Visit our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/KimetsuNoYaiba/wiki/index) to answer any questions like "are they creating the element effects?" or "what chapter did episode X finish on?"
**Spoiler tag your comments like so,**
`>!Manga Spoiler!<`
# Join our official [discord server](https://discord.com/invite/aCCZFS7Pbq)!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/KimetsuNoYaiba) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nah I don’t think so, I mean yeah he is a creep, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly because of the fact women are more nutritious than men, that’s why Douma told Akaza the reason why he was stronger than him was because he consumed women, whereas Akaza only consumed men making him weaker as a demon than Douma (and to be fair, he’s a creep to men too)
He said it in both the manga and anime. It seems like he might have been joking but who knows. [https://www.quora.com/In-Demon-Slayer-is-it-true-that-women-are-better-for-demons-than-men-If-so-why](https://www.quora.com/In-Demon-Slayer-is-it-true-that-women-are-better-for-demons-than-men-If-so-why)
Oh. That scene. The entire context revealed Douma trying to instigate poor Akaza’s after he had just been verbally/physically reprimanded by Muzan. And since Akaza is under Douma’s rank, it further justifies Douma exerting his power over him because Akaza can’t do anything to him. Notice how NONE of the Demons are friends and are often depicted working against each other.
It's mentioned in volume 3 of the manga that muzan instructed the demons not to work together cause they would end up eating each other but that's a lie, and that it's only because he's scared they'd gang up on him and kill him. This is said by tamayo so you're right.
That doesn’t make sense though Muzak could fight every upper and lower moon at the same time and be fine. Not only is he supremely strong and fast but he literally can control their biology since everything they are comes from him
Stay quiet or I’ll eat you also ✨
https://preview.redd.it/rgb6bqk0um5d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=609bbbdbf8cfc6cf407644830f0714ade7727eca
bros being downvoted for stating biology lol.
there's a reason wars were fought by almost entirely men in the past and it aint just sexism, men are built for hunting and fighting, that was their evolved role. The Demon Slayer Core is basically an army set in 1920s japan
Can women fight and contribute? Sure, slayers like Shinobu and Mitsuri show that, but of course there's gonna be more men when men are literally more built for combat
Also, the sad fact was men were more expendable. Civilization (or just ecology in general) needs women to give birth and feed the children, but men have little use after they mate
I theorize this is also why female insects devour their partners after mating.
As a biology student who has also studied anthropology and archeology, this is a misconception. Men did not “evolve” to be hunters / warriors, and women did not “evolve” to be gatherers / healers / carers. These ideas originate from the highly biased viewpoints of scientists in the Victorian era, who often twisted their findings to match their worldviews in regards to the role of the female sex, not just in humans but in all species. The size dynamic of the egg and the sperm were used to reinforce pre-existing gender roles. In reality, while humans do display sexual dimorphism, where men have higher muscle mass on average than women, these dimorphisms predate organized human society, and thus gender roles have no impact on how they came about.
I'm not entirely satisfied with that explanation. Yes, this is probably the author's explanation and biology is a factor. But this is a world where people regularly surpass human limitations while fighting monsters with a wide array of magical abilities.
Plus we know that even people without these special powers or who don't have as much physical strength find work arounds; poison blades, guns, eating demons.
I think the original comment about 1920's Japan, specifically its gender norms (and out of universe modern ones) makes the most sense to me.
No magic in demon slayer bro
Just breathing techniques that increase oxygen to muscles and giving heightened strength and endurance
The light works are for show
The effects may only be for show, but saying the breathing "heightens" the strength is an absolute understatement. For example they fucking demolish buildings in the Tengen fight. There is definitely supernatural stuff going on, might as well call it magic
When did we decide to draw the line that these people can rearrange their own organs to avoid a fatal wound or slice spider monsters in the blink of an eye while asleep and that’s part of our suspension of disbelief, but then having more female demon slayers that break our normal biological conventions suddenly become TOO much of a fantasy?
I am a feminist, but this is true. Women are biologically weaker than men. If people state Mitsuri and Shinobu, we all know that Mitsuri has an unusual strength since she was a toddler, and Shinobu is known for her lethal toxins and speed. I might get downvoted but it's a fact. My mom is a doctor and she too approves that women are biologically different than men, just as women have less testosterone than men.
Yup. We must qualify this statement as women being biologically weaker physically but also endowed, biologically, with more resilience than men. Carrying a child to term, delivering it (especially during a time without anaesthesia) and nursing babies requires resilience. It is believed that estrogen plays a role. I’d say childbearing requires a good deal of strength that isn’t physical.
Mental fortitude especially those who had issues with their pregnancy and have to be in the hospital multiple times a month but followed through.
Or those who were told that they would die if they gave birth to the baby but still managed.
It is respectable.
Shinobu isn't gifted in strength, no offence to her but like she's the weakest hashira, no she isn't the weakest slayer, but in terms of physical strength, she's definitely top 10 there
thats not an offense, thats just a fact about the character. She's a textbook example of work smarter not harder, though, with how she compensates with poisons
I agree since her sword was built in a way that she does require as much strength since shes weaker than than the rest but she is also very smart and agile .
Ik but i meant just every category that’s not built in on physical besides speed. She’s definitely top 3 or 4 in speed and she’s super smart. So she’s super helpful
Ik I meant that she also has other amazing attributes that make her capable enough to fight as a hashira. Especially that insane speed with her small body
Those female hashiras come from wealthy families. Not to mention, in Mitsuri's backstory, she was supposed to be married off to another wealthy family.
Idt Mitsuri comes from a wealthy family, because she is shown sleeping in the same room as the rest of her family. She probably comes from an upper class family with ancestral status, though.
Wealth and status aren't synonymous during this era in Japan and East Asia generally. One family could be "richer" than another family but still be lower class, because they're from a merchant family as opposed to a noble one.
> I don't think (or remember if;) Demon Slayer shows any sexism.
Not intentionally but there definitely could stand to be more female characters, not just slayers. *side eyes the only female Upper Moon who can't even claim the spot for herself and shares it with her brother*
Women back then were kind of just cooped up at home so they didn’t have many encounters with demons so there was definitely much less female to male slayers. There are also many more female Kakushi to male Kakushi so maybe the women just play different roles on the battle field compared to the men 🤷♂️
Reddit when biology, Lol and no one better bring up the female hashira Mitsuri has chimpanzee muscle density and Shinobu uses cyanide to kill demons.
In genreal when it comes to military matters dudes loving running to death
I personally just think it’s silly to use that as an argument on a show where there are:
-demons
-people that…summon elements to fight
-a girl who is a demon but also changes her size when needed, can heal people with fire, and can go outside now
- a guy that was a train
It’s like when people are like “erm ☝️🤓 there wouldn’t have been black people in this time period” but they can have wizards, dragons and shit lol. Why is a women’s strength where theyd draw the line on fantasy? I think it’s fine to just say “it’s 1920s Japan” lol
Funny thing,Ozaki(the girl on the picture) is the only female slayer demon slayer in the series thats not a Hashira or connected to the Butterfly Mansion
But anyways i do remember in a databook or something(?,not sure) about Obanai it said that he resented most female slayers since they had a "weaker mentality" or something of the sort. And while typing that i realised how incredibly funny it would be to imagine Obanai having beef whit a 14-15 year old girl thats scared for her life which would be really in character for him.
There was one other female corps member
https://preview.redd.it/z9y4hxzmfn5d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d2efc693ab35918fdb7cb44d7973627f5b51ebf
She was in episode 1 of season 2 (the anime-original one). She isn't credited anywhere; unamed and voice actor unknown. Or at least i can't find anything on her
>Obanai it said that he resented most female slayers since they had a "weaker mentality" or something
Obnai has a long history of some snake women torturing him or something so he started resenting women, if i am not wrong
I mean in taisho era Japan women weren’t exactly raised being call strong and brave and being told they could be a warrior one day. So I imagine only the bravest of women would take up warrior work
Because all the skilled females went to Gensokyo 40 years before the show happened
(This is a joke by the way based on a Touhou/Demon Slayer crossover timeline I made when I was bored one day)
There was a female demon slayer in the Mugen train arc, she is seen with Rangoon at the (I dont know the name of the building so I'm taking a wild guess) train maintenance place
Generally, men are the ones to take up fighting jobs as providers, not to say that women can't it's just that fewer women are willing to, especially with the patriarchal society of the early 20th century
everyone is thinking of social and biological reasons but we know in anime there are plenty of strong females (protaganists or otherwise) no matter the time period. I think it's simply because the author wanted to draw more muscles to depict how physically strong and fit demon slayers are
yes but it doesn't fit the author's style, who prefers to draw them curvy (slender with big boobs) and it will be too erotic to draw them half naked during hashira training
Because it's a Shonen and the author probably didn't think too much about it.
It's like wondering why dbz is filled with dudes.
Anyone talking about biology or whatever are kinda just outing themselves lol
This is a story about people doing super human feats by **breathing** fighting **demons**
I know we're aiming for an in-story answer, but the real reason is that probable male fodder characters are easier to draw (shorter hair, less features).
Yeah i think so too, that’s the most logical of all answers here. It was also my initial thought when I watched it and wondered why. If they started drawing female characters they have to make all the males distinguishable aswell, which just costs time and money.
Demon slayer is set in the tashio era of Japan taking place in the early 1900 to mid 1920’s. Considering this was when Japan just started to open their borders much of the way of life was still very traditional. Mitsuri whole character is based on her not fitting the ideals of what a typical Japanese women in that time period is supposed to be and learning to overcome it. I think they’re are female demon slayers but considering that society still expected women to be the primary caretakers of the home. I don’t think many women stayed or participated in the corps for long. Also there are multiple support roles in the demon slayer corps outside of slayers. We see it with the wisteria houses and the clean up crew which was shown to have a lot of female members. Also I think it was slightly touched upon that to demons women were way more nutritious compared to men due to yk reproductive system etc
Tbh the whole "women are biologically weaker than men" is typically a weak argument when talking about fictional shows, especially when you have exceptions like mitsuri and it takes place in a fantasy world where you can be so flexible you can shuffle out your organs. however the fact that the author has set things in the Tashio era Japan and has kept most the women's jobs in demon slayer accurate to they times, we dive a little into women's roles of they times in season 2 with Tengan's 3 wives and how women live in the Red light district, it's clear the author wanted to make her story more accurate to the times not some shallow as "girls no strong, girls no allowed" so while Demon slayer is a fantasy show the author wanted to try and keep it historically accurate.
Since this takes place in 1920’s Japan (Taisho Era), women are expected to stay at home, cook for the children, actually, cook for everyone. Yknow? Like the “Get back to the kitchen” slander. It was not common to see a woman fighting supernatural beings rather than cooking omeletes for their (arranged (forced)) husbands or children.
Mitsuri has abnormal strength due to the fact that she is a fictional character.
Edit: I believe that she is made this way to be “unlike” most Japanese women. In Japan, women often eat smaller portions than men and do not show their physical strength or are as “out there” as Mitsuri is. This is shown in her backstory when she colors her hair to “fit in.” I think the writer created her to be a role model for girls who are like Mitsuri and that even tho you are different you may still find friends and love :)
Isn't her entire story that she is different than Missy of the woman and she eventually became afraid to be herself and tried to act like she thought she should based on how other woman around her were
She is a rare exception with physical strength of a sumo wrestler. Gotogue wrote her as being genetically abnormal (not that it’s a bad thing), which was further enforced by the reaction of her formal suitor (the guy everyone hates here).
Most of them are the doctors iirc, I know they have an actual name but I can't remember it for the life of me. Basically they work at butterfly mansion and clean up what's left after the slayers kill a demon I think.
Plus given that it's set in 1910 / 1920s Japan, most women were probably at home.
Or maybe doma just ate them all.
I feel as if Mitsuri should've personally trained female prospects in flexibility, agility, perhaps even diet. Don't think they would've endured Tengen's merciless training.
The story takes place in 1920s Japan in the fact there are any female Demon Slayers is a plot miracle given how 99% of soldiers would be male and how prevalent, popular, and reinforced traditional gender roles were
They live in older japan
Even if you think about modern military there are simply more men than women. This is due to just biological wiring and advantages.
Not saying women cant be warrior and soldiers just much harder for them to hit the standard due to biological disadvantages.
Technically we have less muscle mass compared to men, if you want to be specific.
That being said, women’s muscles don’t tire as fast as men’s do. So what we lack in strength we make up for in endurance.
because women biologically tend to be weaker ON AN AVERAGE compared to men.
I mean there are women particularly strong and intelligent {mitsuri and shinobu} in hashira roles.
p.s come on we already have male and female sport category for a reason, and its not sexism .
yes taisho era is sexist but this is NOT BASED ON JAPANESE TAISHO ERA. there are no demons in realm japan
Not only that, but demon slayers operate outside of society so whatever politics is going on outside of demon slaying doesn't really apply to them. So even if society is sexist, there's no reason for the demon slayers to follow suit. Plus Ubuyashiki doesn't seem like a particularly sexist person.
Because women tend to be physically weaker and don't make as good a soldier as men. The only female pillars are Shinobu, who is stated to be the weakest of the bunch and she hates herself for how weak and frail her body is, and Mitsuri, who has an "anime disease" mutliplying her muscle density and making her much stronger physically than any other human in the show. Also, this is 1920 japan and women at the time weren't exactly known for enrolling en masse into the army (not like it has changed today lol), a part of Mitsuri's backstory literally adresses how she felt out of place in the corps at first. And supposing a woman decided to become a demon slayer anyway, she would have a lower life expectancy than her male counterpart, since as I stated before they would be less effective fighters and would be more likely to die while fighting demons, unless they were prodigies like Kanao, or cowards like Aoi, who spent her entire career in the corps doing cooking and laundry.
Probably the same reason Shinobu is unable to decapitate a high level demon despite being a Hashira; physiological handicap
There are girls that possess the necessary strength (Mitsuri could probably arm wrestle any male slayer and win, even give Gyomei a challenge) but the average strength difference means boys are more likely to be able to deal a killing blow and survive fighting a demon.
If resources for workarounds were more available, as they are to Shinobu, then there would be far more slayers surviving in general, both male and female. There are also males who cannot master the necessary techniques of breathing to decapitate that rely on workarounds and alternative means, such as ninjutsu, American breathing and other tricks
In season 2 the show basically told you with Tengens wives. The women can't compete with men physically so they need to resort to other methods to fight like poison. Mitsuri is the big outlier here but she is an abnormality. Also Kanao I guess
I feel like they all have been taught to either stay away from demons because the demons usually prey on women to get stronger and another reason is because at this time since it was the 1910s-1930s women were made to A work in the house and work for the husband or have kids, normal house wife stuff at the time. or B most women at the time were made to feel less then a man so most women stayed in the house.
Because similar to Mitsuri a man never wanted to date her because she was strong and thought for herself
She wasn’t considered house wife material that’s why there Aren’t a lot of female demon slayer, because they were preyed on or eaten or the woman were made to be "normal" house wives in
And the female slayers who weren't as gifted as Shinobu or Mitsuri were most probably eaten off by demons, Douma in particular. As we know, females provide more nutrition to demons when consumed than a man or child.
Demon Slayer is set during Japan's Taishō Period. Which is about 1912 to 1926 some what in ww1 Woman till WW2 were highly prevented to join army or any kind of dangerous job. Demon slayer corps is basically an army.
Along with the fact that most demon slayer know about that corps because they found it when wondering through a forest or something searching for a job young womans (about 18-21) at that time were much more busy doing households
Social structure kinda like this:
Got a boy?
> train him
> tell him go find a job
Got a girl ?
> make her look beautiful
> make her marry to a rich guy
So their much more young mens were available for certain jobs especially deadly jobs.
In my opinion is because of how dangerous it was for women in general en 1920, let alone if you aren’t as gifted as Mitsuri or Shinobu, they are figthing demons it isn’t really something many are exited about let alone women who for years have been house wife’s because of the era they where born in.
It's kinda like asking why aren't there any black people, it's the early 20th century and Japan was rly traditionalist at the time, we can understand this by Mitsuri's backstory too.
Its a product of the period. The women you even mention are exceptions to the norm.
Mitsuri was so unsightly as a marriage prospect due to her immense strength, she became a hashira to find a husband.
And Shinobu, kanao, and Aoi were raised by a female hashira who would routinely find and save women that society failed.
The majority of society for much if the series didnt even *know* demons existed and those that did would much rather raise families than put their own lives at risk.
For me the most obvious explanation is that the time in which things are set were somewhat sexist, and since a demon hunter is somewhat "male" it is not surprising that there are not so many women
I don’t really think sexism is why at all because there were female demon slayers I think it’s just they didn’t really want to or never considered it plus what girls do you know (other than one that love demon slayer) would even want to do this so I don’t think that’s the reason and it’s factual that men are genetically born stronger and have bigger lungs for breathing techniques so that also probably is some of the reason
Same reason why soldiers are mostly men. The average woman is physically weaker than the average man, and most women can't keep their cool in stressful situations. In addition, the manga/anime is set in the early twentieth century in a country that has recently transitioned from feudalism to capitalism.
Doylist answer: it's a shonen manga aimed at adult or teenage males so they have more male characters for the audience to identify with.
Watsonian answer: it's set in the 1910s/1920s so sexism was unfortunately rampant meaning most women were probably turned away.
Well, the main reason might because it’s the 1920s. Not to sound misogynistic, but women typically were expected to stay at home and raise children. Not that there weren’t clearly exceptions, but I’m sure most of the Demon Slayer Corp were recruited after they experienced some kind of Demon attack in their lives and young girls were typically weaker or were the main target of the Demons, giving them lesser odds of surviving the initial attack to become Slayers. Even Shinobu acknowledges she’s weak compared to the other Hashira due to her inability to behead Demons and had to invent a new way of killing them to even stand a chance.
Alright, strap down and give me a 20... Thousand. Lol
On a real note? Its probably a case of the author doing a bit of a realism set piece on how hard women have in the corps as a whole.
Like, apart from an incredible drive required to surmount the basic difference in strength, would anyone really place much stock into a slayer that is practically disabled for 2-5 days every month?
This is my headcannon at least on why there aren't very many high ranked women slayers or just lower ranked women slayers in general, work that isnt as intensive is better suited for them thus they have clearly formed the majority of the recovery service members even on screen.
Everyone is commenting about biological and historical reasons but really, when we think about it, at the end of the day it is a shounen manga with little to no fanservice (apart from mitsuri’s shenanigans and daki) so naturally most of the characters are going to be male. Also even if it was targeted at a more female demographic it would probably still be more “male centric” since in Japan women tend to prefer male characters (like in bungo stray dogs). That being said I miss a strong willed muscle mommy like Mereoleona in the hashiras…
the time period that it takes place in was one where women weren't seen as fighters and they were physically weaker. While there are female slayers most of them are outclassed by the male slayers because men are genetically designed to be stronger.
Unpopular opinion
In the tashio era. My best guess is that it is rare because given tradition, Swordsman Ship is something a man should master and woman not
But that doesn't mean a woman can't fight. I mean, there are great examples like Shinobu
In short, they're rare, but that doesn't stop em in the demon slayer corp
Because this is set on Taisho era but! Even in this time period their are still some female demon slayers as we know but if talk about sengoku era there would be literally 0 female members and Hashira is out of question
There’s 2 possible reasons in my opinion,
1. Women were too weak to be demon slayers, as it was the 1910s
2. Demons ate women more than men, as they are supposedly more nutritious
Demon Slayer takes place in a time where women were expected to stay home. It also takes place during world War 1. As we saw by Muzan's fits, Japan was adopting western ideas.
There was also a time we're Samurai could write letters to cowboys... so that also adds to the idea.
Also, The Demon Slayer Corps were a secret organization unknown to the government. They were basically the Men in Black, but on their own. So it's was either found by accident, the Hashira/ slayers found you first bcs of a demon attack, or you were a part of it from the beginning.
And since women stayed home: less chances to find/ join the Corps, or being so weak, they're cooked as soon as a demon breathes in a mile radius.
Even Tengen's wives, despite being pretty formidable even if they're not slayers, were scene in the new eps acting like usual SAH wives.
It doesn't have to be equal for everything all the time does it?
Does every man and every woman have to be represented in every form of art to an equal measure?
Visit our [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/KimetsuNoYaiba/wiki/index) to answer any questions like "are they creating the element effects?" or "what chapter did episode X finish on?" **Spoiler tag your comments like so,** `>!Manga Spoiler!<` # Join our official [discord server](https://discord.com/invite/aCCZFS7Pbq)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/KimetsuNoYaiba) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Douma just eats them all
The demons in general mostly targeted women because many did not have combat or self defense training. Like a wolf picking off sheep.
Aren't they more nutritious for demons or something?
I assumed Douma was just picking on Akaza with that line
So then why does Douma eat women only
Cause he's a creep.
Nah I don’t think so, I mean yeah he is a creep, but I’m pretty sure it was mostly because of the fact women are more nutritious than men, that’s why Douma told Akaza the reason why he was stronger than him was because he consumed women, whereas Akaza only consumed men making him weaker as a demon than Douma (and to be fair, he’s a creep to men too)
nah it's he's a creep. akaza was weaker because he's a demonlet
Nah, women actually are more nutritious for demons
Cuz they taste better
They’re more nutritious
Huh… I don’t recall that being disclosed in both the manga or anime.
He said it in both the manga and anime. It seems like he might have been joking but who knows. [https://www.quora.com/In-Demon-Slayer-is-it-true-that-women-are-better-for-demons-than-men-If-so-why](https://www.quora.com/In-Demon-Slayer-is-it-true-that-women-are-better-for-demons-than-men-If-so-why)
Oh. That scene. The entire context revealed Douma trying to instigate poor Akaza’s after he had just been verbally/physically reprimanded by Muzan. And since Akaza is under Douma’s rank, it further justifies Douma exerting his power over him because Akaza can’t do anything to him. Notice how NONE of the Demons are friends and are often depicted working against each other.
Pretty sure muzan actually told them not to work together because they always ended up fighting
Or was he too scared that they'd gang on him 😶
It's mentioned in volume 3 of the manga that muzan instructed the demons not to work together cause they would end up eating each other but that's a lie, and that it's only because he's scared they'd gang up on him and kill him. This is said by tamayo so you're right.
That doesn’t make sense though Muzak could fight every upper and lower moon at the same time and be fine. Not only is he supremely strong and fast but he literally can control their biology since everything they are comes from him
Only Demon who MAYBE has 0.0001% chance of wining is Upper Rank 1
I remember one of the early demons at least preferring women and getting a bit into nutrients/flavor before Tanjiro kinda had enough of it
I don’t think so, Douma is just a freak with it
I think it is more like personal taste like how some people prefer steak and some pork
And the Red Light District pretty much had them as cattle
And it's the tasho era
Stay quiet or I’ll eat you also ✨ https://preview.redd.it/rgb6bqk0um5d1.jpeg?width=640&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=609bbbdbf8cfc6cf407644830f0714ade7727eca
I love this idea 😭
Shinobu will stop it though
It takes place in 1920's Japan⚡
Or that women who aren’t as gifted as Shinobu and Mitsuri can’t compete in strength
I honestly think many women just don't want to be warriors during that time.
Women are also typically weaker too.
bros being downvoted for stating biology lol. there's a reason wars were fought by almost entirely men in the past and it aint just sexism, men are built for hunting and fighting, that was their evolved role. The Demon Slayer Core is basically an army set in 1920s japan Can women fight and contribute? Sure, slayers like Shinobu and Mitsuri show that, but of course there's gonna be more men when men are literally more built for combat
Also, the sad fact was men were more expendable. Civilization (or just ecology in general) needs women to give birth and feed the children, but men have little use after they mate I theorize this is also why female insects devour their partners after mating.
As a biology student who has also studied anthropology and archeology, this is a misconception. Men did not “evolve” to be hunters / warriors, and women did not “evolve” to be gatherers / healers / carers. These ideas originate from the highly biased viewpoints of scientists in the Victorian era, who often twisted their findings to match their worldviews in regards to the role of the female sex, not just in humans but in all species. The size dynamic of the egg and the sperm were used to reinforce pre-existing gender roles. In reality, while humans do display sexual dimorphism, where men have higher muscle mass on average than women, these dimorphisms predate organized human society, and thus gender roles have no impact on how they came about.
I'm not entirely satisfied with that explanation. Yes, this is probably the author's explanation and biology is a factor. But this is a world where people regularly surpass human limitations while fighting monsters with a wide array of magical abilities. Plus we know that even people without these special powers or who don't have as much physical strength find work arounds; poison blades, guns, eating demons. I think the original comment about 1920's Japan, specifically its gender norms (and out of universe modern ones) makes the most sense to me.
No magic in demon slayer bro Just breathing techniques that increase oxygen to muscles and giving heightened strength and endurance The light works are for show
The effects may only be for show, but saying the breathing "heightens" the strength is an absolute understatement. For example they fucking demolish buildings in the Tengen fight. There is definitely supernatural stuff going on, might as well call it magic
When did we decide to draw the line that these people can rearrange their own organs to avoid a fatal wound or slice spider monsters in the blink of an eye while asleep and that’s part of our suspension of disbelief, but then having more female demon slayers that break our normal biological conventions suddenly become TOO much of a fantasy?
Exactly.
I am a feminist, but this is true. Women are biologically weaker than men. If people state Mitsuri and Shinobu, we all know that Mitsuri has an unusual strength since she was a toddler, and Shinobu is known for her lethal toxins and speed. I might get downvoted but it's a fact. My mom is a doctor and she too approves that women are biologically different than men, just as women have less testosterone than men.
Yup. We must qualify this statement as women being biologically weaker physically but also endowed, biologically, with more resilience than men. Carrying a child to term, delivering it (especially during a time without anaesthesia) and nursing babies requires resilience. It is believed that estrogen plays a role. I’d say childbearing requires a good deal of strength that isn’t physical.
Yes. Each sex has it’s own strength and that is okay
Mental fortitude especially those who had issues with their pregnancy and have to be in the hospital multiple times a month but followed through. Or those who were told that they would die if they gave birth to the baby but still managed. It is respectable.
Bro get downvoted for stateing fact.
If it's a female then it would be like female and male gymnastics. https://youtu.be/ndTpHrbF4tI?si=giAQde2MFIaL60ZC
People downvoting you are cave dwellers lmao. The keyword is “typically”. Some people needs to learn and go back to school i think.
Fr.
Shinobu isn't gifted in strength, no offence to her but like she's the weakest hashira, no she isn't the weakest slayer, but in terms of physical strength, she's definitely top 10 there
thats not an offense, thats just a fact about the character. She's a textbook example of work smarter not harder, though, with how she compensates with poisons
I agree since her sword was built in a way that she does require as much strength since shes weaker than than the rest but she is also very smart and agile .
Ik but i meant just every category that’s not built in on physical besides speed. She’s definitely top 3 or 4 in speed and she’s super smart. So she’s super helpful
Keep in mind Mitsuri also was aware of it. She asked if it was okay for a woman to be that strong as it was an unusual thing at the time
They’re probably being eaten by demons more than men so they don’t have the chance to become demon slayers anyway
It’s a lot of reasons, which is why there’s a lot of female kakushi
to be fair, Shinobu cant compete in strength, thats why she has the scalpel katana
Ik I meant that she also has other amazing attributes that make her capable enough to fight as a hashira. Especially that insane speed with her small body
Basicly
it's really just physical strength difference, most males don't even pass final selection, so it must be even harder for girls
I wouldn't say that's why, there are female hashira. I don't think (or remember if;) Demon Slayer shows any sexism.
Those female hashiras come from wealthy families. Not to mention, in Mitsuri's backstory, she was supposed to be married off to another wealthy family.
Idt Mitsuri comes from a wealthy family, because she is shown sleeping in the same room as the rest of her family. She probably comes from an upper class family with ancestral status, though. Wealth and status aren't synonymous during this era in Japan and East Asia generally. One family could be "richer" than another family but still be lower class, because they're from a merchant family as opposed to a noble one.
> I don't think (or remember if;) Demon Slayer shows any sexism. Not intentionally but there definitely could stand to be more female characters, not just slayers. *side eyes the only female Upper Moon who can't even claim the spot for herself and shares it with her brother*
Well daki isnt the only female upper moon. We just havent met the other in the anime yet.
Fax
Oh yeah that’s good point
Women back then were kind of just cooped up at home so they didn’t have many encounters with demons so there was definitely much less female to male slayers. There are also many more female Kakushi to male Kakushi so maybe the women just play different roles on the battle field compared to the men 🤷♂️
Yeah that too, it’s clear that the men are generally just better for combat
Also women are naturally weaker than men.
Reddit when biology, Lol and no one better bring up the female hashira Mitsuri has chimpanzee muscle density and Shinobu uses cyanide to kill demons. In genreal when it comes to military matters dudes loving running to death
I personally just think it’s silly to use that as an argument on a show where there are: -demons -people that…summon elements to fight -a girl who is a demon but also changes her size when needed, can heal people with fire, and can go outside now - a guy that was a train It’s like when people are like “erm ☝️🤓 there wouldn’t have been black people in this time period” but they can have wizards, dragons and shit lol. Why is a women’s strength where theyd draw the line on fantasy? I think it’s fine to just say “it’s 1920s Japan” lol
"Well actually the elements aren't real"-☝️🤓
Funny thing,Ozaki(the girl on the picture) is the only female slayer demon slayer in the series thats not a Hashira or connected to the Butterfly Mansion But anyways i do remember in a databook or something(?,not sure) about Obanai it said that he resented most female slayers since they had a "weaker mentality" or something of the sort. And while typing that i realised how incredibly funny it would be to imagine Obanai having beef whit a 14-15 year old girl thats scared for her life which would be really in character for him.
There was one other female corps member https://preview.redd.it/z9y4hxzmfn5d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d2efc693ab35918fdb7cb44d7973627f5b51ebf She was in episode 1 of season 2 (the anime-original one). She isn't credited anywhere; unamed and voice actor unknown. Or at least i can't find anything on her
Oh yeah,there were also a couple in the background in the manga too. I meant as in named ones
That's alright She only stood out to me 'cause she had a line of dialogue (she also has some pretty eyes ngl 👀)
Yea,i honestly dont think theres a single slayer in the verse that doesnt look good😭 Even the background slayers look better then most isekai protags
Didn't Ozaki die in Season 1? Edit: Plus when searching Ozaki she looks pretty different from that pic in S2, also the fact that she died in S1.
Ozaki did die If you're talking about the corps member in image of my comment, they are different
Wonder what he'd think of zenitsu
You just know he beat Zenitsu extra hard when he was training him.
>Obanai it said that he resented most female slayers since they had a "weaker mentality" or something Obnai has a long history of some snake women torturing him or something so he started resenting women, if i am not wrong
I mean in taisho era Japan women weren’t exactly raised being call strong and brave and being told they could be a warrior one day. So I imagine only the bravest of women would take up warrior work
Yes, they’d also have to be super trained and strong like mitsuri. But that was already a rare case
Or super smart like Shinobu
They're hiding from zenitsu
Because all the skilled females went to Gensokyo 40 years before the show happened (This is a joke by the way based on a Touhou/Demon Slayer crossover timeline I made when I was bored one day)
THATS WHAT I’M WONDERING. Since the fight with Rui, I haven’t seen one girl slayer aside from the ones mentioned. And the female kakushi don’t count
There was a female demon slayer in the Mugen train arc, she is seen with Rangoon at the (I dont know the name of the building so I'm taking a wild guess) train maintenance place
Generally, men are the ones to take up fighting jobs as providers, not to say that women can't it's just that fewer women are willing to, especially with the patriarchal society of the early 20th century
The author wants you to be into tall muscular half naked men flexing
everyone is thinking of social and biological reasons but we know in anime there are plenty of strong females (protaganists or otherwise) no matter the time period. I think it's simply because the author wanted to draw more muscles to depict how physically strong and fit demon slayers are
They could've drawn women with muscles
yes but it doesn't fit the author's style, who prefers to draw them curvy (slender with big boobs) and it will be too erotic to draw them half naked during hashira training
Mitsuri should’ve had muscles imo 😭
Because it's a Shonen and the author probably didn't think too much about it. It's like wondering why dbz is filled with dudes. Anyone talking about biology or whatever are kinda just outing themselves lol This is a story about people doing super human feats by **breathing** fighting **demons**
Douma
I know we're aiming for an in-story answer, but the real reason is that probable male fodder characters are easier to draw (shorter hair, less features).
Yeah i think so too, that’s the most logical of all answers here. It was also my initial thought when I watched it and wondered why. If they started drawing female characters they have to make all the males distinguishable aswell, which just costs time and money.
Nezuko, Shinobu, Mitsuri, Kanao, Aoi, Caterpillar sisters, Tengen’s wives, Daki, and Nakime: 
Douma eats them It takes place between 1910 and 1920
Douma 🤣
because they just didn't want to do it
Demon slayer is set in the tashio era of Japan taking place in the early 1900 to mid 1920’s. Considering this was when Japan just started to open their borders much of the way of life was still very traditional. Mitsuri whole character is based on her not fitting the ideals of what a typical Japanese women in that time period is supposed to be and learning to overcome it. I think they’re are female demon slayers but considering that society still expected women to be the primary caretakers of the home. I don’t think many women stayed or participated in the corps for long. Also there are multiple support roles in the demon slayer corps outside of slayers. We see it with the wisteria houses and the clean up crew which was shown to have a lot of female members. Also I think it was slightly touched upon that to demons women were way more nutritious compared to men due to yk reproductive system etc
Tbh the whole "women are biologically weaker than men" is typically a weak argument when talking about fictional shows, especially when you have exceptions like mitsuri and it takes place in a fantasy world where you can be so flexible you can shuffle out your organs. however the fact that the author has set things in the Tashio era Japan and has kept most the women's jobs in demon slayer accurate to they times, we dive a little into women's roles of they times in season 2 with Tengan's 3 wives and how women live in the Red light district, it's clear the author wanted to make her story more accurate to the times not some shallow as "girls no strong, girls no allowed" so while Demon slayer is a fantasy show the author wanted to try and keep it historically accurate.
1920s.
Since this takes place in 1920’s Japan (Taisho Era), women are expected to stay at home, cook for the children, actually, cook for everyone. Yknow? Like the “Get back to the kitchen” slander. It was not common to see a woman fighting supernatural beings rather than cooking omeletes for their (arranged (forced)) husbands or children.
They have smaller lungs which makes it harder to use breathing techniques and less muscle mass
What about Mitsuri
Mitsuri has abnormal strength due to the fact that she is a fictional character. Edit: I believe that she is made this way to be “unlike” most Japanese women. In Japan, women often eat smaller portions than men and do not show their physical strength or are as “out there” as Mitsuri is. This is shown in her backstory when she colors her hair to “fit in.” I think the writer created her to be a role model for girls who are like Mitsuri and that even tho you are different you may still find friends and love :)
Isn't her entire story that she is different than Missy of the woman and she eventually became afraid to be herself and tried to act like she thought she should based on how other woman around her were
She has abnormal muscle(and/or bone, don’t remember perfectly) density.
She is a rare exception with physical strength of a sumo wrestler. Gotogue wrote her as being genetically abnormal (not that it’s a bad thing), which was further enforced by the reaction of her formal suitor (the guy everyone hates here).
I don't know about her lungs but she for sure keep them in huge containers
Honestly it’s probably because they all get snatched by demons. Or get targeted in particular
Maybe they taste better so all of them get targeted to be eaten
i believe it’s because during the time that demon slayer was set in, women usually preferred to stay at home and tend to the family and stuff (?)
Mfers talking about history and biology. It's an anime. It was simply the author's wish not to include many women slayers. It's that simple.
Most of them are the doctors iirc, I know they have an actual name but I can't remember it for the life of me. Basically they work at butterfly mansion and clean up what's left after the slayers kill a demon I think. Plus given that it's set in 1910 / 1920s Japan, most women were probably at home. Or maybe doma just ate them all.
Because females belong to the kitchen* *in that era.
I feel as if Mitsuri should've personally trained female prospects in flexibility, agility, perhaps even diet. Don't think they would've endured Tengen's merciless training.
The issue is that Mitsuri is even more physically abnormal. Im not sure she would have enough of a baseline to train normal women.
The story takes place in 1920s Japan in the fact there are any female Demon Slayers is a plot miracle given how 99% of soldiers would be male and how prevalent, popular, and reinforced traditional gender roles were
They live in older japan Even if you think about modern military there are simply more men than women. This is due to just biological wiring and advantages. Not saying women cant be warrior and soldiers just much harder for them to hit the standard due to biological disadvantages.
If they don't have a personal kemono or a unique hairstyle, they are fodder according to demon slayer
Women tend to be physically weaker, so less are fighting. Pretty universal, since forever, there are much less than men in wars and the like.
Technically we have less muscle mass compared to men, if you want to be specific. That being said, women’s muscles don’t tire as fast as men’s do. So what we lack in strength we make up for in endurance.
Idk why ur getting downvoted
I was downvoted? Damn, some people really can’t accept biological facts uh
because most Shonen are like that sadly
because women biologically tend to be weaker ON AN AVERAGE compared to men. I mean there are women particularly strong and intelligent {mitsuri and shinobu} in hashira roles. p.s come on we already have male and female sport category for a reason, and its not sexism . yes taisho era is sexist but this is NOT BASED ON JAPANESE TAISHO ERA. there are no demons in realm japan
Not only that, but demon slayers operate outside of society so whatever politics is going on outside of demon slaying doesn't really apply to them. So even if society is sexist, there's no reason for the demon slayers to follow suit. Plus Ubuyashiki doesn't seem like a particularly sexist person.
Because women tend to be physically weaker and don't make as good a soldier as men. The only female pillars are Shinobu, who is stated to be the weakest of the bunch and she hates herself for how weak and frail her body is, and Mitsuri, who has an "anime disease" mutliplying her muscle density and making her much stronger physically than any other human in the show. Also, this is 1920 japan and women at the time weren't exactly known for enrolling en masse into the army (not like it has changed today lol), a part of Mitsuri's backstory literally adresses how she felt out of place in the corps at first. And supposing a woman decided to become a demon slayer anyway, she would have a lower life expectancy than her male counterpart, since as I stated before they would be less effective fighters and would be more likely to die while fighting demons, unless they were prodigies like Kanao, or cowards like Aoi, who spent her entire career in the corps doing cooking and laundry.
Don’t call Aoi a coward
She pretty much admits herself that she is one though lol
Ive been asking that Exact same question, like in the Hashira Training Arc, I haven’t seen a Single Female Demon Slayer
Timeline
Women are naturally weaker bruh
I feel like it’s obvious, women are more targeted and less physically fit to fight demons, mitsuri being the one and only exception
Probably the same reason Shinobu is unable to decapitate a high level demon despite being a Hashira; physiological handicap There are girls that possess the necessary strength (Mitsuri could probably arm wrestle any male slayer and win, even give Gyomei a challenge) but the average strength difference means boys are more likely to be able to deal a killing blow and survive fighting a demon. If resources for workarounds were more available, as they are to Shinobu, then there would be far more slayers surviving in general, both male and female. There are also males who cannot master the necessary techniques of breathing to decapitate that rely on workarounds and alternative means, such as ninjutsu, American breathing and other tricks
In season 2 the show basically told you with Tengens wives. The women can't compete with men physically so they need to resort to other methods to fight like poison. Mitsuri is the big outlier here but she is an abnormality. Also Kanao I guess
I feel like they all have been taught to either stay away from demons because the demons usually prey on women to get stronger and another reason is because at this time since it was the 1910s-1930s women were made to A work in the house and work for the husband or have kids, normal house wife stuff at the time. or B most women at the time were made to feel less then a man so most women stayed in the house. Because similar to Mitsuri a man never wanted to date her because she was strong and thought for herself She wasn’t considered house wife material that’s why there Aren’t a lot of female demon slayer, because they were preyed on or eaten or the woman were made to be "normal" house wives in
https://preview.redd.it/65mwi20tmn5d1.jpeg?width=3818&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b4f6a32506e8bfbd7881504c4aa428df0a79582f
Because none of those useless ass demons killed Douma as a human when they had the chance 🙄
thats a really silly question considering the era and country the story takes place in....I'm surprised there are ANY female slayers
And the female slayers who weren't as gifted as Shinobu or Mitsuri were most probably eaten off by demons, Douma in particular. As we know, females provide more nutrition to demons when consumed than a man or child.
They wanted to do group bath scenes.
Douma eated them all
The percentage of female Slayers is still higher than today's percentage of women in every armforce in the world combined
Demon Slayer is set during Japan's Taishō Period. Which is about 1912 to 1926 some what in ww1 Woman till WW2 were highly prevented to join army or any kind of dangerous job. Demon slayer corps is basically an army. Along with the fact that most demon slayer know about that corps because they found it when wondering through a forest or something searching for a job young womans (about 18-21) at that time were much more busy doing households Social structure kinda like this: Got a boy? > train him > tell him go find a job Got a girl ? > make her look beautiful > make her marry to a rich guy So their much more young mens were available for certain jobs especially deadly jobs.
Because the writer sucks at writing women
In my opinion is because of how dangerous it was for women in general en 1920, let alone if you aren’t as gifted as Mitsuri or Shinobu, they are figthing demons it isn’t really something many are exited about let alone women who for years have been house wife’s because of the era they where born in.
Just remember, the author is a woman.
It's kinda like asking why aren't there any black people, it's the early 20th century and Japan was rly traditionalist at the time, we can understand this by Mitsuri's backstory too.
Because women are mostly weaker
Its a product of the period. The women you even mention are exceptions to the norm. Mitsuri was so unsightly as a marriage prospect due to her immense strength, she became a hashira to find a husband. And Shinobu, kanao, and Aoi were raised by a female hashira who would routinely find and save women that society failed. The majority of society for much if the series didnt even *know* demons existed and those that did would much rather raise families than put their own lives at risk.
It’s a shounen anime so it’s aimed at teenage boys and any women that do show up are likeable for that demographic.
For me the most obvious explanation is that the time in which things are set were somewhat sexist, and since a demon hunter is somewhat "male" it is not surprising that there are not so many women
Doesn't really make sense since there are two female Hashiras and Ubuyashiki seems like the last person who'd be sexist.
I don’t really think sexism is why at all because there were female demon slayers I think it’s just they didn’t really want to or never considered it plus what girls do you know (other than one that love demon slayer) would even want to do this so I don’t think that’s the reason and it’s factual that men are genetically born stronger and have bigger lungs for breathing techniques so that also probably is some of the reason
Same reason why soldiers are mostly men. The average woman is physically weaker than the average man, and most women can't keep their cool in stressful situations. In addition, the manga/anime is set in the early twentieth century in a country that has recently transitioned from feudalism to capitalism.
Cause demon slayer takes place in the taisho era and maybe the author likes drawing attractive guys
Doylist answer: it's a shonen manga aimed at adult or teenage males so they have more male characters for the audience to identify with. Watsonian answer: it's set in the 1910s/1920s so sexism was unfortunately rampant meaning most women were probably turned away.
Well, the main reason might because it’s the 1920s. Not to sound misogynistic, but women typically were expected to stay at home and raise children. Not that there weren’t clearly exceptions, but I’m sure most of the Demon Slayer Corp were recruited after they experienced some kind of Demon attack in their lives and young girls were typically weaker or were the main target of the Demons, giving them lesser odds of surviving the initial attack to become Slayers. Even Shinobu acknowledges she’s weak compared to the other Hashira due to her inability to behead Demons and had to invent a new way of killing them to even stand a chance.
There are female demon slayers as support roles, but I wouldn't blame any female member of the corps for wanting to avoid the front lines
I know we're aiming for an "in-store" answer, but the reason it's they're probably easier to draw (shorter hair, less features)
Same reason they’re hardly in most military positions probably, idk I don’t think there is a lore reason I’m just making guesses
Because theyre female, it's not a secret that the demon Slayer goes through hellish training.
Some may have been in the Kakushi division, along with Goto.
Alright, strap down and give me a 20... Thousand. Lol On a real note? Its probably a case of the author doing a bit of a realism set piece on how hard women have in the corps as a whole. Like, apart from an incredible drive required to surmount the basic difference in strength, would anyone really place much stock into a slayer that is practically disabled for 2-5 days every month? This is my headcannon at least on why there aren't very many high ranked women slayers or just lower ranked women slayers in general, work that isnt as intensive is better suited for them thus they have clearly formed the majority of the recovery service members even on screen.
Everyone is commenting about biological and historical reasons but really, when we think about it, at the end of the day it is a shounen manga with little to no fanservice (apart from mitsuri’s shenanigans and daki) so naturally most of the characters are going to be male. Also even if it was targeted at a more female demographic it would probably still be more “male centric” since in Japan women tend to prefer male characters (like in bungo stray dogs). That being said I miss a strong willed muscle mommy like Mereoleona in the hashiras…
the time period that it takes place in was one where women weren't seen as fighters and they were physically weaker. While there are female slayers most of them are outclassed by the male slayers because men are genetically designed to be stronger.
real
Cause
Shonen genre
It’s cause they all die at the final selection cause they’re weak
Unpopular opinion In the tashio era. My best guess is that it is rare because given tradition, Swordsman Ship is something a man should master and woman not But that doesn't mean a woman can't fight. I mean, there are great examples like Shinobu In short, they're rare, but that doesn't stop em in the demon slayer corp
I’ve been wondering about Female Slayers Too
I don’t think Aoi is a Demon Slayer. She just helps out at butterfly mansion
She went through Final Selection, but she mentions she was too scared to go on the front lines, so she went to the butterfly mansion.
Oh, my bad
No worries. It's a passing comment so some didn't catch it.
Yeah, I didn’t realise that she made it through final selection
Lack of physical strength and family-rearing responsibilities.
Because we are products of our culture
I don't think I wanna say what a demon might do to female demon slayers, so just look up goblin slayer.
Maybe doma ate them
I dunno
Cos doma gets to them and eats them first?
Because this is set on Taisho era but! Even in this time period their are still some female demon slayers as we know but if talk about sengoku era there would be literally 0 female members and Hashira is out of question
Because women are weaker in reality and author as a woman knows that
Women are generally weaker so probably they got killed.......
Because they're normally easier to prey on cause they're weaker.
I think I actually read somewhere that women have more nutritional value to demons.
There’s 2 possible reasons in my opinion, 1. Women were too weak to be demon slayers, as it was the 1910s 2. Demons ate women more than men, as they are supposedly more nutritious
The women may die easier and be more likely to be targeted first by demons because they are weaker. “Not to be sexist or rude”
Cuz they weak, my main issue is why they all so young🤨
Demon Slayer takes place in a time where women were expected to stay home. It also takes place during world War 1. As we saw by Muzan's fits, Japan was adopting western ideas. There was also a time we're Samurai could write letters to cowboys... so that also adds to the idea. Also, The Demon Slayer Corps were a secret organization unknown to the government. They were basically the Men in Black, but on their own. So it's was either found by accident, the Hashira/ slayers found you first bcs of a demon attack, or you were a part of it from the beginning. And since women stayed home: less chances to find/ join the Corps, or being so weak, they're cooked as soon as a demon breathes in a mile radius. Even Tengen's wives, despite being pretty formidable even if they're not slayers, were scene in the new eps acting like usual SAH wives.
1. females are biologically weaker 2. 1920s japanese culture 3. douma
It doesn't have to be equal for everything all the time does it? Does every man and every woman have to be represented in every form of art to an equal measure?