Kyogai

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Kyogai (響凱, Kyōgai), also known as the Drum Demon, is a minor antagonist in the manga/anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, being the titular main antagonist of the Drum House Arc.

Prior to his transformation into a Demon, Kyogai was an unsuccessful poet whose work was insulted. He later became a member of the Twelve Kizuki, having held the position of Lower Rank Six before Muzan cast him out for losing his appetite for human flesh and thus losing his ability to evolve and grow stronger. Desperate to earn Muzan's favor once more and prove his worth as a demon, Kyogai began obsessively searching for a human with marechi blood (a rare type of blood that can increase a demon's power 100 times more than normal human blood can) in order to reclaim his place among the Twelve Kizuki, an endeavor that eventually led him into conflict with Tanjiro Kamado.

He is voiced by Junichi Suwabe, who has also voiced Hermes in Record of Ragnarok, in the Japanese version, and by Steve Blum in the English dubbed version, who also voices Orochimaru and Zabuza Momochi in Naruto, Makucha in The Lion Guard, Jindiao in Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, Zs'Skayr/Ghostfreak and Vilgax in Ben 10 (2005) as well as Ben 10: Omniverse.

Appearance[]

Kyogai has dark brown hair that goes down to his shoulders, each of which has a drum. His clothing consists of a purple that is held up by a red rope belt and has two drums sticking out of the sides and black vertical stripes. A fifth drop sprouts from his stomach, and a sixth originally popped out of his back until Kiyoshi stole it. His eyes are red, and their pupils are cyan, and the right eye has the number six (in Japanese kanji) engraved in it, showing Kyogai's position as Lower 6., but due to being deemed too weak he was kicked out of the group and the eye containing his mark was slashed apart by Muzan, leaving behind a white X scar covering the number, signifying that he was no longer one of the Twelve Kizuki.

Personality[]

Despite his nature as a bloodthirsty demon, Kyogai is actually very collected and soft-spoken. Kyogai has a habit of mummuring things that irritate him. Kyogai is also shown to be intolerant towards rudeness and will kill anyone who barges into his house. Even so, if irritated enough, Kyogai will raise his voice about the nuisance and insult his opponents. However, deep down, Kyogai is an insecure man who desires to be recognized by the world for his writing, and was devastated when he was told to give up on it as a human. Even as a demon, his insecurity persists after he was stripped of his title as one of the Lower Ranks. Kyogai became desperate to "redeem" himself, consuming humans with rare blood to reclaim his title. However, after Tanjiro recognizes Kyogai's talent, his soul is finally able to rest in peace.

History[]

Past[]

Kyogai was once a human who aspired to be a writer. Unfortunately not only there was no one to understand or appreciate his dream, people sneered and outright ridiculed his talent. To make matters even worse, his skill at drum which he practiced as a hobby in his spare time, was also mocked and unrecognized. Life as a human was a struggle for Kyogai who suffered being constantly ignored. Then at some point in his life, he met Muzan Kibutsuji, received his blood and was turned into a demon.

In spite of being a demon, he was still attached to his human dream of being a writer. So he hid his newfound powers and continued to live among humans. Then one day he showed his completed scripts to his editor, hoping for positive feedback. But Kyogai's editor not only verbally insulted Kyogai by denouncing that Kyogai's work is a waste of papers and pencil, but trampled Kypgai's scripts with his foot. That was the last straw for Kyogai. Consumed with demonic urge, Kyogai turned demon and brutally slaughtered his editor.

Giving up on being a writer or human altogether, Kyogai devoured as many humans as he could, becoming stronger and elevating himself into lower rank six of the Twelve Kizuki. But somewhere along the line, he slowly began to consume less and less humans - a sign of a demon reaching their evolutionary limit. Discovering that Kyogai had reached his limit, Muzan stripped Kyogai of his title of lower rank six of the Twelve Kizuki. Relegated to his manor and weakened due to him reaching his capability limit, Kyogai sought how to reintegrate into Twelve Kizuki. To fulfill his wish, he sought "marechi", humans with rare blood - blood that possesses nutrition value 100 times that of the ordinary. A human boy named Kiyoshi possessed such blood within his veins, and Kyogai would seek the human boy to devour him. When Kyogai fought off two rival demons in his lair, Kiyoshi stole the drum that Kyogai held on his back. Kiyoshi would later use this to make his escape.

Drum House Arc[]

Eventually, Tanjiro, his friend Zenitsu, and Kiyoshi's siblings (a boy and a girl) infiltrate the manor that Kyogai made his lair in order to find Kiyoshi, although they get separated and a panicked Zenitsu has to deal with a tongue demon. Tanjiro then tracked down Kyogai and fought him, being careful not to step on Kyogai's manuscripts, and even praising them and Kyogai's Blood Demon Art. Nearing his demise, Kyogai asked Tanjiro regarding his Blood Demon Art. Tanjiro revealed that his praises towards Kyogai's Blood Demon Art were true. Shedding tears, Kyogai dies in peace, content that his writing and drumming have been truly recognized positively. Another demon (named Kamanue) is later revealed to have taken Kyogai's place, though not for long as, following the death of Rui (lower rank five), he and the rest of the lower ranks (except for lower rank one) are slaughtered for being too weak.

Abilities[]

Supernatural[]

Drumming: Kyogai's Blood Demon Art. Kyogai wields 6 Tsuzumi drums on different parts of his body, with each drum having a single supernatural effect on the environment of his mansion when played. Each drum makes the room he's in rotate in a certain direction, with the exception of one that creates an invisible slash attack and one that teleports him or others to another room. The range of these drums' effect is limited solely to his mansion. However, he himself is unaffected by the changing gravity caused by his drums rotating the rooms. The rotation directions refer to the direction of gravity in regards to the direction Kyogai is facing and not his target:

Right Shoulder: Makes the room rotate to the right
Left Shoulder: Makes the room rotate to the left
Right Leg: Makes the room rotate forward
Left Leg: Makes the room rotate backwards
Stomach: Telekinetic slash attack meters in front of him. In the video game adaptation, Kyogai can launch a single slash at different areas and trajectories, whereas in the anime, his claw attack only produces three slashes. The slashes resemble shark fins not just by their appearance, but also because how they travel through the ground resembles how shark fins can travel through the water.
Back: Teleports him or other people into another room in the mansion. Kiyoshi stole this drum in his attempts to escape while Kyogai fought off two rival demons in his house.

Techniques[]

Rapid Drumming: When Kyogai uses his utmost effort, he is able to drum at an incredibly fast speed, swirling the room at frightening speeds. The strength of his abilities increase, and is most noticeable in his slash attack, which slashes with 5 claws instead of 3. This is integrated into the game as his second phase.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Kyogai is the first Demon faced by Tanjiro to be or originally have been part of the Twelve Kizuki. Rui would be the second with this trait, and the first to still be part of the organisation during the confrontation.
Kyogai has a counterpart in the Kimetsu Academy spinoff who works as a music teacher, reflecting his drum-playing.

Navigation[]

Villains

Demons
Demon King
Muzan Kibutsuji

Replacement Upper Moons
Four: Nakime | Six: Kaigaku

Former Lower Moons
One: Ubume | Two: Hairo | Six: Kyogai

Villains Wiki