Anna Sasaki

Anna Sasaki is the core protagonist of When Marnie Was There film. Anna has a pixie cut, chin length wavy brown hair and blue eyes. She wears a few outfits through the movie but she typically dresses in red shorts, light blue sneakers, and various blue shirts. At the Tanabata festival, she wears a pink yukata with pink and blue flowers that belonged to Setsu Oiwa's daughter. By the end of the movie, she starts wearing her grandmother's hairpin again. Anna is a caring, curious, and introspective person. She is usually polite with her elders, especially her aunt and uncle but doesn't talk unless it's necessary. She is an artist, and is often carrying around her sketchbook although at first she believed that she wasn't good at drawing when in fact she is great at it. The drawings shown in the movie are mostly of landscapes, such as the playground in the beginning, the marsh house, Marnie's house and Marnie herself. Anna has a low self-esteem, deeming herself worthless, ugly, awkward, a nuisance and abnormal. Her social anxiety is also very prevalent, causing her to struggle in large crowds and interaction with people, cutting herself away from others, which is usually mistaken for shyness. She suppresses her emotions, usually donning on a neutral expression, and is also very prone to emotional outbursts, suddenly changing moods but with the help of Marnie and Sayaka, Anna starts to open up and becomes slightly more upbeat, smiling more, apologizing to Nobuko for hurting her feelings and even referring to Yoriko as her mother.