Hantengu Clones

Zohakuten (憎ぞう珀はく天てん, Zōhakuten?, lit. Hatred) is a short and muscular young boy with short black hair that spikes up at various angles around his head, large bushy eyebrows, and narrow gold eyes with red sclera and the kanji of Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) engraved on his right eye, and the daiji for Four (肆し, Shi?) engraved on his left. He has light brown skin, the palest complexion of the clones, two prominent curved horns on his noticeably shrivelled and discolored reddish-purple forehead and cracked markings under his eyes. Zohakuten also has the kanji for "hatred" (憎, Niku?) etched into his tongue. He is usually seen wearing a composed but angered scowl on his face. Zohakuten's clothing seems to be a combination of Sekido's, Karaku's, Aizetsu's, and Urogi's clothes. He wears dark brown hakama pants covered with a piece of cloth bearing a close resemblance to the wavy pattern on Sekido's kimono and tied together with a long strap of white cloth. He also wears long brown sleeves that bear a resemblance to Aizetsu's striped kimono. On the back of his head hung the purple tassel ornaments found on Urogi's pearl belt. Finally, he dons two plates of golden armor; one that only covers his upper chest and one on his crotch. Zohakuten has a series of drums connected to each other that are inexplicably floating behind his back, with each drum having the kanji of "hatred" (憎, "Niku"?) displayed on them. He also carries around a bone-like dagger in each hand.

As the manifestation of Hantengu's hatred, Zohakuten shared many personality traits with both Sekido and Hantengu himself, as he too was easily enraged and was incredibly spiteful and hateful towards his enemies, deeming them as evil and cruel villains. Despite this, Zohakuten was usually stoic and phlegmatic in his vindictive rantings, rarely raising his voice and instead speaking to the Demon Slayers frankly. Similar to Hantengu, he had a hypocritical sense of righteousness, as shown when he admonished Tanjiro and Genya for attempting to behead the “small and weak” Hantengu, referring to them with a degrading pronoun and calling their actions atrocious. When Tanjiro pressed that Zohakuten was the true fiend, the demon lost his composure and immediately sent his dragons on him. Like Sekido, he was also foul-mouthed as seen when he constantly insulted his opponents and referred to Mitsuri as a harlot, constantly calling her various degrading names in his thoughts.

Zohakuten is also shown to have a warped and unreasonable sense of justice and the human spirit. When Tanjiro pointed out Zohakuten’s high bodycount and vowed to defeat him, Zohakuten dissmissively claimed that since he had not killed a relative of Tanjiro, his drive to behead the demon was unfounded. When Tanjiro retorted that Zohakuten’s victims did not have to be dear to him, as they were dear to someone else and that was reason enough to defeat him, Zohakuten once again disregarded his reasoning.

Out of all the clones, he was shown to be the most intelligent and insightful, aside from Sekido, as seen when he easily analyzed why the Love Hashira survived his powerful attacks and figured out the true source of her strength, that being her muscle density. Zohakuten recognized that consuming her flesh would increase his power, but decided to crush her skull first, showing that although tactical, Zohakuten could still show his trademark spitefulness. Moreover, he was not above admitting to his own weakness, as thought he was infuriated at his inability to finish the Hashira, he determined that the best way to kill Mitsuri was to exhaust her endurance and strength through incessant attacks upon seeing that she was capable of evading and attacking his Blood Demon Arts successfully.

He also seemed to harbor an immense sense of loyalty towards Muzan Kibutsuji, as seen when he told Mitsuri that he only heeds and follows the orders of one man in the entire world. Strangely, during his death, he only shows mild surprise and viciously glares at the Love Hashira, who he had nearly defeated.

Urogi (空うろ喜ぎ, Urogi?, lit. Joy) is a tall young man with a lean muscular build, long spiky hair that goes past his shoulders with a yellowish tinge, and narrow gold eyes with the kanji of Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) engraved on his left eye, and the daiji for Four (肆し, Shi?) engraved on his right. He has brown skin, two prominent curved horns on his noticeably shrivelled and discolored reddish-purple forehead and cracked markings under his eyes. Urogi also has the kanji for "joy" (喜, Ki?), etched into his tongue. Urogi has pointed ears and sharp nails on each finger. He is usually seen wearing an sadistically overjoyed expression on his face, similar to Karaku. Unlike the rest of Hantengu's humanoid manifestations, Urogi possesses an avian physiology, possessing two large wings on his back and raptor-like feet armed with sharp talons that take the place of his hands and legs; additionally, Urogi has a thick coat of brown feathers around his legs, reaching down to his knees, and he only wore a chain of gold colored pearls around his waist along with purple tassel ornaments hanging from four pearls.

As the manifestation of Hantengu's joy, Urogi is the most jovial and giddy of Hantengu's clones. Similar to Karaku, he seemed to view the entire battle against the Demon Slayers as nothing more than a game or as a source of entertainment, as seen when he happily complimented Tanjiro on his intelligence for correctly guessing that neither one of the four clones was the "real" body and constantly exclaimed that the entire fight against Tanjiro was delightful. He is also shown to very boastful of his avian abilties, as he brags to Tanjiro about the speed and strength of his talons. Despite this, he could lose his patience should his opponent prove too challenging to finish off, shown when he was angered when Tanjiro sliced off the top part of his head.

Karaku (可か楽らく, Karaku?, lit. Pleasure) is a tall young man with a lean muscular build, and narrow, deep green eyes with the kanji of Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) engraved on his left eye, and the daiji for Four (肆し, Shi?) engraved on his right. When he was first formed, he had unkempt wavy hair similar to Hantengu. After Urogi forms from his head, he grows long, spiky hair that goes past his shoulders. In both instances his hair had a greenish tinge. He has brown skin, two prominent curved horns on his noticeably shrivelled and discolored reddish-purple forehead and cracked markings under his eyes. Karaku also has the kanji for "pleasure" (楽, Raku?) etched into his tongue. Karaku has pointed ears and sharp nails on each finger. He is usually seen wearing a sadistically gleeful expression on his face. Karaku wears nothing but dark green hakama pants, accompanied by a dark Yuigesa harness with white pom-poms. Karaku is always seen carrying around a fatsia leaf-shaped Uchiwa (團扇うちわ, Uchiwa?). The fan is orange and fades into a lime-green and blue color gradient, and it has a wooden handle with a purple tassel.

As the manifestation of Hantengu's pleasure, Karaku showcased himself to be the most relaxed and laid-back of Hantengu's clones. The entire time he was battling against Genya, Tanjiro and Nezuko, he was constantly either praising or mocking them, and instead of taking the battle seriously, he saw it as nothing more than a game, seemingly to only take interest in the new experiences he was obtaining in the battle. This was demonstrated during his battle with Nezuko, when, instead of finishing her off immediately, he decided to tease and play with her despite being able to easily overpower her anytime he wanted. Later when Genya shoots off Sekido's hand, Karaku immediately takes an interests and decides to entertain himself by fighting Genya instead. This behavior easily got on the nerves of his fellow clones, such as Sekido, who constantly berated him for not taking on a serious outlook in battle, and Aizetsu, who was confused at why he was taking so long to kill Nezuko. He took no notice, and instead told them to keep their hands to themselves to allow him to toy with and kill Nezuko.

Karaku was one of the most outwardly sadistic clones, gleefully smiling whenever he got the upper hand or inflicted pain onto his opponents. In addition, after he and Sekido are beheaded by Genya, he cracks a wicked grin knowing that the Demon Slayer had inadvertently freed Aizetsu and Urogi. He also seems to display masochistic tendencies, evident when he happily expressed his interest in the new sensation of having his neck being severed by a gunshot from Genya, commenting that he had never been injured like that before. Despite this, he could lose his patience should his opponent prove too challenging to finish off, as seen when he gets angered at Tanjiro slashing his arm even when knocked to the floor. He notably did not enjoy being decapitated by Tanjiro using Sun Halo Dragon Head Dance with a blade enhanced by Nezuko's explosive blood, as he wailed in agony from the pain.

Sekido (積せき怒ど, Sekido?, lit. Anger) is a tall young man with a lean muscular build, and narrow, deep red eyes that have the kanji of Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) engraved on his right eye, and the daijiFour (肆し, Shi?) engraved on his left. When he was first formed, he had unkempt wavy hair similar to Hantengu. After Aizetsu forms from his head, he grows long, spiky hair that goes past his shoulders. In both instances his hair had a reddish tinge. He has brown skin, two prominent curved horns on his noticeably shrivelled and discolored reddish-purple forehead and markings under his eyes that give his face a cracked appearance. He also has the kanji for "anger" (怒, Ika?) etched into his tongue. As a demon, Sekido has pointed ears and sharp nails on each finger. He is usually seen wearing an irritated or enraged expression on his face. Sekido wears the same asymmetrical kimono as Hantengu, as he is formed from Hantengu's headless body. He also wears a pair of zōri and a violet obi. and is always seen carrying around a Khakkhara (錫しゃく杖じょう, Shakujō?).

As the manifestation of Hantengu's anger, Sekido was in a constant state of vexation, irritation, and rage, even towards his fellow clones, which could be seen when he easily got angered when they failed to meet his expectations and were subdued by the Demon Slayers. Sekido was also seen to care very little about his brethren. When they were injured by the Demon Slayers, such as Genya blasting Aizetsu's head off and Nezuko burning Karaku with her Blood Demon Art, Sekido was unsympathetic and berated the clones for losing to their opponents. His apathy towards the other clones was most exemplified when he forcibly absorbed them against their will to form Zohakuten, even as Aizetsu protested. He also showed himself to be the most dominant of the emotion clones and seemed to be their leader, as he was the one who barked orders at them and took charge at critical junctures when they were battling the Demon Slayers.[4] This is likely why he is the one to commence the formation of Zohakuten. In addition to his usual irate demeanor, he can be seen displaying hints of sadism when he has his enemies backed to a corner, as he showed a smile of satisfaction in seeing Tanjiro and Nezuko forced on the defensive.

Sekido is also shown to be a very barbarous demon who wished to execute his enemies swiftly and brutally. This is shown when he orders Aizetsu to split Genya's head in two after the Demon Slayer began to recite the Amida Sutra, and when Aizetsu later impaled Nezuko to a tree, Sekido demanded he hold the girl to still so he could crucify her. His bloodlust was part of the reason why he became aggravated at Karaku entertaining himself by wrestling Nezuko instead of killing her.

Aizetsu (哀あい絶ぜつ, Aizetsu?, lit. Sorrow) is a tall young man with a lean muscular build, shoulder-length spiky hair with a blueish tinge, and narrow, deep blue eyes with the kanji of Upper Rank (上じょう弦げん, Jōgen?) engraved on his right eye, and the daiji for Four (肆し, Shi?) engraved on his left. He has brown skin, two prominent curved horns on his noticeably shrivelled and discolored reddish-purple forehead and cracked markings under his eyes. Aizetsu also has the kanji for "sorrow" (哀, Ai?) etched into his tongue. As a demon, Aizetsu has pointed ears and sharp nails on each finger. He is usually seen wearing a dejected expression on his face. Aizetsu wears a navy-blue kimono with periwinkle bows, and long, tracksuit-like white lines running through his thin sleeves. He has matching navy-blue baggy tikka pants with long, tracksuit-like white lines running through his legs, and a nio dasuki (仁王におう襷たすき, nio dasuki?) made of blue Shimenawa (注連縄しめなわ, Shimenawa?) rope tied around his shoulders. Aizetsu wears a pair of black Jika-tabi on his feet. Aizetsu is always seen carrying around a Jūmonji Yari (十じゅう文もん字じ鑓やり, Jūmonji Yari?).

As the manifestation of Hantengu's sorrow, Aizetsu was portrayed to be completely dejected, sour, and negative, constantly describing everything as depressing. Out of all the manifestations, Aizetsu was shown to be the calmest and most collected out of all five of them, as seen when instead of frivolously wasting time on entertainment as Urogi and Karaku or immediately getting agitated and enraged by anything like Sekido, Aizetsu was shown to calmly analyze his opponents and think out his strategy and figure out his opponents' abilities and weaknesses before attacking. Unlike the usually vicious and bloodthirsty attitude most demons possess when killing humans, or even compared to the rest of Hantengu's clones, Aizetsu chooses to kill quickly by striking vital areas, and he feels sadness should his opponent fail to die a quick death. His perpetual dour and sadness even extends towards his fellow clones, as seen when he complies with Sekido's orders only to make him stop yelling.