Shinobu Kocho

Shinobu Kocho (胡蝶しのぶ Kochō Shinobu?) was a Demon Slayer and the Insect Pillar of the Demon Slaying Corps. Shinobu was 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 made her eyes appear similar to those of bugs. She had short hair that faded 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 rose a little away from her head before they fell down to frame her face, with two thinner chin-length strands below them. Shinobu was 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 as the other Pillars do. Shinobu wore the standard Demon Slayer uniform that consists of a dark purple straight-lined black jacket, and hakama pants that were tucked into a butterfly pattern fabric around her lower legs. She also wore a white haori with a butterfly wing pattern, which faded into a turquoise then pink color down the sleeves, which were cuffed with a black and white dotted trim, and white sandals with purple straps. Shinobu was rather laid-back, always having a smile on her face regardless of the situation she's in. She seemed to enjoy teasing others and could be 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 Older Sister Spider Demon after giving her false hope of helping her, and also attempts to kill Nezuko Kamado without hesitation. When she was younger, as seen when Shinobu and her sister, Kanae Kocho, rescued the girl who would become Kanao Tsuyuri, she was shown to have a more brash and straightforward demeanor. Sometime after that flashback, however, she started outwardly behaving more like her deceased older sister, and eventually developed the serene smile and attitude to match. 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 former Tsuguko (aside from Kanao), and finally the orphaning of her apprentice healers, who lost their entire families to Demon attacks and were forced to enter into the Demon Slaying corps in order to survive. 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 nonetheless as dangerous and deadly as the rest of them. Shinobu is the dictionary form of shinobi, an alternative name of ninja.