Sakuno Ryuzaki

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Sakuno Ryūzaki (竜崎桜乃, Ryūzaki Sakuno^?) is a fictional character from the anime and manga series Prince of Tennis. She's the granddaughter of Sumire Ryuzaki, the Seigaku coach, and is the first person in Japan who had direct contact with Ryoma Echizen, therefore many fans consider her Ryoma's best friend outside of the Seigaku team.

Sakuno is a kind, clumsy and quiet girl with very long hair kept in twin braids, who almost always seems to worry about Ryoma and the others. She started playing tennis after she saw Ryoma playing, and her progress differs in the anime from the manga; in the anime her lack of skill is a recurring gag, while in the manga she's good enough to be seen as a promising player and even future regular.

[edit] Anime vs. manga

Sakuno Ryuzaki, as seen in the Prince of Tennis anime. Screencap from episode 9.

The manga and anime portrayals of Sakuno are basically similar, yet have some important differences.

On one hand, Sakuno has far more spotlight in the anime than the manga, where she's regularly seen hanging out with the Seigaku team along with her best friend Tomoka Osakada, and even helping them out during different training camps. In the manga, she's seldom seen cheerleading and at times even seems to fade away from the storyline, since she spends her time training with the girls of the tennis club.

On the other, the emphasis given to Sakuno's chronic shyness in the anime makes her prone to ditz spells and even small emotional breakdowns, while manga Sakuno is more insightful, mature and intuitive; one example is that, when Kotoha from Tsubakikawa appeared in the Seigaku grounds during chapter 241 and said she had fallen for Ryoma, Sakuno chose to mostly keep her thoughts to herself and noticed that Ryoma had not taken Kotoha's claims seriously, unlike Tomoka who quite freaked out and expressed this very loudly.

[edit] Sakuno and Ryoma

Sakuno and Ryoma. Screencap from episode 9.

Sakuno is the closest thing to a possible "girlfriend" for Ryoma, although as of yet they have not gotten together. Some hints include bits of jealousy appeared in Ryoma when Kintarou Tooyama, from Shitenhouji, ate her onigiri even when they had fallen on the ground and complimented on how good the onigiri were. Another reason is the "date" during episode 24 of the anime (though it turned out that he was only taking her to a sports shop to get her racket fixed) and the picture taken of them that made them look like a couple (Takeshi Momoshiro bumped into Sakuno, who bumped into Ryoma just as the picture was taken).

While in both anime and manga, Sakuno's crush on Ryoma is clear, she hasn't had a chance to really tell him due to her own shy nature, some degree of bad luck and the meddling of other people (especially Nanjiroh and Momoshiro). On the other hand, Ryoma doesn't take a possible relationship with Sakuno seriously (most likely because of his dedication to tennis and his own early age), but does show friendly concern for her; he has rescued Sakuno from bullies several times, doesn't mind her tagging along with the team, and has coached her and Tomoka in tennis (although unwillingly). Ryoma's head is only for the tennis and he's still a kid, so he doesn't see Sakuno as a prospect yet.

[edit] Voice

She is voiced in the Japanese anime by Mikako Takahashi and by Cindy Robinson in the English version of the anime.

Takahashi has released two image songs for Sakuno: Haru no ao and Miracle Colorful Carnival (this one being performed with Fuyuka Oura as Tomoka and Akiko Kimura as An Tachibana).

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