Sasaki Shuumei

* Anime
* Manga

**Shuumei Sasaki** (佐々木 秀鳴, *Sasaki Shūmei*) is one of the two eponymous main characters of Sasaki and Miyano. While he has a reputation as a bad boy, he is very affectionate towards his boyfriend, Miyano Yoshikazu and enjoys spending time with him.

## Appearance

He is tall and of average build, with red hair. He has a snaggletooth in the left side of his mouth which shows when he smiles widely. He also has a number of piercings: three helix piercings and one lobe piercing in the left ear and two lobe piercings in the right ear. Appearance-wise, he gives off the impression of a bad boy to other students.

Sasaki normally used to wear the school uniform: a white shirt with some buttons undone with a reddish t-shirt underneath, long navy blue pants and sometimes a light brown sweater but at some events the school jacket. There were times when he would wear a cream-colored scarf with brown and olive green plaid. In colder times he wore a high-necked black jacket.

## Personality

Initially, Sasaki is presented as a bright and cheerful upperclassman, albeit overly anxious; however, this is not necessarily the full picture. He can be impulsive, acting or speaking without thinking about the consequences or the people around him. He can be a bit apathetic at times, both with his friends and with his family.

His personality can drastically change when around Miyano, showing a more cheerful, caring, and somewhat flirtatious side of himself, as well as trying to be as careful and soft as possible in his manner of speech. He is protective of Miyano and shows a more intimidating side of himself when someone bothers him, even scaring Ogasawara.

## Story

In the past, Sasaki didn't pay much attention to his studies, and used to spend more time with his friends, setting off fireworks at night. One day, his best friend from middle school, Ogasawara Jirou, told him that he and Yokota Eimi, another friend from middle school, started dating, something that didn't surprise Sasaki at all.

He went out one night and completely ignored his older sister, Satoko, who told him not to. After a little mishap, she went to the place where Sasaki and his friends were setting off fireworks. Sasaki tried to leave but Satoko tried to stop him. Sasaki intended to give her a light shove out of the way, but since he didn't know how to control his strength he ended up knocking her to the ground. He regretted his actions immediately afterwards.

After arriving home, Satoko scolded their parents for their inattentiveness and then scolded her brother for his attitude. Sasaki said that he'd do better from now on.

In his second year of high school, Sasaki Shuumei places his hand on Miyano Yoshikazu's shoulder and states he is going to go and break up the fight taking place nearby. Three months later, Sasaki is happy to tell Miyano that he is looking as cute as ever. Reminded not to call him that, Sasaki responds Miyano is cute on the inside. Greeting him good morning by hugging him, Sasaki then later finds Miyano in class to ask him about the manga related terminology he has been using. Unsure of what the words 'seme', 'uke', and 'moe', Sasaki asks if Miyano has any manga suggestions. Mentioning how he liked this shoujo manga that he borrowed from his sister, Sasaki is presented a book by Miyano to read.

He looks for Miyano after having read the book, and Sasaki begins to discuss the two guys going to the love hotel together. Miyano covers Sasaki's mouth to shut him up, embarrassed, and takes him away to a more secluded place so they can discuss it more privately. Having never read anything like that before, Sasaki states it was kind of shocking, but was a good story.

Remembering how he read the book at home, Sasaki elaborates how in reading a story about two guys, seeing how the protagonist struggled with so much yet managed to deal with it is a calm, cool manner, it really struck him. Listening as Miyano enthusiastically speak of what he liked, Sasaki finds him really cute. Sasaki requests that Miyano loan him another book.

## Relationships

### Miyano Yoshikazu

Not surprisingly, Sasaki's relationship with Miyano Yoshikazu is the crux of the series. Initially meeting when Sasaki stops Miyano from saving Kuresawa from getting beat up by stepping in himself, Sasaki is immediately drawn to Miyano, learning his class from Hirano and often stopping by. Their relationship truly begins when Sasaki asks Miyano to lend him a manga, and Miyano decides to lend him his BL manga. Sasaki shows real interest in the manga and the two begin to talk more often after that where he enjoys seeing Miyano's happiness while discussing what he likes.

Sasaki has clear interest in Miyano from the start, often thinking Miyano is cute and that he wants to touch him. However, as they become closer Sasaki finds much and more to like about Miyano, and his feelings grow as time goes on.

### Hirano Taiga

One of Sasaki's classmates, he and Hirano Taiga are often seen together at school, though neither claim to be particularly close to the other and they do not usually hang out outside of school. Despite this odd distance, Hirano and Sasaki are rather close, Hirano letting Sasaki copy his notes and helping Sasaki with his studies before tests. Hirano is initially suspicious of Sasaki's intentions with Miyano, but loosens up when he sees the two of them become friends.

### Ogasawara Jirou

One of Sasaki's friends and classmates. Ogasawara Jirou and Sasaki have known each other since before high school, and are good enough friends that Ogasawara visits Sasaki's house and receives hand-me-downs from Sasaki's sister's boyfriend on occasion. They share an interest in music and like similar bands, borrowing and returning CDs between themselves. Sasaki has also met Ogasawara's girlfriend.

### Kuresawa Tasuku

One of Sasaki's juniors. Though the two of them are not close, Kuresawa Tasuku does look up to and respect Sasaki for helping him when he was getting beat up, and they maintain a friendly relationship as upper and underclassmen.

### Kagiura Akira

Kagiura Akira is one of Sasaki's juniors. Sasaki knows that Kagiura is Hirano's roommate and he also notices that Kagiura is pretty fond of Hirano as he states it in chapter 3 of "Hirano and Kagiura". Kagiura is also aware that Sasaki is Hirano's classmate. Although it was never showed, they have probably met each other. In chapter 46, Sasaki asks Shirahama to see Kagiura, referring to him as "Kagi-kun", implying they've met. It is unknown that if they get along or not but in a drama CD of "Sasaki and Miyano", in the amusement park episode, it is stated by Hirano that Kagiura doesn't really likes Sasaki.

### Sasaki's Family

Sasaki is the only son of his four-person family. They own and run a bakery, where Sasaki often helps out.

### Sasaki Satoko

Sasaki's older sister who helps with cooking while he sets the table. Personality-wise, loudmouthed and cheerful, Sasaki Satoko is almost the opposite of her brother at home. The siblings often bicker and butt heads, Satoko constantly telling her brother off and snitching on him to their mother. However, it is clear that both of them care for each other.

## Sasaki and Boys Love

Sasaki is first introduced to the genre 'boys love' (BL) through Miyano, who was also already an avid fan. Despite having never read the genre before, he is open-minded and expresses a genuine interest in learning more about Miyano's hobbies. He confesses, after reading the first volume Miyano lends him, that the content shocked him a bit, as he did not expect the story to take that sort of turn, but that he wound up truly enjoying the characters' struggles and professes a desire for Miyano to continue loaning him BL manga.

While he does not seem quite as fanatic about the genre and initially largely read the books in an effort to learn more about Miyano, as Sasaki gets more immersed in the genre, he gains an independent interest in it and later buys BL manga and watches BL television series on his own, even inviting Miyano to attend BL exhibitions together. He is also quick to defend the genre to his own classmates, like Ogasawara, who derides it. He is fond of gag manga in particular.

## Etymology

* **Sasaki** means "help, aid" (佐) (**sa**) and "tree, wood" (木) (**ki**).
* **Shuumei** means "excellent, outstanding" (秀) (**shuu**) and "ringing" (鳴) (**mei**).

## Trivia

* Sasaki is a dog person more than a cat person.
* Sasaki loves to bake. He helps out at his family's bakery in the mornings - sometimes he goes back to bed afterwards, and winds up almost late for school.
* Sasaki typically has bread for lunch, which he gets from his family's bakery every morning.
* Sasaki loves sweets, but doesn't like spicy foods, carbonated drinks, or mint flavor. On every 22nd of the month he gets a shortcake.
* Sasaki is bad with alcohol and claims his whole family is.
* Sasaki has a sensitive tongue and can't handle hot drinks well.
* Sasaki gets motion sick on airplanes and buses. He doesn't like the gum type for medication.
* Though Sasaki is not good at studying and rarely even takes his textbooks home, he is naturally good at math.
* Sasaki's shoe size is 28 cm.
* In his second year, Sasaki class did a haunted house at the school cultural festival where he played Hanako-san of the Toilet.
* In his first year, Sasaki temporarily dyed his hair black. The color did not take well and many around him teased him, calling him a calico cat.
* Sasaki likes watching TV.
* Sasaki is ticklish; particularly, his ears are sensitive.
* According to Miyano, Sasaki smells sweetly of bread.
* Sasaki's power level is 52, though he tends not to use his strength.
* Sasaki's image animal is the lion.