Kyoko Sakura (Japanese: 佐倉 杏子, Hepburn: Sakura Kyōko) is a fictional character from the 2011 anime series Puella Magi Madoka Magica. The daughter of a Protestant pastor, Kyoko is a magical girl from a poor family. Initially introduced as an aggressive and self-centered magical girl, Kyoko clashes with Sayaka Miki over their ideals of justice. As the story progresses, however, her views change and she sympathizes with Sayaka and tries to save her from despair. In Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, Kyoko has a friendlier personality, and fights with her fellow magical girls against surreal monsters called Nightmares. Kyoko's past and her relationship with Mami Tomoe have been explored in the manga spin-off, Puella Magi Madoka Magica: The Different Story. She has appeared in several Puella Magi Madoka Magica-related media, including manga, novel adaptation and video games. Series writer Gen Urobuchi originally created Kyoko as a rival to Sayaka; although both characters make similar wishes and experience similar situations, they develop different personalities. Kyoko was designed by Ume Aoki, who wanted to distinguish her from the characters. Takahiro Kishida adapted Aoki's original design and added a number of features to the character. She is voiced by Ai Nonaka in Japanese, and by Lauren Landa in English. Critical response to Kyoko Sakura has been favorable, with critics calling her character interesting and praising her backstory. Her similarity and relationship with Sayaka have also earned positive response, and the character has also been the subject of analysis. Kyoko has been popular, having placed highly in several popularity polls, and many different pieces of merchandise related to her, such as figures, plush dolls and keychains have been released.
Characteristics Within the canon of Madoka Magica, Kyoko is a loner magical girl from Kazamino. She has long raspberry hair, blood red eyes, fangs and a voracious appetite, rarely seen without food. Kyoko is the daughter of a Protestant pastor who was excommunicated for heresy. She and her family nearly starve to death after her father's excommunication, which forces her to steal food so they can all survive. Kyoko makes a contract with Kyubey, a messenger of magic, as her wish is for her father to obtain more followers. Her father goes insane when he learns this, killing Kyoko's mother and younger sister Momo as well as himself, leaving only Kyoko alive to "mentally" torment her. She decides to use her magic only for herself, since using it for others causes severe danger. Kyoko is initially introduced as an aggressive and self-centered magical girl, but adopts a sympathetic outlook after clashing with Sayaka Miki. Kyoko has been a magical girl longer than the other girls in the series, and is more skillful. She uses a spear which can extend itself, split into several sections, and produce a ball at the end of a chain which can constrict and hit others. Kyoko can also erect barriers, to protect others or keep them from interfering.
Appearances
In Madoka Magica Kyoko is an experienced magical girl who first comes to the city of Mitakihara in the fourth episode of Madoka Magica, after Mami's demise. She initially clashes with Sayaka, trying to murder her due to their different ideals of justice. Kyoko learns here that her soul is no longer attached to her body, but is inside her soul gem (the source of their magic). When Sayaka's soul gem is tainted with negative emotions, Kyoko sympathizes with her and tries to protect her from despair, therefore, the two put aside their differences. Sayaka reminds Kyoko of her old self; wanting to stop Sayaka from making the same mistake as she did, Kyoko tells her to live a life of selfishness. Although Sayaka thanks Kyoko and admits that she misunderstood her, she refuses to abandon her ideals of justice. After Sayaka's soul is tainted further and she becomes Oktavia, Kyoko is determined to save her and restore her to normal. She becomes tired of her pain, renounces her previous ideals, abandons her self-preservation, and chooses to kill herself and Oktavia in an attempt to both find peace in death and make sure that Sayaka will not die alone. Kyoko overloads her soul gem to create a massive explosion that kills them both. Kyoko's sacrifice leaves only Homura Akemi and Madoka Kaname to face the powerful witch Walpurgisnacht in the finale of the series. In a previous timeline Kyoko was killed by Mami, who was driven to kill all the fellow magical girls after learning that they would become witches. In the final timeline, Kyoko survives because Madoka rewrites the universe. Here, she mourns Sayaka's death in battle, lamenting that they had "finally become friends". In Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie: Rebellion, Kyoko appears as a Mitakihara middle-school student and fights with her fellow magical girls against surreal monsters known as Nightmares. She is friendlier to Sayaka, and lives in her house. It is revealed that Homura has become a witch and created a barrier in her soul gem, and Kyoko and the other magical girls were pulled inside this barrier and were implanted with false memories. They save Homura by destroying her barrier, but in the process Homura steals Ultimate Madoka's powers and rewrites the universe before proclaiming herself as the devil. Despite becoming the devil, she gives everyone happy lives in her new world, with Kyoko shown smiling and becoming friends with Sayaka at the end of the movie.
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