Demon Slayer cosplayer awakens mark as fiery Tanjiro Kamado with female twist

Isaac McIntyre
Cosplayer Michaela Lee poses next to Tanjiro Kamado from Demon Slayer

Demon Slayer Season 2 is here, and it’s got the cosplay world ⁠— and Twitch streamer Michaela Lee ⁠— rushing to recreate the popular anime’s most famous characters, including shounen hero and demon slayer Tanjiro Kamado.

Tanjiro is the titular “Demon Slayer” in Koyoharu Gotouge’s famous manga series, which successfully made the jump to the small screen in early 2019.

Demon Slayer’s popularity has been nothing short of immense since its very first episode, which saw Tanjiro thrust into the world of demon hunting, with Japanese and western audiences alike devouring every piece of content from the anime world, including character cosplays and costume creations.

As the main character, Tanjiro Kamado is a fan favorite.

It made total sense then for cosplayer and Twitch streamer Michaela Lee to bring the shounen hero to life with her own incredible female twist of the character.

Demon Slayer was the breakout anime of 2019, in part due to Tanjiro’s popularity.

Lee, who goes by michaela.lee1 on Instagram, first unveiled her female Tanjiro Kamado cosplay as Demon Slayer Season 2 was first airing in early October.

It’s fair to say the cosplay is pretty incredible too. In the anime, Tanjiro wears an iconic green and black haori over a white robe and black pants, and Michaela made sure to get that aspect of the cosplay just right: her Demon Slayer costume is note for note perfect, down to the “black-and-sea-foam” colors.

Lee’s cosplay wasn’t without its little changes, however. Where Tanjiro’s outfit is a full-body piece, the Twitch streamer instead donned a shorter black top, giving her take a unique look that separated it from all the rest.

To finish, Michaela added Tanjiro’s unmissable facial scar ⁠— his Demon Slayer Mark ⁠— spread across her forehead like a fiery burn, just like in the anime.

 

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A post shared by Michaela Lee (@michaela.lee1)

According to Michaela, who spoke to Dexerto in an exclusive interview after posting her Tanjio cosplay, she picked the Demon Slayer protagonist because she was drawn to his “gentle yet honest nature,” and loves that he’s “so serious and strong-willed in battle, always striving to protect the ones he loves.”

The cosplayer was offered an opportunity to cosplay Demon Slayer from miccostumes, and leaped at the idea.

 

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A post shared by Michaela Lee (@michaela.lee1)

As far as Demon Slayer cosplays go, we think Michaela Lee’s is pretty awesome, and certainly captures the essence of Tanjiro Kamado and his ongoing quest to save his sister from her demonic transformation. The cosplayer streams on Twitch as 01mika, regularly playing League of Legends and other games.

The cosplay star told Dexerto her next Demon Slayer costume “will probably be Nezuko!”

Demon Slayer Season 2 is expected to return from a brief hiatus soon. The series is adapting the Mugen Train arc, which was also the plot of the 2020 movie.

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About The Author

Isaac was formerly the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. Isaac began his writing career as a sports journalist at Fairfax Media, before falling in love with all things esports and gaming. Since then he's covered Oceanic and global League of Legends for Upcomer, Hotspawn, and Snowball Esports.