Updated April 1, 2023 by Ernie
Daki is one of the Demons we get introduced to in the manga. She is a member of Muzan Kibutsuji’s inner circle and holds the joint position of Upper-Rank Six. In this blog, we are going to discuss many of her skills and abilities, before going into her relationships and affiliations.
Table of Contents
WHO IS DAKI IN DEMON SLAYER??!
Appearance
Demon Slayer has a very distinctive art style to the point where you can almost instantly tell that a character is from that series as opposed to another. This is especially true for the Demons, all of whom are distinctive and memorable and Daki is no exception to this rule.
She is a fair-skinned woman who appears to be in her middle years with very long silver hair. She has a set of very distinctive green eyes. Daki is usually seen wearing a simple kimono (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 72).
From what we’ve seen, Daki looked very similar even when she was not a demon. She is one of the few demons in the show we see maintain their appearance.
Character Info
Status: Deceased
Race: Human (Former) / Demon
Gender: Female
Age: 13 (Human Age) / 200 (Demon)
Eye color: Lime Green
Hair color: Silver and Lime Green
Affiliation: Muzan Kibutsuji
Occupation: Upper Moon 6
Relatives: Gyutaro
Appearances in ANIME/Manga
Manga Debut: Chapter 59 (Partial Appearance) / Chapter 73 (Full Appearance)
Anime Debut: Episode 34 (Partial Appearance) / Episode 36 (Full Appearance)
Voice Actors
Japanese: Miyuki Sawashiro
English: Erica Lindbeck
Demon Slayer Background
Demon Slayer is one of the most popular anime in recent memory. Despite the manga ending, it has one of the most passionate and invested fan bases on the internet to the point where the movie was the highest-grossing movie in all of 2020. Demon Slayer is a new breed of shonen, especially when compared to the classics like Naruto and One Piece.
Like much other modern shonen series, one of the things that Demon Slayer does particularly well is to have a wide cast of interesting and unique characters. Demon Slayer has a vast cast of characters many of whom are nuanced and interesting.
One thing Demon Slayer is particularly famous for is its ability to humanize its antagonists even if they don’t get as much screen time as other characters. Today, we are going to talk about just one such antagonist.
In this article, we are going to be talking about Daki, one of the somewhat minor villains we get introduced to over the course of Demon Slayer. Despite being on the somewhat minor end of villains, it is easy to see that she is just as interesting and developed as the rest of the cast. In a series known for having interesting villains, Daki still manages to stand out. Among manga readers, she is a fan-favorite character.
Personality
Enjoying Pain
Daki has one of the more interesting and nuanced personalities we see from any of the Demons in the show. It would have been all too easy to make her a one-note villain but Demon Slayer goes several steps further and makes her a complex and layered character with many different aspects that all need to be looked at closely.
Like many of the other Demons we see in the series, Daki appears to be cruel and taking pleasure before she finishes off her victims. She goes even further and enjoys playing with her victims before she finally puts them out of their misery (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 74).
Childlike Personality
Despite her age, Daki usually does not act her age at all. She is frequently seen crying whenever something does not work out the way she wants it to. Besides this, whenever she is talking to someone, she has a habit of acting entitled, just like a child would (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 75).
Seduction
Daki is frequently seen working as a courtesan and often acts very seductive whenever she faces her male customers. She is not at all opposed to using her womanly charms to get what she wants if she thinks it might be effective (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 74).
Pyrophobia
During her childhood, Daki was left on the verge of death after a samurai almost burned her alive. Due to this, she has developed a particularly intense trauma whenever it comes to a fire of any kind. Even hundreds of years later this still affects her, as Nezuko using her Blood Demon Art is more than enough to terrify her (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 82).
Determination
Despite her childish seeming personality, Daki is not one to easily give up when she is faced with a difficult situation. In her fight against Tanjiro and Nezuko, despite being terrified of the flames, she still tried to do her best (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 81).
She keeps herself in a high position
The idea of demon pride is not exclusive to Daki; it is shared by many other demons who regard humans as nothing more than a source of food and tend to underestimate their abilities. This arrogance is not entirely unfounded, as even the strongest humans can be easily overpowered by a low-level demon.
Strengths and Skills
Strength
Daki is one of the strongest demons we meet over the course of Demon Slayer. Despite looking like she is in her early twenties, she is in fact hundreds of years old. Due to this, she possesses a whole host of skills and abilities that all need to be looked at separately. Holding the rank of Upper-Rank Six, she more than earns her place with her arsenal of abilities.
Demons in the world of Demon Slayer are often only as strong as the amount of blood they share with Muzan Kibutsuji. Being one of his inner circles, she possesses a large amount of his blood. This grants her an extreme amount of strength capable of punching through buildings with just her bare hands (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 76). It is likely that she can do a variety of other strength-related feats as well.
Speed And Agility
Daki is fast enough that she is hard to keep up with for Demon Slayers let alone normal people. She is so fast that she can easily keep up with several Demon Slayers at once such as she did in the battle against Tanjiro and the others.
Stamina
Like many of the other stronger demons, Daki more or less possesses infinite stamina. She can fight indefinitely and any injury she sustains will be quickly healed if it is not immediately fatal. The only way to stop this regeneration is to sever the head (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 81).
Brother Connection
Daki can share her five senses with her brother. To do this, she needs to fix one of his eyes into her head. This creates a connection between the pair, allowing Daki to send all kinds of visual information to her brother.
This is not the main use of this ability. While she is sharing this connection, all of Daki’s abilities are greatly increased. This strength enhancement is not insignificant at all. Before this, she was not able to keep up with Zenitsu at all while with it, she was easily able to keep up with him (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 81).
The final thing this connection grants to her is immunity to dying by decapitation. Every other demon in the series will die if their head is chopped off while Daki is immune in this state.
The only way to bypass this immunity is to decapitate her brother at the exact same time as her. Besides dying to direct sunlight, there is no other way to take her out that is currently known.
Blood Demon Art Ability
Flesh Manipulation
Daki wears her own flesh shaped into the form of sashes. She can then manipulate these sashes on the fly to create a series of weapons. This is done by shaping them to be pointers if she wants a sword or shaping them to be wider if she wants a shield. Besides this, it appears she can use these sashes independently, making them perform simple missions without directly paying attention to them.
Daki can also directly communicate with each of her sashes if she ever wants finer control over them. It further appears that her sashes are at least somewhat intelligent, able to make smart decisions in the heat of the moment (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 76). They were even shown to take part in a full-blown conversation with Daki.
Her Demon Art is Inspired By Japanese Culture
Daki’s unique Blood Demon Art is a captivating aspect of her persona, specifically her ability to elongate her neck. This ability is derived from the Rokurokubi, a legendary Japanese yokai that could detach or extend its head from its body. The terrifying folktale of the Rokurokubi served as the basis for Daki’s Blood Demon Art in Demon Slayer, solidifying her reputation as a formidable opponent.
Past/History
Daki was born hundreds of years before the main series started. She and her brother grew up in a poor district that was somewhat well known for prostitution. Life was hard here and the pair, along with their mother, had to struggle every day to survive. It was hardly the place to grow up.
Daki was born beautiful. Even at a young age, she would make men and women stare at her. There was a special quality about her that you just could not find in any of the other people there. This gave their mother hope that maybe one day they would be able to make something of themselves and escape from the slums. That’s where they likely would have ended up too, except for one incident.
A passing samurai insulted her brother and Daki was not about to let that go. She challenged him and insulted his honor and that’s where everything started to go wrong. The samurai didn’t take too kindly to this and ended up beating the pair to the verge of death.
Daki herself was almost burnt alive until she looked a little different from a charred corpse. That is when a demon stumbled across them and displayed a degree of mercy. He made her and her brother into demons, before asking them to go join Muzan’s inner circle along with him.
When She Was Still Human
Despite her lack of wealth and dishevelled appearance, everyone around her perceived her as stunningly beautiful. Prior to her transformation into a demon, Ume had an honest and trustworthy character. Her name, Ume, originates from the Japanese Ume blossom, known for its ability to ward off evil. Both her name and demeanor underscore the extent to which Muzan’s corrupting influence has drastically altered her into a complete opposite of her former self.
Her Mother Might Have Passed Away Due To A Disease
It’s reasonable to assume that Daki and Gyutaro’s mother’s passing was a result of a sexually transmitted disease, given her profession as a pleasure worker. There is speculation that the specific ailment was syphilis, known as ‘baidoku’ in Japanese. This conjecture is based, in part, on the fact that the Japanese words ‘Ume’ and ‘Bai’ can be used interchangeably.
Affiliations / Relationship
Demons
Like all of the other demons in the series, Daki possesses a special connection to Muzan by having a share of his blood flowing through her, and being part of his inner circles grants her a level of respect not afforded to other demons (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 52). This grants her supernatural powers but also puts certain restrictions on her such as never being able to reveal information about him to anyone else.
More than that, as one of the highest-ranked demons, she possesses a larger share of his blood than practically any other demon. It is likely that she is quite thankful to be associated with the demons as they saved her from an otherwise tragic end to her life. She also seems to go out of her way to try and abuse her victims, signaling that she might still bear some resentment to the humans that traumatized her.
Gyutaro
Daki is often seen either being very confrontational or being very stuck up to most of the people she interacts with. The one main exception to this seems to be with her brother, whom she cares for a great deal. Nonetheless, they have a somewhat complicated relationship and Daki is certainly not opposed to chewing him out if she thinks that he deserves it (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 76).
muzan finds her useful
Muzan was infamous for eliminating any demons who did not meet his criteria. Therefore, it’s understandable to wonder why he tolerated Daki despite seeing her as less intellect compared to other demons. However, Muzan recognized that demons could be valuable in ways beyond their intelligence. A reliable source of income is essential for any organization, whether it’s human or demon. Daki’s past as a courtesan, coupled with her physical attractiveness, made her an ideal and dependable source of income for Muzan’s organization. This is why the Demon King chose to overlook her lack of intelligence and tolerate her presence.
daki isn’t the real upper moon 6
Daki may possess formidable strength and earn the respect of being seen as a powerful demon, but it’s important to acknowledge that she lacked the necessary power to truly claim the Upper Rank 6 position on her own. It was only through her partnership with Gyutaro that the siblings were able to climb the ranks and establish themselves as a fearsome duo. Despite this, it is Gyutaro who can truly claim the title of the Upper Rank 6. Unlike Daki, Gyutaro’s composed demeanor in battle allowed him to excel as both the brains and brawn of their operation.
Entertainment District Arc Where It All Ended
Along with her brother, Daki is the main villain of the Entertainment District Arc. This is the arc where she is first introduced. The first member she meets out of the gang is Zenitsu (Demon Slayer Manga Chapter 74).
This is the arc where we learn the most about her personality and her connection to her brother. We also get insight into her life long before she ever became a demon. And this is where she gets the most screen time out of the entire series.
In this arc, after a long fight, she and her brother are eventually defeated by Tanjiro and his friends. In conclusion, in a series known for its interesting and unique villains, Daki is yet another compelling character to add to the list. Though she only had one arc dedicated to her, she still managed to become a noteworthy villain and one that we couldn’t truly hate. If you love Daki, be sure to check her other information on our list of Demon Slayer waifus!
