a degree better than most morally, even Raditz gets some minor panels geeking over a bug. …but he barely gets any recognition and, if anything, is clowned on even more because of Bardock's "let my sons prosper" wish.

But really, THE most infuriating part of it all is the existence of Budokai Tenkaichi 2.

Why? Because this game shows how Raditz could have easily been more.

First of all, in the main story, Raditz makes another appearance after his death, as a warrior summoned by King Kai for Goku to test his new abilities against, much like the Ginyu Force were summoned to fight Z-Fighters in the anime. Honestly, in hindsight it's very bizarre the anime didn't have a scene like that, since it would really show how strong Goku got. Everyone harps on Frieza and Jiren being unfathomably powerful, but as I marathoned Dragon Ball for the first time, the jump between Piccolo and Raditz was THE most insane and desperate fight I've seen in the story.

But the second thing, the main event, is "Fateful Brothers", a What-If story where Raditz gets amnesia upon his first encounter with Piccolo and proceeds to befriend Goku, experience existential crisis and ultimately, after recovering memories and coming to terms with everything, sacrificing himself by crashing his pod into Vegeta and Nappa's to avoid other saiyans arrive on Earth and harm his family. This story here shows that Raditz has genuine potential to be used, if not in the main story, then in countless What-Ifs that could take advantage of all future developments, craft storylines with a more personal antagonist in Raditz, redeem like, like Fateful Brothers did. Instead, it's just about the only decent Raditz-centered What-If in existence that I know of!

IT ALL LEAVES ME SO FRUSTRATED.

A positive rant incoming.

Just so we're all on the same page, before there was the David Production adaptation, Stardust Crusaders was the only JoJo part to receive an animated adaptation with two sets of OVAs. The first set, released in 1993, covers the Egypt Arc, and while it has some changes to the story to streamline it, I'm mostly indifferent to them and don't really like change in Vanilla Ice's characterization at all.

The second set, released in 2000, covers the travel to Egypt part, however, is brilliant in its changes and I want everyone to know it. It cuts out, like, 80% of enemy stand users, but the resulting 20% are absolutely brilliant, with me vastly prefering their showing here compared to the original story.

Hol Horse and J. Geil's encounter is most true to text, so I won't even mention it, it's perfect as it is, but two other encounters, now that's what I'm here to gush about.

1. Polnareff and Forever.

My favorite change by far. After Joestar group's plane falls (a Speedwagon Foundation property, unlike in main story, which makes perfect sense and excises Tower of Gray in favor of a sabotage), our heroes pick up the boat and come across Strength. They explore the ship, finding the creepy orangutang, but THEN they see the apparent owner of the ship and the monkey, Jean Pierre Polnareff, framed as a more bombastic and villainous stand user, and that's a perfect misdirection away from Forever and Strength, since you just think of them as Polnareff's property and it's MUCH more surprising when after Polnareff surrenders, Forever steps in (more comptent and less pervy, mind you), almost killing Jotaro before Polnareff slice him.

And there's another change I like. Unlike in the main story, Polnareff here... doesn't have DIO's flesh bud. He's working with DIO of his own volition and that's much stronger in conveying both DIO's charisma and Polnareff's personality in both his thrist for vengeance making him work with DIO, and his chivalry making him defect.

2. Enyaba.

Another absolutely brilliant change. Enyaba is introduced here... as DIO's mysterious, extremely beautiful youthful advisor, using some mystic ability to look young. As such, when she actually appears as the old woman luring Joestars into her hotel, there's another brilliant misdirection, especially since she makes an appearance in her young form to confront Polnareff.

The climax of the fight is also genius. You see, because of most stand user fights being excised, this sequence is the only one that happens after Avdoo's "death", so instead he returns here in the most epic fashion possible, burning off Enyaba's zombie army, I believe, before Star Platinum sucks in Justice. Enyaba also serving as the final boss of the travel to Egypt arc also just flows much better and gives her more gravitas, with flesh bud already being implanted into her and killing her after the fight because DIO wills so.

Both cases are also helped by the tone of the OVA, a darker, more gothic and serious tone, playing up the horror angle of JoJo, and as such all antagonists are treated more seriously. I do like absolutely unhinged and hilarious Enyaba from manga/anime, but boy do I also like the mysterious Enyaba from OVA, to say nothing of Polnareff and Forever.

Watch the OVA, people, it's great.