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Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba is all about the actual demon warriors like Tanjiro and his friends, just as much as it is about the demons themselves. In fact, I find that the series is at its best when it tackles the issue of the demonic villains and sheds some light on the enemies’ lives and motivations. This is what I aim to do in this Daki Demon Slayer guide.
By far, Daki and her brother are two of my favorite demons in the series. In all honesty, they are probably my favorites because they are not only terrific in combat like all of the others, but they have the two best, most emotional backstories out of any of the villains.
They are pretty much the only demons I can feel sorry for in the manga and anime series. You can find out why exactly that is in this Daki Demon Slayer guide.
Bottom Line Up Front
Daki is the Upper-Rank Six demon in Muzan’s army. She is one of Japan’s top demons and a force to be reckoned with. She is the primary antagonist of the Entertainment District Arc in the manga and anime versions of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.
There are some significant spoilers throughout this guide, so you have been warned. Daki is spoiler alert, not the only holder of her rank. She shares it with her older brother, Gyutaro, and the two have a rather miserable existence after their miserable childhood lives. It still doesn’t discount all the countless people they regularly murder in the Entertainment District.
Daki Overview
One of the issues I have with the Demon Slayer series is that it has a hard time making me feel sorry for the enemies here. Even some of the more understandable villains, like the spider family, for instance, aren’t that heartbreaking enough to get me to understand them.
This is one of the issues I have with the series since compelling, well-written villains are what I love about manga and anime. However, there is an exception to all of this in the Kimetsu no Yaiba series with Daki. She is by far the most impressive villain in terms of making you feel sorry for her.
She is also one of the most powerful in the manga and anime series, being Upper Rank Six for a reason. This makes her the sixth most powerful demon in the entire nation serving under Muzan, the king of all demons. This is seen during the Entertainment District Arc, where the bulk of her story happens.
If you want to know everything about Daki, including her appearance and the truth behind her rank, you’re in the right place.
Appearance Explained
When it comes to Daki’s appearance in Demon Slayer, it is a tale of mainly her demonic form. We don’t get to see much of how she looks when she tries to blend in with the humans most of the time, nor does her child form in the flashbacks look all that different from her demonic version.
In her proper demon form, Daki is one of the most visually striking demons in the entire series. She has long, flowing black hair that is wavy and almost like a swarm of locks everywhere. The tips of the hair are a lime green color, indicating her less-than-human status. It eventually changes to white, revealing that this is her actual hair color as a child and later demon.
Daki wears a revealing black and maroon dress that is modeled after the outfits that the courtesans, shall we say, often wear in the old Entertainment District.
This leaves little to the imagination in her appearance. The final piece of her appearance is her colorful obi sash that can grow super long and has many colors spread through it. With her hair and makeup, she is both one of the most stunning and menacing demons in the series.
Key Moments in the Demon Slayer Series
The bulk of the storyline surrounding Daki happens during the Entertainment District Arc. You may know this arc well if you are caught up on the manga or anime adaptations. Either way, most of her story has already been covered from top to bottom.
That said, I still have to put a spoiler warning here for everything to come after this. There are some pleasant surprises with Daki that you should experience in the actual plot rather than have it spoiled for you here. Without further ado, let’s take a look at everything that happens to her.
Living a Pitiful Life
It isn’t revealed until right near the end of the Entertainment District Arc what the deal is with Daki and her brother, hence why I recommend reading or watching the series first. One of the best episodes of the entire series happens when you get the backstory of these two enemies.
Daki had the most heartbreaking childhood, growing up in Yashiwara, the infamous home of the Entertainment District — think Red Light District — in Tokyo. It is a pitiful place where no child should have to survive, but that is the life that Daki and her brother lived.
After tragic events happen, Daki — real name Ume (Japanese for plum) — and her brother become orphans and have to fend for themselves. They struggle to survive and eat, leading to horrible events that the two have to go through to live. Their pitiful existence finally meets its end when Daki is only 13 years old, and she is burned alive as a human girl.
In the midst of all this pain and suffering, Daki and her brother meet Doma, one of the higher-ranking demons, who takes pity on the two and turns them into demons.
Murdering Countless in the Entertainment District
While Daki was only 13 years old when the events of essentially her human death and demon birth happened, she had lived for more than 100 years by the time of the Demon Slayer story. During that time, she has risen through the ranks to dominate the Entertainment District as basically its ruler.
She does whatever she wants at the start of the Entertainment District Arc, murdering customers and workers alike. Daki has a field day in this area and has for a long time. Apparently, since her death happened as a child, she still seemingly has the mind of a kid and acts like one.
She uses everyone and anything in the district as her toy, playing with them however she likes. This eventually leads to the disappearance of three wives of Tengen, one of the Hashira in the series. He employs the help of Tanjiro, Inosuke, and Zenitsu to find his three wives and the demon behind it all.
To Daki, she doesn’t think much of the four and also Nezuko since she has killed a whopping seven Hashira slayers over the century that she has been a demon.
Meeting Her Match
However, Daki finally meets her match when she encounters these five heroes. They engage in a lengthy and difficult battle that results in Daki having to reveal the truth about her power and strength. She is not the sole holder of the Upper-Rank Six position; she shares it with her older brother, Gyutaro.
Since she is seemingly losing the fight, Gyutaro has to appear and help her out. Together, they divide up the main characters and fight them in a split way. It seems like Daki loses many times, but she survives and continues to trudge on, getting stronger and eventually looking like she is going to win.
This eventually leads to Nezuko finally awakening to her true demon power and fighting her, which Daki inevitably wins, too. Everything seems lost until Tanjiro goes bonkers and saves everyone from certain death. It is a wild fight, but in the end, Tanjiro is able to defeat both Daki and Gyutaro at the same time, but at a hefty cost.
As a result, Daki passes away along with her brother for good. The last we see of the two demons are them greeting each other in the afterlife. Gyutaro tries to make up for the horrible things he did to his sister as a child by saying goodbye to her and releasing her so she can go to heaven (likely meaning reincarnated with a second chance at life).
But Daki realizes what he’s doing and promises never to leave his side. The final moment shows her choosing to descend to hell alongside her brother, forsaking her second chance at an ordinary life.
Daki vs. Gyutaro: Who Is the Real Upper-Rank Six Demon?
This is a question that many fans have had since the introduction of Daki and her brother in the Demon Slayer Entertainment Arc storyline. At first, it appears that Daki is the main demon, and that’s all there is to it. However, there is more to the story than that since she shares the position with her brother.
There is some indication that, perhaps, Gyutaro is the actual Upper-Rank Six demon, not his sister. However, they are both mighty and able to wipe out Hashira and the best slayers on their own. For this reason, I like to think that they together are the Upper-Rank Six demon.
You can see in the series how difficult it is for Tanjiro and the others even to stop these two in the first place. When they are fighting and split up like this, they are nearly unstoppable. So, while I will concede that Gyutaro is probably only slightly stronger than the two siblings, it isn’t by much.
They are much more powerful together, and it’s for that reason that I believe that they are both the Upper-Rank Six demon together. Separated, I don’t think they are necessarily worthy of that title.
Special Abilities
Daki, in particular, has a couple of special abilities that are why she is so powerful and able to dominate this significant part of Tokyo for a century. It comes down to her primary skills, which involve the obi sash powers and even what she is able to do with her hair. Plus, there is her connection to her brother.
Obi and Hair Demon Blood Arts
First off, the bulk of the demon blood art that Daki has involves the obi sash she wears. She uses it as a living weapon, is able to maneuver on its own, avoids being hit, and kills people without Daki having to do much. It is almost like her little minion that is capable of fighting.
But there is more to the story as Daki has her own hair which is a sharp knife-like weapon that she can use to slice and dice foes. Using this in tandem with her obi and she is able to wipe the floor with just about every enemy she comes across. She is even able to take on multiple members of the main cast with these two alone.
Even still, there are more surprises that she has honed with these powers over the years. Her own neck is able to convert into the obi sash form, seemingly confirming that her body is the sash and it isn’t necessarily some separate weapon she uses in fights.
The ability to make her neck this unbreakable obi ensures that it is nearly impossible to slice her head off and defeat her, which is one of the only ways to take out a demon. But it doesn’t stop there, either.
Connections With Her Brother
The other half of the powers that Daki has as a demon is her connection to her brother, Gyutaro. Together, they are almost unstoppable, and their fighting styles go well with one another. More importantly, their lives are linked to one another as demons.
What this means in practice is that even if you are somehow able to slice off her head, you won’t kill her unless her brother dies at roughly the same exact time. So, even when Tanjiro and the gang are finally able to slice her head off, it doesn’t result in a victorious moment for them.
Daki’s connection to her brother is unlike any other power in the world when it comes to demons and even the slayers. Even the spider family had nothing on this in the earlier arc. Their connection to one another is what truly makes them some of the strongest demons to ever exist in Japan.
Key Relationships
Daki has lived for well over a century into the 20th century, but she hasn’t used that time to get close to people, from what we can tell. Her relationships throughout the series are relatively minimal in number, even with her own demon companions.
She doesn’t seem to have any love for Muzan, and likewise on his part. The only other demon beside her brother she may have some connection with is Doma. And even then, it is unlikely that she harbors good feelings towards him since he is the man who turned her into this monster in the first place.
In that case, the only real relationship that Daki has is with her older brother, Gyutaro. Conversely, this relationship is literally everything to her, including her own life. They have been together since their childhood, and it hasn’t stopped in their demon lives, either, as they are literally and figuratively connected to each other.
Daki also has some minor relationships with the main cast, as they are the ones who finally eliminate her. There is a chance that, perhaps, in another situation, Daki and Nezuko could even be friends with one another. But that isn’t the case here.
FAQs
Question: Has Daki Killed a Hashira?
Answer: Yes, spoiler alert, but Daki has killed many Hashira in her time. At the start of her arc, it is known that she has killed seven Hashira in the past. In addition, you could almost say eight since she puts an end to Tengen’s career.
Question: Why did Daki go to Heaven?
Answer: Spoilers, but Daki didn’t go to heaven. She ended up in hell with her brother. As for why she had the chance to go to heaven, it is possibly because she was only a child who didn’t get to choose the life for her.
Question: Who Killed Daki Demon Slayer?
Answer: It’s technically Inosuke and Zenitsu who land the final blow on Daki, slicing off her head, so they are the ones who killed her.
Meet the Man Who Made Her a Demon
Daki is one of the most emotional and unique demons in the entire Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba series. It’s not every day that you see one of the villains in the series break down and throw a tantrum, despite being a serial killer who has murdered countless people.
She is the ruler of the Entertainment District in Tokyo, feeding on whoever she wants and doing whatever she likes. Daki is one of the most intriguing villains in the series, and she has the best, most heartbreaking backstory alongside her older brother, Gyutaro.
However, Daki is far from the only demon in Muzan’s army. In fact, there are some who have been around for much longer than her. For instance, there is the demon Doma who is one of the most powerful in the nation and is also the reason that Daki and her brother are demons in the first place.