While turning villains into victims is not a new trope,Attack on TitanandDemon Slayerare exemplary anime series that employ this trope in a tasteful way. Through the use of foreshadowing, flashbacks, and revelations, these two stories set up their villains to be the consequences of their circumstances and not the primary actors of their actions.
Attack on Titantakes place in a world where Titans roam freely and humanity is locked behind three walls.Eren Yeager, the main protagonist, vows to slaughter all the titans ever since the day that the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan destroyed Wall Maria and killed his mother, Carla Yeager. Finding out the true identities of the titans, however, disorients Eren and drives him down a destructive path.Demon Slayertakes place in a world where demons attack in the dead of night.Tanjiro Kamado, the main character, seeks revenge against the demon who slaughtered his family and seeks answers for his sister, Nezuko Kamado, who turned into a demon herself. Being a demon slayer, however, is harder than he thought, as his heart sympathizes with them more than any other demon slayer in his organization.
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Attack on Titan: Who Are the Good Guys?
Early on in the series, the Armed Forces of Eldia,specifically the Survey Corps, are set up as the good guys. As a child, Eren admired the Survey Corps who went outside the walls to fight Titans and uncover secrets. As a teenager, after passing the final training test in the Training Corps and securing a spot as one of the top ten graduate students, he chooses to go into the Survey Corps. Killing the titans is all he has ever wanted, but this choice comes with a cost.
The more the truth is revealed, the harder it becomes to hate the Titans. Sincethe series spans multiple seasons, the internal corruption of the Military Police Brigade is one of the first times that Eren reevaluates his loyalty to the Military. Another shocking revelation is the story about King Fritz, the coward who lived on through his royal descendants and wiped out the memories of his people to maintain a false sense of peace.
During the final season, Eren is exposed to the reality thatthe people of Paradis Islandare not the good guys, as his ancestors were responsible for the mass slaughter of the Marleyans. From the start to the end, Eren finds that the good guys were not very good at all.
The story sets up the enemies to be the Titans. Whether that bethe Nine Titans, who can transform at will, or the pure Titans, who maintain little to none of their original personalities, Eren treats them as enemies to be defeated. Examples of the Nine Titans that are shown in the series include the Colossal Titan, the Female Titan, the Armored Titan, the Attack Titan, and the Founding Titan. Each Titan has its own unique abilities and forms.
As the series progresses, Eren discovers that the Titans are Eldians who were injected with a Titan serum. to keep the Eldians at bay in Paradis Island, the Marleyans restricted the movement of Eldians within their borders in what appeared to be refugee camps and regularly transported the Eldian Titans by boat. When Eren found outthe truth about the Titans, this made his perception of them greatly change. All this time, he had been wrong about them.
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Comrades in the Corps,Reiner, Annie, and Bertolt were revealed to be Marleyan spieswho were ordered to retrieve the Founding Titan from Eren Yeager. Using the Titans to their advantage, the Marleyan military didn’t hesitate to dominate the world through the power that they hated most. Brainwashed by the Marleyan military, the inheritors of the Nine Titans, other than Eren Yeager and Ymir, have no other choice but to spy, cheat, and kill for the sake of their families, friends, and themselves. What appeared to be an evil plot by the traitors turned out to be a fight for survival.
Attack on Titan: Who Is the Real Villain?
To trace back to the origins ofAttack on Titan, there are two villains presented in the series: a self-made one and a real one. The self-made villain is Eren Yeager himself. Choosing between the world and his friends, he chooses his friends, specifically Mikasa. Since his time is limited due tothe Curse of Ymir, who was the first Founding Titan, he only has 13 years to live after his first Titan shift. In the end, he decides to sacrifice his life for his friends.
The real villain of the series is undeniably King Fritz, also known as King Reiss, and the 145th King of Eldia. AfterYmir is revealed to have the ability to turn into a Titan, he uses her as a weapon and weds her in order to create more Titans. After her death, he forces his daughters to feed on their mother’s body parts to access this mysterious power. The Titans become a world-class danger that can destroy whole nations within a matter of minutes.
The massacre of Marleyand the fear of the Titans all route back to King Fritz. If Ymir, the Founding Titan, had not been exploited and manipulated, none of the death and destruction would have happened. The Marleyans wouldn’t have been massacred, so they wouldn’t have sought out revenge against the Eldians in the same manner. All in all, the series shows that surface-level villains have a larger villain lurking behind them. In this case, it was one man who caused the collapse of nations and the destruction of his people.
Demon Slayer: Who Are the Good Guys?
Similar to theAttack on Titanseries,Demon Slayerintroduces the good guys in the form of the Demon Slayer Corps. Equipped with a special sword that can behead and kill demons,the Nichirin Sword, and a special Total Concentration Breathing Technique that can elevate the user’s physical abilities, the Demon Slayers are established as the allies of humans and foes of demons. The Hahiras, in particular, the crème de la crème of the Demon Slayers.
As the strongest members in the Demon Slayer Corps, the Hashiras are tasked with taking outthe Twelve Kizuki, or the Twelve Moons, who are demons serving directly under Muzan. Almost all of them despise the demons and show no mercy to them. As shown in one of the last episodes of season one, Tanjiro and Nezuko are scrutinized and threatened by the Hashiras, since traveling with a demon is forbidden by the rules. As she has never eaten a human, Nezuko is accepted as an exception; however, the Hashiras are still wary of her.
Unlike the Military Corps inAttack on Titan,the Hashiras are good-natured people. Sacrificing themselves for their cause and their friends, they battle the demons day and night to restore some semblance of peace to humankind in exchange for their lives. Through flashbacks and dialogues, the members of the Hashiras seem to change constantly as the members of the Twelve Kizuki are strong enough to overpower them.
As aforementioned, the demons inDemon Slayerare set up as the bad guys, specifically the Twelve Moons. Throughout the series,demons are portrayed as vile villainswho not only devour humans but also kill them for fun. Like in the case of the Hand Demon, his only mission was to exact revenge against Urodaki, who sealed him in the training area for the Final Selection. As shown through flashbacks, the Hand Demon specifically sought out Urodaki’s students and killed 13 of them during his 47 years trapped in the mountain.
Empathy towards the demons start early on in the series, however, as Tanjiro holds the hand of the dying Hand Demon who recovers memories of his past life. Starting with this encounter, the series continues this trend with each demon defeated by Tanjiro remembering his or her human life and reaching out to him in one way or another.The Spider Family, specifically, is a major example of this case, as each of the members has some form of tragic backstory that makes Tanjiro and the audience feel sorry for them. While their actions make them villains, they are also victims.
For example,Daki and Gyutaro, who jointly are the Upper Rank 6 Demon, were brutally murdered during their human lives. Impoverished since birth, Gyutaro took on odd jobs to provide for himself and his sister. Daki, due to her beauty, was often sought after by older men who wanted to take her as their wife. After she rejects one of the suitors rather violently, he takes revenge on her and burns her to death. Gyutaro is also murdered by them after finding her.
Demon Slayer: Who Is the Real Villain?
Within the first few episodes,the real villain of the series is revealed, Muzan Kibutsuji. He is introduced as the origin of all demons as well as the creator of the Twelve Moons. By drinking his blood, any human can turn into a demon depending on his or her compatibility with him. The worst-case scenario in demon creation is when the blood is rejected by the human body due to the amount ingested and explodes. The best-case scenario in demon creation is when the blood is accepted and the body intakes a large amount since a strong demon will be born.
Muzan is the main villain as his quest for eternal life drives him to lie and kill. When he became a demon, he supposedly abandoned his humanity, so he is easily able to manipulate humans and demons alike. Set up to be so in the story, Muzan is a ruthless ruler who shows no mercy for even the demons who loyally serve him.
For such a powerful demon, however, he too succumbs to many fears: fear of death, fear of Yoriichi Tsugikuni, and fear of betrayal. Even though he presents himself at times to be a caring master for certain members of the Twelve Moons in the case ofDaki, who is the Upper Rank 6 Demon, he only treats her kindly because he wants to manipulate and use her to work harder for him. As he knows she cares about her beauty, he takes advantage of her by giving her endless praises about her appearance and other superficial aspects of herself. At his core, he is a selfish demon who only cares about himself and will sacrifice anyone and everyone for the sake of his survival.
