Sango the Demon Slayer (Inuyasha)
Title: Sango the Demon Exterminator, so much more than the monk’s romantic counterpart.
Author: Spaceghostrulz
Spoilers: moderate, there are some but nothing too incredibly major. Also, this is based solely on the anime
The first time I ever saw Sango was on an InuYasha character website. I had only watched a few random episodes and I could not figure out how the girl in the form-fitting pink and black bodysuit fit into the feudal fairytale. Her appearance seemed more futuristic than something from the past. Nevertheless, I watched the show, and when she finally appeared in episode 24 I was immediately intrigued. She was just what this anime needed, a truly strong and good woman who could more than hold her own in a battle against demons. And not only that, she was beautiful.
Sango enters the feudal fairytale alone, instantly giving an experienced viewer the feeling that she’s going to be more than just an episode character (besides the fact that the episode itself is called “Enter Sango, the Demon Slayer”) She has been summoned to a village to slay a large demon centipede. As her hiraikotsu breaks the youkai in two a jewel shard comes out of it, explaining the demon’s size and ferocity. She takes the jewel shard instead of her normal payment and makes her cheery way back to her hidden village of demon slayers. She is greeted by her 11 year old brother Kohaku and is told that their father, the village leader, wishes to see her. We soon find that Sango’s village is where the jewel shard originated from, so she feels a responsibility for it as she gives the shard to her father and they try to bind the evil within it.
She and the other slayers, including her father and her brother, are then summoned to an expansive estate where the lord of the manor’s son has taken ill due to a large spider demon. The slayers easily slay the youkai upon its entrance, giving Sango an uneasy feeling as the whole process was too easy. As the slayers preparing to dismantle the demon of anything useful they themselves are slain by a familiar weapon. Sango turns to see her young brother killing off their fellow slayers one by one. She notices he is being controlled by the lord, who is actually the spider youkai they were sent to kill. As she moves in to slay demon Kohaku’s kunai stabs her in the middle of her back. At that point the control over him is released, and he looks in horror at what he’s done, and as he goes towards his sister he is hit by a barrage of arrows from the lord’s henchmen. Sango crawls over him, telling him it’ll be ok as arrows are rained down on them at the “lord’s” command. The youkai is then slain by the lord’s son who also tells his servants to give the slayers a burial.
Sango, refusing to die so easily, crawls out of her shallow grave, intent on getting revenge for her fallen comrades and family. The lord finds her and has her treated in his manor when a familiar baboon clad man shows up and tells the lord the slayer village has been annihilated by a half demon named Inuyasha. Sango is consumed with the need to kill him, and a shard is put in her back to give her strength to kill the half demon while also slowly killing her as well as she can feel no pain and doesn’t realize how much she’s bleeding as she fights Inuyasha. Naraku, once again displaying his evil brilliance, set everything up so Sango would both finish off Inuyasha and die in the process.
As we all know she does not kill Inuyasha, nor does she die, but instead is shown the truth and joins the band of travelers, seeking revenge for her family in the death of Naraku.
Sango’s strengths are numerous. She’s a skilled demon slayer, so she carries on her an array of supplies hidden within her slayer attire. She effortlessly wields her Hiraikotsu, which is a giant boomerang made from the bone of a demon, and is proficient in sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Even InuYasha has given her credit for being an “okay fighter,” which, coming from him, is quite a compliment. But even more than her fighting skills, Sango’s shown intelligence and quick thinking while under pressure. It was a swift use of her brain and her background of demon slaying that saved the group and Kouga from Naraku’s creations, Juromaru and Kageromaru.
Sango’s weakness can be summed up in a single word; Kohaku. Her one and only little brother, whose memories have been erased and is being controlled and kept alive by the same man who destroyed her village, her family, her life. Because of this Naraku has a hold over her as well. He used her love for her brother to make her turn on her new friends and bring him the Tetsusaiga, which she does. Luckily Inuyasha and crew are able to get to the scene before Naraku killed Sango and Kohaku
A new weakness is slowly creeping up on her though, whether she fully realizes it or not. Her feelings for the monk Miroku are becoming more evident as the story progresses, even allowing whole episodes to revolve around them rather than the main couple. An interesting thing one might notice between the monk and the demon slayer is that he never impulsively asked her to bear his child as he does to ever other attractive female he sees. I took this as meaning he may have wanted something more than just a casual meeting with her, and my assumptions were confirmed in episode 132 when Miroku asks her if, after Naraku is dead and his curse is lifted, she will live with him and bear his children.
I’m not sure what keeps me so interested in Sango. I’ve always had an affinity for background characters and sidekicks, and I think Sango is an excellent example of someone who could have a whole show based solely around her, yet continues to live happily in the shadows of the futuristic miko. She’s been used, tricked, groped, tortured, possessed, buried alive, and has risen above it all. I don’t believe there’s a character in InuYasha who can compete with her in terms of who has gone through the most and not only survived, but continues to smile and be strong.
Author: Spaceghostrulz
Spoilers: moderate, there are some but nothing too incredibly major. Also, this is based solely on the anime
The first time I ever saw Sango was on an InuYasha character website. I had only watched a few random episodes and I could not figure out how the girl in the form-fitting pink and black bodysuit fit into the feudal fairytale. Her appearance seemed more futuristic than something from the past. Nevertheless, I watched the show, and when she finally appeared in episode 24 I was immediately intrigued. She was just what this anime needed, a truly strong and good woman who could more than hold her own in a battle against demons. And not only that, she was beautiful.
Sango enters the feudal fairytale alone, instantly giving an experienced viewer the feeling that she’s going to be more than just an episode character (besides the fact that the episode itself is called “Enter Sango, the Demon Slayer”) She has been summoned to a village to slay a large demon centipede. As her hiraikotsu breaks the youkai in two a jewel shard comes out of it, explaining the demon’s size and ferocity. She takes the jewel shard instead of her normal payment and makes her cheery way back to her hidden village of demon slayers. She is greeted by her 11 year old brother Kohaku and is told that their father, the village leader, wishes to see her. We soon find that Sango’s village is where the jewel shard originated from, so she feels a responsibility for it as she gives the shard to her father and they try to bind the evil within it.
She and the other slayers, including her father and her brother, are then summoned to an expansive estate where the lord of the manor’s son has taken ill due to a large spider demon. The slayers easily slay the youkai upon its entrance, giving Sango an uneasy feeling as the whole process was too easy. As the slayers preparing to dismantle the demon of anything useful they themselves are slain by a familiar weapon. Sango turns to see her young brother killing off their fellow slayers one by one. She notices he is being controlled by the lord, who is actually the spider youkai they were sent to kill. As she moves in to slay demon Kohaku’s kunai stabs her in the middle of her back. At that point the control over him is released, and he looks in horror at what he’s done, and as he goes towards his sister he is hit by a barrage of arrows from the lord’s henchmen. Sango crawls over him, telling him it’ll be ok as arrows are rained down on them at the “lord’s” command. The youkai is then slain by the lord’s son who also tells his servants to give the slayers a burial.
Sango, refusing to die so easily, crawls out of her shallow grave, intent on getting revenge for her fallen comrades and family. The lord finds her and has her treated in his manor when a familiar baboon clad man shows up and tells the lord the slayer village has been annihilated by a half demon named Inuyasha. Sango is consumed with the need to kill him, and a shard is put in her back to give her strength to kill the half demon while also slowly killing her as well as she can feel no pain and doesn’t realize how much she’s bleeding as she fights Inuyasha. Naraku, once again displaying his evil brilliance, set everything up so Sango would both finish off Inuyasha and die in the process.
As we all know she does not kill Inuyasha, nor does she die, but instead is shown the truth and joins the band of travelers, seeking revenge for her family in the death of Naraku.
Sango’s strengths are numerous. She’s a skilled demon slayer, so she carries on her an array of supplies hidden within her slayer attire. She effortlessly wields her Hiraikotsu, which is a giant boomerang made from the bone of a demon, and is proficient in sword fighting and hand-to-hand combat. Even InuYasha has given her credit for being an “okay fighter,” which, coming from him, is quite a compliment. But even more than her fighting skills, Sango’s shown intelligence and quick thinking while under pressure. It was a swift use of her brain and her background of demon slaying that saved the group and Kouga from Naraku’s creations, Juromaru and Kageromaru.
Sango’s weakness can be summed up in a single word; Kohaku. Her one and only little brother, whose memories have been erased and is being controlled and kept alive by the same man who destroyed her village, her family, her life. Because of this Naraku has a hold over her as well. He used her love for her brother to make her turn on her new friends and bring him the Tetsusaiga, which she does. Luckily Inuyasha and crew are able to get to the scene before Naraku killed Sango and Kohaku
A new weakness is slowly creeping up on her though, whether she fully realizes it or not. Her feelings for the monk Miroku are becoming more evident as the story progresses, even allowing whole episodes to revolve around them rather than the main couple. An interesting thing one might notice between the monk and the demon slayer is that he never impulsively asked her to bear his child as he does to ever other attractive female he sees. I took this as meaning he may have wanted something more than just a casual meeting with her, and my assumptions were confirmed in episode 132 when Miroku asks her if, after Naraku is dead and his curse is lifted, she will live with him and bear his children.
I’m not sure what keeps me so interested in Sango. I’ve always had an affinity for background characters and sidekicks, and I think Sango is an excellent example of someone who could have a whole show based solely around her, yet continues to live happily in the shadows of the futuristic miko. She’s been used, tricked, groped, tortured, possessed, buried alive, and has risen above it all. I don’t believe there’s a character in InuYasha who can compete with her in terms of who has gone through the most and not only survived, but continues to smile and be strong.