Sayori has been slightly naughty lately!

Appearance:

Sayori is a petite and rosy-cheeked 18-year-old young woman of an outwardly bubbly and subtly unkempt appearance; officially standing as the second shortest member of the Literature Club, right ahead of Natsuki by a mere three inches, portrayed as having a slim physique and a small bust.

Sayori has shiny, coral-pink hair fashioned into a chin-length bob, slightly messy due to her disuse of brushing it, having her fringe parted into three separate parts along her forehead; with a noticeable tuft right between her eyebrows, while the rest curls inwards around her cheeks, framing her face. Sayori's trademark large red bow adorns the top left corner of her hair. Her eyes are noticeably wide and well-rounded, with sparkly sky-blue irises.

While at superior college, Sayori wears the standard-issue college uniform: a white collared top with a thin red ribbon-like string tied around the collar. Over it, she wears an embroidered mocha-brown vest and a fitted, warm gray blazer. She leaves the blazer fully unbuttoned, revealing a small portion of the vest. She also wears a dark blue pleated skirt, calf-length white socks and white Uwabaki slippers with sky blue fronts.

At home, Sayori wears a pink T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows and bluish-gray shorts with small ruffles at the bottom. Footwear is supposed to be white-to-blue oki kutsu.

Personality:

Sayori is initially portrayed as the character archetype of a Genki Girl, expressing a bubbly and cheery disposition. She is very clumsy, noted for finding ways to accidentally hurt herself or to drop random things. Regardless, she is shown to be a jokingly cunning individual who can trick others to get food, shown after managing to eat Natsuki's cookie without her permission. Sayori has also been known by the protagonist to obsess over activities that she loses interest in later. She states that writing poetry and studying literature is different to her than those other interests because it helps her explore her feelings.

However, it is later revealed that she suffers from bad depression and works so hard to make the people around her happy to cope with her own lack of self-love amongst other things. She is also usually the only character, other than the protagonist, shown to break up arguments, Monika noting that her sentiments are necessary to keep a relaxing atmosphere in the Literature Club. This is proven by her absence in Act 2. Monika also notes that while she may look like a good leader, Sayori is usually better when it comes to dealing with people, notably at mediations. She tries her best to help everyone be happy and dislikes attention directed at her well-being because she feels unworthy of anything that others have to offer her.

Sayori is also introduced as the protagonist's childhood friend. The protagonist seems to view her as an airhead and slightly annoying at the beginning of the game, but he starts to sympathize with her after she confesses about her depression.

Sayori's depression makes her disorganized, and she often cannot find a reason to get out of bed in the morning when she tries to wake up, which is why she is usually late for college. Her room, which the protagonist regularly cleaned for her, is also noted to be untidy. The protagonist notes how there hasn't been much change in her and the changes the protagonist notices in her later are due to Monika's interference, amplifying her depression and suicidal tendencies.

Her depression seems to make her believe that she does not deserve to be loved, but at the same time she wants to be loved, especially by the protagonist, whom she has a crush on. When the player chooses to pursue one of the other girls, Sayori seems to suffer because she secretly wants the protagonist to love her while at the same time experiencing guilt for feeling bad in the first place. Her depression is also gradually amplified by Monika at this point. However, if the player actively chooses to pursue Sayori, she will still experience guilt since she doesn't believe that she deserves to be loved. Regardless of the player's choice, Sayori will kill herself on the day of the festival in the early morning hours.[5] Her relationship with the protagonist and other people's happiness are her main coping mechanisms since she believes that if she makes everyone else happy, she will not have a reason whatsoever to be unhappy.

When Sayori confesses her love for the protagonist, she will either hug him or run away with a pained expression, depending on whether the player accepts her feelings, or rejects them. The next day, the protagonist will go to college without her, assuming she was still asleep. There, he will read a poem written by Sayori named "%", with the words "Get out of my head" repeated constantly. This will cause the protagonist to panic and go to Sayori's house, where she will be found dead, hanging from a noose with blood on her hands. If the player tries to load their save after her death, the game states that the save files are corrupt and completely reboots, as if Sayori never existed, thus she is temporarily gone from the timeline. This would mark the end of Act 1.

After Monika restores each member's file, at the start of Act 4, Sayori will again be present in the game and its timeline, alive and well. Natsuki and Yuri will also be present, also unharmed. This time, Sayori is the club president instead of Monika. Towards the end of the game, one out of two endings will happen. If the player achieves the normal ending, Sayori will reveal that since she is now also self-aware, possibly because she is now the club president, and will thank the player for deleting Monika. The scene then moves from the club into the room Monika was in during Act 3, as she claims how happy she will be to be with the player forever. Monika will then delete Sayori, stating that she "won't let her hurt him," and then will delete the entire game.

If the good ending is achieved, Sayori will instead thank the player for spending time with all of the girls, saying that it's all that she wanted. She will then thank the player for playing Doki Doki Literature Club and with a few tears in her eyes say that they all love the player.

It is worth noting that Act 1 establishes that Sayori sleeps in because of her depression, which is why she is often late for college. In Act 4, however, Sayori tells the protagonist that she has been waking up on time lately. This implies that her depression has been alleviated to some degree.

Curiosity:

The name Sayori is written in katakana (サヨリ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (紗世理, 小夜里, 小由, 砂縒, 桜依, 咲依, 早和, 颯依 or 沙頼), it could possibly mean: 紗世理 - "thread, silk" (紗) (sa), "world, lifetime" (世) (yo) and "truth, reason" (理) (ri). 小夜里 - "small" (小) (sa), "night, evening" (夜) (yo) and "village" (里) (ri). 小由 - "small" (小) (sa) and "reason, case, cause" (由) (yori). 砂縒 - "granule, sand" (砂) (sa) and "embroidery" (縒) (yori). 桜依 - "cherry blossom" (桜) (sa) and "rely on" (依) (yori). 咲依 - "blossom" (咲) (sa) and "rely on" (依) (yori). 早和 - "early sum" (早和) (sayori). 颯依 - "sudden, sound of the wind" (颯) (sa) and "rely on" (依) (yori). 沙頼 - "sand" (沙) (sa) and "rely" (頼) (yori).

Sayori's favorite flavor of ice cream is cookie dough, as revealed by Natsuki in the side story Respect. The most important thing to Sayori is the happiness of the people around her. She is the first person to join the Literature Club. Sayori has her favorite foods meticulously organized by category, such as snacks versus full meals, or breakfast foods. Her favorite fruit is cherries, and she reacts very strongly when Monika lies about not liking them. Sayori, at the start of Balance, does not know what "shipping" is. She figures it out offscreen.