How Strong Is Upper Rank 4, Hantengu?

Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Demon Slayer manga. Demon Slayer is now streaming on Crunchyroll.

During Demon Slayer season 3, “Swordsmith Village Arc”, one of the Upper Rank demons that devastated the Swordsmith Village was the Upper Rank 4, Hantengu. As his title suggests, Hantengu is the fifth-strongest demon in existence (counting Muzan), making him extremely difficult to kill even for the Demon Slayer Corps’ top brass. It took Tanjiro, Nezuko, Genya, and the Love Hashira, Kanroji, all fighting together to finally defeat him.

As a human, Hantengu was already a slimy criminal who committed theft and murder with no remorse. When people started suspecting him, he’d just play the victim and try to appeal to their sympathy. He’d sometimes resort to ridiculous excuses like claiming it was his hands’ fault for committing the crimes and not him as a person, and even once claimed that he was blind and therefore incapable of committing the crimes. Eventually, though, his groveling and excuses failed him, leading to him getting caught and imprisoned. However, while imprisoned, he was approached by Muzan Kibutsuji, who turned him into a demon, allowing him to break free from prison and murder those responsible. He continued to live for 200 years, honing his abilities and eventually becoming one of Muzan’s strongest warriors, the Upper Rank 4 demon.

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Hantengu’s First Line of Defense Are His Clones

Each Clone Represents One of His Emotions

Hantengu, the frail and old-looking demon that shows himself at the beginning of the Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village Arc, isn’t actually all too formidable on his own. But once a Demon Slayer decapitates him, they’ll be shocked to find that not only will he survive, but two younger versions of him will sprout from his decapitated head and body. And if a Slayer manages to decapitate those two clones, two more will come out, creating four younger and stronger versions of Hantengu. The Upper Rank 4’s Blood Demon Art, Emotion Manifestation, allows him to create clones of himself that personify his emotions, with each of them having their own unique Blood Demon Arts. These four clones, Sekido, Karaku, Aizetsu, and Urogi, represent Hantengu’s anger, pleasure, sorrow, and joy, respectively. Hantengu himself, the main body, is the embodiment of fear.

• Sekido (Anger), as you could probably guess, is the hothead of the group, being constantly mad or annoyed. His special ability is to generate electricity by stabbing his Khakkhara (a type of staff) into the ground. Using this technique, he can also summon lightning to strike his opponents.
• Karaku (Pleasure) is the chillest member of the group. He didn’t seem to take the fights during the Swordsmith Village Arc seriously and acted like he was just playing with his opponents. His Blood Demon Art allows him to summon powerful gusts of wind using his giant Uchiwa (Japanese hand-held fan). The wind blasts are enough to level buildings and create massive craters in the ground.

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• Aizetsu (Sorrow) is constantly depressed, yet at the same time, the most level-headed of the group. Out of all of them, Aizetsu is the one who tries to analyze his opponents and spot weaknesses and patterns in their fighting styles. His Blood Demon Art gives him the power to shoot out beam-like projections from his Yari (Traditional Japanese spear) to strike opponents from afar.
• Urogi (Joy) is the most giddy and insane demon clone in a group of insane demon clones. For some reason, Urogi has a body that’s half-man and half-bird of prey, with wings on his back and talons for hands. His wings are strong enough to allow for flight while using his talons to strike at his prey. Urogi’s Blood Demon Art turns his screams into powerful sonic waves that can deafen and stun opponents.

Further decapitating these four clones won’t result in more coming out, but it won’t kill them either. The only way to beat them is to find Hantengu, the main body, and decapitate it one last time. Unfortunately, the main body has the ability to shrink, making it extremely difficult to look for it, especially since fighting the clones will require a Demon Slayer’s full attention.

When Backed Into a Corner, Two More Clones Emerge

Zohakuten, Hantengu’s Hatred

If the four clones are still not enough to beat his opponents, Sekido, the clone representing anger, can absorb the other three clones and become Zohakuten, the manifestation of Hantengu’s hatred. If you thought the clones were dangerous enough, Zohakuten can use all of their Blood Demon Arts for himself while also gaining a new Blood Demon Art that allows him to generate wood from his body and manipulate it. During the Swordsmith Village Arc, Zohakuten mainly uses this power to create giant wooden dragons to attack his enemies. The wooden dragons he created could also use the Blood Demon Arts of the previous clones, such as firing lightning and blasting out sonic shock waves.

And remember that while all this is happening, you’d still need to find a tiny Hantengu running around, as you can’t “beat” Zohakuten. Even decapitating him with a Nichirin Sword won’t work because, at the end of the day, Zohakuten is not the main body.

Urami, Hantengu’s Resentment

Unlike the other clones, Urami doesn’t come from one of them being decapitated or as a result of absorbing them. Instead, Hantengu’s main body can seemingly just summon Urami at will and hide inside him as a last line of defense. Urami’s appearance is essentially the same as the main body’s except now he’s giant and more buff. Also, as the embodiment of resentment, he isn’t a coward like Hantengu and instead loathes the humans who want to kill him because, in his twisted mind, he has done nothing wrong. It was implied that, like Zohakuten, Urami could also use the abilities of the four initial clones, but he was only ever shown to use Urogi’s screech ability.

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Demon Slayer is now available to stream on Crunchyroll and Netflix. The release date for the next season of Demon Slayer, the Infinity Castle Arc has not been announced yet.

Release Date

April 6, 2019

Studio

ufotable

Japanese Title

Kimetsu no Yaiba

Creator

Koyoharu Gotoge

MyAnimeList Score

8.26 (Hashira Training Arc)