Demon Slayer's Muzan is anime's most underrated villain, and no, it's not why you think

While the Demon Slayer series is considered one of the most popular anime series in the current age, the main antagonist, Kibutsuji Muzan, has been criticized by fans of the series. The criticism of his character for being a villain runs deep within the fandom, with terms associated like idiot, coward and spoiled brat.

However, the criticism cannot be completely based on his personality and strength as the fandom has depicted, as the narrative in which he was presented in the Demon Slayer series plays a bigger role. Muzan being labelled as underrated is how Gotouge designed his character to be shown.

Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's opinions and contains spoilers from the Demon Slayer anime and manga series.

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Muzan's criticism is the Demon Slayer's narrative's fault

As mentioned earlier, the Demon Slayer fandom has been criticizing Muzan for a while now. From being unavailable as an active antagonist throughout the series to not fighting, the fandom has labelled him as one of the weakest and underwhelming antagonists of anime history.

While it's true that Muzan wasn't around more the major part of the series, he's still one of the strongest characters in the series. However, that title was also taken away from him as the fandom further went on to compare him with the Upper Rank one demon of the Twelve Kizuki, Kokushibo.

The fandom particularly went on to criticize him based on Kokushibo's character during the climax of the series, in the Infinity Castle arc. Kokushibo's Blood Demon Art has been considered more powerful by fans, compared to Muzan's, and some even claim that Kokushibo should have been the main antagonist instead of Muzan.

What the fandom failed to realize is that Muzan's alleged actions, which indicate he's a coward or an idiot, weren't his doing but rather the series' narrative portraying him like that. Muzan didn't appear so frequently in the series because he was trying to find the cure for one of the demons' biggest glaring weaknesses, the Sun.

In the past, Muzan was a weak human being who was suddenly turned into a demon and bestowed with immense powers. While that may have created a god complex for him, he was also aware of his weaknesses and thus focused more on researching the Blue Spider Lily than spending his time fighting like other demon characters, like Kokushibo.

Upon a deeper dive into the series, it's also notable that Ubuyashiki mentioned Muzan was hiding from the Demon Slayer Corps for centuries and only made himself known after encountering Tanjiro and Nezuko in Asakusa. Muzan's learning about Nezuko's immunity intrigued him so much that he came out of hiding, as it was his main objective.

If it weren't for Nezuko's unique demon physiology and Muzan noticing Tanjiro's Hanafude earrings, Muzan would have never come out of hiding, as fighting against the Corps wasn't his main objective. But, as mentioned earlier, finding an immunity to the Sun was so that he could overcome his weakness and achieve his goal of becoming an immortal being.

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Final thoughts

Whether someone hates or loves Muzan, he's undoubtedly one of Demon Slayer's strongest characters. Yes, he may be a bit underwhelming compared to other major anime antagonists, but it was just his narrative that made him so and not his personality and strengths.

While the fandom continues to spew hate towards him at the time this article is written, the anime series moves in towards the Infinity Castle arc films, which would definitely shed more light on his character and explore the full extent of his powers to give a better understanding.

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