Sakura Iwaizumi

**"Insignificant being be gone!"**

**Sakura Iwaizumi** (Japanese: **岩泉 桜** *Iwaizumi Sakura*) was first-year student from Date Tech High; she is the volleyball team`s manager. She is the biological mother of Eita Iwaizumi, Veronica Iwaizumi, Elizabeth Iwaizumi, and Petra Iwaizumi, as well as being Hajime Iwaizumi`s younger sister. All of her daughters are born from blood samples of her and Hajime`s blood, making them husband and wife. After marrying Hajime, Sakura changed her name from **Sakura Iwaizumi** (**岩泉 桜** Iwaizumi Sakura) to **Sakura Honda** (Japanese: **本田 桜** *Honda Sakura*). In reality, she is Marie`s biological daughter who she had at age 16, born from the blood of Hitoka Yaichi and Marie`s own blood, thus meaning that Hajime is not related to her.

## Appearance

Being a Designer Baby, Sakura possesses many typical traits of Designer Babies, such as; faster aging, a more child-like appearance, and a an unusual eye color, as noted by many of the Scientists who raised her. Because of her more weaker and frail body frame, she was tossed out like trash and given to several couples who all rejected her. Eventually, she was adopted by the Iwaizumi Family and given their last name. Hajime even commented that he didn`t know that Sakura was a Designer Baby until he noticed how slowly she aged. Sakura has long dark blue hair with two braided pigtails and wears a flower hairpin on the right side of her hair. She has yellow colored eyes and a petite body figure. Four months after entering High School, she has tied her hair into a single braided ponytail which she wears in front of her shoulder at chest level.

## Personality

Sakura is sincere and hardworking, taking her job as a manager very seriously. Rarely does she let people on her team slack off, and usually has to yell at the other first-years on the team. Despite her hardworking nature, Sakura has a sarcastic side which she uses to provoke her team`s opponents much to the dismay of her team members. Being a type o, Sakura is a generous, kind-hearted and loving person. Due to this, she adapts well to changes, being more resilient and flexible than people with other blood types in tough and stressful situations. She is shown to have a short temper whenever her upperclassmen cause trouble and is prone to throwing balls at them, causing her anger to be feared.

## Plot

#### **Interhigh Arc**

Sakura is first seen in the first match between Datekou and Karasuno High, where she is sitting on the bench with Date Tech`s Coaches observing the match and writing down notes.

#### **Spring High Preliminary Arc**

Later on, she appears as a spectator at the Karasuno vs Johzenji High match along with Futakuchi, Aone, Sakunami, and Obara. Sakunami comments that the volleyball club always spends more than half of each practice session playing 2-on-2 games. On that same page, he says he has a friend on the Johzenji High basketball team, which is how he knows this. In the Spring Tournament, she encourages her team before they go up against Aobajohsai High in the quarterfinals, with the role of "observing" the match.

### Stats

 Stamina
 Game Sense
 Technique
 Speed

Being a former Volleyball player, Sakura has incredible power, jumping, stamina, and speed. She is said to be Date Tech`s ultimate weapon and has incredible analyzing abilities, which rival that of Keishin Ukai and Ikkei Ukai. Her abilities were enough to make her a starting player on the Date Tech Girls` Volleyball Team before her injuries grew too severe and she was forced to retire from playing Volleyball. Despite that, her abilities are highly valued and she is able to play for a few minutes before her injuries start acting up.

## Relationships

#### **Date Tech High**

She is well respected by her teammates and her analyzing abilities make her team value her even more. She has unparalleled technique among the first-years at Date Tech and is able to execute several moves that made her indispensable in air-to-air combat while she was a volleyball player. Due to this, many of her teammates constanally ask her advice when it comes to volleyball.

#### **Family**

* **Hajime Iwaizumi**: Her adoptive older brother, the two are rather close and Sakura refers to him as Hajime onii-san.

* **Daughters**: She holds a good relationship with her adoptive daughters, and is usually asked questions about volleyball.

#### **Other Teams**

* **Shiratorizawa Academy**: They have heard of Sakura, but were disappointed when she went to Date Tech claiming that "we are the better school."
* **Aobajohsai High**: Like Shiratorizawa Academy, they have heard of Sakura and she was offered a recommendation from her Junior High Coach to go to Aobajohsai. Later on, they encounter her when Date Tech faces Aobajohsai High in the Spring Tournament during the quarterfinals.

## Quotes

* "*Date Tech may not be a top five school but they have wisdom and strength. That is all we need."* (To Aobajohsai Coaches, Season 1 Episode 25)
* "*Coffee Jelly is tasty."* (To herself, Season 1 Episode 29)

## Trivia

* The name **Sakura** means "A flowering cherry tree"
* Sakura`s maiden name **Iwaizumi** means "rock spring/fountain" (岩) (**iwa**) and "spring/fountain" (泉) (**Izumi**).

* Favorite Food: Coffee Jelly
* Sakura`s true maiden name is **Porosha**, before being changed to Iwaizumi after she was adopted.
* Sakura is a Designer Baby, thus she grew up faster than most children but started to show shows of slowed aging as she got into her later teenager years.
* **Nomenclature**
	+ Sakura (桜) - *A flowering cherry tree*
	+ Iwaizumi (岩泉) - *Rock (Iwa) Spring/Fountain (Izumi)*
	+ Honda (本田) - *Original Rice Paddy*
	+ Porosha (雪) - *Fresh powdery snow that fell at night*