Setsuna Sakurazaki

Setsuna Sakurazaki, is a fictional character from the manga series Negima!: Magister Negi Magi, created by Ken Akamatsu. The 15th student in Japanese alphabetical order of class 2/3-A, she is a half-demon hanyō from Kyoto, sent to Mahora Academy to be the guardian of Konoka Konoe, the daughter of the Kansai Magic Association's leader. Although friends with Konoka from a young age, she ends up distancing herself from her due to a childhood accident, but is forced to come to terms and protect her as Konoka's dormant magical abilities makes her a target for other mages. A master of Shinmei-ryū swordsmanship, her abilities and skills makes her ally with Negi Springfield, developing another crucial friendship and allying her as a major member of his developing magical forces. Setsuna's character is a natural evolution of ability and traits brought over from Ken Akamatsu's previous manga Love Hina, particularly in this case regarding fellow Shinmei-ryū warrior Motoko Aoyama. Setsuna's character is, on the surface, a serious warrior who cares about fighting and honor, but in reality holds deep feelings within for Konoka and is willing to protect her if needs be. Setsuna's development within the story can be seen likewise: initially a mysterious, serious warrior, she comes to join in Negi's battles while slowly opening up her own feelings. Akamatsu states that she was created primarily as a warrior partner for Asuna as she begins to come into her own abilities as one of Negi's partners. Her hanyō heritage, making her both an outcast as well as a bridge between human and demon. Although her human side is explored by her attempts to open up towards Negi and her other allies, her demon side is a very touchy subject, particularly as Evangeline mocks her half-blood during the Mahora Tournament. Another key factor connected to Setsuna is her relation with Ojō-sama Konoka. While desiring to be her protector, she is also seen as conflicted by her feelings and emotions around her, leading to awkward comedic moments between the two of them. She is a kendo expert of the Kyoto Shinmei-ryū of fighting and has some knowledge of onmyō-jutsu. She wields a nodachi passed down to her from Eishun Konoe named "Yūnagi" (although it should be noted that the size does vary from time to time). A native of Kyoto, she is a childhood friend of Konoka and serves as her guardian. At that time she would often call Konoka both 'Kono-chan' and 'Ojō-sama' interchangeably. Initially merely a guardian of Konoka when they were children, she stopped speaking to her after an incident where her ojōsama accidentally fell into a river and she could not save her. Punishing herself even with Konoka choosing to ignore the failure, she chose merely to protect her without speaking a word to her, even as both of them eventually end up in the same class at Mahora Academy. Some of the characters believe that she has romantic feelings for Konoka because of various hints, but this is subtext, while Yue herself thinks of it as nothing more than a mere misunderstanding by everyone. Although extremely devoted to Konoka, Setsuna feels unworthy of protecting her, and tries to maintain an atmosphere of impersonality. Setsuna is a winged hanyō: the daughter of a human and a Crow Demon (Karasu-Tengu Yōkai). She has white wings, even though the wings of the crow tribe (Del Rey mistakenly calls this the "bird tribe" because the Kanji for bird and crow/raven are very similar) are black. It is hinted that this is because she suffers from albinism, as Evangeline has alluded to Setsuna that she is using colored contacts and hair dye. Viewed as a bad omen because of the white color of her wings, Setsuna was forced into exile from her tribe. She was picked up by Eishun Konoe, who brought her to his home in Japan.