Sakuta Azusagawa

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**Sakuta Azusagawa** (梓川 咲太, *Azusagawa Sakuta*) is the main male protagonist of *Seishun Buta Yarou wa Bunny Girl Senpai no Yume wo Minai*.

## Appearance

Sakuta's winter outfitSakuta's school uniform
Sakuta is a young man of average height and lean build with brown hair and brown eyes, and he has three claw marks that go across his chest, which are a result of Adolescence Syndrome. At times, his scars open during moments of extreme emotion, such as when Kaede Azusagawa experienced her adolescence Syndrome.

His school uniform consists of a white dress shirt, which is covered up by the standard light-brown colored blazer; on top of that he wears it unbuttoned, wearing a red tie and outdoor brown shoes as well as blue pants.

## Personality

Sakuta's most iconic trait is his consistent deadpan face and manner of speech, regardless of his emotional state. He's rather stoic and will often voice whatever he has on his mind with a calm demeanor. Sakuta is a socially isolated and calm individual as a result of his ordeal with adolescence syndrome. While he states that he is not bothered by what people think about him or care about trying to fit in and be accepted by his classmates, he does admit that rumors about him are sometimes quite painful to hear and that his indifference comes from a feeling that it is pointless to try and go against the "atmosphere"—the social order of school, and tries to hide from it. Nonetheless, he states that he doesn't care if the whole world would hate him, as long as one person would need him, and isn't hesitant about defying social norms.

Despite his reserved nature and somewhat anti-social demeanor, he's a very kind person who does show care and compassion for those he cares about, especially those who suffer from bullying or adolescence syndrome, like his sister and himself. Even if he doesn't mind if all the others hate him, as long as he only has one person on his side.

Sakuta is also not afraid to show his more playful and lecherous side and will often make blunt and straightforward lewd remarks to the girls he interacts with, especially his girlfriend Mai and his female friends Rio and Tomoe. However, these comments are mostly jokes he directs at others, and are by no means ill-intended.

All in all, Sakuta's personality can be summarized as being incredibly selfless, kind, and helpful, but also very snarky. He's often blunt, honest and straightforward with Mai, and he enjoys making lewd jokes that leave her flustered. Ultimately, they both love to tease each other, and they have very similar personalities: both are quick-witted, with a sarcastic streak, yet very kind and helpful, with an immensely good heart, and always do what's right.

## Background

Sakuta was part of a normal Japanese family until two years prior to the time of the first novel. On that day, his sister Kaede went to his room after being bullied online, and self-harm cuts suddenly appeared on her face and body. Kaede woke up the following day with no memories of her past. After her family went to the hospital, doctors confirmed that Kaede suffered from dissociative identity disorder. Despite Sakuta's efforts to interact with his sister over the following days, scars continued to emerge around her face and neck. Also, their mother started having a mental breakdown over the event.

The day after witnessing the breakdown, Sakuta woke up with three deep cuts to his chest and was hospitalized. Doctors refused to believe Sakuta's account of his experiences and even blamed him for his own injury. Once he was able to walk again, he snuck out of hospital and went to Shichirigahama Beach, where he met and told his story to a girl named Shoko Makinohara. Upon asking her why she chose to believe his story, Shoko simply replied that she wanted to spend her life being kinder than before. Moved, Sakuta asked if he could live like she did, which she approved. When he was released from the hospital, Sakuta gifted Kaede a pen and notebook, saying that they would write her name in hiragana, referring to her as the current Kaede.

Later on, as a way to sympathize with Kaede and to prevent further injuries, Sakuta threw his phone in the ocean. His hospitalization would later start the false rumor that Sakuta had engaged in violent activities that sent people to the hospital, which was dubbed the "Hospitalization Incident".

## Relationships

### Mai Sakurajima

The series' first novel centers on Sakuta's interactions with Mai, the first case of adolescence syndrome since his sister's that Sakuta had identified. Sakuta became intrigued after seemingly being the only person to see Mai, who he recognized as a senior from his high school, walk around Fujisawa library in a bunny-girl outfit, while everyone else at the library took no notice of her. Mai was still visible in and around school the next day, though students willingly chose not to interact with Mai, knowing that she was a famous actress who went on hiatus.

Mai first hears of adolescence syndrome when Sakuta suggests it as a cause of her not being seen by others. Sakuta lets Mai into his apartment to prove he knows what he is talking about, but when he makes remarks about Mai's acting career, Mai doesn't take it too well and storms off. Mai soon ends up at the door of Sakuta's apartment again, relying on him more and more as her adolescent syndrome worsens, such that she becomes invisible to more and more people. Though she gets angry at Sakuta for knowing why she went on hiatus, she at least asks how Sakuta found out, and returns the favor by contacting the journalist that parted with this information, preventing her from publishing Sakuta's scars; in exchange, she would give an exclusive interview announcing her return to showbiz. However, the following days disrupt Mai's plans because, as Sakuta also finds out, the people she had contacted before suddenly stopped becoming aware of her existence, including Mai's very own mother.

Sakuta and Mai go on a train all the way to Ōgaki, in Gifu Prefecture, hoping to find a place where people still recognize Mai. Their attempts are futile, so Sakuta books a night at a hotel. He calls his two friends and finds out that they still remember Mai. As a result, Sakuta and Mai return to where they came from and make it back to school by Monday lunchtime. Sakuta did not go to sleep during the hotel stay and was later given the suggestion that falling asleep would erase his memories of Mai. Sakuta attempts to stay awake for Mai's sake, but Mai becomes aware of this by Wednesday night. She offers to tutor him in his apartment, and while doing so, spikes his coffee with a sleeping pill in order to put Sakuta out of his misery. Sakuta wakes up on Thursday with no memory of Mai, as expected; her name had been erased from the diary entry Sakuta had written on Tuesday in a vain attempt to remember. When Sakuta sits for an exam later that day, he notices some questions on the exam being similar to questions he had been revising the night before, and eventually, all his memories of Mai return. He storms out of his classroom mid-exam and gets to the school's playing field, shouting his love for Mai such that other students are distracted from their own exams and look at him from the corridors. This eventually makes Mai appear to everyone again, within distance of Sakuta, although Mai gives him a slap for his troubles and refuses to answer his confession in front of the whole school.

In the following volumes, Mai and Sakuta solidify their relationship, even as the former gets busy resuming her acting and modelling career, which reduces the opportunities for them to properly date each other. There are times when Mai's jealousy of other girls with an interest in Sakuta can be made abundantly clear; however, Sakuta never truly crosses into infidelity territory despite his tendency to make lewd remarks, even at girls he has no interest in pursuing romantically.

### Kaede Azusagawa

Sakuta's sibling relationship with Kaede before her dissociation two years prior to the storyline remained largely unexplored until the eighth novel. After the dissociation, however, Kaede becomes overly attached to her older brother in a strange "brother complex.". This is justified by the fact that Sakuta attempted to reach out to Kaede's new personality while their parents refused to. As a result, Sakuta and Kaede moved into their own apartment shortly before the former began high school. Sakuta may at times be repulsed by his sister's brother-complex tendencies; nonetheless, Kaede respects Sakuta's relationship with Mai after they get together, although she suspects her brother to be a "gigolo" after inviting Rio, Shoko and Nodoka to their apartment on separate occasions afterwards.

In the fifth novel, Kaede writes up a list of goals to be achieved before the new year. These include talking on the phone to people other than Sakuta, stepping out of home, and eventually going to school. Sakuta is moved by her sister's new-found determination. However, when Kaede doesn't recognize an old classmate from middle school, Sakuta ends up having to explain the situation to Mai and Nodoka. Kaede is rushed to the hospital later that day after collapsing, suggesting that her memories are likely to return. Despite this, Sakuta continues to help Kaede achieve the rest of her goals. Kaede's several attempts to go to school overwhelm her; as a result, Sakuta skips school for her sake, taking Kaede to a zoo to see pandas. On the way back, Sakuta takes a detour that leads Kaede to the school she would be attending, and they sneak in to explore the school corridors at night. Kaede returns home and goes to sleep, only to wake up with her pre-dissociation memories restored. On that morning's hospital visit, doctors confirmed that Kaede suffered from amnesia again, causing Sakuta to storm out of the hospital in a frenzy and bleed from the scars on his chest again. Nonetheless, "old" Kaede was able to read the notebook that her alternate self left behind, and upon being discharged from the hospital, thanks her brother, knowing that she's no longer alone.

### Shoko Makinohara

Shoko, as a second-year Minegahara High student, first appeared to Sakuta at the beach after he fled there from the hospital a few days after the scars on his chest were discovered. She heard Sakuta's story and imparted the advice that Sakuta continues to keep close to his heart. Sakuta fell in love with her and chose to go to Minegahara High a year later because of her, but then found out that no student by the name of Shoko Makinohara ever attended Minegahara High.

A year after that, Sakuta would encounter a younger girl who also went by the name of Shoko Makinohara. She would often visit Sakuta's home to look after a stray cat that she had found, but she could not take it home herself. By October of that year, the older Shoko writes to Sakuta for a meeting; Sakuta, by that point, had moved on to be with Mai, thus leaves the beach early with a message written in the sand.

The older Shoko appears before Sakuta again after he bleeds from the chest once more on the day Kaede regained her memories. She helps Sakuta get back to his home, then reads Kaede's diary entries to him. She reminds Sakuta that the Kaede Sakuta had known for the past two years knew that she would be superseded when the actual Kaede regains her memories, and he would bear the same feelings of regret as he did two years ago.

Although the older Shoko was initially thought to have been an imagination, due to nobody else seeing her other than Sakuta, she eventually does appear to Mai, explaining that she has a heart disease. Sakuta eventually figures out that the older Shoko is a time-traveller who comes from a future in which Sakuta had died from a car accident, and his heart was donated to the younger Shoko in order for her to live on, which explains the link between his scars and Shoko appearing before him. Because the older Shoko developed feelings for Sakuta, she would go back in time and save Sakuta's life. After Mai gets run over in Sakuta's place instead, another Shoko from the future, this time saved by a transplant of Mai's heart, offers to send Sakuta back to before Mai was run over. The prevention of the deaths of either Sakuta or Mai convinces the younger Shoko, in an intensive care unit by then and having known all that happened through her dreams, to spare Sakuta from his misery by resetting the past three years.

### Tomoe Koga

Sakuta first encounters Tomoe at the playground downhill from where he lives. Tomoe had kicked Sakuta in the back after mistaking him for a pedophile when all he did was comfort a little girl who couldn't find her mother. After clearing up the misunderstanding, Tomoe lets Sakuta get even by kicking her butt; this, however, is noticed by a police officer on patrol, so they are questioned at the police station for over an hour before being released; this makes Sakuta run late for his date with Mai that day. In the light novel, Sakuta lets Tomoe know him by a fake alias ("Ichiro Satou"), while in the anime, neither reveal their names yet.

Tomoe and Sakuta would not encounter each other again until both realize they're living the same day (June 27) more than once, and ended up in the same room. The events that happen subsequently cause the loop to break, to Sakuta's dismay; the events had strained Mai's relationship with him. Tomoe then happens to join Sakuta as a colleague at the diner he works in; after their shift, she ropes Sakuta into pretend-dating her, partly due to her own insecurities which reminded Sakuta of his sister when she was being bullied.

On the last day of school before summer break (July 18), Tomoe and Sakuta agree to leave their fake relationship behind. However, Tomoe unknowingly causes that day to start again in the morning. On the fourth loop, Sakuta deviates from their planned journey to the beach and instead leads Tomoe up to the Enoshima Shrine. At the summit, Sakuta asks Tomoe to let go of her feelings for him because he's already committed himself to Mai. When she does so, time rewinds back to June 27, and Tomoe happily becomes just a friend and colleague to Sakuta. Their interactions from then on are limited to the place they work at, despite both still attending the same school.

Tomoe's experience with Adolescence Syndrome becomes important in the seventh novel, for it enabled her to be the first person to see Sakuta across different time planes. After seeing a Sakuta from four days into the future on Christmas Eve, she is directed to see the Sakuta of her present at Fujisawa hospital.

### Rio Futaba

Rio is one of the two friends Sakuta made at Minegahara High because they didn't buy into the rumors that Sakuta hospitalized three children. Rio also initially did not believe that adolescence syndrome exists, instead using long-discredited scientific propositions (Schrödinger's cat and Laplace's demon) to explain the situations of Mai and Tomoe respectively. Rio often comments that Sakuta is a "rascal" (ブタ野郎だね, *buta yarō da ne*), which becomes a catchphrase and forms part of the title of the series.

Rio only starts to be convinced of adolescence syndrome once it happens to her during summer break, causing her to literally split into two Rio Futaba's. Sakuta makes an effort to visit both Rios over the coming days. The Rio that continued to post suggestive pictures of her body on a social media feed is then doxxed, with the doxxer recognizing Rio's uniform and threatening to tell her school. On Rio's plea, Sakuta takes control of her feed before terminating it. That Rio later has Sakuta stay the night at her home, only for Sakuta to call Yuuma over to their nearest station to meet up. They spent the rest of the night awake, letting off fireworks at the beach. While this Rio feels better about herself, the other Rio, who had been staying over at Sakuta's home since, runs away and is found at Minegahara High contemplating suicide. Sakuta, who found her, collapses soon afterwards and is taken to the hospital. after being discharged, Sakuta convinces the runaway Rio to attend a fireworks festival later that week, letting the other Rio know via a phone call and thus unifying both Rios.

### Nodoka Toyohama

Most of Sakuta's interactions with Nodoka happen during the month Nodoka finds herself in Mai's body and vice versa due to her adolescent Syndrome. Sakuta gets to see a different side of "Mai" despite being the only other person aware of the bodyswap, due to Mai and Nodoka agreeing to live with the predicament they're in. After taking twelve takes to nail down a commercial, Nodoka admits to Sakuta that she'd prefer her body back and continue to be an idol. At the end of the month, Sakuta and Nodoka watch the concert of the idol group that Mai, in Nodoka's body, would be performing with. After returning from said concert, Sakuta agrees to take Nodoka to the familiar beach on her request, only to see her run out to sea and attempt to drown. Sakuta stops her and takes her to Mai's apartment, showing her the letters she had written to Mai when they were younger. Mai herself appears to Nodoka and Sakuta again, and Sakuta watches them finally revert to their usual bodies.

Since then, Sakuta's interactions with Nodoka have largely been minimal, although they have been important on two occasions. The first is when Nodoka reminds him of Mai's birthday, which prompts him to chase after Mai at Kanazawa and wish her a happy birthday. The second is when Sakuta comes back from the future in the seventh novel and contacts Nodoka to set up a meeting with Mai through her agent.

### Yuuma Kunimi

Yuuma is Sakuta's only male friend; he too did not buy into the hospitalization rumors. They are also in the same class at school and work the same shifts at the same diner together. Sakuta is aware of Rio's crush on Yuuma despite the fact that Yuuma is already dating Saki Kamisato.

## Etymology

* The name **Sakuta** means "blossom" (咲) (**saku**) and "thick, big" (太) (**ta**).
* Sakuta's surname **Azusagawa** means "catalpa" (梓) (**azusa**) and "river, stream" (川) (**kawa**/**gawa**). Azusagawa is also a real river that flows through Matsumoto in Nagano Prefecture.
	+ **Catalpa** is a tree with large heart-shaped leaves, clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers, and long, slender seed pods. It is native to North America and eastern Asia and cultivated as an ornamental.