Warning: This article contains spoilers for episode 11 of the Kimetsu no Yaiba season 2 anime.
The past of the two upper-class brothers revealed in episode 11 of the anime Kimetsu no Yaiba season 2 has really made the audience ask many contemplative questions. The two brothers both rely on and love each other, and the upper reaches are like the darker, darker versions of the Tanjiro-Nezuko brothers. In the debate about the nature and upbringing, Kimetsu no Yaiba pointed out the importance of upbringing in the family through the fate of two pairs of brothers. If Tanjiro and Nezuko grew up in the care and love of their family, Gyutaro and Daki were hateful and lonely.
The final episode of season 2 spends most of the time on Gyutaro’s painful recollection of his time as a human. The anime did a great job with this flashback to explain why Gyutaro and Daki became demons as well as make the audience have a more sympathetic view of them. The feeling of the majority of the audience towards the episode was pity and sadness for the two villains, and they also had to say that the Tanjiro brothers were very lucky to meet the water pillar.
Gyutaro’s childhood helps to clarify why he is jealous of Tengen Uzui’s perfection in appearance. Gyutaro hates and despises anyone who is born beautiful and loved, because his ugly appearance, his deformity is something he was born with since he was a human. In contrast to his older brother, Daki or Ume, was born beautiful. Ume’s appearance helped Gyutaro reduce his guilt, he was proud and always wanted to protect his sister. It is an obvious coincidence, not only is the brother wanting to protect his sister, but the way Gyutaro finds out that Ume has been burned alive is also quite similar to the scene where Tanjiro finds out that his family has been massacred.
Tanjiro and Gyutaro have a lot in common. So, the question that many viewers ask, if Gyutaro, like Tanjiro, meets a pillar in the demon slayer group, will the fate of the two brothers change? To be fair, Gyutaro did not voluntarily become a demon to seek immortality or power, he became a demon because he accidentally met Douma and that was the only way out, helping him save his sister Ume’s life. However, in essence, Gyutaro is a murderer, the same madam who helped the samurai burn Ume alive also said that she was afraid of Gyutaro because he always acted too much in debt collection cases. So, when Ume was harmed, Gyutaro harbored a hatred for the people of the brothel town in general. This is different from Tanjiro, because at the time he met the water pillar Giyu Tomioka, Tanjiro hated demons. Therefore, the fact that Gyutaro met Douma, then became a demon was almost the most reasonable arrangement for his life, to the point that even when he was about to disappear, he still did not regret or repent.
Another aspect that many viewers mentioned is that not all pillars have the same understanding as Giyu Tomioka. In fact, at first, most of the current pillars of the Demon Slayer thought that it was necessary to destroy Nezuko in order to eliminate the consequences. If instead of meeting the water pillar, Tanjiro met the wind pillar or the snake pillar – people who hate demons and hold the view that demons cannot live regardless of harm to people – then who knows what he would become if he had to see it. Nezuko is murdered. Tanjiro himself thought of this when he looked at the Gyutaro brothers, just a little bit unlucky, meeting the wrong person, he could also become a demon and die under the blade of some demon slayer. Tanjiro hates ghosts because they murdered his family, but doesn’t take pleasure in watching them disappear. Gyutaro, on the other hand, finds joy in being a demon.
Perhaps the only real difference between the two pairs of brothers is the fact that Tanjiro and Nezuko know how to love those around them, while Gyutaro and Ume just stop at their brother/sister. Looking at how Gyutaro and Ume struggled to survive, perhaps Tanjiro and Nezuko understood how lucky they were to have good people help them. Tanjiro and Nezuko as well as Gyutaro and Daki were both brought about by circumstances, if their childhoods were slightly different, perhaps the roles of both brothers would be completely reversed.