#stop reading

it- no no no... she protected him under the impression that he was in danger despite being injured and not a single demon has ever done that before! she really might be different!! do you:

a) spare the demon

pros → she could be different, her brother has great potential and determination (he could become the next water pillar!), she hasn't killed anyone, you protect someone and follow your own principles.

cons → you're going against the rules meaning that there will be consequences, she can kill her brother later, you're going against rules, no one ever dared do this before, urokodaki probably won't help you out

b) kill the demon

pros → you don't break rules, the boy is certainly safe from her, you do your job, this decision is safer

cons → she's an innocent person, her brother lost everyone else (you failed to save them) and he'll probably be depressed, she really could have been different from other demons and it'd be a wasted chance.

in the end, giyuu spares her. his decision ignores what would be deemed as "common sense" just for the possibility of it being ethical and relies on logic as well as a bit of instinct. wouldn't it be terrible of him to kill an innocent girl who ended up unfortunate circumstances that he failed to prevent? anyone would've ended her before even reaching this point but currently he's in a position of a pillar, someone who should support people. sure, he's going against the law but does he care? giyuu abides to his principles strictly but how far will he go to for their sake? choosing not decapitate a demon is to go against everything the corps stands for and lose the respect of basically everyone. the corps exists exclusively for getting rid of demons. on a surface level, his disobedience would be deemed as immoral. but then again, the fundamental reason demons are assassinated is because they kill humans and nezuko has proven that she won't eat humans no matter the circumstances. he saw it with his own eyes. this shows that breaking rules doesn't automatically equate to immorality and they shouldn't be blindly followed. giyuu not letting rules restrict him and choosing to be open minded so that he can do what he deems as the right thing brings me so much life especially considering how the belief that killing without hesitation equates to being powerful is so enforced. giyuu doesn't mindlessly kill. he assesses his situation. he rethinks his choices. days after encountering the kamados, he's still thinking about his decision and mentally reciting tanjiro's words.

do u know the most fever dream-ish thing about this? he's put in another moral dilemma in the end with the same pair of siblings.. except that their dynamic is completely switched. sigh...

2) after the battle has ended, you find the boy whom you might as well refer to as family dead, start crying, and continuously saying sorry in your head and wait? is that a heart beat? blinking? OH SHIT-

TANJIRO TRANSFORMED INTO A DEMON. what do you do :3

a) attack and decapitate him

pros → everyone's efforts to eradicate demons won't all go to waste.

cons → you're probably going to die due to blood loss and exhaustion and the boy whom you protected for so long will die.

b) don't decapitate him

pros → you won't have to go through the mental torment of fighting.

cons → everyone is going to die and demons will continue to exist.

the choice might seem obvious but if you were the only conscious person, on the brink of death, and had to make a decision with such limited possibilities, acting quickly would be difficult. giyuu chooses the former. the deceased slayers and pillars did not die for this. I have seen some ppl call this blatant hypocrisy. "he's trying to kill tanjiro despite loving him" that's the point! does he want tanjiro dead? of course not. and yet, he still has to suck it up and fight him anyways because if he lets their bond affect his next decision, their work will go to waste and the remaining survivors will die. I cannot stress the development in this. before, he used to rethink his decision repeatedly to make sure that he's doing the right thing but now? he doesn't doubt himself and instantly does the right thing. I call this character development. he doesn't give up on the possibility that tanjiro could be kept alive but until that happens, he's making sure that no one dies. overall, his decision in more rational and selfless. he attempts to kill him quickly and-

WAIT- HE'S IMMUNE TO THE SUN? this situation has become hopeless and your chances of winning have been reduced to practically nothing. two more survivors attempt to help you out and BOOM

HE BITES HIS SISTER- WAIT HE'S NOT EATING HER? (this feels like horrible gameplay) so not only is he immortal and immune to the sun, he also has a bda. giyuu has no choice but to cling to the hope that tanjiro might have some humanity left in him and could be turned back into a human just like his sister. is his decision rational? no! nothing logical can be done in this situation anymore and the chances of an outcome that isn't failure is practically non-existent. but maybe he could save everyone. maybe he could turn tanjiro back human. maybe he could protect people and not fail again. he's still doing what he sees as the right thing knowing damn well that he's being irrational. (I genuinely believe that this fight with tanjiro is supposed to parallel his encounter with nezuko in the beginning because he's the person who fights him the most. the same pair of siblings where one of them is a demon while the other is desperately calming them down. no objectively correct choices. yet, he chooses to risk everything for the sake of possibly doing the morally good action and relies on intuition) more fighting happens, kanao arrives, uses medication on him, and with the power of friendship and will to live (and medication), he thankfully turns back to normal.

I love the way the narrative shows us that giyuu did the right thing in the end one way or another. sparing nezuko led to the final battle and eventually muzan's defeat and fighting tanjiro despite their close bond served as a distraction and helped in turning him back human. another cute detail I believe emphasizes this is that in kanji, the gi (義) in giyuu means justice and the yū (勇) translates to courage.

and here's the very last part of my delusional shitpost

giyuu is amazing, wonderful, *insert positive adjective* as a pillar. he understands the position he's in well. but as a coworker and employee? we see giyuu as the good guy because the story is told from tanjiro's pov and most of his actions can be defended because they were done for the greater good but do you know what can be difficult to excuse? his asocial behavior towards everyone (especially the pillars)

imagine you're shinobu here. you're (not so) peacefully doing your job and your coworker who is supposed to be on your side just decides to go against you and let a demon live without explanation. this panel shows how important context is. and do you know who would do literally anything but explain themselves? (tbf, he does try but is cut off. this applies more to his other shenanigans) if we had as much knowledge on this situation as shinobu, giyuu would be the one in the wrong. he somehow gets easier but also harder to defend later on in the meeting. even though giyuu was being a bit of an asshole to tanjiro after the fight with rui, he at least helped him and nezuko get away. when the morning arrives and tanjiro is literally injured, tied up, and surrounded by people who want him dead, giyuu was doing jack shit

he could be doing literally ANYTHING but stare into nothingness like that. buddy fight for your cause. and before anyone says that it's because of his inferiority complex, this is him by the way:

he prevents shinobu from doing her job, he distracts sanemi so that tanjiro can hit him strongly enough, and he grabs iguro's arm while simultaneously cutting the ropes off of tanjiro's wrists. giyuu does have an inferiority complex but he will take measures to get others out of his way if they attempt to harm the kamados ie result in him failing to protect them. if giyuu was actually scared of the pillars, he would not be doing any of this, let alone spare a demon. so giyuu was capable of defending tanjiro from the beginning. he simply chose not to do and only interfered when/after sanemi stabbed nezuko. (😭)

giyuu in general seems to stir up copious amounts of drama with the other pillars and when you reflect on all the shenanigans that happened between them until now, the realization that this is mainly giyuu's fault lowkey dawns upon you. the light novel confirms it

the manga confirms it

and whenever he does choose to speak, it's to insult people.

as we learn later on, giyuu's words were misinterpreted and his social isolation was a result of his imposter syndrome. but how far can this go? the hashira don't have the context that we do and giyuu just plays into their belief of him. if someone states "i'm not like you" anyone would perceive it as condescending especially considering how his facial expression is described to "make others think that he was looking down on them" in the LN. giyuu not wanting to talk to the pillars is one thing but not cooperating with them is a more significant problem. (especially when he refused to participate in the pillar training despite being aware of how much of a dire situation the corps was in. this is arguably the definition of hypocrisy) the LN states that all the pillars put effort into cooperating with each other no matter how hard it was for some of them and that giyuu was the only person who didn't bother doing so. this begs the question, can giyuu's behavior really be excused or defended? nope. don't defend him. he doesn't always have to be the good guy in every conflict. there is literally no logic behind his actions here. some of yall defend him too much especially considering how he canonically isn't the nicest. that's the dude who shamelessly knocked out a 13 year old. sure, his guilt plays a heavy role in his actions but this should only be used as an explanation not an excuse. "giyuu's behavior was heavily influenced by trauma and doesn't inherently mean that he's a bad person" and "giyuu is the person in the wrong and the pillars' hatred towards him is perfectly understandable" are two factual statements that can, in fact, coexist. *cue clapping*

conclusion paragraph? just stop reading!! (giyuu is inherently a good person who strives to do the right thing and values morality and logic regardless of any negative consequences as shown in the manga multiple times. however, he sometimes makes wrong decisions that are influenced by feelings more than anything because at the end of the day, he's meant to be a flawed character and that's fine)