Sakura Mamiya

Anime
Manga
CM

Name

Japanese	Romanized
真宮　桜	Mamiya Sakura

Physical

Species

Human

Gender

Female

Age

15 (?)

Personal

Relatives

Mother
Father
Grandmother

Occupation

Student

First Appearance

Manga

Chapter 1

Anime

Episode 1

Voiced by

Japanese

Mariya Ise ^(CM)
Marina Inoue ^(Anime)

Sakura Mamiya (真宮桜 Mamiya Sakura^?) is the deuteragonist of Kyōkai no Rinne. She has the ability to see ghosts and helps the title character Rinne Rokudō with his job of passing spirits on to the afterlife.

Appearance

Sakura has dark olive brown hair tied into two braids and is of average height for a Japanese female. Her eye color varies from brown^[1] to bluish-grey^[2] in the colored panels of the manga, but is brown in the animated CM and violet in the official anime. She is usually seen wearing her high school uniform, a steel blue blazer over a white dress shirt, a red string tie, a pleated cerulean skirt, black kneesocks and brown loafers. She is seen wearing different outfits while not at school. Also, when her hair is down, it is shown to be wavy due to her braids.

Personality

She is a very calm girl, but does not hesitate to scold Rinne Rokudō or others if she thinks they're creating problems for her friends or when she believes they've gone too far. Also, she tends to let herself get into the mood of things, once coming into a line of old men and women's souls who had lived their lives to the fullest and almost getting onto the Wheel of Reincarnation until Rinne rescued her, and also the time when she found herself going on a date with Tsubasa Jūmonji. It is also apparent that unlike most people, Sakura doesn't seem to get scared easily.

Even though she's calm and collected, Sakura does have a jealous side that rarely makes an appearance. When she is jealous, she acts slightly colder toward Rinne, giving him long stares with a completely straight face. She tends to sound disappointed as well.

Biography

Past

10 years before the series began, when she went to visit her grandmother to the country-side, Sakura happened upon a Damashigami dressed as a rabbit, who lured her to Kyoukai. Luckily, she was saved by a kind Shinigami by the name of Tamako and was returned to the world of the living, with her memory of that moment erased. But Sakura was not the same after she returned; she had gained the ability to see ghosts due to Tamako carelessly buying her some candy from Kyoukai. And she also received an Exorcism Hourglass from a clown for free, which she stored in her house, precluding spirits to come in.

A few years later, Sakura met Tsubasa Jūmonji who shared her ability seeing the dead. For the short time he attended her elementary school, Sakura and Tsubasa became friends while Tsubasa harbored a one-sided crush on her. Also around this time, Sakura and another classmate, Yōta, were having disagreements as Yōta could never beat Sakura's skill with a yo-yo. In vain, he often tried to flip her skirt and make her cry until an accident claimed his life.

3 years ago, she met the spirit of a young boy named Satoru at the beach, and she hoped to help him pass on by receiving a shell necklace he’d make for her, but she ran out of time and had to leave back to her home.

Debut

Rinne and Sakura in class — In Class 1-4

Now an average teenage schoolgirl, she thought everything would change when she started high school at Sankai High, which would indeed be the case despite her ability to see ghosts remained, as she meets her mysterious classmate Rokudō Rinne, who did not attend class for a time and sits beside her, trying to help a chihuahua ghost pass on. As nobody else saw Rinne, Sakura thought that Rinne was just another ghost but eventually learns about him working as a Shinigami, which consists of discovering a spirit’s lingering attachment to the living world and ensuring a calm passage into the Wheel of Reincarnation.

By getting involved in his activities as a Shinigami, she got to return to Kyoukai and meet Tamako again, who turns out to be his grandmother, which allowed her to remember her event 10 years ago and so learn why she became able to see ghosts.

She then learns about Rinne being part Shinigami part human, as his grandmother fell in love with a human male she was supposed to reap the soul of, and upon encountering Rokumon, who would become Rinne’s black cat by contract, learns about Tamako’s vow in exchange of prolonging the life span of her husband for 50 years, and that Rinne lives in the abandoned club building of the school since shortly after his grandfather passed away.

History

Rika and Miho Scared — Sakura with Miho and Rika

She would keep on tagging along with Rinne, to support him in his Shinigami duties, going as far as coming to his aid when he's in serious trouble in spite of all the risks she may encounter, and she is frequently seen with classmates Miho and Rika, who both tend to run away in fear, whenever they encounter a strange phenomenon, and Sakura unafraid would then go inform Rinne. Thus, she has embarked herself in an adventure, going through various occurrences, some of which are significant for her.

Her old classmate Tsubasa would return, having become a teenage exorcist and enrolled himself to Sankai High, as he still have feelings for her, and he would compete against Rinne for her affection and so join them in their ghost exploits.^[3]

She learns about Rinne's father named Sabato being the president of the Damashigami company, which Rinne refers as his darkest secret, and the real reason Rinne became poor. Along with Rokumon and Tamako, she allowed him not to marry a Damashigami and inherit the Damashigami company. Although she says it was a lie that she’s dating Rinne, she felt happy he did not have to get married by force.^[4]

Sakura sees Rinne with Ageha — Wrong Timing

Shortly after, she’s been spied by Sabato, who hoped to make Rinne inherit the Damashigami company again by making him marry her, and upon noticing his camera, she went to ask Rinne and met Ageha holding his hand, although she wrongly remembers him holding her hand. When the Damashigami Company’s Hot Secretary showed the ring, Sakura refused it, saying she and Rinne are just classmates, and after getting another wrong impression upon seeing Ageha having grown attached to Rinne, she’s been walking away from him anytime he tries to explain to her as other students join her, although it is uncertain how she feels. When Ageha warned her not to get involved with Rinne anymore, Sakura felt she couldn’t do it.^[5]

Tsubasa invited her to go back to her elementary school, to dig up his power stone, where she meets the spirit of Yota possessed by a nameless evil spirit who also uses the power stone to become powerful. After a fierce fight, Rinne separated the evil spirit from Yota and purified it, and Sakura allows Yota to move on, by finding the yo-yo he wanted to give back to her.^[6]

As 10 years had passed, the effect of the Exorcism Hourglass expired, and so numerous spirits would come into her house, much to her surprise, since she was not aware of the effect that had the hourglass. So she invited Rinne to her house to solve it, making it the first time she gets a boy in her room, although Tsubasa, Ageha and Rokumon tagged along.^[7]

Rinne fights Ghosts, unbeknowst to Sakura — Unable to see Ghosts and Rinne

Tamako offered her a prototype candy that would reverse her ability to see ghosts and spirits for 3 days, since she felt sorry for her carelessness. She was quite content at first, but as she was not able to see Rinne for a while, because he was too busy having to protect her from 5000 evil spirits who targeted her as part of A-1 Grand Prix, she grew bored. As soon as she sees Rinne again, she gives the other candies back saying she doesn’t need them, meaning that it's okay for her to see ghosts and to see Rinne. It is hinted that Rinne and Sakura starts to fall for each other, considering that they find each other's presence.^[8]

Renge and Sakura — Having tea with Renge

She was chosen by Damashigami Renge, who got transferred to Sankai High, to become her female human friend and faithful servant in her latest scheme to entice male souls, but Rinne arrived on time to preclude it.^[9] She took pity on Renge, as her life was ruined by Sabato, and agreed with Rinne not to bring her down at once although they would both try to stop her schemes.

She came back to the beach, with Rinne and Tsubasa, when Satoru sent her a letter saying he’ll give her the shell necklace he promised, and he would finally get to pass on.^[10]

When Matsugo invites Rinne, who grows tired of Matsugo's constant attention, to a High School Shinigami mixer, Rokumon gets the idea to ask Sakura to come posing as Rinne’s girlfriend, in hopes of convincing Matsugo to stop being such a pest, to which she agrees. She felt that although it would be a lie, she looked forward to it. But with the assistance of his black cat Kuromitsu, Matsugo would keep them apart many times to be alone with Rinne, although his secret crush Anju would tag along as well, trying to interfere. And when Matsugo asked about what Rinne found attractive in Sakura, Rinne’s comment on how she kindly helps out with his financial end gets twisted. Sakura felt heartbroken believing that she is being used for money and food and that Rinne doesn’t think much of her like she thinks of him, but Rinne clears the misunderstanding, by stating that he wants to eat her lunch with her, to which she gladly accepts. Matsugo eventually learned that Rinne and Sakura are not really dating, but his own plans backfired as well.^[11]

Sakura with Oihaguzuki — Sakura with Oihagizuki

A thievery attempt of Sabato at Tamako's house that went awry led her to become the owner of a special Scythe named Oihagizuki, which registers the first one to touch as its owner. As it won’t leave her hands until she purifies at least 7 spirits, she got to act as a Shinigami with Rinne coaching her, and purified elder spirits and a Black Fox evil spirit. That experience allowed her to learn how hard is Rinne’s job.^[12]

Ichigo with Rinne and Sakura — Sakura with Rinne and Ichigo

She becomes acquainted with Rinne’s mother, who surfaces revealed to have lastly reincarnated into a human girl named Ichigo, whom she had just witnessed having moved with her family to a house in the neighborhood and being able to see ghosts, obviously since she used to be a Shinigami, and even got to participate in her revelations with Rinne and Sabato. She felt glad for Rinne who became touched by the little girl saying she’s still his mother even reincarnated,^[13] and both girls grew friendly to each other and occasionally meet.

When Rinne got a part-time job, Sakura passed by his room and noticed a small sapling, which is a tree of sin that Rinne had to purify, and as it looked withered and Rinne was away, she put water on it which caused duplicates of herself to be created who would support male students, who happen to have had a crush on her and confidentially spoke about it with Annette, revealing that Sakura is popular with boys, although the boys had to pay the duplicates for their wishes granted. As their money would appear as the leaves of the Tree of Sin, it led Sakura to almost suspect that Rinne used duplicates of her to make money, but the real reason is quickly discovered and the duplicates vanished.^[14]

Final Story

In the final story, she gets invited by Rinne to a secret tour in the otherworld. While eating together at the final point, she took interest in the glowing stones at the bottom of the Sanzu river, and much to her surprise, Rinne offered to have two of these boundary stones processed into a pair of string bracelets as a souvenir.

The next day, by the time she saw Rinne having taken on an unresolved case in the form of a hanging scroll in which inhabits a spirited rich old man, she noticed he was wearing his bracelet, which made her feel happy. She learns a few days later from an angry Rokumon that he was fired, but it was the work of the hanging scroll trying to disconnect Rinne of his friends, and she fell victim of its curse, when she went to Rinne’s home and took a close look at it, which made her become fully supportive of Rokumon to the point of becoming Rinne’s enemy, until the hanging scroll gets purified by Rinne, which caused its curse on her to be undone.

The day after, she finds Rinne’s bracelet on sale at a recycling shop, which made her feel disappointed believing Rinne didn’t value their souvenir, and as he speaks of paying his debts back to her through his recent profits, she angrily snapped and insulted him. However, shortly after, she learns from Rokumon that he was the one who got tricked by the hanging scroll into selling Rinne’s bracelet, so she ran to his home to apologize to him only to find his room empty of all his belongings, and later she receives a thank you letter from him with a large sum of money enough to repay all his debt to her, which left Miho, Rika and Tsubasa surprised, but it worried her as it looked like a farewell letter and so desperately went searching for him.

Sakura realizes her love for Rinne — Realizing she was in love with Rinne

While doing so, she runs into Sabato who nonspecifically tells her that Rinne was mad about something concerning the string bracelet, and later when he steals her bracelet, she witnesses Rinne destroying its featured boundary stone. As a result, she came to believe that Rinne hates her now and is really leaving her, which made her feeling so distressed that she’d sigh upon thinking that Rinne would not come back to school. Right then, she receives a doll made of multiple boundary stones from Sabato to replace her souvenir, but she felt she couldn’t keep it since her pain remains, and she realizes that she was in love with Rinne, so she decides to leave the doll at Rinne’s home. Little did she know that a lion headed faucet that is pouring water from the Sanzu river and consequently sends anyone with a boundary stone directly to the Wheel of Reincarnation was in Rinne’s home, and as the water comes out, she gets soaked and vanishes.

Fortunately, she did not end up reincarnated and wakes up in the banks of the Sanzu river, and as she notices Rinne searching for her around the Wheel of Reincarnation, she calls him, but he mistakenly believes she hasn’t reincarnated yet so tries to enter in it, so she hurries jumping on the floating platforms to reach him, and as she jumps into the air, Rinne catches her in a firm embrace, which made her feel relieved. Back in the living world, Ichigo apologizes to her for she had ordered Sabato to find new boundary stones for her and Rinne and didn’t know about the faucet, then it’s revealed that she didn’t end up in the Wheel of Reincarnation for the doll’s boundary stones had fallen apart by the strong flood that soaked her, and Rinne apologizes to her.

In the end, she happily goes on a date with Rinne.

Abilities

Seeing Ghosts: Because she ate food that was from the afterlife, Sakura received the power to see spirits in the living world.

Relationships

Rinne Rokudō

Kyoukai-no-Rinne-50-50 — Sakura and Rinne

While Rinne's feelings for Sakura are obvious, her feelings for him are not as clear for a time. She often sees herself as his classmate and nothing more, which is actually influenced by misunderstandings. At times, she is threatened by Ageha's affections towards Rinne.

After escaping from the Damashigami Company, Sakura felt happy that Rinne didn't get engaged by force.

She also was quite clueless toward her own feelings and didn't realize that she cared for Rinne in a romantic way until Anju pointed out that she was testing Rinne with the love amulet. When Matsugo asked about what Rinne found attractive in Sakura, Rinne describes her as "kind as an angel" and Sakura, who's listening in with Anju, feels flattered at the comment. However, when the rest of his comment (Rinne made the mistake of mentioning how she helps out with his financial end) is twisted by Matsugo, Sakura feels heartbroken and used by Rinne. Though, Rinne clears the misunderstanding by stating that he wants to eat together with her and not alone.

Eventually in the final story, as she becomes so depressed by the erroneous thought that Rinne is leaving her that she sights strongly, she realizes that she was in love with him, and when he catches her in a firm embrace since he was relieved that she's still alive, she felt relieved and felt as if nothing else mattered. Thereafter, they start dating.

Tsubasa Jūmonji

While Tsubasa is outspoken with his affections, Sakura holds no romantic feelings for him. She firmly sees him as only a friend, even though she clearly knows that he's constantly trying to win her heart. Despite his constant showering of attention, Sakura is often seen with Tsubasa when Rinne is busy battling spirits and they both are the first to question Matsugo's relationship with Rinne. She's also extremely concerned about his well being, sometimes going to his house to see if he's okay should he be absent for some time.

Miho

One of Sakura's best friends and a member of the student council. Miho is really into ghost stories and would be the first person to pass along ghost related rumors or actually go looking for haunting, despite being a scaredy cat, easily becoming scared and fleeing along with Rika whenever they see something that appears to be a ghost, leaving Sakura unafraid behind.

Rika Momoi

Another friend of Sakura, Rika is stingy and a bit of an air-head. Rika is just as much of a scaredy cat as Miho and also runs off when she sees anything ghost related. When with Tsubasa or Rinne, she expects them to buy her things instead of dishing out her own money which Sakura once showed to frown upon. She was not bent on paying Rinne his fee for dealing with her coat being haunted by a mannequin.

Rokumon

Rokumon is respectful to Sakura and he sees her as Rinne's girl. If Rokumon isn't with Rinne, he's most likely following Sakura around. There are times where Rokumon's honest and good nature causes problems between Sakura and Rinne, though he does it unintentionally.

Ageha

While the rich shinigami causes some tension between Sakura and Rinne, Sakura doesn't show much jealousy toward the girl. It could be because Sakura knows that Rinne doesn't like Ageha in that way. Even so, Ageha is relentless and she's well known to use any method possible to win Rinne from Sakura.

Tamako

Though Tamako doesn't always appear, it seems she and Sakura get along well enough to where Tamako felt comfortable enough to lie that Sakura was dating Rinne. Tamako feels a bit responsible for giving Sakura candy from the underworld and tries to remove Sakura's ghost seeing ability; however, Sakura wants to continue to help Rinne and keeps her gift. Whether or not Tamako wants Rinne to pursue a relationship with Sakura isn't certain though it can be assumed due to her lack of hesitation of pronouncing them boyfriend/girlfriend in front of Sabato.

Sabato Rokudō

Since learning that Rinne is in love with Sakura, Sabato made it his mission to make Sakura Rinne's fiancee. He spied on Sakura and had his mysterious secretary Bijin test Sakura's trust in ghosts. When Sakura passed the test, she was given her engagement ring but she refused to accept it because she believes that Rinne only sees her as his classmate and that he was romantically involved with Ageha. Even though he now knows there really is nothing between the two teens, Sabato still views her as Rinne's love interest. He also returned 1,000 yen to Sakura that she gave him to buy back a picture of himself and young Rinne (Although what he wanted was 50,000 yen hidden behind the picture).

Renge Shima

Although Renge is a Damashigami, Sakura and Renge do seem to get along, although by nature Sakura frowns upon Renge sleazy ways. Sakura does sympathize with Renge due to the fact that she doesn't have any female friends because of her seductive ways.

Kain

Sakura and Kain don't entirely like each other, however Kain does seem comfortable enough to tell Sakura that it was his wish for Renge to succeed in life. Kain also cannot harm humans and has stated that should he allow a human like Sakura, who still has many years of life ahead of her, to get sucked into the wheel of reincarnation than he wouldn't get off scott-free. He assures Sakura that he cannot take away Rinne's life flame away again because Rinne wears the Ring of Judgement.

Mother

Not much is known about Sakura's mother other than that she is 39 years old, her maiden name is Miyamae, and she is a housewife. It's suggested by her mother's behavior that she is easygoing and trusts her daughter. She is known to get carried away when cooking, and makes/buys too much food.

Ichigo

That elementary school girl is the reincarnation of Rinne's mother. They are on friendly terms since she's a friend of her son and both are able to see spirits.

Quotes

"I got here through some kind of phantom route. I didn't bring my wallet and I'm barefoot." - Chapter 7, when Rinne tells Sakura to go home after he punt Rokumon out of his room.
"You can become one after training? I think I'll pass." - Chapter 18, when Rinne tells Sakura that with training she could become a first class Shinigami.
"He's a kind Shinigami." - Chapter 24, when Tsubasa asked about what kind of person Rinne is.
"I... I should apologize for barging in so suddenly." - Chapter 37, when Sakura walked in on Ageha and Rinne supposedly holding hands.
"I... can't take it. Because Rokudō-kun and I... are just classmates..." - Chapter 38, when the Damashinigami Company's 'hot secretary' (Ageha's older sister) tells Rinne to place an engagement ring on Sakura, because she thought they were in a relationship.
"How repetitive..." - Chapter 39, where Rinne tells Sakura not to follow him while he was chasing after Ageha
“For some reason… I can’t do that” (なんか。。。それはいやだ。) – Chapter 42, after Ageha warns her not to get involve with Rinne anymore
"I'm sorry, but I'm already interested in somebody else." - Chapter 61, when the beach karate ghost asked Sakura if she'd be willing to go out with him.
“I’d appreciate if you did that elsewhere” – Chapter 65, upon seeing Ageha embracing Rinne
“Um, where does the evil spirit part come in here...?” (あの〜〜これのどこが悪霊に。。。？) – Chapter 84, upon seeing Sabato preparing ramen
“I feel... bored...” (なんか。。。つまんない。。。) – Chapter 101, after she spent 3 days without seeing ghosts and Rinne
“He’s probably gonna haunt you the same way until you pay up” (おとなしく払わないとずっとつきまとうかも) - Chapter 172, to Rika who is followed by Rinne, expecting her to pay for fixing her coat that was being haunted by a mannequin
“Actually I... was thinking the same thing” (本当は私も。。。そう思ってた) - Chapter 195, when Rinne says that he wants to eat her lunch with her
“It wasn’t all in vain. I got to know the hardships of Rokudou’s job.” (無駄じゃなかった。六道くんの仕事の大変さがわかったし。) – Chapter 236, after her training to exorcise 7 spirits ended
“Somehow this time, Rokudo was more devilish than him...” (なんか、今回は六道くんのほうが悪魔的みたいな。。。) – Chapter 252, when Rinne spent too much money trying to restore Masato’s devil wings, in hope of getting malignant eradication points for the evil spirit exorcism reinforcement weekend
“It’s been a long time since I got so scared...” (久々こわかった。。。) – Chapter 291, shortly after seeing that the spirit road she and others went through led directly close to the Wheel of Reincarnation
“If it’s that money, I can’t accept it.” (そういうお金なら受け取れないよ) – Chapter 332, upon believing that the money Rinne would give her to pay her back is Ageha’s

"It's not about money, stupid. Rokudo, you money-grubber!" (お金の話じゃないよバカっ. 六道くんの金の亡者!) - Chapter 392, angrily to Rinne who was telling her he would take the chance to pay her back through his recent profits, for she thought he sold his string bracelet which she considered an important souvenir
"I... could have... been in love with Rokudo." (私。。。もしかすると、六道くんのこと好きだったのかな。) - Chapter 397

Trivia

Her first name Sakura (桜) means "cherry blossom" or "cherry tree".
Her last name Mamiya (真宮) is made up of the characters for "truth" and "shrine, palace". It is written with the kanji for a Buddhist sect and a Shinto shrine. It can also mean "true princess".
Her father works at a bank.
She seems to have a weakness to cute things.
She looks similar to both Kikyō and Kagome from Inuyasha.
- She also resembles Shoko from The Diet Goddess.
- Her behavior is also similar to Kasumi from Ranma ½.
To date, Sakura is the most calm and laid-back of Rumiko Takahashi's female protagonists, even more so than Kagome. While she doesn't hesitate to scold Rinne at times, she is a lot less prone to angry bursts of rage or violence.
She gained the ability to see ghosts when she went to the spirit world because she ate some candy there when she was a child. This is fairly similar to the story of Persephone and her leaving the underworld in Greek mythology.