How Did Shinobu Die in ‘Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’?

Although she is not among the main characters of the series, Shinobu Kochō is one of the best and most beloved characters in the world of Demon Slayer. The current Insect Hachira, Shinobu is a character that has gained attention thanks to her very special personality and a rather unique characterization when compared to other characters. People often wonder how Shinobu died in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba.

Shinobu Kochō does indeed die in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Her death happens during the Infinity Castle arc, in Chapter 143 of the manga, when she is killed by Doma; she actually ends up sacrificing herself. Her death has not occurred in the anime yet.

Now that you know the answer, we can further elaborate on it. We are going to answer some related questions about Shinobu’s death in the manga, how and when we’ll see it in the anime and what happens to the character now that the manga is over. We have everything you need to know about Shinobu’s death and potential return, so keep reading to find out what happens.

Shinobu Kochō’s death in the manga

Shinobu does indeed die in the Demon Slayer manga, although that happens very late into the narrative. Her death was shown in Chapter 143, titled “Wrath”, which was published on January 28th, 2019 as part of Volume 17. The plot of this particular chapter is set within the Infinity Castle narrative arc.

How does Shinobu die in the manga?

Long story short, Shinobu is killed and devoured by Doma, in the same manner as a lot of Doma’s victims. In her case, though, it was actually a form of sacrifice, as her poisoned body eventually weakened Doma so much that he was successfully killed by Kanao and Inosuke.

In the paragraphs that follow, we are going to give you a detailed overview of how Shinobu died and the events preceding, surrounding, and coming after her death.

Shinobu was the youngest child of the Kochō family and lived happily with her mother, father, and older sister Kanae until her parents were killed by a demon in front of her and her sister. As the demon was about to attack the sisters, Himejima Gyomei’s pillar appeared and cut off the monster’s head.

After enduring suffering, Shinobu and Kanae decided to become demon slayers, protect each other and prevent other people from losing their families like the two of them did.

One day they met Kanao, a slave girl. Kanae decided to take her to the Butterfly Estate, although Shinobu was skeptical. Ultimately, they bought the girl out and made her their follower. Some time later, Kanae was attacked by the Second High Moon Doma, but before she died, she managed to talk to her sister.

She asked her to abandon the Demon Slayer path, but realized that Shinobu was adamant and told her what the killer looked like. This is the source of Shinobu’s hatred towards Domu, which forms the basis of their clash in the Infinity Castle arc.

At the age of 14, Shinobu became the master of the Butterfly Estate in Kanae’s place, since Kanae died at age 17. Shinobu coddled the girls of the Butterfly Estate as if they were her own little sisters.

After the Rehabilitation Arc, we see Shinobu in the Infinity castle Muzan Kibutsuji created after Oyakata’s suicide mission, when she enters a room and catches Doma eating a group of his own female followers. When he finally notices her, Doma responds happily by having another meal in his room and thanking Nakime.

One of his female disciples, who is still alive, asks Shinobu to save her. Doma, angered by this, tries to kill her, but Shinobu jumps in and saves her. She asks the young woman if she’s okay, but before she can answer Shinobu’s question, the young woman explodes and dies in front of her.

Angered by this and Doma’s insistence on saving the girl by killing her, Shinobu notices a pair of sharp fans Doma is using as his main weapon and angrily asks him if he remembers the haori that was his, which came from his older sister.

Doma finally remembers the haori with butterfly wings that Kanae once wore, and playfully expresses his disappointment at not being able to eat Kanae because of the rising sun, which further irritates Shinobu.

The insect Hashira quickly attacks him by using her insect breath, the dance of the bee sting – True Flutter – to deliver a powerful sting directly into Doma’s right eyeball, impressing him as he can not fight it off.

Though he initially rejects her because he rightly suspects she does not have the physical strength to cut off a demon’s head, he is delighted to learn that Shinobu’s true strength lies in poisoning his opponents.

Shinobu hopes that the poison will be effective enough to kill him, but she is disappointed to learn that Doma has already received information about his poison after his fight against the lower rank 5 spider family, that their poison is not lethal, and even heals them from their attack.

She is further cornered, as Doma is now rapidly developing antibodies and adjusting his body to his venom, so that after only five lashes and injections of venom, he is now completely resistant to it. Furthermore, Shinobu is finding it increasingly difficult to breathe due to the frozen mist’s blood demon art.

Now Shinobu secures her stakes to inject him with a heavy dose to kill him with a six stab attack and hits him with Bug Breath, Dance of the Dragonfly: Compound Eye Hexagon and hits him successfully. However, when she attacks him, he attacks her at the same time, severing her collarbone and ribs and piercing one of her lungs.

Finally, Shinobu is at his wits’ end and loses almost all hope of victory. He tries to regain his strength by repeating in his head the encouraging words of his older sister.

Shinobu then prepares to attack Doma again despite his severe injuries and the immense pain she has suffered, attacking him with the Insect Breath, Dance of the Centipede: Hundred Legged Zigzag to confuse him.

She hits Doma directly in the neck, stabbing him and sending him flying to the ceiling. Exhausted and injured, Shinobu triumphs as she sees Doma poisoned and apparently die from her attack.

Doma, however, recovers from his attack almost instantly, which infuriates Shinobu even more. Exhausted, mortally wounded, and dangerously close to death, Shinobu is caught by Doma as they fall from the ceiling.

He hugs her and starts laughing at her. He calls his whole attempt to defeat him a waste of effort, assures her that she will live in peace with him, and mockingly asks her for the last words.

She curses him viciously as he begins to kill her. In the end, she is engrossed in the upstairs when her student Kanao Tsuyuri arrives on the scene. Her death leads Kanao to try to save her, but he’s rebuffed by an irritated Doma, who tells him not to interfere while absorbing someone. He successfully devours Shinobu’s body until all that’s left is his butterfly-shaped hairpiece.

Later, it turns out that she predicted her death at the hands of Doma. So, with Tamayo’s help, she had been ingesting and absorbing wisteria venom regularly for over a year, hoping that if Doma consumed it, she would also devour thirty-seven kilograms of wisteria venom. So almost seven to a hundred times the lethal amount.

She hoped that would be enough to kill the ranker, or at least weaken him enough to be killed by his allies later. Ultimately, Shinobu’s plan works out when Kanao and Inosuke Hashibira manage to separate Doma’s disfigured head from his body and finally exact revenge.

In Limbo, Shinobu and Doma’s head converse with each other. Doma finally shows emotion by saying that he has fallen in love with Shinobu, and he suggests that she go to Hell together. She cruelly declines with a smile.

Shinobu is last seen with her sister Kanae, giving Kanao their blessing before happily reuniting with their parents in the afterlife. Two girls, who are the reincarnations of Shinobu and Kanae, attend an all-girls school in future Japan.

And this is the end result of our research and examination of this issue. As you can see, Sihinobi’s death closed a cycle and eliminated a powerful serial killer. What follows are more details about her killer, her death in the anime and the manga’s final and controversial Chapter 205.

Who Killed Shinobu Kochō?

As we have said, Shinobu was killed by Doma, the same guy who killed her sister, Kanae. Now, the two of them had a very interesting dynamic, which resulted in a radical change in Doma’s behaviour in th afterlife, but Shinobu’s resentment towards him never changed. Namely, Shinobu harbors a strong resentment and hatred for Doma for killing his older sister, Kanae.

This hatred and loathing grows even stronger when she meets him and understands and sees with her own eyes his twisted personality and ideas to “save” her students by killing and eating them. Later, during their battle, she constantly curses him to avoid being hit by her poisons and sword techniques until she is defeated and eaten by him.

However, since Shinobu’s body is heavily drenched in poison, Doma is severely weakened and is eventually successfully killed by Kanao and Inosuke, thus closing out the chapter.

In Limbo, as we have mentioned above, after hearing and touching Shinobu’s strong belief in his comrades and fellow demon slayers’ ability to defeat demons and kill Muzan, Doma begins to develop seemingly genuine romantic feelings for Shinobu.

He begins to doubt his original belief that Heaven or Hell does not exist and cheerfully asks her to go on a date with him to Hell, to which she responds with sharp disapproval while maintaining his usual friendly, calm smile that shows his face as a final act of malice towards the demon.

Does Shinobu Kochō die in the anime?

As far as the episodes that have aired so far are concerned, no, Shinobu does not die in them. At the moment, she is still alive and well, but that is only because the anime hasn’t arrived at Chapter 143, in which Shinobu’s death is show. When the time comes to adapt that chapter, the situation is going to change.

Will Shinobu Kochō die in the anime?

Demon Slayer is an anime known for being faithful to the original manga, so if we actually see further seasons of the show (and we almost certainly will), Shinobu will eventually die in the anime too. Since the anime hasn’t even adapted Chapter 100 yet, we don’t know when it’ll happen, but it’s possible that we’ll be seeing it in season three or four of the anime.

How old is Shinobu when she dies?

Although age is a very relative thing in Demon Slayer, as we all know too well, we do know that Shinobu was 18 years old when she died, as we have described in the paragraph above.

Will Shinobu come back?

Demon Slayer officially ended with chapter 205 and the ending proved to be quite controversial among fans. The conclusion, which we are not going to spoil here, brings us some interesting twists and turns, and one of them is the return of several characters, among which are Shinobu and her sister.

They are seen as two high-school students, suggesting that they have been reincarnated in the meantime. So, as far as the main plot is concerned, Shinobu does not appear after being killed, but she does return in the epilogue of the manga.