Daki of Demon Slayer: A Villain Story

Season 2 of Demon Slayer started airing in December of last year. This series consists of two seasons, with one movie connecting the stories of seasons 1 and 2. This season, also called the “Entertainment District Arc,” Tanjiro, Zenistu, and Inosuke face new missions and battles with the sound hashira, Tengen. 

Tengen leads them to a mission in the entertainment district. Here, the boys were assigned to look for Tengen’s three wives after he lost contact with them after looking for the demon that had been hunting the district. After spying around the place, Tanjiro, and his friends faced an upper-ranking demon, Daki.

Who is Daki?

The entertainment district is a very lively place, especially at night. It is where brothels are most common, which is why many people come to the district at night. Each of these brothels has its highest level of a courtesan, also known as an “Oiran.” An “Oiran” is recognized for her beauty, skills, and knowledge of different traditions, making her stand out from the other girls in the house brothels. In the series, we learn that Uzui Tengen’s wives were assigned as Oiran for the brothels they lived in before they were captured and went missing. We also learned that the demon who captured these women was also an Oiran living under the name Warabihime. 

For centuries, Daki has been a demon living in the entertainment district. Living with numerous names ─ Warabihime being one of them ─ and disguising herself as an Oiran. With her outstanding beauty and skills, it was never difficult for her to claim the highest courtesan spot. But when women around her questioned certain actions and sudden disappearances, she would simply add them to the list of missing people. Daki is a prideful, dismissive, and sadistic person. She also thinks very highly of herself, saying all non-hashira demon slayers are not worth her time. 

Living in the entertainment district wasn’t very hard for her as a demon. Considering the place was very lively at night, with multiple people coming in, she had the advantage. She enjoys her time playing with her victims, making it easy for her to rise to the top and become an upper-rank six demon. 

Daki’s Abilities

Daki’s power is no joke. It was noted that seven hashira had been killed and eaten by Daki in the past, demonstrating the extent of her power. Besides her hair manipulation and the immense regeneration of her body, Daki’s power mostly involved controlling her Obi. 

With the power of her Blood Demon Art, Daki is able to freely manipulate her flesh and create Obi sashes with floral patterns. Daki regularly extends these sashes from her back and retracts them within her body when not in use. She has also demonstrated the capacity to command her Obi from a great distance away. Daki’s Blood Demon Art was a very efficient combination of assault and defense since she could launch long-range intertwining strikes with her Obi sashes while also having the option to build a shield around her body if necessary. Her ability also allows her to distribute them, creating a sentient flesh Obi to help her store and protect her victims. She separates part of her power and places it on them.

Killing her sentient flesh Obi will not allow you to kill the main body. She just retracts them and gains back most of her power. But cutting the head of Daki is also difficult as her power allows her to share her body with his older brother, Gyutaro. 

Daki and Gyutaro

When the sound hashira, Tengen, beheaded Daki, thinking it would be her end, Daki called her brother to unleash their powers. Returning to their lives when they were still humans, Daki and Gyutaro were siblings. Living in the lowest class in the entertainment district, their mother, who was a prostitute in the place, died of an illness, causing Daki to be named after the disease ─ Ume. Gyutaro was often picked on because of his ugly looks. Even his own mother tried to kill him. But after Ume was born, Gyutaro found a purpose in his life, protecting her from others as her beauty granted them many opportunities to survive in life.

Ume then joined a life of prostitution, following her mother in order for her and her brother to survive. It was until when she was 13 that she stabbed a customer in the eye, blinding him. Gyutaro was collecting loans from people doing his job. He later discovered that Ume was buried and burned alive because of what she’d done. The same customer tried to kill and stab him with an order from a brothel owner to get rid of him, but Gyutaro fought back and killed the man instead. Walking down the entertainment district, no one helped Gyutaro and Daki, and Daki’s heartbeat was bound to stop anytime. They suddenly came upon an upper-rank demon, Doma, who helped them survive by giving them his blood and turning them into demons.

Gyutaro and Daki possessed a rather odd quality that was uncommon among demons in general. The siblings share a single body, even if they are two distinct individuals. This is evident from the fact that Gyutaro typically hides within Daki without even slightly changing her physical appearance. Gyutaro also had control over his sister, being able to not only reattach her head for her but also cure her burned tissues when she was in mental anguish. Even though Daki was an active predator, Gyutaro was still more powerful than his sister despite being largely inactive. 

Daki and Gyutaro’s Death 

Despite Tengen’s continued efforts to cut Daki’s head off, she still cannot be killed. Tengen later realized that for both demons to die, their heads must be cut off simultaneously. With Tengen fighting off Gyutaro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and Tanjiro fought against Daki. While the three were against Daki, a third eye appeared on her forehead, saying she could now unleash her full strength. 

Daki slashes her Obi around, attack after attack. Daki gets overconfident seeing the young demon slayers she’s against slowly losing their strength. Still, with Zenitsu and Inosuke desperate for her end, they once charged again with their full strength causing her head to fly again for the third time. Inosuke caught her head and ran off with it so she couldn’t attach it back before her brother’s head got cut off. But sadly, despite Inosuke’s efforts, Gyutaro came to the rescue stabbing Inosuke in the chest and getting her sister’s head back.

While all the slayers were incapacitated, Gyutaro went to Tanjiro, offering him to be a demon and protect her own sister. Gyutaro was so distracted by the headbutt that he didn’t notice a poisoned kunai stabbing him. Daki rushed to save her brother but was stopped when Zenitsu attacked her from the rumbles. Stretching her neck with an Obi-like material, Inosuke lobbed her head off her shoulders while Tanjiro cut her brother’s head off. 

In their final moments, Gyutaro and Daki were arguing loudly and viciously. Blaming each other for what happened. But when Daki’s body slowly turned to ash and started to disappear, as her last tears dropped, Gyutaro recalled her sister’s real name, Ume. 

In conclusion, the villain, Daki of Demon Slayer, was a very interesting character. You can almost consider her story with her brother a darker version of Tanjiro and Nezuko’s story. They both have the same spirit when protecting their siblings and being there for each other. She only had one story arc devoted to her, yet she nevertheless managed to establish herself as a significant antagonist.