Shinobu Kocho

Shinobu Kocho (しのぶ) was a Demon Slayer and the Insect Pillar of the Demon Slaying Corps.

Appearance
Shinobu is a petite girl with pale skin and large, compound-looking eyes that do not possess pupils, only a haze of gradient purple iris that becomes darker the lower it goes, which makes her eyes appear similar to those of bugs. She has short hair that fades from black into dark purple, fastened at the back of her head with a white and purple butterfly ornament, with split ear-length bangs that rise a little away from her head before they fall down to frame her face, two thinner chin-length strands below them. Shinobu is rather short in height and has been described as having a small and weak looking built, which is later reinforced by her saying that she does not possess the physical strength to cut a Demon's head off like other the other Pillars do.

Shinobu wears the standard Demon Slayer uniform that consists of a dark purple straight-lined black jacket, and hakama pants that are tucked into a butterfly pattern fabric around her lower legs. She also wears a white haori with a butterfly wing pattern, which fades into a turquoise and then pink color down the sleeves, which are cuffed with a black and white dotted trim, and white sandals with purple straps.

Personality
Shinobu is rather laid back, always having a smile on her face regardless of the situation she's in. She seems to enjoy teasing others and can be rather sadistic about it. Despite her relaxed exterior and her initial claim of wanting to get along with Demons, she can be rather cruel towards them, which is seen when she kills the Older Sister Spider Demon after giving her false hope of helping her, and attempting to kill Nezuko Kamado without hesitation.

Later on she is shown to have a more compassionate side towards both Tanjiro Kamado and his sister after hearing their full story. Later, during her battle against Doma, Shinobu reveals that she has also suffered from an inferiority complex due to her inferior physical abilities compared to her fellow Pillars, having been jealous of them for possessing taller or more muscular bodies than her and cursing her own body for not developing further to make her more effective in combat. Later, as revealed by Tanjiro, Shinobu, despite her outward calm and tranquil disposition, is revealed to be in a near constant state of anger due to everything she and others have lost, her anger and frustration at her own body for being small and thus ineffective in combat, the death of her elder sister, the deaths of her Tsuguko (other than Kanao Tsuyuri) and finally the orphaning of her apprentice healers, who lost their entire families to Demon attacks and were forced to enter into the Demon Slayer corps in order to survive.

Giyu Tomioka
Giyu and Shinobu are both Pillars of the Demon Slayers. They have opposite personalities and initially seem to be at odds with each other, as Shinobu appears to be under the impression that Giyu is a airhead and a klutz, assuming he is spacing out in front of a Demon as she is trying to save him. After he deflects her attack, she is angry at him for getting in the way and proceeds to remark that people dislike him as a result.

Later on, both her and Giyu come to care about the Kamado siblings and are visibly upset by the hostile treatment of the other Pillars towards them. When Giyu later hears about Shinobu's death, he is visibly shocked.

Tanjiro Kamado
Shinobu first meets Tanjiro after she attempts to kill Nezuko, and tells him it is dangerous to be so close to a Demon. Later on, during the Pillar's trial, she is the only one trying to hear Tanjiro's side of the story, and has a sad expression on her face as Tanjiro desperately tries to explain that Nezuko has not and will not hurt anybody.

She comes to care about both Tanjiro and Nezuko and is visibly concerned about them, even letting them rest at her estate so they are able to recover from their injuries. Tanjiro is visibly sad when he hears about Shinobu's death.

Kanao Tsuyuri
Kanao is Shinobu's chosen Tsuguko (successor) due to her considerable talent and exceptional skills as a Demon Slayer. They share a sister-like bond over the time they're together.

When Shinobu dies at Doma's hand, Kanao successfully avenges her with the help of Inosuke. Shinobu and Kanae later give their blessing to Kanao before departing to the afterlife, causing Kanao to break down in tears. Kanao also keeps both Shinobu and Kanae's butterfly hair accessories as memento of their lives.

Zenitsu Agatsuma
Shinobu meets Zenitsu during the Natagumo Mountain Arc, and treats his wounds after he has slain one of the spider demons.

Doma
Shinobu holds a strong resentment and hatred for Doma, due to him killing her older sister, Kanae. This hatred and disgust becomes even stronger when she actually meets him and comes to understand and see first-hand his twisted personality and ideas about giving his disciples "salvation" by killing and eating them. Later, during their battle, she continuously curses him due to him not being affected by her poisons and sword techniques again and again, until she is defeated and devoured by him. However, thanks to Shinobu's body being heavily saturated with poisony, Doma is severely weakened and is eventually successfully slain by Kanao and Inosuke.

Inside of Limbo, Doma, having heard and been touched by Shinobu's strong faith and belief in her comrades and fellow Demon Slayers' ability to defeat the demons and slay Muzan, seemingly begins to develop genuine feelings of romantic attraction towards Shinobu. He begins to doubt his initial belief that neither heaven or hell or paradise exist, and happily asks her if she wanted to go to hell with him for a date, to which she responds with sharp rejection while having the usual kind and calm smile on her face as a final act of spite towards the demon.

Natural Abilities
Despite not possessing the physical strength to cut off a Demon's head common to that of an average Demon Slayer or even the superhuman abilities possessed by her fellow Pillars, Shinobu is none the less as dangerous and deadly as the rest of them.
 * Medical Expertise - Despite not being as combat talented as the rest of her fellow Pillars, Shinobu has instead displayed immense skill and mastery over medical and pharmaceutical fields to make up for her lack of natural born combat talent, being highly knowledgeable about how to create various poisons and venoms using wisteria flowers. She is capable of killing opponents within seconds, and has even managed to create a poison strong enough to fatally injure and weaken members of the Upper Moons of the Twelve Demon Moons. She possesses the necessary skills to slowly alter her own body to be saturated with poison without negatively impending her own health, as well as the medical skills needed to counteract the venoms and poisons created by Demons. This is seen when she manages to undo the poison that was slowly transforming Zenitsu into a Spider Creature, managing to restore him back to his previous human form.
 * Immense Speed  - Shinobu has displayed almost superhuman levels of speed, being fast enough to easily evade and outpace Demons and catch them by surprise.
 * Immense Physical Strength - Despite being the smallest member of the Demon Slayer Corps and thus having the weakest swing strength due to her small arms, Shinobu has instead displayed powerful thrust and stab strength instead, with her other Pillars noting that a single thrust from her sword could easily pierce a stone boulder in half.

Swordsmanship
Breath of the Insect (の) : The Insect Breath is branched out from the Flower Breath, which itself is branched out of the Water Breath. While Shinobu may be the only one of the Pillars incapable of beheading demons, she is still as deadly as them. Using this unique Breath, she coats her weapon with poison made from Wisteria flower and alters the mixture and composition of the poisons inside her scabbard.
 * Dance of the Butterflies: Frolic (ノ れ) - Shinobu jumps forward towards the opponent and stings them multiple times with her blade to inject her poison.
 * Dance of the Bee Sting: Mere Fluttering (ノ き) - Shinobu dashes at her target at an incredible speed and uses the momentum of her speed to then strengthen her single thrust into her opponent to inject lethal poison into them.
 * Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon (ノ) - A six strike attack where Shinobu aims to strike and inject her target with several attacks to inject multiple area's of her targets bodies with poison.
 * Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag (ノ) - An attack where Shinobu used her full speed to run a zigzag pattern to confuse her opponents in order to create an opening for her to directly stab her opponents neck and inject poison into their neck and kill them, with the stab's force and power being further enhanced by the momentum of her speed. Doma noted that the sheer speed of this technique was strong enough to destroy an entire bridge.

Body Modification
Poisonous Body - In order to defeat the Upper Moon Two, Doma, Shinobu heavily alters her body by absorbing and altering her body's physiology with highly concentrated wisteria-based poison. With the assistance of the Demon Doctor, Tamayo, Shinobu is successful in saturating her body with undetectable poison that completely merges with her body's own cell structures, including those of her blood and internal organs -- all the way down to the very tips of her fingernails. With Shinobu's overall size and body wight, her body is the equivalent of 37 kilograms worth of poison, approximately seventy times more than the lethal amount needed to kill an average demon, with the poison being strong enough to melt Doma, the Upper Moon Two, down to his very bones.

Trivia

 * Shinobu is the dictionary form of shinobi, an alternative name of ninja.
 * The engravings on Shinobu's sword read "evil spirit/demon" (悪鬼).
 * Shinobu's surname Kocho means "butterfly" (胡蝶/こちょう).
 * Shinobu was ranked in 6th place as of the first character popularity poll with 1,813 votes.

Site Navigation
Шинобу Кочо Shinobu Kocho