#i never draw zenitsu. i sorry. i like the demon design i made for him i just have no ideas beyond hehe lightning shock funny

[demonslayedher]

Any Kny character you've grown to love/appreciate more??

Thanks for waiting, Anon, I have been trying to really, really hard to narrow this down, but the answer remains: the vast majority of the cast. The only character I loved right away was Tanjiro and that love kept me watching, as with almost every new character I was like, "ugh, I hate this guy. Here I was, having fun being emotionally invested in a high quality anime, and this might ruin it for me." But then the instant I see a different side of their character, I'm like, "...Oh." To go into some examples...

Zenitsu: I could not stand him right away, I hate womanizers, and his conniptions would go on so long that they held up the story. But Gotouge/Ufotable strung me along perfectly, the first glimpse of Thunder Breath made me immediately pay attention and think, "oh, that was cool. I want to see more of that." Seeing him protect the box pretty firmly put him in the "I need to protect this child" box in my heart. And then the spider demon happens, and I'm sending desperate reaction messages to a friend like "NOOOOOO!!!! BABBBBBBBBBYYYYYYYY!!!!" And then he annoyed me all over again at the start of Functional Recovery, ahaha. It's hard to remember how annoyed I was because I'm such a Zen Stan now, and he was a very firm favorite of mine by the time I finished binging the anime up to the last couple episodes, which I waited for as they came out. Inosuke: He was one of the reasons I was curious about the series, I saw some promotional art and was super curious about Nezuko's muzzle (I was one of the people who thought it was some ancient scroll or something, haha) and the kid with the boar mask. The art I saw showed his face, and I assumed he'd be some kid with a cracking voice performed by a female seiyuu. As much as I love Matsuoka's performance now, initially, since I knew what his face looked like, I found it grossly off-putting the moment I heard it. Then every chaotic thing Inosuke did dug a deeper hole; I very quickly decided I hated him, especially when he started beating up on the kid I was starting to like. As his chaos subsided he just became a character I tolerated, and then this happened:

Images you can hear, am I right? This immediately flipped the "BABY" switch in my heart. It was also a lot of fun to understand the Inosuke memes I was seeing everywhere. So by the end of the anime, I loved, loved, loved, loved the Tanjiro/Zenitsu/Inosuke interactions and desperately wanted more (still didn't like how Zenitsu bothered Nezuko, though). I was so impatient for more, but the manga art looked disappointingly off-putting. I figured the anime was successful enough that there'd eventually be more of it, and I wanted to be patient, but then I poked around, read some spoilers, got back into Tumblr to look at fanart and memes, saw a spoiler image of Tanjiro affected by Muzan's poison and the binge-read began. (That's kind of a lie, but I'll get to that.) Let's back up a few episodes. There I was, having a great time, the guy who I forgot about from Episode 1 was back and haha, I guess everyone hates him, and the chick who I figured was going to be a medic who saves Zenitsu in the nick of time turned out to be savage, awesome. I was sending reactions to my friends who were ahead of me, and then we left off seeing the Pillars staring down Best Boy. And I...

Well. Uh. Here, I've dug up an old convo for you, my comments are in blue.

Immediately followed by a passionate vocal rant, which I have transcribed here:

“I feel like what happened was that the mangaka was sitting around with his assistants and was like, ‘welp, gotta make this whole cast of characters, they gotta be so-o-o-o many more levels of extreme than all the other characters I’ve had so far, which isn’t hard, because all of the background characters are cannon fodder and I’ve just gotta leave them all with black hair and no personality traits. So! Gotta go to the opposite of the spectrum with the BIG! POWERFUL! People so no-o-o-body can be normal.’ And so he and his assistants sat down, and they all wrote down just random words or traits, and them put ‘em all in a hat. And then for each character, they pulled out a few of them and said, ‘OK. We’re gonna put these things together, now we have a character.’ And he was probably also like, ‘Iiiiiiiiiiiii’ll flesh them out later. For now, they just need t’… be there, and make an impact. How do we make an impact? By making sure it’s super, super clear what their character traits are. Here, we’ll have this guy repeat the word //HADE//…. ////HA DEEE//// over and over and over… to show that he’s a /showy/ person. Because he /cares/ about that. And he //should// care because that is his character and that’s why he’s powerful.’ OH MY GOSH, it’s so dumb.”

......orz I feel like Genya looking back at how he acted at the end of the Final Selection. I'm sorry, Gotouge, I had not even encountered your love for these characters yet in your little alligator form. Nor had I encountered the yet unseen-sides of these traumatized dragons and tigers. ...*coughs* Um. So. I was pretty harsh.

So this was my mindset, I went into the manga not caring about most of these characters and just wanting more Kamaboko squad interactions and wanting to hurry up and catch up to the battle with Muzan. And it's worth stating that I didn't mean to read it at first. I encountered a few spoilers, and just wanted to look for the context surrounding those parts, and then hunt for the (non-existent) build-up to those parts, and so... uh.........

I read a lot of the manga out of order, and yeah, that did affect how much I cared about what was going on. I didn't actually properly process a lot of it until later re-reads. But to try to state some things simply about each Pillar:

Giyuu: He was just 'ok' to me for a long time, I could see the appeal for why people I knew were fangirling over him but he didn't do it for me. His soft spot for Tanjiro was indeed endearing, though, and I firmly liked him by the time chapter 200 came out and I was properly heartbroken on his behalf.

Shinobu: She was intriguing, and then I liked her as soon as I saw her savage side, she was one of the characters I went hunting for spoilers for.

Rengoku: That stare really put me off at first, but I fell for him over the process of Tanjiro falling for him. When I first finished the train arc I sat back and said, "wow! That's going to make for a good movie!" and then in psyching myself out for the movie several months in advance, I fell hook, line, and sinker and was totally excited for him each time I saw the trailers. And then the movie was *stunning* and I love him even more. Uzui: He was the Pillar I hated most upon first meeting them. I blame the repeated use of his catchphrase. But then when he let his hair down to sell the kiddos the change in design helped warm me up more to him, like, "oh, there was a human in there." It took a long time for him to become more interesting to me, and an uncharacteristically subtle journey to becoming a character I liked. I am currently getting more and more psyched out for him and eager to see how much more I'm going to like him with the shiny Ufotable treatment. Mitsuri: At first I didn't remember her name, I had code-named her as "Boobs." But I kinda had a feeling she was going to grow on me quickly, and I was right, she's one of my easy favorites now. Muichiro: Who? Oh yeah, that kid who always kinda fell to the wayside in my attention. I'd see a lot of Muichiro-themed blogs and hear a lot of little girls looking at merch and showing a clear favoritism of him, and I'd like always react like Muichiro and just be like, "...", and then when I read his major battles I was more emotionally invested in things going on concurrently with other characters, and I was still like, "...", and then two days ago I revisited a Muichiro scene and was suddenly like, "......OH!!! MUICHIRO!!!!!" Himejima: I never really hated Himejima, even if I found his first impression kind of wimpy (haha... oh, I was so wrong). I had a pretty easy acceptance of him too, so I would generally count him among characters I like, but if you were to ask me why, I'd draw a blank. It's kind of a weirdly mature, subdued appreciation for him rather than passionate fangirling. But weirdly when I was daydreaming the other day I found myself thinking, "if I had to marry someone in the KnY cast, it would be Himejima." So like, not a fiery romance, but I see him as my dependable, sturdy rock to grow old with??? What is up with you, sub-conscious?? Iguro: My interest in him rises and falls. Being a Mitsuri fan helped warm me up to his character in the first place, which was the emotional tie I needed since his backstory didn't grip me much (I found it a frustrating distraction while I was desperately reading weekly updates). Reading more subtle details about his character in the fanbooks has brought me around and made me more curious about him, like I'd really like to be a fly on the wall for the conversation he had with Uzui one day about their pasts.

Sanemi: Hahaha, wow. He was so unlikable in the beginning, wasn't he? His character design (yeah, the eyes) was really off-putting too. But then I got to know him and there was no going back, I got totally played. He's a character I'm pretty fond of now and one of the characters I've enjoyed delving into most in fanfic. To keep this answer from getting too long, for the vaaaaaast majority of the cast, I was initially like, "meh" or "OK" or "ew" but now am like, "EEEEEEEEE, I LOVE THIS TOTALLY RANDOM UNIMPORTANT SIDE CHARACTERRRRRRR" so you know... times change. And the more time I spend obsessed with Kimetsu no Yaiba, the more I like them all, so even the characters I'm lukewarm on will probably have their eventual days when they take over my heart and smash it.

[dreamindolls]

Giyuu x Semi-mute Reader

Working on reposting all of my work on here! My works will be reposted over a queue and it’ll be a while til i get to some new works so please bare with me. I want to get up as much as I can of my works rather than losing it all.

You were in your room as always from morning to a little before afternoon, writing and drawing and keeping track of all the records of the demon slayers. Living at the Butterfly estate wasn’t easy but you had plenty of breaks and time to yourself which were always welcome to you. You were far into your own world at your desk drawing something when a knock at the door and the sudden words of “I’m coming in!” and the door slowly opening as a head poked its way in to see if it was ok. It was Tanjiro followed by Zenitsu, you’d recognized them from the notes and descriptions of them in the records. As they walked in and stood by the door they saw you fumble with your art book trying to hide it. Tanjiro waved a hello and proceeded to speak. “I’m sorry we didn’t mean to scare you. Aoi-san asked us to bring these records to you so you could organize them!” You nodded your head in response and getting up, making sure your art book was hidden enough they couldn’t see the drawing on it and went to grab the records from Tanjiro.

You bowed as a thank you for Tanjiro delivering the papers to you. He seemed a little surprised at how formal you were but it came as no surprise to you. The most you can do to say thank you to people, especially if they don’t know sign, is to bow as a thanks or write it down. You turned around and showed him a note, one you had written. It stated, “I’m sorry I don’t speak much.” and you gave an apologetic smile at him. You’d seen Tanjiro and heard him and his friends inside the estate only recently but never properly introduced since there was really no need and it’s not like you’d see them very often unless you were needed to help treat them. You shuffled for another note on the desk that said “My names [F/N\] [L/N] but you can call me [Y/N].” You took the notes back and placed them in their spot on the table and bowed again at him.

‘Ah- There’s no need to be so formal! It’s ok if you don’t speak! We were just here to deliver the records Aoi-san gave us!” He waved his hands at you trying to ease you away from being so formal, but you only nodded a no in response. You’d realized the blonde one hadn’t said anything this whole time and looked over to where he was, except he wasn’t there anymore. You looked around the room, maybe he entered into the room more? Nowhere to be found. Tanjiro noticed you looking around and he realized as well Zenitsu had disappeared. He only mumbled “Where did he…” before he was cut off by the abrupt sound of someone opening the door.

It was Zenitsu. He held flowers in his hand and his face was flushed. You tilted your head in confusion, which seemed to make him blush harder when he looked up and held the flowers close to his chest. He tilted his face away seemingly trying to his, oh so obvious blush, as he moved his flowers towards you, gesturing they were meant for you. You blinked a few times kind of surprised he’d left to give you flowers. You smiled sweetly and took the flowers from his hands which seemed to make him really happy. You bowed as a thank you to him, which surprised and flustered him as he turned to Tanjiro seeking advice “W- what do I do?!? Do I bow back!? No one’s ever bowed at me when I gave them flowers before!?!” He seemed panicked but mostly just flustered.

Tanjiro called Zenitsu name catching his attention from his fluster. “Zenitsu, [y/n] doesn’t speak. They bowed as a thank you for the flowers.” Your face lit up a little bit at Tanjiro as he explained for you, that you don’t speak. Zenitsu seemed to notice this because he got upset at Tanjiro for both, knowing your name and making you smile. Your smile quickly turned into a forced smile as Zenitsu started bickering at Tanjiro and there wasn’t much you could do. Instead you turned around and started looking through some cabinet in your room. Zenitsu noticed and started staring at you and yelling enthusiastically about how you were going to get a present for him and he couldn’t wait. You pull out a small vase, with a cute design on it and place it on your desk in the corner and place the flowers he’d given you in it. You turn around and see that Zenitsu had absolutely lit up in excitement clearly happy you liked his flowers. Tanjiro looked at you from behind Zenitsu and mouthed something along the lines of “I’m sorry” as he grabbed Zenitsu by the collar of his outfit and started dragging him away.

You giggle to yourself and Zenitsu tries to protest but Tanjiro starts to scold him about flirting with every girl he sees. Soon they’re long gone and you head outside as well. Luckily your room is by the courtyard and you take a few steps onto the walkway looking up at the sky and onto the landscape as far as you could see. You thought to yourself now would be a good time to grab your books and draw for a bit outside and you hurried back to your room to fetch your stuff.

A few minutes later and your perched on your spot on the small bridge the estate has, your attention on both your drawing and on the scenery. When you’re drawing like this you notice all the little things that change, the people who pass by, the birds that build their nests in the trees, and the clouds as they pass by in the sky. And there’s one thing that you know you’ll always notice when he appears. Giyuu. He wasn’t there often but when he was you found yourself always studying his features and haphazardly drawing him in your book multiple times and always assumed he’d never noticed since he never looked at you or even seemed to notice when she stared at him studying his face. At least you thought so until today, when you had finished drawing and decided the bridges lowest rail would be a good spot to rest and you placed your arms and crossed them placing your head in your arms as you closed your eyes. You’d fallen asleep for a few minutes and you’d woken up to the sound of your book pages flipping.

You panicked thinking someone was going through your book and turned to your right to grab it only to be met by Giyuu who was bent down over your book and extremely close to your face. Surprised, you jump back and look down at your book. This close up he really was pretty, you thought to yourself but quickly discarded the thought as the wind blew and your books pages started flowing and you scrambled to grab it before Giyuu saw anything inside it. You held it close to your chest and looked at Giyuu waiting for a response but he gave none. Instead he stood up with a hand gesturing at you to help you up and you hesitantly took it. You stood up on your feet and avoided making any eye contact with him, but you couldn’t help but glance up at his face and see what seemed to be blu-

‘Do you want me to take you back to your room? If you’re tired, you should rest.” He interrupted your thoughts and spoke suddenly causing you to jump again and clutch your book closer to you. He seemed to notice he startled you and apologized “Ah- Sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” He lowered his hand and gave a small bow before looking back up at you with the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. You grabbed your book away from your chest and grabbed your pencil and quickly wrote something “Its ok. If you could take me back it’d be nice”. He seemed confused as to why you wrote it down instead of speaking but he didn’t question it, only nodding his head and gesturing for you to walk.

The walk back was short and kind of awkward since neither of you talked but somehow it was nice. You studied his haori and its pattern, wondering to yourself why he’d had it split between designs, studying his hair and how it was so spiky and how pretty it was. To be honest you kind of wanted to touch it but you made sure you didn’t. You didn’t even realize you’d made it all the way to your room until you’d bumped into him accidentally taking in his scent which smelled like fresh rain that had poured. You quickly backed away when you bumped into him and looked around to see that you’d ended up back in your room. Giyuu looked confused for some reason, which confused you so you both tilted heads at each other, confused… Ah! You bowed quickly as a thank you thinking he was confused that you hadn’t thanked him. But he only stood there still confused. You raised your head and wrote down, “Thank you for taking me back to your room. You seem confused about something though, is there something I can help with?” He opened his mouth to speak but closed his mouth, putting his finger to his mouth in thought.

“[Y/N]?” You blinked a few times as he said your name waiting for him to continue.

“Are you sure youre OK? You seem dazed and even bumped into me when we'd arrived. Is there something wrong with your throat? You didn't try to speak just write it down.” Ah. So he was just worried about you. It was both relieving and flustering to you.

“ah- no I-” You quickly covered your mouth realized you’d just spoken to him despite this being your first time actually meeting him. 'Fuck' you thought to yourself. Seeing your shock and covering your mouth Giyuu wasn’t quite sure what to do. He looked around hoping someone was there to help him but there was no one.

“Sorry was that bad to ask I wasn't trying to-”

You interrupted him “No! It’s just…I don’t usually..” you got quieter as you kept talking. “talk to people is all…” You lowered your hands from holding the book so close to your face when you explained yourself. You can’t believe yourself, you don’t usually talk to people unless you know them really well. You slowly covered your face again in disbelief.

“No, it’s ok, I get it. I don’t really know how to talk to people either.” He shifted slightly seemingly ashamed of admitting that. You giggled a bit.

“Guess we’re in the same boat then, huh?” You raised your fingers to your mouth as you giggled. Maybe talking to him wasn’t so bad. “Maybe we could.. talk more often?” You asked but you weren’t so sure how he’d answer.

“I’d like that.” He’d answered more honestly than you thought. It took you by surprise kind of but you smiled at his response. He seemed to pause for a minute before seemingly giving himself a small smirk and saying “I’d also like to know why you stare at me so much and why I’m in your book so much.” Your eyes widened when he said that. He almost seemed to smirk at that. You covered your face and crouched down to the floor trying to hide your blush overcoming your face. You could hear him giggle slightly to himself, which only made your embarrassment worse.

You looked up at him slowly “You…you saw in my book..?” You already knew the answer but…

“Before you woke up earlier I was just going to pick you up and take you back to your room, but the wind flipped through your pages and I saw a few drawings and then you woke up." So he did see! You had hoped he didn’t see inside your book when the wind betrayed you like that.

“I’m- I’m really sorry!! I should’ve asked for permission first I-”

“It’s ok. You didn’t do anything bad, [y/n].” He smiled ever so softly and faintly. You couldn’t help but smile back in relief. This was a good start you thought to yourself.