Kaoru Sakurayashiki

Kaoru is a pale-skinned young man of reasonable height and stature who's often acknowledged for his beauty by the onlookers of "S". He has long, sakura-colored hair, which he usually wears loosely tied back by a yellow string over his left shoulder; 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 and white tabi socks with zori sandals on his feet. His usual accessories are what appears to be a simple purple band on his left wrist, which he uses to communicate with Carla, and a pair of silver-framed glasses; he is also often seen carrying a fan, which he tends to hold up close to his face when he's observing people or thinking.[5][6][7] While dressed in his Cherry Blossom outfit, he ties his hair in a high ponytail and removes his glasses. He wears a sleeveless white hakamashita kimono with thick purple cuffs around his shoulders, baggy hakama pants secured with a black and yellow belt with a red sash tied over it, and a black armband on his left bicep with the cherry blossom emblem on it. He wears bandaged wrist-guards with black accents which extend into gloves, a matching pair around his calves, and a black balaclava over his lower face, giving him the look of a ninja. His shoes are, again, zori sandals with plain tabi socks, but they appear to be more reinforced and have thick purple soles. When he is not skating, he usually wears a white robe over his hakama kimono with cherry blossom printing designs on the left side and back and he doesn't wear his balaclava mask.[5][8][6][9][10] During his high school years, Kaoru had slightly shorter hair, which he wore down with a shorter section hanging over his right eye, and had a number of piercings on both ears and a lip ring on the left side of his lip.[11][12][13] Gallery Kaoru as a teenager Kaoru as a teenager Close up of Cherry's face with his balaclava mask Close up of Cherry's face with his balaclava mask Close up of Cherry's face without his balaclava mask Close up of Cherry's face without his balaclava mask Front view of Cherry's robe Front view of Cherry's robe Side view of Cherry's robe Side view of Cherry's robe Personality Kaoru butting heads with Kojiro Kaoru butting heads with Kojiro 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 [14], 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 measures up to Adam's.[12] However, despite his prickly, cold exterior, he does truly trust and care for those whom 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, even getting Kojiro to assist him.[6] 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.[13] Cherry aggressively kicking Joe in the back for calling him "Kaoru" inside of "S" Cherry aggressively kicking Joe in the back for calling him "Kaoru" inside of "S" Kaoru scolding Reki for calling him "Cherry" outside of "S" Kaoru scolding Reki for calling him "Cherry" outside of "S" Kaoru dislikes the idea of merging his "S" self with his outside self to the point that he gets pretty violent when someone slips up about it, as seen when he angrily kicks Joe in the back after the latter uses his real name (Kaoru) while they are at "S" [8] 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. [6] 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 famous status both inside of "S" and out. He has 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 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.[11] Throughout the years, and likely as a consequence of the AI-related profession he went into, he's developed a calculated skating style which relies heavily on his custom AI skateboard, Carla. Cherry's fanclub Cherry's fanclub 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.[8] He's unquestionably considered one of "S"'s top skaters, and one of the most famous, due to his skateboarding capabilities and prowess.[12] Cherry is able to pull off many a dangerous stunt during beefs through the use of Carla, which enables him be more exact with his tricks and landings than any other skater.[7][12] Logicality, Observation & Knowledgeability: Out of all the main characters, Cherry is the most strategic and knowledgeable about the most advanced tricks used in skateboarding where he 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 [15] as well as to instantly name the snowboarding move Langa used during his first beef with Shadow [5] and he was also able to figure out that Langa had snowboarding experience based on the way he stood on the board, showing a vast net of knowledgeability not only for skateboarding but for other similar sports too. Cherry uses Carla to fight back against Adam Cherry uses Carla to fight back against Adam Unique Style: Cherry is known in "S" for Carla, his AI skateboard, which 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.[12][13] 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.[12] Background Kaoru, Kojiro and Adam when they were younger Kaoru, Kojiro and Adam when they were younger Kaoru has been skateboarding ever 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, with Adam even telling the two that they were special and different to everyone else he knew.[13] 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.[12] Adam then suddenly left for America, abandoning Kaoru, which affected him and Kojiro a lot.[11] 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.