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.

History
Shinobu was born as the youngest daughter within the Kocho household, living alongside her mother, father and older sister Kanae. She was raised in a loving and caring household until her parents were slaughtered by Demons right before her and her sister's eyes.

Just when the Demon was about to take the lives of her and her sister as well, they were saved by the Pillar, Gyomei Himejima, who slayed the Demon. Now more determined as a result of the pain and suffering they endured, Shinobu and Kanae both promised to become Demon Slayers to protect each other, as well as prevent other people from enduring the same losses they had to experience.

Later in her life, while accompanying her sister Kanae on a trip, the sisters encountered a young girl being led away as a slave on a bridge. Intrigued by her, Kanae took an interest and decided to take the girl back to the Butterfly Estate, against Shinobu's initial wishes. They eventually purchased the girl, named Tsuyuri, from her master and trained her within the Butterfly Estate to become the next Tsuguko.

Natagumo Mountain Arc
Shinobu is present when Kagaya Ubuyashiki receives news of the situation unfolding at Natagumo Mountain, and is given the order to travel there and assist the lower-ranked swordsmen. Acknowledging this, the female Pillar states that it would be great if everyone could get along, regardless if they are human or Demon, and asks Giyu Tomioka if he agrees.

Much later, Shinobu appears before a heavily injured Zenitsu Agatsuma, greeting him and asking him if he is alright. She then suddenly appears behind the elder sister member of Rui's Demon Family, inquiring if the strings came out of her palms, wishing the creature a good evening, and commenting on the beauty of the moon that night. Startled, the Demon attacks the Demon Slayer with her strings, but Shinobu dodges them all effortlessly. Drawing her sword, Shinobu dryly comments that this attack means the Demon doesn't want to get along with her.

The elder sister Demon quickly begs Shinobu for mercy, stating that she would be killed if she disobeyed Rui. Shinobu, sympathizing with the creature's plight, says that she will cooperate with the Demon if she answers a few of Shinobu's questions, the first of which being how many people she had killed. The Demon's answer is five, but Shinobu assures her that she doesn't have to lie, complimenting her string technique from earlier, and the Demon corrects her answer to eighty humans. Despite the creature's stubborn denial, the female swordsman notes that both of them came from the west side of the mountain, and, on that side, she had found forty of the Demon's cocoons. Shinobu adds that she isn't angry, only trying to be as accurate as possible. When asked what the point of checking this information is, Shinobu tells the elder sister Demon that in order for them to be friends and to satisfy those who have died, she will have to endure punishment, explaining in gruesome detail what she had in mind for this, and adding that the creature won't die from it, so there will be no aftereffects.

Enraged, the Demon attacks Shinobu again, but the female Demon Hunter quickly bypasses her, simultaneously landing her "Caprice" attack on the creature. She laments the Demon's poor choice, turning and subsequently watching as the creature collapses. Shinobu tells the creature not to let her guard down just because she can't cut the Demon's head off since, she explains, she utilizes poison as her weapon instead. Shinobu then introduces herself as the Insect Pillar of the Demon Slaying Corps, stating that, although she may be the only one among her order to not possess the ability to cut off a Demon's head, poison that can kill the creatures is still a potent tool. She then apologizes, realizing that the elder sister Demon is already dead and couldn't hear her explanation.

Shinobu then proceeds to cut open the Demon's silk cocoon, freeing Murata. She asks him if he is alright, and he asks what happened to the older sister Demon, to which she answers that she had killed the Demon with poison from the wisteria flower, commenting afterwards on how lucky he is for only having his clothes melted off by the creature's attack.

She later attempts to attack Tanjiro and Nezuko, but her attack is deflected by Giyu. She questions his interference, noting that if he continues this course of action, everyone would hate him. The Insect Pillar asks her fellow Demon Slayer to get out of the way, apologizing to him when he replies that he isn't hated. She then turns her attention to Tanjiro, telling him that he is protecting a Demon and that he should get away from her. The young Demon Slayer exclaims that Nezuko is his sister, causing Shinobu to take pity on her and plan to kill her with a poison that inflicts no pain.

Giyu then instructs Tanjiro to run, which Shinobu notes to be a violation of Demon Slayer's conduct. Later, while being restrained by Giyu's arm, she laments that she had been in the right to come kill Demons and thus had broken no rules, but noted that Giyu had, asking him what his intent was. Her fellow Pillar remains quiet, prompting her to angrily ask him to say something. Giyu replies that it had all started two years previously, causing Shinobu to note that the length of time was a problem and wonder if he was holding a grudge because she had said he was hated. Shen then extends a blade from her right shoe and prepares to attack Giyu, only to be stopped by an important message from a Kasugaigarasu, which said she must restrain and bring Tanjiro and Nezuko to headquarters. Later, at the headquarters of her order, the female Demon Slayer stood alongside her fellow Pillars in front of a restrained Tanjiro.

Functional Recovery Training Arc
She quickly informs the confused youth where he is and that he is on trial for violation of Demon Slayer conduct. When Obanai Iguro points out that Giyu had also committed this crime and asks how they are going to deal with him, Shinobu tells him that they will think of a punishment for him later, since she more interested in hearing Tanjiro's story. She gives the youth some water when he starts coughing, asking him to tell them his story, and also informing him that the water contained a painkiller. Shinobu tells him not to strain himself, as his injuries are still present. She then listens quietly as Tanjiro explains his sister's circumstances.

Shinobu continues to listen to Tanjiro's story, but his dialogue is interrupted by the sudden appearance of Sanemi Shinazugawa, who grabs Nezuko's box. She warns her fellow Pillar not to act on his own, but he ignores her warning, stabbing the trapped Demon with his sword, much to her displeasure. She then watches as an enraged Tanjiro charges the Wind Pillar, and afterwards looked at an apologetic Mitsuri Kanroji. Shinobu's leader, Kagaya, then arrived, causing her and her fellow Pillars to bow in respect. Kagaya then asked for them all to accept Tanjiro and Nezuko, surprising Shinobu, who remained silent as her fellows argued over the decision, and as Kagaya's assistant read Sakonji Urokodaki's letter.

Shinobu continues her silence through even more arguments, but is shocked as her leader revealed that Tanjiro had come into contact with Muzan Kibutsuji. She and her fellow Pillars are then halted from even more debating by a simple gesture from their leader, with the Insect Pillar remaining silent as Kagaya explains more of his reasoning for pardoning Tanjiro and Nezuko. Shinobu then cautions Tanjiro from using any of his breath techniques while pinned by Obanai, as his lungs might explode from the pressure. She calls out his name in alarm as he ignores her advice and tries anyways. After the incident with Sanemi and Nezuko is resolved, she listens quietly as Kagaya explained the dedication of the Pillars to Tanjiro.

With everything resolved, Shinobu suggests they take care of Tanjiro over at her place, instructing the Kakushi to do this, and then waits for Kagaya to start the Pillar meeting. After the meeting has ended, she visits Tanjiro and his friends at the Butterfly Estate, asking them how they are doing and instructing them to begin their functional recovery training.

Dimensional Infinity Fortress Arc
Inside the Dimensional Fortress that Muzan had created after Oyakata's suicidal move, Shinobu enters a room and discovers Doma eating a group of his own female disciples. When he finally notices her, Doma reacts with delight at having another meal walk right into his room, and thanks Nakime. One of his disciples, still alive, begs Shinobu to save her, and Doma, annoyed by this, attempts to finish her off, only for Shinobu to jump in and save her. She asks the young woman if she is alright, but before she can answer Shinobu's question, the young woman explodes and dies right in front of her eyes.

Angered by this, and Doma's insistence that he saved the girl by killing her, Shinobu notices a pair of steel fans that Doma uses as his main weapon, and angrily inquires if he remembers the haori that originally belonged to her elder sister. Doma finally remembers her by the butterfly wing design haori that Kanae once wore, and playfully expresses his disappointment at not being able to eat Kanae due to the sun rising, which further angers Shinobu. The Insect Pillar swiftly launches an attack at him using her Breath of Insect, Dance of the Bee-Sting: "Mere Fluttering" to inflict a powerful stab directly in Doma's right eyeball, which impresses him since he couldn't block it.

Although he is initially dismissive of her, since he correctly guessed that she lacks the physical strength to cut off a demon's head, he becomes excited upon learning that Shinobu's true strength lies in poisoning her opponents. Shinobu hopes that the poison will be effective enough to kill him, but then learns, much to her disappointment, that Doma had already received information regarding her poison from her battle against the Spider Family of Lower Moon Five. Doma manages to break down and render her poison non-lethal, healing himself from her attack. She is further backed into a corner due to Doma now rapidly developing antibodies and adjusting his body against her poison so that, after a mere five slashes and injections of poison, he is now resistant to it entirely. Also, due his Blood Demon Technique of frozen mist, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Shinobu to breathe.

Now hedging her bets on injecting a large dose to kill him by using a six stab attack, Shinobu strikes him using Breath of Insect, Dance of the Dragonfly: "Compound Eye Hexagon" and successfully hits him. However, as she attacks him, he simultaneously attacks her, cutting both her collarbone and ribs and puncturing one of her lungs. Finally near her wits' end and almost losing any hope of victory, Shinobu attempts to draw strength from replaying her older sister's words of encouragement in her head. Shinobu then prepares to strike at Doma again, despite her serious injuries and the immense pain she was in, and attacks him using Breath of Insects, Dance of the Centipede: "Hundred-Legged Zigzag", to confuse him. She strikes Doma directly through his neck, impaling him and sending him flying towards the ceiling. Exhausted and wounded, Shinobu is triumphant upon seeing Doma being poisoned and seemingly dying from her attack.

However, Doma recovers almost instantly from her attack, by which Shinobu is further enraged. Now exhausted, fatally injured and dangerously near death, Shinobu is caught by Doma as they were fall down from the ceiling. He embraces her in a bear hug, and begins mocking her and calling her entire attempt to defeat him a waste of effort, assuring her she will live peacefully as a part of him, and mockingly asking her for her last words. She spitefully curses him as as he begins to kill her.

In the end, she is absorbed by the Upper Moon, just before her disciple Kanao arrives at the scene. Her death causes Kanao to go berserk in order to try and save her, only to be repelled by an irritated Doma, who tells her not to interfere when he's in the middle of absorbing someone. He successfully devours Shinobu's body until only her butterfly-shaped hair piece is the only thing left of her.

It later turns out that she did predict her death at Doma's hand. So, with the help of Tamayo, she had began to intake and absorb wisteria flower poison regularly for over a year in the hope that, if Doma consumes her, he will also devour thirty-seven kilograms worth of wisteria poison, which is nearly seventy times the lethal amount. She hoped this would be enough to kill the Upper Moon, or at least weaken him enough for him to be slain by her allies later. Ultimately, Shinobu's plan works out, as Kanao, along with Inosuke Hashibira, manages to sever Doma's disfigured head from his body, fulfilling her revenge at last.

Inside the Limbo, Shinobu and Doma's head are conversing with each other. Doma finally shows emotion by saying he has fallen in love with Shinobu, and he proposes that they go to hell together. She declines cruelly, with a smile.

Shinobu is last seen with her sister, Kanae in giving their blessing to Kanao, before happily reuniting with their parents in the afterlife.

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.


 * 1) 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.
 * 2) 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.
 * 3) 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.
 * 4) 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.

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