Demon Slayer's setting is riddled with thrills, screams of terror, and bright neon lights. All these things mark the hit new series as a masterful blend of horror and action-adventure, but they don't say anything about the maturity of its audience. For Demon Slayer to give a shonen audience a taste of true horror, it was forced to lean on action anime tropes, childish humor, and exciting battles.
While most of these traits are appreciated by fans, some can't help but wonder what Demon Slayer would look like as a seinen. With an older fanbase, the series would be able to explore darker themes, creepier characters, and perhaps even risk diving into one or two intimate relationships.
10 Demon Slayer's Romantic Relationships Could Use Some Seinen Maturity
With an older target audience, Demon Slayer could have taken many more risks with its character relationships than it has as a shonen. Fans can already imagine the slice-of-life drama that could have been included if Nezuko and Zenitsu were cast as young adults rather than children.
On top of this, Tanjiro could have spent more time developing a relationship with Kanao, and Shinobu's history with Giyu's could have been fully fleshed out. A good anime may not need romance to make it interesting, but Demon Slayer could have avoided a lot of controversies simply by making Nezuko a young adult rather than a 12-year-old girl.
9 Zenitsu Would Be Less Annoying In A Seinen
Zenitsu is beloved by many and hated by some, but if the overpowered practitioner of Thunder Breathing were ever cast in a seinen, he would be loved by all. Zenitsu's character is unique because he possesses the traits of both a quick-acting, fearless hero and a cowardly crybaby.
This duality goes unexplained throughout the entirety of the series, leaving fans to speculate on his past trauma and current state of mind without the information necessary to reach a considerate conclusion. If Zenitsu were in a seinen, the writer of Demon Slayer would have no need to hide Zenitsu's traumatic past and true state of mind from viewers.
8 A Mature Audience Could Handle More Demon Flashbacks
Despite the fact that it sits in the shonen genre, Demon Slayer occasionally gets pretty dark. The very first episode shows a family slaughtered by a powerful demon, then forces the only remaining member of that family to fight for the life of his now demonic sister.
As the series progresses, more and more demons commit increasingly violent acts of murder. Of course, when the real heavy drama presents itself, violence is kept off-screen in order to keep the anime appropriate for a shonen audience. If the series had a seinen audience, viewers would get more time to spend with the likes of Akaza, Daki, and even Muzan Kibutsuji.
7 A Seinen Wouldn't Shy Away From Showing Muzan Hunt
Muzan Kibutsuji is one of the few characters in Demon Slayer who appears in every arc of the series, yet he hardly gets any screen time. As the main antagonist, Muzan's motivations and objective are as important to the plot of Demon Slayer as Tanjiro's.
If Demon Slayer were a seinen, the original demon's violent actions could be shown rather than implied, giving fans a better idea of what motivates him to act. Older fans would love to have seen Muzan tear through the Kamado family as an unrecognizable black and red blur.
6 An Older Tanjiro Would Be Much More Believable
Seinen anime may be intended for an older audience, but that doesn't mean they are inherently more realistic. Tokyo Ghoul follows a pseudo vampire as he figures out how to survive on a diet of human meat and coffee after having a fictional organ transplanted into his body.
Seinen may not be more realistic, but it often casts older protagonists than its shonen counterparts. If Demon Slayer were a seinen, fans would be able to make more sense of the fact that Tanjiro is a subpar and underaged swordsman who manages to take on some of the most powerful supernatural creatures in the world with nothing but grit and a good nose.
5 Seinen Are Able To Raise The Stakes With Devastating Defeats
Demon Slayer may not shy away from death, but it has yet to kill off a character that makes viewers question the validity of Tanjiro's endgame. Some will say Rengoku's sacrifice accomplished this, but his demise was so full of hope that few left the Mugen Train Arc expecting Tanjiro's mission to fail soon after.
Every good story needs stakes, and while Demon Slayer consistently puts Nezuko's humanity on the line, it hardly forces fans to fear the death of its main characters. A seinen would be able to walk the line of failure much closer, effectively raising the stakes and making the series much more engaging.
4 Inosuke's Beastly Behavior Would Be Better In A Seinen
Inosuke is one of the most reliable characters in the entire Demon Slayer universe. The young swordsman invented his own breathing techniques as a child, located the lair of an upper-rank demon before a Hashira managed to, and motivated Tanjiro to keep training after the loss of Rengoku.
Inosuke is undoubtedly reliable, but in truth, he's a bit of a dork. If Demon Slayer were seinen rather than shonen, the young beast could have been a terrifyingly stoic teenager with the power to slay both demons and humans alike.
3 The Hit Shonen Rarely Shows Viewers The Darker Side Of The Demon Slayer Corps
The Demon Slayer anime tried to show viewers the dark side of the Demon Slayer Corps at the end of the anime's first season. After Tanjiro is saved and recuperated by Giyu and Shinobu, he's brought to a meeting of the Hashira for trial.
At this trial, Sanemi Shinazugawa and a handful of other Hashira refused to acknowledge Tanjiro and his sister as Demon Slayers. While the action that followed was certainly off-putting, it hardly proved that members of the Demon Slayer Corps were trained killers who would slaughter innocents as quickly as they would slaughter demons in order to see their mission through.
2 Seinen Action Sequences Are Violently Realistic
The action in Demon Slayer is some of the best action in the shonen genre. Battles like the one between Tengen and Gyutaro are flashy, gritty, and even a little bloody.
Fans should expect nothing less from a shonen series that builds its power system around swordsmanship and blood demon arts. Of course, if Demon Slayer had taken the risk and sold itself as a seinen, it could have borrowed from franchises like Afro Samurai and Mortal Kombat to create some of the most brutal and engaging action sequences ever put to screen.
1 Seinen Often Have More Realistic Art Styles
It is hard to make any negative comments about Demon Slayer's art style. The show’s animation is masterfully handled by Ufotable and fans have done nothing but express their love for it. Still, considering the show's focus on historical representation and realistic weapons combat, a grittier and less fantastical art style would suit this series extremely well.
Seinen series tend to lean into darker, grittier, and more realistic art styles. On the other hand, Demon Slayer hides most of its grit behind neon-colored flames that complicate its power system rather than clarifying it.