Saru Itazura

Saru's profile card.

Saru is a rival in *Heartbreaker: The Visual Novel*, and the antagonist of Episode 4.

She befriends Kouhai quickly, making her laugh, cheering her up and inviting her on fun "adventures" around Kareji & Sanseto.

## Appearance

Saru is a Japanese girl with a firm build, green eyes, and wild brown hair held back by her blue headband & visor, an accessory of the Adventure Club.

She is visibly missing one tooth, but always seems to have a smile on her face. She paints her finger & toe nails a bright yellow.

In her Kareji uniform, Saru does not wear sleeves. She wears her skirt just above her knees, and her shorts high up, keeping her legs mostly bare. She wears no gloves and has an extra pair of Kareji's indoor sandals for outside use.

As a second-year, Saru has silver moon badges on her tie, belt, and gloves.

In her casual summer outfit, Saru wears a light, airy outfit based on traditional Ainu fashion, modified to be more comfortable & trendy. her top is light brown, she has loose blue shorts, accessories made of colourful beads, and a green pouch shaped like a banana leaf. She also wears traditional sandals, and a pair of black & white wristwarmers. She also switches her blue headband for a black one, without the yellow visor.

Saru is not seen in casual clothes during winter.

## Personality

Saru's boundless energy and eccentric personality are an immediate boost for everyone around her, though she can be a bit of a handful.

She is free-spirited, hyperactive, and appears to have little regard for her own safety. Saru will go to extraordinary lengths to keep her little brother Jiro smiling. She also appears to be very acrobatic.

Saru has Ainu heritage. As her parents passed away many years prior, she lives with her grandparents, who - despite living in Osaka - brought much of their culture from Hokkaidō. Saru doesn't take part in most traditions, but she does respect it, and mostly goes along with her grandparents' wishes when those matters come up.

Saru is always the first to suggest a new activity in the Adventure Club, and usually the first to get into trouble. Sometimes this comes down to her not having much concept of personal space.

She also has a major sweet tooth, and adores a specific flavour of the candy "Ichigon."

## Trivia

* Saru's given name in romaji is pronounced like the Japanese word for "monkey", and the surname is pronounced like the Japanese word for "mischief / prank".
* The kanji for the Itazura family's surname comes from 依 meaning "Reliable", 舵 meaning "Rudder / Helm", 不 meaning "Opposite", and 来 meaning "future".
* The kanji for Saru's given name comes from 幸 meaning "happiness" and 留 meaning "stop".
* The spiky fur designs on her wrist & ankle accessories have a colour palette based on the Japanese macaques of the Yunokawa onsen.
* Her hair accessories, and the designs on her headband, as well as the patterns on her wrist & ankle accessories, are based on traditional fashion of the Ainu people of Hokkaidō.
	+ This was taken further in her casual summer outfit, which is intended to be a light version of traditional Ainu clothing.
	+ Her pose in her casual summer outfit's artwork was based on traditional Ainu dance.
* In addition to her lack of sleeves, Saru has special permission to wear sandals on Kareji's outdoor campus, due to having mild hyperhidrosis in her underarms & feet. As a result, she tends not to handle warm environments well.
* Saru also has uncombable hair syndrome, which results in her hair constantly sticking out at odd angles.

## Notes

* As with many parts of *Heartbreaker*, several "Japanese" names in this project were chosen using not only literal or phonetic puns, but also a variety & mixture of *-on,* *-yomi,* *nanori* etc. readings for kanji that would not be typically used for names in reality, a common technique in Japanese fiction; It is important to remember that *Heartbreaker* takes place in an alternate timeline that - while closely mirroring our own - contains several differences in its fictional history. Good-faith attempts have been made to create semi-believable names (with some artistic licence for fiction & entertainment's sake), but any suggestions for better names and / or kana & kanji should be sent to: AbyzouDev@gmail.com