Shinobu Tomioka

## Portrayal

**Shinobu Kocho-Tomioka** is a minor supporting character in Demon Slayer: Blade of the Night. She is the Head Doctor at the Central Hospital, the Insect Pillar, and the mother of Gikuro, Yushibo and Shizuku Tomioka.

## **Appearance:**

Shinobu is a diminutive woman with pale skin and a lithe body frame. She has two tone hair, with the very tips being purple, while the roots are black in color. Shinobu wears it down, with her butterfly pin merely being attached to the back of her hair instead of tying her hair as before. It is notable that Shinobu has really large eyes.

Shinobu wears a Pillar Uniform variant, which is colored white due to her role as the Head Doctor, however it retains its golden details due to her being a Pillar all the while. Her Uniform does have a small golden pin indicating her status

Shinobu wears a butterfly haori that is very oversized in her body, and belonged to her sister Kanae.

## **Personality:**

Shinobu is a well-meaning, but short tempered woman that is caring, but harsh to nearly all those she meets.

Shinobu's current behaviour is a better balance between her sister's personality and her own, making it so Kanae's remaining influence only really tones down the much more aggressive original demeanor.

Shinobu is notably incredibly intelligent, easily being the smartest member of the Demon Slayer Core.

Outside of her job, Shinobu is a caring mother, who is very much worried over her twin sons, and disagreed with the idea of them joining the Demon Slayer Core. She insists that they should live better lives, but the advice falls on deaf ears. Shinobu is regarded by her entire family as a loving wife and mother, even if that side of her does not make it to public knowledge

Shinobu is incredibly dutiful, seeing as, despite being pregnant, she insisted on working at the Core Hospital until she became too fragile to do so. Even then, she did all her paperwork from home.

## **Synopsis:**

Shinobu and her sister Kanae used to live a peaceful, and fairly luxurious life with their parents Gahon and Kohi. One night, however, a demon attacked their home, killing their parents, and almost killing them, if not for Gyomei Himejima appearing just fast enough to save their lives. The two went on to join the Demon Slayer Core themselves, and Kanae would meet her end in a fight against Doma, beginning Shinobu's spiral towards revenge.

## **Abilities:**

**Monumental Strength:** Shinobu, despite being the physically weakest Pillar by a large margin, is still one of the strongest humans ever, and it is stated by Shinobu herself that not decapitating demons is merely a choice rather than a necessity, as while she can decapitate weaker demons normally, the higher ranked ones provide more of a difficulty, and considering those are the ones she should be hunting, she figures it's better to have a more universal fighting style

**Monumental Speed:** Shinobu is one of the fastest and swiftest Pillars, and by consequence, humans to ever live.

**Genius Intellect:** Shinobu is quite possibly the most intelligent member of the entire Demon Slayer Core,

**Total Concentration Breathing:** Shinobu, the creator of the Insect Breathing, is immensely knowledgeable on the Style, and by consequence, has long achieved Total Concentration Breathing.

**Demon Slayer Mark:** Yet to be shown, it is confirmed that Shinobu has attained the Demon Slayer Mark.

**Medical Skill:** As the Head Doctor of the Core Hospital, Shinobu is the most expert medic in the entire Demon Slayer Core, and potentially the best in the entire world.

## **Fighting Style:**

**Master Swordswoman:** Shinobu is one of the most powerful and skilled swordswoman in the entire organization. Her fighting style is incredibly unique, but as effective as traditional swordsmanship styles. Shinobu's swordplay specializes in sword thrusting and piercing techniques in order to inject poison into demons.

### **Breathing Style:**

**Insect Breathing** *(Mushi no Kokyu)*: 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. She has became extremely proficient in this swordsmanship style, eventually developing her own Sect. Shinobu's techniques are notably different from the ones taught to her Sect trainees, however.

#### **Techniques:**

* **Dance of the Butterfly: Caprice** *(Cho no Mai: Tawamure)* - The user leaps into the air and charges towards the opponent and stings them multiple times with their blade to inject poison.

* **Dance of the Bee Sting: True Flutter** *(Hoga no Mai: Manabiki)* - The user dashes at their target at blinding speeds and uses the momentum of their speed to strengthen a single thrust into their opponent and inject poison into them.

* **Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon** *(Seirei no Mai: Fukugan Rokkaku)* - A six strike attack with which the user aims to strike and inject their target with multiple doses of poison at the target's weak spots (such as the neck, heart, torso, etc.) in order to kill them with a large dose of poison.

* **Dance of the Centipede: Hundred-Legged Zigzag** *(Goko no Mai: Hyakusoku Jabara)* - An attack with which the user uses their full speed to run a zigzag pattern that confuses their opponent in order to create an opening for them to directly stab their opponent's neck and inject poison to kill them, with the stab's force and power being further enhanced by the momentum of their speed.

## **Equipment:**

**Stinger Nichirin Katana:** Shinobu carries a heavily modified Nichirin Katana forged by Tecchin Tecchikawahara. 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. Her katana's handguard is designed to bear resemblance to a four-petaled aqua-colored flower, trimmed with orange.

## **Familiars:**

**En:** Shinobu's Crow, simply named En, is quite shy, but usually impatient whenever it has to interact with others, and only really feels like it's properly understood by Shinobu. En also uses an insanely stuffy vocabulary.

**Fugu:** Shinobu's pet goldfish Fugu is very unappealing to anyone other than her. Even Giyu with all his placidity doesn't understand what she sees on the fish.

## **Battles:**

* Shinobu vs Spider Sister
* Shinobu vs Doma

## **Trivia:**

* Shinobu's name carries the following meanings: [Shinobu] means "Stealth/Endure", while [Kocho] means "Butterfly", and [Tomioka] can be broken down into [Tomi], which means "Wealth", and [Oka], which means "Knoll" (A small hill).
	+ Note that Shinobu's given name is written in hiragana, so the meaning is entirely related to its Kanji counterpart.
* Shinobu's favorite food is salmon daikon. Not necessarily due to taste, but she grew an emotional attachment to the dish.
* Shinobu still has a dislike towards anything furry, and independently of how much Gikuro and Yushibo (and Giyu) pleaded for them to get a dog, she did not concede even once. This is due to a dog biting her hand when she was really young, and a cat proceeding to scratch her when she stumbled too close to it seconds after.
* It was confirmed by Giyu that the poison in Shinobu's blood made her too weak to fight properly against Doma, meaning that she was doomed from the very start.
* Shinobu's favorite color is blue.
* Shinobu's openness is about 50%
* Shinobu's views on her fellow Pillars are as follows: