Demon Slayer‘s Genya Shinazugawa is driven by anger and his presence is mostly marked by an unsaid pain and a biting regret.
Genya Shinazugawa has been a supporting character who’s not been as focused on thus far in Demon Slayer, until the latest installment of the anime where during the Swordsmith Village Arc, not only his present but also his past is revealed.
One other thing that’s revealed about him is his connection with another major supporting character — the Wind Hashira Sanemi Shinazugawa.
The tragic past
Like all other demon slayers, Genya and Sanemi had a traumatic incident that shaped the rest of their lives dramatically, and the reason why they joined the corps.
Genya and Sanemi’s mother was really kind and in spite of her short stature, she’d always shield her kids from her abusive, hulking husband, who’d go on to die from an unrelated incident.
One night, when their mother doesn’t come home until very late, all the siblings get worried. Sanemi tasks Genya with looking after the younger siblings while he goes out and looks for their mother.
After a while, a knock on the door compels the little ones to go open it, thinking their mom has arrived. However, the reality is far more sinister and Genya sniffs the danger, but sadly it’s too late and the monstrous person at the door ends up killing all the younger siblings.
Sanemi blasts through the door soon and takes this monster out of the house. Gathering courage and trying to overcome the trauma, Genya rushes out and sees a bloodied Sanemi standing while his mother lies dead on the road.
The regret
Genya comes and holds her dead body, bawling and cursing at his elder brother, calling him a murderer.
After the incident, he’d come to realize that the monster who killed all his younger siblings was none other than his mother, who had turned into a demon.
Sanemi had no choice but to kill her and on top of the trauma that comes with having to kill her mother, Sanemi also had to listen from his brother that he’s a murderer. However, perhaps more than him, Genya comes to feel the pain of those words.
The quest
Genya wants nothing more than to be able to apologize to his brother while also proving to him that he’s a capable person and getting his approval. However, his lack of skills perturb him and was the reason why Sanemi once told him to drop out of the Demon Slayer Corps.
Genya has been motivated and driven to get his brother’s approval but perhaps more than that, to apologize to him for his words that day.
This is the reason why he wishes to become a Hashira so badly since it’ll signify not only his resolve and strength that his brother can approve of but also give him a chance to be in the presence of other Hashiras, including his brother, giving him in the process a chance to apologize.
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