Sakura Ogami

Sakura Ogami (大神 さくら Ōgami Sakura), is a student in Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th, and a participant of the Killing School Life featured in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc. Her title is Ultimate Martial Artist (超高校級の「格闘家」chō kōkō kyū no “kakutōka” lit. Super High School Level Fighter).

Early Life
The Ogami family had maintained their dojo for over three centuries. Sakura was the only daughter born into her clan in her generation, and so was compelled to become even stronger than her male family members in order to prove her worth. As a child, Sakura trained at her family's dojo every day with her father. She fought champions of many disciplines, until slowly overtime she was able to defeat everyone she fought. She was strong despite her slim and fair build. She surpassed her own father at the age of 14 after beating him in a grappling match, never losing to him again after that day. Her goal was to become the Strongest Fighter on Earth.

Sakura's first love and lifelong rival was a man named Kenshiro, a street fighter that she could not defeat, and the then-current Strongest Fighter on Earth. Kenshiro developed a terminal illness with a prognosis of only six months to live. Sakura visited him soon after his diagnosis, and his condition had deteriorated quickly, becoming emaciated. Kenshiro gave Sakura his title of Strongest Fighter on Earth, but she vowed she would earn the title herself by fighting him again after he had defeated his disease. This inspired her to begin building up her physical strength even further.

Sakura attended Shiranui High School and was later scouted by Hope's Peak Academy as part of Class 78th.

Prior To The Tragedy

 * Main article: Danganronpa: Togami

Sakura was sent by Hope's Peak Academy to capture Byakuya Togami after his imposter broadcasted the World Domination Proclamation. She mistakenly believed the real Byakuya broadcasted it. Sakura was able to travel to Prague because she had learned Shukuchi, a martial arts technique which allows the user to close the distance between themselves and their opponent instantaneously, historically described as "shortening ley lines, such that a thousand lightyears (approximately 500km) ahead looks as if it is right before one's eyes".

Hiroyuki Ketouin attempted to flee by pressing down on the pedal to crush her, but Sakura managed to stopped it with her hands. His twin, Yuika Ketouin, prepared their secret weapon and they finally escaped Sakura as they move with extreme speed using Hiroyuki's jet machine.

The Tragedy

 * Main article: Dangan Ronpa 3: Side: Despair

During the Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of the Academy, planned to seal the school building and let the students live forever inside the Academy in order to protect them from the destruction. The class agreed to his plan, and they sealed the building together. Sakura used her bare hands to turn the screws on the metal plates which barred the windows. The students lived peacefully inside the school building for a year without knowing that the Ultimate Despair members were already in their midst.

The Killing School Life

 * Main article: Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Sakura was among those who were chosen to attend Hope's Peak Academy as part of Class 78th. Class 78th ended up being trapped inside the school, not knowing at the time that they had already been memory-wiped of their two years of school life together. Sakura is around 19 years old, though she believed was was only 17 because of the memory loss.

When Makoto introduces himself, he immediately becomes fearful of Sakura, due to her online reputation on the message boards he had read before becoming a student. Sakura comments that she cannot spar with Makoto due to his lack of muscles.

The students soon became forced into the Mutual Killing Incident. in which students were shown motivational videos of their personal lives. Sakura was blackmailed by Monokuma into becoming its mole, in exchange for the safety of her family dojo and members. She was instructed to bring about a killing incident should things begin to stabilize among the survivors, although her role was very limited as mutual killing continued without her intervention.

She sometimes shared a dorm room with Aoi Asahina, who was afraid of being alone at night after the Mutual Killing Incident began, and appeared to spend the majority of her free time with her. She also voluntarily guarded the bodies alongside another student whenever a crime scene was discovered, in order to prevent tampering with the evidence.

Sakura's Confession
Some time after Celeste's execution, Sakura decided that she had had enough of deceiving her friends and made up her mind to stop Monokuma's twisted games. She confronted Monokuma, witnessed by Makoto who had just woken up from being knocked out, announcing that she would act against him and support her friends from then on.

Before Sakura could properly confess, however, Monokuma beat her to the punch by revealing her status as his mole, which immediately led to several incidents between the aloof Byakuya, the love-struck Toko Fukawa, and the defensive Aoi who had desperately attempted to protect Sakura from further slander. After Aoi was injured by Genocide Jack prompted Sakura to finally end things once and for all. Sakura decided that the most unobtrusive way to go about fulfilling Monokuma's mutual killing instructions was to commit suicide. Sakura wrote a calligraphic farewell letter.

Sakura broke down the door leading to the principal's office, which would later turn out to be key in allowing Kyoko Kirigiri to steal Monokuma's treasure (a key which can unlock every room in the academy), and would allow her to obtain some crucial information regarding Mukuro Ikusaba, the sixteenth student.

Sakura's Fate
Before her final moments, Sakura had attempted to make peace with Yasuhiro, Toko and Byakuya - who had turned on her after her being revealed as the mole. Toko and Yasuhiro both came to the Recreation Room to meet her, but Byakuya never showed up in order to play it safe. Sakura was struck twice in succession by Monokuma Bottles.

Aoi, who was alarmed by Sakura's injury - having previously trying to disuade Sakura from meeting the trio - was asked by Sakura to make her a bottle of protein shake. After Aoi left, Sakura locked the Recreation Room door and drank a bottle of poison she had retrieved from the Chemistry Lab cabinet, which led her to vomit blood. Sakura died with a smile on her face, confident that her friends would not kill each other any more.

Sakura's noble sacrifice, however, was severely complicated when Monokuma switched her suicide note for a fake he had written personally. When Aoi received the fake note, she was lead to believe that Sakura had taken her life out of despair for the hostile situation in the academy. This drove Aoi to attempt to get everybody killed as revenge for pushing Sakura over the edge. The truth was eventually revealed, and Sakura's dying wish was fulfilled - disgusted by Monokuma's deception, the remaining students united against him, vowing to find the secrets of the academy and stop the mastermind.

The Future

 * Main Article: Danganronpa 3 - Side Future: Episode 11.

Sakura is seen alongside her deceased classmates in Makoto's hallucination. Sakura is later seen motionless, eyes closed and head covered in blood, when all of the deceased morph into how they looked when they died in the Killing School Life.

Creation and Development
According to Kazutaka Kodaka, the writer of the Danganronpa series, Sakura was the most difficult character to design for the first game, due to the team having many design ideas. Kazutaka decided wanted Sakura to be an ultra-strong student, but other members of the team wanted her to be a pretty girl or that she should be a man.

The character designer, Rui Komatsuzaki, designed her based on the concept of a warrior high-school girl. She is based on a design he had been drawing since his school days, and he always thought he'd like to use it in a game. Her beta design, seen in the promotional materials for the scrapped DISTRUST, show, Sakura's design had black hair tied behind her head, making her look like a Nio statue.

Another variant appeared similar to her final design, but with a tattered white gi that gave her the appearance of a traditional martial artist. In the end, Rui had two design candidates - the current design, and one based on a black body builder. The current design won unanimously, though Rui himself admits that really liked the body-builder design.

Name
Sakura (さくら) is written in the Hiragana syllabary, it is impossible to understand its meaning just by reading it. However, it is safe to assume that the name is the hiragana spelling for the kanji 桜 or 櫻, which both mean "cherry" or "cherry blossom" (which is known for being very frail and fleeting, making it an ironic name for Sakura). In Japanese, given names written in Hiragana are most commonly associated with girls, and so Hiragana names are assumed to be female, which is in contrast to her muscular build and that she is visually sometimes mistaken for a man. Ōgami (大神) means "large deity".

Alternate Fates
In the Danganronpa Visual Fanbook, there is a description of executions for all of the characters who did not have one. Sakura's execution is called Deciding Match of the Whole Galaxy and described as the following:
 * "Sakura is standing in a wasteland. An army of aliens appear and surround her, manipulating the atmosphere. Even though Sakura successfully defeats them one after another, the enemies don't stop appearing. Eventually it becomes too cramped and she dies by the pressure of being buried in their bodies."

The Danganronpa 3 box set included a feature detailing an alternate ending of Danganronpa called Danganronpa Another End which ultimately never made it out of the development phase. In this ending, all of the students escape, at the cost of giving up their talent forever. In Sakura's ending, she resolves to spend the rest of her life on a spiritual fight rather than a physical one.

Appearance
Sakura is 6'4" and weighs 218lbs. Her build, deep voice and stern appearance mean that Sakura is often mistaken for a man. She has long white hair, reddened-dark skin; very pale blue eyes, and a scar across her face. She often wears her expression in a slight frown. In flashback material, Sakura is shown with a much slimmer figure.

Her school uniform consists of a traditional seifuku style Japanese school uniform comprising of a white shirt a blue sailor collar, a short blue skirt, and a red tie. The sleeves on the uniform are torn off to make room for her muscular upper arms. She wears bandages wrapped around her calves and forearms. Her shoes are grey and resemble Uwabaki, with writing on the toe box, possibly meant to be her name.

Personality
Contrary to what her appearance might suggest, Sakura is a quiet and level-headed girl. She has a habit of talking in an old-fashioned, formal manner, possibly influenced by the fact that she was heir-apparent to a dojo with a three-hundred-year history. She rarely loses her nerve and seems able to maintain clarity in any situation. At times she can grow slightly impatient and upset, or lose her temper completely and become extremely intense, particularly when her friends get hurt or when she cannot properly train for a long period of time. She has a particular fondness for protein coffee, and enjoys exercising early in the morning before a large breakfast.

Likely inheriting a spirit of loyalty from her clan, Sakura greatly revered and respected her friendship with the other students of Class 78th, going as far as committing suicide in order to prevent them from turning against each other.

Ultimate Martial Artist
As the Ultimate Martial Artist, Sakura has powerful fighting abilities. Befitting her title she defeated her father at a young age and has accumulated a 400-win streak. The only opponent that she has never been able to defeat in a fight is her boyfriend and rival, Kenshiro. Sakura is proficient in many types of martial arts. She has stated her favorite is mixed martial arts (MMA), because it combined every type of martial art.

Relationships

 * Family:

Sakura was very close with her family members. They became her Captives, and Monokuma blackmailed her by telling her to kill someone in exchange for their lives. In the end, Sakura commits suicide to save her family as well as her schoolmates.


 * Romances:

Kenshiro
Kenshiro is Sakura's boyfriend and her rival. In a Free Time Event with Makoto, Sakura admitted that she could not defeat Kenshiro in combat and that he apparently only had months to live. However, Sakura was sure he could beat his condition. This was proven to be true in Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls, which takes place 2 years after she last saw him and shows that Kenshiro is still alive, however he is still ill.


 * Class 78th:

Aoi Asahina
Aoi was depicted throughout to be Sakura's closest friend. The two bonded from the very beginning over their love of sports and athletics and are rarely seen without the other. Both are fiercely protective of each other; Aoi was the only one to openly stick up for Sakura when she was accused of being the Mastermind, and in turn, Sakura became enraged when Toko, as Genocide Jack, cut Aoi on the arm. When Sakura's suicide note is found, it is mainly addressed to Aoi.

In School Mode, Sakura appears a little annoyed when Makoto attempts to ask if she and Aoi are a couple. Sakura answers that she is the first real friend she's ever had and considers Makoto's earlier assumption a "Hifumi-like delusion".

Makoto Naegi
Sakura put a great deal of trust in Makoto, telling him about her past and her boyfriend Kenshiro. Makoto, in turn, told Sakura to be patient until they escaped and to embrace her femininity. Sakura stated that Makoto reminds her of Kenshiro in some ways.

Skills
Becoming friends with students grants Makoto special skills which can aid them during Class Trials. Becoming close with Sakura grants the following skills.

Quotes

 * “If we can be beaten by force, death is an outcome we will accept. That is the way of my clan. But... I never imagined my family could be defeated so easily... How... did he manage such a thing?”
 * “My post-training break is the most relaxing time of my day. The sensation of your muscles cooling down after heating up during a workout is the only true reward. No matter how many times I experience it, I never get tired of it.”
 * “I was born into my family as an only daughter. Male or female doesn't matter. It's my duty to protect our legacy. And because I am a woman, I must be even stronger than if I were a man.”
 * “Please, try to understand. Even I... I too have the heart of a woman...”
 * “I just... didn't want to be laughed at. Can you imagine? A girl like me, using the word love? And being shy about saying it is even more girly, right? I creep myself out, to be honest...”
 * “I visited him once. He'd lost so much weight. He looked like an entirely different person. But do you know what he said? He told me that I was the strongest human alive. That I had taken the title. He'd said he'd return someday to get the title back. He said I’d better not let anyone else take it. He didn't need to say the last part. I'll never give up that title, not until he gets better. And when that day comes... I will defeat Kenshiro and earn that title for real. And that's why I have to get stronger... That's my biggest reason for becoming the strongest human alive.” (to Makoto about Kenshiro)

Trivia

 * In Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, there is a large statue of Sakura in the Grape House inside the Funhouse labeled "Ogre", and Nekomaru Nidai told Hajime Hinata that he met the person depicted in the statue once in the mountains. In School Mode, Sakura mentions she has trained in the mountains.
 * Sakura's english voice actress, Jessica Gee-George, is married in real life to Leon's English voice actor, Grant George.
 * Sakura and Peko Pekoyama both attended Shiranui High School.
 * As seen in the main story and School Mode, Sakura loves protein and protein coffee.
 * In School Mode, Sakura states that:
 * She is a good cook and she's a bit annoyed when people assume she isn't due to her looks.
 * She is quite curious about young adult fiction, but knows very little about it.
 * She dislikes action comics, because they tend to have an inaccurate view of martial arts.
 * She does not know how to dance or sing.
 * Her father taught her to appreciate enka. She doesn't know much about popular modern music and doesn't understand the live music culture.
 * In general, she likes and respects nature and animals. She mentions that she likes rabbits, as they never seem to get frightened when she holds them.