Who Is Genya In Demon Slayer? Why Does He Eat Demons? Explained

The rash and aggressive Demon Slayer graduate from season 1 of the anime has stepped into the spotlight for Demon Slayer Season 3 for multiple reasons!

His unconventional weapon, fighting abilities, and his creepy ability to eat a demon’s flesh!

Since the fans have never seen such a character in the series, fans have tons of questions about Genya!

In this article, we’ll talk about why Genya Shinazugawa consumes human flesh!

Who Is Genya Shinazugawa?

Making his debut in the Final Selection Arc, Genya came off as the polar opposite of Tanjiro in terms of mannerisms and personality.

This attitude is also seen in his older brother Sanemi, the Wind Hashira.

According to the manga, Sanemi and Genya lost their family in an attack by demons and swore to get revenge.

While Sanemi became a Hashira, Genya wasn’t nearly as strong. This led Sanemi to refuse to acknowledge Genya as strong.

This made him quite insecure in his abilities, even realizing that he is weaker than his companions.

However, he would do anything to help his teammates even if it meant getting horribly injured.

Even though he is a  Demon Slayer, Genya cannot wield the Nichirin Sword. He trained under Gyomei Himejima, the Stone Hashira who helped him become a strong Demon Slayer despite lacking in talent.

Since Genya cannot use breathing techniques, Gyomei taught him a technique called “Repetitive Action”.

The technique focuses on the user repeating a phrase (in Genya’s case, Amida Sutra) to help him focus. This allows him to somewhat replicate the effects of Total Concentration Breathing.

We witness this after Genya is fatally injured by Hantengu’s clone Aizetsu.

Still, Genya has a power unique to him: eating demons.

Why Genya Eats Demons: Explained

Genya’s body is some sort of an anomaly that allows him to consume demon flesh.

When he eats a demon’s flesh, Genya temporarily gains that individual demon’s abilities!

This essentially gives him a demon’s abilities like regeneration and super strength!

This power-up is insane, as he was able to throw three massive trees in quick succession, something Genya couldn’t have done in his human form.

Later in the manga, this ability becomes incredibly clutch in the fight against Upper Moon 1, Kokushibo.

After consuming the demon’s flesh, Kokushibo was unable to kill Genya even after cutting off his limbs and spilling his torso into two.

This also implied that Genya can only be killed by beheading him in this form, just like a demon.

Genya was also able to regenerate his body in a few seconds and intercept Muzan’s message telepathically!

Towards the climax of the fight, Genya was able to develop his own Blood Demon Art.

Through this, Genya was able to merge his demon blood cells with the Nichirn bullets in his gun.

This allows him to freely manipulate the bullets, like homing missiles. He used this to make bullets go around Kokushibo’s sword and strike the demon.

His Demon Blood Art also generates Blood Roots from the flesh bullets after they strike a target. These roots can suck a demon’s blood from inside their body, neutralizing the demon’s Blood Demon Art!

Although we don’t get an explanation behind Genya’s interesting ability in the manga, one theory sticks out.

Genya’s ability in Demon Slayer is unique and similar only to that of the demons.

It can be assumed that his ability to regenerate is due to sharing a similar body type with the demons.

However, as he appears to be mostly human and can walk in sunlight, it is unlikely that he possesses a demon body like Nezuko.

Hence, he must have a part of a Demon inside of him. Over time, this has evolved Genya to the point of extracting power from a demon’s flesh!

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