Sakura Kitaoji

**Sakura Kitaoji** (北大路さくら *Kitaōji Sakura*) is one of the eight main characters in the Data Carddass Aikatsu! game and the related anime adaption. She was one of the four girls that were first shown in the first opening for said anime; however, her official debut in the series itself was in Episode 26. The primary brand that Sakura uses is Aurora Fantasy.

As of Episode 38 of the anime, she is a member of Powapowa-Puririn, an independent idol unit consisting of herself, Otome, and Shion.

## Background

Sakura comes from a famous kabuki theatre troupe family and as a result has learned many ancient Japanese arts ever since her childhood. Like the other members of her family, she has the genetic habit of breaking into theatrical performance when experiencing strong emotions known as the "Kitaōji Theater".

## Bio

### Personality

Sakura is a very calm, polite, and soft-spoken girl. She is very friendly and a hard worker, like Ichigo. Upon her arrival at Starlight, Ichigo was assigned to be her senpai. Since then, she and her friends have helped Sakura gain confidence in herself, and develop friendships and companionships among each other and the rest of the Starlight community. By season two, Sakura has become more confident and assertive, though she still retains some of her soft-spoken nature.

### Appearance

Sakura has peridot green eyes and short pink hair that goes to the nape of her neck. Her hair is styled in a layer bob and is decorated with a flower hair clip. Her season one basic idol uniform consists of a yellow top worn under a lime green shawl, matching ruffled skirt, and brown ankle boots with red flower attachments on the cuffs. The outfit is equipped with a matching flower bracelet.

## Chronology

### Debuting As An Idol

Sakura makes her debut in Episode 26 as a new idol. She meets up with Ichigo, the one who was assigned to help her. However, her brother, Sakon Kitaoji, is still against the idea of her being an idol. They argue for a while until he storms off. Sakura and Ichigo chat for a while about the basics of the school system before they bid farewell. The next day Sakura and Ichigo begin their training sessions and Sakura reveals that she has been training everyday since she applied to the academy. She impresses Ichigo with her stamina and mentions her desire to become an idol. She also reveals a strange talent of hers, the Kitaōji Theatre.

Later that day, Sakura is saddened by the fact that she's seemingly alone in a foreign place. Her spirits are soon lifted by Ichigo's encouraging words and she sees a display that touches her deeply. On the day of the performance, she performed Happiness on the same Earth wearing the Lime Stage Coord for the Entrance Ceremony. Though she didn't win, Sakura was happy to be on stage. To her surprise, her brother was there to watch as well. Glad he came to watch, Sakura talks about how she wasn't really alone on the stage because she had Ichigo's support.

### Acquiring Her Premium Dress

Several weeks after the new school year, Johnny announces a new special audition. Whilst Ichigo and her second year friends are discussing the song for the audition, Sakura approaches them wishing them luck saying she is cheering from the sidelines. The girls are surprised she is not entering, Sakura saying she is not ready yet while Ichigo replies saying first year students are allowed to participate. Ichigo invites her to join her group, but Sakura promptly declines her offer saying there is no way she could intrude on an upperclassmen group, saying she lacks the training to match them and doesn't have a Premium dress like everyone else. Sakura still feels guilty but everyone is more than happy to have her join their group.

They all then decide it's time to pick out a brand for Sakura, with everyone recommending their favourite brands for her to use. Aoi then pulls out a magazine with an interview with Sakura, where she states her favorite brand she has loved since elementary school is Aurora Fantasy. Sakura has loved the brand since she was a child because the top designer, Green Grass used to be the author of Sakura's favorite picture book. Ichigo suggests speaking to the Headmistress and Johnny for advice, but Sakura highlights her belief that Aurora Fantasy's dresses do not suit her and would be denied a Premium. She states that even if this is the case, Sakura refuses the thought of wearing any other brand's dresses and that is why she can not participate in the audition with the 5 of them. She wishes them the best in the audition and leaves. Later in her dorm, Sakura receives a call from her brother and she discusses with him how she feels awful for how she has been disrespectful to her senior, while her brother advises Sakura to be more honest with them.

The following day, Ichigo meets up with Sakura and she promptly apologizes for her actions the day before. Ichigo tells her not to worry asking why Sakura believes she would not fit Aurora Fantasy's dresses. Sakura explains that she used to read Green Grass' book frequently, sending letters to her never receiving a single reply which led her to believe she wouldn't fit the brand. Ichigo tells her not to give up without even trying and how everyone has prepared for the audition. Aoi runs up to them saying she found an answer saying that Happy Rainbow's top designer, Makoto is friends with the top designer. Ichigo calls up Otome and gives the phone to Sakura, Otome tells her she refuses to lose to Sakura's love for Aurora Fantasy so she went to express her love of Happy Rainbow to the top designer and received a new Premium Rare Dress. Sakura then asks Otome to ask the designer about Green Grass.

Ichigo and Sakura arrive at the entrance to where Green Grass lives. Sakura says she has to go alone and what she sees is to remain a secret. She finally meets Green Grass, who happens to be two identical twin sisters. They tell her they have always wanted to meet her and how they enjoy drawing pictures but aren't good at writing letters. Instead of preparing a reply, they made a Aurora Fantasy Premium Dress for Sakura to use, greatly surprising her. Sakura realizes they have always been by her side and they hug. Sakura runs out revealing the Blooming Coord she received to Ichigo. They return to Starlight to take the Special Audition and all 6 of them pass.

### Season 2

A year has passed since Ichigo has left Starlight Academy, Powapowa-Puririn has become Starlight's top unit even gaining a television program focused around them. They rose to the top because of being the most laid-back unit in Japan, with their popularity rising through word of mouth. Sakura has also changed a lot as a second year student, becoming more assertive and less timid than when she was a first year student. Amongst the Academy, Sakura is viewed as the top student in the second year. At the end of her second year, Sakura leads the second year speech to send off her seniors, nearly breaking down in tears in the middle of the speech. She performs as the representative of the returning class with the representative of the graduating class, Otome.

### Season 3

During Season 3, Sakura is massively admired by her underclassmen. Many believe she is the top candidate to become the next Starlight Queen, since she is one of Starlight's top idols. She is seen to still be an active member in Powapowa-Puririn, but still maintain focus on her own individual work. For an exchange student, Miyabi Fujiwara's final concert at Starlight, she challenges Sakura to a face down concert. Sakura wins the concert by a considerable margin, and holds respect for her. It is shown Sakura is a finalist in the Starlight Queen Cup, winning the final round and becoming Queen.

## Relationships

* **Aoi Kiriya**

Aoi has been Ichigo's best friend since 5th grade when they met during a festival after Aoi watched Ichigo dancing to Guppy (an idol) and noticed that she was dancing incorrectly. However, when she saw how much fun Ichigo was having, she soon joined in. Despite the fact that Ichigo relies heavily on her best friend, she always lends a shoulder for Aoi in times of emotional support. Both Ichigo and Aoi, along with Ran; love to have fun in Aikatsu, and Aoi was also Ichigo's group mate in Soleil when the unit was first made.
* **Ran Shibuki**

Ran is Ichigo's other closest friend, as well as the third and last group mate of Soleil. Even after learning about Ran's title (Beautiful Blade) and finding out how cold and cool she was, Ichigo was very persistent with her in hopes of getting to know the model better. Eventually, Ran's ice-queen persona began to melt and slowly, over time, began to warm up to and befriend them. Ran is very tsundere-like with Ichigo and is often the one to called her out on her silly ideas or thoughts.
* **Mizuki Kanzaki**

Mizuki is the one Ichigo admires, and Mizuki herself finds Ichigo very interesting. She sees the potential in Ichigo and because of this, they are rivals but in a friendly manner. In season 2, when Mizuki leaves Starlight School and takes a break as an idol, Ichigo said that she hopes that one day, she can stand on the stage with her again.
* **Raichi Hoshimiya**

Raichi is Ichigo's little brother, who is a huge fan of Mizuki, influencing Ichigo to become a fan herself. He adores the world of idols and has a huge crush on Aoi, but sometimes admits not to have very much confidence in Ichigo as an idol. As the series goes on, he starts to develop more confidence in Ichigo not just as an idol, but as an older sister too.
* **Ringo Hoshimiya**

Ringo is Ichigo's mother. She used to be worried that her own dream influenced Ichigo and because of that wanted her daughter to go and find her own passionate dream to follow. When Raichi informed her that Ichigo wanted to be an idol, Ringo knew that Ichigo thought she was in the way of Ichigo's dream and encouraged her to do what she wanted to do. It is later revealed that she was once part of the legendary idol unit, Masquerade, under the stage name Miya. Her aura is composed of primrose flowers, similar to Ichigo's.
* **Taichi Hoshimiya**

Taichi is Ichigo's father, who is often travelling due to business. He often gives seemingly wild tales about what goes on during his travels. But because he never lies, his stories, however unbelievable they seem, are apparently true. It is said that Ichigo's love of food came from him, and it's also possible that some of her her features were inherited from her father also.
* **Asuka Amahane**

Asuka is the top designer of Angely Sugar, Ichigo's preferred brand, and is a very close friend of both Ichigo and her mother. Ichigo helps out Asuka with many Angely Sugar-related promotions and offers inspiration for her designs.
* **Seira Otoshiro**

Seira is Ichigo's new rival and partner that debuted in Season Two. They continued a friendly rivalry but also built a new friendship. Together, they become a duo unit, named 2wingS and finally defeated Mizuki and Mikuru's unit WM during the Twinkle Star Cup.
* **Akari Ozora**

Akari is one of Ichigo's biggest fans (along with Aoi) and her kōhai. Ichigo saw a light in Akari in her audition performance and continues to see that light. She admits that she often learns something from Akari despite being her mentor, but continues to guide her in her path to idol-dom just as Mizuki did for her.
* **Naoto Suzukawa**

Ichigo and Naoto are shown to have a steady friendship throughout the series. He would often offer her advice and would commonly help her with her ideas no matter how ridiculous they were.
## Etymology

**Kitaōji** (北大路)  **Kita** (北) means North, **ō** (大) means big and **ji** (路) means tract or road. That is, **Kitaōji** means "North Boulevard". It's derived from "Kitaoji Station", a train station in Kyoto.

**Sakura** (さくら) means cherry blossom.

## Trivia

* Sakura Kitaoji Autograph
* Her zodiac sign is Pisces.
* Her favourite foods are nori bento (seaweed bento) and strawberry parfaits.
* She has no food that she doesn't like.
* Her speciality is preparing and cooking food.
* Ichigo, along with Mizuki, Yurika, and Akari, have shown themselves to be the most consistently popular main characters, having made it into all election-determined incarnations of Aikatsu8 and Photokatsu8 since their debut.
* She is the third idol to have a major change in her aura, preceded by Aoi and Ran. As of Episode 64, blue and silver ribbons with a striking resemblance to scales (a possible allusion to Ichigo's first Premium Rare Constellation dress, the Mermaid Pisces Coord), as well as crystal hearts decorated with flowers are added to her aura which spirals around her instead of flowing from her.
* Ichigo's lucky charm is a rice scoop.
	+ In Episode 74 her rice scoop was revealed to be used as a lucky charm by the students of Starlight School after she left for America due to it seemingly possessing powers of luck that have appeared a few times in the series.
* She can tell what type of rice she's eating and how it was cooked with just one bite.
	+ This ability appears to not be limited to just rice as shown in Episode 75 where she accurately determined the flavor of a macaroon with just one bite.
* She is capable of telling time with her stomach.
* In the novel, Ichigo has brown eyes.
* She shares her birthday with Umi Sonoda from Love Live!.
* In Episode 11, she has been shown to be a bad liar.
* Whenever Ichigo has something she can't say, she stuffs her face to keep quiet.
* In Episode 93, Makina, Swing Rock's top designer, revealed that Ichigo was famous in the rock industry, where she's considered to be an "idol with a spine."
* In Season 3, Ichigo replaces Mizuki's position as the top idol of Japan.
* She is one of the three main characters who doesn't share her singing voice with other characters, next to Mizuki, and Yume Nijino from Aikatsu Stars!.
* As of Season 3, she has her own radio talk show called “Ichi-Ichi-Ichigo in the PM”.
* She is the third idol to use an object (the Crystal Mic in Aikatsu! The Movie) in a performance, followed by Miyabi Fujiwara who used fans in hers and preceded by Yurika and Seira, who both used a microphone.
* She is the second idol to change her Premium Rare pose after going through the fitting room.
	+ This makes her the third person overall to change one of her ending poses.
* Ichigo is 157cm tall as of Season 2.
* Her bow is similar to Chitoge Kirisaki from the Nisekoi series.
* Her full name resembles Ichigo Momomiya, a character in another shoujo series Tokyo Mew Mew.
	+ Coincidentally, Ichigo shares her birthday with Ichigo Momomiya.
* She shares her voice actress with Tsubasa Kisaragi from the Aikatsu Stars! series and Coco from the Aikatsu Friends! series.

## Gallery

* **Lime Torte Coord**

Sakura Kitaoji Garss SkySakura Kitaoji Manutain GrasslandSakura Kitaoji Mountain HomeSakura Kitaoji Planet OceanSakura Kitaoji Summer WorldSakura Kitaoji High Road ZoneSakura Kitaoji AIka Aika AwaySakura Kitaoji FarmunatainSakura Kitaoji Mountain SummerSakura Kitaoji Forset MountainSakura Kitaoji High Road LandSakura Kitaoji Aika MountainSakura Kitaoji Grass ManutainSakura Kitaoji Whole GrasslandSakura Kitaoji Home LandSakura Kitaoji Far Aik LandSakura Kitaoji Grass PlanetSakura Kitaoji Road Road SakuraSakura Kitaoji Mount SakuraSakura Kitaoji Garss PlantsSakura Kitaoji AIka High AikaSakura Kitaoji Garss Sky HighSakura Kitaoji Flower River TreeSakura Kitaoji Mountain RiverSakura Kitaoji Flower FarmSakura Kitaoji Forset RoadSakura Kitaoji Sunset SakuraSakura Kitaoji Aurora Mount FlowerSakura Kitaoji AIka Aika BridgeSakura Kitaoji River HomeSakura Kitaoji Mountain SakuraSakura Kitaoji Taal Sakura LakeSakura Kitaoji Manila OecanSakura Kitaoji Manila SakuraSakura Kitaoji Tagaytay TaalSakura Kitaoji Tayabas MountainSakura Kitaoji AIka Aika Away MountainSakura Kitaoji Mountain TayabasSakura Kitaoji Flower MountainSakura Kitaoji Tagaytay ParkSakura Kitaoji Coco MountainSakura Kitaoji Forset BridgeSakura Kitaoji Bridge LakeSakura Kitaoji Aikaal LakeSakura Kitaoji Life a SeaSakura Kitaoji Taal Lake MountSakura Kitaoji Summer LifeSakura Kitaoji Summer HereSakura Kitaoji Flower SummerSakura Kitaoji Cebu SummerSakura Kitaoji Summer Hotel CebuSakura Kitaoji AIka Aika SummerSakura Kitaoji Summer BerchSakura Kitaoji Jollibee SunestSakura Kitaoji Over a Donut ShopSakura Kitaoji Cafe TukanSakura Kitaoji Flower CafeSakura Kitaoji Caltex Gas Donut StoreSakura Kitaoji Caltex GasSakura Kitaoji AIka ZooOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Garss MonutainOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Road to SchoolOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Sorsogon Bulusan VolcanoOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Taal TopOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Summer LifeOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Day Hotel MonutainOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Summer CoordOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Tagaytay CoordOtome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Max Chickatsu!Sakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Mayor VolcanoSakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Mountain FlowersSakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Summer LifeIchigo Hoshimiya Aoi Kiriya Otome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Valley CoordIchigo Hoshimiya Aoi Kiriya Otome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Taal FallIchigo Hoshimiya Aoi Kiriya Otome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Zig RoadIchigo Hoshimiya Aoi Kiriya Otome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Sunset RoadIchigo Hoshimiya Aoi Kiriya Otome Arisugawa and Sakura Kitaoji Cebu ZooOtome Arisugawa Sakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Construction GrasslandOtome Arisugawa Sakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Construction of Slope Protection Sibul Springs Bridge San Miguel River BulacanOtome Arisugawa Sakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Play GrasslandOtome Arisugawa Sakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Summer Coord
* **Blooming Coord The Gentle Light**

Sakura Kitaoji Monutain LakeSakura Kitaoji River SwapSakura Kitaoji Malao RoadSakura Kitaoji Bridge River SwapSakura Kitaoji Flower LakeSakura Kitaoji Flower River BridgeSakura Kitaoji Flower IslandSakura Kitaoji Flower River FloorSakura Kitaoji Lake SakuraSakura Kitaoji Summer Flower
* **Gorgeous Daughter of Flowers**

Sakura Kitaoji Garss PlanetSakura Kitaoji AIka Aika Away 2Sakura Kitaoji Free LandSakura Kitaoji Tree Life TimeSakura Kitaoji ManutainSakura Kitaoji Sea IslandSakura Kitaoji Road to ManilaSakura Kitaoji Flower RiverSakura Kitaoji AIka SummerSakura Kitaoji Light SummerSakura Kitaoji and Maria Himesato Lake Land Four
## Videos

* **Aikatsu! Sakura Kitaoji Happiness on the same Earth Stage**