Who is Sakura Yamauchi?
Sakura Yamauchi is the main deuteragonist in the I Want to Eat Your Pancreas series. She is Haruki Shiga’s only friend.
Voice Actor of Sakura Yamauchi
The Japanese voice actor, Lynn contributed her voice to Sakura Yamauchi in I Want to Eat Your Pancreas whereas Erika Harlacher has voiced for the English version of this character.
Appearance
Sakura is a petite young lady with a slim figure. She is thought to be attractive (at least by Haruki).
Her hair is also a light brown color, with a long bang that covers the center of her forehead in between her eyes, long locks of hair on either side of her face that reach until her shoulders and curl slightly upward at the ends, and the rest of her hair running down her back.
Her pupils are a light brown or dark hazel color, and her eyes are small.
Her school uniform consists of a pale beige blazer with dark brown details, a white shirt, a blue bow, and a pleated skirt of the same color, all of which she wears with long, dark grey socks and brown loafers.
She is also seen outside of school wearing different plain clothing.
Personality
Sakura is said and shown to be a rambunctious person by nature throughout the story, which she admits to.
It’s made worse by her immature attitude and actions toward the world around her, as well as the fact that she had to be constantly quieted in the library where she worked.
Sakura, on the other hand, is shown to be terrified of dying, as she revealed to Haruki. Sakura, despite this, makes every effort to live her life to the fullest.
Story
Sakura is first seen with Haruki putting books back in a library. When he notices her incorrect placement, he advises her to learn more about the codes.
She then goes on to talk about a superstition that states that if one of your organs is sick, eating another’s will cure you.
Haruki is then seen in a flashback in a hospital waiting room, where he notices a strange book on a seat. When he looks inside, he discovers that whoever wrote it is suffering from a terminal illness and only has a year left to live.
Sakura appears out of nowhere, solemnly stating that the diary is hers and that her disease is causing her pancreas to fail. She names the journal Living with Dying and informs Haruki about it.
She laughs at his lack of reaction as she realizes how unaffected he is by her impending death.
She asks if he is free the next day while at work, demanding that he come over to eat Yakiniku and Offal with him.
She speaks with him about various foods that she enjoys, but one that she is particularly interested in is how eating a person’s pancreas in a foreign religion permanently binds their soul to yours.
They notice a scuffle between an elderly woman and a rude young man while walking through a market.
Sakura intervenes and scolds the man for being so rude, then kicks the man in the crotch, causing the crowd to chuckle (with the exception of Haruki, who appears terrified by Sakura’s actions).
Sakura grabs Haruki and they run away from the approaching authorities.
Sakura is confronted by her Kyoko the next day at school, who witnessed her having Yankiniku and Offal with Haruki.
Assuming they were on a date, Kyoko reminded Sakura that there are better boys in her league and that she has the freedom to date almost anyone she wants.
And Haruki is way out of her league; Sakura refutes Kyoko’s claim, claiming it was never a date in the first place. Takahiro enters the classroom during their school recess and approaches Sakura.
He gives her a “super rare” CD by one of her favorite bands after overhearing her discussing it outside of a store. With him being the class rep as well as the center of attention when it comes to girl crushes, her friends remind her of who he is. Sakura and Haruki go to a cafe after school to talk about how she recently broke up with a classmate.
Following the various meetings between the two parties, Issei Miyata approaches Haruki at school the next day, asking, “Dude, are you sure you and Sakura aren’t dating?” Haruki denies it, but Kyoko interrupts the conversation and tells them to get back to cleaning.
Haruki decides to go on a trip with Sakura because the school break is approaching. Haruki wonders aloud on the train how Sakura’s parents agreed to the trip after she revealed she had duped them.
Despite the fact that Haruki practically commits the same act, she expresses her sadness at having to pretend to have friends.
Sakura opens her diary and inquires about Haruki’s name, to which he responds with his full name (but is muted to the audience).
When Sakura arrives at the hotel, she is taken aback when she learns that she and Haruki have been assigned to the same room, albeit one of a higher class as compensation.
Haruki opens her bag and sees a plethora of medications and syringes when Sakura asks for her facial lotion, which she had forgotten before entering the bathroom. Regardless, he retrieves the lotion and hands it over to her.
Haruki later showers with Sakura, who claims she bought drinks, but when he takes a sip, he realizes it’s alcohol.
Sakura reveals a card game that is similar to Truth or Dare, with her asking who he finds attractive in their respective classes as the first question. Haruki expresses his admiration for the girl who excels in math.
When asked how high Haruki would rank Sakura among their classmates, he replies that she would be third out of everyone he can recall.
Haruki’s turn comes when he inquires about her childhood, to which she responds that she was a bit of a troublemaker.
As Haruki learns more about her, she becomes increasingly irritated and asks if this is an interview. Sakura claims that during her next turn, she will give her two options: tell her three things he finds cute about her or carry her to bed.
Haruki quickly offers her his hands, but when she declines, he proceeds to carry her, blushing as he places her down. With another turn coming up for Sakura, she first wonders what he would do if she admitted to being afraid of death.
Despite the fact that Haruki flashes back to seeing a large amount of medication inside her purse and remains silent until finally stating to choose a dare instead, Sakura says she wants him to do a dare with no objections. The dare was to sleep in the same bed as her.
Sakura asks Haruki when he goes home on the train the following days if he enjoys saying yes on the trip with him. Same as she didn’t expect a reply, she gets a shocked look.
After a while, Kyoko approaches Haruki on a balcony telling him why he’s traveled with her, for days after a break-up in Junior High, she is actually very sensitive to crying. She finishes the conversation with the risk of killing him seriously if he should somehow upset her.
Sakura brings Haruki to her house with her work completed at the library and told him that she would have him borrow one of her works The Prince which she has loved since her childhood.
They lounge and play different games. Sakura questions if Haruki suddenly gets crushed on her and Haruki refuses to do so, feeling uncomfortable, Haruki would borrow and getaway.
When Haruki approaches the bookcase to search for the book, Sakura takes him behind and says she wants to commit a “kidnap” act against someone she is not affiliated with, before she dies.
Haruki turns in shock as Sakura gets ready to kiss him, she ultimately retreats and tells her that she’s just joking. Then Haruki puts her arms down on her bed while he holds her handles firmly.
Then she gets very scared and protests against his sudden action. He seems to realize his mistakes with him running outside as she starts crying saying “stop.” He comes to the same man, Takahiro, who gave her the CD, who is the president of the class.
He asks why she fell for him while Haruki continues to say that his relationship is not what he believes. In anger, he punched Haruki as Sakura ran away and arrived on the side of Haruki when she saw his present state.
Takahiro admits that he was the one that punched Haruki, thinking that he was helping her, and she hated him with Sakura. Haruki told Sakura to have someone with whom they really cared about her, and not him as it was only a coincidence that they had met.
Takahiro was shocked and stumbled and took leave shortly afterward. She refutes this saying that all the decisions and choices she made in her life brought her together, and that’s why they come to that place together with an apology for her previous actions.
Many days pass as Sakura stays with him in the hospital to see her dance. She gets embarrassed as she says the only reason she’s here is that there are a couple of numbers.
They then start to play with a set of cards, when they talk about how Haruki thinks Sakura stalks. Then she stands up to look out of the window, praising Haruki for teaching him all she has to do.
They’re then on Kyoko, who’s angry when he watches them. With a horde of greetings and questions, Sakura distracts her, ensuring Haruki escapes without Kyoko.
During the night, Haruki comes to the hospital and takes Sakura to a fireworks event where Haruki confesses his concern about Sakura and wants to live with her.
The fireworks then seem to start with Sakura as they embrace each other in a warm hug. After that, Sakura promises to go with him to the beach once released. The day she discharges, they met at a café.
The day she was discharged and waits for her, Haruki arrived at the cafe. She receives several texts from her which lead to a short conversation with her two through the text and concludes with Sakura asking him to compliment her as punishment following Haruki’s “mean joke.”
Haruki looks at how much he’s changing due to her and considers what to type for a moment. He typed, “I want to brew a potion under your fingers from the dirt” (the very same thing that I want a book to be like somebody else).
However, he deletes his text quickly and asks what might best fit. Finally, type “I want to eat your pancreas” and send the message. Sakura didn’t answer for a short time and later that day she couldn’t meet Haruki in the cafe. Haruki came back home worried.
Watching a story during dinner, as Haruki wonders why Sakura was absent, the new report showed Sakura on the screen as a murder victim, unconsciously lying on the floor stabbed in her chest.
An ambulance rescue attempt was futile and she passed away.
The following day the funeral of Sakura takes place with many people who are attending to cry the sudden loss of Haruki.
Final remarks
Her mother, who gives Sakura’s living and dying, visited Sakura’s house, Haruki meets. When Sakura reads her book, she shows that she really looked after Haruki and cried after she was with him.
Haruki then reads a farewell to her when he sees Sakura describing her relationship in a dreamlike environment, having some symbolism and imagery of The Little Prince, and why it was so special to her.
Then she says that, following such brilliant descriptions, he wants to brew under her nails a potion from the dirt. She didn’t think the language was sufficient to describe how important it was, so she says “I’m going to eat her pancreas.”
Haruki asks Sakura’s mother to see her phone, then checks her messages and realizes that she actually saw his “I want to eat your pancreas” message.
(It is unknown whether or not she wrote that in the book because she saw the text or not, but presumably not as Sakura wrote the drafts of the farewells to everyone during her stay in the hospital, never having a chance to turn the drafts into finals as she deceased due to homicide instead of her pancreatic disease.)
About her illness
On 29 November, 20xx (Manga) or 2003, Sakura was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer (Live-action). Because of this cancer, Sakura was only to live for a few years, doctors predicted.
(5-year life span with this condition is extremely rare). On 4 December, a newsletter was published (Manga) and Living with Dying (Anime). It seems she only has months to live after meeting Haruki.
His life span was halved on 28 July. That shows that before winter starts, she will die. (Initially, their life expectancy was 12 months and they met approximately 4 months.
Give her about two more months left). On 19 August, however, she was passed on to the disease, because of an unfortunate event. This gives a message that everybody can die anywhere or anywhere.
Relationships
Haruki Shiga
Sakura appears to have a crush on Haruki, though this has yet to be established. Given that Haruki is the only one among her peers who are aware of her pancreatic illness, the two spend a lot of time together.
Sakura spends the final months of her life with Haruki, completing tasks and activities that she had always wanted to do before she died.
It’s revealed after her death that she had romantic feelings for Haruki but didn’t act on them because she didn’t want to hurt him when her time came.
Takahiro
Sakura liked having Takahiro as a friend at first. Sakura could talk to him about almost anything because he was a great listener. He began to act pushy in “a lot of different ways” after they started dating.
Towards the end of the film. Takahiro had punched Haruki in the face outside Sakura’s house because he was jealous. Sakura admits that she despises Takahiro at this point.
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