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Carve it into your soul, kid!
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Major plot spoilers follow.
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- "It seems this fantail is Shirogane Sakuya. His feathers would make anybirdie proud. He's pretty stuck up. But then, transferring is never easy. I hope we can be friends!"
- —Hiyoko Tosaka[src]
Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane (銀 ル・ベル 朔夜) is a French transfer student to St. Pigeonation's Institute. He is a fantail pigeon; a bird of high blood and even higher class. Considering his lineage, he is admittedly snobbish, looking down on even his half-brother Yuuya Sakazaki for being a "mongrel". He is the president of the St. Pigeonation's student council.
He is voiced by Ishida Akira (石田彰) in the drama CDs.
Physical Description
Sakuya's shrine date
As a human, Sakuya has pale skin and a pair of sharp blue eyes. His hair is short, light blue, with his bangs slicked slightly to the left. His school uniform is much different from other characters due to his extraordinary status as a noble. He wears a white dress shirt, and a coral ribbon around his neck. A greyish-brown double-breasted vest with gold buttons. His coat is light blue, with golden rims. Short around the waist in the front, and knee-length in the back. His dress pants are white, with greyish-brown knee-high boots.
As a bird, he is a particularly fluffy white fantail, with prominent tail feathers. His bird form is also sometimes drawn with the coral ribbon that his human form wears.
Personality and Traits
Sakuya is a snobby aristocrat who believes he is inherently better and more refined than everyone around him, considering others "peasants" and "mongrels". Because he holds the belief that he's owed utmost respect from others, he is often frustrated when other characters dare "mock" him. He often ridicules Japanese culture, and holds prejudices against "feral" behaving characters like Okosan and Hiyoko, but also xenophobia against Anghel on the basis of him being Filipino.
His definition of nobility is similar to ancient aristocracy, and as such, he sees himself as a "natural-born leader" of the masses (his pheasants), and is greatly passionate about delivering justice, and encating law, at various points in the stories. He is innately loyal; believing in the truth of his father's teachings, and also loyal to any promises he makes to other characters. His perception of the world lies inherently in the concept of "blood"; an outlook which was taught to him since hatching by his father. Among that, he was raised to despise his mongrel brother, Yuuya Sakazaki. Having never met Yuuya up until the start of the first game, Sakuya is relentlessly cruel and abrasive to his brother, and always suspects him of being vulgar, or trying to mingle his way into Sakuya's life to destroy order. Sakuya struggles to believe in Yuuya's sincerely good intentions, and even moments of wit and heroism. He considers those to be "accidents" to upkeep his idea that it's impossible for a mongrel, someone of low blood, to be worthy his respect.
Sakuya is bold, self-assured, and often more courageous than his classmates, even in very dire situations. He has exhibited high intelligence and foresight even as a young child; upon learning Albert's secret, he immediately got the idea to hire him, earning himself a powerful bodyguard and butler. Sakuya is very book smart, and generally excels at everything; in return, his street smarts take a hit.
Having lived a rather sheltered life up until the beginning of the first game, Sakuya is unfamiliar with many "unaristochratic" things and concepts. He also often has comedically off knowledge about random aspects of Japanese life, such as maid cafes or Shōgatsu. Those were taught to him by his wet nurse, and he takes them as absolute truth.
Sakuya harbors a secret. Over the course of his route (and perhaps in other timelines too) he sometimes secretly questions the legitimacy of his father's teachings. He feels the crushing weight of being the heir to the Le Bel name. It began with a time in his past where his father forbade him to be interested in music, and destroyed all his instruments. Artistry is not a noble's realm, the joys of creation are the world of peasants. Nobles' roles are to be patrons and promoters of artists-- not be artists themselves. A noble who sows his own wheat is a fool.
Secretly, Sakuya continued to teach himself to play the piano. When he asked Hiyoko what she loved, and her answer was "udon", he became aware of how jealous he is of her life. To engage with what one wants, and not only do what's expected of them. If Sakuya were to pursue his love for music completely, he would discard his role as the Le Bel heir, and run away from home.
In the BBL timeline, he doesn't exactly discard his role as the Le Bel heir, but he is permanently changed by the day. When he learns the truth about his origin, Yuuya's secret, he stops believing in Shuu Iwamine's innocence, and seems to become emotionally estranged from his nobility. He stops referring to himself as "a Le Bel," and begins to say "I, Sakuya."
Etymology
Sakuya consists of the kanji characters 朔 (saku), "conjunction (astronomy), first day of the month" and 夜 (ya), "night, evening".
Le Bel is written using the katakana ル(ru) ベ(be) ル(ru). This surname is most likely a reference to the ancient French surname, meaning "the beautiful".
Shirogane consists of the single kanji character 銀 (shirokane), "silver".
Trivia
- Sakuya can speak French, English, and Japanese.
- Sakuya prefers the racing blend of beans for Legumentine's.
- Sakuya has an elder sister and four elder brothers, two of which are twins. He's the youngest of the five Le Bel children.
- Sakuya is fascinated with Japan's ninjas and samurais.[8]
- Sakuya's comical misconceptions about some parts of Japanese culture are because of his wet nurse's teachings.
- In the games, he refers to her as his "mother", but it's a mistranslation. It's his wet nurse.
- Sakuya does not wear the St. Pigenations uniform as he is a noble.[9]
- The Student Council room has a secret trapdoor that leads to the garbage disposal. It's one of the Seven Mysteries of St Pigeonation's named in the first drama CD, Prologue. Sakuya often uses it on Yuuya when his hapless big brother comes to visit him.
- In Hatoful Kareshi, Sakuya recommends a book to Nageki called Les Misérables, a French cult classic, but also a book that incidentically criticizes monarchy.
- Sakuya got the Executive (ESTJ) personality on the 16personalities test.[10]
- Sakuya made an appearance in the third Heavenstrike Rivals collaboration with Hatoful Boyfriend, appearing as a gacha character.
Notes and References
- ↑ Shirogane Ru Beru Sakuya
- ↑ Hatoful Boyfriend Official Fanbook
- ↑ As of 2188
- ↑ All timelines
- ↑ After ED No.3"
- ↑ Hatoful Boyfriend: A School of Hope and White Wings
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Absolute Zero - the Forbidden Epic of Fallen Angels
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Webcomic
- ↑ https://gearstation.tumblr.com/post/106476723687/why-doesnt-sakuya-wear-the-stpigeonation
- ↑ https://twitter.com/moa810/status/1156166466439282689
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