#akaza is there but i wont tag him either. anyway

[lokh]

demon kyojuro!

in this au he survives mugen train and goes thru a lil corruption arc that starts with senjuro getting killed by humans (sorry senjuro!) and ends with kyojuro becoming disillusioned with the corps and possibly killing senjuro’s murderers. he still doesnt get turned willingly (also not by akaza) and in fact forgets everything except how much he hates akaza (as a human had come to resent him) and having a weird obsession with killing ‘strong’ people/demons (his need to protect the weak → need to stop the strong). i promise it still ends up being renkaza somehow ahgdfgvnfhd

design notes and extended

the first scene that the first image is based on reminded me of kabuki with how theatrical the pose seemed… and it turns out that kyojuro likes watching noh and kabuki (based on fanbook one)! so the makeup is very much based on sugiguma design, which is supposed to represent a hero with great strength but also anger. it is also consciously meant to reflect akazas markings, which also seem to resemble the villainous kugeare kabuki design…?

it being only a ‘mask’ reflects the idea of his playing a role (doing what you ‘should’ do, putting on a brave face) and the whole theatricality aspect… but that his face is ‘painted’ that way beneath an actual mask kind of shows who he Really is?

beneath the hannya mask, representing a demon consumed by anger and revenge, he’s still a ‘hero’ at heart

colors are intended to oppose the demon slayer uniform

fading to black → ash, burnt, but also literally ‘dirtying your hands’

the horns are just there to look cool LMAO but I guess also reflects the very real belief he might hold/have held before being turned that he had done something unforgivably wrong

as you can tell from the drawings he Does eventually start to remember things and stops akaza from offing himself because how in the world is that fair when he has to live with himself?? but he also probably has it in his head that once he helps defeat muzan as a demon hes gonna walk himself into the sun as penance and not take the cure. maybe we have a fun lil role reversal and akaza is the one to convince him to live as a human. i have not thought this far tbh