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 and along with her younger adopted Kanao Tsuyuri. After the demons killed their parents she joined the Demon Slayer Corps along with her sister to protect others from suffering the same fate as her.

Appearance
Shinobu is a petite young woman with pale skin and large, compound-looking eyes that do not possess pupils, only a haze of gradient purple, which makes her eyes appear similar to those of insects. She has shoulder-length wavy hair that fades from black into dark purple, usually styled at the back of her head into a "yakai-maki" bun, fastened with a white and 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 below them. Shinobu is rather short in height and has been described as having a small and weak-looking build, which is later reinforced by her saying that she does not possess enough physical strength to cut a Demon's head off as the other Hashira do. According to Zenitsu Agatsuma, Shinobu is so cute, that she could easily make a living on her looks alone.

Shinobu wears the standard Demon Slayer uniform with gold buttons, consisting of a dark-purple tinted straight-lined black jacket and hakama pants that are tucked into a butterfly pattern tabi socks around her lower legs. She also wears a white haori that previously belonged to her older sister, which has a butterfly wing pattern that fades into a turquoise then pink color on the sleeves and bottom edges which are cuffed with a black and white dotted trim. She wears white sandals with purple straps for footwear.

When Shinobu was fourteen, her appearance was slightly different. Her chin-length strands of hair were tucked in, and she had a different Demon Slayer uniform consisting of silver buttons and a darker shade of purple. She also sported a plain white haori with it.

Personality
Shinobu displays a bright and cheery demeanor, always having a smile on her face regardless of the situation she is in. However, this is shown very quickly to be a facade, shown 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 Daughter Spider Demon after giving her false hope of helping her and also 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 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 of devoting the entirety of her energy to defeating Demons.

Shinobu's younger self had a more brash and straightforward demeanor as seen when she and her sister rescued Kanao Tsuyuri, whom she had a negative attitude towards raising. After the death of Kanae, however, Shinobu started outwardly behaving more like her sister and eventually developed her smile and attitude to match while internally holding in her rage. Though never shown onscreen, Shinobu has a notable temper, namely in the way that makes even Inosuke take notice.

Abilities
Overall Abilities: As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Shinobu is a very powerful swordsman. 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 Hashira, Shinobu is nonetheless as dangerous and deadly as the rest of them. As the Insect Hashira, Shinobu utilizes an insect-based combat style.

Physical Abilities
Enhanced Strength: Despite being the smallest member of the Demon Slayer Corps and thus having the weakest swing strength due to her small arms, Shinobu instead displays powerful thrust and stab strength, as the other Hashira notes that a single thrust from her sword could easily pierce a stone boulder in half. Her thrusting speed is also noted to be the fastest among her fellow Hashira.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Shinobu is one of the fastest humans in the series, being fast enough to easily evade and out-pace Demons, catching them by surprise.

Mental Abilities
Tactical Intellect: Being a Hashira, Shinobu is probably smarter than most skilled Demon Slayers in the series. To note, being that she knows she isn't strong with swinging swords and skilled with stabbing, she modified her Nichirin Blade to suit her strengths.

Miscellaneous Abilities
Indomitable Will: Due to the death of Shinobu's older sister, Kanae Kocho, Shinobu has a hatred for demons and will do everything in her power to make all demons suffer the same pain she has went through.

Medical Expertise: Despite not being as combat-talented as the rest of her fellow Hashira, Shinobu instead displays immense skill and mastery over medical and pharmaceutical fields to make up for her lack of natural-born combat ability, being highly knowledgeable about how to create various poisons and venoms using Wisteria flowers. This is seen when she manages to undo the poison that is slowly transforming Zenitsu into a spider and restore him to his previous human form.

Fighting Style
Master Swordswoman: Being a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Shinobu is one of the most powerful and skilled swordswomen in the entire organization.

Swordsmanship
Insect Breathing: A breathing style created by Shinobu Kocho, who designed it to compensate for her lack of physical strength to cut off a Demon's head. The "stinger" is designed for the injection of Wisteria poisons into Demons. Shinobu has become extremely proficient in the use of her combat style due to it being suited to her needs and abilities, which played a major role in her strength as a Hashira."Butterfly Dance: Caprice - Shinobu leaps up and charges towards the opponent and stings them multiple times with her blade to inject her poison."

Equipment
Stinger Nichirin Katana: Shinobu uses a heavily modified Nichirin Blade as her primary weapon. It is the same as any katana from the handle to slightly above the hilt, but above that, the weapon loses its blade and is replaced by a rod. It ends in a needle-like tip, resembling an insect's stinger in appearance and function. The "stinger" is designed for the injection of Wisteria poisons into Demons, as Shinobu uses her medical expertise to overcome her relative lack of strength and inability to cut off heads. She has also modified the weapon's sheath, using it as a portable poison mixer and loader. Shinobu's katana's hilt is flower-shaped with 4 petals; The petal has an aqua colored core with an orange border and her katana itself is lavender-blue in color, with the words Demons engraved on the right side of the blade, while the words Destruction are engraved on the left side due her sword's structure.

Trivia

 * Shinobu's name, Shinobu (しのぶ?) is a Japanese verb meaning "recall" (偲ぶ?) or "stealth/endure" (忍ぶ?).
 * Her name is spelled with three hiragana characters instead of katakana which is the way Kanae's and Kanao's names are written.
 * Shinobu's surname means "butterfly" ( kochō?).
 * Shinobu's rankings in the popularity polls are as follows:
 * Shinobu ranked 6th in the first popularity poll with 1813 votes.
 * Shinobu ranked 5th in the second popularity poll with 8787 votes.
 * Shinobu and Mitsuri get along quite well due to them having been the only two female Hashira after Kanae's death. Mitsuri also teaches her western cooking.
 * Her parents worked in compounding medicine, a reason why Shinobu is also very talented with medicines.
 * Shinobu's blade was designed and created by the chief of the Swordsmith Village, Tecchin Tecchikawahara.
 * There was some tension during the cooperative research time between Shinobu and Yushiro. Shinobu held some distrust towards Tamayo due to her being a Demon, and Yushiro wished to kill Shinobu as a result of it.
 * Shinobu can't stand any kinds of furry creatures, according to Giyu.

Quotes

 * (To Tanjiro Kamado) "How can you feel sorry for something that's killed humans? I've never heard of anything so absurd. But if that was how my sister truly felt, then I must carry it on. If there's a way not to kill these pitiful demons, I have to keep trying to come up with it. Without ever extinguishing the smile my sister said she loved..."

Reference

 * 1) https://kimetsu-no-yaiba.fandom.com/wiki/Shinobu_Kocho