Demon Slayer's Strongest and Weakest Breathing Techniques; Explained
The secret to the incredible power Demon Slayer's swordsmen wield is linked to the Breathing Techniques. Here are the strongest and the weakest breathing techniques.
Demon Slayer, a popular shonen anime series, showcases the power of supernatural swordsmen in Japan's Taisho Era through their breathing techniques. These techniques, spanning various breathing styles, provide a boost to both offense and defense. Some of the most powerful breathing styles in Demon Slayer are based on specific breathing styles, showcasing the unique abilities and attacks of these supernatural swordsmen. The show's intense martial arts action is sure to appeal to audiences.
The strongest Breathing Techniques
1. Hinokami Kagura
Hinokami Kagura is a Breathing Style only known and taught by the Kamado Family, later revealed to be the first Breathing Style, Sun Breathing. The Hinokami Kagura is a Breathing Style that is passed on from father to son in every generation of Kamado Family alongside the Hanafuda earrings. They use it within a ritual ceremony practiced every new year, where the Breathing Style user offers the Fire God a dance from sunset to sunrise to ward off threats and diseases.
The Hinokami Kagura style, passed down through the Kamado family, is a personal one for protagonist Tanjiro Kamado and associated with a ritual dance to ward off disease and threats. The dancers perform this for hours on end, making it the strongest breathing style in Demon Slayer and Tanjiro's best hope to defeat Muzan.
2. Moon Breathing
Moon Breathing is a Breathing Style that mimics the Moon, specifically the crescent shape of the moon as it waxes and wanes and the erratic behavior of passing moonlight, and replicates it with the user's movements, techniques and abilities. Most, if not all, known techniques and forms are standard yet varied swordsmanship techniques that focus on swift and powerful strikes which blends both offense and defense. Most sword slashes performed follow the shape and pattern of crescent moons.
Upper Moon 1 Kokushibo, a Demon Slayer from the Sengoku Era, uses the Moon Breathing Style, a multi-bladed form of the katana created from his flesh. This technique, known as Moonbow, Half-Moon, involves a single swing of the sword, causing multiple slashes over a wide area, with miniature crescent-shaped blades slicing along the path almost randomly. Despite being wielded by a villain, this is an overpowered Demon Slayer Breathing technique.
3. Stone Breathing
Stone Breathing is a Breathing Style that mimics earth and stone and replicates it with the user's movements, techniques and abilities. Most, if not all, known techniques and forms utilize the ground beneath the user and the vast surroundings to generate powerful and sturdy attacks that specialize in both offense and defense. The user seemingly visualizes creating surges of earth and stone when unleashing their attacks.
Gyomei Himejima, known as the legendary Stone Hashira, uses meditative techniques to focus his mind and body. He uses Volcanic Rock, Rapid Conquest, flail, and spiked ball to attack opponents, causing widespread destruction. Gyomei can nearly match Kokushibo's Moon Breathing before activating the Demon Slayer mark. The Stone Hashira's effectiveness relies on the Fifth Form.
The weakest Breathing Techniques
1. Beast Breathing
Beast Breathing is a Breathing Style that mimics beasts/wild animals, specifically their unpredictable, ferocious and wild nature, including movements, attacks and senses, and replicates it with the user's movements, techniques and abilities.
Most, if not all, known techniques and forms are simple, straight-forward yet wild, unpredictable and animalistic movements and attacks, although one of them utilizes the powerful sense of touch to replicate an animal's primal senses. Users of Beast Breathing also visualize themselves seemingly manifesting the fangs and claw slashes of a wild animal when unleashing its techniques.
2. Water Breathing
Water Breathing is a breathing style that mimics water's flow, flexibility, and adaptability through movements, techniques, and abilities. Most known techniques involve bending the body, arm, and weapon in fluid motions, while users visualize themselves creating and manipulating water while unleashing these techniques. It is said to be the most common Breathing Style among Demon Slayers due to being the easiest to learn for beginners.
This Breathing Style was originally created by one of Yoriichi Tsugikuni's students who attempted to learn Sun Breathing, but due to not being as innately talented as Yoriichi, they were instead taught and trained an alternative personalized Breathing Style that focused on their strengths and weaknesses, eventually becoming Water Breathing.
3. Thunder Breathing
Thunder Breathing is a Breathing Style that mimics lightning, focusing on swift strikes and movements. It involves using blinding speeds and fast attacks to overwhelm enemies. Users of Thunder Breathing visualize themselves creating and manipulating lightning and electricity while unleashing its techniques.
It has been remarked by Zenitsu Agatsuma that this Breathing Style focuses on channeling strength into the user's legs, and maximizing the output of every single muscle and blood vessel in them. Users also mimic lightning to such high fidelity that they cause the air to vibrate when poised to unleash a technique and create immensely loud sounds akin to thunder with their mere footsteps. This Breathing Style is also very reminiscent of a swordsmanship style practiced and utilized in real life known as Iaijutsu, a famous quick-draw sword technique.
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