Shinobu Kocho

Shinobu Kocho is a major supporting character of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. She is a Demon Slayer of the Demon Slayer Corps and the current Insect Hashira. Shinobu Kocho is also the younger sister of Kanae Kocho along with her adoptive younger sister Kanao Tsuyuri. After a demon killed her parents, Shinobu joined the Demon Slayer Corps along with her sister in order to protect others from suffering the same fate as her. Shinobu is a petite young woman with a pale complexion and large, compound-like eyes that lack pupils, only a haze of gradient purple, making her eyes appear similar to those of insects. She has black wavy hair that fades to dark purple, styled at the back of her head into a flat yakai-maki bun, fastened with a white, turquoise and light purple butterfly ornament. She has center-split, ear-length, voluminous curtain bangs that flow down to frame the sides of her face, with two slightly thinner chin-length locks of hair in front of her ears below them. Shinobu is short in height and has been described as having a small and weak-looking build, which is later reinforced by her mentioning that she does not possess enough physical strength to decapitate a demon as the other Hashira do. According to Zenitsu, Shinobu is so cute, that she could make a living on her looks alone. Shinobu wears a dark purple standard Demon Slayer uniform with gold buttons, consisting of a dark-purple tinted straight-lined black jacket and matching colored tabi socks and hakama pants, tucked into white butterfly patterned Kyahan fading into pale turquoise then pink around her lower legs, fastened with white ribbons. Over her uniform, she wears a white haori that previously belonged to her older sister, which has a butterfly wing pattern that fades into a pale turquoise then pink color on the sleeves and hem which are cuffed with a black and white dotted trim. She wears white zōri sandals with purple straps for footwear, with a hidden blade in one of the heels. When Shinobu was fourteen, her appearance was altered slightly. Her chin-length strands of hair in front of her ears were tucked in, and she had a different Demon Slayer uniform consisting of silver buttons and cloth a darker shade of purple. She also sported a plain white haori over it. Shinobu displays a bright, friendly and cheerful demeanor, always having an easygoing smile on her face regardless of the situation she is in. However, her outward behavior is shown very quickly to be a façade. This is displayed in the way she enjoys teasing others, to the point of being rather sadistic about it, enjoying most notably to pick on Giyu Tomioka. 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 Spider Demon (Daughter) 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. It is later revealed that her outwardly calm and tranquil disposition is worn as a mask, as Shinobu holds an intense hatred for demons due to the loss of her sister, Kanae Kocho, at a young age, along with the deaths of her parents, almost all of her Tsuguko, and the families of her apprentices at the Butterfly Mansion. This hatred is so strong that she is in a near-constant state of extreme anger, which is sensed by Tanjiro Kamado when the two individuals hold a conversation. Her desire for revenge rendered her unable to live the normal life her sister had wished upon her, instead devoting the entirety of her energy to defeating demons. During her battle against Doma, Shinobu reveals that she also suffers from an inferiority complex due to her inferior physical abilities compared to her fellow Hashira, 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. Shinobu's younger self had a more brash, blunt and uncomplicated demeanor as seen when she and her sister rescued Kanao Tsuyuri, who she had a pointedly negative attitude towards raising. After the death of Kanae, however, Shinobu began to outwardly behave more like her sister and eventually developed her positive attitude and mannerisms to match while internally holding in her rage, which she later clarifies is fueled by her desire to continuously display the smile that her sister favored. Though never shown onscreen, Shinobu has a notable temper, namely in the way that makes even Inosuke Hashibira take notice.