Kyoko Sakura
| Kyoko Sakura | |
|---|---|
| |
| Japanese Name | 佐倉 杏子 (Sakura Kyōko) |
| Character Designer Primary Artist |
Ume Aoki |
| Voiced by | Japanese: Ai Nonaka English: Lauren Landa Italian: Veronica Puccio Cantonese: Choi An Hung French: Nayeli Forest Russian: Polina Rtishcheva (in Magia Record) Spanish: Marga López (Anime) / Graciela Molina (Rebellion) Mexican Spanish: Itzel Mendoza (in Magia Record) Brazilian Portuguese: Juliana Yamada (in Magia Record) |
| Portrayed by | Kyoko Saito (In the Magia Record Stage Play) |
"I see you wasting food like that again, I will kill you." - Kyoko Sakura, Episode 7.
Kyoko Sakura (佐倉 杏子 Sakura Kyōko) is a veteran magical girl who appears to Sayaka and Madoka in episode 5, but not before making a brief appearance at the end of episode 4. She is introduced as an abrasive, fiery, and self-centered girl who fights only for self but later adopts a more sympathetic outlook.
In the spin-off manga Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story, Kyoko serves as the main protagonist alongside Mami Tomoe.
General Info
| Physical Features | |
|---|---|
| Age | 14 (shown here) |
| Eye colour | Red |
| Hair colour | Dark Red |
| Height | 156-158 cm |
| Magic | |
| Soul Gem | Red eye located on chest |
| Weapon | Multi-jointed Spear |
| Witch Form | Ophelia |
| Powers and Abilities | Illusions (lost), lattice barriers |
| Wish | “I wish that everyone would listen to what Father has to say.” |
| Other | |
| Likes | Sweet things |
| Dislikes | Crowded places |
| Strengths | Arcade dance games |
| Japanese pronoun | atashi (あたし) |
| Known relatives | Unnamed parents (deceased), Momo Sakura (younger sister; deceased) |
| Origins | Kazamino City |
| School | The "Sunny Day Life" Drama CD points out that Kyoko doesn't go to school. In The Rebellion Story, she is shown attending Mitakihara Middle School. |
Personality
"Ever hear of something called the food chain? Didn’t they teach you it in school? The witches go and eat weak humans. And then we hunt them down and eat the witches. It’s the natural way of things. The weak have to give up to the strong." - Kyoko Sakura, Episode 5.
Kyoko first appeared as a magical girl who came from another town to take over Mami's turf after hearing of her death. According to the Drama CD "Farewell Story", Kyoko is from the neighboring city of Kazamino. She was initially introduced as a callous, arrogant magical girl who simply has supernatural powers and had abandoned the premise of justice and benevolence. In short, she didn't hesitate in any sense in using her magic powers for her own selfish benefit and did not mind sacrificing humans to familiars if it meant obtaining a Grief Seed.
Kyoko was the elder daughter of a preacher. Her father started to deviate from regular doctrine and was excommunicated for it - Kyoko used her wish to get her father more followers; however, upon finding this out, her father went insane and killed the entire family except Kyoko, (in Madoka Portable, Kyoko is gone when her father kills her family) then committed suicide by hanging himself from the church ceiling. After her family's death, Kyoko was introduced to the principles of "Dog eat dog world", "you get what you pay for" and "Kill or be killed/Eat or be eaten" and started to live by them. She uses her magic and other abilities mainly for herself due to the belief that helping somebody else will only result in something bad.
Kyoko seems abrasive and selfish but has a somewhat soft side as well. She values food a lot and chastises those who waste it. After her father lost supporters, Kyoko and her family (parents, Kyoko herself, Momo, her little sister) nearly starved. She may have experienced trauma from her family's death giving her an eating disorder of sorts, or erasing the memory of hunger. She is rather tomboyish, with barely any femininity at all if any. This is where she differs from Sayaka's boyishness: whereas Sayaka has a bit of a girlish streak due to the fact that she is interested in romance, Kyoko only demonstrates a nice side, and likes stories with happy endings.
She seems to be very faithful in God as during her final moments in the original timeline getting killed by Oktavia (she does live in the world reconstructed by Madoka, but does not remember her), she prays to God to show her a "happy dream." . It's uncertain what exactly this means, but presumably she is pleading to be shown something happy like her family all being alive and happy, in the form of a dream, or to allow her to die peacefully and ascend to Heaven.
- Kyoko's backstory is told in the Drama CD "Farewell Story".
- A NewType article goes into more details regarding Kyoko's character and behavior.
- Rebellion shows that under normal circumstances, Kyoko has the typical attitude of a lazy, slackerish schoolgirl, and loses many of the abrasive points of her personality.
Story
Each sub-section below contains major spoilers.
Please refrain from reading if you are not yet familiar with the specific release.Kyoko in the Anime
- In episode 6 when she approaches Sayaka as she is about to visit Kyosuke, Kyoko scoffs at Sayaka's wish. She states that if she wanted him that badly, she should just go in and break his hands and legs, leaving him crippled and so that he would have to rely entirely on Sayaka so they could be together forever.
- Kyoko, in an effort to restore Sayaka to normal after she became a witch, takes Madoka to Oktavia's lair. After taking many hits defending herself and watching Madoka's attempts to reach her prove futile, Kyoko "sacrifices" herself to stop Oktavia and save Madoka. This also allowed Homura, who had just arrived, to rescue Madoka and leave the witch's lair with her.
- In a previous timeline, Kyoko is killed by a mentally broken Mami after the fight with Oktavia. Having gone mad after learning what happens to magical girls with time, Mami shot and destroyed Kyoko's Soul Gem, killing her in what she saw as a mercy kill that would save Kyoko from becoming a witch.
- Kyoko is brought back to life by Madoka's wish in Episode 12
Kyoko in Wraith Arc
| Warning, this section contains spoilers about the manga. |
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Kyoko in The Rebellion Story
| Warning, this section contains spoilers about the movie. |
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Kyoko in The Different Story
- Kyoko's illusion ability recovers a little in the 3rd volume, when she tries to stop Mami from committing suicide. (Die with Oktavia)
- She not only can make multiple images of herself, but also can make other kinds of illusions. She fakes Mami to believe her own soul gem is cleansed, to stop Mami from turning into Candeloro.
- Kyoko finally is defeated by a witch and dies. Before this, she gets a grief seed from Oktavia to cleanse Mami's soul gem.
- Kyoko and Madoka becomes secret friends when Madoka visits Kyoko.
Kyoko in the PSP Game
- Kyoko's Rosso Fantasma makes a return.
- It is used to daze opponents for several turns, leaving them open to attack.
- Kyoko is the only person that can prevent Sayaka from becoming a witch.
- Kyoko's family reappears in the game during a flashback.
- Kyoko's witch form is revealed: Ophelia.
- In the Homura route, Homura can choose Madoka, Mami or Kyoko to accompany her in the search for Sayaka. If she chooses Kyoko, Sayaka will be saved.
Kyoko in Kazumi Magica
- Kyoko made a brief appearance in chapter 16 of Kazumi Magica. She was mentioned in Michiru's diary, as she describes how she met Yuuri Asuka, who at that time was fighting against Kyoko.
Kyoko in Oriko Magica
"Just like what you read in manga, right? But it ain't like in manga where your overflowing love and courage is enough to give you the strength to save your butt. And ain't nothing can bring dead family members back to life." - Kyoko, Puella Magi Oriko Magica, Chapter 1.
- In Chapter 1, Kyoko takes in Yuma, a young girl orphaned when her parents are killed by a witch shortly before Kyoko kills it. Yuma has no one to go back to, and together they break into bathhouses and share a hotel room. Kyoko tries to instill her own morals into Yuma, and tells her to never disrespect and waste food. Yuma accompanies Kyoko to fight Witches, and when checking for wounds on Yuma after she has a close call with a witch, Kyoko learns of Yuma's abusive past, and sympathizes with her even more. Kyubey appears and tells Kyoko about the murders of magical girls. He attempts to contract with Yuma, but Kyoko stops him and tells Yuma to never become a magical girl.
- In Chapter 2, Kyoko leaves Yuma in their hotel room and goes out to fight a witch alone. Kyoko nearly dies from having her legs and arms torn off by the witch. Yuma, who has just made a contract with Kyubey, uses her new healing powers to save her. Kyoko is incredibly angry that the girl didn't heed her warnings about contracting, but after Yuma cries about fearing that she's useless and that she had been pushed to the edge by a girl named Oriko, Kyoko subsides. She does, however, promise to make Oriko pay for what she'd done.
- In Chapter 3, Kyoko appears only once, and speaks with Mami about the recent murders of magical girls. Mami is looking for a "black magical girl", but Kyoko knows only as much as Mami does. Yuma then flips Mami's skirt in defense of Kyoko, thinking that Mami was bullying her caretaker. Kyoko tells her that she is mistaken about Mami, but thanks her for trying to be helpful. She asks Mami about Oriko, but Mami doesn't know anything and Kyoko will tell her no more about it.
- In Chapter 6, Kyoko and Yuma fight together with Mami against Kirika after saving the blond magical girl. The fact that a magical girl will become a witch in her despair, but Yuma's words unite them again and together with Mami, they defeat the witch Kirika.
- In Chapter 7, Oriko is killed, and everyone seems to be safe, but Oriko's final attack kills Madoka. Kyoko asks Yuma if she can heal her, but it's too late, so Homura resets the timeline.
Kyoko in Magia Record
See Kyoko Sakura in Magia Record
Powers and Abilities
Kyoko is seen to be quite the skilled fighter due to being a magical girl veteran similar to Mami. Her spear has been seen not only to cause devastating injuries but to split apart into a chain-like state in which she can use to wrap up foes and throw them around or simply hold them still. She can also use this form of her spear to gather up enemies and attack several at once. These spears have been seen to also be able to be summoned out of the ground to create walls to keep enemies away from others or to simply pike enemies. Her Magia from Magia Record involves her riding one of these giant spears into an enemy to cause an explosion. Though in the original anime, it is shown that by sacrificing her soul gem, she can cause an explosion similar to the effectiveness of a missile by breaking it with her spear. It is with this final attack that she sacrifices herself to defeat Oktavia von Seckendorff (Sayaka Miki).
Within Magia Record however, it has shown that she is able to connect with Iroha temporarily to form a combination between their crossbow and spear, Kyoko herself however appears to become a form of projectile that is strong enough to break down barriers.
Her main magical ability is that of enchantment or illusion as a result of her wish. With this she would have been able to make people believe what she wanted them to. She was even able to use the ability to create copies of herself to fool the enemy in combat and this ability seems to carry over to her witch form, Ophelia. Her special attack involving these copies was called Rosso Fantasma (Red Phantom) where she and they would all pierce the enemy with several strikes at once. Yet, due to personal reasons she has seemingly lost this ability as she does not use it in the anime and other timelines that take place.
She has also been seen to be able to create walls out of red diamonds which are formed much like a lattice. These can serve as a form of protection for herself or her allies as she has been shown to form barriers from them, these barriers were durable enough to deflect some of Oktavia's wheels. She can also keep people out of areas or trap them with these barriers if she wishes. These lattice barriers are also able to have weapons affixed to the end of them and can be used as a way to direct the weapons onto a target.
In Magia Record, she can summon her Doppel, Ophelia when her soul gem turns black. Ophelia has shown to be able to grant Kyoko increased agility as she rides upon it but also the ability to cause a devastating explosion of fire with an enlarged spear that the Doppel summons for Kyoko. Kyoko herself can also tie up or trap her enemies using the binding tools that Ophelia summons to keep them from moving.
She has also been seen to be able to enchant objects such as a pair of binoculars. It is presumed she can summon objects from her soul gem also such as her spear and it could be how she is able to obtain so much food as she may actually be using her magic to summon the things she wishes to eat.
Observations
- In Japan the colour red is associated with sacredness and resistance to negative energies which could be connected to both her Father's religious work and her continuing to fight after her wish indirectly caused the death of her family, something that would probably cause most Magical Girls to give into despair.
- In Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story a news broadcast indicates that a private residence in Kazamino City was caught on fire, inside the residency they found the bodies of the three members of the Sakura family. According with police the residents were forced in multiple suicide but the broadcast doesn't mention any other details. It is not known if the police suspected the father, or if the private residency was the Sakura Church.
- The Oriko manga reinforces the idea that Kyoko lacks a permanent residency, instead she takes shelter at a fancy hotel (it is never stated how is she able to afford it or what trick she used to obtain a room).
- This magazine article confirms the suspicion in regards to Kyoko's income, it also supports the idea that Kyoko has the ability from her wish to charm others ("mind trick") but doesn't use them as she suppresses them subconsciously because of the trauma with her family. Her powers had been described as persuasion/hallucination.
- Kyoko offers an apple to Sayaka while she advises her to live a life of selfishness but Sayaka refuses both of them. Sayaka believes that Kyoko's self-centered philosophy is just wrong and also rejects the fruit because she apparently believes it was stolen. Her attempt to tempt Sayaka with an apple and her suggestion to follow a path of selfish survivalism could be interpreted as Kyoko acting as the snake advising Sayaka to abandon the path of justice.
- Kyoko's father could be an Anglican priest since he is married, has children, and his clergy outfit is similar to their style. Another evidence is that his cathedral shares some architectural similarities to the Canterbury Cathedral.
Etymology
- Kyoko's first name contains the character for "apricot,"(杏子) a symbol of strength achieved through struggles with adversity.
- She may be named after Kyoko Kirisaki from the Black Cat manga series, a girl with the ability to create and control fire and with a penchant for killing others by incinerating them from the inside out. Similar to Kyoko's relationship with Mami, Kirisaki is rescued by the manga's protagonist and becomes infatuated with him, even adopting his personal philosophy of not killing others senselessly. In the manga series To Love Ru, from the same creators of Black Cat, there exists a character of the same name who is a popular idol and star of the magical girl TV series Magical Kyoko.
- Her surname, Sakura (桜), means "cherry blossom", which, according to Buddhist tradition, symbolizes the transience of life.
- The first character for Sakura (佐) means "to help" while the second (倉) means "warehouse."
- She may be named after Sakura Kinomoto, titular protagonist of the magical girl franchise Cardcaptor Sakura.
- Her last name can also be used as a first name.
Trivia
- In the Audio Commentary for Episode 7, Aoi Yuuki (Madoka) describes the character of Kyoko of being an anti-hero, a flawed human character that has to fight to overcome aspects of her unjust self, to attain an overall form of justice that she believes in.
- The first character of her name (杏) is the implied real first name (An) of Kafuka Fuura from Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. Both characters are voiced by Ai Nonaka.
- Apricot+ happens to be Ume Aoki's circle name [1].
- According with the Drama CD "Farewell Story", Kyoko has been a magical girl for a year before she met Mami. Since the Drama CD events takes place one year before the anime events, it is suspected that Kyoko has been a magical girl for at least two years, making her the second veteran of the group, after Mami.
- Ai Nonaka describes Kyoko's speech style to be Shouwa-ish (Shouwa era, 1926-1989), meaning an old style of talking.
- In the original draft for the script it is stated that Kyoko did steal the apples in Episode 7
- Production notes indicates that in Episode 9, Kyoko damaged her entire right torso.
- She could be said to resemble Hibiki Ganaha from THE iDOLM@STER franchise, to the point one could palette swap them into each other. Their hairstyles, expressions, and fangs are all similar. Even their casual and hyperactive personalities are the same.
- Her spear appears as linked pieces during combat much like a scorpion's tail, and could be a reference to the scorpion's spear.
- She uses warding spells in battle. Scorpions are often associated with protection/warding spells, in Egypt and Tibet the Scorpion is made into an amulet - signifying protection and warding off evil.
- The scorpion character who appears in Goethe's Faust is caught between the extremes of heaven or hell. Kyoko commits sins like letting people die and (likely) steals food, but in the same time she's seen as praying and she never allows wasting food.
- Despite appearing in the same grade alongside Madoka and Sayaka, it is possible that Kyoko is older than them, since there's no indication that she continued with school after the death of her family.
- Despite not having an official birthday stated, on May 9th of 2024, Aniplex America made a post that wished her a 'Happy Birthday'. Two days later they would follow up with an apology.
