Genya Shinazugawa

job

demon slayer. he kills demons to protect humans from the fate many others have fallen to

personality

Genya was initially a foul-mouthed and ill-tempered individual; a "lone wolf" who refused any help from others and did not show any interest in being polite or having any manners. During Final Selection, he roughly handled Kanata Ubuyashiki by grabbing her hair and yelling at her due to his impatience, and he later provoked Tanjiro Kamado into directly confronting him with physical force as an attempt to diffuse the situation. His ill temper and brash way of speaking heavily resembles that of his older brother, Sanemi. He became more open to cooperation during the battle against Hantengu, the Upper Rank Four, where he worked alongside Tanjiro, Mitsuri Kanroji, and Nezuko Kamado. After some time, he learned to become more sociable and less ill-mannered towards others, particularly towards Tanjiro and his friends. Genya also appears to be very confident in battle, telling Aizetsu to focus on him despite the latter already having stabbed Genya with his Yari, and later announced his name to the demon and declared that he is the one who will kill him. As a child, Genya was caring and loving towards his family, looking out for them due to their father's abuse and being the second oldest of his siblings. His protective attitude stems from a promise he had made with Sanemi following their father's death, when he stated that it was now their job to be a role model for their siblings and look after their mother. He was deeply regretful of his inability to save his brothers and sisters following their mother's transformation and blamed himself heavily for his own accusation of Sanemi killing her, despite acknowledging later that he was not at fault and she transformed into an uncontrollable demon. During Sekido's near fatal attack on Genya, he shed tears of regret when he believed he was about to die without ever getting the chance to properly apologize to Sanemi for his harsh words, only encouraged to push past it when Tanjiro had rescued him and placed his faith onto him.

info

Genya is one of the few characters in the series who does not primarily use a sword and is the only Demon Slayer named who cannot use any of the Breathing Styles. Instead, he uses a technique referred to as Repetitive Action, which acts as a substitute for Total Concentration Breathing. It's important to note that this technique was taught to Genya by Gyomei Himejima, who himself is a Breathing user, implying that it is possible to use both techniques in conjunction with one another. Generally, Genya is better at wielding a gun than a sword, as he's very good at hitting targets.[3] In contrast to his brash, somewhat abusive attitude when he was first introduced, Genya has become shy around women.[4] This is seen when he could not say a word to Mitsuri (who initially interpreted his ignorance as hostility), Kanata Ubuyashiki, who he meekly apologizes to for his past actions (which she gently accepts), and the girls who work at the Butterfly Mansion.[5][6] Due to his unique demon-eating powers, Genya regularly goes to the Butterfly Mansion for health check-ups.[3]

backstory

Genya belonged to a family of seven children with a hardworking mother who never slept and an abusive father who would beat her and his children. Despite his father often beating both Genya’s mother and siblings his mother always protected them; which he greatly admired, calling his mother “amazing”. His father was hated among the villagers and was eventually stabbed to death by an unknown assailant. After that, Sanemi and Genya vowed to protect their siblings and mother together. One day, their mother didn’t come back home, and eldest sibling Sanemi left to find her. As suspicion and worry began to cross the minds of the children since their mother “was never this late before.” Genya tried his best to reassure them, saying that they were “tired” and advised his siblings to go to sleep. Alone and unprotected, a sudden loud knock was heard from their door. Four of his siblings ran to the door despite Genya's protests and warnings that it might not be their mother, but before he could react the door is sliced open and they were cut down immediately. During that moment Genya’s cheek was cut, forming a scar that goes across his face in the future. In the ensuing panic, Genya watched helplessly as the dark figure which he assumed to be a wolf attacked them. Before it could attack Genya however, Sanemi tackled it out of their window to the streets below and ordered Genya to run away. Seeing his bloodied siblings and subconsciously aware that they were already dead but unable to fully process it, Genya tried to temporarily slow down the bleeding by appyling pressure to their wounds, then setting out for a doctor to treat them. However he soon stumbled across Sanemi holding a knife and with their mother lying dead at his feet. Genya, in confusion and panic labeled Sanemi a murderer and cradled their mother's body in his arms as she dissolved in the rising sunlight. Later on, Genya realized his mistake and decided to join the Demon Slayers to try and reconcile his relations

likes

guns. cats. his family. being a demon slayer. proving he’s good enough to Sanemi. late night walks. Muichiro. Tanjiro and his squad. the Hashira.

dislikes

being yelled at. hot summer days. screamo music and heavy metal. That he can’t use breathing techniques.

physical description

At the time of his debut during Final Selection, Genya was a short young man with large, inward-slanting eyes. The space where his eyebrows would've been is constantly furrowed, which gave him a permanently angered appearance. His hair is styled into a buzz cut, with only a small clump of messy black hair left to grow on the top of his head. He also possessed a large, jagged scar that ran over his right cheekbone from his ear and to over his nose. Genya is seen wearing a purple, sleeveless yukata over a plain black shirt with long sleeves. Later on, when seen again in the Butterfly Mansion, Genya had a much more feral appearance, having undergone a growth spurt that put him at almost six feet tall. His hair is also much longer, worn in more of a mohawk style, the strands much longer and visible around his neck. It is also noted that his boyish features got toned down, and he became more muscular and gained many more scars all over his body. His outfit changed to a dark olive-green version of the Demon Slayer uniform, over which he still sported his old purple yukata. After consuming a piece of Aizetsu's flesh, Genya gained many physical qualities reminiscent of a demon. The tips of his hair gained yellow highlights, his mouth grew fangs, and his eyes became a demonic combination of black sclera and yellow irises.