Setsuna Sakurai

Setsuna (Raion, Hayato)
Setsuna-san (Seijuurou)
Setsuna-kun (Syun)
Secchan (Hinata)
Setsu (Mikhail)
Sakurai (Hayato, Hajime, Shin)

étailes Garnet (Mahou Shounen Magical étailes ☆ Showtime!)

## Signature

**Setsuna Sakurai** (桜良刹那) is the main protagonist of the Idol Show Time franchise, and the leader of étailes.

## Appearance

Setsuna has red hair that reaches to his neck and curls at the bottom, along with two *ahoge* at the top. His bangs cover up his forehead and frame his face. He also has red eyes.

In his idol clothes, Setsuna wears a grey sailor-suit-styled blazer with white accents and gold linings at the edges that flare out. His hat is a grey beret with five lines at the side and a ribbon at the back. Underneath, he wears a pleated button-up shirt tucked into grey high-waisted knee-high shorts with pockets, gold accents and black suspenders. He wears black garter socks and black loafers. His tie, inner blazer, inner collar and beret ribbon have his motif pattern, a red tartan plaid design. He also wears the étailes badge.

## Character Description

A bright and cheerful orthodox idol. The leader who brings everyone in étailes together.

Longing to be like the legendary idol, Shota Hoshimiya, he strives to become the perfect idol.

## Background

Setsuna was the childhood friend of Hayato Touma, whom he was abandoned by in grade 2 and the cause of him getting bullied in class. At that point, he believed that he was insignificant in this world, that things may have been better if he did not exist. He had also begun to skip school more frequently.

While skipping school one day, he was approached by Koichi Itagaki, who inquired him about liking the stars before inviting him to see a live show. Setsuna was reluctant at first but went out of curiosity. That was where he saw the graduation live of Shota Hoshimiya and became mesmerised by the atmosphere and crowd, most notably the penlights that resembled stars in the night sky. After the show, he revealed to Itagaki he wanted to become someone people would look up to and decided to be an idol in order to fulfill his wish.

Setsuna entered Stella\*rium chouchou, and subsequently étailes, with no prior experience in dance or singing which displeased some of the other students at the school. The étailes members of that time didn’t mind however and accepted him as part of the group. Over the course of a few months, he trained hard for his debut live with the others, and was entrusted with a solo part due to the leader at the time going through a voice change.

Over the next 4 years, he had met many different people and performed alongside them onstage. Eventually, he was chosen to become the new leader of the current étailes.

## Etymology

**Setsuna** (刹那)’s first name means “moment” which probably points to the Idol Show Time series being centered around boys who are idols for a limited amount of time so they enjoy the moment while they can.

His last name, **Sakurai** (桜良), can be split into (桜) which means “cherry blossoms”, and (良) meaning “excellent”. Cherry blossoms only bloom for a short while in spring which also ties into the concept of the series. “Excellent” may be referencing Setsuna’s wish to be the perfect idol or his character in general as he has been shown to be quite well-rounded.

## Relationships

### Syun Hoshimiya

Syun is a big fan of Setsuna and idolizes him greatly. Setsuna appears to treat him like a little brother and looks out for him a lot.

### Hayato Touma

Estranged childhood friends. They used to be very close and had always been in the same class together. Hayato cut ties with him at some point, deciding that he didn’t need him due to an incident that happened when they were younger. This caused Setsuna to be alone and bullied at school.
Their current relationship is thorny, with Hayato lashing out at Setsuna upon seeing him again at Stella\*rium chouchou.

### Shota Hoshimiya

Shota is the idol that Setsuna is a fan of. Setsuna perks up at the mention of him and gets excited talking about him. He can sometimes get a bit carried away though. Setsuna becomes visibly nervous and star-struck around Shota, slightly stuttering when speaking to him.

### Yukina Sakurai

 Yukina is Setsuna’s mother. She is shown to care for Setsuna and supported his decision to be an idol after seeing how happy it made him.

## Trivia

* As opposed to Lùcifer, étailes is based on the seven heavenly virtues. Setsuna is most likely “Patience”.
* On the official website, Setsuna's quote is a shortened version of his full recorded voice line. The full line is "My name is Setsuna Sakurai! I’ll do my very best to become the perfect idol!"
* Setsuna has been described by Yuka Maruyama as a *supadari* which roughly means “ideal man”.
* He is shown to wear glasses in the manga version of the series.
* He has a golden retriever called Cain, who was named after the Canis Minor, a constellation.
* One of his hobbies is cooking, which was mentioned on the Stellarium\*Chouchou twitter account and again in one of his talk radios.
* Setsuna and Hayato have a few traits that oppose one another.
	+ Setsuna and Hayato’s last names can be seen as opposites of each other, with “Sakurai” (桜良) containing the character for cherry blossoms which bloom in spring and “Touma” (冬真) containing the character for winter.
	+ Both of their poses mirror the other with a few slight differences. Setsuna has his right hand opened up while Hayato has his left hand clenched into a fist.
* Out of all known beta designs, only two characters have had a clear difference between their first and final designs: Setsuna and Hikaru.
	+ Setsuna originally had straight black hair.