Tanjiro Kamado

Tanjiro Kamado is the main protagonist of Koyoharu Gotoge's manga and anime series Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. A former charcoal seller, Tanjiro's life was forever changed when he comes home one day to see his entire family murdered, and his younger sister Nezuko converted to a demon. He encounters Giyu Tomioka, a skilled swordsman titled the "Water Hashira" who spares his sister's life. Since then, Tanjiro has sworn to kill all demons who took his family away, and turn Nezuko into a human again. Following Giyu's instructions, he joins the Demon Slayer Corps as a swordsman-in-training and develops the "Water Breathing" style, a form of "sword breathing" technique which enhances the power of sword strikes by mimicking the movements of a particular element.

Kimetsu no Yaiba gained massive success worldwide at the turn of the 2020's because of its anime adaptation by Ufotable, which showcased the series' highly distinct art style, excellent animation, and flashy effects. The series enjoys mainstream popularity in Japan; one instance of this popularity was shown in an elementary school survey by Benesse where Tanjiro was admired as the "role model" by most children - even more than their parents. . Naturally, as the main character, he is expected to perform well in anime character popularity contests.

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ISML
Tanjiro made his first appearance in ISML 2020 and enjoyed a fairly strong start to the regular season, eventually reaching the third split (last 32 group stage) where he finished 10th, eliminating him from championship contention. However, he managed to crawl back up during the playoffs stage, winning 4 out of his 6 consolation matches to snag 8th place. The demon slayer was only denied out of a higher position by Levi, who also failed to reach playoffs; they inexplicably met twice in the consolations with Levi winning both of these meetings.

In ISML 2021, Tanjiro got the 5th-highest nominations in the male division, but was assigned to the first-ever seasonal contest for males instead of the main tournament. The contest runners assigned him to Winter instead of Spring (Mugen Train film), because he appeared in the Kimetsu no Yaiba Valentine's Day shorts aired during February and March, but obviously people aren't going to vote him based on that appearance, as the film is still fresh in the minds of many voters. The demon slayer went undefeated in the 6-man round-robin stage, defeating the likes of shonen regulars Luffy, Naruto, and Conan - plus newcomers Gojo and Miyamura - to earn his first ISML award and becoming its first-ever male seasonal diadem winner. This victory secured him automatic qualification for ISML 2022 's main tournament (preliminary rounds), and will also put him in contention for 2021's re-introduced divine crown award - the grand prize of the "Nova" contest. . As Demon Slayer Season 2 was currently airing by the time it got to the 2021 playoffs, Tanjiro used this opportunity to claim the first male seasonal championship, defeating second-placers Takt, Sasuke, and Miyamura.

Main Tournament
Overall record

Match history

Pendant record
 * 2020: Diamond (8th)

Seasonal & Exhibition
ISML 2021 - Winter Seasonal


 * Anime: Kimetsu Gakuen: Valentine-hen (web shorts, MAL Link)
 * Nominations: 75 votes, 2nd (5th overall)
 * Group stage: - 5W 0L (1st, Diadem Winner)
 * Match 1 (Prelim 3): Conan Edogawa @ Detective Conan -- 2165 - 1510
 * Match 2 (Prelim 4): Naruto Uzumaki @ Boruto - 1803 - 1231
 * Match 3 (Prelim 5): Izumi Miyamura  @ Horimiya -- 2034 - 1968
 * Match 4 (Prelim 6): Monkey D. Luffy @ One Piece --  2286 - 1438
 * Match 5 (Topaz 1): Satoru Gojo @ Jujutsu Kaisen -- 1367 - 1250
 * Playoffs - Wins: 5, Group CVP: 5.592 (seed 2)
 * (PO 3): (7) Takt Asahina @ Takt Op -- 3146 - 1882
 * (PO 4): (6) Sasuke Uchiha  @ Boruto -- 3610 - 2792
 * (PO 5): (5) Izumi Miyamura @ Horimiya -- 10,297 - 9867

History
Since Kimetsu no Yaiba is a battle shonen with eye-catching visuals and mainstream appeal, the series is, unsurprisingly, a smash hit in the r/anime subreddit, with its episode discussion threads regularly leading the "karma race" whenever it airs. General opinions state that season 1 episode 19, which depicts the Kamado siblings fighting a spider-themed demon named Rui, became the breakpoint moment of the series' meteoric rise in popularity. As further sequels have been created since 2020, which has maintained (or even improved) the quality of its animation, Demon Slayer is here to stay as one of the top dogs for the next few years.

In r/anime's tournament threads however, Tanjiro is labeled a "bland" character by some users because of his seemingly generic, good-guy personality that is typical of shonen protagonists. There is also a prevailing opinion that Kimetsu no Yaiba only got popular because the animation single-handedly carried the show, and that its writing pales in comparison to other acclaimed series like Fullmetal Alchemist. But given the voters' tendencies, these opinions seldom matter as Demon Slayer characters enjoy generally high seeds, and Tanjiro naturally leads the charge as the series' most successful representative.

The demon slayer made a modest debut in late 2020, finishing at the round of 64 in Best Guy 7 (losing to Shouya) and in Best Character 5 (eliminated by Winry). Afterwards, two sequels were released: the Mugen Train film, and the 2nd TV season which covers the "Entertainment District Arc". The latter aired in Fall 2021, giving him an advantage coming into Best Guy 8, which occurred a few weeks after the anime finished airing. There, he entered the bracket as the #8 seed, eventually overcoming #9 Reigen Arataka to reach the elite eight stage for the first time.

Tanjiro then gained notoriety in Best Guy 8's threads when he beat fan favourite Killua Zoldyck in the quarter-finals, before suffering an uncharacteristic blowout loss to Hachiman Hikigaya in the semi-finals. This prompted some people to deem that his run was only carried due to recency bias, while his unusual loss to 8man was attributed to the usual spite votes, and even had a few users speculating that Tanjiro was "sent to snipe Killua out so 8man has an easier opponent".

Matches
Best Guy 7 - seed 18
 * (495) Ame @ Wolf Children -- 420 - 95
 * (239) Saichi Sugimoto @ Golden Kamuy -- 342 - 191
 * (146) Yuzuru Otonashi @ Angel Beats! -- 532 - 215
 * (47) Shouya Ishida @ Koe no Katachi -- 317 - 393

Best Guy 8 - seed 5
 * (505) Sherlock Holmes @ Moriarty the Patriot -- 612 - 129
 * (249) Makoto Takiya @ Dragon Maid -- 525 - 177
 * (121) Goblin Slayer @ Goblin Slayer -- 654 - 336
 * (72) Shouyou Hinata @ Haikyuu!! -- 545 - 461
 * (40) Scar @ Fullmetal Alchemist -- 533 - 450
 * (9) Reigen Arataka @ Mob Psycho 100 -- 733 - 696
 * (17) Killua Zoldyck @ Hunter x Hunter -- 936 - 781
 * (45) Hachiman Hikigaya @ Oregairu -- 439 - 1312

-

Best Character 5 - seed 32
 * (481) Ginko @ Mushishi -- 564 - 258
 * (288) Izaya Orihara @ Durarara!! -- 733 - 417
 * (97) Hina @ Hinamatsuri -- 790 - 483
 * (33) Winry Rockbell @ Fullmetal Alchemist -- 545 - 698

Wins
Contest Wins (5)


 * 1) ISML 2021 Winter diadem (seasonal)
 * 2) ISML 2021 Divine Crown (overall seasonal championship)
 * 3) President Anime Memes Favorite Action Anime MC 2019 (FB link)
 * 4) Facebook Anime Storm Shonen War 2019 (FB link)
 * 5) Facebook @Alexandra Protagonista Nueva Generacion Favorito? 2020 (FB link)

Non-contest awards

 * Newtype Anime Award Male Div 2018-2019 (1st place)

Navigation
References

Notes

Beware of spoilers and pop-ups.
 * Wikipedia
 * KnY Wikia
 * MyAnimeList
 * Baike Baidu (Chinese)
 * Moegirl (Chinese)
 * NamuWiki (Korean)