Sakaki Chizuru (榊 千鶴) is one of the main heroines of Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative. She has also made appearance in Muv-Luv Supplement and Muv-Luv Altered Fable. Chizuru's recurring feature in every series is that she is in a position with authority (class president, platoon commander, etc) and take everything she does very seriously. She is good friends with Suzumiya Akane and has a bad relationship with Ayamine Kei.
Extra[]
The class representative for Takeru's class and usually reprimands him in class for his behavior. The former captain of the lacrosse club. She has a bad relationship with her mother due to a troubled childhood caused by her.
In her and Ayamine's route, during the sports festival, she will accidentally knock Akane in the head with the lacross stick ending the match abruptly and becomes the target of her classmates' harassment.
She works as a junior middle school teacher in 2016, she is strict to her students. (From Strike Frontier)
Unlimited[]
In the BETAverse, Sakaki is the squad leader of the training squad that Takeru joins shortly after his arrival. It is revealed that in this universe, she is the daughter of the Japanese prime minister Sakaki Korechika. An important reason for her decision to join the UN Forces was her rebelling against her father. Originally she volunteered for the Imperial Japanese Army, determined to protect her home country from the advancing BETA, however due to an intervention by her father, she was assigned to the UN's Yokohama Base, further away from the front lines, instead.
At first, being already stressed and humiliated due to the squads failure on their first combat evaluation exam and struggling to keep the team together, she is not thrilled by the prospect of Takeru, who expresses a distinct lack of combat skills and physical fitness, joining the crew. As time goes by and Takeru begins to grow into this new role, she starts to warm up to him.
Just like in Extra, Chizuru, who tries to always go by the book and stick to the plan, keeps butting heads with the impulsive Ayamine who always finds creative ways of bending the rules. Their differences are becoming more obvious during the TSF mock battles in which her team, consisting of Takeru, Ayamine and herself, has a hard time keeping up with Mitsurugi, Tamase and Yoroi until Takeru comes up with a plan to force them to better understand each other's motives and actions.
Takeru gave her the nickname 'class rep' in this world, as he is used to calling her that in the world of Muv-Luv Extra.
Alternative[]
The first major point of diversion for her character in Alternative comes with the death of her father, the prime minister, at the hands of Sagiri Naoya during the 12/5 Incident. Together with the other members of Squad 207B she took part in the UN intervention supported by US forces. Eventually, fighting broke out between the opposing forces which made a peaceful solution of the conflict seem impossible. During the ensuing battle, Chizuru charges at Sagiri in rage but is utterly outmatched and defeated in a single blow by the veteran pilot. After the coup forces were ultimately defeated, she can be seen praying at her father's grave, stating that she has no place left to go home to.
After the events of the Yokohama Base Incident, Chizuru and her squadmates join the Special Task Force A-01 under Isumi Michiru. Chizuru herself joins the A-Flight under direct command of Michiru in the position of Gun Sweeper.
When BETA forces remaining from the successful Battle of Sadogashima attack Yokohama Base in a surprise attack, she once again is overcome by emotions during the battle. Believing her friend Akane to have died to the BETA, she charges deep into enemy lines, vowing to never again let them take anyone she loves away from her, killing as many of the invaders as she could. Out of ammo and moments away from being overwhelmed, Takeru manages to save her from dying at the hands of the BETA.
During Operation Ouka, she and Kei return to the entrance of the hive's main hall to cause an explosion there and prevent BETA reinforcements from reaching the hall and the Susanoo, in a plan devised by Mitsurugi Meiya. Succumbing to the sheer number of enemies they encounter there, both she and Kei decide to sacrifice themselves and detonate their S-11 self destruction devices, killing both of them and sealing the tunnel the BETA were using to approach the main hall.
Meiya later uses a voice changer to imitate her voice in order to keep her and Kei's deaths a secret from Takeru.
End Game Letter[]
Shirogane Takeru-sama,
I'm sure you'd hate a letter full of formalities.
So I'll write down my honest feelings.
First, I apologize for when I pressured you to write a will.
Given your way of thinking, it couldn't have felt right, especially coming from someone who didn't want to write one herself.
But I still wanted to tell you how thankful I was.
It's been a little over two months since I met you.
But you've taught me so many things I can't sum them up all at once.
You did everything better than average and had an excellent mind. I couldn't help but trust you.
On the other hand, I left my leadership position after being commissioned, and talking to our commanding officers has made me realize how narrow-minded I was.
I even felt relieved at not being the leader of a unit anymore.
Originally I wanted to fight for that position, but when it happened I felt calm.
So when I was ordered to act as the unit commander during Operation Cherry Blossom, I honestly felt like the pressure was going to crush me.
But if I ran away from it, then I'd be turning by backs on you and everyone in this unit who helped me grow.
Now that I think that, I'll put everything I have into it, in order to improve myself.
Please watch me.
My only regret is that by the time you read this letter, I'll have already died in battle.
It's very unfortunate that I won't get to hear what you think of it.
Sgt. Jinguuji and Capt. Isumi will probably give me an earful, so if you feel like it, please visit the cherry trees at the front gate.
Finally,
Please forgive me for being cowardly, selfish and weak enough to write this.
I loved you.
Even after I learned about Kagami, I was never able to get over you.
I pray that you and Kagami find happiness.
December 31st, 2001
Sakaki Chizuru
Etymology[]
- Sakaki means "sacred Shinto tree" (榊).
- Like the other girls, her name is connected to Japanese mythology. The 榊 (sakaki, cleyera japonica) tree is revered as a sacred tree in Shinto religion. Brances of the sakaki tree are used to make tamagushi, a type of offering to the Shinto gods. The Chinese character is made up of the characters for "tree" and "god/spirit".
- Chizuru means "thousand" (千) (chi) and "crane, stork" (鶴) (tsuru/zuru).
- An ancient Japanese legend stated that a person who could fold one thousand origami cranes by himself within one year would be granted eternal good luck or one wish.
Trivia[]
- She is 157cm.
Gallery[]
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