Akaza Demon Slayer Upper Moon 3 - Backstory And Powers Explained

Akaza in Demon Slayer is one of the most remembered names in the series, a character who has raw strength with a heartbreaking past.

From his life as a human named Hakuji to his transformation into a fearsome demon named Akaza. In this article, we’ll explore Akaza Demon Slayer backstory, powers, and his epic fights, and why he remains a favourite among fans despite being a villain in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

1. Who is Akaza?

a. Upper Moon 3 of the 12 Kizuki:

Akaza is one of the most powerful demons in the Demon Slayer world. He is a member of the 12 Kizuki, which is a group of the strongest demons in the series. There are two fractions in the 12 kizuki, the Upper Moons and the Lower Moons. All demons in the 12 Kizuki are ranked according to their strength. Akaza holds the rank of Upper Moon 3 in this group, which means that he is the third strongest demon in the entire army of Muzan.

b. From Hakuji to Akaza: The Transformation

Akaza became a demon a century ago, from the current time period shown in the series. He was a human named Hakuji who was a master hand-to-hand fighter. His demon transformation story is one of the most tragic stories in the series, as it involved the complete erasure of his memories and how his noble intentions were corrupted into a bloodthirsty obsession with gaining more strength.

c. Physical Appearance and Demon Marks

Akaza's distinctive appearance immediately sets him apart from other demons. His body is covered in criminal tattoos that originated from his human life but spread across his entire form upon becoming a demon. These blue-lined markings serve as a permanent reminder of his criminal past and symbolize how his Obsession with strength has consumed his entire being.

d. Key Physical Features:

Muscular build reflecting his martial arts mastery, Pink hair with blue-tinted skin, and Criminal tattoos covering his entire body, Yellow eyes with blue sclera, Fanged teeth, and claw-like fingernails

2. Akaza's Tragic Human Backstory as Hakuji 

Hakuji was born in a slum in the Edo period and was facing poverty with his chronically ill father. His father was so ill that even walking was difficult for him. Hakuji used to tend to all his needs, from feeding to cleaning him. Since they were living in poverty, affording expensive medicines was out of the question for them. Hakuji, in desperation to save his father, started stealing to buy medicines. Hakuji was arrested 3 times for stealing, and each time he was punished harshly for his crime. He was beaten brutally, and criminal tattoos were etched into his skin. But Hakuji never backed down from his crimes, and due to this, the magistrate branded Hakuji as a demon Child. After his third arrest, he received the same punishment more brutally and was also banished from the Edo.

When Hakuji's father found out about this third arrest, he committed suicide by hanging himself. Hakuji, after getting this news, was devastated and was one of the main reasons for Hakuji choosing the path of Violence. Hakuji found a letter written by his father before his suicide, in which his father mentioned that he didn't hate Hakuji for his action but wanted Hakuji to live an honest life. Hakuji's father thought of himself as a burden to Hakuji, and he knew that as long as he was alive, Akaza would resort to crime to buy his expensive medicines and help him recover. 

3. The Soryu Dojo and Love Story

Following the death of his father, Hakuji started to walk the path of violence, and he used to beat anyone he thought was responsible for his father's death. One day, when he was fighting 7 men, a person saw this and thought that Hakuji would be brutally beaten by those men, so he called Keizo, the dojo owner, for help. When Keizo appeared on the scene, he saw Hakuji beating all seven grown men with his bare hands. Keizo, who was a master in hand-to-hand combat, was very impressed by Hakuji's prowess. 

Keizo immediately understood that Hakuji was banished from edo after seeing his criminal tattoos and went to talk to Hakuji and praise him for defeating seven grown mens. Keizo offered Hakuji to join his dojo, to master the Soryu style martial arts, which is a style of hand-to-hand combat. Hakuji, in his rage, attacked Keizo but was beaten to the point of losing consciousness by him in a few seconds. After Hakuji was unconscious, he was carried by Keizo to his dojo, and there Keizo entrusted Hakuji with taking care of his sick daughter named Koyuki.

Koyuki was very sick as she was not able to walk on her own, and she needed another person's help for feeding and cleaning her. Hakuji, who had experience in taking care of his sick father, was not at all troubled in taking care of Koyuki. He used to tend to all of her needs, and in his free time, he used to train with Keizo. Koyuki and Akaza slowly became very close, and they both developed genuine love between them. After three years, Koyuki's health was slowly recovering, and she was now able to help Akaza with his chores and was able to walk properly. Keizo offered Hakuji ko to marry his daughter and was ready to transfer the ownership of this dojo to Hakuji. Hakuji was finally happy, and he saw his life on a road where his father would be happy to see him.

4. Poison tragedy and revenge:

As we all know that some people just can't see others being happy. Hakuji's happiness was destroyed by the people of the rival dojo. The rival dojo knew that they couldn't defeat Keizo and Hakuji in a fair square battle, so they resorted to the cowardly way of poisoning the water of the well and letting Keizo and Koyuki drink it. 

Hakuji was away to visit his father's grave, and after he returned, he saw people gathered around his dojo, and a man came to Hakuji to say that both Keizo and Koyuki were poisoned. Hakuji, after seeing the dead bodies of his loved ones, was again reminded of his weak self, who couldn't protect the people he loved. Following Keizo's and Koyuki's deaths, Hakuji attacked the rival dojo who poisoned the well, and he single-handedly killed all 67 armed members of the rival dojo using his soryu style. After killing the members of the rival dojo, Hakuji was so devastated that he had lost his mind, and suddenly, Muzan, the king of the demons, appeared there. 

5. Muzan's Recruitment and Demon Transformation

Image source: © Koyoharu Gotouge / Shueisha, Aniplex, ufotable

Muzan heard from somewhere that a demon was killing dojo members, so he was curious, as he didn't remember sending any demon in that area, but when he saw Hakuji there and he was impressed by him. Hakuji immediately attacked Muzan, and the very next second, Muzan pierced through Hakuji's face. Muzan asked Hakuji to become a demon and join the elite ranks of demons known as the 12 kizuki, and Akaza, who was devastated by his own weakness, replied to Muzan that he didn't care what would happen to him from now on, and after drinking Muzan's blood, Hakuji transformed into a demon, and the criminal marks on his hands spread all over his body, symbolizing his advent into the path of destruction.

Becoming a Demon, Hakuji gained a powerful body that can heal very easily, enhanced Stamina, Superior physical strength, and unique demon powers which synchronized with his Soryu style combat technique, but his memories were erased by Muzan, and Hakuji didn't even remember his own name. He just had the will to become strong, but didn't know the reason for that. After becoming a demon, he chose to name him Akaza. Despite losing his memories, Akaza still has deep love for his wife and honor somewhere deep inside his heart, due to which he didn't eat a single woman or child in his entire demon life span. Akaza was allowed to act according to his will because Muzan was always impressed by Akaza's work, and therefore, he allowed Akaza not to eat women and children.

6. Akaza's Powers and Blood Demon Art 

Destructive Death: Shockwave Manipulation:

Akaza's blood demkn art destructive death is very dangerous because it has the power to manipulate shockwaves. These shockwaves can be used in various forms. They can take the form of invisible air pressure and blue colored circular energy waves, and even canon-like spikes. These shockwaves can be created and manipulated by Akaza according to his will and can be used both in Short and long range.

Compass Needle:

Image source: © Koyoharu Gotouge / Shueisha, Aniplex, ufotable

Compass needle is a blood demon art, which is a signature technique of Akaza. After activating, this technique manifests as a light blue colored snowflake beneath him. Using this technique, Akaza can detect the fighting spirits( the will to fight) of all beings inside the technique range. After detecting the fighting spirit, Akaza can easily predict the opponent's moves, his battle power, his stamina, and even his weakness. Akaza can detect everything in his range, which is a 360° area and his body can automatically respond to an attack from all directions, dodging, blocking, and even countering an attack. The only way to counter Compass needle is either to hide your own fighting spirit or to outclass Akaza in speed and power so much that even though he can predict your moves, he still cannot do anything, as you are too strong.

Soryu Style Martial Arts Integration:

Akaza, in his human days, learned the Soryu style Martial arts, which his a hand-to-hand combat style martial arts. In his human days, Akaza was unparalleled in hand-to-hand combat, surpassed only by his Master Keizo.

After becoming a demon, Akaza enhanced his Martial arts with his blood demon art and increased its destructive power.

 Regeneration and Unlimited Stamina

As an Upper Moon demon, Akaza possesses near-instantaneous regeneration, capable of regrowing severed limbs within seconds. Combined with his unlimited stamina, this makes him capable of fighting indefinitely without showing signs of fatigue.

Notable Techniques:

Leg Type: Crown Splitter - Reverse axe kick with shockwaves,  Eight-Layered Demon Core - Series of devastating punches Final Form: Blue Silver Chaotic Afterglow - Omnidirectional assault

7. Major Battles and Story Impact:

Throughout the series, we saw 2 of Akaza's fights.

1. Akaza vs Kyojuro Rengoku (Mugen train arc)

In the Mugen Train arc, Akaza made his debut by arriving at the crash scene and immediately attacking Tanjiro. Tanjiro was saved by Rengoku and then Akaza seeing Rengoku's fight spirit started respecting him for his strnght and offered him to become a demon but Rengoku declined his offer. After engaging in battle with Rengoku Akaza easily overpowered him and was holding back rhe entire fight trying to convince Rengoku to join him as a demon. Rengoku was defeated, but in his last moments, he matched Akaza's strength and was able to nearly behead him. But Akaza broke his own hands and escaped Rengoku and the Sunlight and ran away from the scene to hide. During his escape attempt, Tanjiro stabbed Akaza with his sword using the Hinokami Kagura and labelled him a Coward who ran away. Hearing this, Akaza got irritated and decided to kill Tamjiro if he met him again.

2. Final battle: Akaza vs Tomioka Giyu and Kamado Tanjiro (Infinity Castle arc)

After Every Demon Slayer got caught in the Infinity Castle by Muzan, Tanjiro and Giyu were together to fight the demons as a group.

Akaza confronted them and again immediately attacked Tanjiro, but this time Tanjiro countered with a powerful slash as he his now a Hashira-level slayer. After fighting Giyu, he started respecting him for his strength and confronted Giyu with all his power. Giyu, while fighting Akaza, awakened his Demon Slayer mark, and he has now enhanced all his abilities by this mark. Akaza immediately adapted Giyus' enhanced powers, and they both went toe to toe in their battle. Tanjiro, seeing this, came to understand Akaza's technique, and then he mastered the selfless state. The selfless state is a state where a fighter completely hides his fighting spirit, and this state is the weakness of Akaza's technique. Tanjiro also entered into the transparent world, which is an OP technique that can enable the user to see through a being's body. Using this technique, Tanjiro can see his opponent's entire body from nerve to nerve, organ to organ, and he can also see the flow of air and blood in his opponent's entire body. Tanjiro easily severed Akaza's head and defeated him. But Akaza, in desperation to become strong, started to regrow his head. But during this process, Koyuki's Soul called to Akaza and he destroyed his own body. Akaza finally remembered everything and is now free from Muzan.

conclusion by senpai

So this was all about Akaza

Senpai thinks that Akaza was a character who showed a decent amount of character development in the entire series, and Akaza choosing the path of destruction after Koyuki's death was the right thing because those who poisoned them had it coming and in the end, he chooses the path of redemption by ending himself. The only thing that went wrong was Muzan's confrontation with Hakuji, and the rest we all know how it turns out, and that's how you are here 

Frequently Asked Questions About Akaza: