Matazo

As a man, Matazo is fairly tall and stocky with short gray hair and a little stubble on his chin. He looks to be roughly in his fifties and usually wears a gentle expression. After his transformation he sprouts two small horns, his teeth lengthen into fangs, his nails curl into talons, and his face turns feral while his veins bulge across his body.

While raising Yae, Matazo is a caring if clumsy father, struggling to connect with her after losing her mother. He hesitates to teach her hunting because he thinks it unsuitable for a girl, relenting only when friends explain she simply wants time with him.

Once turned, he loses nearly all reason and slaughters and devours fellow hunters. Even so, a trace of his love for Yae survives. After his first frenzy he recognizes her and flees rather than harm her, and he manages to speak her name even as instinct drives him to attack.

Matazo earns his living as a Matagi, a traditional mountain hunter, and raises Yae alone following his wife's death. When Yae's dog dies, she spots a distant figure and realizes it is her transformed father. Recalling his shooting lessons, she blasts his head apart, but it regenerates and he pins her down. Giyu Tomioka arrives, severs the demon's arm, and after Matazo employs a thrown bone projectile in a final gambit, the Hashira finishes him with the fourth form of Water Breathing. His head murmurs as he remembers his daughter before crumbling away.