Cherry Blossom Girl

  • Main
  • All Subpages
  • Create New

    A Cherry Blossom Girl is a common character type in Japanese media, due to Cherry Blossoms being their national flower and have a special place in their hearts. Most of these characters are named Sakura,[1] but not every character with that name is of this character type.

    She should have at least three of these characteristics, but it may be okay with two if the flower motifs are heavily emphasised:

    • Named Sakura, Ouka,[2] or another name that invokes sakura trees.
    • Pink Hair, or the more traditionally Japanese black hair
    • Sakura Blossom Motif
    • Themes of death, spring and rebirth
    • Themes of Luck or Fate
    • Healing powers
    • Being a Love Interest / Associated with love
    • Being born in early spring-time
    • Yamato Nadeshiko, traditional Japanese elements such as Japanese Tea Ceremony,[3] Ninja and Samurai.

    See also Cherry Blossoms.

    Examples of Cherry Blossom Girl include:

    Anime and Manga

    • Pictured above is Sakura Kinomoto from Cardcaptor Sakura has plenty of Sakura Blossom Motifs.
      • And her alternate-dimension equivalent (and said alternate dimension equivalent's same named clone) from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle.
        • Though her real name is later revealed to be Tsubasa, not Sakura.
    • Sakura Haruno from Naruto has pink hair, is the girl the main character has feelings for, and obtains healing powers halfway through the series. Furthermore, one of the primary motivations that drive her actions is love, romantic or otherwise. The kanji used for her name translates to 'spring field of cherry blossoms' to further illustrate the themes behind her character.
    • Sakurako (Youya) Saiki from Sakura Gari. How very apt.
    • Mahou Sensei Negima has several characters with the name Sakura, one way or another:
      • Setsuna Sakurazaki Kyoto Swordswoman who has grownup as a strict traditional Yamato Nadeshiko, some of her attacks are named after Sakura and leave trails of Cherry Blossoms in their wake.
      • Shiina Sakurako the Born Lucky Genki Girl
      • Kazumi Asakura and Mei Sakura have the name, but not any other traits fitting the trope.
    • Gantz has Hiroto Sakurai, who uses Cherry/Sakura as an online handle. Played with once when Gantz says he's "no longer a Cherry".
    • In Midori Days, the High School main protagonist Seiji Sawamura attends is named Sakuradamon (桜田門). Its back alley has blooming cherry trees, and this place is a crucial part of the scenario, as it's where his love interest Midori was shyly watching him from afar before she ended up in his hand, and where she finally decides to gather her courage and end up the situation, so they can start a real relationship together.
    • Sakura Kaede from Kämpfer fits due to her heavy association as a love interest. A bit of playing with the trope, as she's not a straight love interest for the protagonist.
    • The item Sakuradite from Code Geass found mostly on Mt Fuji and exclusive to Japan itself.
    • Athough Bleach's Byakuya Kuchiki is not a girl, all of his moves revolve around cherry blossoms. His Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura(千本桜) is actually composed of tiny blades that give the impression of cherry blossoms when released. Besides being a reference to Yoshitsune Senbon Zakura, the Zanpakuto's name implies the deeper themes of honour and association with the samurai code. To drive the point home, its anthropomorphic appearance as shown in the anime is that of the traditional samurai.
    • Amagami SS Rihoko Sakurai one of Junichi's possible love interests (and the only one with a Cherry Blossom Motif) who's story is heavily based on Yamato Nadeshiko elements and Tea Ceremony, her final scenes show this well with having a Tea Ceremony in the spring with blossoms flying around while she was thinking she is going to confess some day.
    • Heartcatch Pretty Cure's Tsubomi Hanasaki's Cure name is Cure Blossom and it's rumored that her Heart Flower (the only one not seen in-series) is a sakura.
    • In the Gundam Seed MSV, character Rena Imelia is given the nickname "Sakura Burst" due to her fighting style and a major burn scar on her back that resembles a cherry blossom and its petals scattering across her back and onto her face.


    Fanfic


    Live-Action TV

    • In the Japanese drama series Sakura Shinjuu, the heroine is named Sakurako and was found abandoned by a sakura tree as a baby.
    • Sakura Nishihori from Go Go Sentai Boukenger; a Meaningful Name because she's the Pink Ranger. She is a Love Interest to the hero Akashi and the lyrics to her Image Song use the traditional sakura blossom symbolism.
    • Yuuto Sakurai from Kamen Rider Den-O is heavily associated with the themes of love, luck and fate ( and ultimately death, since at the end of the series his future self is wiped from existence) and has the "sakura" kanji in his family name.


    Video Games

    • Sakura Shinguji in Sakura Taisen, whose distinctive kimono has a repeated semi-abstract cherry blossom motif.
    • Sakura Mizrahi from Xenosaga, who is strongly associated with Death (since she is a terminally Ill Girl and Posthumous Character) and who is Jr.'s first love interest. MOMO, an artificial girl who was created in her image, is given pink hair and is an White Magician Girl in the first game, perhaps in reference to this trope.
    • Yuyuko Saigyouji in Perfect Cherry Blossom. Being a pink-haired ghost, she's naturally associated with death, including the power to kill with a thought, and in the ending it's revealed that her body is buried beneath the cherry blossom tree Saigyou Ayakashi. Her Leitmotif is called "Bloom Nobly, Ink-black Cherry Blossom".
    • The Cherry Ghosts and White Cherry Ghosts in the Korean MMORPG La Tale. Being ghosts, they are of course associated with death. They are also dressed in very traditional (and very pink) Japanese kimonos, have Hair Decorations made from blooming cherry branches, and only appear at Cherry Lake, which is covered in cherry trees in perpetual bloom. The special weapon made from their soul jar is a spear based on a blooming cherry branch. In the Japanese version of the game, they are called "Sakura Ghosts".
    • She's not named "Sakura", but Kaori Yae of Tokimeki Memorial 2 falls dead square in the trope otherwise:
      • Her given name, Kaori (花桜梨) has "Sakura" for its second Kanji, just with its Chinese alternate reading "Ô", instead of the Japanese reading "Sakura"; and her first name, Yae (八重), is the first part of the Japanese word "Yaezakura" (八重桜), a double-flowering cherry tree.
      • Her hair color is similar to a cherry blossom; her mandatory event revolves around her comparing herself to a late-blooming cherry tree; her seiyuu, Kazusa Murai, even states in the game's freetalk (unlocked after you complete Kaori's storyline) how she thinks Kaori is similar to cherry trees; her main Image Song is called "Ouju no Sasayaki" ("Whisper of the Cherry Tree"), and the official Music Clip made around this song shows her in a forest of cherry trees that progressively bloom; and her symbolic flower is listed as the "Yaezakura" in the official Illustrations Artbook.
    • Princess Mana of the IOS game Chaos Rings. She wears a cherry blossom in hair as well as her waist wrap, wears very traditional and very Japanese inspired clothing, is a Yamato Nadeshiko, is implied to be from a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Japan, is loved by and eventually falls in love with Ayuta, and dies in every character's path except Ayuta's.


    Visual Novels

    • Sakura in Da Capo is more aptly named than what's apparent from the beginning.
    • Yoshiyuki Sakurai in Da Capo II, where it's a Meaningful Name that he got from Sakura based on her own full name, Sakura Yoshino when she wished for family.
    • Mayu Sakurai , and her little sister Mami, from Yarudora series vol. 2: Kisetsu o Dakishimete. Also a Meaningful Name for both, what's with Mayu having reincarnated as the Spirit of the Cherry Trees after her death, and Mami having her soul fused with Mayu's to fend off the curse of the "Hirenzakura" cherry tree long enough for the protagonist to save her, after she had a traffic accident and fell into coma.
    • Sakura Matou from Fate/stay night is one of the main character's three possible Love Interests, the closest thing the series has to a Yamato Nadeshiko, and is possibly one of the darkest examples on this page. Unfortunately, her route is the last one unlocked, and literally almost everything else that makes her an example counts as major spoilers. She has Rape as Backstory and sexually-themed Body Horror that makes her effectively an unwilling Horny Devil, is nearly Driven to Suicide several times, is frequently in danger of death, and eventually gets possessed by a super-deadly force that gives her a major Healing Factor. Her route also has as many Bad or Dead Ends as the other two heroines' routes combined.
    1. ↑ Japanese for "cherry blossom".
    2. ↑ The name Ouka is a less common word for "cherry blossom" which uses the same kanji (桜花), although there are a couple of similar-sounding names which aren't related.
    3. ↑ or hanami which are picnics and drinking tea and/or sake with old friends under the cherry trees
    This article is issued from Allthetropes. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.