Summary
- Demon Slayer draws inspiration from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in its portrayal of vampires, namely the Pillar Men from Battle Tendency.
- Demon Slayer expands upon JJBA's vampire ideas by giving the theme more prominence within its overall plot, with the goal of conquering the sun being central to the archvillain, Muzan Kibutsuji.
- Demon Slayer explores the weakness of vampires in a more personal and emotionally resonant way, as the main characters, including Nezuko, also face the fear of sunlight, creating unique stakes and tension.
Plenty of shonen anime series draw inspiration from the best works in previous generations, such as the classic shonen "Big Three" following the example of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball. More recently, smash-hit shonen series like Jujutsu Kaisen and Demon Slayer drew inspiration from the Big Three in turn. It's easy to see how Demon Slayer borrowed the best ideas from both Naruto and Bleach, such as demon slayers being the next generation of Soul Reapers and Tanjiro's trio taking cues from Team 7 in Naruto.
However, there's a third series that also helped spark author Koyoharu Gotouge's imagination when writing Demon Slayer. Hirohiko Araki's JoJo's Bizarre Adventure made a contribution, too, but in subtler ways. There may not be Stands in Demon Slayer, but there are pseudo-vampires to pay homage to the first three arcs in JoJo's. Gotouge took a great idea and made it even better.
How Vampires Were Designed in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Even if Demon Slayer did not directly put vampires into its story, anime fans may still be curious about how JoJo's vampires set the template for these supernatural creatures in shonen anime. The first story arc, Phantom Blood, depicted the villainous Dio Brando becoming a vampire by putting on a stone mask, an artifact from Mesoamerica. Dio became a classic European-style vampire from there, an arrogant, powerful creature of the night who ruled in a castle and wanted to conquer the land. However, the story's most thematic vampires didn't arrive until the Battle Tendency arc, when the vampire condition became a major plot device rather than a way to simply power up a villain.
Protagonist Joseph Joestar was up against the mighty Pillar Men in that arc, ancient musclebound vampires from Mesoamerica who longed to walk in the sun. They ruled the underground world, but Wamuu, Kars, and Esidisi yearned to rule the surface world as well and resented the sun as a deadly obstacle to their ambitions. The Pillar Men spent the entire Battle Tendency story arc striving to overcome this weakness, with Kars being the only one to actually succeed. He famously evolved into a perfect being who could withstand the morning sun, much to Joseph's and Speedwagon's shock, though he was soon flung into outer space.
Finally, the Stardust Crusaders arc brought Dio Brando back as DIO the Stand user, and it even gave him a new vampire friend, Vanilla Ice, who had a Stand called Cream. Their vampire condition wasn't the story's main focus, however — DIO and Vanilla Ice were primarily Stand users, and DIO wished to rule the entire world regardless of his sunlight weakness. DIO's battle was a personal one against the Joestar family, most of all the tsundere hero Jotaro Kujo. In hindsight, it's clear that when author Koyoharu Gotouge drew inspiration from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure and its vampires, it was the Pillar Men from Battle Tendency who got all the attention, not DIO. This may help the Pillar Men feel more relevant in the anime industry as more than just a trio of boss battles for Joseph Joestar to fight in the pre-Stand era.
How Demon Slayer Expands Upon' JoJo's Vampire Ideas
In the long run, the vampires in JoJo's Bizarre Adventure are an oddity in the franchise and were quickly overshadowed by the Stand-based combat system, which was a marked improvement on vampires versus Hamon. However, the vampire idea can be much stronger in other stories that are written to make vampires more interesting and diverse and not just strong villains for a shonen-style hero to beat up in style. The Pillar Men were strong but largely forgettable compared to most villainous Stand users, and DIO was defined more by his Stand and his feud against the Joestars than his vampire status. Demon Slayer had to get creative to salvage the vampire idea from JoJo's, and it succeeded.
To begin with, Demon Slayer evidently borrowed the Pillar Men's goal of conquering the sun and gave it not to a single story arc's villains but to the archvillain, the demon king Muzan Kibutsuji. It helps that Demon Slayer has a single cohesive story while JoJo's is more like an anthology, so this theme can define Demon Slayer's overall plot without getting replaced by some other combat system or storyline rotating in. As Demon Slayer anime fans recently learned in Season 3, Muzan's weakness to sunlight and his demon condition is the entire reason he made an army of demon subordinates, including the Twelve Moons. Muzan doesn't want to rule Japan or drive humanity to extinction as Mahito in Jujutsu Kaisen does — he wants to finally walk in the sun and undo the effects of that potion he drank centuries ago.
The "vampires versus sunlight" theme also benefits from the heroes facing this problem in Demon Slayer's story. It's not just Muzan and his demon minions who fear the sun's deadly rays — it's also Tanjiro's own sister Nezuko who must avoid the sun, and Nezuko's demon condition is the whole reason protagonist Tanjiro Kamado became a demon slayer. That makes the sunlight problem far more personal for Demon Slayer's heroes, making it more emotionally resonant for viewers, while no one would ever pity the Pillar Men for resenting the sun's light. Sunlight creates unique stakes for Demon Slayer's heroes and explores the weakness of vampires in a more sympathetic and often tense way. It's one thing to fight demons and wait for the morning sun to bail out the heroes, but if the lovable Nezuko also fears the sun, then that creates some serious tension. Few, if any, other shonen protagonists have a problem quite like that.
Demon Slayer's usage of the JoJo vampire idea also allowed for one of its best plot twists yet. During Season 3's action-packed climax, Tanjiro was still fighting Hantengu as dawn neared, and Tanjiro was certain that he'd have to sacrifice Nezuko's life to finish off the Upper Moon 4. But when Tanjiro reluctantly abandoned Nezuko to the morning sun, a historic first took place. Nezuko survived the sun and evidently evolved into a new kind of demon who doesn't fear sunlight. It was a relief and a heartwarming miracle to see Nezuko succeed where the Pillar Men had failed, at the cost of making Nezuko Muzan's primary target. In that way, Nezuko became a better "vampire" than Kars ever did, allowing Demon Slayer to truly create a memorable Battle Tendency 2.0.