Saki Asami

Saki Asami
File:Saki pointing.png
Japanese Name	浅海 サキ (Asami Saki)
Weapon	Riding crop

"We believe in you, Kazumi, just like how you believe in us." - Saki Asami, Chapter 3.

Saki Asami (浅海 サキ, Asami Saki) is a character in Puella Magi Kazumi Magica: The Innocent Malice.

She is a Puella Magi, and the effective leader of the Pleiades Saints.

Personality

Saki is tough on the outside and always maintains her cool, as required from someone in her position. However, she cares not only for the safety of her teammates safety, but also for their morale. She effectively assumes leadership of the Pleiades Saints, and is an apt commander both in battle and outside of it.

She is also known to have short fuse at times, having angry reactions to being teased or provoked.

History

This section may contain major spoilers for the Kazumi Magica manga!

Please refrain from reading if you haven't read the latest chapter yet.

Get up, Saki! PUELLAE LEAD THE WAY!!!

After a witch traps Kaoru and Umika inside of itself and takes off, Saki, Nico, Satomi, and Mirai come to Kazumi's help. They introduce themselves as the Pleiades Saints, a seven-girl witch-hunting team of which Kazumi and her abducted friends are also a part of. Together, they search for Kaoru and Umika across town. While they search, the mysterious girl from previous chapters, Yuuri, disguises herself as Satomi and separates Kazumi from the rest of the team. Upon meeting with the real Satomi, Saki realized they had been tricked, and leads the girls to where the fake Satomi brought Kazumi. They proceed to rescue Kazumi just as she is on the verge of defeat. Kazumi is then held by her opponent at gunpoint, causing them all to hesitate. Kazumi screams out for them to attack anyway, and they fire a joint attack at the mysterious girl: Fili Del Toano. It causes a large explosion, but the magical girl gets away. Kazumi is only lightly wounded.

They reunite at Umika's house for a strategy meeting. While analyzing the situation, Saki makes a breakthrough. She discovers the symbol the witch left across town was also on the back of a book, leading her to conclude the witch has possessed a bookmobile. After filling up on Kazumi's delicious food, they head out to the last stop on the bookmobile schedule to intercept it. Upon arrival, Saki orders Kazumi to stay outside. She protests, afraid that they do not trust her, but Saki reassures her, explaining that their plan is to seal the witch and have Kazumi fire Limiti Esterni from the outside to finish it off. The girls plunge into the witch's barrier, and rescue Kaoru and Umika just in time. Together, the six of them bind the witch with Episodio Incrocio. However, Nico's GPS/com unit breaks, leaving them unable to give Kazumi the needed signal. Umika, thinking quickly, commands them to use candy flutes given to them by Kazumi. The sound reaches her, and the witch is destroyed by Limiti Esterni.

While they reunite and celebrate their victory, they are approached by Jubey, the "fairy" (妖精) that turned them into Puellae Magi. He cleans up their Soul Gems, and gladly accepts the last witch's Grief Seed. He then refuses a couple of weird looking seeds, obtained from the pseudo-witches of Chapters 1 and 2, saying they were not real Grief Seeds. Umika theorized they imitated the Grief Seed's power and were created by the mysterious girl from before. Before they could draw further conclusions, they are attacked by that very girl, Yuuri. She kidnaps Kazumi, and orders them to go to the Asunaro Dome at midnight if they want Kazumi back. While waiting for the deadline at Umika's house, they speculate on Yuuri's motivations. However, Saki couldn't care less about it: she was impatient to save Kazumi, despite their wounds.
At the right time, they arrive at the dome, but to a force barrier they can do nothing but watch as Yuuri enacts her plans. Yuuri states her objective is to seek revenge on the Pleiades. She interprets the Pleiades' failure to recognize her as having been "just that insignificant" to the girls. She then removes her hat, causing a shocked Umika to recognize her, and proceeds to shove an Evil Nut, one of the awkward Grief Seeds from before, into Kazumi's forehead, while the Pleiades scream in horror.

However, Kazumi is able to free herself, and engages Yuuri. During the battle, Yuuri's Soul Gem begins to crack, prompting Saki to order Juubey to cleanse it. Yuuri shoots him first and becomes a witch. Along with the other Pleaides, Saki is trapped on a cross in the witch's barrier, and is enveloped in thorny vines.

The magical girls are then shown a vision of the witch's past as Airi. After that, Kazumi falls under the influence of the Evil Nut and breaks free. However, she is unwilling to fight the witch and even attempts to change her back. Saki then shoots the witch, freeing herself and the other Saints. They then attack the witch as they explain to Kazumi that they have no choice but to kill her. Finally Kazumi delivers the final blow, saying she wishes to share this burden with her friends.

Later, Saki is seen with Kaoru, Satomi, and Mirai confronting a magical girl named Sumire Akane (it's unclear if Umika or Nico are also present). Kaoru uses a spell called Tocco del Mare (English: Touch of the Sea), causing Sumire to scream. We then see Saki untransformed, holding out her Soul Gem.

While Kazumi is fighting Ayase and Luca Souju, Saki telepathically contacts Nico and asks if she "acquired it yet" - presumably referring to Ayase's Soul Gem. Later she appears with the other Pleiades Saints and catches the Evil Nuts that the Soujus threw at Nico and Kazumi. Kaoru says they'll be taking the Soujus' gems. Saki tells Kaoru not to do it in front of Kazumi, but Nico says Kazumi already saw her doing it. Kaoru pulls out both Ayase and Luca's gems with the spell Tocco del Mare. Kazumi angrily asks the others why they're taking the Soul Gems of other magical girls, saying that she said earlier she would bear the burden with her friends. Against Saki's objections, Umika says she'll tell Kazumi the truth about the Pleiades Saints, but is interrupted by Nico's Soul Gem glowing. As she falls over, a witch appears.

As Nico's Soul Gem cracks, we see background text of her thinking that that she'll die without a trace, and she wants everyone to remember. She thinks she doesn't want to kill anyone anymore. The runes coming out of her Soul Gem read "We have no future as long as he's around." The next page has a cover image of a golden-eyed Nico holding a gun, asking to be killed. The Pleiades are shocked to discover Nico has become a witch. Repeatedly shouting "Cut", the witch turns her hands into a single pair of scissors. Kaoru transforms and blocks the attack using Capitano Potenza ("Captain Power"), which encases her arms in a black metallic substance. The witch fires projectiles from its body. Kaoru turns to the others and tells them not to stand there. Umika encases herself, Kazumi, and Satomi in a barrier. Saki pushes Mirai in, but is wounded. Mirai flips out and uses her attack La Bestia ("The Beasts") causing an army of teddy-bears to appear and chew on the witch. When the witch throws them off, Mirai uses La Bestia Refare ("Remake the Beast"). The bears start hugging each other and turn into a giant bear that Mirai jumps on. The bear pounces on the witch and pulls it into a bear hug. Mirai leaps into the air, turns her wand into a giant sword, and cuts both the bear and the witch in half. The witch dies, yelling "Cut" one last time. She drops a Grief Seed (which notably looks different than Nico's Soul Gem).

Mirai asks Saki if she's alright, but she's still processing Nico's death. Mirai tells her she had to do it, but is interrupted by Satomi screaming that she doesn't want to die or turn into a witch. Kazumi takes the hand of Nico's body and finds it's cold. As she shouts Nico's name, a voice says "You called?" Everyone is shocked to see another Nico standing behind them. As Kazumi asks what's going on, the other Nico walks up to the first Nico's body, puts her arm around her neck, and with a disturbing expression says "Switch". She then touches the hair of the body, and it's face suddenly vanishes. Jubey, a disturbing grin on his face, says that the body was Nico's "spare" and "compensation for Nico's contract". Kaoru asks why Nico didn't tell them. Nico says that to deceive an enemy, you have to deceive your allies. Kaoru punches her, then gives her a hug. Nico then says they should cut to the chase. Kaoru tells Saki Kazumi can handle it.

The scene switches to Mirai's teddy bear museum, "Angelica Bears". Mirai says that in Japanese it's called "Ashitaba" (literally "tomorrow's leaf") and says that Kazumi came up with the name. As they walk inside, they step onto a magic circle. Umika holds out her ring, suddenly transporting them all somewhere else. Umika tells Kazumi that the museum was born from them meeting with her. The walk up to a giant door, which opens into a giant room filled with girls floating in tanks. The middle of the room contains a pile of Soul Gems. Umika explains that after they take Soul Gems, they put the empty shells of the magical girls into "the Freezer". Kazumi says that Ayase was right, and asks why they're doing this. Jubey says that it's their response to the magical girl system, which is full of contradictions: Rejection.

Powers, Weapons & Abilities

Saki's lightning in action

Saki has the ability to control lightning. She can summon thunderbolts from her riding crop, and can fire them indirectly by firing them upwards and sending them back straight down, like a real thunderbolt.

Trivia

• When transformed, Saki sports a monocle, a military-style outfit, a beret and a riding crop, giving her the appearance of a high ranking military officer. It is quite suitable to her position within the group.
• She usually wears glasses: when transformed, they turn into a single monocle. How this affects her vision is unknown.
• In contrast with her tough appearance, Saki seems to enjoy reading love stories. In her backpack, titles such as "My First Love Was The Milky Way" and "Lemon Kiss Stories" can be seen.

Speculation

• There is an astonishing lack of detail on Saki's lower half when transformed, between her jacket and her high boots, which caused some speculation that she might actually be naked. While it is probably a simple drawing mishap, the effect is quite noticeable.
  It should also be noted that Kaoru, who wears a skin-tight suit, looked naked as well in more than a few panels.
  • Chapter 8 shows that Saki is wearing trousers, so this is certainly just a drawing mishap.
• While it is speculated that the Pleiades are hiding something from Kazumi, likely the true nature of witches, it is possible that Saki is hiding other facts. She has, in several occasions, said mysterious sentences about her past, and cut conversations short.
  In particular, a statement by Yuuri pertaining to Kazumi's relation with Saki caused an irate "shut up!" from her.
• Despite her constant attacks on Kazumi, Saki seems to be the Pleiad Yuuri hates the most. Both their short conversation ended in one of the yelling. First, Saki accuses Yuuri of being a coward for using Kazumi as a human shield, to which Yuuri responds "Look who's talking!". Later, Saki violently tells her to shut up when asked if Kazumi was "the person you don't want to show your filthy hands to", the meaning of which is still a mystery.

Gallery

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  Saki's unexpected choice of reading.

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  Saki stating her belief in Kazumi.

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  A lot bad blood between Saki and Yuuri.

Fanart

This section contains fanart images

Everything in the following fan gallery is created, or the comments accompanying them are created, for entertainment value and should not be confused with actual canon events of the Puella Magi franchise.

• SakiFanart.png