The Demon That Stole The Hearts Of Everyone.

Spoiler: His full story. From the Mugen Train to the Infinity Castle part 1.

It’s the way I absolutely hated this character at first and you probably did too. 

Hakuji Soyama or as we all know him as Akaza.

The Akaza we see from Mugen Train to Infinity Castle Part 1 goes through a shift. There’s a moment and a backstory that completely changes how you see him.

At first Akaza is portrayed as someone who’s stubborn, headstrong, and battle hungry. Wanting to only face the strongest opponents because the weak are deemed unworthy in his eyes.

At this moment Tanjiro was deemed as weak. What Akaza didn’t realize though was he was going to use this moment to become stronger. 

Rengoku on the other hand was worthy to fight. Akaza acknowledged his strength and respected it. Saying that his fighting spirit was tempered like steel. Even trying to convince him to become a demon. Wanting someone to train with and promised that he would become stronger than he could imagine. Though that was proven to not be very effective. 

That was their difference. Rengoku strived to have an honorable human life. Akaza couldn’t understand why he would rather die instead of living eternally to become stronger. Not seeing why he would give up such strength. 

Akaza killed Rengoku. 

Then bolting off because he stayed a little too long and needed to find shelter from the sun. 

He is cruel and ruthless. That is how all the demons tend to be anyways. Their human emotions no longer play a factor in who they are. 

Though when we see little clips of Akaza I feel like we can see little slices of Akaza’s humanity. I understand that when you become a demon you tend to forget everything about your life before. I would like to think that a little part of them still remains.

It is little slight things that I feel are taken from his past life. 

One being that he seems to want to make his master happy. This being when he reported to Muzan. He wasn’t able to find the blue spiderlily, but he was able to defeat a hashira. Akaza saw that as enough. There was one less hashira to take care of. When it was seen to be the bare minimum. 

It seemed like something in him broke a little at that moment. Vowing that he would defeat every Demon Slayer that is at the next battle. Only then would he have done enough in his master’s eyes.

Akaza also tends to have a bit of a temper and we see this when all the upper ranked demons are meeting. Being the one that disrupts the hierarchy. Not seeming to respect his colleagues, but also fearing the ones stronger than him. 

He needed to learn respect.

Then Muzan says something that sticks.

“Can’t you see you’re falling in order of who has the most of their humanity remaining?

Now Akaza doesn’t seem to have much, but when hearing his backstory you realize he had more than what you think. 

We also don’t realize that sometimes we judge people before we really get to know them. Deciding that they are either good or bad right off the bat. Sometimes we have to think about what could have been the reason a person becomes so heartless. 

Now I’m not saying that every villain has a backstory that makes you think “You know, I understand how things lead to this. Some are just straight up assholes from the very beginning before they even became a monster.

Akaza is one of the ones that we judged before knowing his backstory. 

In Infinity Castle Part 1 we get to see who the true Akaza is. Along with why he became the villain he did and I can’t even blame him for it. 

While fighting Giyu and Tanjiro we see that ruthless countered strength and attacks that he wields when facing strong opponents. A lot about his technique and how he operates comes from his past. More than people think. 

Let’s talk a little bit about his combat style. 

We have his fighting style that he learned during his time being a human. His Soryu Style is a hand-to-hand combat technique he combines with his Blood Demon Art, Destructive Death. This happens to send shockwaves to cause more damage to his opponent. Then we have his Compass Needle technique that presents itself as a snowflake shaped compass that seemingly tracks and predicts his enemies attacks based on how they fight. The design of it isn’t random either. That snowflake shape ties back to Koyuki. Even without remembering her, a part of her was still there.

Now Akaza pulls out all the stops during this fight. Mainly focusing on Giyu, which is probably the strategy of getting the stronger one out of the way and then taking care of the weaker one. Though he wasn’t accounting for Tanjiro possibly being able to calculate his technique, reminding him of his old sensei, and for all the old memories to come flooding back like a waterfall.

Leading to a backstory that will make you love him as fast as you ended up hating him. 

Akaza had a rough life from the beginning. 

His Father was very ill. Therefore he had to figure out what to do at a very young age. Leading him to pickpocket and occasionally ending in fights. Which would sadly mark him as a criminal along the way. On paper and him physically. 

His human years were spent in the Edo period where they would tattoo criminals for their crimes committed. They were to mark them so people would be aware of people around them. Some of the tattoos he had as a human transferred over to his demon years. Of course he gained more tattoos though. 

Every time Akaza was tattooed.

Every time his father grew more worried.

His father felt guilty about Akaza being beaten and branded as a criminal. So much that the last time he got caught, his father committed suicide leaving a letter. He urged him to change his life because it wasn’t too late. Hoping he would stop stealing and would live an honest life.

Grief can be a powerful thing though.

Akaza went on a rampage, being named as a demon child. He would fight in the street. He was sad, frustrated, and that was the only way he felt that he could get those emotions out. 

When he was exiled from his hometown he ran into a dojo master that would change his life for the better. Keizo brought him into his house for Akaza to protect and take care of his daughter Koyuki. Now she was also sick. But the father and daughter were just what Akaza needed. 

The longer he spent with Koyuki, the harder Akaza fell for her, the faster he started to live a noble life.

As time went on Koyuki recovered and they were set to get married. Along with Akaza being the one to take over the dojo. 

Though on another fateful night.

The rival dojo poisoned their well.

Koyuki and Keizo passed away.

Yet again, Akaza is left all alone

Going on yet another rampage that leads him to killing 67 members of the rival dojo. Which led to nearby cities thinking there was a demon attack. Muzan caught wind and went to check. Only to find a human was capable of doing such a thing. Then deciding to turn Akaza into a demon. 

Tanjiro had broken through to the depths. 

Fighting with honor, his fighting spirit was undetectable.

Akaza, gaining all his memories realized fighting was not what he wanted to do anymore. 

Turning his attacks on himself. After he no longer looks like the Akaza we have learned to know. His head was blown off, limbs are falling from his body, and he is a mangled mess. He’s strong, so strong that he starts to regenerate.

Meaning there would be a 2nd demon they would have to keep fighting till the sun came up. 

He is on the brink of death while his body is still trying to stay alive. 

That’s when Koyuki shows up. She has been waiting for him in the afterlife, ready to follow him wherever he goes. 

While Muzan is in his head calling him worthless and baiting him to stay alive to keep fighting. 

Koyuki is there covering Akaza’s ears. Letting him know it is okay to let go.

Akaza follows his love. 

The fight is over.

Upper Moon 3 has been defeated. 

Hakuji Soyama has finally found peace.

If your wanting to read more about Demon slayer and there amazing characters. Rengoku will make you want to “set your heart ablaze”, Tanjiro will teach you try hard you can be successful, or Mitsuri will have you wishing for love.