Sango

is the only female teenage Yōkai Taijiya (Demon Slayer in the English dub) from her village. Before being destroyed, the village of demon slayers consisted of humans that had learned to master the techniques of yōkai extermination and frequently helped others remove yōkai from their villages. She lived in the village with her younger brother Kohaku and their father, the head of the village.

History
Sango lives in the village of the Demon Slayers with her father, who is the village leader, and her younger brother Kohaku. Sango was taught from a very young age in the ways of Demon Slaying, and by the age of 16 was one of the best in her village. She was just 11 when she and her clan were called upon by Kuranosuke Takeda's father to slay a bear demon that was harassing their village. Her skill caught the eye of the young lord and he vowed to one day marry her.

During the story
When we first meet Sango, she is slaying a Centipede demon that a village had called on the Demon Slayers to exterminate. She figures out after she slays the Centipede that it was drawing on the power of a Jewel Shard and takes it and some of the corpse as payment. She gets home and rests for her next mission and gives a pep talk to her brother, Kohaku, who is nervous about his first mission as a Demon Slayer. She tells him not to worry as their family and friends will be there to help him and give him strength.

The village’s best slayers are summoned to a castle to slay a spider demon. The demon possesses Kohaku, forcing him to kill all the slayers but Sango, who is badly injured by her brother’s hand. Confused by her brother's behavior, she searched for the reason for his bizarre actions. She figures out that Kohaku was being controlled by the Lord of the Castle and tries to kill him. On the Lords orders, the guards of the castle then kill Kohaku and seemingly killed Sango. The young lord of the castle, Kagewaki Hitomi, slays his father. He explains that he felt that his father had been acting odd for sometime and reveals that the Lord had been possessed. He orders the Demon Slayers buried in the garden. Sango pulls herself out of the ground, refusing to let herself die. Kagawaki sees her and tends to her wounds.

Naraku, who is Kagawaki's advisor, comes and reports to the young lord that the Slayer village has been destroyed and all the villagers killed. He explains that the one who killed them was the hanyō, Inuyasha. Sango overhears this conversation and orders her weapon and armor returned to her. She proclaims that she will kill Inuyasha for killing her family and friends. Naraku, who set up the whole ordeal, fools her into attacking Inuyasha, giving her a Shikon Jewel shard to prevent her from feeling pain. Sango then attacks Inuyasha but Inuyasha is able to convince her that Naraku was lying.

When the plot fails, Naraku revives Sango's little brother Kohaku, to manipulate Sango's emotions and attack the rest of Inuyasha's group. Sango later joins Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippo, and Miroku in order to defeat Naraku and save her brother. Like the others Sango seeks vengeance against Naraku, but unlike them her primary goal is to rescue Kohaku from Naraku's influence and save his life.

Later life
Three years after the death of Naraku, Sango marries Miroku and retires as a demon slayer to become a housewife and the mother of three children (3-year-old twin girls and a newborn son). She was happy to see Kagome when she came back to the feudal era. She allows Kirara to be taken care of by her younger brother Kohaku.

Personality
Because she worked as a slayer, she has a strong sense of responsibility along with a brave heart. On the other hand, she has feminine emotions, weaknesses, and many human aspects. Consequently, her personality wavers depending on her feelings.

Sango has great pride in being a slayer. Being independent and tough by nature, she does not like people helping her. Sango takes pride in her fighting skills and never let an enemy escape once she had it in her sights. She fights aggressively and will confront any enemy bravely. She shows no mercy and has a very strong sense of obligation towards fulfilling her duties. Sango's fighting will is very strong, and once a fire is lit under her it is not easily doused. Even if, for example, she is seriously injured, she will continue to advance on her enemy until she defeats it. She fearlessly battled enemies with no regard for her own life. This was seen when she had thought Inuyasha had murdered her family and village, even though she was on the brink of death, she fought valiantly.

Sango has great selfless love towards her little brother Kohaku. She gave her cowardly brother Kohaku encouragement and continuously shows support towards her brother's decisions. Even when Kohaku was under the influence of Naraku, her love for him never changed. She remained positive, believing that someday the real Kohaku would come back to her which in the end, despite going through many trials and errors, her hopes were realized. Sango's love for her brother was seen many times, examples of this being she had protected Kohaku from being shot by arrows right after he had killed their father and fellow slayers, which in turn caused Kohaku to die anyway and Sango getting fatally injured. It was also shown when Naraku had attempted to manipulate her into killing her brother at his castle but she had refused, loving her brother more than her own life. When Kohaku's Shikon Jewel shard was taken out, Sango was incredibly grief-stricken, crying her eyes out for his loss and was extremely grateful that Kikyo saved her brother's life, despite once hating her.

All her comrades from the Demon Slayer's Village were killed and her only relative, Kohaku, was under the control of Naraku. After all this tragedy, Sango was consumed with loneliness and despair, resolving to do everything alone and seemingly losing trust in others. Thankfully, she was healed of her sadness by the gentleness and kindness of Kagome and her other friends. Sango developed a deep sense of fondness and gratitude towards her companions as time passed, due to how they had still decided to stand by her and give her hope that Kohaku could be saved. She had caused so much trouble with Kohaku and yet they still decided to stay with her. Since, Sango's loyalty and devotion towards her closest friends were seen time and time again, feeling protective towards all of them, and finally feeling a sense of happiness since the misery she had went through because of Naraku.

Sango thought each matter through calmly and grasped situations logically. Her words and actions were efficient and accurate and she always came up with quick solutions. However, once she came to a certain conclusion, she would not doubt or rethink it. One of her faults were dashing into things recklessly. Sango's intellect were high battle-wise. In addition to knowledge of her ancestors, she had experience battling numerous demons. She knew how to dominate a battle by finding a demon's weak points based on their characteristics. Love for her brother, responsibility as a sister, and feelings of guilt for her companions. She was usually calm, but when it came to Kohaku she could be distracted and was quick to become emotional. While Kohaku was under control of Naraku, these mixed feelings sometimes manifested themselves as rage towards his actions. Due to her various emotions concerning Kohaku, she had at one point decided to kill her brother and then herself so she could take responsibility for his actions. She couldn't bear to see Kohaku, her kind cowardly brother, kill innocent people because of Naraku, knowing that the real Kohaku would never be able to do such things, stating that it "would go against his very soul." She felt responsibility and a brutal love and gentleness towards him as his sister.

As time passed, Sango developed affection and later love to her companion Miroku which is ironic as she had believed in pure love and held a great deal of disdain and disrespect towards perverts which included her love. Every time she saw him womanizing, she was consumed by jealousy and anger towards his shameless flirting. However, these was in part due to irritation towards herself for not being able to confess her true feelings to him which resulted in a conflicted heart. Sango had trouble dealing with feelings of love and affection towards another, which she still had until Miroku finally revealed his true feelings to her. She was overjoyed that he admitted he loved her, and she accepted his proposal without hesitation. Though Sango genuinely loved Miroku, like Kagome with Inuyasha, she was often furious with his behavior though for different reasons. Sango hated Miroku's lecherous aspects which was directed at herself and other women, since she believed that he was showing little respect towards her as a woman. It is likely that this aspect of herself followed her into her marriage with Miroku, though she probably is slightly more tolerable of it now then she was in the past.

Appearance
Sango is a teenager of average height with brown eyes and long dark brown hair. She wears pink eyeshadow, and her long hair is usually tied with a ribbon, though it is tied in a ponytail when Sango is in combat. She is considered extremely pretty by many boys she encounters throughout the story, many of which attempt to capture her for her beauty.

Outfit
There are 2 types of outfits that Sango often wears.
 * Sango normally travels wearing a traditional woman's Kimono. Over this she wears a long skirt, most likely "Mo-bakama". She completes her outfit with traditional woman's arm guards and leg guards, and straw sandals.
 * Her Demon Slayer outfit consists of a black skin-tight suit that has a decided mainland flavor and armor plates made of demon parts. She carries her Hiraikotsu and a wakizashi, a short sword.

Powers and Abilities

 * Strength/Abilities - Sango is very strong, stronger than most humans and was the strongest demon slayer in her village, being superior to even her father, the leader of the demon slayers despite the fact that she was the second youngest and a girl. She uses the hiraikotsu effortlessly and has mastered the weapon which she uses in a lot of different ways even though it's really heavy, as stated by Miroku in the first movie, as he was surprised by how heavy it was and was baffled how she made handling it look so easy. Sango is also a very skilled hand to hand combatant, from using her hiraikotsu as a melee weapon, to using her sword. Even without either of her weapons, Sango is clearly skilled at fighting in hand to hand combat, as she has been shown in dozens of episodes fighting without using her weapons with great skill, although it was usually lower ranking demons and humans she used hand to hand combat on as well as in combination with her weapons. However, in the episode "Only you Sango," she was shown taking on a large bear demon and sending it flying with punches and kicks alone, as well as jumping very high in the air, a feat which everyone was surprised/intimidated by, as Inuyasha said "there isn't anyone in this world that can defeat Sango right now," which shows just how strong Sango can be when she puts her mind to it. Sango has also been seen using a lot of poisons, different powders, mists, and liquids which she uses to their full potential.

Weapons

 * Hiraikotsu - A gigantic boomerang that carried by Sango, made up of various kinds of demon bones. While using Hiraikotsu to attack or exterminate enemies, it needed a lot of strength to toss off from owner's hand in order to reach effective destruction.
 * Sword - Refer as wakizashi, often carried by each demon exterminators. Since sometimes they lost their main weapon, they could draw it for fight or protect against demons.
 * Iron chain - Another weapon of choice for demon exterminators, used to hit or stumble opponents in distance.
 * Hidden weapon - Sango's hidden weapon will be a short mini sword, which buried within her left arm guards (or can be refer as tekko). It can be used to attack enemies surreptitiously.

Miroku
When Miroku and Sango first met, Miroku restrained himself out of sympathy. But once she recovered, he became his lecherous self again and pursued her for a cheap thrill. He frequently groped her when the opportunity arose and consequently got hit by her as a result, and this was often played off as a running gag. Sango is known to become jealous and display varying degrees of the emotion whenever Miroku paid attention to other women and asked them to bear his children which was one of the show's recurring sources of humor. Although she is constantly frustrated by his lecherous, womanizing antics, her romantic feelings for Miroku soon became apparent early on in the story and it becomes obvious she has fallen in love with him. As the story progressed further, it became clear that Miroku himself had also fallen deeply in love with Sango, but was unable to express those feelings for her, as he felt he could not love her as an ordinary woman, also with the fear that the wind tunnel would consume Sango after consuming him. Since Miroku was technically a Buddhist monk, Sango usually addressed him with the respectful term houshi-sama (houshi means 'Buddhist priest,' and '-sama' is a respectful honorific), even when he acted disrespectfully. Despite their "cat and mouse" relationship, Sango and Miroku actually made an excellent pair in battle, and whenever the group split up the two of them often accompanied each-other while Inuyasha and Kagome formed their own separate pair. Curiously enough, with all his of groping and innuendo, Miroku hadn't asked of Sango to bear his children upon meeting her, as he typically did with other women until she demonstrated jealousy over this fact and finally brought the subject to his attention. Surprised, Miroku naturally asked the question, and Sango gave him a typical response by telling him to "spare" her. She also feared that Miroku would leave her for another girl, which is possibly why she had resorted to anger. Miroku had saved Sango from a demonic salamander egg she was forced to swallow, which caused her to repeatedly attack him. Unfortunately to save her, Miroku was required to defeat Sango in combat, having to punch her hard in the stomach with an ofuda scroll connected to his fist. He was injured during this fighting, but nevertheless was guilty over his actions (his negligence led to her possession in the first place). Miroku then gets Sango alone to ask of her forgiveness; however, she replies that it wasn't his fault since she let her guard down. Mustering his courage, Miroku then confessed that she was the only woman he has ever truly loved, however, he also said that he could not love her as an ordinary woman but as a comrade and a friend. Heartbroken, Sango almost left him, however, he promised that he would live with Sango and raise children with her after Naraku was defeated and if his Wind Tunnel did not consume him and was gone; practically proposing marriage to Sango (and asking her to have at least ten to twenty children with him), which she tearfully accepted, much to happiness of Kagome and the skepticism of Inuyasha, who both were observing the couple from the bushes with Shippō. However, she followed up her "Yes" with the request that he would stop asking other girls to "bear his child." His failure to respond elicited a dirty look from her, and she thought this silence had been a 'no.'

In the 3 year time-skip they had settled down in Kaede's village, marrying and raising two young daughters and and an infant son. Miroku had financially supported the family through exorcising demons with the help of Inuyasha.

Inuyasha
Originally, Sango was tricked by Naraku, into getting her to trust him. He had been impersonating Kagewaki Hitomi, the young lord of a castle. "Kagewaki", trusted Naraku, and Sango trusted "Kagewaki", so when a puppet of Naraku told "Kagewaki" that Inuyasha was the one who destroyed her village, she fought Inuyasha, intending to kill him. When she later learned Naraku destroyed her village, she felt bad and joined the group. Inuyasha and Sango's relationship is somewhat strained and later on become very great trusting friends. As Sango will get mad at Inuyasha for many a time. And may be the first to yell and scold him whenever Kagome goes back to her time (because Inuyasha was seeing Kikyo). Sango was talking about what she would do to Inuyasha, saying horrible things, which began to scare Shippo and Kirara. In The Last Banquet of Miroku's Master, after becoming intoxicated by the sake mist, she showed some kind of infatuation toward Inuyasha and even tried to kiss him. Also, in The Red and White Priestesses, when two mikos create their own versions of Inuyasha and Kagome, Sango states that she wouldn't mind fighting Inuyasha and that she could fight him all day (much to his annoyance and the fact they call the copy by his name). Also, when Sango was just about to kill Kohaku (who was possessed at the time) and then herself, Inuyasha came in the nick of time and promised her that they would get Kohaku back. This also played a part in a later episode. And when Inuyasha first pointed out that Sango may be jealous of the attention Miroku is giving the others girls, she glared at him, stating that it was his imagination. She would later glare at him whenever he insults Miroku and his lechery much to Inuyasha's confusion (and fear).

Kagome Higurashi
Sango starts out as aloof and distant from the rest of the group, though she warms to Kagome first. The two girls act like sisters toward each other, Sango seems to have somewhat of a sisterly relationship with Kagome and discuss secrets and feelings amongst themselves as well. Eventually Kagome in the manga says "Sango is my best friend, I will do anything to save her." As whenever the two are bathing, they'll talk about what problems they have. She is also usually the first to speak up for Kagome whenever Inuyasha hurts her by being with Kikyo. And whenever Sango is upset by Miroku's womanizing, Kagome always tries to comfort her. In The Last Banquet of Miroku's Master, while intoxicated by the mist of sake, Sango comments that "three Kagomes is definitely a crowd." (the other two Kagomes are Shippo and Hachi). Coincidentally, both are the eldest child in their family, both are older sisters who love their younger brothers, both are married and both own a cat. Sango is very close to Kagome and sympathizes with her because of Inuyasha still having feelings for Kikyo. She even said that Kagome is incredibly brave to speak up about Kikyo to Inuyasha.

Kohaku
Kohaku is Sango's younger brother. He was killed by a demon possessing a castle's lord during one of the Demon Slayers' missions and was controlled to kill every Demon Slayer that was there including their father. He is later revived by Naraku as a human puppet and has a Jewel of Four Souls shard embedded in his back to keep him alive and under the control of Naraku without memory of what he had done. Sango will go through great lengths to save Kohaku from Naraku's grasp, even if it means killing herself in the process. Although Kohaku is five years younger than Sango, she has a very close relationship with him and has always looked after and protected him, but with a very mature respect. She takes her role as his older sister very seriously and throughout the entire story constantly goes out of her way and puts herself in danger to try to rescue him from Naraku, and make him remember her. It is also clearly shown how much Kohaku means to her by her intense emotional distress each time she leaves an encounter with him. The love between the two siblings has always been reflected throughout the whole series. After Sango got married & started a new family with Miroku & her three kids, she allows Kirara to train Kohaku to become a strong demon slayer and to help the people troubled by demons, but she still loves her brother and Kirara very much while eagerly waiting for them. Miroku once said even though Sango loves Miroku more than her own life, no one can replace Kohaku in her heart.

Kirara
Sango's two tailed demon cat partner and friend, Kirara orginal belonged to the priestess Midoriko then found her way to Sango's grandfather and then her father. When Sango was young, Kirara was given to her by her father as a gift. Both care alot about each other and are always willing to battle along side each other. In episode 97, when Sango thought Kirara was dead she was heart broken. At the end of the series, Kirara often travels with Kohaku as he tries to become a more talented Demon Slayer.

Sesshōmaru
Although they have met several times in their travels, there was not alot of interaction between them. However in episode 20 (FA), she was the one to tell Sesshōmaru that Rin was poisoned by Magatsuhi which made Sesshōmaru rush back to Rin. But when inside of the large jewel-like battlefield during Naraku and the group's final fight, she was willing to sacrifice Rin's life to destroy Naraku once and for all and to save Miroku. When Sesshōmaru overheard the conversation between her and Byakuya about this, he was infuriated to the point where he threw Hiraikotsu at Byakuya missing him, and was ready to kill Sango for endangering Rin. Sango said that if he must, he can kill her but only once Naraku is slained and Miroku was saved. On the way to finally confront Naraku, Sango gives Rin her gas mask to protect her from the poison and apologizes to her. Sesshōmaru sees this and decides to spare her life this time.

Quotes

 * "Even though the same thing may be repeated...being together...is it okay?"
 * "Please, body, hold fast until I can complete my final task."
 * "As long as Kohaku is in Naraku's hands...I know I'll end up betraying you again!"
 * "No way. You're not leaving me again. You're my only little brother."
 * "Kill you? What makes him think I can kill you? I...can't. "
 * "No! If you can't go on...then we'll die here together!"
 * "Kohaku, I'm so glad."
 * "You can't be serious Kagome! Me like that pervert!?"
 * "Oh, I knew that. You don't have to tell me. Its not as if...as if I hoped you would love me. I never thought that."
 * "No! Kohaku is still my brother!"

Trivia

 * Both her and Kagome's seiyū Hōko Kuwashima (2003 anime) and Satsuki Yukino (2009 anime), voiced Rose Thomas from Fullmetal Alchemist and worked together in Bleach when Kuwashima played Soi-fon and Yukino played Yoruichi respectively.
 * In many fan-fiction stories, she is given the surname 'Taijiya'
 * Sango is a demon slayer but she also has a demon companion
 * Sango's English voice actor Kelly Sheridan, also voiced Ukyo Kuonji in Takahashi's another work, Ranma ½.