Sango

was 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. Her demon cat, Kirara, grew up with her and became very close to the siblings. They learned to fight really well together and have become attached ever since. 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 Sango made her first appearance, she slayed a Centipede demon that a village had called for the Demon Slayers to exterminate. She figured out after she slayed the Centipede that it had drawn on the power of a Jewel Shard. They took it, along with some of the corpse as payment. She went home and rested for her next mission. She talked to her brother, Kohaku, who had been nervous about his first mission as a Demon Slayer. She told him not to worry as their family and friends will be there to help and give him strength.

The village’s best slayers were summoned to a castle to slay a spider demon. They also brought Kohaku along, so he could gain his first true experience as an official Demon Slayer. When they reached the castle, the demon possessed Kohaku and forced him to kill all the slayers but Sango, who was only badly injured by her brother’s hand. Confused by her brother's behavior, she searched for the reason for his bizarre actions. Seeing spider webs attached to Kohaku and how the Lord had no shadow, she quickly figured out that Kohaku was being controlled by the Lord of the Castle and tried to kill him. On the Lord's orders, the guards of the castle then killed Kohaku and seemingly killed Sango. The young lord of the castle, Kagewaki Hitomi, slayed his father. He explained that he felt that his father had been acting odd for sometime and revealed that the Lord had been possessed. He ordered the Demon Slayers to be buried in the garden. Sango pulled herself out of the ground and refused to let herself die. Kagewaki saw her and tended to her wounds.

Naraku, who was Kagewaki's advisor, came and reported to the young lord that the Slayer village has been destroyed and all the villagers had been killed. He explained that the one who killed them was the hanyō, Inuyasha. Sango overheard this conversation and ordered her weapon and armor to be returned to her. She proclaimed that she will kill Inuyasha for killing her family and friends. Naraku, who plotted up the whole ordeal, fooled her into attacking Inuyasha, and gave her a Shikon Jewel shard to prevent her from feeling pain. Sango then attacked Inuyasha but he was able to convince her that Naraku was lying.

When the plot failed, Naraku revived Sango's little brother Kohaku, to manipulate Sango's emotions and attacked the rest of Inuyasha's group. Sango later joined Inuyasha, Kagome, Shippō, and Miroku in order to defeat Naraku and to save her brother. Like the others, Sango seeked vengeance against Naraku, but unlike them her primary goal was to rescue Kohaku from Naraku's influence and save his life.

Later life
After the death of Naraku, Sango married Miroku and retired as a Demon Slayer to become a housewife and the mother of three children (3 year-old twin girls and a newborn son). She allowed Kirara to be taken care of by her younger brother Kohaku.

Personality
Because she grew up and worked as a Demon 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 Demon Slayer. Being independent and tough by nature, she does not like people helping her. Sango takes pride in her fighting skills and never lets an enemy escape once she has 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 Kikyō saved her brother's life, despite once hating her.

All of 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 then, 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 and fainthearted 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, 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 than she was in the past.

Physical description
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 loosely with a ribbon, though it is tied in a high 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". Sometimes her Hiraikotsu is seen being carried in this outfit. 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 jump suit with a kanji written on her left shoulder that has a decided mainland flavor and pink armor plates made of demon parts. Sango has a red sash around her waist for decoration. She carries her Hiraikotsu and a wakizashi, a sword she also uses in battle.

Powers and Abilities

 * Strength/Abilities - Sango is physically very strong; stronger than most humans. She was also 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. She uses it 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 about how she made handling it look so easy. Sango is also a very skilled hand to hand combatant, also using her Hiraikotsu as a melee weapon and using her sword in close combat. Even without either of her weapons, Sango has been shown in dozens of episodes fighting without them with great skill, although it was usually lower ranking demons. On humans, she used hand to hand combat as well as in combination with her weapons. However, in the episode "Only You Sango," she was shown fiercely 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 also has a lot of poisons, different powders, mists, and liquids at her disposal which she uses to their full potential.
 * Enhanced Hiraikotsu- In The Final Act, Sango is forced to sacrifice the Hiraikotsu to the bone demon in order to save Miroku. Afterwords, Myōga informs her that there is someone that can fix it, the sage/potions master. After getting the weapon fixed through a trial involving the potions master's jars and the demons in Hiraikotsu, the weapon is fixed. When Sango says that she's relieved to have her weapon back to normal the potions master informs her that although it is fixed, it will never be the same as it was before since it had been repaired and soaked in his potion of herbs and poisons. Sango uses the Hiraikotsu for the first time after it was repaired, against Naraku, who is surprised by it because it greatly wounds him for he couldn't regenerate. He states that it was attacking him with a whole different type of poison than his own as well as emitting its own demonic aura. Hiraikotsu is much more powerful than before because it is able to not only emit a demonic aura and extremely strong poison on its opponents, but also absorb miasma/poison and disperse it accordingly, making it on a whole other level than it was before, especially against Naraku.

Weapons

 * Hiraikotsu - A gigantic boomerang that is carried by Sango, made up of various kinds of demon bones. While using Hiraikotsu to attack or exterminate enemies, it requires a lot of strength to throw in order to destroy the target.
 * Wakizashi - It's a sword often carried by demon exterminators. In case they lose their main weapon, they could use their sword for close combat instead.
 * Iron chain - Another weapon of choice for demon exterminators, used to hit or stumble opponents in distance. It can also wrap around an enemy, preventing them from escaping.
 * Hidden weapon - Sango's hidden weapon is a short, curved blade attached to the wrist. It is concealed against her right forearm, underneath the sleeve of her uniform. It can be used to attack enemies by surprise when she appears unarmed, or to free herself from being tied with ropes.
 * Poison powder - Sango uses poison powder to lure out demons who are in hiding, or to disturb the keen noses of certain demons and weaken them, such as Inuyasha, who was susceptible to the scent of the poison.

Relationships
When Miroku and Sango first met, Miroku restrained himself out of sympathy. But once she recovered from her crushing depression and despair, 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 angrily displayed 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.
 * Miroku

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. 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; in the English Dub of the manga, Sango often addresses him as "Lord Miroku" or "Lord Monk".

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 Sango to bear his children upon meeting her, as he typically did with other women until she casually pointed out this fact and finally brought the subject to his attention. Surprised, Miroku naturally asked the question, and Sango gave him a typical response by exasperatedly 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.

When they were alone, exploring the caves inside Mount Hakurei, Sango was knocked out by Kagura. When she awoke, she found Miroku had sucked in the Saimyosho to save her. Not willing to leave him to die from the venom or the horde of demons, (unknown to both of them at the moment, the demons were unable to attack them due to the purifying barrier) Sango revealed her true feelings, saying she would die with him. However, she later forgot she said this (since it was all in the moment) and was extremely embarrassed, wondering what she possibly said.

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 the 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.' However, it actually meant it would be hard to break an old habit, such as his.

Toward the end of the series, Miroku's Wind Tunnel threatens to tear and swallow him. Sango becomes desperate to save him and kill Naraku. She demonstrates this by destroying her own weapon, Hiraikotsou, to save Miroku from a demon, and nearly killing Rin to kill a fake illusion of Naraku. Her fear and love for Miroku culminate in her expressing that if Miroku died, she would be unable to live on and die with him. But Naraku is destroyed and the curse of the Wind Tunnel vanishes, freeing Miroku from death.

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

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 Sacred Jewel 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 from an encounter with him. She is extremely protective of Kohaku and always feels responsible for the sinful actions he had committed, often appearing angry at him. It pained her to see him under the control of Naraku. After he regained his memories and returned back to normal, Sango was always supportive of his decisions. The love between the two siblings has always been reflected throughout the whole series. After Sango got married and started a new family with Miroku and her three kids, she allows Kirara to train and travel with Kohaku to become a strong Demon Slayer and to help the people troubled by demons. She still loves her brother and Kirara very much while eagerly waiting for them.
 * Kohaku

Sango's two tailed demon cat partner and friend, Kirara originally belonged to the priestess Midoriko but 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 about each other and are always willing to battle alongside each other. Kirara always gives Sango a ride, or as help to reaching higher levels for her to attack. Kirara always catches Sango when she falls, and they both fight really well together. Kirara loves Sango, and Sango loves Kirara. The both of them are so attached, that Sango worries constantly for Kirara whenever she would disappear. Sometimes Sango even felt guilty and blamed herself for not treating Kirara better. 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.
 * Kirara

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 towards each other. Sango seems to have somewhat of a sisterly relationship with Kagome and the both of them 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." Such 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 Kikyō. 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 Shippō 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 Kikyō. She even said that Kagome is incredibly brave to speak up about Kikyō to Inuyasha. Though she is astonished, she also admires how Kagome is so forgiving of Inuyasha, even allowing him to visit Kikyō. Both girls care greatly for one another as they can both relate. They have an easygoing, relaxed friendship and enjoy being in one another's company. Sango genuinely cares about Kagome, even during the time when Inuyasha wanted to say goodbye to her after making up his mind about protecting Kikyō instead. Miroku insisted that even if Inuyasha were to say goodbye, he had to get the shards, leaving Sango and Shippō the only ones who considered Kagome's feelings at the time. Kagome sometimes tended to Sango's wounds after battle and Sango would take care of Kagome whenever she was injured or got sick.
 * Kagome Higurashi

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 exact revenge and kill him. When she later learned that Naraku destroyed her village, she felt bad and joined the group. Inuyasha and Sango's relationship is somewhat strained and later on they become very great, trusting friends. Sango would get mad at Inuyasha for many a time, whenever it involved Kagome. And may be the first to yell and scold him whenever Kagome went back to her own time (because Inuyasha was seeing Kikyō). Once, Sango was talking about what she would do to Inuyasha (if she were in Kagome's position), saying horrible and violent things, which began to scare Shippō 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 without feeling guilt (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 other 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); Sango's dark looks are quite formidable, as everyone in the group is intimidated by her glare (though Miroku and Inuyasha are usually on the receiving end). Whenever Inuyasha was acting stubborn in certain situations, she would remain quiet and just let Miroku or Kagome chastise him. During the moments when Inuyasha went to see Kikyō, leaving Kagome upset and hurting, Sango would be irritated with Inuyasha. She was often exasperated with him, and spoke up defensively for Kagome. Other times, the both of them had this great bond as companions fighting together. They respected each other's strengths, and Sango was always the first to help Inuyasha when he was caught in a tough predicament in battle.
 * Inuyasha

Sango and Shippō have a very close relationship; Sango has taken the role of an older sister/aunt-like figure towards Shippō. The two are usually together when Inuyasha and Kagome are having their fights. Along with Sango, Shippō is disgusted by Miroku's perverted habits. Shippō has great fear of Sango when she's angry, more so than Inuyasha (who is almost constantly in a bad mood); he tends to cower in fear when she snaps. Much like he does to Kagome and Inuyasha's relationship, Shippō tries to convey Sango's feelings of hurt/wrath to Miroku to try and get him to realize what his flirting is doing to Sango. Shippō is often worried for Sango when she is injured and continues to fight, though she dismisses it. Sango is generally amused with Shippō and his childish actions or sometimes mature comments. The two genuinely care about each other, and Sango always ends up saving him when Inuyasha focuses more on Kagome.
 * Shippō

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.
 * Sesshōmaru

Trivia

 * Coral is actually listed as one of the Seven Precious Things. Among other mystical properties, coral was believed to protect people from evil spirits.
 * In many fan-fiction stories, she is given the surname 'Taijiya'
 * Sango is a demon slayer but she also has a demon companion.
 * When Sango first joined the group her hair reached down past her waist but during the three year timeskip she cut her hair some as it's shown in the final episode to reach just past her back.
 * In the manga, Sango's armor plates are multi-colored while in the anime they are one solid color.
 * Sango bares somewhat of a resemblance to the character Ukyo from Takahashi's previous work Ranma 1/2. They even share the same English voice actress, Kelly Sheridan.
 * Ukyo's main weapon, the Battle Spatula, is used in a similar ways as Hiraikotsu. Both can be swinged and wielded as a melee weapon and both can be used to hit people in the head for comic relief. Also, in an episode of Ranma 1/2 Ukyo throws her giant spatula, similar to how Sango uses Hiraikotsu, to split a boat (in the middle of a lake) in half and stopping Shampoo from kissing Ranma. Although it didn't show the Battle Spatula coming back to Ukyo, later in the same episode Ukyo uses her spatula again in her fight against Shampoo. The Battle Spatula might be the inspiration for Hiraikotsu.