In the modern anime scene, we’ve had the joy of experiencing masterpiece after masterpiece in the shounen and action genres. Over the past decade in particular, some unquestionably incredible and beautiful pieces of work have been put out.
Two examples of such are the ones we’re going to be discussing; Demon Slayer and Attack on Titan. In particular, we’re here to compare the weapons wielded by Tanjiro Kamado and Levi Ackerman to come up with an answer for “which is better for slaying
Background (Nichirin Blades)
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of the weapons and each of their pros and cons, it’s best to provide some information on what EXACTLY each of them is, and their purpose.
In the case of Nichirin Blades, they are forged with “Scarlet Crimson Iron Sand” and “Scarlet Ore”, both of which are found at the peak of high mountains where they’re bathed in sunlight around the year. The purpose of this is simple; forging a blade imbued with the power of the sun so it may use the one weakness of a demon to end them.
However, it must be noted that as well-made and deadly as Nichiren Blades are, they’re only truly capable of fulfilling their intended function when used for decapitation, as any other injury dealt to a demon can still be healed/regenerated.
Coming to the specific Nichirin blade Tanjiro uses, the long-forgotten Black Nichirin Blade of Yoriichi himself, it’s a 300-year-old katana that’s refurbished for Tanjiro’s use. While not particularly special in a physical sense, the blade represents Tanjiro’s connection to Yoriichi and his eventual mastery of sun-breathing.
Background (Titan Slayers)
Moving over to our second contender, we have the giant-boxcutter-shaped swords used by the military, and in particular the survey corps on Paradis Island. Forged in the factories of production cities, these blades are made from Ultrahard Steel, a melted-down mixture of Iron Bamboo and rare metals which specializes in being both extremely strong and lightweight.
These blades are quite literally the frontline of humanity’s war against the Titans in Attack on Titan. With cannons being too slow and inaccurate to put a titan down for longer than a few minutes before it regenerates, these swords are the only portable weapon both strong and fast enough to take advantage of the titan’s weakness; the nape.
On top of their toughness, these blades are forged purely for the purpose of rending through flesh, and their creation has been perfected down to a science, making them the ideal weapon to use in conjunction with the ODM Gear.
Unfortunately, very similarly to the Nichirin Blades, these swords too are all but useless if the wielder can’t properly amputate the nape of a titan’s neck. A move that demands absolute precision, incredible speed, and equally impressive power.
As such, the Ultrahard Steel Blades come with some tradeoffs. While they’re unbelievably sharp and capable of tearing through titan flesh like butter at high enough speeds, they’re also rather easily shattered and/or damaged/dulled after a decent amount of usage or against a hard enough surface.
While it can be argued that this is a non-factor since there are spare blades in the ODM Gear’s storage, the precious few seconds needed to reload can spell the difference between life and death in the world of AoT.
With all that being said, we come to the dual Ultrahard Steel blades wielded by the man dubbed as humanity’s strongest soldier, Levi Ackerman. Now, it’s important to note, that there’s nothing particularly special about Levi’s blades that makes them different from any other soldier’s swords.
By their very nature, that’s not something that would be practical since the blades are constantly being replaced with spares. The thing that makes Levi’s blades so deadly is Levi and his Beyblade-esque shenanigans themselves.
Comparison
Now that that’s out of the way, there are a couple of things that should be noted before we move to comparisons. In both the case of Tanjiro’s Nichirin Blade and Levi’s Dual Blades, the swords themselves are nothing overtly “unique” or “special” compared to similar weapons in their respective worlds.
With that in mind, the comparison and ultimate decision over which weapon is better will be based on three core factors;
Number 1: How effective is each blade and character at their own job?
Number 2: How effective would each blade be at the other blade’s job?
Number 3: How effective would each character be with the other’s blade?
The first category is pretty simple and straightforward. Both weapons are perfectly designed for their job and their wielders are masterful at using them. However, it would be rather ignorant to imply that Levi is on anything other than a completely different level from Tanjiro.
On top of having far more combat experience, battle IQ, and general talent, Levi has the advantage of being able to launch his blades as projectiles. Something he’s been seen doing on multiple occasions to blind titans and buy himself time to make the perfect play. This fact alone, paired with the option of replacing a damaged blade, puts the Titan Slayers ahead by a point.
Especially considering how often Tanjiro’s broken his blade over the course of the series and had to wait weeks for replacements.
The second category is even more straightforward. A Nichirin blade in the AoT world would still be quite effective in the right hands. On the other hand, an Ultrahard Steel Sword in Demon Slayer wouldn’t be able to kill any demons since it doesn’t have the special property of being imbued with the power of the Sun. Plus, if you take ODM Gear out of the equation then the swords are even harder to use effectively in general.
The third category is a bit of a mix of both the previous ones. Put simply, Levi would still be an absolute menace in his own world with a Nichirin Blade, but he’d be considerably nerfed as he has to work with one blade instead of two, so he’ll need more force to amputate the nape.
On top of that, he loses some combat options such as launching the blades to blind a titan. Ultimately though, he could still do his job to a decent extent with a Nichirin Blade, provided he can get it replaced or repaired after each big battle.
On the other hand, Tanjiro would get absolutely destroyed if he was stuck with Ultrahard Steel blades with no properties against any of the 12 Kizuki. He’d put up a good fight but ultimately, he’d have no way of finishing off the opponent.
Conclusion
Taking all that into consideration, it’s safe to say that while both weapons are phenomenally exceptional at their OWN jobs, the Nichirin blade is ultimately better for slaying in general as it has a lower skill ceiling, is sturdier than the average Ultrahard Steel Sword, and most importantly, doesn’t rely on the momentum from ODM Gear to drive it’s cutting force.
The main advantages of Ultrahard Steel Swords are that they’re lightweight, dual-wieldable, throwable, and replaceable, however, both of the former are reliant on ODM Gear and become liabilities when said gear is damaged or malfunctioning.
Ultimately, as you might imagine, the blade from the show literally named Demon “SLAYER”, is in fact, better for Slaying!