Name | Sakuya Kumashiro
Age | 17
Eye Color | Green and blue, depending on the episode
Hair Color | Deep purple or, alternatively, black with blue highlights
English Voice Actress | Julie Maddalena
Japanese Seiyū | Mayumi Iizuka
Biography | Two Bios, there will be, one long and one short. First up is the short.
Sakuya Kumashiro was the first girl to truly win Tenchi's heart. She is the main female protaganist, if you will, of Tenchi in Tokyo, known in Japan as Shin Tenchimuyo. Tenchi met, befriended, and became close to her when he moved to a new high school that she attended in Tokyo. However, Sakuya was not as she seemed. She was, in fact, a creation of Yugi; Yugi's "shadow," in the English version, and her "reflection," hence the site name, in the Japanese version. Yugi used her to drive apart the Tenchi group and, once she had unwittingly fufilled that purpose, Yugi brought her back into herself. Yugi was eventually defeated, and Ryoko remarked, in one of the last scenes of the series, that, since Sakuya was a part of Yugi, she would someday grow up to look like her.
Sakuya Kumashiro belongs to that odd club of Tenchi Muyo characters who make an appearance in but one season/series or movie of the greater franchise. A sad fact this is, to this one, being dear to his heart. Sakuya appears to be, on the outset, a normal, if somewhat popular, girl enrolled at the same high school Tenchi transfers to when he moves to Tokyo, Temangu High. She is ranked third on Temangu High's "Must Have List," but, as luck would have it, falls nearly immediately for Tenchi, and he for her, later. Note that I'll not be going over every episode of Tenchi in Tokyo, but will rather skim over the development of their relationship.
Of course, this all begs a backstory. We first meet Sakuya as Tenchi is walking through Tokyo. The two pass each other and (I think) either speak or run into each other. HDS canna remember. Tenchi's first day of school sees the two meeting again, with Sakuya choosing to sit with Tenchi at lunch (Among other things), much the the envy of his classmates. Sakuya and Tenchi go on several "dates" of sorts, from an encounter with a "Love Goddess" to Sakuya being kidnapped by a clone of Nobuyuki Masaki. Through it all, Tenchi and Sakuya draw ever closer, even as this attraction is seen by one watching from afar. Yugi, the antagonist of TiT, seems intertwined with Sakuya, keeping a crystal of Sakuya in her fortress, watching as it draws ever closer to Tenchi and as the crystals of the other girls slowly drift away. But, I get ahead of myself. The other Tenchi girls, as expected, do not simply ignore this intruder. At first, Ayeka and Ryoko, the two most determined to have Tenchi, see her as no threat. Indeed, they can be quoted as saying "She's harmless" after Sakuya mistakes the two for video game characters (Note that the video game did feature the two. =P). However, as it becomes evident that Sakuya is displacing the rest of the girls, Ayeka and, especially, Ryoko, become more and more determined to break the two apart. Yugi, whose plan seems to involve breaking the family apart, sends her minions and summons to thwart the efforts of the group, often not succeeding completely but succeeding enough to stop the break up attempt.
The hostilities seem to escalate when Tenchi returns to the Masaki house for a reunion. Sakuya, unbeknowst to him, followed him home, just in time to find that the special gems that each member of the household had were stolen. Ryoko immediately accuses Sakuya of stealing them and is in turn scolded quite severely by Tenchi, after which she leaves, quite shocked. As it turns out, another summons of Yugi, a monkey, was behind this, and the gang soon go chasing after it, leaving Sakuya alone in the house. She sees them return, happy after defeating the monkey, and realizes just how close they all are. This propts the ever-watchful Yugi to observe that the connections between Tenchi and the girls are stronger than she anticipated.
Back to Tokyo now. Tenchi and Sakuya are, along with many of Tenchi's classmates, preparing for the upcoming "White Phoenix Festival" that the school puts on. Sakuya's three best girlfriends spend most of the day trying to get the two together in a secluded place. When Amagasaki intervenes, Yugi, ever observant, sends a giant female wrestler to combat him, resulting in a number of hilarious scenes of Amagasaki sailing through the air, yet always managing to come out unscathed. Amagasaki eventually defeats this summoned being, and his defeat of her causes her to to turn to light, at which point Tenchi moves to try and protect Sakuya, appearing after the dust settles to be almost kissing her. There is, of course, much blushing all around. Yugi, high above (Or whatever you'd call her location) remarks that tomorrow will mark the falling apart of it all.
The festival day dawns, and with it new trials. All goes well, with Sakuya and Tenchi running a crepes booth, until the Tenchi girls, sans Ryoko, decide to steal Nobuyuki's life's savings and travel to Tokyo. Upon arrival, they do what they are best at and cause many disasters, mainly centered around Washuu and a giant, mechanical rat. The destruction ends with Tenchi's both being destroyed, along with much of the festival, and Tenchi yelling out "I've had enough!", informing the girls that nothing but trouble occurs when they are around, and telling them to just go home. Shocked, they leave. All the while, Ryoko has been flying to Tokyo herself, although not strictly to see Tenchi (She trusts him after having been on an 'official' date with him in a previous episode, a first for any Tenchi girl in any of the series, but that's another story.).
The festival wrecked, night falls, and the wrap party begins, the time when lovers declare their love to each other beneath the moon. Tenchi and Sakuya are sitting on the roof of the school watching the few festivities below and talking. While on the roof, the two kiss for the first time. Ryoko, also floating about the festival, goes up to the roof for a better view. Realizing that others are there, she turn around and sees the two. Shocked, she calls Tenchi a "stupid jerk" and vanishes, even as Yugi and her minions watch in surprise as the crystals representing Tenchi and Sakuya have joined, emitting a great and intense light.
Over the next few episodes, the Tenchi girls depart, save Washuu, Ayeka, and Sasami plus Ryo-oki, although the crystals representing Sasami, Washuu, and Ryo-oki have drifted from Tenchi. Ryoko's already has and Kiyone and Mihoshi's soon follow, with Ayeka's finally following after a fatefull phone call. An episode containing much of this ends with the crystals representing the girls all forming a perimeter around Tenchi and Sakuya's, with only Ayeka's facing inward.
We are treated to further side story on Kiyone, Mihoshi, and Ryoko, but the real mystery is unwravelling with Ayeka and Washuu. Washuu, unbeknowst to the others, has been analyzing an attack by Yugi on the Masaki house and directs Ayeka to an underground cavern. While this occurs, Tenchi, Sakuya, and co are at the beach, which, while it features the only time in-show that we see Sakuya in a bikini,, is unimportant to the storyline. Ayeka, upon arriving at the cavern, discovers a great block which her guardians interface with, broadcasting its story, which details Yugi's origins. Yugi is shown on Jurai, thousands of years past, wreaking havok with summoned creatures. The Jurai Empress and her forces are forced to intervene, imprisoning her within the very tomb Ayeka has discovered. The Empress is sad, but is left with no choice: Yugi us too dangerous to let free. Within this tomb she slept, and the tomb was cast into space, eventually reaching and impacting Earth. A later earthquake, although we aren't told this immediately, freed Yugi. Returning, Ayeka informs Washuu of what she has discovered. Time passes, finding Tenchi and Sakuya in his apartment. Washuu pops out of the toilet through the newly-opened dimensional tunnel. She tells Tenchi that he should return to Okayama, but Sakuya is steadfastly against this. Before anything can escalate, Luke Perry, the son of a shopkeep near the shrine Tenchi works at, runs in and fairly drags Tenchi off, telling him that the shrine priest has been injured and that Tenchi has to fill in. After Tenchi leaves, and Washuu is about to depart, she turns back and looks at Sakuya, who is glowering at her with an evil look suspiciously similar to one Yugi earlier held, although Washuu does not know this.
Next (Apologies for all the skipping about, but otherwise this bio would be longer than it already is) we see Tenchi at the shrine, helping the old priest. Sakuya appears, taking pictures, and it seems she is intent on spending the day taking pictures of Tenchi and herself. Tenchi and Sakuya, after Tenchi completes his shrine duties, sit down to eat lunch. While sitting, Tenchi notices that the camera Sakuya has been using is a very old model, a 35MM with manual film advancement. He asks if it belonged to her father, and Sakuya, seeming flustered, utters "My father?" and distracts him by asking him something embarassing. The two continue happily along, Sakuya taking more pictures, and both eventually purchase ice cream cones. Sakuya asks a nearby plainclothes detective to take their picture, and together the two stand by a fountain as he does. After the picture, they sit eating ice cream, and Tenchi askes about her parents again. Sakuya, dismayed, stands up, letting her ice cream fall, stares into the fountain, saying that she doesn't remember her parents.
Later, the two are in Tenchi's apartment, reviewing the day's pictures. Tenchi sees the picture taken of him and the other girls just before he left for Tokyo and when Sakuya asks if he misses them and he denies it, she turns her back on him. He attempts to explain that his roots are in Okayama, and she begins to remember, going back through her mind to the very first moment they met and then...nothing. Tenchi calls her name and shakes her, breaking the trance, and she begs his forgiveness before running from the apartment. As the episode concludes, we see Sakuya in her darkened room, pictures of the day strewn about, holding herself, wondering aloud why she has no memories of parents, family, life before Tenchi. Her last words are too a picture of Tenchi, "Help me, Tenchi! Help me!"
The next day, Tenchi and Sakuya sit in his apartment watching TV, Sakuya still despondent about the day before. Yugi watches the pink crystal representing Sakuya and frowns. She declares that "It's time" and watches as Sakuya's crystal cracks. A scene later, the entire crystal shatters and vanishes. Tenchi, sweeping at the shrine, encounters his friends going to the beach, asking him to come along. They say that there are pretty girls there, and that he will find one. Tenchi is surprised by this, since he already has Sakuya. When he tells them this, his friends are surprised and ask who she is and when it happened. Tenchi replies, somewhat surprised himself, that it is Sakuya Kumashiro. His friends, however, have no knowledge of her it seems, and ask if she goes to another school. Tenchi, shocked, exclaims that they went to the beach together and that she goes to their school, thinking that it is a joke. When he realizes that his friends are serious, he immediately flees the temple to search for Sakuya.
Meanwhile, Washuu is analyzing her data on Sakuya back in her laboratory. After applying a filter to an image of Sakuya and Tenchi eating lunch, Sakuya disappears and she realizes that Sakuya has no life force. Tenchi, running into his apartment, grabs the student directory and finds Sakuya's name and address. Dashing out of the room, he misses it fading from the directory even as her image in each picture of them together likewise fades to nothing. Arriving at Sakuya's apartment, he bangs on her door, shouting her name. When there is no answer, he enters, and finds the place totally barren. He askes "Sakuya?", but there is no answer. Sakuya herself is on a Tokyo sidewalk, looking down at a picture of Tenchi and herself lying on the ground. However, she is no longer there, and Tenchi's arm is wrapped around nothing. She says "No...This can't be! Tenchi, what's happening? Tenchi!"
The next episode is a series of flashbacks interspersed with present events. We see Sakuya and Tenchi on a date in the park, and the preperations for that date in her apartment, back when she still existed in the pictures of herself and Tenchi. In the present, Tenchi returns to his apartment to find his grandfather, Katsuhito, and Washuu waiting for him. She begins to explain all about Yugi and her plot to break up the group so that the crystals Tenchi and the others carry would be separated. There's more to it than that, but it does not concern this bio. As all this occurs, Sakuya sits in her apartment, wondering about Tenchi. We flash back to Tenchi's house in Okayama for an unimportant scene, and then we flash back to Tokyo just in time to see Tenchi run out of the house thinking "It can't be!" Flashing back a few moments earlier to his apartment, we see Washuu projecting an image of Sakuya. Washuu tells him that she is not human. Tenchi cannot believe it, but Washuu further shows him the filter that renders her true form. Back to the present (Jagged was this episode), we see Sakuy standing in her room in front of her sliding-glass door. A flash of light appears in the window as she is looking at a picture of herself and Tenchi. She whirls around and sees Yugi floating there. Yugi and Sakuya have a short little conversation of sorts that culminates in her 'returning' to Yugi just as Tenchi arrives at the apartment. Tenchi bursts in the door and sees only Yugi there. She tells him that he is too late and floats off, leaving a devastated Tenchi crumpled on the floor. We are then treated to a special end sequence with flashbacks to scenes of Tenchi and Sakuya.
Skipping further some more, Tenchi is running to attack Yugi, whose dimension is beginning to take over all of Tokyo. Just as he is about to reach Yugi, Tenchi is engulfed in a great light and appears dressed in his school clothing and on the grounds of the school, with Sakuya nearby. He hesitantly moves towards her, saying her name, when everything besides the two goes black and they are alone. Yugi speaks to him through Sakuya, both in her voice and later her's and Sakuya's. Tenchi grabs Sakuya and moments later she speaks in just her voice. Yugi, in the background, says this is a world where the two of them can stay together, forever, and asks if he is willing to give Sakuya up to save the real world. Further scenes of Yugi's henchpeople being destroyed by the other Tenchi girls follow, before we are returned to Tenchi and Sakuya, together at the festival once again, sitting beneath a tree and surrounded by sakura petals. Sakuya suddenly says ""I'm so happy. I waited so long. But I guess the time is up." She then stands and smiles at him. Yugi, meanwhile, is becoming angry at the failure of her shadow to do as she says. Sakuya tells Tenchi that she knows this is an illusion and that he must give her up and save the real world. As Yugi shouts, disappear, the world around them vanishes and they are left embracing, Tenchi finally accepting that he must leave her, whereupon she vanishes in a shower of bright lights. Through a series of fortunate events, Yugi is then defeated. In one of the last scenes of the series, we see Yugi lying peacefully in some sort of device in a cave near the Masaki house, sleeping until she can control her powers. Ryoko remarks that since Sakuya was Yugi's reflection/shadow, Yugi will probably grow up to look just like her, whereupon the other girls get concerned at the prospect that the only girl to ever truly win Tenchi's heart will someday return.
