Building a Bastard: Kaigaku 

Thanks to HelloFresh for sponsoring today's video. Go to strms.net/MetiHelloFreshNovemberYT and use code POGMETINOV70 for 70% off plus free shipping on your first box!

The beauty of Kaigaku vs Zenitsu is how broken Zenitsu was to the point where he never slept at all during the fight. He was so hurt and more importantly pissed off at Kaigaku for betraying their master as well as the demon slayers. What made it even better was how blissfully unaware how Kaigaku was, running his mouth not noticing how unhinged Zenitsu was acting and the fact the he was out for blood. When Zenitsu struck the first blow Kaigaku realized that if he didn't fight or take Zenny seriously his death would have come up even sooner.

People think Doma is evil, Kaigaku is a step above. Not only did he let a demon kill children that he lived with for his own survival, he even went as far as to throw away his humanity because he was selfish and thought he was better than others. He didn’t think about how his master or Zenitsu would be affected by that, he just wanted to be superior. He betrayed the trust that Jigoro had in him which lead to Jigoro killing himself. He’s a traitor, a rat, and that’s what makes him the worst

Kaigaku's stripes might also be in reference to rabies. Many demons are modelled after diseases like Gyutaro/Daki and syphilis. The aftereffects of his blood technique is like rabies, a haunting, burning sensation after being struck, his teeth are more pronounced and it's a disease often contracted through dirty water. We see Kaigaku drink from a puddle to survive in his flashback.

One correction, Kaigaku didn’t run away from the temple, but the kids forced him out in the middle of the night while knowing it was a demon infested area. They didn’t tell Himejima they kicked him out either and came up with the excuse that Kaigaku ran away. **SPOILERS** . . . . . . . . . This is confirmed when Himejima is about to pass away and has a conversation with the children who died that night

You know what’s really crazy?? I *hate* Douma with a passion, but I like him a *hell of a lot* more than Kaigaku. Kaigaku is just a unredeemable character with no qualities to even like.

Kaigaku makes me sick. He was the child that didn't listen to Gyomei's warnings and ended up at the mercy of a demon. While other examples in Demon Slayer has shown how family and friends sacrifice themselves for their loved ones, Kaigaku scarficed his adopted family instead. He trained as a demon slayer only for his ego, rather than atonement for his sins. When faced with another life or death situation, he choose demonhood and survival. He doomed his master to a painful and lonely death and was not the least bit remorseful. His death at the hands of what he calls a loser, with a move so fast and powerful his demon body couldn't hope to match, was the perfect end for this bastard.

The other upper/lower moon demons are a lot more "honorable" in my opinion because they're born from terrible circumstances and have nowhere to go except to Muzan. Kaigaku was given MANY chances to be thankful his head remains attached to his body but still he refuses.

The fact that Kaigaku saw the technique that beat him and immediately thought that ZENITSU was taught this technique by their master and was enraged that it wasn't taught to him just for Zenitsu to turn and say he made it himself just for him was priceless. Yushiro added salt on the wound too. Absolute menace

Kaigaku is my favorite demon design in the whole series. Black and white with blue and gold accents are perfect for a mirror to zenitsu. With the tattoo waves in his face adding to his demonic nature.

There are a lot of PIXIV artists exploring Kaigaku's character through essays and fan mangas. Some mangas explore him as the selfish coward and others tries to shed light on him as an emotional equalist. But recently I've been interested in the "hole in the heart" that Zenitsu heard from Kaigaku's heart. Zenitsu heard Kaigaku's never ending dissatisfaction as if there is a hole in his box, where even all the good fortunes keep falling out of his heart. This hole in the heart is a very similar to the hole in the heart or the universe in the DC comic universe. Bruce Wayne has a hole in his heart because his parents were killed, driving him to become Batman and fight criminals endlessly. Darkseid is like the hole in the omniverse that constantly pulls every living thing to the dark side. Kaigaku's hole in his box or heart is exactly that. This hole exists in everyone and even us, fictional and real. That being said, I am absolutely hyped for Yoshimasa Hosoya's voicing Kaigaku in the final arc. I mean, this guy voiced Orga Itsuka in Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans! His voice is just pure manliness!

This may sound crazy or weird but when you look at it Zenitsu and Kaigaku are pretty good paralels of Yorrichi and Kokushibo. Yorrichi and Zenitsu both were born with Immense talent, didn't want to originally fight but were forced to and worked hard to become stronger for the greater good. Whilst Kaigaku and Kokushibo were both willing to fight, both would do anything to surpass their rivals and they both abuse the power of nature unlike their counter part

Can I just say that your opening alliteration to these characters is so carefully considered and calculatingly crafted that I'm completely captivated by your content.

19:07 IIRC he was actually locked out of the temple by the other children for stealing Yes, they knew there was a demon outside, but the temple was also covered in wisteria incense which naturally warded the demon away. Kaigaku offered to get rid of the incense so that the demon would spare him and attack the other kids instead

I remember when someone in the series wikia's comments section tries to defend Kaigaku and gets hostile towards anyone who disagrees. It kinda ended when it was confirmed that he was the orphan who got nearly everyone at the orphanage killed, getting blind Gintoki arrested as a result.

"Never heard of him. Am I supposed to care?" - Kaigaku after Gramps commited seppuku

Forgive me for saying this, but I downright love kagiaku. He's a heartless prideful bastard with no remorse and I love him for it and I love how you analyzed his character and his blood demon arts(which is also one of my favorites) the only thing I wished happened with him is I wish he had more character development and appearances/materials for him in the manga.

This guy is gonna talk about literally every character before akaza.

There’s something so simple about Kaigaku that appeals to me. He sees the entire world as being “for” him and it just doesn’t compute that other people are thinking, feeling entities. He’s such a whiny, entitled crybaby that I genuinely think that all it would take is a pat on the head and a cookie to get him to back off the whole “be a murderous, flesh eating demon” nonsense

You know what I'd LOVE to see? Kaigaku meeting and interacting with Genya or even just Kaigaku vs Genya, that would be super interesting to see.

I just wished we had more material on Kaigaku especially Gotouge kept focusing on his necklace in the manga. It would have hit harder if it was given to him by Gyomei since Kaigaku is already seen wearing during his time at the temple. I actually like Douma and Kaigaku because they diversify the line up of the UMs. Even Nakime. Considering that demons were once humans, it's only fitting that there are UMs that make you question their humanity way before they became part of the dark side.

The more i grow older, the more i realize that i am similar to this character. I have egotistical tendencies and i get frustrated really quickly when i lose to someone in a PVP game and such. The only reason i haven’t gone to the deep end is because i don’t have ‘power’ like he does. I sometimes try to change myself too but its hard to the point where it feels impossible.

There’s a small correction I need to make here. Kaigaku never sought out to become a demon or agreed to become one for power, he did it because he wanted to survive well the power was just a welcomed benefit

I like the fact that he is a really twisted character.His strong sense of preservations with his ego wins towards his emotions. I really like it

I always wondered what if Kaigaku was with the main group, like starts with Zenitsu, so when the main character meets Zenitsu he also meets Kaigaku, I wonder how that would effect the story and what new story arcs would be made because of this change

I really must respect the amount of research that goes into these videos. Kudos to Meti.

I’ve been hoping you’d make an analysis of Kaigaku for SO long, and it was definitely worth the wait! This is an unpopular take, but he’s one of my favourite characters in Kimetsu No Yaiba and I’ve always found him to be so interesting, despite how little screen time he got. People often write him off as just being some bully, but there’s so much more to his character than just that. I really wish we had gotten to see more of him, so I’m glad you got to shine some light on him (even though he doesn’t deserve it lol).

Kaigaku, I love his character I just wish we saw his missions

Alright, you finally did one of my demon suggestions. Now you only need to do Akaza and Kokoshibo and my demon list will be complete.

Kaigaku is an extremely complex character, and in my opinion, he was way more interesting than a lot of the other Upper Moons. I feel like his character was barely explored. Imagine if Kaigaku and his Master had a conversation with each other before properly moving on. I wanted to see Kaigaku sit there in the afterlife and realize that he majorly fucked up. So many missed opportunities.

Kaigaku is a great rival for Zenitsu, I just wished he was established better and earlier than he was. When he first appeared I swore I must've had skipped a chapter or anything because I had no idea who he was supposed to be. It's one of the many problems KnY with its rushed ending. I hope the anime fixes this a bit.

About his necklace colour I think the Golden colour as human and blue when his a demon are meant to be yin and yang of his life. With Golden being light and navy blue his darkness.

Kaigaku is un-ironically one of my favorite characters from demon Slayer. His design is cool I myself found to be jealous from time to time. I honestly would’ve like it if Kaigaku got redeemed. *Does Kaigaku know about Tanjiro before being a demon?*

Okay, a bit of a hot take. Kaigaku had wasted potential. I might be biased as they were one of my favorite characters, but I digress. Kaigaku hadn't run away, rather instead had been pushed out by other children who knew the area was already demon infested. Considering this, this doesn't justify his later action of leading a demon to the Orphanage, but it does bring reason. Also going to Meti's explanation of why Kaigaku carries his sword on his back, I say that because of his swords dark coloring and the area he carries the sword, Nichirin blades change color based on the Breath attuned to the user. Considering Gyomei was the owner of the orphanage, I believe Kaigaku was meant to wield Stone Breathing, but fate had other plans. Additionally, we don't know Kaigaku's background we can assume their background with their extreme need for approval and self worth. Perhaps at first, the Blue Tomoe was his first approach, hoping for people to look up to and love. However, he went with what worked, being not trusting anybody.

Out of curiosity, will you ever make any videos on the Yakuza franchises characters? I feel like that’s a gold mine of content with people like Kiryu, Nishiki and some of the other characters throughout the games.

Amazing analysis aside that fact you use Sekiro footage, Devil may cry and Kamen rider in this video all things that I'm a deep fan of shows one of the reasons why I love your channel so much You are into alot of or make really amazing videos about stuff that I lobe with a passion Never disappointed when a meti video drops

This guy was a smug little prick. Loved him

If you ever want a new series to cover then I recommend Rezero because it has some of the most complex characters I've seen in anime

I wish we got to see more of kaigaku in the story you could have shown his story after mugen train as someone that can take a piller status after rengoku dearth.

Kaigaku is one of the most evil character in KnY other than (Muzan, Doma, Gyokko, Hatengu, Enmu, Snake Demon and Iguro Family)

26:11 how ironic ...and sad, once you know what happens to the guy saying it

"Building a Bastard: Muzan Kibutsuji" should be the final Demon Slayer vid in your channel.

But we can’t deny one thing Kai low key…had that drip

Tendo souji the man who walk the path of heaven

24:49 Not to downplay Zenitsu but it's stated in the story he only won because Kaigaku was recently transformed and thus hadn't fully mastered his Blood Demon Art. If Kaigaku was properly trained, Zenitsu would've died.

Finally my favorite demon slayer character got a video made 😭!

Was not expecting the Geats input

I’ll wouldn’t be surprised I’ll wouldn’t be surprised if Kaigaku become a orphan, because he run away from home because his parents did ‘value’ him the way he wanted to be value.

You sure the reason Zenitsu has part of the kanji for “wife” in his name is because of his connection to thunder breathing and not instead because of how obsessed he is with finding a wife 😂

I really wish you’d make a glory or beauty of tanjiro kamado 🤧

That was a very cool analysis. And it would help a lot with character design. Thank you for putting this video together.

I hope ufotable extend this fight a little in the infinite fortress arc

I don’t feel like Kaigaku was a good villain. He didn’t show up till the very end of the story without much knowledge of him, and was straight up unredeemable due to his actions. I feel like this might be the best Building a Bastard because its the only one where the character is so comically evil it makes him a complete bastard.

Great episode, waiting for the episode on Kokushibo 👍

I wish we got a spin-off manga about Kaigaku and get to see a more lighter side to him because even though he is extremely hated I feel that there’s more to Kaigaku then what we got

Darn, was hoping to hear his thoughts on what the final words spoken to Kaigaku were. O well still amazing video

That velvet room bgm haunts my everyday life 💀💀💀

I really hope someone makes a fan animation of the non-demonified thunder breathing forms, I want to see them so badly

Kaigaku = Vergil from DMC

Oddly felt needed to hear about self esteem and ego.

I wonder if you ever do a video about kokushibou since imo he the most interesting and fascinating character in demon slayer and one of the best villains next to akaza.

Kaigaku is basically what anime-only expect of Sanemi to be like when we first saw him in the anime.But of course,his not like that

As I remember binging demon slayer, part of me wishes he was introduced a little sooner.

I guess we'll be getting a video on Muzan eventually. Not even Dio was as hateable a main villain

Zenitsu did us a favor by getting rid of him 🙏🏻

21:17 Did anyone's else hear the audio just chip away when he said suicide?

Yo nice kamen rider references with Tendou for the intro and many others for the vid.

I am truly the bastard to ever live

Another great vid

I can't hate kaigaku

another BANGER of a video

Love your videos dude so fye

Kaigaku is a difficult character. His behavior is bad, but I can't blame him. That's what he did to survive. The children of the temple chased kaigaku out into the mountains at night. Sure he stole the money, but it was clearly too much punishment.Encountering kokushibo is too unlucky to say anything The feud with Zenitsu wasn't just kaigaku's problem. Anyone would be dissatisfied if asked to work with Zenitsu

I hate spoilers yet i love watching your videos 🚶🏽‍♂️..

The true Human

Gyokko next

Great Video sir. It was outstanding!!

Kaigaku own greed and lust for power made him a monsters no better than muzan and in some cases he even worse.

Subscribing to this quality conent

At first i thought he was gonna have like a really sad backstory or redemption but nope turns out he was just born a bastard

I’ve been seeing you’ve been adding more kamen rider references. Could you please do a video about them?

Kaigaku has to be easily like the most hate-able demon in the show with the only comparable one probably being Hantengu. Any other demon, even if you don't sympathize with them, you can probably understand how they got to where they were based on their backstory. They either have a logical jump from where they started to becoming demons or their life got so screwed up and being a demon was like an act of mercy from Muzan who they viewed like a God. Most probably don't hate Hantengu half as much though because we're not attached to anyone in his backstory. You just hate his victim mentality and Zohakuten pretending he's the hero saving the main body while the slayers are "awful villains". He's a pathetic hypocrite but Kaigaku? Total snake. Had multiple chances at being loved and given a decent life but backstabbed everyone the moment he had a chance to get small material gain. Zenitsu killing him is such a beautiful karma moment but also imagine if Gyomei was the one to show up. He was cocky with Zenitsu but would he have been the same with Gyomei? Gyomei was tanking Kokushibo for a hot minute so Kaigaku wouldn't stand a chance lol would he die to Gyomei or instinctively say he'll betray Muzan and then by default be killed by the curse? I think it's always so fascinating to picture different fights. Tanjiro vs Kokushibo using Sun Breathing to trigger him, or even Mitsuri teaming up against Doma since you know, he loves targeting women. Could Mitsuri make up where Shinobu lacks and they win the fight? Then Kanao and Inosuke could help somewhere else. Inosuke loves fighting so it'd be interesting to see him look at Upper 1 or see how Akaza reacts to someone who enjoys fighting strong opponents like him. (Assuming he doesn't just render him a weakling. His battle spirit should be interesting for Akaza to read.)

Kaigaku is the Japanese equivalent to Patrick Bateman from American Psycho.

Real live theme.

This kid's ego combined with his selfishness and just overall being the worst makes bakugo's awful behavior look better, at least with bakugo he can get some therapy and anger management to control that nightmare and ducity of him but this brat... oh wow It seriously makes me question what would have happened if kaigaku was the one to have met Tanjiro instead of Zenitsu, or if they have both met him instead would this kid have changed, would there have been a different path for him or would he have still been the same horrible brat that I grow to hate

Dam not even you were able to do Kaigaku justice? Out of all the characters in Demon Slayer Kaigaku has definitely got it the worst on the writing side of things

4:20 I kind of disagree here, it's not just Fudo Akira who had them bushy sideburns but many of Go Nagai's main characters this also spread to many other shounen manga main characters of that time, like Pegasus Seiya or the Gachaman team, to the point that whenever a more contemporary author wants to create an old school shounen protagonist like character the give them these sideburns, to me, all these adds to Kaigaku's main character syndrome and to visually present him as something he's not

0:08 Tendou?!? Didn’t know u were a Kamen rider fan but cool 👍

TENDOU SOUJI?? WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE

Dude you should totally start doing Kamen rider content like make a building a bastard video about Kaixa or Ohja

This video is longer than his screentime lmaoooo

this man couldn't learn drawing your sword and dashing

bro said confidence and put a show about determination, and then said determenation and showed a character overconfident lmao

I love seeing Kamen Rider here

I have read the manga like twice but for some reason I never realized that kaigaku was the orphan who sold out everyone else I must have been speed reading💀💀 But that’s so funny. bro accidentally created the strongest hashira which assisted in the downfall of the demon who turned him AND Muzan himself 😭😭

Love you❤️please do spinner from Mha💚

Will you do a vid on a main character pls be denji

As the law people say upper rank demon 2 he was born basically a psychopath that was wolf not psychopath but no emotions to fail and then you know when you're 2 parents are very much cult leaders yeah that's not gonna end well with you.

The reason why we hate Domua, Gyokko, Hantengu abd Muzan and yet still enjoy them and on soms level like them? Because they are loyal to a cause and know on some level where and why their goals are. But Kaigau's only Goal is to stay alive at all costs, no matter who he has to stab in the back or sell over. That makes him nothing more than a traitor waiting for his next opportunity to rise on someone else's expense, and somehow convinces himself that he is always in thr right. I hate him with a passion and glad Zenitzu clapped him with one move

419th like..... I pass others to a treasure i cannot obtain myself