Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Vol. 1

As a story about demons and human evils, Demon Slayer is extremely dark, violent, and gruesome, with Tanjiro and Nezuko’s family being brutally murdered in the first chapter. On the other hand, comic relief is a literary device wherein humorous characters, scenes, and other narrative features are included in otherwise serious works. These comedic moments provide levity and a release of emotions, a break from dark or emotional moments.

While later volumes include characters solely present for comic relief, the first volume employs brief moments of comic relief, usually through changes in Koyoharu Gotouge’s art style. Characters’ eyes in manga are often drawn large, with detailed and expressive irises. Therefore, one of the comic relief techniques used in manga is illustrating a character’s eyes as small dots in comic moments—to express confusion, disbelief, or innocence among other states of mind. This trope is sometimes called “black bead eyes” (“Black Bead Eyes,” TV Tropes) or “dot eyes” (“Dot Eyes,” Japanese with Anime, 6 April 2020).

In one such moment, Tanjiro returns to Nezuko, whom he’s hidden in a cave in order to protect her from the sun (64).