Art of Ruin

“Sasuke is tired of Naruto playing the friend card” by Chairman Lan, translated by me with permission.

Aka the plot of Shippuden.

To answer some questions in the tags:

Kimetsu no Yaiba takes place during Taisho era. And I was super please to 1) see this era pictured, 2) see it quite well done fashion wise! Most of the characters‘ attires are pretty spot on for the time (if only with minor artistic liberties here and there).

Taisho era was the time where Japan opened to the West, trying to catch on with Western way of life - hence the mixing of traditional Japanese fashion and Western ones, especially in cities. Tamayo and Yushiro are a great example, as she wears what I believe could be a fashionable meisen kimono with tsubaki (camellia) pattern, while he is dressed in Shosei style (hakama+kimono worn with western shirt):

The vest Nezuko wears above is a nagabaori (knee long haori). During Taisho era, garment like haori and kimono tended to be longer than nowadays (especially sleeves which were longer than modern ones).

Nezuko’s family is indeed pretty poor as they make a living as sumiyaki (charcoal makers). Tanjiro is actually seen delivering charcoal around and his name bears the kanji for charcoal (炭). (I touched on charcoal burners symbolism in a past folk tale if you are interested learning more ^^)

She and here family would have not been able to afford silk everyday wear (silk was spreading among the population thanks to silk mills mechanisation but still expensive and fragile). Her kimono could be made from hemp or cotton, but seing the cold place they live in, is probably wool. Wool is actually super confortable in winter and summer alike, and was pretty wide spread during Taisho era :)

Nezuko kimono is patterned with asanoha (hemp leaf), a well loved auspicous pattern symbolizing wish for good health free from evil as this plant grows quick and strong.

The way her bottom hems fold up make me think her kimono is tuck up a little bit in the back, under her obi belt. Raising hem like this is called shirihashori, and is today mostly seen on men. In the past it was used by workers and travelers of both sex (pic from):

and then it was ripped from him yet again. his home, his people, massacred by a cruelty he never saw coming, leaving his best friend crippled, and his sister wasting away in worry and sadness, and he shouldered that blame and responsibility like a man who could not believe there was any other fault but his own. but despite it all, despite it all, despite sacrificing his most treasured, most revered golden core for his brother’s happiness, despite being beaten to death and dropped into actual purgatory for months, he rises from the ashes of his second family and finds a way to live. he’s more sarcastic now, more bitter, angrier, crueler, and his smile is less bright and doesn’t last long, but still, he finds a way because he has always been able to seek that brightness in an endless sea of darkness, so even at the risk of losing everything he has sacrificed his very soul to protect, he sticks to his morals and does the right thing because he’s been there, with no family, no home, only the kindness of a man who took him in.

he rebuilds again, with a pseudo-sister who yells and nags at him and sticks him with needles because he needs to rest, a dead brother who idolizes him, and the remnants of a dying clan who can’t understand why he saved them but ends up being loyal to him all the same. it’s a weird family, on the abandoned tabooed grounds of a dead man’s ambitions, but it’s his again. so even though he can’t attend his sister’s wedding, can’t stand fighting side by side with his brother, his best friend, can’t be with lwj, it’s okay, because the people he loves are safe and happy. until they’re not. until his family is once again torn away from him.

here was a child who was said to have been born smiling no matter how bad his situation got, who always found a way to exude a happiness and a wonder at a world that had been so unendingly cruel to him, and each time he rebuilt himself and his life and his family, it was ripped out of his hands.

sorrow in the dark

in my heart, in my soul to see

look at me in my fear

i wait for death