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We are down to just a handful of weeks left for Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle to reach U.S. shores. That means newbies are in the midst of binge-watching sessions to catch up, while the hardcore fans chalk up another rewatch. Whatever camp you fall in, fans new and old can agree to disagree about one member of the Demon Slayer Corps, Zenitsu Agatsuma. 

This slayer travels with Tanjiro Kamado’s posse alongside Nezuko Kamado and Insouk Hashbira battling demons. Zenitsu is often described often as a coward, anxious, nihilistic and lacking strong character. He clearly has low self-esteem issues, he screams, and shouts… a lot. And he is at his best as a Slayer, when he is asleep. Some might call him useless–including himself–others like him for bringing levity. But Aleks Le who voices Zenitsu in the English dub thinks he’s just misunderstood.

“Personally, I feel like he’s the most realistic depiction of a person,” explained Le. “A lot of the characters in the [Demon Slayer] universe are very heroic and brave, but I feel that Zenitsu represents somebody who is less confident. So sometimes that means that he serves as the comedic foil, because he lightens the mood and changes the atmosphere of that moment.”

“I feel that any normal person who wants to be brave, no matter what, when they’re in that situation, I feel like that there would be a lot of fear running through them. He’s very logical and understanding of his own limitations. What that says about his character, is that he lacks a lot of confidence. He’s only able to do this very immensely powerful move when he’s asleep and he doesn’t realize that he did it, right?”

He continued to explain that that means that in order to get it into his muscle memory, Zenitsu must have practiced and worked really hard. So that whenever he falls asleep, he's just able to do it by instinct, by memory, and he's not even aware of it. Zenitsu underplays himself a lot and simply doesn’t believe he has that level of power or knows he is capable of that power.

“For me, that just says a lot about his character, he’s insecure, he’s very afraid and he’s very alone,” added Le, who is sympathetic to Zenitsu. “If people were to approach his character with more of an attempt to understand him as a person, in his circumstances, I feel they would find that he’s very sweet, despite all his insecurities and weaknesses when he’s awake. He will still go out of his way to meet with his friends, or at least be there in the fight and help them in the end, ultimately.”

So take it from the guy who voiced him the last six years, Zenitsu, like all humans, is a complicated character with a set of unique skills. These characters often have a lot more thought put into them, more context than viewers are willing to take into account that gives a better understanding of who they are or why they act a certain way. And in the end, like Aleks said, he’ll be there in the end, side by side, with his friends. Now just make sure you’re there for the end too.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba The Movie: Infinity Castle hits US theaters September 12.

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