Sakura Ogami

Sakura Ogami (大神 さくら), 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 the Ultimate Martial Artist (超高校級の「格闘家」 lit. Super High School Level Fighter).

Early Life
The Ogami family had maintained their dojo for over three centuries. They lived close to nature and had an old-fashioned life style. 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 Human Alive.

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 Human Alive. While Sakura considered such feelings extremely embarrassing for a fighter like her and didn't want anyone to know about them, Kenshiro supported her by stating that she doesn't have to be "manly" nor a man to become the strongest person in the world. However, Kenshiro then 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 Human Alive, 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 (alongside upperclassman Peko Pekoyama) and was later scouted by Hope's Peak Academy as part of Class 78th. Sakura never had friends before, as people found her appearance frightening and she was too dedicated for her training to have free time. She also had a poor understanding of modern popular culture due to her upbringing. On the Internet, people called her cruel names such as "Ogre" and "missing link", and there were rumors that she is an extremely violent person who must be avoided at all costs. However, she became very close friends with her classmates in Hope's Peak Academy, and she even told them her big secret of being in love with Kenshiro.

The Tragedy

 * Main article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc #11

During the Tragedy, Jin Kirigiri, the Headmaster of Hope's Peak 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.

Killing School Life
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.

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. As an incentive to murder in order to escape, the students were each given a DVD featuring a video from Monokuma which implied that their loved ones were in danger. Sakura was blackmailed by Monokuma into becoming its mole, in exchange for the safety of her family and Kenshiro. 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
Shortly after Celestia Ludenberg was executed, 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, announcing that she would act against him and support her friends from then on; this was secretly witnessed by Makoto, who had just woken up from being knocked out.

Before Sakura could properly confess, however, Monokuma beat her to the punch by revealing her status as his mole and renewing his command to commit a murder. This 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; the revelation that Makoto had known about Sakura's status and failed to tell anyone (due to Monokuma doing so first) also soured his relationship with Kyoko Kirigiri. When Aoi was injured by Genocide Jack in a particularly heated confrontation, Sakura vowed to finally end things once and for all. She decided that the most unobtrusive way to go about fulfilling Monokuma's mutual killing instructions was to commit suicide; in doing so, she fulfilled his desire for a murder without harming any of her remaining friends.

To prepare for her death, Sakura wrote a calligraphic farewell letter explaining her reasons for committing suicide, expressing her desire to protect and unite the other students. She also broke down the door leading to the principal's office as a "first strike" against the mastermind, which she mentioned in her suicide note. Finally, she expressed her belief that Monokuma and his controller had done something to the students in order to prepare for the Killing Game; while the exact suspicion was never revealed, it is likely that she believed that their memories had been tampered with.

Sakura's Fate
Against Aoi's advice, Sakura had attempted to make peace with Yasuhiro Hagakure, Byakuya, and Toko - all of whom had turned against her when she was revealed as the mole - before she died. She had invited all of them to the Recreation Room to talk to her, which Toko and Yasuhiro accepted. However, Yasuhiro thought that she was going to kill him, leading him to injure her with a Monokuma bottle. Toko, shocked by the sight of a bloody and injured Sakura, fainted and switched to Genocide Jack, who also panicked and struck her with another Monokuma bottle.

Aoi then came in the Rec Room and found a severely injured Sakura. Sakura then asked Aoi to make her a bottle of protein shake. After Aoi left, Sakura locked the Rec Room door and drank poison that she had retrieved from the Chemistry Lab, which led her to vomit blood. Sakura died with a smile on her face, confident that her friends would not kill each other anymore and that they would easily figure out who had "murdered" her.

However, Sakura's noble sacrifice was severely complicated when Monokuma switched her suicide note for a fake he had written personally. When Aoi received the fake note, she was led to believe that Sakura had taken her life out of despair for the hostile situation in the academy. Infuriated and heartbroken by the "confession", Aoi attempted to frame herself as Sakura's murderer in order 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.

After the Class Trial, Sakura's sabotage of the principal's office door was revealed, 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 obtain some crucial information regarding Mukuro Ikusaba, the sixteenth student.

Makoto's Hallucination

 * Main Article: Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc #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. Kodaka 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, Komatsuzaki had two design candidates - the current design, and one based on a black bodybuilder. The current design won unanimously, though Komatsuzaki 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 were 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", likely reflecting her muscular build.

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:
 * "Ōgami is standing in a wasteland. An army of aliens appears and surround her, manipulating the atmosphere. Even though Ōgami 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.

Sakura also escapes Hope's Peak alive, with the rest of her classmates, in the novel Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF.

Appearance
At the beginning of the Killing School Life in Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Sakura appears to be young high school-aged teenager, but due to the memory loss she is two years older than she believed. She is 6'4" and weighs 218lbs, making her the largest of her classmates. Her large build, deep voice and stern appearance often causes Sakura to be mistaken for a man. She has long white hair, reddened-dark skin; very pale blue eyes, and a scar on her face and right shoulder. She often wears her expression with a slight frown. In flashback material, Sakura is shown with a much slimmer figure.

Her school uniform consists of a traditional 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, with the kanji for her last name on the toe box.

During her school years, she wore a white loincloth.

Personality
Contrary to what her appearance might suggest, Sakura is a quiet, kind and level-headed girl. She rarely loses her nerve and seems able to maintain clarity in any situation. At times she can grow slightly annoyed and upset, like when people assume things like she isn't a good cook due to her looks. During more rare moments, she can lose her temper completely and become extremely intense, particularly when her friends get hurt. She also gets impatient if she cannot properly train for a long period of time. She is known for her love of protein and protein coffee and enjoying exercising early in the morning before a large breakfast.

Due to her more old-fashioned upbringing, Sakura has a habit of talking in an old-fashioned, formal manner. Being raised as the sole heir to a dojo with a three-hundred-year history, she believes that being a martial artist is simply her destiny. Along with learning martial arts, she learned to respect nature and animals, being particularly fond of rabbits as they never seem to get frightened when she holds them.

Along with protecting her legacy as her sworn duty, Sakura wants to prove that a woman can be the Strongest Person Alive. She also believes that she must work harder than men to achieve this goal. As a result of striving to be strong, Sakura is embarrassed about her own softer feelings and being feminine, assuming that other people would laugh at her if they knew. She is especially embarrassed about having romantic feelings for Kenshiro, thinking that it doesn't fit someone like her. However, she appeared to grow out of these insecurities after gaining real friends in high school.

Despite her gentle nature, Sakura has trouble socializing with others due to her intimidating appearance and aloof nature. Spending most of her time training, she didn't have any real friends until she attended Hope's Peak Academy. Because of this, she also has a somewhat poor knowledge of modern popular culture. For example, she knows quite little about popular modern music and doesn't understand the live music culture, or know how to sing and dance. Instead, her father taught her to appreciate traditional enka. She also dislikes action comics, because they tend to have an inaccurate view of martial arts. However, she appears shyly curious about young adult fiction but knows very little about it.

Sakura greatly revered and respected her friendship with the other students of Class 78th, with them being her first real friends whom she trusted deeply. Likely inheriting a spirit of loyalty from her clan, she even committed suicide in order to prevent her friends from turning against each other.

Ultimate Martial Artist
As the Ultimate Martial Artist, Sakura has powerful fighting abilities. She has accumulated a 400-win streak and won a martial arts tournament in America despite her gender. She even defeated her own father at a young age. 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 combines every type of martial art.

In Danganronpa If, she was able to overwhelm Mukuro Ikusaba, the Ultimate Soldier in one on one combat. According to Kodaka, Juzo Sakakura would most likely lose to Sakura, despite being a world champion and the Ultimate Boxer.

In other languages
Sakura's talent as it appears in official translations of Danganronpa material.

Relationships

 * Family:

Sakura was very close with her family members. They were also captured by the mastermind to be Sakura's captives along with Kenshiro since they are all very precious to her and very close to her. 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 lifelong rival who she could never defeat. She fell in love with him, though considered it very embarrassing and didn't want anyone to know about it, and wished to defeat him to earn his title of the strongest person in the world.

At some point, Kenshiro fell terribly ill and he gave his title for Sakura to keep until he recovered. They promised to have a rematch in the future after he got better and he gave her a red scarf as a proof of their vows.

Sakura was sure Kenshiro 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, but he is still very ill. Being the closest person to Sakura, Kenshiro was also captured by the Ultimate Despair as a Captive. It is unknown however, if he is aware of Sakura's death.

The two haven't been explicitly stated to be lovers, with him only described as Sakura's "first love", but it is heavily implied that he returned her feelings. In Danganronpa IF, it is stated that along with the rematch he had promised Sakura "something more" as well, indicating that the two planned to begin a romantic relationship after he recovered and if Sakura defeated him.


 * 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 Aoi is the first real friend she's ever had and considers Makoto's earlier assumption a "Hifumi-like delusion".

In Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Sakura and Aoi agree to go to the Olympics together. With Sakura as master of the land and Aoi as master of the water.

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.

In the non-canonical School Mode ending, it's shown that Sakura appears to have fallen in love with Makoto. She wishes Makoto would be the witness of her and Kenshiro's rematch and states that she wants to put an end to her attraction towards Kenshiro.


 * Enemies:

Monokuma
Monokuma blackmailed Sakura into serving him. If she refused, she would have to watch her family and lover, Kenshiro, be killed. Sakura's working relationship with Monokuma was something that she disliked, but she had no choice but to go along with his plan. She refuses to serve him later on in order to protect the rest of her classmates. Because of this, Monokuma decides to expose Sakura's role as the traitor to everyone as revenge. After being exposed, she commits suicide. In her dying message, she promises to everyone that she would soil Monokuma's plans and uncover the mastermind. She blames Monokuma for her death and for everyone being against each other.

Free Time Events & Bonus Mode Guides
The links below are full transcripts and in-depth guides for Sakura Ogami's relationship routes in Free Time Events, School Mode, and Ultimate Talent Development Plan including her MonoMono Machine Present preferences and most effective dialogue options.

Quotes

 * -|DR1=


 * -|DRtA=

Extra=


 * -|Novel=

List of Appearances
Games=
 * DISTRUST (Scrapped)
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc
 * Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair (Referenced; her giant replica featured in Chapter 4)
 * Danganronpa: Unlimited Battle
 * Cyber Danganronpa VR The Class Trial (Referenced)
 * -|Anime=
 * Danganronpa: The Animation
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Future Arc
 * Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak High School - Despair Arc
 * -|Light Novels=
 * Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc IF
 * Danganronpa 1 ・2 Beautiful Days
 * -|Manga=
 * Danganronpa: The Demo (Manga)
 * Danganronpa: The Manga
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei 4koma KINGS
 * Danganronpa: The Animation (manga)
 * Small Danganronpa 1・2 Light
 * -|Stage Plays=
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE (2014)
 * Danganronpa: Kibō no Gakuen to Zetsubō no Kōkōsei THE STAGE 2016

Trivia

 * PSP『ダンガンロンパ』狩猟参戦!! the 16th Monokuma Theater of the re-release of Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc on the PS Vita, there is a short clip of a parody fighting game staring Sakura called Sakura's Revenge. She fights through a horde of enemies, only to begin to face down a giant Monokuma, where then some text pops up stating the game development has been canceled but encouraging the player to buy Danganronpa for themselves and all their friends to see its release.
 * The origin of this video comes from an ad made to promote the first release of Danganronpa on the PSP.


 * Ashita no Joe Sakura BDA Trivia.png Sakura's body discovery and pose are a reference a scene from the boxing manga . In the manga, character José Mendoza boxes with the protagonist Joe Yabuki for all fifteen rounds, but Joe ends up dying in the ring with a smile on his face.


 * Sakura's statue in SDR.png Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair, there is a large statue of Sakura in the Grape House inside the Funhouse labeled "Ogre". Nekomaru Nidai told Hajime Hinata that he met the person depicted in the statue once in the mountains, correlating to Sakura's comment about training in the mountains in School Mode. In Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony's Ultimate Talent Development Plan, Nekomaru and Sakura confirm that they did indeed meet in the mountains and train together.
 * Sakura's English voice actress, Jessica Gee-George, is married to Leon Kuwata and Shuichi Saihara's English voice actor, Grant George.
 * In a series of tweets from Kazutaka Kodaka during Valentine's Day of February 2013, he tweeted "in-character" as several of the Danganronpa cast, including Sakura. The tweet translates into this:
 * “Take this, though I cannot vouch for how it tastes. I-It was my first time making chocolate…”


 * On Sakura's birthday in 2017, Kazutaka Kodaka tweeted an "in-character" birthday message to celebrate it.
 * The tweet translates into this:
 * Ogami: “Hmph, chocolate, eh? Lately thanks to Asahina’s influence I have been going to eat sweets on my days off. I gratefully accept this. Of course I will also have protein coffee with it. Protein is a wonder drug that can heal any wound and cure any ailment.”

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