Kaoru Sakurayashiki

* Normal
* Skater

## Skateboard Design

**Kaoru Sakurayashiki** (桜屋敷 (さくらやしき)  薫 (かおる) , *Sakurayashiki Kaoru*?), known in "S" as **Cherry Blossom** (チェリーブロッサム, *Cherīburossamu*?), is a character in the *SK8 the Infinity* anime series. He is a skilled skater and one of the founding member of "S" who uses his AI board to skate in a calculated and logical fashion.

## Appearance

Kaoru is a pale-skinned man of reasonable height and stature who's often acknowledged for his beauty by the onlookers of "S" with long sakura-colored hair that he wears loosely tied back by a yellow string over his left shoulder with long bangs falling in waves over the right side of his face and golden eyes.

Outside of "S", his usual attire consists of a plain navy blue kimono with a gray and yellow obi as well as white tabi socks and zori sandals on his feet. He wears a pair of silver-framed glasses and he is often seen carrying a fan, which he tends to hold up close to his face when he's observing people or thinking.

While donning in his Cherry Blossom outfit, he ties his hair in a high ponytail and he removes his glasses. He wears a sleeveless white hakamashita kimono with thick purple cuffs around his shoulders and baggy hakama pants that he secures with a yellow belt. He wears bandaged wrist-guards with black accents that extend into gloves, a matching pair around his calves, as well as a black balaclava over his lower face. His shoes are, again, zori sandals with plain tabi socks, but they appear to be more reinforced and have thick purple soles. Whenever he is not skating, he usually wears a white robe over his hakama kimono that has cherry blossom printing designs on the left side and he doesn't wear his balaclava mask (as seen in Episode 1, Episode 3, Episode 5, Episode 11 and Episode 12).

During his high school years, Kaoru had slightly shorter hair that he wore left down with a shorter section hanging over his right eye and he had a number of piercings on both his ears and a lip ring on the left side of his lip.

### Gallery

Kaoru as a teenagerCherry's robe (right)Close up of Cherry's face with his balaclava maskClose up of Cherry's face without his balaclava mask
## Personality

Kaoru is a calm intellectual who is well-known even outside of "S" as a famous and successful AI calligrapher. He's been shown to treat clients and strangers with polite respect , but he is often prickly towards those closest to him, most prominently his fellow "S" member and childhood friend Kojiro Nanjo. Kaoru often loses composure when dealing with Kojiro, perhaps due to their contrasting personalities, and the two usually end up bickering and calling each other names whenever they disagree on something.

Kaoru is also notably competitive when skateboarding, always wanting to beat Kojiro during races and beefs and even getting Carla to record his time during the tournament preliminaries to see how it measured up to Adam's.

Despite this prickly exterior, however, he does truly trust and care for those who he considers his friends. When Reki Kyan is worried about Langa Hasegawa's upcoming beef against Adam and seeks out Kaoru for advice, he's more than happy to help them despite the cold exterior he presents, even getting Kojiro to assist him. He also knows to rely on his friends when he needs to, and is seen inviting himself to Kojiro's restaurant on multiple occasions so the two can discuss their concerns, once even sneaking out of hospital to do so.

Kaoru doesn't like the idea of merging his "S" self with his outside self to the point that he gets pretty violent when someone slips up as seen when he angrily kicks Joe in the back after the latter uses his real name (**Kaoru**) while they are at S  and when he slaps Reki for calling out to him using his S alias (**Cherry**) during one of his public calligraphy showcases before telling him off that "Cherry Blossom only exists on that mountain." (""Cherry blossom" is my name reserved just for that place!" in the English Sub) while outside the mine . This shows that he has a definitive streak of professionalism and doesn't like to openly admit his other side to either party, perhaps because of his status of fame both inside of "S" and out.

He's also shown himself to be very attentive and knowledgeable, identifying Langa's early moves as snowboarding tricks and immediately seeing his potential during his first beef against Shadow. He has a very good grasp on skateboarding and has a certain passion for what he does.

## Abilities

Cherry Blossom is one of the strongest skaters in "S". Since as early as his teenage years, he's been a skilled skater who responded to any challenge presented to him. Throughout the years, and likely as a consequence of the AI-related profession he went into, he's developed a calculated skating style that relies heavily on his custom AI skateboard, Carla.

* **General Prowess:** A skilled skater and a founding member of "S", Cherry has been shown to be a proficient skater capable of dominating most every race he's challenged to, even wrangling himself up an "S" fanclub in the process. He's unquestionably considered as one of "S"'s top skaters and is one of the most famous too due to his skateboarding capabilities and prowess. Cherry is able to pull off many a dangerous stunt during beefs through the use of Carla, helping him be more exact with his tricks and landings than any other skater.

* **Logicality, Observation & Knowledgeability:** Cherry has proven himself to be knowledgeable about many different moves and he is observant enough to figure out the trick behind many different moves even when they stump other experienced skaters. He was easily able to perform Adam's 'impossible' Love Hug attack for Langa Hasegawa, demonstrating it and how to avoid it perfectly  as well as instantly name the snowboarding move Langa used during his first beef with Shadow , showing a vast net of knowledgeability not only for skateboarding but for other similar sports too.

* **Unique Style:** Cherry is known in "S" for Carla, his AI skateboard, that he uses during beefs. The AI is able to calculate angles for jumps and turns, as well as record speeds and respond to any verbal command Cherry gives it, even during races. This, on top of his logical approach towards skateboarding, is what makes him so formidable during beefs as no other racer can so precisely perform difficult tricks due to their inability to determine their safety and success rate on the spot.
Carla also has another form outside of her regular board shape, which is named "Type: Long" and can be activated by verbal command. Cherry uses this mode to aid him when he wants to skate more quickly.

## Background

Kaoru has been skateboarding since he was a teenager alongside Kojiro Nanjo, during which time he appeared to be much less polite and proper than he later becomes as an adult. He and Kojiro met Adam when Kaoru challenged Adam to a beef and the three soon became inseparable friends, Adam even telling the two that they were special and different to everyone else he knew. At some point, they formed "S" together. It was during his time with the pair that Adam began to spiral out of control, which concerned Kaoru as he and Kojiro kept stumbling across him injuring other skaters during beefs. Adam then suddenly left for America, abandoning Kaoru, which affected him and Kojiro a lot.

This is the reason for Kaoru's bad blood with Adam and the explanation for why he wants to beef against him so badly; he feels betrayed by his former friend and wants to prove that he is still worth as much as he was back when they were friends.

At some point, Kaoru grows up to become a professional AI calligrapher, but still dedicates a lot of his time to skating alongside Kojiro with his new AI skateboard Carla. He is among the top contestants of the "S" skateboarding race.

## Trivia

* Kaoru's name contains the kanji for "cherry blossom" (桜, *sakura*?), "roof, house, shop, dealer, seller" (屋, *ya*?), "spread, pave, sit, promulgate" (敷, *shiki*?) and "fragrance, fragrant" (薫, *kaoru*?).
	+ The kanjis "屋敷" in the surname **Sakurayashiki** means "mansion" altogether.
	+ **Kaoru** is a unisex Japanese name, which fits with his feminine appearance despite being male.
* Kaoru and Kojiro Nanjo are childhood friends.
* Due to being high-tech, Carla (Cherry's skateboard) needs to be charged at some point.
	+ As seen in Episode 1, Carla is also his AI assistant, being connected to other devices. He's shown to have a deep bond with Carla which makes some people (usually Joe) call him out on his weird behavior when it comes to this artificial intelligence.
* Cherry’s Zodiac sign is Aries.
* Carla can extend Cherry's skateboard into a longboard on his command.
* Cherry is a "regular" skater, meaning he prefers to skate with his left foot at the front of the board.
* Kaoru is high strung (**nervous and easily upset**) and often has Carla play him a lullaby, especially one from his childhood, and manage his sleep schedule.
* Kaoru has been friends with Kojiro since kindergarten.
* Kaoru would give a great white day gift using a calculated and romantic strategy after researching on the internet, and would use Carla to look up popular items and plan a date.
* Kaoru would sleep in a tatami floored room in a futon.
* Cherry is popular among women.
* Cherry would have participated in the Coming of Age day in Okinawa and would have dressed up in a flashy outfit.
* Kaoru would have been a clingy crybaby as a kid and doesn't like to be alone, which is a reason why Carla was created.
* Kaoru comes across as awkward about not wanting to be alone, but enjoys being spoiled.
* Kaoru would like a surprise proposal. He would not like a grand reception. He would not want "see ya" kisses everyday. He would want to go to space for his honeymoon. His spouse would have to be patient with him because he can be a bit neurotic and sometimes childish, but arguments would deepen a relationship with him. His spouse would have to get along with Carla.
* Kaoru would not be good at taking care of children and wouldn't know how to deal with them.
* Kaoru's favorite food is carbonara.
* Kaoru's hobby is programming.
* Cherry is 11 on Joe's rankings of the muscles of S. Joe's comment: He may look like a skinny thing but don’t be fooled. Did you see his roundhouse kick? Even his muscles are sly foxes.
* Cherry is 50% on Adam’s Passionate Love Parameter, how much passion he has for each skater. Adam’s comment: Cherry is boring, but I guess I should acknowledge the passion he received from my full swing kiss.
* Cherry's daily schedule when there's no "S":
	+ 8:00-11:00 - Wakes up (He probably has low blood pressure. He seems to need Carla's alarm multiple times)
	+ 11:00-13:00 - Prepares for calligraphy displays (with Carla remotely), gets ready
	+ 13:00-14:00 - Lunch
	+ 14:00-16:00 - Media coverage, writing
	+ 16:00-17:00 - Teaches calligraphy
	+ 17:00-19:00 - Responds to emails
	+ 19:00-23:00 - Dinner with customers (Sometimes Joe's restaurant becomes the location for where he entertains guests and they end up talking about S)
	+ 23:00-24:00 - Has bath
	+ 24:00-26:00 - Prepares for work, does maintenance on Carla
	+ 26:00-28:00 - Goes to bed
* Cherry would go to an art gallery or a museum for a summer date, and also to the sea on a driving date with his Carla bike. Carla's AI assistance can predict the rain, but if it happens, Cherry would protect his date. If he does get soaked, his date would see a rare sight of him.
* Cherry's preferred fashion sense is traditional Japanese! In his bag, he would carry around spare batteries because Carla uses a lot of electricity. For a date, he would wear an expensive kimono, something made by hand and that costs a shockingly high amount. Cherry would be drawn to high quality kimonos and enjoy looking at them. During the summer, he uses a parasol to avoid the sun. Carla recommends clothes shops to Cherry and products for him to buy. He'd prefer stores he's familiar with. Cherry would be amiable to buying his partner expensive things, and Carla could also help with recommendations as well! He'd send his clothes to a cleaner, especially the kimonos he wears. If someone snapped a picture of him on the street, he'd charge them for it.
* Cherry believed in Santa until he just couldn’t anymore. Since even with Adam he believed in him that whole time, once he decides something he’s pretty single minded about it. Of course he doesn’t believe anymore. He’s the type to have written letters to Santa. Before loving skating, Cherry would have wanted robot toys or brushes for Christmas depending on his interest at the time.
* Cherry would receive good omotenashi from his clients, and he is very picky so it's hard to satisfy him.
* Kaoru dislikes milk and liver.
* Between Adam and Cherry, Cherry would probably receive more valentines day chocolate, even though he might not accept all of them.
* Cherry's tournament card is the Five of Diamonds.
* Cherry's blood type is B.
* Aside from Adam, it is notable that Cherry is the only skater who goes out of his way to hide his face at "S", although there are a few episodes where he exposes his entire face.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Skater’s Backstage
2. ↑ Animedia Magazine May Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Character Height Chart
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *SK8 the Infinity* Official Guidebook
4. ↑ *SK8 the Infinity* Official Website
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 2.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 8.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 5.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 9.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 3.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 7.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 6.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 4.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 1.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 14.4 Animedia Magazine March Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Animedia Magazine April Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
16. ↑ Animedia Magazine May Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Marriage Certificates
17. ↑ Animedia Magazine May Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 *SK8 the Infinity* Anime: BD&DVD Vol.4
19. ↑ *SK8 the Infinity* Anime: BD&DVD Vol.5
20. ↑ Animedia Magazine August Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
21. ↑ Animedia Magazine September Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
22. ↑ Animage December 2021: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
23. ↑ Otomedia December 2021: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
24. ↑ Animedia Febrary Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
25. ↑ Adam's 2022 birthday merchandise