Yukari Sakuragi

"Don't ever mention that name in Class 3 again!"

- Yukari yells at Kouichi for breaking one of class 3-3's rules.

Yukari Sakuragi was one of the class officers of Yomiyama North Middle School's 9th Grade Class 3 in 1998.

Story
In "Rough Sketch", she went to visit Kouichi when he was sick in the hospital, alongside Izumi Akazawa and Tomohiko Kazami, as part of her duties as female class representative. She was part of the small group of students who directly welcomed Kouichi to Class 3. At some point she injured her leg, which forced her to sit out PE with Kouichi. She explained certain aspects of the class to him and even talked on certain people to let Kouichi know them better like her explaining Yuuya Mochizuki's Art talent, but reacted fearfully when Kouichi mentioned Mei's name, shouting at him in anger. However, she was often friendly (bordering on flirtatious) toward him, and the two walk home together in the rain at one point at the end of "Bone Work" and share a bonding moment.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck soon thereafter. One of her male relatives arrived at school to inform Yukari her mother had been killed in a car accident, taking her out of class so she could pay her respects. A distraught Yukari fled, only to see Mei and Kouichi standing near the stairwell and talking. Realizing her mother had been killed as a result of the curse and fearing being close to Mei would cause her to follow suit, Yukari panicked and fled in the opposite direction, a confused and concerned Kouichi in tow. Yukari rushed down the stairs, but tripped and dropped her umbrella. She fell down the stairs, landing face first on the umbrella, impaling her jugular on the tip. Kouichi watched in horror as his friend drowned in her own bodily fluids, her blood pooling around her body.

The class was visibly shaken by Yukari's passing. Takako Sugiura witnessed her death and found it extremely troubling, mentioning it to Aya Ayano. As head of Countermeasures, Izumi Akazawa felt personally responsible for Yukari's demise, and blamed herself.

One week later, a memento of flowers was left at the place where she fell.

Later, in "Body Paint", Yukari appeared in Kouichi's guilt driven dream, standing with her freshly bloodstained umbrella at the place where she died, her face covered in blood, while blaming him for her death, suggesting Kouichi felt guilty for his friend's demise and blamed himself. Later on, Tomohiko Kazami said much the same thing, blaming Kouichi and nearly killing him in fury, as he felt Yukari wouldn't have died had Kouichi not joined the class. Izumi arrived and killed Tomohiko instead, coldly telling him he could keep Yukari company.

Personality
Sakuragi is shown to have a shy and warm personality, also being quiet and kind as seen when she was kindly welcoming Kouichi on his first day from the hospital. She though also seems to have a somewhat teasing personality as well, as seen when she asks Kouichi about what kind of girls might interest him. She’s also very clumsy, announcing to Kouichi that she at one point fell and sprained her ankle. When Kouichi first asks her about Mei, she momentarily becomes horrified before claiming not to know anything about her and not even knowing who she is, and warning Kouichi to never mention Mei's name. Yukari mentions to Kouichi she enjoyed visiting Tokyo in 1997. When Kouichi asks her why she doesn't plan to attend high school there like him and Izumi, she replies, in embarrassment, that her family can't afford it. She is best friends with Izumi Akazawa, although it is shown more in the manga.

Appearance
Her appearance between the manga and anime is markedly different.

In the anime, she has short, curly brown hair, tied in a half up half down hairstyle, tied back with a small ribbon, and her eyes are brown.

In the manga, she has straight black hair and black eyes. Her glasses are also different: while they have round lenses in the anime, in the manga they are elliptical. In both versions she wears the typical female school uniform.

Overall
A memorial bouquet was left at the spot Yukari died by her classmates, suggesting she was well loved by her peers, and deeply missed. She also had close ties to many of her classmates, including:

Izumi Akazawa
In the anime, Yukari seems to be afraid of Izumi, who often berates her for not explaining things to Kouichi while she was absent. However, Izumi blamed herself for Yukari's death, feeling she'd let her classmate down.

In the manga, the two appear to be old friends, and Izumi keeps a picture of the two together on her desk at home. Yukari's death isolated Izumi, who no longer had anyone to share the burden of her troubles with, and caused her to lash out at Kouichi, and later Mei and Naoya. After an especially rough night, an emotionally disturbed Izumi begged Yukari to protect her from the curse, and later on, she muttered Yukari's name (alongside her brother's) as Chibiki carried her out of the burning inn.

Tomohiko Kazami
It is hinted in Episode 12 that Kazami may have had feelings for Yukari - while Kazami pursues Kouichi, trying to kill him, he yells that it was his fault Yukari was killed. While Yukari and Tomohiko were probably on friendly terms as class representatives, he doesn't seem to have ever acted on these feelings, though they are hinted at as early as the third episode, when Tomohiko becomes distracted when he sees Yukari walking by, before nervously looking away with even a little faint of blush in his cheek.

This relationship is not present in the manga, novel, or live action film.

Kouichi Sakakibara
Yukari is shown in the anime seemed fond of Kouichi more than in the manga and its hinted that she had feelings for him but doesn't fully express them, she was seen flirting with him at one point when both were sitting out PE, asking him what sorts of girls he was interested in. She also can be seen to try to keep the peace when Izumi started asking Kouichi questions on his time in Yomiyama and her getting irritated, showing a sense to protect Kouichi since he didn't know too much on the current situation. Yukari also offered to walk home with him in the rain since she has an umbrella and they share a bonding moment and was used as an opportunity by her to get closer to him. She can also be seen as the first of Kouichi's multiple crushes to try and build off their relationship and not stand off to the sidelines like the others did and was seen as the most open to him early in the series in trying to make him comfortable in the cursed class. We learn that she loved Tokyo and wished she could go to school there but couldn't afford it, although it can be assumed she was also saddened mostly for she wouldn't be able to be in the same school or place as Kouichi who said he'd be going there in the start of high school. The only time she ever raised her voice in anger was when she scolded Kouichi for mentioning Mei's name. This was one of the first clues to Kouichi that Class 3 was not as it seemed. Kouichi was troubled by her death, wondering if she'd still be alive if she'd taken the stairwell nearest him. Kouichi blamed himself for her death, as evidenced by her presence in his nightmare, where the Ghost Yukari accused him of killing her. The real Yukari wouldn't have done so as she would have probably understood Kouichi just being in a tragic situation.

In the live action film, Yukari shares her desk with Kouichi. Though they presumably interacted offscreen, the two weren't especially close in that adaptation. When Kouichi finished a test earlier and left the class, Yukari followed him, imploring him to stop speaking to Mei, lest someone die. Kouichi rashly ignored her, running downstairs, as he'd just seen Mei heading for the locker room. Yukari confronted him a second time, angrily declaring that she'd had enough. When Kouichi tried to ask her what was happening, Yukari backed away, afraid of being near Mei. Suddenly, a can of paint, which the groundskeeper had accidentally put in the burn barrel, exploded, shattering the window behind Yukari. Startled and scared by the glass shards sailing toward her, Yukari backpedaled, only to slip in a puddle of water and fall back onto an umbrella, impaling her throat. Kouichi and Mei rushed to help her, but their classmate was mortally wounded. Her last words were to Kouichi, telling him she held him responsible for her death. Turning to look at Mei, Kouichi saw Death radiating off Yukari's body reflected in Mei's glass eye, much to his horror.

Mei Misaki
She doesn't seem to mention any like or dislike for her. However, she does her best to play along with the other students, pretending she didn't exist. However, it shows that the pressure was getting to her as she freaks out on Kouichi for mentioning Misaki's name. It wasn't until prior to her death, that Yukari had a reaction to Misaki. Upon finding out her mother died, Yukari was rushing to the nearest staircase. When she seen Kouichi with Mei, she reacted in sheer terror and ran for the staircase that was further away from them. This, in turn, caused her horrible death.

Trivia

 * She is ranked A+ in Another character ranking.
 * Her home address is 6-20 Tobiicho Yomiyama City.
 * Her first name, Yukari, means "affinity" while her last name, Sakuragi, means "cherry tree."
 * Because she died in "Bone Work", she didn't appear in the opening of "Put Flesh". Despite this, she still appears in the ending of every episode, as do other deceased characters.
 * In the novel, her death is one of the most detailed.
 * Yukari died on May 26th.
 * Despite being a relatively minor character, Yukari has a song on Another Songs Party, "Hop Step Hot!"
 * Yukari has a radically different personality in the live-action film. She is also the first person Kouichi sees Death on, reflected in Mei's glass eye.

Quotes

 * "It's your fault."-Kouichi's nightmare version of Yukari blames him for her death.

Gallery

 * Main article: Yukari Sakuragi/Image Gallery