Demons never get old. And they don’t need money to eat. They don’t get sick. They don’t die. They have nothing to lose. We, the beautiful and powerful demons… we can do whatever we want!
Daki to Tanjiro Kamado in Layered Memories
Daki (堕だ姫き) is one of the primary adversaries in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s Entertainment District arc. She is a demon who is a member of the Twelve Kizuki and holds the secondary position of senior rank six (上じょう弦げんの陸ろ ), which she shares with her older brother, Gyutaro.
Appearance
Daki has pale complexion, lovely curves, lime green eyes, and long eyelashes. Her hair is white with a lime green ombre at the bottom and is pulled back into a long ponytail held in place by three kanzashi hairpins on each side. In Daki’s left eye, the kanji for “High Rank” (上じょう弦げん) is etched, while the kanji for “Six” (陸ろく) is engraved in the other. When she isn’t disguised as an Oiran, she wears a two-piece kimono with magenta pink underwear tied with long black bows on the sides and a pink flower-shaped demon crest on her face. sides and two pieces of magenta cloth that cover her chest. She’s dressed in magenta thigh-high stockings with black flower motifs and sanmaiba/koma-geta or mitsu-ashi high three-legged shoes. Black fissures form on various portions of Daki’s body once her Obi sash returns, and Daki’s hair changes from black to pale white (pale white with green tips in the anime), matching Daki’s natural hue. While she was human, her hair When her older brother Gyutaro wakes up, he implants his left eye, upside down, into Daki’s forehead, leaving black ink-like traces surrounding the eye (similar to the ones that cover Gyutaro’s body). Daki’s hair transforms from black to pale white (pale white with green tips in the anime), which matches her initial hair colour.
Her hair is the classic date-hygo style with several gi bira kanzashi hairpins both embellishing and supporting it, and she wears traditional make-up while wearing her Oiran disguise. Daki’s eye is also multicoloured, with the top half being terracotta orange and the bottom half being lime green with a black spear-like design in place of pupils. She also wears a big pure white haori with black five-sided pentagonal motifs around the cuffs and hem, as well as a dark magenta-colored Susohiki/Hikizuri kimono (trailing skirt) and a purple juban underneath it all, preserving parts of her Blood Demon Art as Obi.
Daki was a young girl with long, unkempt white hair, messy bangs, and dark lipstick before she became a demon. She wore a kimono with uneven square designs and horizontal lines that was light and tattered. She was regarded as being so attractive that grownups were hesitant to approach her.
Personality
Daki is a conceited, dismissive, and sadistic individual who enjoys toying with her victims before killing them and shows no sorrow or regret for apathetically destroying their lives. Daki also appears to have a high opinion of herself, dismissing all Demon Slayers except Hashira as uninteresting and becomes enraged when Tanjiro Kamado approaches her, presumably because she does. When Daki claims she could spare Tanjiro, this is also observed. If he informs her how many Demon Slayers are in the entertainment district, and Daki openly shows her boredom with the Demon Slayers’ skills, Daki’s haughty and dismissive demeanour is revealed.
She appears to have a flirty side as a courtesan, as evidenced by her typical interactions with her male clients. She has demonstrated immature and pretentious traits such as tantrums, uncontrollable crying when things don’t go her way, and violent outbursts towards anyone to vent her emotions, despite being several hundred years old. Daki was openly angry and abusive against anyone who angered her in any way, both verbally and physically. Daki’s behaviours, particularly her use of the phrase “Hime” at the end of each of the names she assumed, have been well documented in history. When she was scolded, she would often tilt her head to the side and stare at others while seated. Daki was a nasty and mean oiran who shot a small girl in the ear for not cleaning her room and struck Zenitsu Agatsuma for simply touching her.
Daki acted like a spoilt baby on the verge of sociopathy, bullying numerous of her coworkers to the point of suicide merely because they bothered or spoke back to her while displaying no remorse and refusing to blame her victims. She was so arrogant that she had no respect for anyone, not even the owners of her home, rubbing it in their faces that she was their primary source of revenue, both to demonstrate her status and to suppress their protests against him. Some residents had to lower their heads to quiet her outbursts due to her legendary standing and violent tendencies, to which she replied by assuming a more corrected, courteous, and pleasant approach.
Daki has showed immature and aggressive characteristics, maybe as a result of her early age before being transformed into a demon. After being beheaded by Tengen Uzui, she had a tantrum and sobbed, displaying her juvenile anger and wailing endlessly while screaming threats at the Hashira.
Daki suffers from pyrophobia, as he demonstrated during her fight with Nezuko.
Daki has a severe psychological dread of flames after being burned to death at the age of 13 in her human existence.
She burst out laughing after being set on fire by Nezuko’s Blood Demon Art, as the sensation brought back memories of that traumatic event.
Daki was devoted to Muzan despite her bossy, aggressive, forceful, and violent appearance, immediately lowering her head and spoke in a much softer tone of voice as she was plainly intimidated and entranced by his presence. He was fully aware of it, to the point of using honeyed words to push and direct her, despite his poor view of her abilities in comparison to those of his brother.
She appears to have a caring relationship with her brother Gyutaro, despite the fact that she has been seen insulting and ridiculing him when they both fail, demonstrating that, despite her love for him, she is not afraid to lash out at him, as she demonstrated when she spoke cruelly of him after their defeat, insulting his appearance and viciously asserting that he couldn’t be her brother.
Daki, despite her spoilt attitude toward his brother, demonstrates a genuine and strong affection for him during his time in Limbo. Ume refuses to abandon her brother, even if it means going to hell with him, despite Gyutaro’s attempts to cut off all links with her and send her to heaven. She tells him that no matter what happens to them, they are stronger together, and that she will always be his little sister, no matter how many times she dies and is reborn.
As a human, Gyutaro has an honest and readily affected nature, which allows her to take to heart the character qualities and words of individuals she trusts and admires, as demonstrated by Muzan’s manipulation. Gyutaro believes that the only reason she is the way she is now is because he raised her to be selfish and only think about and care about herself. Taking to heart her words “get before you’re taken,” he developed her current character.
Abilities
General Abilities: Daki is a formidable higher-rank demon who has been individually recognised by Muzan as a “special demon.” Daki had previously been reported to have killed and eaten seven Hashira, demonstrating her strength. Her flesh detachment, in the shape of a sentient Obi belt, was strong enough to withstand the combined efforts of Zenitsu Agatsuma, Inosuke Hashibira, Makio, and Suma, the former two demon slayers and the latter two kunoichi. Meanwhile, Tanjiro Kamado had begun to actively deploy the Hinokami Kagura in battle, and a weakened Daki was now a burden.
Daki’s power grows considerably after her sentient Obi Flesh, which has spread throughout the city, returns to him, to the point that her speed in this form is unmatched. Her belts become stronger in this state, allowing them to easily slash Nezuko Kamado’s body in half and destroy buildings. Daki’s power is also augmented once Gyutaro’s eye is implanted in her, giving her exceptional speed and reflexes that can rival Zenitsu’s Thunderclap and Flash abilities. It also enables Daki to synchronise her attacks with those of her brother, substantially enhancing their offensive power and allowing them to easily reverse the tide against Tanjiro, Zenitsu, Inosuke, and even Tengen Uzui, the Hashira of Sound.
Extrasensory Perception: By implanting one of her eyeballs in her forehead, Daki may share her perceptions and mind with his older brother, allowing him to control her body. She can provide him logistical information through this link thanks to this eye, allowing them to better coordinate their attacks. Daki can also obtain information from numerous places at once and converse with her telepathically because to her sentient Obi Belts. Daki’s Obi belts could tell Tengen was a Hashira just by looking at him, so surely he can as well.
Hair Manipulation:Daki can alter her own hair as a side effect of her shapeshifting and flesh manipulation powers. She demonstrated this momentarily by turning her hair black and even using it as a weapon when she tried to assault Inosuke by tying her hair around his arms after he killed her with it. To prevent her from reattaching her head, he succeeded in removing it from her body.
Immense Regeneration: Daki has enhanced regeneration skills as an Upper ranking demon, readily regrowing her severed Obi belts after they were cut and later regenerating her leg after Tanjiro ripped it off. She could also recover from Nezuko’s devastating kicks, which shattered her head and penetrated her chest in a matter of seconds. Daki has also demonstrated the capacity to heal as a result of Nezuko’s Blood Demon Pyrokinetic Art, which slows demon regeneration. Despite being repeatedly decapitated by Tengen and Inosuke, she subsequently demonstrated that she could reattach her severed head with ease.
Immense Speed and Reflexes: Daki’s speed is demonstrated when she can follow Tanjiro’s Hinokami Kagura techniques with ease, to the point of noting that it was dull. Daki, like all other Upper Rank demons, has the ability to move so quickly that she appears to teleport. Daki’s speed rises dramatically after her Obi sashes are dispelled, to the point that she is unbeatable. After Gyutaro awakens, his speed grows even more, allowing him to follow Zenitsu’s thunderclap and flash skills as well as successfully react to Tengen’s explosives.
Immense Strength: Daki boasts extraordinary physical strength as a higher level demon with a high concentration of Muzan Kibutsuji’s blood. She displayed this by quickly transporting Zenitsu between two rooms, striking a hole in a roof with her bare hands, and nearly ripping a little girl’s ear out. Daki is also capable of lifting an old woman.
Keen Intellect: Daki is intelligent in comparison to her peers. She was able to entice and trap courtesans for almost a century without being discovered, and she was able to blend in with the rest of Yoshiwara’s residents without being detected by Tengen, who had exceptionally acute senses. Daki had to gain a lot of schooling as an Oiran to attain to her position. After hitting Zenitsu once, Daki was able to ascertain that he was a non-Hashira level Demon Slayer.
Restricted Flight: Daki has briefly demonstrated the ability to levitate in the air, however it is hinted that her belts play a role in this.
Blood Demon Art
Manipulation of Obi Belts: Daki’s Blood Demon Art allows him to construct floral-patterned Obi belts out of her own flesh and manipulate them as he pleases. When Daki is not wearing them, she makes them from her back and retracts them into her body. She’s also demonstrated the capacity to command her Obi from large distances. Her belts are described as silky smooth but as keen as, if not sharper than, most Nichirin swords. In battle, Daki employs her Obi’s belts as powerful and rapid tendril-like whips to unleash long-range interweaving assaults, as well as forming a shield around her body if necessary. Her belts are so powerful that they can repel and block attacks from Tengen’s explosives and slice through buildings with ease. They are also very tough to cut due to their flexible qualities, and can bend and twist to hinder the effectiveness of slash-type strikes. Her belts have a special feature that allows her to store anything inside them, generally individuals she wishes to eat. She traps them inside the belts by flattening the objects she wants to store into two-dimensional flat equivalents. This allows her to go quietly because she can pass through any aperture or passageway wide enough for a belt to pass through. To liberate someone stuck in the sashes, cut it while avoiding the persons trapped inside, immediately liberating and returning them to their normal form. Daki mainly uses this ability to store the humans she wishes to eat in an underground space and consume them later. At last,
Flesh Obi: Daki has also demonstrated the capacity to manufacture sentient Obi belts to secure and guard her “warehouse” where she stores her food. As demonstrated when she interrogated Makio, the Sentient Belts have a secondary purpose: to trap women in entertainment district brothels and obtain information about them. She also made a second Living Belt to keep an eye on Hinatsuru, whom she suspected of being a Demon Slayers spy, and kill her if anything went wrong. Daki can also speak with her Sentient Belts telepathically, as she demonstrated when giving him instructions and watching Inosuke’s fight.
Energy Distribution: Daki has demonstrated that when she makes her Independent Flesh Obi’s, she isolates some of her strength and invests it in them. Daki’s power expanded substantially as her physical change advanced after the belts were returned to him and reabsorbed into her body. Tanjiro noticed this once her belts were reabsorbed into her body and her aroma had become more stronger and foreboding.
fighting style
Techniques
- Eight Layered Obi Slash (八や重え帯おび斬ぎり Yae Obigiri?) – Daki creates 8 long-range Obi sashes to take down opponents from a distance. Daki noted that this intertwining attack has no blind spots, making it extremely difficult to dodge or counterattack.
Triviality
- The alias “Daki” contains the On’yomi reading of the kanji for “degenerate, descend, fall into” (堕だ da?) and “princess” (姫き ki?).
- Her real name contains the Kun’yomi reading of the kanji for “plum” (梅うめ ume?). His human nickname contains the kanji for “white” (白しら shira?) and “plum” (梅うめ ume?).
- The last alias she used as oiran has the reading Kun’yomi for “fern” (蕨わらび warabi?) and “princess” (姫ひめ hime?). The other alias Yatamahime contains the Kun’yomi reading of the kanji for “house” (屋や ya?), “pearl” (珠たま tama?) and “princess” (姫ひめ hime?).
- Her brother revealed that her birth name as a human, “Ume”, was the name of the disease that killed their mother. It seems to be syphilis, since its Japanese name is “Baidoku” (黴ばい毒どく?); “Bai” and “Ume” are alternate On’yomi and Kun’yomi readings of the same character respectively, while the kanji 黴 and 梅 can be used for the first character.
- Muzan Kibutsuji saw Daki as a not very intelligent child.
- It’s possible that part of the reason Muzan pretended to like Daki was that she was beautiful and a major source of income. It is noted that one of Muzan’s favorite higher rank demons was Gyokko, as his pots were works of art that could be sold for a high price, suggesting that despite being a demon, Muzan always saw the value in cash. As an oiran, Daki is also said to have made a lot of money.
- Daki’s ability to turn her neck into an extendable belt appears to be based on the yōkai from Japanese folklore called the Rokurokubi.
- In the manga, Daki’s hair color in her awakened form is pale while it is pale white with green tips in the anime adaptation. This change is likely due to Gyutaro having lime green hair himself.
Quotes
- (To Omitsu) “They say the secret to living a long life… is to keep silent when you see horrible things. That’s how everyone around me managed to survive. »
- (To Tanjiro Kamado) “Demons never grow old. They don’t need money to eat. They don’t get sick. They don’t die. They have nothing to lose. We, the beautiful and powerful demons… we can do whatever we want! »
- (To Tanjiro Kamado) “You humans are so miserable. No matter how hard you try, that’s all you got. What bad luck. »
- (To Gyutaro) “No! Nope ! Nope ! You can’t leave me! You must not leave me! We must stay together! No matter how many times I might be reborn, I will always be your little sister!