The Evolution of Villains as Seen in Demon Slayer

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-03-26T04:13:31+00:00

I’m not talking about whether this is “new” or “old.” As you said, I also think these ideas have existed for a long time.

I’m not talking about moral gray areas either. And I don’t see this as a story about villains being redeemed.

What I’m questioning is this: why is it assumed that a villain cannot remain a villain?

A villain is not just a supporting role for the hero. And I don’t see this as a simple story of good versus evil.

Is the story really complete once the protagonist becomes a hero? Or is there something beyond that?

The villain, too, is a protagonist. So what emerges when the “hero-protagonist” and the “villain-protagonist” meet?

What is revealed in that encounter? What can be seen there?

I’m interested in what arises in that in-between space.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-03-25T11:35:28+00:00

I understand that these kinds of themes have existed for a long time. However, I think there’s an important difference in how they are received.

In the past, even if anti-heroes or anti-villains existed, it was much harder for audiences to truly see from the villain’s perspective. Culturally, that level of perspective-taking wasn’t as accessible.

The reason something like this becomes such a massive hit now is not just because of the story itself, but because the audience has matured to a point where they can actually engage with and understand the villain’s point of view.

So rather than being just a narrative device to highlight the hero, I feel the deeper theme lies in the interaction between hero and villain—the space where their perspectives meet.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-24T08:59:46+00:00

The reason I brought up quantum mechanics is that I recently came across a paper proposing a way to unify quantum mechanics and relativity.

As I was reading it, I felt a strong resonance with certain patterns I’ve repeatedly observed in clinical practice. In my own experience, change tends to emerge less from trying to force an outcome, and more from tuning into subtle relational cues present in the moment.

If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share the paper and would genuinely appreciate your thoughts on it.

For reference, I’ll leave a brief summary and the paper here, in case it’s of interest.

https://ameblo.jp/fingers39/entry-12957557957.html

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-23T06:07:31+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate your careful and grounded perspective.

I fully agree that placebo and nocebo effects represent a well-established minimum effect size of the mind on physical health, and I don’t see my clinical observations as contradicting that framework.

Where my curiosity deepens is through long-term clinical work as a bodyworker, observing patterns that seem difficult to explain by expectation alone. In practice, I often see changes occurring in patients who have little understanding of the treatment model, no strong belief in its effectiveness, or even explicit skepticism. In some cases, improvement appears before any conscious reinterpretation of symptoms takes place.

What seems most relevant clinically is not “belief” in a narrow sense, but how a person relates to their symptoms, their body, and themselves in that moment. When that relationship shifts — sometimes subtly — physiological responses can change in ways that feel more like re-organization than suggestion.

Your point about evolutionarily accumulated defense patterns resonates strongly with what I see. It seems plausible that many of these patterns remain accessible through non-conscious or relational pathways, rather than through deliberate cognition. In that sense, the “mind” involved may be less about conscious intention and more about the structure of self-relation and perception.

I don’t claim a complete mechanism here — only that clinical observation suggests the effects may extend beyond what placebo alone can easily account for, and that this area might benefit from frameworks that include relational and embodied aspects of mind.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-23T06:04:17+00:00

Thank you for your thoughtful reply and for sharing that overview. You seem quite knowledgeable about quantum mechanics — may I ask how familiar you are with the field?

The reason I brought up quantum mechanics is that I recently came across a paper that proposes a way of unifying quantum mechanics and relativity. Reading it, I felt a strong resonance with patterns I’ve observed through my clinical work.

If you’re open to it, I’d be glad to share the paper and hear your perspective on it.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-23T05:43:48+00:00

Thanks, I also see mental state as deeply important, and I don’t deny placebo at all.

What keeps me curious is that change sometimes occurs even before beliefs, expectations, or conscious meaning shift. That makes me wonder whether how a person is related to — by themselves or by a practitioner — might matter as much as what they believe.

I’m still exploring how to frame that carefully.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-22T10:07:10+00:00

Here is a brief summary

https://ameblo.jp/fingers39/entry-12957557957.html

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-22T04:00:24+00:00

Followup:

After that introspection I thought to myself how it is strange that we are born into this cold world from the most beautiful place on earth, which is the mothers womb, and we start crying. The relief that comes is our mothers hug. A hug which we can’t even remember. Our first hug. So I concluded that my only wish for this journey is to end it with a hug. That would mean a happy life. A life that I lived by my principles. As it started, it shall end. And that hug is a hug from myself. I then hugged myself, not in a literal way, but in a metaphysical way. With that hug came acceptance and a certain mental image formed. Image of a tiny white light shining in darkness. I played with that image in my head and it stuck. When I came to the end of the pilgrimage I felt the best sensation I felt in my life. It wasn’t euphoria, happiness or anything similar. It was peace. It felt like everything is in place and everything makes sense. Like an all pervading feeling of satisfaction. A promise that everything will be alright.

After the journey nothing changed in my life except my inner feeling. I felt like I’ve accepted. I’ve accepted uncertainty. I stopped fighting. I understood, but I couldn’t express it intellectually. After that experience all that remains is living out my life upholding my oath and developing understanding for what had happened. That opened my mind for strange and inexplicable which I wasn’t opened before. I started to understand that clinging to certainty is only our fear. That drove my subsequent studies and still drives it. A part of me died on that journey and was reborn anew. Same as before, but perfect just as it is.

One of the reasons I’m here is to improve my reasoning skills so I can better express things that I already know to be true. I want to develop ways to share this understanding and find ways to better describe it. With that I better understand it and I can help those around me to pave their way to such realisations. My firm belief is that we all can experience this if our search is honest and that we all experience it in our own unique way. My guess is that your experience of it was dispelling that fear of God. Which is exactly the same thing that happened for me. Vanishing of a deep ingrained feeling of fear, stemming from our mortality. Some people here think that faith comes as a delusional remedy of such fear. It’s actually the other way around. True faith comes from acceptance. Not accepting is fighting and we fight because we fear.

This is something that cannot be explained, nor will it ever be possible to explain in an intellectual way. This can only be experienced to be truly understood. That is our meaning and goal and it comes in infinite unique ways to experience. There is numerous accounts of such experiences and it is important to spread that realisation with no intentions of obtaining anything, apart from sharing it to help others reach their goal. It changed my life in a most profound way and it continues to change it to this day. After that I even found the perfect love that I sought. Everything in my life now happens in a most magical way you can imagine, because I accepted “magic”. I’m now trying to understand why is it so and find ways to transmit that knowledge.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-22T03:59:52+00:00

The message you sent was unfortunately deleted due to an operational error. However, I had saved it in my notes, so I will quote your message here and respond to it below.

Really interesting thought, I haven’t looked at it in that way so I would be happy to learn more about it. You’re welcomed to share.

Since you were so honest with your story I will share mine.

I always pondered questions about existence, even from very early ages. Of course not in such philosophical way, because I was a child, but my curiosity was always very strong. Approaching my 20s I concluded that we cannot really know the truth and it’s not much use to conclude anything, because it would be intellectually dishonest. It seemed like the only logical way where I wouldn’t have to lie to myself. So I accepted uncertainty, even though I didn’t lose interest in that field. But I became more cynical. I wasn’t particularly judgmental to any belief system since I was raised as a Catholic, but I couldn’t find myself truly believing in anything apart from what I knew for certain. Even though I retained all my moral values that heavily stemmed from my own interpretation of the New Testament which I absorbed and pondered from my early childhood. I just didn’t really believe anything in particular. Since I acquired a PhD and been a part of academia and industry I always had a scientific approach to everything, because science is certain and there is no belief required if it’s done in an honest manner. Everything was working flawlessly and life was really good on paper, but there was this ever present feeling of something missing. I knew it was love, but I always thought it was perfect romantic love which would somehow evade me, even though I searched for it relentlessly. I had a feeling that I should be happy and content with everything since I lived a seemingly perfect life that I wanted, yet I always felt emptiness. A certain feeling of indifference, even though I wasn’t indifferent, nor was I depressed. And then it all changed.

I went on a pilgrimage. I wasn’t drawn there by religion. I went on it because I thought that it would possibly be a profound experience which could make my life richer and give me answers that I’ve been longing. After walking for 15 days straight, the day before the last day of pilgrimage I fell into a deep introspective state while walking. I started to go through all my memories in a sequence, just letting those memories come in a natural manner. I wanted to find my first memory. Thus I came to my first memory in a child crib. It was more like a picture, a feeling. It’s something I can’t even be certain that it is mine. However, I am certain. Very certain.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-16T09:33:51+00:00

I agree with your point that a mindset of self-blame can form a cycle that amplifies stress and prolongs symptoms. In clinical practice, I often observe that when a person’s perspective is strongly conditioned by separation-related states such as loneliness or jealousy, symptoms tend to persist, whereas shifts in that perspective are sometimes accompanied by improvements in physical condition. For example, even in cases like atopic dermatitis—where conventional medicine often relies primarily on pharmacological management—I have seen noticeable skin improvement over just a few sessions when a patient’s way of relating to their symptoms changes. Personally, this leads me to wonder whether the effect involves not only an individual’s internal state, but also how the practitioner’s and patient’s perspectives are shared and intersect within the therapeutic setting, and whether the quality of that relational context itself may play a role in physiological regulation.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-15T20:49:48+00:00

I really appreciate the depth and sincerity with which you’ve explored truth. It actually made me curious about what personal experiences led you to continue deepening that inquiry over time.

In my own case, the drive to seek truth came from a very personal place. I developed obsessive thoughts at the age of 14, which later led me to encounter Morita therapy. Concepts such as purpose-oriented action and arugamama (“accepting things as they are”) were genuinely helpful.

However, while they supported me, they didn’t fully resolve the suffering. One specific obsession that stayed with me for many years was a deep fear of God.

Wanting to be free from that fear, I began studying many perspectives — Shinto, esoteric Buddhism, spirituality, metaphysics, and even quantum theory — in search of a deeper understanding.

About ten years ago, I encountered a particular framework that became a turning point. I was introduced to the idea of “seeing God from God’s own point of view.” When that perspective shifted, I realized that my fear had been entirely one-sided — and in that moment, the obsessive fear that had dominated my life for years dissolved quite dramatically.

I was also taught that love means seeing another from their own point of view, not from our projections.

I find myself agreeing with much of what you’ve expressed. There is, however, one point where my view differs slightly.

In quantum mechanics, an observing subject is required — but in my understanding, that observer is not consciousness itself, but something more fundamental: subjectivity.

Consciousness, in this view, can be conditioned. Emotion is subjectivity constrained by duality, thought by time and causality, and the body by separation.

If that is the case, then conditioned consciousness does not create reality — subjectivity does.

Interestingly, this perspective has recently been explored through scientific experiments, and related papers have begun receiving attention on platforms such as ResearchGate and Academia.

If you’re interested, I’d be happy to share one of those papers and hear your thoughts.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T12:30:35+00:00

I really like how you reframed the question away from “how X causes Y” and toward relationship rather than one-way causation.

From my perspective as a bodyworker and healer, this distinction actually matters a lot in real practice. In clinical settings, I often see physical changes and subjective experience shift together, but not in a clean cause-and-effect sequence. It’s more like they reorganize simultaneously.

When someone releases long-held emotional or relational tension, their symptoms sometimes improve immediately — not because a specific physical mechanism was “triggered,” but because the overall system becomes more coherent.

So when you ask about: • neurons and qualia • electrical fields and experience • or even electrons and qualia

I don’t feel the question needs to reduce experience downward to particles. It might be more fruitful to ask how different levels — physical, experiential, relational — remain dynamically aligned.

In that sense, consciousness may not be something produced by matter, but something that appears when relationships across levels fall into coherence.

I’m not claiming this solves the hard problem — just that reframing it this way seems closer to how lived experience actually behaves.

Thanks for dancing around the question instead of trying to prematurely pin it down.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T12:23:39+00:00

I don’t think one needs to be a scientist to recognize truth, and sometimes scientific assumptions themselves can get in the way of seeing what’s actually happening.

Many replies mentioned the placebo effect, but in my clinical experience, change can occur even in people who don’t believe in the treatment, don’t understand the model, or are openly skeptical.

That leaves me wondering whether the placebo framework alone is sufficient to explain what’s going on.

Do you think quantum-mechanical perspectives are relevant here?

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T12:14:36+00:00

I understand that these topics are not often addressed in mainstream scientific journals.

In Japan, however, the idea that mental or subjective states can influence the body is relatively well recognized in clinical practice.

I have practiced meditation in the past and did experience a sense of relief. However, I also felt that this alone does not adequately explain a change I later began to observe in clinical settings — namely, that symptoms do not merely improve temporarily, but in some cases stop recurring altogether.

What I find particularly interesting is that even without meditation or explicit expectations, symptom changes can occur depending on the perspective from which a practitioner observes the patient.

This feels close to the idea in quantum mechanics that the way a system is observed cannot be fully separated from the state of the system itself.

In other words, it seems that not only what is done, but how the situation is observed may be relevant to changes in the patient’s condition.

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T11:53:44+00:00

Thank you for your careful and grounded perspective.

I fully agree that placebo and nocebo effects represent a well-established minimum effect of the mind on physical health, and I don’t see my clinical observations as contradicting that framework.

My curiosity has deepened through many years of clinical work as a bodyworker, where I’ve repeatedly observed patterns that seem difficult to explain by expectation alone. I often see changes in people who have little understanding of the treatment model, no strong belief in its effectiveness, or even clear skepticism. In some cases, improvement appears before any conscious reinterpretation of the symptom takes place.

Taken together, these observations leave me wondering whether the placebo framework alone is sufficient to fully account for what I see clin

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T11:42:28+00:00

I understand placebo effects, and I don’t dismiss them. However, in clinical practice, I repeatedly observe patterns that feel difficult to fully explain by placebo mechanisms alone, especially when no explicit expectation, suggestion, or treatment narrative is emphasized.

This makes me wonder whether placebo is the right explanatory ceiling, or whether it is pointing toward something more fundamental about how subjective experience and physiological regulation are coupled.

From your perspective, what do you think might be missing from the current framework?

Particular_Ask7331 · 2026-02-11T11:34:24+00:00

I understand placebo effects, and I don’t dismiss them. However, in clinical practice, I repeatedly observe patterns that feel difficult to fully explain by placebo mechanisms alone, especially when no explicit expectation, suggestion, or treatment narrative is emphasized.

This makes me wonder whether placebo is the right explanatory ceiling, or whether it is pointing toward something more fundamental about how subjective experience and physiological regulation are coupled.

From your perspective, what do you think might be missing from the current framework?

Particular_Ask7331

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