Tanjiro Kamado

Kids' backpacks today are simply too big! A kindhearted boy who loves his family. Tanjiro joins the Demon Slayer Corps in order to turn his sister Nezuko, who has become a demon, back into a human, as well as to avenge the death of his family by hunting down the demon who killed them. He has an acute sense of smell which enables him to identify the weak spots in demons or other opponents he battles. You know they're running out of special powers for shonen protagonists to have when they get down to "sense of smell." Of course, Demon Slayer wasn't even the first piece of fiction to use that: the manga started in 2016, three years after a live action show about a detective who could do the same (which was itself two years after a 30 Rock joke that was the exact opposite). But hey, at least it's something other than "he trained real hard and believed in himself," right? At the start of the series, Tanjiro has a scar on the left side of his forehead. He's had it since he was younger, when his little brother Takeo accidentally pulled a boiling kettle over onto himself, and Tanjiro leapt into action to protect the boy; Takeo was safe, but Tanjiro got scalded, and so had the scar for the rest of his life (or so we're led to believe). However, the red mark on this figure's forehead isn't that: this jagged red line is a Demon Slayer Mark, a mystical emblem that signifies great power. The fact it looks like stylized flames hints at his abilities. Tanjiro wears a brown uniform underneath a green and black checkered robe. The uniform has a jacket with three large buttons, and baggy pants that bunch up at the knees thanks to the white wraps around his shins. He's apparently traipsing around the entire countryside in sandals, and has a large pair of dangling earrings. His hair is blowing back in the wind, so the toy looks dynamic even when just standing still. Like the other figures in the line, the sculpt is not overly detailed, and does a lovely job of matching the cartoon's animation style without looking boring. This figure, part of Series 4, is not the first Tanjiro in the series. In fact, of the five series they've released so far, only Series 2 hasn't had a Tanjiro! And they all really look the same, with just minor differences in design, so you're really just picking which one has the best accessories. Spoiler: this one has the best accessories. It's not his sword, which is fine but mostly unremarkable, but rather his backpack. If you recall, part of Nezuko's demon power is that she's weak to sunlight. And since she refuses to eat humans, she needs lots of sleep to conserve energy. Since Tanjiro doesn't trust any of the Slayer Corps alone with her, he can't very well just leave her at headquarters, and thus he carries her around in a big wooden box on his back. It's kind of an important thing, but this is the only version of him that includes it. You may wonder how a girl who's full human size can fit inside a backpack this small, but there's a simple and easy-to-understand explanation: it's just a series of drawings, so it can be cheated really easily. This is just a box, assembled from various panels and hollow, but it doesn't open and there's no sister inside. It just slips onto the shoulders and gets carried. And while that alone probably would have been enough to make this version a winner, there's still something else that's even better. Taking a cue from Japanese-made anime figures, McFarlane Toys has given this one swappable faces! Holy wow! The normal face is typically angry, while the alternates include one smiling sweetly, and another showing... well, dull surprise. That sort of wide-eyed, slack-jawed look anime characters get when they see something comically unbelievable. "You've gotta be kidding me" face. That one also has some thin red cuts painted on it, like he's just been through a battle. This definitely isn't the first time an American toy had had this kind of feature, but it's still rare enough to stand out. There's no shortage of Tanjiro Kamato figures from McFarlane, both before and after this one. But if you want a "plain" version, you won't find a better one than this. -- 11/24/24 What's a worse superpower than smelling? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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