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Playing a character for over six years can take one on a long journey of highs and lows. Even though it’s fiction, that’s like living with another person in your mind for that time, along with their suffering, pains and motivations. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaibo’s Tanjiro Kamado is a character that appears to have more behind the face that he’s showing. He shows unmatched kindness and empathy even to those who would try to stop him as he is determined to get a cure for his sister, Nazuko.

We had the opportunity to speak with Natsuki Hanae, the Japanese voice of Tanjiro at San Diego Comic-Con 2025 and we asked him about how he is surprised after all of this time playing Tanjiro.

“In the movies, there are different faces or elements to Tanjiro that I think we haven’t seen yet. Whether that's the range of expression that Tanjiro has or this sort of emotional range,” Hanae-san told Popverse. “There are definitely some scenes that show sides of Tanjiro I haven't seen (before), and that goes for both his sort of mental state, his mind, as well as his body, how Tanjiro is able to continuously become stronger throughout the series.”

“When I was thinking about how I wanted to act and perform, I would read the manga and kind of draw inspiration. I think there are a lot of surprises, perhaps there are some, but what it all comes down to for me is Tanjiro’s sort of motivation or drive at all oftentimes goes to the people who are important to him.” 

Tanjiro lost his family when the demon king Muzan Kibutsuji murdered his mother Kie and younger siblings Shigeru, Hanako, Takeo and Rokuta. He infected Tanjiro’s sister Nezuko with his blood to try and create a demon to withstand the exposure to sunlight. She was the only one to survive the bloodbath and Tanjiro clung onto whatever was left of her and kept her by his side. But through his resolve, Tanjiro made a new family, with Nezuko and the Demon Slayer Corps, with Zenitsu and Inosuke. 

“In his surroundings, whether it's family or different persons who are important, that's what gives him a lot of strength. So I think it's being surrounded by people, his team as well as that kind heart and for him, it's about how that support system serves him as a character.”

“So I think that connection is something that I tapped into when thinking about how to perform and act for Tanjiro in the movies.”

Japan has already been able to see the culmination of six years, but America will see the sum of that six-year performance when Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle hits US theaters September 12. 

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