Demon Slayer, also known as Kimetsu no Yaiba, is a popular anime and manga that remains on everyone’s lips, and it is largely due to its amazing cast of characters, such as Muzan Kibutsuji, the so-called king of demons. , who with his blood can turn any person into a powerful being, in exchange for his subordination.
Something that seems quite curious to us is that one of his most characteristic elements is his white hat, pants of the same color, jacket and curly hair that could have reminded you of Michael Jackson, the king of pop. But where does this curious appearance come from?
One of the first clues we have is the historical period in which the work of Koyoharu Gotouge takes place, the Taisho Era (1912-1926), the so-called process of modernization of Japan, in which they opened their doors to the world with fear, skepticism and desire for power.
For this reason, it is not surprising that the inspiration for the main villain comes from the Italian mafias of that time, which dominated the area of Manhattan and the state of New York: This date matches the period, according to El Español: The 17th of January 1920, the United States ran dry. The 18th Amendment, ratified a year earlier, prohibited the “manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors” within the country.
Thus began the era of Prohibition, almost 14 years of great crime. Although, technically, the Taisho Era is already a time of modernization and peace, Japanese society was still afraid of everything that came from the West.
Muzan Kibutsuji is the fear of an age
For this reason, it is not surprising that Koyoharu Gotouge has decided to use this archetype of the Japanese imaginary of the time to represent his greatest fears and insecurities in the “King of Demons”. Another example of this Western connotation of this villain is the first meeting between Muzan Kibutsuji and Tanjiro Kamado, when they meet in the Asakusa entertainment district, a place that represents “Western perversion” in Japan.
Tanjiro even expresses how overwhelmed he is by all this technology and noise, and retreats to a udon stall to order noodles topped with grated Japanese mountain yams. Everything about their meeting establishes the two characters as polar opposites.
In one corner, you have Muzan in his modern-style clothes and hat that allow him to blend into a world of technology and electricity, where he can hide in plain sight. In the other corner is Tanjiro in his traditional Ichimatsu pattern (checkered) jacket, which he has trouble assimilating and finds solace in food that reminds him of his rural upbringing in the natural world of the Japanese mountains.