Characters / Sakura Gakuin

The Members past and present plus (known) Staff of Sakura Gakuin.

These are characters, some of whom have magical or Psychic Powers or are world-travelling messengers of a vulpine deity, based on the real people who portray them. While the distinction might be blurry at times, please take care not to trope these girls' private lives if such things are not brought up publicly.

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Staff

MIKIKO, Mori-sensei, Principal Kuramoto

MIKIKO

Mikiko Mizuno is the group's main choreographer. She is famous as a principal choreographer for the 2016 Olympics Closing ceremony and was set to choreograph the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremonies. She also works with other Amuse acts including Perfume and Babymetal. Mikiko-sensei also runs her own dance troupe, Elevenplay. Occasionally appears in the background of photographs from rehearsals, and sometimes mentioned by the members in diary entries.

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• Insistent Terminology: No one calls her Ms Mizuno. She is a sensei – Mikiko-sensei specifically – has earned that title, and don't you forget it. Yes, she also goes by her given name.
  • Also, she is a choreographer, not a dance instructor. There is a key difference: a choreographer assumes you already know how to dance. Former Elevenplay member Kazune Tomita serves as the group's actual hands-on dance teacher and instructor.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She discussed and invoked this after a long radio silence about her Olympics work. She quit. Why? The International Olympic Committee loved Mikiko's work at Rio 2016 and insisted she stay on for 2020. However, the COVID pandemic allowed Japan's local Olympic committee – then headed by former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori – to engage in some truly breathtaking Executive Meddling, with suits reworking the show behind her back and just gradually shoving her out of the picture. When she finally found out, instead of taking her job again In Name Only, she chose to walk.
• Stern Teacher: You won't find a teacher tougher than Mikiko-sensei anywhere – she has absolutely zero qualms making little girls cry, and rarely hands out praise unless it's seriously earned. But her results are undeniable, and she's somehow able to earn respect from her young students rather than scorn.
  • Those she is known to have complimented include Perfume, who openly consider her their ideal. Also Suzuka and, in 2019, Moa.
• The Unseen: While she was often around and directly supervising during Sakura Gakuin's early years, these days she's too busy with all her other jobs and leaves most work to her assistants. This makes sense because the majority of routines are recycled from year to year, needing only minimal tweaking. She still shows up before major live events to make sure things are running smoothly.

Mori-sensei

Hayashi Mori (森 ハヤシ) is the "homeroom teacher" of the group and appears with the girls except at festival appearances and music videos. His jobs outside Sakura Gakuin include but are not limited to: screenwriting (both stage and TV/movies), co-hosting the radio show Mochikomi, and other hosting/announcer jobs. He was also a member of the comedy skit group WAGÉ, which disbanded in 2006.

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• Catchphrase: やらせねぇよ！ (Yarasenē yo!; “I won’t let you do that!”). This is often coupled with a Big Entrance and followed up with "You really thought you were doing [x]? Nai! Nai! Nai!!"
  • Another that he occasionally does during livestreams is "I treat my wife the best." When in LoGiRL Ep.9 he said it in an over-the-top feminine style (burikko) after the other girls had used the same tone for their entrances, Yui looked up at him and said "Ew".
    "What? I was going with the flow, Mizuno!"
• Evil Laugh: He did this during the first couple of nendo tests when he took the papers out to grade them, leading Ayami to call him a demon.
  • He brought the cackle back during the 2018 nendo test.
• First-Name Basis: Explicitly defied, both to him and by him. He has said on SG livestreams and Mochikomi that he DOES NOT like calling his former "students" by their first names.
  • He said on the Mochikomi broadcast after Babymetal's Tokyo Dome shows that he can't bring himself to call Su-Metal, Moametal, or (The Artist Then Known As) Yuimetal by their stage names. He simply referred to them by their family names – Nakamoto, Kikuchi, Mizuno – as he always had.
  • Three years later he had the same trouble with the soon-to-graduate SG Seniors who had formed and adopted new stage names for @onefive. He even discussed the trope when he repeatedly called GUMI-san "Aritomo" and admitted he felt really uncomfortable calling Kano by her given name, which is unchanged in @onefive.
• Happily Married: He tries to invoke this during livestreams (his wedding ring is clearly visible), where the girls will sometimes get him to talk about his family. ^note  They do go to the shows. His kid son developed a crush on Megumi. His daughter does not want to be a Sakura Girl; she wants to be the next Mori-sensei.
  • In Sana's first FRESH appearance in May 2018, toward the end of the broadcast, he asked her (for about the third time) to shout out how she felt. She inexplicably shouted "MORI-SENSEI!!!" to which he, stunned, replied by shouting "WIFE!!"
• Hidden Depths: Discussed on the very first episode of FRESH. Despite his very dorky getup as Sakura Gakuin's homeroom teacher and an admitted love for literature, Mori-sen revealed to the girls he played American Football during his school days.
• Hilarious in Hindsight/Tempting Fate: In October 2017, Sakura Gakuin held its final Shuffle Unit show to-date, and Kano got the chance to be in the Juonbu (Babymetal), dancing in Moa's position – for the record, Marin was in Yui's slot and Maaya got Suzuka's. Kano gushed about "being Moa-sama" so much that Mori-sen decided to snark at the camera about Kano joining Babymetal. Twenty months later, it happened.
  "Won't you give her a chance, Babymetal-san? Fujihira danced to one song!"
  • By coincidence, that episode of FRESH aired one day after Yui's final performance with Babymetal, though no one (Yui included) knew it at the time.
• I Shall Taunt You: To most of the girls at some point. Particularly to Yui on the first season of LoGiRL, as this caused her to reveal her comedic side – turned out she was a master straight-man and has a rather dry wit. ^note  In a graduation interview in Gravure the Television vol.38 he mentioned that he only realized that side of Yui's personality a few months before her graduation, and regrets this.
  • The Class Presidents, by dint of their position, usually get the brunt of it. How they deal with him depends on the girl – Ayami, for example, regularly back-sassed him. Moa by contrast was much more passive. Aiko wrote that she felt she had failed to become skilled at bantering with him, though Mori-sen himself disagreed. Kano regularly taunted him for the entirety of her tenure. So did Sara.
  • Some girls, especially graduates, will turn the tables on him. One example was when he crashed Airi and Ayaka's Coming-of-Age livestream (see below); after the initial shock, both pretended not to know who he was. ^note  Airi had in fact appeared on his Mochikomi radio show less than three weeks earlier.
• Iconic Outfit: A sweater-vest and jogging bottoms, sometimes with a bowtie. The sweater does, very occasionally, change.
  • The glasses, however, do not change, although his Mori-sen glasses are dorkier than what he wears offstage.
• In-Universe Nickname: Mori-sen, though never to his face. The shorthand is just easier for the girls and fans when talking or writing about him.
• Insistent Terminology: Just about everyone calls him Mori-sensei (or "Mori-sen" for short). This includes Babymetal's producer Key Kobayashi, who technically outranks him, because Mori served as the girls' teacher. The respect Mori was given by Team Babymetal took him by surprise.
  • Pretty much any former Sakura girl who visits his show will still call him -sensei. Airi did so during her Mochikomi appearance on Christmas Eve 2016. He tried to laugh it off since she had by that point become much more famous than him, but Airi couldn't bring herself to call him anything else. When Aiko appeared on his show two years later, she went out of her way not to name him at all, likely for the same reason. ^note  She called him -san via twitter on his birthday a few weeks later and was questioned on it by her followers, forcing her to clarify that she'd intended it as a sign of respect for a fellow artist. Japanese fans felt she was speaking above her station, which is a no-no.
  • NHMR met with him in March 2019 for a belated celebration of his birthday. Sure enough, despite being old enough to drink with him, Hinata still called him "-sensei" (his honorific was even written in chocolate on the plate of cake they'd bought him).
  • invoked The interesting thing about the above is that Mori-sen is not one of the teachers members deal with at their lessons. Technically, he is hired talent kind of like the girls, and has zero say in which girls are chosen to be in the group or what the Student Council positions are. While he has experience in many different fields, singing and dancing are not among them. The only reason his position is not In Name Only is because he does help them with live appearances and has a knack for bringing out their personalities, so the girls do consider him a teacher.
• Memetic Hair: Discussed. In the Sakura Gakuin 10th Anniversary book Thank You…, Mori-sen mentioned that one downside to his role was having to have over-gelled helmet-hair for eleven years.
• Not So Above It All: In one of her final diary entries, Megumi wrote about the massive snowstorm that hit Tokyo in late January 2018 (despite what anime tells you, snow is uncommon in Tokyo proper). After practice, Mori-sensei joined her, Miki, and Maaya in a snowball fight.
• Old Shame: Invoked. During Miko's first FRESH! appearance, he really didn't want to talk about his time in WAGÉ (even though he'd brought it up).
• Papa Wolf: As much as he taunts and teases them, Mori-sensei is fond of the girls he works with and can be protective of them.
  • Although he did not make it known until after the fact, he stated on his Mochikomi show that he had refused to watch any Babymetal performances following Suzuka's graduation because he was worried Key Kobayashi had forced Su, Yui, and Moa into something they didn't really want to do. Reluctantly, he attended their Tokyo Dome concert in September 2016 and met the girls backstage after the show. He was pleased to find the trio were still the same joyful girls he had worked with years earlier, joking they could stand to act more like the stars they were.
    • He showed his concern during Sakura Gakuin's very first LoGiRL broadcast in January 2015, asking Yui and Moa point-blank if Suzuka had changed. They replied she hadn't.
  • He has also been known to try and keep up-to-date on graduated members who have left show business.
  • This even applies to girls who stayed in entertainment.
    • On January 9th 2017, Ayaka and Airi teamed up to do a livestream for their Coming-of-Age day (both had turned 20 the previous year). Much to their shock, the producers had brought in Mori-sen – in formal wear and with bouquets of flowers for each of them – to crash the set and serve as MC. Airi looked glad to see him; Ayaka could be heard saying "It can't be" and groaning.
    • While he couldn't make it to the shows themselves, he allowed Aiko on both Mochikomi and FRESH! to promote her singles and live shows. Later on, he did crash Aiko's 18th Birthday Livestream.
    • He attended Ayami's comeback concert at the end of 2018. Ayami posted a photo of the two of them on her twitter.
• Stage Names: Played with. At first glance his name seems to be incredibly suspicious. Not only is hayashi written in katakana (a common convention for stage names) but it can mean "woods", while mori (森) means "forest". His real name is in fact Hayashi Mori, although originally it's written as 「森 迅史」 (the characters of his given name meaning "swift" and "history" respectively), but he has adopted 「森 ハヤシ」 as a "stage name" so to speak.
• Trickster Mentor: Has been known to pop out of incredibly random places to announce a test.
  • Subverted during the 2011 nendo when he hid in the luggage compartment of a bus. After the girls were seated, he suddenly boarded the bus – cue 12 girls screaming – and said his standard catchphrase to announce a test… but then revealed the girls really were going on a field trip (to film the music video for "FRIENDS").
  • Double-subverted in January 2019. The girls were taken to an old house for a photoshoot plus interview and were immediately suspicious as they wandered about the place, but Mori-sen didn't jump out at them. Indeed, the shoot was legit and pics from it ended up on Sakura Gakuin's website. …Then came the interview — that was fake, but Mori-sen waited until the thing was nearly over to pull the dokkiri on them and announce the nendo test.

Principal

Screenwriter/producer Mitsuru Kuramoto (倉本 美津留) is the Principal – also real-life founder and manager – of Sakura Gakuin. Save for an occasional skit here or there, particularly in the early years, he usually only appears at the graduation and transfer ceremonies.

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• Anime Hair: invoked Following his 60th birthday, he shaved off his trademark circle-beard and dyed the rest of his hair orange. This can be clearly seen at the 2019 Graduation and 2020 Orientation.
• Hidden Depths: As shown in one video where the 2016 nendo covers a song – "Sakura Hyakunin Isshu" – originally performed by the 2011 group, it turns out he's pretty good at playing acoustic guitar.
  • He did side-gigs playing guitar when he wasn't busy with all his other projects. However, he announced in January 2019 he would be taking an 'indefinite hiatus' due to poor physical health.
  • Kuramoto may be the most capable of the unit's "teachers". This is probably why Airi – who had zero acting, singing, or dancing experience plus terrible stage fright when she was chosen as a founding member – often had to have extra lessons directly with him.
  • It's often his job to explain a song's meaning to the girls, notably the cover of "Aogeba Toutoshi". Because that song was originally written during the Meiji Era (1868-1912), a lot of the lyrics are rather archaic.
• Iconic Outfit: A tartan suit (jacket and trousers), topped with a bowler hat. This appears to be the sort of thing he actually wears normally, but turned up several notches.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Episodes of Sakura Gakuin SUN referred to him as the "Demon Principal".
  • He plays his reputation for effect during transfer ceremonies. Aiko's nervousness shot through the roof when he came out onto the stage during the 2017 Transfers' Ceremony her final year because she had blown a solo lyric during the first song of the performance and thought her mistake might cost her the position of Class President (it didn't). That Kuramoto intentionally really dragged out the moment only made Aiko more tense.
• Terse Talker: He never says much, even during Transfer and Graduation ceremonies. That's why when he does speak, people tend to sit up and listen.

Graduates

Graduated in 2012

Ayaka, Ayami, Airi

This group are often referred to as the 3 A.M.'s, due to their romanized initials.

Ayami Muto (武藤 彩未) 2010-2012

Subunit: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012

Founding member, first Student Council President

As the primary engine behind Sakura Gakuin (so far as members went), she started many of the traditions that the group still carries on to this day.

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• Experienced Protagonist: Long before Sakura Gakuin existed, Ayami was the original Ciào Girl, appearing in multiple commercials and model shoots. After that, she was one of the Karen Girl's (effectively its leader due to being the oldest). When Mitsuru Kuramoto decided to create Sakura Gakuin, there was absolutely no question that experienced veteran Ayami should lead the group.
• Height Angst: Hoo boy. After the first year, once NHMR outgrew her and Hana & Rinon started at her height or taller, she appeared to develop a complex about her short stature. Even as she joked about it, calling herself "compact" and "kind of a mini", the angst was still there.
  • During her "Ayami's Room" skit, she asked Rinon – the youngest member at the time – to stand up. 5th-grader Rinon was noticeably taller than 9th-grader Ayami. Mildly irritated, Ayami demanded Rinon explain how she was so tall.
  • This is incredibly ironic when you remember that, during an behind-the-scenes look into a Twinklestars practice, each girl was asked their fondest wish. Ayami wished to remain a child forever… and that was about the point she stopped growing taller.
  • Played for Laughs during her graduation on March 25th 2012 when she had to follow Suzuka at the microphone. Recounted on the 'Funny' subpage, it was the first instance of the "Mic Gag".
    • And again two years later, shortly after the release of her first music video. Ayami was photographed in a hotel room, wearing her shiny pink outfit from the video, sitting inside an open suitcase. It is very obvious that, were she to curl up just a little more, she could fit completely inside and be carried around.
  • Worth noting Ayami's brother is a jockey. So was her father. She never had a chance.
• Hereditary Curse: Her position as Student Council President also means scoring low on year-end tests, either low in general or the lowest of the seniors. This has been passed on to most of her successors. ^{Exceptions -} Marina (Hinata scored lower), Aiko (Momoko scored lower), and Yuzumi (Marin scored lower).
• Idol Singer: A solo example, which is relatively unusual in the 2010s. Hasn't quite worked out.
  • Before joining Sakura Gakuin, she was a member of kid trio Karen Girl's with Suzuka Nakamoto (listed below) and Yuika Shima.
• In-Series Nickname: Ayami-chan. Also "AYM". She continues to use the latter for her solo career and her fans have picked it up.
• Important Haircut: Cut her hair into a bob style after graduating Sakura Gakuin, for her solo career.
  • Upon her return to Japan, her hair had grown somewhat. Early in 2019, she posted a photo of herself wearing extensions and remarked she might want to have long hair again.
• One Head Taller: See that photo? One head is almost an understatement. A photo taken of Ayami, Ayaka, and Airi about a year or so after their graduation shows them towering over her even more. Ayami looked like a literal doll in between them as they used her head as an armrest.
  • Ayami remains to this day the shortest girl ever to graduate Sakura Gakuin, at 149cm - or ~4'10⅔" - while (as noted below) Ayaka and Airi are both 170cm (5'7") or taller. This is somewhat ironic as Ayami is also the oldest Sakura Gakuin member.
    • To put this in further perspective, even Moa and Yui – constantly made fun of for their shortness during their SG tenure – are now a good bit taller than Ayami. Hell, Saki Ooga, the one and only Baby-chan (who was photographed in 2013 doing "Height-Battle" with Ayami), ended up taller by a centimeter.
  • During Tokyo Idol Festival 2015, Ayami was set to perform on the same stage as Sakura Gakuin. She met the girls backstage and Rinon – the only member remaining to have worked with her – gave her a hug… and had to bend down to do it, as she had grown even taller in the intervening four years^* (Rinon's final update listed her as 165cm, or 5’5”). For the record, Ayami was wearing three-inch heels that day and Rinon still towered over her.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Inverted. Ayaka and Airi scored near the top (and identically) in both of their nendo tests, while Ayami came in dead-last in 2010, and only avoided coming in last again in 2011 because Rinon – original Queen of the Bottom Ranking – had joined the group in the meantime.
  • In the first LoGiRL episode, while discussing the history of Sakura Gakuin, Mori-sensei joked he had wanted to hold Ayami back a year because she was such an airhead.
  • That said, the other girls who worked with her in Sakura Gakuin praised her intelligence in the SMILE documentary. She would often help younger girls with their homework.
• Student Council President: The First, and so far the only one to hold the position for more than one year – the 2010 nendo had no graduates.
  • Normally it's the job of the class president to do the final stand-and-bow call at the end of a class, but Ayami was so upset at coming in last on the first year-end test that she asked Nene (who came in first) do it instead. This started a tradition that continued to the end. ^note  If two girls tie for first, as Saki Shirai and Megumi Okada did in the 2015 midterm, then the task falls to the older girl, in that case Shirai.

Ayaka Miyoshi (三吉 彩花) 2010-2012

Subunit: Newspaper Club (SCOOPERS) 2010-2012

Founding member

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• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Her persona in Sakura Gakuin. Continued into her modeling career.
  • Played with during her cameo on LoGiRL. Mori-sensei's teasing caused her to immediately break character and resume the dynamic they had had years earlier. She noted later in the show it had been so long since she had dropped her persona she was at a complete loss what to do.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Ayaka is almost never one to do this, but it happened in June 2019 when she attended a film festival in Toronto as an invited guest – one of the films being shown was Dance With Me, in which she plays a major role. Halfway down the red carpet she noticed Babymetal Funko Pops^* (these particular Pops are the focus of a project where they were first sent up into space, then taken to Hiroshima for LEGEND-S in December 2017, and have since been passed from fan to fan all over the world) posed by the rope line and broke her stride to take a look at them. Then she saw the fan with the Pops also had a Sakura Gakuin flag and asked for it. She spent the next minute posing with the flag before realizing where she was, returning the flag, and going on her way.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Acted as the Tsukkomi to Ayami, Airi, AND Suzuka.
• The Comically Serious: Suggest that she show a more vulnerable side, and she will amusingly shoot you down with her words.
  • At least three times during Sakura Gakuin, she pulled off hilarious impressions with an absolute deadpan expression. First was her debut at TIF 2010 where she barked like a dog. Later, on a TV appearance with the rest of the group, she very reluctantly spoke like a cat after the other girls begged her. She did the same thing during her and Ayami's half of the "Yearning For Friends" sketch.
  • On New Year's 2019, she posted a video on her Instagram of what appeared to be herself in Seoul (in the background there are signs in Korean, English, and one in Japanese), wearing a hat that had become popular amongst Japanese girls – it has long tassels that, when you squeeze them, the ears on top perk up. Ayaka tried to play with the hat while maintaining a totally neutral expression, but eventually broke into a smile at the absurdity of it.
• Cunning Linguist: She was studying Korean even before landing in Sakura Gakuin and has been known to speak it when asked. She did this as recently as 2019 at a modeling event in Seoul.
  • Ayaka decided in 2018, after going to a modeling event in Milan, that she wanted to learn English too. Sure enough, when on a junket in March 2019 with several other models in Sedona, Arizona, she had a brief conversation in English with an American model in which they discussed product. About a year or so later, she cameoed in a Taiwanese drama as herself and, since she can't speak Mandarin or Hokkien, all her lines were in English.
• Ice Queen: Tends to be played up in public.
  • Averted according to the junior girls – she comes to shows when she can and encourages the members. Several current and past members have commented on how approachable and helpful she is.
  • In early 2020, then-recent SG Graduate Yuzumi Shintani got the opportunity on her fortnightly radio show to meet and interview Ayaka. Yuzu was terrified the entire time despite Ayaka trying her best to be a Cool Big Sis and prove that this trope doesn't always fit her.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Was over 165cm^*(5'5") when she joined, and is listed as 171cm^* (5'7⅓", which is taller than the average Japanese man) now. She does a lot of modeling work.
• In-Series Nickname: Miyocchan
• Naughty by Night: Hinted several times to occur whenever off stage. When then-aged-12 Yui mentioned this during the "Ayaka's Room" skit, Nene immediately grabbed Yui and covered her mouth, insisting to Ayaka, "You didn't hear that."
  • Ayaka admitted this herself during her LoGiRL cameo in 2016. This explains the racier shots in her photobook and her later (tasteful) shoot in April 2018's Weekly Playboy.
    Fukei: "Well, I didn't expect to see Ayaka holding an armful of, uh, Ayaka." (she was shirtless and covering her breasts with her arm)
• Old Shame:invoked Ayaka is loyal to Sakura Gakuin – she even called it her alma mater in a 2019 message about current members – but don't put her on a talk show and air the footage from TIF 2010 where she barks. Even having her best friend (that'd be Airi) next to her won't stop her wrath.
• Tsundere: Especially with her Miyocchan personality.
  • One behind-the-scenes moment during the filming of Message showed her silently snuggling Airi from behind while simultaneously giving the camera a look that said, "You're not seeing this."

Airi Matsui (松井 愛莉) 2010-2012

Subunit: Newspaper Club (SCOOPERS) 2010-2012

Founding member.

Worth noting Airi is the only member to hail from the Tohoku Region (specifically Iwaki, Fukushima).^* Hinata was also born in Tohoku - Yamagata Prefecture, which is northwest of Fukushima - but she moved to Niigata (part of the Chuubu Region) when she was very young and lists that as her home prefecture. By the time SG began, Hinata was living in Kanagawa. She was also the group's only left-handed member until Kano joined in 2015.

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• Huge Schoolgirl: Was well over 165cm when she joined, and is listed as 170cm^note  (5'7", the average height of a Japanese man) now. She does a lot of modeling work.
  • When she acted in a school-themed TV drama, they ended up casting an absurdly tall guy opposite her (we're talking well over 183cm/6ft) to keep to the "man is taller" conceit.
• In-Series Nickname: Airin, Matsuko
• Nice Girl: Discussed by the other members during the SMILE documentary. When asked about their impressions of Airi, nearly every girl talked about how kind she was and allowed everyone to be heard.
  • Continued into her later career as a top-tier model, as she occasionally works with later Sakura Gakuin members, who quickly take to her. She's also known to attend meetups when her schedule allows, even if it's only for a few minutes.^† She reportedly put in an appearance at Road To Graduation 2016, but had to leave before the group photo was taken. She also met up with her former leader Ayami upon the latter's return to Japan, but Ayami only mentioned it after the fact with no photos.
  • Aiko showed off on December 26th 2018 (Airi's 22nd birthday) a necklace Airi had given her, writing about how nice a person Airi is and how much she enjoyed working with her. Earlier in 2018, Aiko took a couple of photos of herself in the exact same spot Airi had done a model-shoot the previous year.
• Old Shame: Airi explicitly invoked this with Sakura Gakuin. Not the actual group, which she has said she owes her career and some friendships to, but her 13- to 15-year-old self. She has said she wishes she could take awkward timid teenage crybaby Airi and lock her away in a box where no one could see her again.
  • Airi admitted to Mori-sensei during her Coming-Of-Age Day that her time in Sakura Gakuin was the worst two years of her life, because she felt so inadequate and worthless; her greenness and shyness fed off each other.
  • Despite this, Airi for some time kept Sakura Gakuin on her work history much more prominently than other graduated members who either downplay it (Ayaka) or leave it off completely (Sara, Yuzumi). Her official artist page no longer includes the little logo that links to the group, but it's still mentioned in her written bio.
• Performance Anxiety: Had this in a big way her first year in Sakura Gakuin and openly admitted it. It's a little bit ironic these days considering Airi now appears on television, in magazines, and in high-profile fashion shows.
• Perpetual Smiler: See that photo? Airi is notable for her big smile to the point that she's almost unrecognizable when she isn't smiling, such as in her model shoot for Vogue in late 2017. This puts her in sharp contrast to other top-tier catwalk models, including her good friend and fellow SG alumna Ayaka.
  • It's kind of a tic. If she's speaking at all, she'll probably have that smile. During the SMILE documentary and Sakura Gakuin SUN, she was shown to smile even when nervous (especially when nervous) or complaining. The only times she wouldn't be smiling were when she was literally crying or feeling no emotion at all.
  • The "Airi Smile" has become sort of her trademark and she has learned how to adjust its wattage when necessary. One of her catwalks from Summer 2018 shows her sporting a tight-lipped smile while walking onstage and then, just before she turns to face the camera, her teeth start to show…
    • During one multiple-model photoshoot for Christian Dior, every other model is pouting …then Airi's photo pops up and of course she's smiling and waving at the camera.
    • Photographers increasingly have her make a neutral face to draw more attention to whatever outfits she's modeling because her smile is that overpowering.
  • That said, she has proven more than capable of acting the part of a snarling Axe-Crazy nutcase if a script calls for it.
• Sore Loser: She absolutely hates losing, at least according to Ayami and Suzuka.
• Tender Tears: Due to her nervousness thanks to lack of experience compared to most of the other girls, Airi was quick to cry when upset or flustered. This can be seen in several behind-the-scenes clips. At her own graduation, she held it together pretty well until the final song, "Tabidachi no Hi ni", where she tries to sing her part but is too choked up to get the words out. During the speeches, she's in tears the entire time.
• You Talk Too Much!: Airi invoked this when Mori-sensei met the 3AMs at a bar shortly after his birthday in 2019. As it was the first time he had spoken to most of them in awhile, he wanted to start by giving a formal speech …but before he could get very far into it, Airi motioned at him to hurry it up. Mori-sen recounted the incident on his radio show not long after.

Graduated in 2013

Suzuka, Mariri

Of note: both Suzuka and Mariri come from Hiroshima, and studied at ASH (Actors School Hiroshima)

Suzuka Nakamoto (中元 すず香) 2010-2013

Subunits: Mini-Pati, 2009 (before it became part of Sakura Gakuin)
Heavy Music Club (a.k.a. Babymetal) 2010–

Founding member. Appointed as the second Student Council President in 2012.

She was the first member to come from Japan's Chuugoku (Far-West Honshu) Region.

Suzuka is to date the only Class President in the group's history to be given an appreciation party in her honor by the other members.

One of her sisters, Himeka "Hime-tan" Nakamoto, was a founding member of idol supergroup Nogizaka46. ^note  There is another sister, the eldest, who is not in show business.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Suzuka is double-jointed, which becomes very obvious any time she extends her arm during a performance (which happens a lot). Fans refer to this as her "bendy arm".
• Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: Played straight but then intentionally averted. During the first two years of Sakura Gakuin, she hung out with the A.M.'s (due in part to already being friends with Ayami). Once they graduated and Su became second student council president by default, she realized she barely knew her juniors at all yet was expected to lead them. So she made an effort to get to know everyone. It worked.
  • In the SMILE documentary, Su discussed this. In real life, as noted below, she is extremely aloof around strangers if she doesn't have to be "on" (she is a trained performer). Because of that tendency and the fact that she missed several lessons early in Sakura Gakuin's existence due to still living in Hiroshima at the time, she was pleasantly shocked when the other girls treated her as a member of the group when she did show up.
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: Su is a rare example of being both of these to herself, as pointed out by other members and Mori-sensei.
  • Boke Suzuka is a complete dork who laughs a lot, has No Sense of Direction, can't ride a bike, can't tie her shoes (take a close look at any photo of Babymetal that shows the girls' feet, or their Funko figurines; Su's shoes lack laces), and can't pass a nendo test to save her life. Also see this side occasionally come out during Babymetal live shows when she thinks no one but Moa is looking.
  • Tsukkomi Su-Metal is the Queen who can death-stare 55,000 people and get them to move as she commands.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: She had a reputation during her three years in Sakura Gakuin for being a ditz. Due to her popularity amongst the fanbase, certain terms that she coined – such as "DeLorean" for optical discs of any kind – have become memetic and common fan-shorthand. Some of her most notable moments are listed under the Funny subpage.
  • In Scoopers + Babymetal from the 2010 nendo, which is probably the first in-character interview of Babymetal ever, Su admitted to not being good at tying her shoes. Fast forward to the present, and the people who know her have confirmed in interviews that despite being an adult, she still can't tie her shoes or ride a bike. She has also been shown to veer off in odd directions if someone isn't guiding her.
  • She has also freely admitted in interviews to having some Book Dumb tendencies. In stark contrast to Yui and Moa, Su's grades in school were middling at best because she can't bring herself to care about or focus on anything that isn't connected to singing. Luckily for international fans, learning English does count.
  • In a radio interview after Babymetal's Tokyo Dome concert, Mori-sensei joked that she might have made a Deal with the Devil, sacrificing some basic daily skills in exchange for her extraordinary success.
• Cute Little Fangs: Throughout her time in Sakura Gakuin and the first six years of Babymetal, Su had a natural version of what the Japanese call yaeba, which their culture considers cute in girls… although to Westerners it borders on British Teeth but without that trope's stereotype of poor upkeep. She had at least one oral surgery to straighten them sometime between Tokyo Dome (September 2016) and Road To Graduation 2016 (March 2017).
  "Main girl needs braces." –said by more than one commenter on old Babymetal videos where Su's teeth are visible
• Death Glare: Su has one – inherited from her dad – that puts metalhead men twice her age and size to shame. She has been seen flipping from giggling girl to glaring rock-goddess who may or may not rip your head off, within the span of two seconds. This is a big reason why when she motions to a crowd that she wants a wall-of-death or circle pit, she gets it.
• Experienced Protagonist: She was a child model by the age of 5, got into acting school at 7, made her singing debut at 8, performed with Mini-Pati before it became a Sakura Gakuin subunit, and was chosen as one of the Karen Girl's at 10. By the time Sakura Gakuin started when she was 12, she was already quite the veteran and everyone knew it.
  • During her time at Sakura Gakuin, Su was almost always the first into the booth to record a song; the other girls recorded over her scratch track.^* The major exception is the very first Sakura Gakuin song "Yume ni Mukatte"; the SMILE documentary shows Ayami was the first to record, with Su second. The single version of "My Graduation Toss" includes her solo version of it. She also, uniquely, got a full solo song at Road To Graduation 2012: "Sakurairo no Avenue". ^note  Graduating seniors typically get their own song or medley, but they sing it together. Su was her year's only senior (Mariri graduated elementary school), so this was partly by default.
• Friendly Rivalry: She and Riho Sayashi, one of Babymetal's Avengers and former Morning Musume center, had this back in their Actor's School Hiroshima days. They're known as "Sayashi of Dancing and Nakamoto of Singing" (ダンスの鞘師、歌の中元), and fans and fellow students alike often tried to guess which one of them would get which solo parts during performances.
• Generation Xerox: Gender-flipped variant. She bears an uncanny resemblance to her father when he was younger, and he was also a musician – playing bass in a punk band called "Hooligans" that released an album in the early 90's. They also have the same Death Glare, as can be seen on said album's cover.
• Grin of Audacity: Su has been known to do this before some shows. Or during shows, such as "I.D.Z" at Budokan Black Night. Just goes to show how unflappable this girl is.
• Idol Singer: She was a pint-sized version even before joining Sakura Gakuin, having been one of the Karen Girl's. In fact, she was the youngest of the trio by well over a year. ^note  For the record, Ayami was born 1996/04/29; Yuika was born 1996/09/20; and Su was born 1997/12/20.
• In-Series Nickname: Su-chan
• It Runs in the Family: Three out of five Nakamotos are/have been professional musicians: Suzuka's father was a bassist (see above), and her sister was a member of Nogizaka46 for several years.
• Meido: During her brief stint with Mini-Pati before it became a Sakura Gakuin club, she wore a maid costume, in contrast with the group's usual chef uniforms and color-coded scarves.
• Motor Mouth: Often happens when she's excited or flustered. Because her singing style necessitates having quite the lung capacity, she can talk for a long time without taking a breath.
  • Didn't stop after Sakura Gakuin either. In most Babymetal interviews, she does 90% of the talking unless the interviewer specifically talked to Moa or Yui; and her answers, especially if in Japanese, tend to ramble.
• Nerves of Steel: After shows she has claimed to have been nervous before going on, but none of her fellow members see it that way. Moa once literally rolled her eyes upon hearing Su say it. Why? Examples:
  • Karen Girl's did their final live performance at an anime festival at the Satima Super Arena – the largest venue by far they had played, with a capacity of 20,000. Several years later the other two members, Ayami Muto and Yuika Shima, said that they were both extremely nervous before their performance. Meanwhile, Suzuka was snoozing in the dressing room and had to be woken up in time to perform.
  • Was reported to give a small smile when she saw the size of the crowd at their first UK performance at SoniSphere 2014, estimated at over 50,000 British metalheads.^note  Babymetal was originally meant to perform on a side-stage, where they would be dealing with a few thousand of their loyal fans. At the last minute, the roster was shifted and they ended up opening the Main Stage where 95% of the gathered crowd had never heard of them. You would expect anyone, much less a 16-year-old Japanese girl with minimal English skills, to be more than a bit nervous in that situation.
    • In an interview conducted by Hedoban Magazine not long afterward, she said she saw the huge stage and those thousands of bored metalheads and her immediate resolve was, essentially, "Let's give these guys the absolute best show we can!"
• Never Learned to Read: Downplayed. Obviously she can read, since she can write. However, Mori-sensei has said she doesn’t know the correct way to read panels in manga.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Ayami notes that Su can change tack when it's time for her to take the reins, in contrast to her usual happy-go-lucky self. Yui and Moa have backed this up.
• Reclusive Artist: Discussed and invoked. Suzuka readily admitted in the SMILE documentary she is one and always has been, diary writing during Sakura Gakuin aside. This has not changed one iota since Babymetal split off – in fact, it intensified. When she gave an interview to PMC Magazine in April 2019, it had been two and a half years since her last interview (right after Tokyo Dome), despite her performing regularly in the interim. The only information about Su to make it past Koba's (and possibly her own) firewall came from members of her own family, mostly Himeka before she retired from Nogizaka.
• Sibling Team: Performed with Himeka as Tween when they were both attending Actor's School Hiroshima. Interestingly, they wore each other's future group colors during their performance at ASH's 2009 Autumn Act: Su was wearing purplish blue and black while Himeka was in red and black (neither Nogizaka46 nor obviously Babymetal had existed at the time).
  • Himeka stated in a radio interview that when she and Su meet, they'll often do karaoke together and sing up to a hundred songs, running the musical gamut until their voices are shot.
• Stern Teacher: Discussed. She was this during her stint as leader of the Sakura girls and admitted in one of her final interviews that she really didn't want to be but had no idea what else to do. The other girls, for their part, told Su they appreciated her putting her foot down to give criticism and advice, and actually be their leader.
• Student Council President: The Second
• Team Mom: Discussed in an interview that she felt like this for the first few years of Babymetal due to Yui and Moa's youth and inexperience, but also admitted that increasingly they would push her forward. Video from 2017 festival appearances shows she still takes it upon herself to calm them down when they get emotional.
  • As noted above, she reluctantly became this during her tenure as Sakura Gakuin Class President. One of the things she had to do was try and resolve escalating tensions between Raura, Marina, Nene, and Hinata. Nene spoke glowingly of Su's efforts at the Surprise Appreciation Party.
  • During a September 2019 Babymetal performance in Chicago, Avenger Riho Sayashi - see above - lost her balance and nearly rolled her right ankle (very bad thing for a professional dancer). Riho saved herself by kicking her foot back and letting her knee take the weight. Su saw Riho go down and her eyes stayed laser-focused on Riho's leg for the rest of the song.
• Trademark Favorite Food: The juniors' parody song at Su's Surprise Appreciation Party was titled "Cheese and Su-chan" in recognition of Su's love of cheese and cheesecake.
  • She's also known to enjoy okonomiyaki, a specialty of her hometown Hiroshima. One okonomiyaki restaurant she frequented when she still lived in the city has a large photograph of her (with her autograph) on its "celebrity wall".
  • Because of Babymetal's most-known song ("Gimme Chocolate"), one interview asked what type of chocolate each of the trio preferred. Su was the only one who gave a single answer: Dark/Bitter.
• Trying Not to Cry: She claims to have made a promise to Mikiko-sensei during her ASH days to never cry onstage. To this day, she hasn't broken – though she came very close during Ayami's graduation (she cracked backstage immedately after the show).
  • During her "Surprise Appreciation Party" in March 2013, Nene's message to her did cause her to shed at least one tear, but it wasn't onstage, so she technically didn't break her promise to Mikiko-sensei. It is, however, one of the only times Su has been seen crying on camera.
  • At the same party, Yui's speech to Su specifically mentioned her stiff upper lip.
    "Even though Su-chan was the one who wanted to cry the most, she encouraged everyone to smile."
• Unusual Ears: Su's ears stick out noticeably. It's a family trait – Himeka has a less extreme version – and she invoked it early on as one of her "charm points". As one random commenter who saw a Babymetal video for the first time put it:
  "Main girl's ears are huuuuuuge!"
  • Su mentioned in an early Sakura Gakuin diary entry that she likes her ears because they remind her of her father, although she lamented that it hurts to wear earmuffs and she can't hear people behind her.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: When the Babymetal trio still made appearances on variety shows, they took part in a Taiwanese rendition of "Guess What's In The Box". Su was noticeably nervous even before the reveal showed the mystery thing to be a large bullfrog, at which point she just about lost it. While Moa soon picked up the amphibian and Yui eventually let it sit on her arm (though she did startle when it unexpectedly jumped to her other arm), Su refused to be within two yards of it. As Moa carried the frog towards Su, Su backed away to the point she left the set and a close-up of her face shows she was Trying Not to Cry while uttering a Little "No".

Mariri Sugimoto (杉本 愛莉鈴) 2012-2013

Joined in 2012 with Yunano Notsu and Saki Ooga. She graduated early to concentrate on a modeling career in her hometown after elementary school.

She is the only member prior to 2021 to not have aged out naturally, and also the only pre-2020 graduate to have never been in a subunit.

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• Celebrity Resemblance: With Suzuka. Mariri has been told they look alike (even though they don't). During the 2012 nendo's "Introduce Someone" series, Su stated Mariri has an eccentric personality, to which Mariri replied their personalities are almost the same. This isn't too surprising considering they both come from Hiroshima and went to ASH.
  "We are often told we are alike and asked, 'Is everyone from Hiroshima like you?'." —Suzuka
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Discussed. Suzuka called Mariri "strange" and "eccentric" (like Su has room to talk). On the surface, Mariri seems almost boringly normal. …Then you see her doing things like wearing a Carp uniform underneath her clothes during a Sei-Kore interview and stripping to reveal it (she also somehow managed to sneak in a minibat). Earlier, after being named one of the six winners of the Sei-Kore competition which earned her her first mini-photobook – it's just over 40 pages and several photos have her wearing nothing but a bikini that shows off her modest cleavage – and she was so proud of it that she decided to show it to her grandparents.
  • Here she is doing a surprisingly good chicken impression.
• Cool Big Sis: Even though Mariri was only in Sakura Gakuin for a year, it had a profound effect on her by her own admission, and for years she made a habit of attending as many SG live events as she could to show her support for current members, just as older members had supported her.
  • She was notably close to the three members in her grade (including Saki Shirai, her replacement), as well as her co-initiate Yunano.
  • Her loyalty to Sakura Gakuin was such that, unlike the many other graduates who skipped, she felt duty-bound to apologize ahead of time for missing Road To Graduation 2017 due to work commitments.
    • She stopped going to lives as her schooling and career both intensified. The last show she attended prior to the Final Goodbye was Sakura Gakuin Festival 2017. However, she posted a photo of herself wearing the group's 2019 T-shirt, proudly pointing to the logo, so her continuing support was never even remotely in doubt.
  • Suzuka was this to her, as they had known each other for years before Sakura Gakuin thanks to their time at ASH.
    • In late 2017, Mariri did a Q&A on her Twitter, responding to the question of "Who is your idol?" by saying it was and always will be Suzuka.
• Gamer Chick: In 2022, Mariri started a Youtube channel where the vast majority of her content is her livestreaming Splatoon and sometimes other PVP games. At least once, she did the entire stream while dressed in cosplay, something she's long known to have loved.
• Hidden Depths: She's a model by profession and has been since at least 2012 but, as noted above, she trained at ASH. In fact, she enrolled at a much younger age than Suzuka did (so, about the same time). She can act, she can dance, and she can sing – Suzuka said Mariri was a good singer, and old videos from before she entered Sakura Gakuin show she had an unusually powerful voice, which is amusing given she tends to speak softly.
  • She got the opportunity to act in a play shortly after graduating high school. She continued to get occasional stage work throughout her time at university.
  • A Yan-Yan Girls broadcast from mid-2019 showed her singing karaoke in front of several other girls and honestly not sounding great. She has openly worried about possible deterioration of her voice. A couple months later, she sang again and sounded much better — her voice once again being powerful enough to reverberate around the room (needless to say she won the singing competition that night).
  • She did well on her only Nendo Test, better than Suzuka (not a high bar), but she's also a genuine smart girl.
    • Here is a photo of her certification for passing a major (difficult) kanji test her junior year of high school. The test in question is the Japan Kanji Aptitude Exam.^* 「日本漢字能力検定」 Nihon Kanji Nōryoku Kentei, often shortened to just Kanji Kentei or Kanken. Mariri's certificate shows she passed Grade-2. That level has a pass-rate of 22% and can be used as a selling-point when applying for jobs.
    • Here she is showing off her Eiken (National English Exam) Grade 2 certification her senior year. That level of competence allows her to study abroad if she feels like it.
    • She was the first Sakura girl known to have earned a driver's license, which is not easy to do in Japan. For awhile, she was also the only one believed to be attending university while still active in the industry – other girls (Saki O, Yunano, Nene) had continued education but were not active. However, Marina confirmed attending university in a 2020 inteview (she graduated in 2021). Also, Saki Ooga earned her own driver's license in 2021.
• Huge Schoolgirl: She was already close to 160cm (5’3”) before her 12th birthday. During her sole year in Sakura Gakuin, she was the tallest member despite being second-youngest.^note  The youngest member that year, just like the previous year, was Rinon, who amusingly enough is also significantly taller than the average Japanese girl, ~157.5cm/5’2” at the time and topping out in 2016 at 165cm/5’5”.
  • In May 2017, she stated her height was 168cm/5’6.14” and hoped to reach 169cm. Her billed height is still 168cm, making her the confirmed third-tallest member after Ayaka and Airi.^note  However, Yunano was also measured at 168cm shortly before both left Amuse. While they have been photographed together since they stopped growing, no one has given them a formal "Height Battle" to see if either is actually taller than the other. Mariri looks taller in photos.
  • Someone unearthed an old ASH video where Mariri is performing in a group with Suzuka (they mentioned this in their "Introduce A Member" sketch). Despite it being some time before Sakura Gakuin, she was already taller than Su even then.
  • She was one of the four runners-up of the Sei-Kore 18 model contest in 2018 and is by far the tallest. ^note  There were other tall girls amongst the original entrants, but Mariri was the only tall to win. She also happened to be the oldest winner (by less than one week), though other girls who didn't make the cut are older.
• Meaningful Name: In her 2022 interview with Weekly Playboy, she confirmed the unusual reading of her name is because her mother named her after Marilyn Monroe and tried to find fitting kanji after the fact. As it happens, Monroe is one of the "Seven Super-Ladies" Sakura Girls were told to look up to, and Mariri said in that same interview she hopes to weave Norma Jean into her graduation thesis.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Footage from Road to Graduation 2012 sort of casts her in this light. While most of the girls are sad (to see Suzuka go), Mariri is noticeably upset – not only about her idol Su, but also over her own leaving. Suzuka giving her a heartfelt sendoff and encouragement causes her to completely break down. For the rest of the performance, she's practically bawling.
• Nice Girl:invoked She never got much of any kind of spotlight during her year in Sakura Gakuin, but gained this reputation since leaving due to her frequent appearances at SG live events and interaction with other members and fans.
• In-Series Nickname: Maririn
• Remembered Too Late: She was the unfortunate butt of this when Mori-sensei asked a later crop of girls to talk about the 2012 class. Everyone could name Suzuka without hesitation, but Mariri was completely forgotten until Mori-sensei pointedly name-dropped her to jog the girls' memories.
  • invoked The irony of this is that she is something of an Ensemble Dark Horse amongst some of the Sakura Gakuin fanbase thanks to her active career and social media presence coupled with her sweet personality.
• Short-Runner: She was in Sakura Gakuin for just one year. She is the only single-year member.
  • The reason for this, as mentioned above, is that she already had regular modeling work in Hiroshima and, unlike Suzuka, did not relocate to Tokyo until after graduating high school. Su spoke in her own touji speech about the brutality of the commute and the guilt of having to miss practices due to living so far away.
• Stop Being Stereotypical: Discussed. She and Suzuka both agree they are strange Hiroshimans.
• Tomboyish Voice: Despite being one of the girliest girls in existence, Mariri's voice has a noticeable huskiness to it and has since at least age 11. Even as she entered young-adulthood and has tried to make her voice sound cuter for her job, if she talks for more than a sentence or two the husk will assert itself. This is likely due in part to her height – Ayaka and Airi also have deeper-than-average voices.

Graduated in 2014

Raura, Nene, Marina, Hinata

Sometimes referred to as NHMR, for their given names. Or the '98s, as their birth dates all fall in that year.

Marina Horiuchi (堀内 まり菜) 2010-2014

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2009-2011
Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012
Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2011-2013
Tennis Club (Pastel Wind) 2012-2013
Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2011-2014

Founding member. Appointed Vice President in 2012 and Student Council President in 2013.

By coincidence, she shares a birthday with Ayami (April 29th).

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• Celebrity Resemblance: She had a major role in a 2019 stage-play, The Disappearance of Rabbit Island. Her character, Hana, had a massive unibrow. Fans noted that Marina with a unibrow bears a rather uncanny likeness to Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. …Except their expressions – Kahlo famously depicted herself always frowning while it's difficult for Marina to not smile.
• Character Tics: Wiggles her hands around a lot and/or makes chopping gestures with her arms. Some fans who follow her Kinder TV appearances or other on-camera content watch closely to see if one of her hand-wiggles makes it into the final cut. A late-2019 twitter video has her attempting to promote The Disappearance of Rabbit Island (a play she was cast in) but being distracted by people behind the camera talking to her and getting her so excited that she ends up reduced to babbling and waving her arms for a bit before finishing her spiel, causing everyone else in the room to bust out laughing.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Her fellow members and Mori-sensei have discussed this, and her introduction in Sakura Gakuin SUN all but uses the term outright. For four years, all evidence suggested her brain operates on a plane of existence many universes removed from our own. Especially during year-end tests, where her completely off-the-wall bizarre answers tend to be a highlight.
  • Let's put it this way – there are so many instances of this during Sakura Gakuin alone, she takes up a signficant chunk of the "Funny" subpage by herself; it's simply easier to list her exploits there.
  • Marina's still highly eccentric, even more than half a decade after her graduation. She makes an attempt to hold it together as a young adult vying for a career in entertainment, but sometimes she just can't help herself. This was her self-introduction to an interviewer in Fall 2019.
    "I'm Marina Horiuchi. I like finding cheese-naan restaurants and riding monorails!"
  • Marina transcended herself on June 19th 2019 when she posted one of her doodles. Masafumi Goto, original creator of KutsuDaru (in which Marina had voiced a character), saw it and immediately felt he had to draw a coloured version. Marina was pleased with the result. Here's her description (translated)…
    "This character was born from my current state of mind. It's called Don York. It's kind of like tapioca, but more gummy. Very elastic. Coated in Vitamin C. Brought up in NY. Appears in times of desire, like when you want to change your status quo, when you feel a drive for a challenge, when you want to unlock your hidden potential, when you're full of motivation. That's Don York. Hope you'll get along well."
• Cloud Cuckoo Language/Neologizer: Marina had a habit of answering quiz questions with terms she made up that were so out-there (and usually gibberish) even a "robot" inquisitor was reduced to laughter.
  • Examples include "Kope Kope Koperuu Kiratto-san"^* (the correct answer was "Copernicus") and "Pitamausu Surii Kirakkirakiratto" from Logica? quizzes; and "Papparakakkiin Riibohrugu" from Nendo Test 2013.^* "Kakkiin" is the Japanese onomotapoeia for hitting a baseball. The correct answer was "Pacific". For added context, Aiko got this one wrong too, writing "Paris".
  • Years after graduating Sakura Gakuin, this still pops up from time to time. She decided to make an Incredibly Lame Pun out of her love of cheese-covered naan bread by starting a couple of twitter posts with "Konnicheese-naan!".
• Cute Little Fangs: Well, fang singular. During Sakura Gakuin, her upper-right canine was misaligned (by coincidence, so was Yui's). Rinon commented in a diary she thought Marina's fang was cute. However, after entering high school, Marina began wearing a retainer to force her errant tooth into place, which it now is.
• Cute Witch: She becomes one in the 2011 Nendo drama, putting Yui in Airi's body so she can experience being tall and switching Ayami and Ayaka's bodies to help the former embrace her quirkiness and the latter loosen up a bit.
• Death of the Author: Marina invoked this without using the term when she attempted to explain her first self-written song, "Nanohana", saying its meaning was ultimately up to the listener, although she then spent the next seven minutes trying to describe the feelings she wanted to get across.
• Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: Why would dogs be buried in dirt? Marina says "「ここ掘れワンワン」ってあるから それの… あの… ※△◯♨︎■" (Koko Hore Wan Wan… that is… um… ※△◯♨︎■)
• Genki Girl: Discussed as part of her introduction in every episode of Sakura Gakuin SUN. Nothing has ever been seen to faze her. Even as a young adult she usually plays excitable characters on stage and TV. That said, see "Stepford Smiler" below…
• Gratuitous English: Her spoken line in Mezase! Super Lady is "Let's Dreaming!"
  • After she became a Singer-Songwriter, her English is more fluent. One of her first Youtube videos – made when she realized she had a not-insignificant number of overseas fans – was an "English Speaking Challenge". Although she had to write down what she wanted to say and has a thick accent, it was not difficult to understand her, and fans praised her effort.
  • Her song "Welcome To Nano-Land" (which, oddly, is not the opening track on her debut album) has a prologue spoken in English, the chorus is in English, and so are some lyrics during the verses.
• Hereditary Curse: Averted, barely. She wasn't the lowest-scoring senior on the nendo test during her presidency (Hinata was, by one point).
• In-Series Nickname: Marippe, Marimari
• Ms. Imagination: She'd have to be to come up with some of her crazy test answers.
  • Along with some of her antics during Saku-saku segments, especially if she was paired with Nene.
  • Don York, mentioned above, full-stop.
• Seiyuu:
  • Voiced Kaoru Nekota in the anime KutsuDaru
  • Voiced Antares in Sanrio Characters PonPonJump
  • Plays Ami Akise (part of the "NO PRINCESS" group) in IDOL-bu SHOW
  • Voiced (and sang) Reimi in Healer Girl
• Singer-Songwriter: Marina became one in 2020 shortly after she opened her Youtube channel by releasing a demo song she called "Nano*Hana". To date (August 2020) she has created 4 additional short songs.
  • As noted on her "Creator" page, March 2021 saw the release of her first solo recording. To everyone's shock, it turned out to be a full album with 11 tracks (though a couple songs are instrumentals) – fans had expected an EP in the vein of Ayami's post-Idol work.
• Stepford Smiler: According to Ayami, she indeed hides her tears while working her hardest.
  • This is on display at all three Road to Graduations she took part in. She was the last non-graduating member to speak at the first two and managed to give heartfelt sendoffs without even coming close to breaking either time.
  • At the end of 2018, Marina wrote a note that confirmed what a lot of her fans had been thinking. She had received very little work since 2016 and her fans couldn't understand why. Turned out Marina was just as frustrated but wasn't willing to say it. Luckily for her, 2018 was the year her career got a bit of a jolt.
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: She has a tendency to give just about everything the honorific "-kun" (a casual suffix). This includes most but not all other Sakura Gakuin members, inanimate objects, food, medieval shoguns, animals she encounters in her dreams, celestial bodies, and probably the internet itself. When she set up a twitter account in September 2018, fans immediately declared the platform would henceforth be "Twitter-kun". Sure enough, on Christmas Eve 2018, she wrote about getting to eat some "pumpkin-kun".
  • When at the end of April 2019, Emperor Akihito abdicated in favor of his son Naruhito, Marina said this on twitter. No clue whether she was referring to the men themselves or the eras. Or both.
    "Farewell, Heisei-san. Hello, Reiwa-kun."
  • She also tends to slur the polite copula です desu to っす ssu. Yes, even when tweeting.^* The change does nothing to save space; "っ" has the same value as "で". Yes, even if the rest of the sentence is in English.
    {after trying a maple-flavoured milkshake} "So Deliciousっす！"
• Student Council President: The Third.
  • She was also Sakura Gakuin's first "Vice President" (under Suzuka).
• Team Mom: Probably a big part of the reason she was chosen for president over Nene, Raura, or Hinata. She takes the ethos of "Kizuna" (camaraderie) very seriously, something her predecessors Ayami and Suzuka (and her successor Moa) noted.
  • As an extension of this, she has attended every graduation ceremony to date and most of the transfer ceremonies.
    • Marina did not attend the 2019/20 Graduation, but that one doesn't count because it took place during Coronavirus lockdown and NOBODY aside from the girls, senseis, and staff was allowed to be there. She also missed the Final Show in 2021, but that one was out of her control because she had a performance of her own the same night on the other side of Tokyo, so there was no way she could make it to SG's in time. She made it clear if she could have been there, she would have been.
  • She also agreed to briefly return to the group (with Raura) for Tokyo Idol Festival 2014 when Yui and Moa were absent due to being stuck touring California as Babymetal.
• The Unintelligible: Occasionally falls back to this when explaining something while trying to talk quickly. Here's an example from the "Ayami's Room" sketch.
  [Marina moves her right hand up and down, fidgeting frantically while attempting to speak]
  Ayami: "You're very polite. What does that gesture mean?"
  Marina: (after a few more seconds) "…Yo."

Raura Iida (飯田 來麗) 2010-2014

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2009-2011
Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012
Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2011-2014

Founding member. Appointed Vice Vice President in 2012 and Performance Chairman in 2013.

She has the distinction of the being the oldest (relative) member upon aging out, turning 16 just ten days after her graduation.

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• Animal Motifs: Rau is known to really like pandas – the T-shirt she designed during the 2010 nendo has a panda on the front and her Sleepiece uniform was covered in tiny pandas. This is part of the reason some fans have referred to her as "Boss Panda".
• The Cameo: Not counting her livestream appearances, she was in two Sakura Gakuin shows post-graduation.
  • The first was at Tokyo Idol Festival 2014 (a few months after she aged out) where she and Marina filled in for Yui and Moa, who were absent due to Babymetal activities much to their own irritation.
  • Two years later she joined Hinata as one of the high school characters in the Shuoh Gakuen play.
• Cool Big Sis: Normally she acted more like a boss than anything (even though Suzuka and Marina outranked her), but she was undeniably this to Aiko, possibly even more than the rest of NHMR. Aiko holds Rau in high regard to this day because of it.
  • She also proved to be one towards Megumi. Although their tenures in Sakura Gakuin didn't overlap – Megu joined a few weeks after Rau graduated – they met when Rau filled in for Yui (and Marina for Moa) at TIF 2014, then again when Rau joined Hinata to play the high schoolers in Shuoh Gakuen in 2016. They still see each other from time to time, although "Big" Sis is almost a misnomer these days since Megumi is now noticeably taller than Rau.^* Raura herself is the tallest of the NHMR quartet at 161cm. Nene is 160cm. Hinata is 159cm. Marina is 155cm. Megumi, as noted on her own entry, was 163.8cm before graduation and is 165cm today.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: Tends to make really distinct screaming and laughing sounds. A good example is during the "Introduce A Member" shorts from the 2012/3 year when, after Rinon speaks, Rau squees and bear-hugs her.
• Important Haircut: Discussed. When Sakura Gakuin started in 2010, Raura had the longest hair of any member, but she bobbed it in March 2011, allegedly to remind herself to work harder. Ayami asked her why during "Ayami's Room" and Rau replied, “Image?♡”.
  • Worth noting Raura was the first member to bob her hair, and one of the few to do it while active in the group.^note  Many members do so after graduation, some within weeks. The only other members who bobbed their hair during active tenure are Rinon (in 2015) and Yuzumi (in 2016). This obviously doesn't count the girls who already had short hair when they joined (Saki Shirai, Sara, Kokona, Sakia).
• In-Series Nickname: Rau-chan, Rau-tam, or even Rau-panda.
• Never Gets Drunk: Recounted on Mochikomi. During his 41st birthday dinner held by NHMR, Mori-sensei – who is himself known to be able to pack it away – learned the hard way that Raura can drink him under the table.
• Team Mom: Apparently this part of her personality greatly overshadows her earlier stern image, with a report claiming that she looks more like a mother than an idol.
  • One Babymetal fan early on managed to mistake her for Moa's mother in a 2013 photo because of this and Moa's being a late-bloomer. ^note  According to those who encountered the real thing in Utrecht in 2018, Mrs Kikuchi looks exactly like her famous daughter except older (obviously) and sporting a constant stern expression befitting the most terrifying woman on Earth.
  • Rau guest-starred on a Sakura Gakuin LoGiRL episode during the 2015 nendo and the new girls took an immediate liking to her. For her part, she hugged Kano after Kano nonchalantly insulted Mori-sensei to his face while calling out his tricks.
  • As noted above, she came back to Sakura Gakuin again in 2016 along with Hinata to take part in the Shuoh Gakuen musical play. There she met and worked with Yuzumi, who returned the favor by attending Raura's play Re:turn Kakomori along with Marina.
• Trying Not to Cry: At the very first graduation ceremony, she tells the graduates this with a calm expression, prompting "ooh"s from the girls and the audience. Literally three seconds later (count it), she breaks into tears and the 3AMs call her out on it.
  Ayami: "Hey! Liar!!"
  • A similar event occurs at the next year's graduation, which Suzuka and Nene are quick to point out. ^note  Though in that case, Raura never actually said she wouldn't cry. She backed away from Su when Su reached out to her and refused to look Su in the eye because she knew what would happen once she did. Sure enough…
    Suzuka: "You're doing it again!"

Hinata Sato (佐藤 日向) 2010-2014

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012
Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2012-2014

Founding member. Appointed as Mood Chairman in 2013.

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• Cool Big Sis: To Maaya, at least according to Maaya. They were never in Sakura Gakuin at the same time (Maaya officially joined 14 months after Hinata left), but did have singing classes together and did work together for Shuoh Gakuen. Maaya wrote about all this after going to see Hinata in a Starlight show.
• Cuddle Bug: Especially to Nene. At one point during the SMILE documentary, Nene is speaking to the camera and Hinata walks up behind and starts snuggling her. Nene neither seems to notice nor mind.
• Cunning Linguist: Her English skills were already apparent (though rarely if ever commented upon) during her time in Sakura Gakuin. These days, she will occasionally write her Twitter posts in both Japanese and English and has said several times she wants to up her English skills to better communicate with international fans.
  • An example from 2012, when Rinon and Raura introduce each other:
    Raura: "Rinon is… well… she… doesn't follow the crowds and goes at her own pace. That's her quality, unlike Rau."
    Rinon: "That means she's clever, right?"
    Raura: "Sorry. I don't understand you. You just puzzled me."
    Hinata: (behind the camera, in English) "'I am clever', she means."
  • In Spring 2018, an American Twitch streamer riding his bike through a crowded district of Tokyo (kind of a jerk move, but anyway) happened to run into Hinata and her friends and asked for directions. Hinata was tasked with talking to him, being the best English speaker amongst the group. She has an accent and some grammar flubs, but was still able to converse understandably on the fly.
  • She noted with some excitement on twitter in November 2018 that, when voicing Junna for the mobile game Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight ReLive, some of her lines were in English. Specifically, she recites the first bit of Hamlet's soliloquy.
  • Her English abilities allowed her to be an invited guest for 2019's Anime Central convention in Chicago, making her the fourth Sakura Girl (after Suzuka, Moa, & Yui) to visit the USA as a professional.^* Other Sakura girls have visted the USA or its Territories, but only on vacation and not for work. She posted a short video on her twitter of her ordering Starbucks – her vice – in English. She was also invited to a convention in Los Angeles later that year.
  • In 2022, she became a girl-Friday on an NHK show meant to help teach children English.
• Good Samaritan: According to Ayami.
• In-Series Nickname: Hii-chan. Natahi to Suzuka. Hinahina to Love Live and Revue Starlight fans
• The Nose Knows: Said to be able to remember every member's smell and tell their possessions apart solely by following her nose.
• The Prankster: Often tried kicking the other members at the back of their legs. She was caught doing it to Ayami on camera during the Making of “Please!³” video. Hinata later said Suzuka was the only one who laughed at her pranks.
• Seiyuu
  • Plays Rin Karasawa in the anime KutsuDaru
  • Plays Leah Kazuno in Love Live! Sunshine!!
  • Plays Junna Hoshimi in Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight
    • She also plays Junna in the stage show. As a result, she became the fourth Sakura Gakuin alumna to have performed at Tokyo Dome (again, after Suzuka, Moa, and Yui).
• Spell My Name With An S: Hinata is an unusual case of this because she has spelled her last name both with and without that extra "u" in the long-vowel. Through 2013 she used "Satou" (even if Sakura Gakuin and Amuse itself did not), but later dropped the extra vowel and now goes by "Sato" officially.

Nene Sugisaki (杉﨑 寧々) 2010-2014

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2009-2011
Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012
Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2011-2014
Tennis Club (Pastel Wind) 2012-2014

Founding member, first Talk Chairman.

Nene left Amuse – and show business entirely – after she graduated Sakura Gakuin to concentrate on her high school studies, with the intention of following her mother into a nursing career. She was the first, but not the last, member to voluntarily leave the spotlight. Mori-sensei revealed that, as of 2018, she had been accepted into a nursing program. Nene herself announced in June 2021 that she had passed the nursing exam.

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• Big Eater: Often referred to as Nene-don, referencing her ability to eat udon noodles very quickly.
  • Some behind the scenes videos show a hot mic picking up the sound of her stomach growling.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Stated in the graduation photobook interview that she considered herself this, chastising herself for not working as hard as she should have.
• The Bus Came Back: Seven years after leaving the group, and the idol industry as a whole, Nene posted a brand new diary entry on the group’s diary forum to show her progress in nursing.
• Catchphrase: 「平和が一番、笑顔が一番。」^*Heiwa ga ichiban. Egao ga ichiban. "Peace is the best; smiles are the best."
  • Worth noting Nene was the first member to have a catchphrase that she'd always say at live shows. Moa and Yunano would follow her lead soon after.
  • "Ichiban!" ('number-one'/'the best') was her interjection during her verse of "Mezase! Super Lady", referring to her being the best in academics and eating… and a couple of other things.
  • It was invoked several years after her graduation by Tsugumi Aritomo, who was trying to figure out the missing parts of a jingle for Nagasaki Castella Cakes. Mori-sensei immediately noticed and pointed it out.
• Cool Big Sis: Is shown in much footage to be this, immediately moving to assist Moa after Moa breaks down in emotions during a July 2012 livestream event in which the producers suddenly wheeled out a birthday cake for her.
  • She did the same thing at Road to Graduation 2012 when Saki Ooga is trying to give her farewell message to Suzuka and Mariri, whispering encouragement to Saki. By the end, she's got her arms around both Saki and Mariri, trying to keep them from breaking down.
  • The irony of the above is that Nene herself had a reputation for being quite the crybaby, which Moa pointed out in her souji speech at Nene's graduation in 2014.
• Does Not Like Spam: Nene noted in an early diary that she hates natto (fermented soybeans) despite it being a specialty of her home prefecture Ibaraki. It's one of the few foods she's known to not eat. Corn is appearently another.
• In-Series Nickname: Nene-don, to just about everyone (members and fans). She acknowledged it often.
  • Since she left the industry, she has been referred to as "The Nurse From Ibaraki" in reference to her desired profession (although she didn't earn her certification until 2021).
  • As of 2018, Hinata has corrupted Nene's nickname to the point that she now calls her "Jon-jon".^* (Nene-don → Don-don → Jon-jon)
• Little Miss Snarker: Does this often when she talks, according to Ayami. It's on display in plenty of official footage too, both behind the scenes and sometimes onstage.
  • Didn't change one iota after leaving the industry. When Raura posted a photo of Nene in furisode on Coming-of-Age Day 2019, she also relayed Nene's message:
    "As chilly weather continues, try not to catch cold. If I get sick, don't expect me to take care of you (lol)"
  • Nene herself when announcing she had earned her nursing certification:
    "Everyone please stay healthy… …so you don't end up needing my help (lol)"
• Obsessed with Food: She was known to talk about food in her diary entries. Seems to be more of this than a Big Eater, as she states she just likes eating food, not necessarily lots of it.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During the interview for their graduation photobook, Nene recounted that, when the feud between between the 98's was at its nastiest, she broke and decided to leave Sakura Gakuin, going so far as to tell Kuramoto she wanted out. Kuramoto refused to accept her resignation and Suzuka had several heart-to-heart talks with her that convinced her to stay until she aged out naturally. Even though she reconciled with the other three, the experience – for which she blamed herself – left her jaded about show business and she dropped out of the limelight the moment she was able to.
  • A less serious instance was, as noted on the main page, during the 2012 Nendo Test after Mori-sensei popped out from behind a curtain to surprise them. Nene was the closest girl to the door and can be heard saying off-camera "Let's get out of here!" before Mori-sen stops them.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Averted when Saki Shirai beat her her senior year, as Nene was just glad to leave with good standing.
• The Smart Girl: She chose to leave show business for a field that requires good academics, and she scored first place in the Nendo tests three years in a row (granted the competition wasn't as stiff during her time). When newcomer Saki Shirai knocked her down to 2nd place her final year, it was referred to as a curse being broken.
• Tender Tears: As mentioned just about everywhere else on this page, Nene had a well-earned reputation for being a crybaby and wearing her heart on her sleeve. Special note goes to the first two graduation shows. Especially the first, where she's all but reduced to Inelegant Blubbering.
• Throw It In!:invoked By the end of Road To Graduation 2012, Nene couldn't hold back her emotions any longer and, during one of her solo bits in "My Graduation Toss", ad libbed her own personal message to Suzuka.
  Nene: (not singing) "Su-san, thank you for everything! I love you!!" (hugs her, to much applause)
• Trying Not to Cry: Nene attempted this once, at Suzuka's graduation. She provided running (snarky) commentary during other girls' speeches to Su, including calling out Raura. Once it was her turn, she seemed lost in thought trying to think of what to say. Everyone was shocked she wasn't crying, to which Nene replied, "Yeah. Strange, isn't it?" However, once she made eye contact with Su and started speaking to her, she broke down bawling by her second sentence.

Graduated in 2015

Hana, Moa, Yui, Yunano

Yui Mizuno & Moa Kikuchi were intended to be part of the original lineup. For some reason this changed, and they were added as Sakura Gakuin's first "transfer students" in August 2010, a few days before the group's public debut – all 2010-era shows, videos, and skits include them. It has been speculated by Mori-sensei (and fans) that the reason was to establish the precedent of students being transferred in every year. Many therefore consider Yui and Moa as founding members, even if they're "officially" not.

Moa Kikuchi (菊地 最愛) 2010-2015

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012, 2014-2015
Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2011-2015
Heavy Music Club (BABYMETAL) 2010–

Officially joined the group in 2010 with Yui Mizuno. Appointed as Student Council President in 2014.

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• Almighty Mom: In Babymetal's interview with Nylon, she stated the thing she fears the most is her mother when she's angry. Moa also wrote in diary entries how her mother has very high expectations for her (including chewing her out for breaking a promise that logistics made impossible for her to keep). Mrs Kikuchi also refused to sign the contract allowing Moa to continue in Babymetal after it spun off of Sakura Gakuin unless Moa proved she could keep her grades up.
  • However, Moa often implies that they're quite close otherwise. This is likely due to Moa being an only-child.
  • Fans have, of course, taken this to memetic levels and declared Mrs Kikuchi, regardless of what she's really like, to be the most terrifying entity on the planet.
    "We all know Koba keeps Babymetal in a compound in the mountains guarded by tigers, ninjas, and Moa's mom."
    "Moa's mom is just there in case someone manages to get past the ninjas."
• Catchphrase: "Value love the most" (最も愛を大切に), which contains both kanji characters of her given name.
• Cheerful Child: This girl has a thousand-watt smile accompanied by noticeable dimples. She's generally a smiley person anyway. It's actually unusual to see her not smile, such as in the "Heart no Hoshi" music video where she plays the grumpy suspicious nymph leader whom the other girls have to cheer up.
  • As Moa is known to wear her emotions on her sleeve, this means when she isn't cheerful, everyone around her knows it. A UK journalist who met Babymetal in 2014 noted that for the first few minutes of the interview, Moa was "in a right huff" and "just really pissed off" until he started asking questions that interested her. ^note  This particular journalist had done his research, and pointed out when recounting the interview to a friend how Moa was upset to be away from Sakura Gakuin, which she loves, especially as she was Class President that year. Also, the interview was early in the morning (and she's not a morning person), which required Moa to go through hair, makeup, etc. when she'd rather be sleeping – Babymetal are always in full costume when giving onscreen interviews. His question that broke the ice was asking about her guitar playing.
• Class Clown: Her antics were a frequent source of comedy during her half-decade in Sakura Gakuin, and still pop up from time to time in Babymetal, because she enjoys seeing people's reactions.
  • The "Making Of" video of Twinklestars' Please! Please! Please! has a disproportionate amount of footage of Moa messing around, sometimes getting Yui or other girls (often Ayami or Hinata) to join in too.
    • The Heart no Hoshi video mentioned above also had a "Making of" segment, where Moa can be seen in between takes trying to get a reaction out of the famously unflappable Hana.
  • Starting perhaps in 2015, and only increasing in frequency since, Moa will use certain parts of Babymetal choreography (especially if she knows a camera will be on her) to stick out her tongue, just because she can.
    • Even when Babymetal went sort of Darker and Edgier in 2018, Moa promptly ignored the aesthetic and continued to stick out her tongue and mess with Suzuka, because that's how she enjoys herself onstage.
• Covert Pervert: Frequently accused of this. Blog posts such as the one on March 26th 2015 (including a picture with a caption "Fanning her skirt up, I wanna see inside") may have something to do with this.
  • A bit less covert was her her antics on Mujack during the 2013 Nendo, mentioned on "Funny".
• Cuddle Bug: Especially to Yui and Suzuka during Sakura Gakuin. She also hugged Ayami on camera at least twice – once during the 2011 nendo test where they both wrote the same (wrong) answer to a question, and then again during Ayami's graduation.
  • She's also known to hug various people she meets on her world travels – e.g. the Fine Brothers, and Head from Korn when he joined Babymetal onstage for their final tour date in Idaho.
  • According to those who were there, when the girls entered the studio floor for their appearance on Colbert, they bowed to Stephen and then did a three-way group-hug (prompting much of the studio audience to "Aww") before assuming their position. Thus, no sign so far Moa's grown out of it.
• Engrish: Her spoken English can be this, as she has not reached Suzuka's level in pronunciation. Unlike Yui, Moa is not too difficult to understand once one accounts for her accent, since she speaks with much more confidence.
  • She clearly understands English to a significant degree. There exist several instances of Moa hearing something in English and responding (usually in Japanese) without needing to wait for a translation.
  • However, it did take her about four attempts to say "trying" (it started off sounding like "twirling").
    • She naturally elides to 'L' (Japanese famously makes no distinction between L and R, less famously it also makes no distinction between H and F). In that same interview, she apologized for tripping over her words by saying "Solly", which fans found absolutely adorable.
• Fangirl: Of the Idol Group ℃-ute (here she is meeting Airi Suzuki)◊, and the anime/multimedia franchise Love Live!. She even dressed up as Nozomi for Halloween◊ and has a pretty sizeable collection of figurines.◊
  • Her verse in "Mezase! Super Lady" notes the irony of her Idol otakudom despite being an Idol herself. Indeed, most if not all of her real-life friends are Idols with whom she would take (censored) photos.
• Genki Girl: If it isn't obvious from these entries. It's difficult to get more genki than Moa.
  • She stated very early in Sakura Gakuin her goal was to become "Super Moa-chan". As noted below, her fans argue that, as of December 2017, she succeeded.
• Height Angst: Her constantly comparing her height to Yui's helped start the Sakura Gakuin tradition of the Height Battle. ^note  In Moa's case, she started out shorter than Yui, suddenly passed her in April 2011, stayed taller than Yui into 2013, but Yui eventually caught up and is now officially 2cm taller. Since they've both passed 20, it's highly unlikely either one of them will have another height spurt. Though Yui could shrink depending on how poor her physical health really is.
  • In this radio interview...
    Moa: When I was little, I used to play tennis.
    Interviewer: When you were little? Now you are little.
    Moa: I'm not little.
    Su: You are little!
    Moa: I'm NOT little!
  • Worth noting for the record Moa's official height is 154.5cm (or 5’0.8”), making her the 6th-shortest graduate to date. She is at least 5.5cm (2.2”) shorter than Su and looks even shorter when they're both in costume due to Su's inch-heels and high-ponytail.
• In-Universe Nickname: Went by "Moamoa" early on. Most just call her Moa-chan.
  • …Except Kano, who called her Moa-sama prior to working with her (Kano now calls her Moa-chan)
  • Since LEGEND S – when Yui's absence from the group began, leaving Moa to perform solo – fans have been calling her "Super Moa-chan", in reference to her stated goal early in Sakura Gakuin.
• Obsessed with Food:invoked Famous for it in Babymetal to the point of Memetic Mutation, but not often discussed during Sakura Gakuin as Nene had the shtick first. However, the "Making of Please! Please! Please!" video shows her doggedly searching for a bento-box with meat in it.
• The Prankster: Among other things, she and Yui gave Suzuka a good Jump Scare right before Suzuka's surprise appreciation party. They then pursued her, caught her, and led her back into the room with Moa yelling "Suspect secured!"
  • The examples mentioned in Covert Pervert above also count.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: According to Mori-sensei, Moa tried to resign her position when she came in third from the bottom in the 2014 Nendo Test. Evidently it didn't stick since she continued to refer to herself as Class President until her graduation.
• Spoiled Brat: She called herself this during the "Airi Matsui's Room" video after she got bored of Airi's lack of initiative during the chat and moved across the room to sit in her lap.
• Student Council President: The Fourth. She was the first to be a fifth-year member.
• Tender Tears: Moa is a girl who utterly fails at hiding her emotions, to the point that there was a Running Gag amongst the girls over who would be the first to break down in a given situation: Moa or Nene.
  • Demonstrated in mid-2012 when, during a Tower Records livestream that happened to be on her 13th birthday, the producers wheeled her out a cake. She was so shocked and overwhelmed that, when prompted to blow out the candles, all that came out was crying. It took Nene literally holding her to get her composed enough to finish the deed. Then she started hiccuping while eating a strawberry.
  • At both Suzuka's Surprise Appreciation Party and Road to Graduation 2012, Moa spent much of the main event in tears.
    Moa: "Su-chan's main trait is laughter… {audible sob!}"
    Su: (laughs)
  • She cried at every RTG she was a part of, though she at least attempted to hold it together during her own.
  • In June 2017, while on tour with Korn, she got emotional after the crowd wished Yui a happy 18th birthday. Su was forced to use an old Sakura Gakuin psyche-up technique (smacking her on the back) so Moa could finish the show.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Everything.
  • No, really. One time during Sakura Gakuin when asked her favourite food, she replied, "Everything my mother gives me."
  • Some jokes were made at her expense by other members over her liking fried chicken cartilage.
• Trying Not to Cry: She never even tried during Sakura Gakuin, but she does in Babymetal, such as when she injured her left leg during Budokan Red Night. Close-ups during "I.D.Z" show her gamely attempting to hide that she's in a lot of pain and holding back her tears with a strained smile.
  • The screenshots from LEGEND S – Su's 20th birthday concert in Hiroshima which Yui had to drop out of at the last minute due to an unspecified medical issue, leaving Moa to back up Su (and perform BBM songs) alone – suggest this. At most concerts, 90% of shots will show Moa with her usual light-up-the-room smile. Not this time. In a number of close-up shots of her face during BBM songs, particularly on the first night, she looks to be in a whirlwind of emotions, liable to break down at the slightest touch, even with vocal support from the fans (who also took it upon themselves to sing Yui's parts).
  • Evidently the first part of Babymetal's 2018 tour brought this out. Not only was it the first time – LEGEND S notwithstanding – that she was truly put front-and-center during a show, but it turned out she was very aware of the backlash from both Japanese and Western fans over Yui's then-unexplained absence, and she said in their first 2019 interview that during that tour she sometimes just wanted to run and hide.

Yui Mizuno (水野 由結) 2010-2015

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2010-2012, 2014-2015
Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2011-2015
Heavy Music Club (BABYMETAL) 2010-2018

Officially joined the group in 2010 with Moa Kikuchi. Appointed as Production Chairman in 2014.

She holds the record for having grown the most of any member during her tenure: 26cm (10¼”) between her debut in August 2010 and her graduation in March 2015.

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• Bad Liar: In BABYMETAL's appearance in the variety show Music Dragon in 2012, she blurts out that she doesn't usually wear metal accessories, doesn't like them, and isn't actually possessed by the Fox God during performances. The hosts tease that she'll be scolded for breaking character.
• Berserk Button: As much as one can have from a lowkey personality like hers – Don't call her short. Likely became less of an issue once she finally beat Moa in the height battle and ended up taller than several graduates including Marina.
  • Also, don't mislabel the title/position she held during her fifth year in Sakura Gakuin. It's "Production" Chair, not "Performance" Chair. Mori-sensei learned this the hard way.
• Deadpan Snarker: You wouldn't expect it from a girl like her, but towards the end of her tenure in Sakura Gakuin, Mori-sensei would do something over-the-top just to get Yui to react, once he finally realized her potential for comedy. For example, this LoGiRL exchange:
  Mori: (in weird effeminate voice, hugging himself) "Hi~! I treat my wife the best!"
  Yui: (stares up at him) "Ew."
  • Her "alter-ego" Tomato-kun is a good example. Yui drops into a deep (for her) masculine voice with a total monotone. Shortly before her graduation from Sakura Gakuin, when Tower Records CEO Ikuo Minewaki asked her to do the impression, Yui did so but was desperately trying not to corpse the whole time.
• Determinator: Laid back, Yui is not. She's known to be a perfectionist especially regarding her dancing, which earned her the affectionate nickname "Yui-Bot".
  • For her acapella exercise, Yui decided to sing Cyndi Lauper's "True Colors". This despite her having even less English proficiency than she does now (which isn't a lot). She practiced it for months. Her effort put her in Sakura Gakuin history as the first girl to sing an entirely English song.
  • On her 15th birthday, Yui recounted the story of how, in 2008, one of her close family members (possibly a parent) ended up in the hospital with a life-threatening ailment. She was too young to visit, so she spent hours in the waiting room listening to the Karen Girl's album. Once her relative had recovered, everyone wanted Yui to take a step back from being a child model due to the stress… but the first words out of Yui's mouth were "I want to be a Karen Girl's!", and she worked even harder to make it in the business.
• Fangirl: Of Rena Nounen and Ariana Grande. She's met both, and Rena considers herself a fan of Yui's.
  • She was also a big fan of Karen Girl's (particularly Ayami) as a child, which led to her decision to audition for Sakura Gakuin.
• Flat "What": Her reaction to some of Mori-sensei's comments about her in LoGiRL episodes.
• Height Angst: Yui's having this was at the core her & Airi's half of Yearning For Friends, and was also mentioned in the very first "FRIENDS" mini-play in 2011.
  • Because she and Moa are only 14 days apart in age (Yui's older) and both turned out to be late-bloomers (Yui was later), she would compare her height to Moa's constantly, and her major frustration through the end of seventh grade was her tininess. Indeed, her spoken line during the original "Mesaze! Super Lady" was "Yui is not little!"
    • However, not long after beginning her 8th-grade year, she finally began her growth spurt in earnest and her voice deepened slightly. That plus the addition of Aiko meant she was no longer even remotely the littlest member.^* Aiko and Saki Ooga were shorter than Yui from the get-go, though Yui's advantage over Saki the previous year was maybe 1cm. During 2013, Yui also passed Moa and Marina. So, her line changed to, "Yui is not little anymore!"
  • Yui's response during the 2012 Nendo to Hinata (who's only six months older) calling her "short and cute", detailed, along with most of the other Introduce A Member skits, on the Funny subpage.
  • One little irony of Yui's height angst is that, according to public records, she grew the most of any member to date over the course of her tenure – 26cm (plus another 5mm minimum after graduating) – and today her height is close to the average for a grown Japanese girl.
• Hidden Depths: Yui's introductory blurb in Sakura Gakuin SUN explicitly calls attention to this, stating that even though she's small and quiet, it's best to not underestimate her.
  • She rarely spoke in interviews on either side of the Pacific but, when she did, her answers were often very well-thought-out and insightful. Sometimes she'd even catch Suzuka and Moa off-guard. Examples:
    • Yui stated in the Nylon interview she liked America due to its emphasis on personal freedom, and framed it in contrast to Japanese society's expectation of conformity.
    • Backstage at Rock On The Range 2015, Yui unexpectedly expressed a willingness for Babymetal's costumes to show more skin in the future. Su tried to laugh it off while Moa put her hands over her own stomach.
  • With the exception of 2013 (where she was third from the bottom), she tended to score well on nendo tests. Equal to or better than Moa. In real life, Koba noted she and Moa focused heavily on academics since they can't beat Su at singing.
    • Note that Su called Yui "an airhead" in a 2013 interview, yet Yui usually scored better than Su did on tests. Although, Yui is sometimes slow on the uptake, as if her brain is busy elsewhere before snapping her back to the moment.
  • At some point (no one on the outside knows when), Yui gave Aiko [a chalkboard with a message written on it …entirely in English. While most of it is blocked by a baseball in that photo, a video Aiko posted on her own 17th birthday unintentionally revealed the entire thing.
    Dear: Aiko
    Happy Birthday to you!!!
    Hope your BIG BRIGHT STAR keeps on shining. Stand by me♡
    You're the best! —Yui.
• In-Universe Nickname: Yui-chan. Yui-tan and Yuiyui during her first two years in the group.
• Insistent Terminology: Yui's position in the 2014 nendo was Production Chair, not "Performance" Chair (the former has more responsibility). When Mori-sensei accidentally got it wrong, Yui interrupted with a weirdly hilarious groan.
• Nice Girl: Discussed. During LoGiRL Episode 3, Mori-sensei asked some Sakura Gakuin juniors to dish gossip about the four seniors – Moa, Yui, Hana, Yunano. In Episode 4, he stated to Yui no one had anything negative at all to say about her^* (the only thing close was Rinon saying Yui would talk during movies when they went out together), teasing that Yui must have blackmailed them.
  • During the "Mystery Tube" special from her final year in Sakura Gakuin, her "embarrassing secret" was that she was pretty sure she loved Sakura Gakuin more than anyone.
  • In March 2018, Aiko wrote in one of her final diary entries that she spoke to Yui some time during the previous year (prior to Yui's disappearance from public life) and apologized for losing a letter Yui had given her. Yui replied that she was glad Aiko had kept the letter as long as she had. Aiko's response to this was, "Yui-chan is always so nice."
    • Aiko has since stated outright that Yui is her favourite sempai.
• Older Than She Looks: For her first three years in Sakura Gakuin, she looked much younger than her age. This was due in part to her shortness, partly to her natural babyface, and partly due to being a very late-bloomer (to the point there was a two-year period where even Moa was taller than her). She is older than Moa, Hana, Rinon, and Yunano, despite being - at the time - shorter than all of them. She eventually surpassed Moa at least.
• Onee-sama: Applicable to all the 2014 seniors, but particularly to Yui.
• Performance Anxiety: An ironic example. In the very first LoGiRL episode, Yui said that the camera frightened her, and in a subsequent episode she talked about being nervous. Keep in mind these episodes were shot nearly a year after she had danced in front of 10,000 people at the Nippon Budokan (and also fallen off the stage in front of those same people).
• The Quiet One: Compared to Su and Moa. In interviews, she rarely spoke unless directly asked a question, and even then her voice was noticeably soft and her cadence slower than Moa or Su.
  • In one LoGiRL episode, Mori-sensei had written a note saying "Mizuno needs to speak louder." When Yui failed to do so, he crashed the set to berate her before the girls could introduce him.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Yui is a textbook example. Her hair is black and several girls during her years in Sakura Gakuin made a point of complimenting her lighter than average skin tone.
  • Mori-sensei used this against her. In the very first LoGiRL episode, this happened:
    "In fact, the staff have put up a sign saying your face is too white. Mizuno, what do they want us to do about this whiteness? Right, let's try and add some blush to your face."
  • This also means, unlike Suzuka and Moa, Yui does not tan; she sunburns. During Rock In Japan 2016, which was notoriously hot and sunny, Yui's face resembled a tomato.
• Reclusive Artist:invoked She has not been seen in public since October 2017 (her final Babymetal performance). More oddly, no one outside of Babymetal or Amuse HQ is known to have spoken with her since then either – graduates with social media and members via diary often talk about meeting up with other members. Much of this is probably due to whatever health issues she had/has that caused her to quit Babymetal. As a result, there is significant doubt amongst her fanbase as to whether she ever plans to return to the spotlight at all.
  • In June 2019, Amuse's CEO, evidently anticipating questions about her, told attendees at the annual shareholders' meeting that Yui had recovered enough to begin working towards her "other dream".
  • Aiko strongly hinted that she wanted to contact her – a March 2019 tweet purporting to show off her "Nasuo" baseball has an old message from Yui in the background, and the ball itself is on a stand made of tiny Mizuno-brand bats. What this might actually mean beyond Aiko's love of wordplay and in-jokes is unknown.
• Shrinking Violet: Yes, even a seasoned performer who's danced in front of 55,000 people can be one. During some LoGiRL appearances, she would talk about being nervous, or say that she's trying not to think about being nervous since doing so makes her nervous.
  • The infamous interview with Nylon's Mickey Stanley, who made a point of sitting in between Suzuka and Yui, instead to the girls' side like most press people. He simultaneously managed to get Yui to open up to him yet also showed just how shy she is as she blushed, smiled, and tried to hide when he asked if she was able to sing any Ariana Grande songs. Yui spoke most of her answers in a near-whisper.
  • During Babymetal's 2017 support tour for Korn, one performance was on Yui's birthday and Su pointed it out to the crowd (several of whom were wearing party hats). Yui smiled, bowed politely, then tried to blend into the backdrop while still on her platform.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Tomatoes. She has said she likes eating them raw like one would an apple. She also likes cucumbers and omurice (a rice-omelet often served with ketchup).
  • Though it wasn't known until after the fact, she visited a seafood restaurant in Tohoku and said in her autograph thank-you note that she liked the uni (sea urchin).
• The Unintelligible: Of the original Babymetal trio, Yui was by far the least proficient at English, and when she tried to speak it, fans were often confused at first of what she meant to say. Her soft voice didn't help.
  • She used to be even less intelligible. A short clip of a 2011 interview shows the Japanese interviewer asking the girls, in English, what bands they like. While Moa repeats the question back to him, Yui's response can best be described as a talking toy whose batteries are nearly dead: "Urrrrerrrirrrurrurr."

Hana Taguchi (田口 華) 2011-2015

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2011-2015
Tennis Club (Pastel Wind) 2012-2014
Wrestling Club 2014-2015

Joined the group in 2011 with Rinon Isono. Appointed as Spirit (Kiai) Chairman in 2014.

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• Catchphrase: "Everyone, how are you?" *audience cheers* "If you're in a good mood you can do anything!" ^note  (this is also Antonio Inoki's catchphrase)
  • After that she would thumb-point to herself while chanting her name, followed by a shrug. The first time she did this, the other members were absolutely flummoxed – Japanese girls don't shrug like that – so she performed it again.
• Hime Cut: Her main distinction. Occasionally she puts her hair into a ponytail or pigtails, but she's mostly recognised by her almost impossibly straight, long hair.
  • Slight irony – On February 11th 2011, the day she and Rinon met the original 10 members, the SMILE documentary shows her hair had been styled into loose curls. She is not known to have ever had her hair curled since, though she braids it often.
• Hired for Their Looks: According to a personality report shown on the SG episode of Mujack, the only thing idol-like about her is her appearance. Though she is a fine singer and dancer.
• Fangirl
  • Of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, particularly Kazuchika Okada
  • Of the Amuse Café revue/theatre group Torahime Ichiza (lit. Tiger Princess Troupe), which she later joined as a trainee after graduating from Sakura Gakuin, becoming a full member upon graduating high school
  • Of Disney in general. She states on her twitter bio that she has a year-pass to Tokyo Disneyland and so visits fairly often. She has been known to post photos of her TDL exploits on her twitter and blog.
    • One of her favourite accessorites to wear in selfies is a Minnie Mouse hairbow.
    • At one point her twitter banner was her arm holding up a Mickey Mouse plushie wearing a wrestling belt, which is about as perfect a distillation of Hana as one can get.
• In-Series Nickname: Hana-chan, Hanapu, Ohanabou
  • In Torahime she called herself "The Youngest Flower".^note  Hana's own name does not use the standard kanji for "flower" (花), but rather an archaic variant which has additional meanings mostly centering around beauty. This is due to having officially joined the group at just 18. She noted a few months after becoming a full member that literally everyone else associated with Torahime, including prospective trainees, was older than her.
• Shrinking Violet: Initially this, according to Ayami. This can be seen in the SMILE documentary.
• Tomboy: Undeniably has shades of this despite her looks and job. In addition to being an avid wrestling fan, she dislikes overly girly things. In her final appearance on LoGiRL, all four seniors (herself, Moa, Yui, Yunano) introduced themselves using ultra-cutesy burikko-speak. They tried to keep it going but, shortly thereafter, Hana broke character and literally yelled, "I can't do this anymore! It's too gross!"
• Trademark Favorite Food: Surume (dried squid). The other girls point how un-Idol-like this is, even though they eat similar kinds of snacks.
• Troll:invoked In early 2019, Hana posted photos of herself on her twitter account with her hair styled to make it look like she'd bobbed it in a style similar to what Marina had done in 2015, and even captioned the photos with "New Hairstyle". Of course, she'd just put her hair into a braid and felt like messing with her fans.
• You Don't Look Like You: In Fall 2019, Hana posted some photos of herself with her trademark bangs (fringe) pinned back, showing her forehead and eyebrows, which until that point had rarely if ever been seen in public. Forehead-Hana looks like a totally different person. Of course she knew this and, in typical Hana fashion, simply wanted to have some fun melting her followers' brains.

Yunano Notsu (野津 友那乃) 2012-2015

Subunits: Tennis Club (Pastel Wind) 2012-2014
Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2014-2015
School Store Club, 2014-2015

Joined the group in 2012 with Saki Ooga and Mariri Sugimoto. Appointed second Talk Chairman in 2014.

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• Big Eater: Revealed in her final year that she ate six meals a day. Despite this, she was still the beanpole of Sakura Gakuin. She's filled out somewhat since, if Aiko's 2019 photo of her is any indication.
• Catchphrase: "It's not Yunáno, It's Yúnano." (different intonation/stress on the syllables).
• Fangirl: Of Attack on Titan, particularly Levi
• Huge Schoolgirl: She didn't start out this way – Yunano was average height when she joined Sakura Gakuin – but became one towards the end of her tenure and especially after thanks to a late growth spurt. Officially, she's tied with Mariri as third-tallest member at 168cm (5’6⅛”).
• Little Miss Snarker: Even before she was appointed as Talk Chairman. Sakura Gakuin's official twitter has made note on more than one occasion of her "acid tongue".
• Stage Names: Changed her name from 野津 友那乃 (Yunano Notsu) to 本条 友奈埜 (Yunano Honjyo) in 2015. The motivation for this is unclear - possibly a more unique name was desired. Sakura Gakuin still uses the original kanji when referring to her.
  • Despite this, she officially left entertainment less than a year after her graduation from Sakura Gakuin. In 2018, Mori-sensei informed the world that she had been accepted into a university to study economics.
• Trying Not to Cry: Has been shown crying over various situations, such as placing last on the nendo test, or reaching into a box to touch something. She also had even more trouble than Moa holding it together during graduations.

Graduated in 2016

Saki Shirai, Saki Ooga, Rinon

Rinon Isono (磯野 莉音) 2011 - 2016

Subunits: Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2012-2014, 2015-2016
Pro-Wrestling Circle 2014-2015

Rinon joined in 2011 along with Hana Taguchi. In 2015 she was appointed Student Council president.

At the time of her induction, she was the youngest girl Sakura Gakuin had accepted^* (she was 10 while Yui, Moa, and Hana were all 11 when they debuted) – a record she held until Aiko came along two years later. She was the first member to be a part of the maximum five Road To Graduations. ^note  As the very first nendo (2010) had no graduates, Yui and Moa only took part in four RTG's.

She is the only member to date to have a band named after her (which she wasn't even part of).

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• Catchphrase: "I am… Rinon!" (name to be chorused by rest of group/fans)
  • She even wrote it on the inner cover of the 2015 Graduates' Photobook.
• Determinator: According to Ayami and several of her juniors.
• Fangirl: Of New Japan Pro-Wrestling after Hana got her into it.
  • In an early LoGiRL episode in which Hana also appeared, Rinon came in wearing a sash that said (in English): "No NJPW, No Life" (a parody of Tower Records's catchphrase "No Music, No Life"
  • By mid-2015, she had gotten so into it that she tried multiple times her senior year to get Kano Fujihira – abnormally strong for her size – to join her Wrestling Club (in place of the graduated Hana).
• In-Series Nickname: Rinonon, Tensai ("genius")
  • She was sometimes seen in rehearsal photos wearing a black T-shirt with the tensai kanji on it.
• Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Insisted she was a genius in spite of scoring low – usually the lowest – on class tests and the occasional quizzes on LoGiRL streams.
• Long Runner: She is officially the fourth-longest-serving member after Kano & Soyoka, and Aiko.
  • Prior to 2020, Rinon held the unofficial record for longest tenure in Sakura Gakuin, although her debut was pushed back from May to late-July due to the Tohoku Disaster. While later transfer students were introduced to returning members in early April, the SMILE documentary shows Rinon and Hana met the Founding Ten on February 11th 2011. Rinon graduated on March 27th 2016, giving her a total time in the group of 1,872 days.^* That's five years, one month, and seventeen days. For comparison's sake, Aiko met the returnees on April 7th 2013 (according to footage from the "Cult Quiz") and graduated March 24th 2018, for a total of 1,813 days.
• Mellow Fellow: On stage or screen she usually appears relaxed, often to the point of nonchalance.
• Mood Whiplash: At the very first graduation ceremony, tears are being shed as the members give their farewell messages to the 3AMs. When it's Rinon's turn to speak, everyone breaks into laughter due to her extremely mellow expression and calm tone.
  • Happened again at the 2012 graduation when Moa was bawling while giving her farewell message to Suzuka. Su then pointed out that Rinon, standing immediately to Moa's right, looked like she was about to laugh.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During the 2015 nendo midterm test, Mori-sensei finally pushed her too far and she broke down crying. Watching this girl's mask that had never cracked once in nearly five years shatter into pieces as she talks about how worthless she feels is enough to make anyone cry.
• Picky Eater: Although she's getting better about it, she wrote in a diary entry that she couldn't eat any meat (as in: non-fish) or vegetables for a long time.
  • In an early diary, she said she won't put octopus in takoyaki, which is stuffed octopus balls – she used franks instead. The translation made it unclear whether she simply didn't like octopus or was allergic to it.
• Running Gag: Constantly making mistakes when writing kanji.
  • (almost) Always scoring dead last on nendo tests. It was Mori-sensei lampshading this that caused her breakdown.
    Rinon: (voice-over) "Here are the scores from last year's test. Please pay no attention to mine."
    Mori: "Right. Now who came in last last year?"
    (camera zooms in on Rinon)
    Mori: "The camera moved before I could say it. So, are you aiming for last again this year, Isono?"
    (Rinon unexpectedly starts to cry)
    Mori: "Don't cry now! It's too early! You don't know you'll be last." ^note  Somewhat ironically, Rinon didn't come in last on this test – she was 7th out of 12 – but the damage was done. From that test onward until 2018, last place became a battle between Kano and Momoko.
• Secret Test of Character: Rinon was given one and passed. She had long expressed interest in behind-the-scenes work – she was joyful at getting to wear a director's headset and look at notes during an early LoGiRL episode – and wrote about her admiration for Sakura Gakuin's stage manager. As she recounted in her graduation diary, years earlier she was given a piece of set and asked to keep it even though she was expected to lose it, but if she still had it by the time of her graduation, to show a photo. When she proved she still had the piece of set, the manager gave her his business card and said, "If you still have your dream of being a stage manager when you graduate high school, give me a call."
  • She finally made good on her dream in Summer 2021, shortly before SG's closure.
• Stern Teacher: According to Megumi, Rinon could be this during practice, in contrast to her blasé stage persona.
• Student Council President: The Fifth. She was the last to have worked with all the founding members.
• The Bus Came Back:invoked After graduating, Rinon left entertainment and completely dropped off the face of the earth following her backstage appearance at Sakura Gakuin Festival 2017. No one admitted publicly to even texting her, much less seeing her. Then, three years later with absolutely no warning, she appeared via video before Sakura Gakuin Festival 2020 (so did the Sakis) to give a message to the final members and fans. Later, in July 2021, she performed onstage during Anthology with her old pal Hana and shortly after wrote a guest diary explaining that she had joined SG's staff for its final year and to look forward to seeing her name in the last album's liner notes.
• Trying Not to Cry: Rinon is famous as the member who does not cry on stage. Ever. Off-stage is a different matter…
  • Okay, it happened one time, during the 2015 Orientation when she lost a challenge and had to drink a large glass of vegetable juice (which, as a self-admitted picky eater, she hated) as punishment. To be fair to her, whatever was in that glass was not normal vegetable juice and probably tasted awful.
  • She may have attempted this during Suzuka's Appreciation Party and subsequent graduation, as she can be seen stepping back and bouncing on her feet a little – her nervous tic – trying to find her words, and eventually came up with some very odd (even by Rinon standards) compliments.

Saki Ooga (大賀 咲希) 2012 - 2016

Subunits: Tennis club (Pastel Wind) 2013-2014
Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2015-2016

Joined in 2012 along with Yunano Notsu and Mariri Sugimoto.

In 2015 she was appointed Education Chairman – a new post, as with six new members in the 2015 nendo a large effort would be required to teach them the skills and traditions of the group.

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• The Cameo: Saki wrote "guest diaries" attached to entries by Aiko in 2017 and Kano in 2019.
• Catchphrase: She had two
  • During LoGiRL streams: "Good Ooganing!"^note  (works in English, and was absolutely deliberate on her part – she said the first time she used it that it's a combination of her name and the English phrase "Good evening"; she thought it up after hearing Sakura Gakuin had overseas fans, and wanted to acknowledge them – became somewhat memetic as one of the rare photos of her post-SG shows her wearing a sports jersey with "OOGANING" on the back)
  • During concert introductions: "I want to make many flowers of hope bloom!"
• Crossdresser:
  • Has done this occasionally (but not in performances). Is also a fan of Fudanjuku, a cross-dressing idol group.
  • Just like Moa before her graduation, she also dressed up as Mori-sensei for a LoGiRL stream when he couldn't be there. Unlike Moa, Saki didn't have issues with his glasses, as she does have to wear a pair at least for reading.
• In-Series Nickname: "Baby-chan" due to her tiny size when she first joined the group – this nickname persisted until at least her 8th grade year. Other nicknames include Saki-chan and Saki-O (the latter to distinguish her from Saki Shirai).
• Older Than She Looks: Born April 11th 2000, she's the oldest of the 2015 nendo grads, seven months older than Rinon (the youngest). In fact, she's closer in age to Hana - one school year her senior - than to anyone in her own class. But you'd never know it to look at her. Her short stature combined with wearing braces until 8th grade made her appear much younger. The morning show where she was repeatedly called "Baby-chan" and a bunch of older Idols squeed over her and said they wanted to kidnap her… she was 13, in 7th grade – but came off like an elementary-schooler.^note  That year, Sakura Gakuin had only one elementary member: Aiko.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted after her first year when Saki Shirai joined. Since then the latter has often been called C-chan or Shirasaki to distinguish them.
• Perpetual Smiler: Saki was naturally almost as much of one as Moa. However, according to her own diaries, self-consciousness over her braces led to her smiling less and less as time went on. After she finally got them off, she would rarely be seen without an ear-to-ear toothy grin.
• Pint-Sized Kid: A major reason she was given the nickname "Baby-chan". Unlike contemporary shorties Yui and Moa, Saki didn't grow much during her four years in the group, ending up just barely passing Ayami.
  • invoked She had to stand on a Scully Box for the cover of the 2015 Seniors' Photobook so she could be properly in frame with Rinon and Saki Shirai. In the photo, the two Sakis look the same height; in reality, Ooga was and remains at least 5cm/2” shorter than Shirai and 15cm/6” shorter than Rinon.
  • In October 2018, Kano wrote about getting to spend time with Saki for the first time in two years. Note that Kano is four years younger – she was in 5th grade when Saki was in 9th – and had grown during the interim (something Aiko has also mentioned with irritation). She stated that Saki refused to admit Kano had grown taller than her.
    • Kano met up with Saki again in October 2019 and said in her diary that Saki seemed to have gotten smaller since the last time they met.
  • In December 2018, Maaya – another 2015 inductee, three school years Saki's junior and having held her old student council position – went out with Saki. This time, Saki couldn't deny the height difference, since Maaya began her tenure about equal in height to Saki. Maaya put it this way in her diary about the event:
    Saki, your height and face haven't changed a bit, so now Maaya looks like the big sister LOL.
• Pubescent Braces: Saki was the first member of Sakura Gakuin to have these, and they were removed halfway through her second year of middle school – she happily posted a diary about it in October 2014. That year's nendo test took place a couple months later.
• Reclusive Artist:invoked After graduating Sakura Gakuin, she decided she wanted nothing more to do with show business, though she also said she would never stop singing – confirmed by younger members who have gone out with her. For years following her graduation, she never attended SG live shows and public photos of her as a high school girl are few and far between.
  • Much to fans' shock, she went to the Road To Graduation 2018 Final in March 2019. She's in the group photo next to Shirai (whose attendance was never in doubt). She also attended the second day of Sakura Gakuin Festival 2019. Around the same time, she went out with Kano and later informed the world via guest-diary that she was attending university.
  • To fans' even bigger shock, she opened a public twitter account on her 20th birthday in April 2020 and heavily implied she might start posting clips of karaoke sessions or something similar so folks can hear her sing again. Sure enough, her college friend Moka, a concert pianist, started a Youtube channel with Saki where they sing. And yes, Saki's voice remains absurdly powerful for such a tiny young lady.
• Tagalong Kid: She was this to Nene her first year, as Nene was quick to point out in their joint introduction video, saying Saki often followed her around like a puppy. Nene didn't seem to mind, though, as she made herself Saki's Cool Big Sis.

Saki Shirai (白井 沙樹) 2013 - 2016

Subunit: School Store Club 2014-2016

Joined in 2013 with Aiko Yamaide. In 2015 she was appointed as the 3rd Talk Chairman.

While she chose to leave entertainment following her graduation from Sakura Gakuin (that was her goal and she accomplished it), as of 2020 she still pops up from time to time doing local stuff in her hometown, Niigata.

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• In-Series Nickname: C-chan, Shirasaki, Shi-chan, C-tan, Shiita, OL (stands for Office Lady)
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked She had been a fan of Sakura Gakuin from its beginning.
  • This is, of course, referenced in her Mezase! Super Lady verse, where her spoken line during her first two years was "Sakura Gakuin daisuki!!" ("I love Sakura Gakuin!").
• Team Mom: Became this when an unprecedented six new members joined the group in 2015, some as young as 10.
  • She is one of the members most likely to attend performances following her own graduation. This is especially impressive when one remembers she doesn't live in or near Tokyo like most graduates (either due to work or because they're from the area to begin with), but rather returned to Niigata.
• Second Place Is for Losers: She was visibly disappointed at losing to Megumi on nendo tests, and even broke into tears on the supposed second time (except it was revealed a minute later they had tied for first).
• Trying Not to Cry: And she failed repeatedly. During her graduation ceremony, she could not keep it together at all through the last two songs.
  • In the 2015 nendo midterm test, she started crying when she thought Megumi had beaten her again (they were half a point apart in the previous year's test – a fact she recounted, causing Mori-sensei to ask, "Why do you remember that?!"). It turned out the two tied for first place on this test, but Saki couldn't stop the tears.
• Younger than She Looks: She stated in some diary entries that she was often mistaken for someone in her 20s despite being 15 or younger at the time. The reason she got the nickname "OL".
  • When Saki-S first joined Sakura Gakuin, they took several photos of her with fellow transfer Aiko. Aiko was 10 and looked it (if not younger). Saki was 12½ but looked older.
  • Her hairdresser in Niigata, who is known to photograph his clients, gets shots of her from time to time, including one shortly after her 18th birthday. While Saki appeared significantly closer to her actual age than during her SG years, one could easily have mistaken her for a college girl rather than a high school senior. By 2020 her age had finally caught up to her looks.

Graduated in 2017

Sara, Mirena

Worth noting these two became friends the year before Sara joined Sakura Gakuin, thanks to their overlapping time as Ciào Girls, and are known to still be close today.

• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kind of
  • Red: Mirena - much more expressive and loud, always down to do some silly thing with the younger members
  • Blue: Sara - the quieter one out of the duo and initially posed quite a mystery for the other members and fans (although she became a lot more open and expressive as time went on)

Sara Kurashima (倉島 颯良) 2014 - 2017

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2014-2015
Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2015-2017

Joined in 2014 with Megumi Okada. Appointed Student Council President in 2016

She was the first member to purge Sakura Gakuin from her résumé completely. Not because she's ashamed of her three years in the group, but because after graduation she took the "serious" acting path and found herself forced to deal with casting directors who are biased against girls with an "Idol" background.

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• Cloud Cuckoolander: Implied by other members to be one frequently.
• Competition Freak: It has been said by other members that she hates losing in anything.
• Hereditary Curse: On a technicality. Sara did very well on her final nendo test (4th), but Mirena – the only other 9th-grader – placed first, so by default Sara was the worst-scoring senior just like Ayami, Suzuka^* (the only senior in her year but not the only graduate; Su scored worse than early-grad Mariri, so the curse still applies), Moa, and Rinon before her.
• In-Series Nickname: Kokeshi or Kokeshima (due to her trademark short hair which resembles a kokeshi doll's), Masala.
• Little Miss Snarker: She has occasional moments like this, pointing out Twitter comments saying "Sara-chan is the real genius here" (a jab at Rinon) or just generally putting Mori down for forgetting her name at her transfer ceremony.
  • In February 2019, just before her 17th birthday, she messaged Megumi and Aiko (in that order) to tell them she looked forward to reading their birthday tweets to her. They both replied with messages that were simultaneously complimentary but also gave her a well-earned jab.
• Memetic Hair:invoked Sara has pretty much always had her iconic bob hairstyle in some form, even as a child. It's one of the two things worked into her "Mezase! Super Lady" verses (the other being Mori-sensei getting her name wrong). She would often draw a caricature of her own head with "Kokeshi" written on the bangs.
• Oblivious to Love: More like, 'Oblivious To Friendship'. It's been shown that she's quite clueless when it comes to other girls trying to show friendly affection towards her. Except Mirena and Megumi.
• Stepford Smiler: Turned out to be one during Road To Graduation 2016. She kept it together beautifully throughout the entire performance. However, the documentary shows that the literal second Sara was off the stage and out of public view, she broke down crying into Aiko's arms.
• Student Council President: The Sixth
  • Sara was the first president to have less time in the group than one of her juniors – Aiko joined the year before Sara did.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Invoked at least twice. In addition to Mori-sensei forgetting her name during her debut, she said in her video message to him in March 2018 that she continued to hold a grudge for some of his teasing. Mori-sensei, for his part, had no idea his teasing had ticked her off so much and felt somewhat guilty. The whole thing was tempered by Sara then requesting he write a TV or film script for her.
• Tomboy: In addition to that hair, she almost exclusively appears wearing shorts or generally boyish clothes in older pictures, although she did become more feminine during her three years in Sakura Gakuin.
  Megu: (talking about dedicating her song to Sara during an acapella class) "Back then you were Sara-chan in the shorts... But now you've turned into Sara-chan in the miniskirt in my eyes."
  • Averted somewhat after leaving Sakura Gakuin as she has been appearing in commercials and model shoots wearing skirts and full-length dresses.
• Younger than She Looks: Born February 24th 2002 (about six weeks before her junior and co-initiate Megumi), throughout Sakura Gakuin and into today, she's long looked older than she is. Part of it is, of course, her hair, but also being slightly taller than average and just her facial structure in general. When she is photographed with Aiko, they look years apart even though the actual age gap is just nine months.

Mirena Kurosawa (黒澤 美澪奈) 2015 - 2017

Subunit: Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2015-2017

Joined in 2015 along with Momoko, Maaya, Marin, Soyoka, and Kano. Appointed as MC chairman in 2016.

She has the unique distinction of being the only girl aside from the AM's – all founding members – to join as an 8th-grader (thus giving her only two years in the group, much to her own dismay).

Mirena holds the record for the highest score to date on a Nendo Test – 18.5/20

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• But Now I Must Go: At the beginning of April 2019, Mirena opened a twitter account …and her first action was to explain why she allowed her contract with Amuse to lapse just as they were giving her a big push. Basically, she still wants to be an entertainer, but she felt concentrating on studies (she'd just started her final year of high school) was more important. This fits her M.O. described below.
  • Once she finally got into university, she started auditioning for (and getting) stage roles again.
• Cool Big Sis: To just about all of the SG members who joined in 2015 or 2016, especially KYG.
  • She's made it abundantly clear through her actions – and said it outright in one of her last interviews – that she really wishes she could have been in Sakura Gakuin for more than just two years. Since aging out in 2017, she has become one of the graduates most likely to attend live shows, and guest starred on FRESH on three separate occasions.
• Experienced Protagonist: By the time she joined she had been on many TV shows and had been modeling consistently for years. It's no surprise that she was the most confident in front of an audience and/or a camera out of the transfer students.
  • This even got acknowledged by Principal Kuramoto at the 2016 Nendo Graduation Ceremony, saying Mirena really didn't need to join the group, and he explicitly thanked her for it.
• Woman Behind the Woman:
  • According to one of Saki Shirai's diaries, Mirena was the mastermind behind K.Y.G.^* (Kyoufu no Yay Gundan, a.k.a "Dreadful Yeah Corps", which consisted of the noisiest, most ill-behaved members: Maaya, Kano, & Momoko, in that order) but, unlike them, she was able to immediately become well-behaved when needed in a class or practice.
  • During a Hot Wave interview near the end of her tenure, she was talking about her hairstyle (she'd had it curled for the taping) when the host invoked this trope, telling her she looked like an Alpha Bitch. In response, Mirena immediately assumed the position, flipping her hair back and telling one of her invisible underlings, "Go bully those girls."
• In-Series Nickname: Mii-chan, Kurosawa-pro, P(u)rosawa
• Seiyuu
  • Played Alice in Sanrio Characters PonPonJump
• Shorter Means Smarter: Played devastatingly straight. Mirena is 152cm (4’11.84”), making her the 4th-shortest graduated member (tied with Marin), and she was in the top three in every test she took.
• The Smart Girl: In her first nendo test she placed third (Saki Shirai and Megumi tied for first) and in her last she knocked Megumi down to third. After Mori-sensei congratulated her for being the girl to finally take Megu's first place, Mirena immediately parlayed it into a bit of dark comedy by flipping Megu off just to rub it in.
  "First place is mine!"
• Unusual Ears: Mirena's ears don't stick out as much as Suzuka's or Miku's (or even Maaya's), but they're still huge. Her head being a bit smaller than average only emphasizes it more.

Graduated in 2018

Megumi, Aiko, Momoko

Aiko Yamaide (山出 愛子) 2013 - 2018

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2014-2015
Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2015-2018

Joined in 2013 with Saki Shirai. Appointed Vice President in 2016. Became Student Council President in 2017.

For four of her five years in Sakura Gakuin, Aiko held the record as the youngest girl ever to debut.^* Her final year, Miki beat her youth record by eight days. Two years after that, Sakia beat both of them by over two months. Aiko holds a further Sakura Gakuin record with the highest number of diaries, at 180.

Hails from Kagoshima in southwest Kyushu, and had the longest commute to work in the group of about 960km.^* That's nearly 600 miles via flight.

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• Arc Number: 15. Aiko considers this her "special number" and goes out of her way to use it whenever she can. She likely latched onto it because 1-5 is a rather obscure pun on her given name, and she loves wordplay and in-jokes. It can also be interpreted as the Japanese word for "strawberry", one of her favorite foods.
  • As early as Fall 2013, when she was still 10 years old, she began ending diary entries with “♡１５♡” (the numbers enclosed within a single heart – itself a play on her name, the first character of which means "love") and continued this until the end.
    • Aiko intentionally scheduled her farewell SG diary to post at exactly 15:15:15 JST on April 8th (that she didn't wait an extra week is a question for the ages).
  • As of May 2018, she has declared the 15th of each month to be "Aiko Day".
  • Whenever she does a livestream on Stolabo, chances are it will be on the 15th of whatever month.
  • She put out her very first music video, "Smile", on August 15th 2018 (the physical release of the titular single was one week later).
    • Her promo for her second single "Choice" posted on November 15th 2018, exactly 15 days before its music video (the single itself dropped on her 16th birthday, the next day)
    • Her third single, End of Summer Love, came out on July 17th 2019 — add 7+1+7. Yep, 15.
    • Her very first concert DVD, which came out on Christmas Day 2019, is of her show from the previous May 19th. Add up the digits of the day and month again… 15.
    • Her fourth single, Pierce, had a release date of April 15th 2020.
  • One of her very first pieces of official merchandise is a keychain shaped like 15 that has her name written inside it.
    • After her 17th birthday, she designed a second keychain that has "17" under the 15. She repeated this for her 18th birthday keychain.
• Asian Buck Teeth: Aiko revealed in one of her final diary entries before graduation that she had these and had been wearing InvisAlign-style braces to correct them. She took them out during performances and photoshoots. She finished the process right around the time she graduated Sakura Gakuin. The difference between how her teeth looked during her "Ameri-chan" commercials and early SG versus today is considerable.
• The Baby of the Bunch: When she was inducted into Sakura Gakuin in May 2013, she was the only elementary schooler – a 5th-grader at that, meaning she was two years younger than the next-youngest girl (Rinon). She would remain the youngest and shortest of the bunch until May 2015, when four new elementary schoolers joined.
  • Aiko's first year overlapped with NHMR's last. Nene told her that two months from then Aiko would no longer fit this trope and would have to learn to be a good senpai. The next year's new members were Megumi and Sara, both of whom are older and taller than Aiko.
  • A number of photos from the 2013 Nendo show NHMR all acting the part of Aiko's Cool Big Sis, especially Raura, hugging and comforting the tiny girl. Aiko has returned the favour by attending live shows featuring Hinata and Raura. Meanwhile, Marina has attended at least one of Aiko's concerts.
• Big Eater: Aiko has a massive sweet-tooth and isn't shy about mentioning it.
  • Ironically, any time one of the other Sakura Girls challenged her to an eating contest, Aiko always lost. One can assume it's because Aiko likes to enjoy her sweets.
  • A not-insignificant number of photos on her Twitter and Instagram feeds are food and/or her eating it; be it dango, a doughnut, melon bread, etc. When followers got onto her for eating too much – Japan takes a very dim view on girls being overweight – Aiko declared that food which tastes good has no calories.
  • She also posted a LINE diary in May 2018 detailing a trip she took to Atami with her father. At least a third of the diary (and most of the photos) are about food – either what she ate, or the ice cream she wanted to eat but didn't and regretted it.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: One of her most distinguishing features compared to many other Sakura girls (with the notable exception of Kano, who also has these).
• Catchphrase: "Jan-ken-pon, Aiko desho". ^note  "Jan-Ken-Pon" is the Japanese version of Rock-Paper-Scissors.
• Celebrity Resemblance: Has mentioned she's often told she looks like actress/model Mizuki Yamamoto.
  • For the record, Aiko does kind of look like her, except in the height department – Yamamoto is 167cm (5’5¾”) and Aiko is… much shorter.
• Child Prodigy: Even by Sakura Gakuin standards she counts. Before joining, she had been performing and appearing on television for well over a year as "Ameri-chan", the mascot for an insurance company. She's also the only girl in SG history to have composed and performed her own music on stage …before she turned 15.^* Yui Mizuno and Moa Kikuchi wrote and performed "Song 4", but (1) it was for Babymetal {though they were still in Sakura Gakuin at the time}, and (2) they did not do the musical arrangement.
  • To put this in further perspective, she was given the go-ahead to begin her solo career at the age of 15½, just five months after her graduation from Sakura Gakuin.
• Cool Big Sis: Aiko through her actions has insinuated she wants to be this to junior members. Even ones who joined after she graduated. Especially ones who joined after she graduated.
  • She was very much one to Miki. Also Miku even though Miku outgrew her soon after induction.
  • Almost every other member of the 2013 nendo was one to her becase she was, as noted above, so much younger and smaller than everyone else.
• Determinator: Many of her juniors pointed this out about Aiko in their own diaries. This was also on display in the behind the scenes footage of Sakura Gakuin Fest 2017, discussed in the narration by Mori-sensei. Aiko had requested permission to play two of her piano compositions – she'd played a cover the year before – but, a week before the show, a sensei told her her work wasn't good enough to show to fans and said both her solos would be dropped. After a bout of frustration, she managed to improve enough to get her solos back onto the setlist.
  • Even after Sakura Gakuin, she's proved to be quite the workhorse – juggling school, music lessons, meetings with talent people, and a surprisingly active social media presence, plus releasing two singles within four months. Time will tell if she's able to keep all that up as her schooling intensifies.
• Height Angst: She joined Sakura Gakuin at age 10, and during the five(!) years she was in the unit, she barely grew taller at all (okay, she actually grew nearly 8”, but still…). Her height is listed as 151.1cm, or 4’11½”. She can be pretty self-conscious about it.
  • While still in elementary school, she declared with confidence that she would grow to be 170cm (5’7”) by the time she graduated high school. That… didn't work out to put it mildly.
  • In one of her final diary entries in March 2018, she recounted how nearly all of her juniors had outgrown her, including 5th-grader Miku (who was taller than her from the get-go and only grew from there). As Kano, the shortest girl from 2015 until 2017, had recently outgrown Aiko, the only members still shorter than her were Marin – exactly one year younger, and shorter by all of 2mm – and Miki, the other 5th grader. She finished off her entry by hoping neither of them passed her by the graduation show. ^note  They didn't. Marin passed Aiko (by all of 9mm) a couple months later. Miki passed Aiko sometime between February and August 2019.
    • Added Context: Upon joining Sakura Gakuin in 2014 as a 6th-grader, Megumi wasn't that much taller than Aiko; in fact, Megu was about on par with Saki Ooga – two years her senior – at first, noticeably shorter than Sara (older than Megu by about six weeks), but over the next three years Megu underwent a major growth spurt such that by mid-2016 she had passed Sara to become the tallest Sakura girl. Momoko (three months younger than Aiko and eleven months younger than Megumi) also started out not much taller than Aiko and had a similar if less extreme growth spurt. Constantly being left behind gave Aiko a bit of a complex, leading to…
  • She has photographed herself wearing a pair of four-inch (or more) platform shoes.
    • In Summer 2018, she traveled to Okinawa and posted a photo of herself wearing platform sandals. The main question in fans' minds was where she even managed to find shoes like that.
  • For Halloween 2018 she discovered, to her simultaneous amusement and horror, that she was still able to fit into her old Ameri-chan costume from when she was 8. Granted that red dress was oversized in 2011 but seven years later had become noticeably tight up-top, and had originally gone down to her knees but now barely went past her hips (it looked more like a long shirt). On her LINE blog, she declared that 2018 would be the last year she would be able to wear it because she would certainly be too tall by the next Halloween.
    
    Spoiler: She was able to wear the dress again 10 months later and posted photos on Halloween 2019.
    
    AND on Halloween 2020, although this time the dress/shirt/whatever looked even more snug on her.
• Hidden Depths: She's a very competent pianist in addition to her strong singing voice. Once this became known, they started letting her play at Sakura Gakuin live events.
  • In an early LoGiRL episode, Megumi said Aiko scored high on English proficiency exams – she had to speak English years earlier in her role as the mascot for American Home Direct insurance. Saki Ooga said the same thing in one of her diaries. However, Aiko rarely spoke it in Sakura Gakuin, which Mori-sensei was quick to point out. Shortly after her graduation from SG, Aiko used her Twitter feed to celebrate getting a perfect score on an English test. Her next English test didn't go as well, but she still earned a respectable score. She stated in a June 2018 livestream that she had come to enjoy learning English after getting tired of it for awhile in middle school.
  • Combining the above two traits, on her very first single, Aiko sings a cover of The Carpenters' "Yesterday Once More". She has a bit of an accent, but is still perfectly understandable.
  • That said, Aiko seems to have slacked off; saying this during a 2020 livestream:
    (in English) "I can't-o speak English. Sorry, sorry."
• Important Haircut: About a month after graduating Sakura Gakuin, Aiko cut her hair short. She gave several reasons for this – one was that she never had short hair before and wanted to try it, another is that she's a huge fan of The Professional (which she noted in one of her diaries) and decided she needed a hairstyle as close to Mathilda's as her school would let her get away with. For Halloween 2018 she took some photos of herself in costume as Mathilda.
• In-Series Nickname: Ai-chan. Megumi notably calls Aiko by her given name without any honorific.
• Meaningful Name: Aiko invoked this on herself. Despite her given name being absurdly common, her parents specifically named her after then-Crown-Prince (now Emperor) Naruhito's only child Princess Aiko, who was also born on December 1st (one year earlier).
• Odd Friendship: With Megumi. As Megu brings out Aiko's tsundere side (see below), it's often difficult to figure out what their relationship is.
  "I won't lose to you!" –said by Aiko and Megu to each other multiple times over four years
  • At the 2017 Sakura Gakuin Festival, an entire skit was built around their unusual dynamic.
• Singer-Songwriter: The first to come out of Sakura Gakuin, as noted above. After graduating, she began taking serious steps in this direction, releasing her first solo EP in August 2018, just five months after aging out of SG. Two months later she announced a second single to be released on her 16th birthday (December 1st). As of January 2021 she has released four physical singles, a digital single, and a concert DVD.
  • She was already a budding one in Sakura Gakuin. "Taisetsu na Kimi e", "Futari Kotoba", and "Hirari Hirari" are all her own compositions. The latter was reworked for her first single.
• Student Council President: The Seventh. She was the last to have worked with a majority of the founding members.
  • She was named Vice President in 2016 in recognition that she was technically senior to Sara.
• Tiny Tyrannical Girl: Has shown hints of this. She's definitely tiny (but don't tell her that).
  • Her verse during "Mezase! Super Lady 2017" calls her out on this at the start and her response is an onomatopoeia of a whip cracking.
  • Moa noted in one of her later diaries that Aiko often "played senior" to Megumi and Sara, even though Sara is a school year ahead and both are older & taller, due to Aiko's longer tenure in the group.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Ice Cream - 「アイス」(Aisu) in Japanese.
  • In the very first episode of Ganbare!! FRESH Monday!, Mori-sensei asked the four attending girls – Aiko, Megumi, Yuzumi, Momoe – to come up with some task they wanted to do. Aiko responded she wanted to do a food review (unbeknownst to Mori-sen, she'd done one with sashimi years earlier as Ameri-chan). When asked which food she wanted to review, Aiko blurted out "Ice Cream!" without missing a beat.
  • She vowed to fans via diary and/or to Megumi she'd cut back on her binges. Often failed.
  • Her love of the cold sweet treat absolutely did not stop after her graduation.
    • This◊ is the Official Logo for Aiko's fledgling solo career – a microphone that looks like an ice cream cone… or vice versa. One cannot envision a more fitting representation for Aiko.
    • She declared on twitter in September 2018 that "Ice Cream is Justice", after going on a rant about being unable to find a popular brand that had temporarily halted production.
• Tsundere: Especially towards Megumi.
  • A good example, detailed on the 'Funny' subpage, is the 2014 Nendo Test (Megumi's first).
    • Shortly after that, in LoGiRL Episode 9 (the finale broadcast for Yui, Moa, Hana, and Yunano) during the hengao competition, Megumi stealthily took hold of Aiko's hand. Aiko reacted by looking over to Megumi in confusion and minor annoyance… but didn't immediately pull her hand away.
  • Aiko pulled one over on Megu again during the 2015 Nendo Test.

Megumi Okada (岡田 愛) 2014 - 2018

Subunits: Baton Club (Twinklestars) 2014-2015
Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2015-2017

Joined in 2014 with Sara Kurashima. 4th Talk Chairman

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• Catchphrase: "M-S-R, Megu, Shitteru, Shitteru!" (MSR, Megu knows, she knows)
• Covert Pervert: During one of her first LoGiRL appearances, she said that Hana Taguchi sometimes touched her butt. And she liked it. When Mori-sensei called her on it, she insisted she wasn't in love, but merely liked the feeling of having her butt touched (by another girl).
• Cuddle Bug: During the infamous LoGiRL segment where she, Aiko, Mirena, and Sara wore cat-ears, Megumi grabbed Mirena's arm and rubbed her cheek on Mirena's shoulder (Mirena stared at the camera, confused). She's also been known to attempt to cuddle Aiko.
  • Megumi has always been very upfront about her fondness for Aiko, insisting in an early 2018 interview that she considers their relationship ＂ラブラブ。＂ ("Lovey-dovey"). Aiko's response …varies.
• Freudian Slip: On an early FRESH episode, Megu offhandedly referred to Aiko as senpai. Mori-sensei immediately called her on it.
  • Note that Aiko is in the same grade as Megu and eight months younger – Aiko's only claim to that honorific is her joining SG a year earlier, but even then members mostly call each other [x]-chan regardless of seniority, though Aiko and Megumi refer to each other without honorific.
• Girly Girl: Megumi has an extremely girly voice, a natural cutesy (burikko) bearing, and usually wears dresses or skirts as street clothes. Her preferred clothing color is black, but in feminine styles and she'll often coordinate it with white or pastel. This stands in stark contrast to Aiko, who often wears pants or overalls when not modelling or performing.
• Height Angst: Discussed. You wouldn't expect it from a girl who was, at 163.8cm (5’4½”), the tallest of the 2016 and 2017 classes and to-date the sixth-tallest graduate, but she wrote in one of her diaries of her worry that Soyoka, two years younger and seeming to grow taller by the day, would pass her by graduation. As of Fall 2022, Soyo is still ~2cm shorter.
  • In June 2019 she publicly wished Miku Tanaka, who had broken 160cm/5’3” the previous year, a happy 13th birthday but ended with "Don't get too tall". Not long after, she mentioned that she had been measured at 165cm (5’5”) but for whatever reason would not be updating her billed height. Still worried about Miku outgrowing her… which Miku did in Spring 2021.
  • As noted by Sara, with whom she'd worked as a Ciào girl before both joined Sakura Gakuin, Megumi had actually been somewhat short for her age – at her SG debut she was 148cm (same height as Saki Ooga), 7cm/2¾” taller than Aiko and 8cm/3.15” shorter than Sara – until Summer/Fall 2014 when she began a growth spurt that did not stop until after she graduated. She is now nearly 14cm/5½” taller than Aiko.
    • Megumi wrote a Ciào Girl diary right before joining SG that turned out to be Hilarious in Hindsight – she discussed her latest checkup where from the winter she had grown a grand total of …one centimeter. She then lamented how hard it was to reach 150cm/4’11” and openly wished to become taller. If she only knew then…
• In-Series Nickname: Megu-chan, Meg, O-jou-san (a play on the word for young ladies, ojou-san, with the jou replaced with the kanji for 'castle')
  • Aiko zigzags, even within a single paragraph, using Megu-chan or just Megu without honorific. On twitter she uses "Megu" exclusively to save space.
• Insult Backfire: In an early LoGiRL episode, 6th-grader Megumi answered an idiom question she didn't know with Momotarō. Then this exchange happened:
  Mori: "Momotaro?! What are you, Okada? An elementary schooler?"
  Megumi: "I am, actually."
  Mori: {silence}
• Proud to Be a Geek: She's a huge history geek, so much so that she wrote Oda Nobunaga-sama as an answer in the 2014 class test. She also frequently wrote diary entries about the castles she visited. This includes her final diary entry in which she described the castle in her hometown.
  • During an episode of morning kids' TV show Oha Suta – for which she acted as assistant host on Mondays from September 2017 until March 2019 – the guests were a Girl Group from Nagoya. Megumi happens to also be from Nagoya, and showed off a picture she drew of Nagoya Castle while wearing a headdress that looked like the roof of a traditional keep.
  • Turns out Japan has a "Castle Certification Test" with multiple levels. Yes, she has taken it, and she lists her certification on her official Artist page.
  • In mid-2019 she appeared on a television show hosted by Airi about young people with "unusual" interests to talk about castles. A couple months earlier she was on a different TV special about castles.
  • According to her Twitter, her idea of a fun weekend activity (other than castles) is visiting a science museum.
    • She also enjoys meteorology (she was in "Logica?" for a couple years), and often read the weather report on Oha Suta. Megu has expressed a desire to become a weather-girl.
  • During an outing in April 2019, Aiko visited a museum where she got the chance to dress in samurai gear. Unsurprisingly, she immediately thought of Megumi and apparently bought her a birthday gift from the place.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Megu was very proud to score first place in the Nendo tests three times, including her very first one as a sixth grader… and extremely unhappy when she lost to Mirena. Well, Mirena flipping Megumi off probably didn't help. If looks could kill…
  • Also losing to Momoe, a newcomer two years her junior, didn't help either. At the end of the video, as Momoe is talking about her experience, Megumi runs up and shoves her out of the way so she can complain to the camera. Granted Megu was smiling as she ran into frame, obviously half-joking.
  • In her senior year, she experienced this once more. Even when she hoped to beat Momoe, she ultimately tied for second with Tsugumi.

Momoko Okazaki (岡崎 百々子) 2015 - 2018

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2015 - 2018
Science Club (Kagaku Kyumei Kikoh Logica?) 2016 - 2017

Joined in 2015 with Mirena, Maaya, Marin, Soyoka, and Kano.

Ganbare! Chairman in the 2017 nendo.

With a birthday on March 3rd, she holds the record as the youngest Sakura girl to age out naturally, turning 15 exactly three weeks before her graduation.^* The previous record-holder was Hana, whose birthday is March 4th. However, Hana's graduation was March 29th while Momoko's was March 24th.

Momoko decided to leave entertainment after graduating Sakura Gakuin in order to prepare to spend at least one year of high school abroad. She returned in style as one of the (theoretically nameless) 'Avengers' to fill Yui's slot in Babymetal.

A couple months after Babymetal's final 2021 Budokan concerts (after which they went into effect lockdown), Momoko appeared in Korea to compete in MNet's Girls Planet 999 show to become a K-Pop Idol. She was eliminated about halfway through.

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• Class Clown: Doesn't help that she scored absurdly poorly on all her tests in Sakura Gakuin.
• Cunning Linguist: Decided she wanted to become one after graduating Sakura Gakuin. Following her departure, several of her fellow members mentioned they looked forward to seeing a Momoko fluent in a second language.
  • Sakura Gakuin's tweet on Momoko's 16th birthday said much the same thing.
  • During Sakura Gakuin Festival 2017, Momoko poked fun at Aiko's past as Ameri-chan, repeating the very first line Aiko said as the mascot – "Nice to meet you. I am Amelie of American Home Direct. I'm glad to meet you." – and it came off as well-spoken English. Some of the other girls looked surprised Momoko was able to sound better at English than Aiko.
  • Momoko's final diary began with her introducing herself to fans for the first time in perfect English …before switching to Japanese, saying "Just kidding!", then continuing on with what she wanted to say.
  • She also showed off her English skills when giving a self-introduction during GP999.
• The Ditz: As mentioned above, she invariably placed at or near the bottom in the nendo tests. Her first year-end test, where she placed 9th, she vowed to Mori-sensei that come the next year-end test she would place fifth, prompting a rebuke from him. ^{What Actually Happened} In the following test, she placed dead last.
• Even the Girls Want Her: When the 2017 grads were asked which SG member they would most like to go out with, Aiko chose Momoko without hesitation, saying she didn't care if she (Aiko) was a boy or a girl; getting to be on the town with "Momotaro" was enough.
  • Megumi and Maaya have said much the same about Momoko. She and Maaya were especially close.
• Genki Girl: As one would expect from the girl who openly admitted she was part of "K.Y.G".
• Gratuitous English: Did this at least twice during SG in addition to the examples mentioned above.
  • During the 2015 Nendo Midterm, she tried to cheer herself up by saying, in English, "Smile, smile."
  • The prank for the 2017 Nendo test had Marin reading something and shouting "Oh my god!" (subtitled in English), then Momoko repeating it (subtitled in katakana even though Momoko sounded almost as good as Marin).
• In-Series Nickname: Mou-tan, Momotarō, Zakioka, Moko-chan
  • Also "Pumpkin" at SG Fest 2017, thanks to this video.
• It Runs in the Family: Momoko is the daughter of Japanese comedian Mitsuteru Okazaki, better known as Hanamaru Hakata (one half of the duo "Hanamaru-Daikichi Hakata"). No shock then Momoko tended to comedy …even when her jokes would fall flat.
  • On Girls Planet 999, her idea of making an impression with her introduction was to wear a high school uniform, twirl into frame, then play Sakura Gakuin and K-Pop songs on a kazoo. Because why not? …No, really, that was her justification for her routine.
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked When asked early on which club Momoko wanted to join if given the chance, she replied "Juonbu" – a.k.a the Heavy Music Club a.k.a Babymetal. Fast forward a few years and she suddenly appears as Babymetal's Third Avenger.
  • She also said during a LoveBerry interview in 2016 that her dream, such as it was, was to be a backup dancer to a popular artist. Well, that sure happened.
  • In 2023, she was promoted into a full Babymetal member under the stage name Momometal, making the group a trio once again since Yui's departure in 2018.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Umeboshi (dried pickled plums)
• When She Smiles: Momoko has a fairly unique smile that endeared her to Fukei – the skin above the bridge of her nose crinkles. Fans refer to it as her "scrunchy face". Its appearance was one thing that confirmed to people she was Babymetal's long-awaited Third Avenger.

Graduated in 2019

Marin, Yuzumi, Maaya

Maaya Asou (麻生 真彩) 2015 - 2019

Subunits: Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2015-2017

Joined in 2015 with Marin, Momoko, Soyoka, Kano, and Mirena.

2nd Education Chairman in 2017 nendo. Talk Chairman in 2018 nendo.

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• Animal Motifs: She's usually associated with cats, partly because she frequently draws a cat-like character she calls Maaya-mark in her diaries and partly because of one particular Halloween ad for Ciào in which she was wearing cat ears. She also spent all four of her years in SG doing the "Cheshire Cat" part in the song "Sleep Wonder" (a role that had previously belonged to the famously unexcitable Hana).
  • Kokona declared that, in the zoo that is Sakura Gakuin, Maaya was a rabbit. When used as part of her signature, Maaya-mark looks more like a rabbit.
• Butt-Monkey:invoked Tended to end up with the short end of the stick, especially during live broadcasts.
  • During the lead-up to the regular 2015 nendo test, she was the first of the new arrivals to enter – the returnees at that point were in on the joke – and was treated to the full force of Mori-sensei jumping out and screaming in her face. She fell over from the shock.
    • Happened again at the 2018 test (in January 2019). When Mori-sensei pulled the dokkiri on the girls, Maaya fell out of her chair.
  • At the 2017 Transfer Ceremony, upon learning that new arrival Miki also knew how to play with the kendama, Maaya tried to show off a new trick she'd been working on: the "Maaya Special" …and failed. She asked to try again but Mori refused, reminding her they were in the middle of the Transfer Ceremony so one-upping the tiny ten-year-old would be bad form.
  • The 3rd episode of FRESH involved, at Aiko's request, a lesson on how to do a televised food review. While the other three girls tried interesting dishes^* (Marin got a tofu-steak, Aiko - she of the sweet tooth - got dorayaki, Miki got green curry), Maaya got shredded daikon. That's typically used as a palette cleanser and isn't meant to have much if any taste. When asked about it, all she could reply was, "It's white."
  • Her love of red pickled ginger (see below) was used to give Maaya the opportunity to try a blind test – the producers brought some from three popular chains and Maaya attempted to identify each chain by the taste of the ginger. She failed all three.
• Cuddle Bug: There aren't too many members she won't try to hug. This includes Yuzumi both before and (eventually) after the teachers chose Yuzu for 8th President over her.
• Genki Girl: As expected from the "middle child" of K.Y.G
  • When the 2015 initiates were introduced at the Transfer Ceremony, the big-screen at the back posted a photo of the girl being introduced. While the other five girls gave a simple smile to the camera (even Kano), Maaya's photo shows her posing while flashing a big toothy smile and double peace signs.
  • She briefly lost her genki immediately after she was rejected for Class President. She would eventually regain it.
  • She had a habit of sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth during photos.
    • When Kokona, in front of Maaya and facing away, said that her original impression of Sakura Gakuin before joining was one of elegance, Maaya did everything she could not to bust out laughing, including biting down on her tongue.
• Has a Type: Discussed via alter-ego Maasuke, who stated outright during the 2018 Festival that Tsugumi was his type. Unfortunately for Maasuke, Tsugu chose to act her koshibai opposite Nasuo.
• Hidden Purpose Test: Maaya was given one and failed. In 2017, Kuramoto put her on the Student Council (the only 8th grader to get a position, which upset Marin) – Education Chairman – telling her to her face that he did so despite knowing she was the girl least suited for the job, but expressed hope that in teaching others she could also teach herself. It is generally believed by fans that this was Kuramoto's way of judging whether she was fit to be Class President the next year. Clearly, she was not, as he and the other teachers passed her over in favor of Yuzumi. Aiko wrote shortly after that she was shocked by how it all turned out.
  • Sakura Gakuin Festival 2018 used this as the basis for the annual seniors' mini-drama.
• In-Series Nickname: Maa-chan, sometimes Maanyan by fans and the other members.
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked She was a fan of the group before becoming a member.
  • In one of her earliest diaries in 2015, she wrote about how, shortly after she had joined the Amuse Kids as a second-grader, she saw the original dozen members (2011 nendo) of Sakura Gakuin perform and was blown away. She wrote them a fan letter and received a reply from Suzuka. Later, she got to meet several members, most of whom would be gone by the time she joined. But she met Mirena, who was also part of the 2015 intake.
  • When in September 2015, Mori-sensei popped out of nowhere to announce a surprise midterm, the other newcomers were confused as to what he was talking about, but Maaya said she had seen some of the earlier tests and had a pretty good idea what to expect. She still didn't place very high.
  • She stated in July 2017, shortly after the video release of Road To Graduation 2016 (which she had been a part of), that she bought it the day it came out. Mori-sensei gave her a quizzical look, asking her, "You bought it?" the implication being that as a member she probably could have gotten a copy for free if she had wanted.
• Stepford Smiler: In her farewell diary, Maaya declared herself one during the first half of the 2018 nendo after she was passed over for President. She couldn't understand how or why she was deficient and, as she put it, threw up a wall between herself and Yuzumi (and Marin) for a few months, although no one on the outside noticed because she still acted like her usual happy self. The wall began to crack during filming the FRESH Summer Break Special and shattered completely while rehearsing with Yuzu for Sakura Gakuin Festival 2018.
  • A less serious version happened on the first Maaya's FRESH! Lonely Monday. As she was speaking to the camera, sporting her usual grin, she said…
    "Usually we do the show with four members and Mori-sensei, but Maaya is alone today. I feel very helpless. Someone save me, please. I feel really helpless."
• Tender Tears: She can be emotional.
  • During Road To Graduation 2015, once it actually came time for the junior members to speak to the graduating seniors, Maaya could not keep it together at all, reduced to Inelegant Blubbering – Rinon and both Sakis had to group-hug her to calm her down. She also cried two years later when she had to say goodbye to her buddy Momoko.
  • She had a similar if far more controlled breakdown when she was passed over for eighth president.
  • Watching her graduation in March 2019, it's obvious for the entire second half of the show she's doing everything in her power to keep from collapsing into a bawling puddle. She does a better job of it than Yuzumi (which isn't saying much), but she still had to use her handkerchief during Kano's souji and Kuramoto's message.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Red Pickled Ginger (benishouga)
• Verbal Tic: Tends to say "yay" a lot.
  • If she's speaking and can't think of how to finish, she'll pause for a bit before saying "desu."

Marin Hidaka (日髙 麻鈴) 2015 - 2019

Subunits: Cooking Club (Mini-Pati) 2015-2018

Joined in 2015 with Maaya, Momoko, Soyoka, Kano, and Mirena.

Hamidase! Chairman in 2018 nendo.

She holds the record of by far the lowest diary output of any member – 35 over four years: a rate of 8¾ per year, or one diary every six weeks.

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• Animal Motifs: Cats. She owns a cat named Charles (French pronunciation, FYI) whom she has been known to doodle and often wrote about in her (rare) diaries. During one of her final episodes of FRESH!, she did a spot-on cat impression. Charles also cameos on her twitter feed.
  • She's also been compared to a capybara. She was given the task of doing its impression during "Animalrhythm" following Saki Ooga's gratuation.
• Bilingual Bonus: She speaks English. Mori-sensei does not. She would use this to her advantage.
  • During one episode of FRESH!, he was having the girls do something while counting down, prompting Megumi to complain that he was distracting. Cue Marin telling him, in English, to "Shut up!"
• Bookworm: She said she reads around 10 books a month, and wants to read all of the books in her school's library in 3 years.
  • Other girls have talked about how she often reads novels via her phone.
• Catchphrase: "Hidaka no taka wa hashigodaka!" - "The taka (高) in Hidaka is the 'ladder taka'(髙)" (the two kanji have the same meaning, but Marin's family name uses the archaic 'ladder variant').
  • "It's a dream!" (in English, of course) from Mezase! Super Lady
  • "It's a telepathy…" also from "Mezase! Super Lady", followed by the song and lights glitching out.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: In two languages, no less.
  • One nonverbal example on SG's Twitter from April 2018 showed her in a photo with Miki, Tsugumi, Maaya, and Momoe. They were all giving V Signs (a big thing with Asian girls in general and Japanese girls in particular); Marin instead held up three fingers (a W-sign?). No one knows why.
  • When Kokona, in her first FRESH episode, said that she liked talking about fairies and aliens with Marin, the other girls on set had a laugh about it. This included Maaya, who thought the whole thing was childish, leading Mori-sensei to interject:
    Mori: "She's in the same grade as you, you know." ^note  Maaya & Marin entered at the same time and Maaya is only four weeks older.
    Maaya: "Oh. Right."
• Cuddle Bug: To the point she became visibly upset when newcomer Sana didn't hug her during Sana's first appearance on FRESH.
  Mori: "Shiratori is very attached to Shintani. Doesn't that make the rest of you upset?"
  Marin: (pouting) "Yes!"
  Mori: "Shiratori, hug Hidaka."
  [Sana does so; Marin smiles]
• Cunning Linguist: Compared to the other girls, she's really good at English especially considering her almost-flawless pronunciation. Surprisingly, as noted in her verse in the 2017 version of "Mezase Super Lady", as of this edit she has never been outside of Japan.
  • In 2019 she gave her first ever solo interview to the bilingual site Tokyo Girls Update and, according to the introduction, it was conducted entirely in English. ^note  That doesn't necessarily mean Marin answered all the questions in English, though it's extremely likely she did to the extent she could. During this interview, she mentioned that she had been part of an English-language performance group early in elementary school.
  • Note that, while her spoken English can put even some native speakers to shame, several diaries have shown she's terrible at spelling. Granted, this is an issue amongst many people for whom English is their first (or only) language.
• Gratuitous English: Correct English, but gratuitous nonetheless. In her first year-end test, where she scored above the average, she yells "I did it!!" (and had to translate for Mori-sensei). The next year, her score dropped and she cried out "Why?!?" as she went back to her seat.
  • She rarely wrote diaries, but when she did, an English sentence or two would often be included. Same with her farewell message in the 2018 Graduation Photobook.
• Hidden Depths: Though her English skill was touted constantly, less known is her ability to play guitar. She did so on an episode of FRESH! whilst singing her English adaptation of "Identity".
  • Also, while not so much hidden per se, her top-class singing ability was often overlooked in favor of Maaya. Granted, Marin decided to take the "actor" track after graduation while Maaya chose the "singer" track.
• In-Series Nickname: Marin-rin, Mafin/Muffin, HidaMari (meaning 'sunny spot'), Hideki (by Maaya)
• Irony: Marin was, at least publicly, the least communicative Sakura Girl during her time in the group, her diaries being few and far between. Yet she was the first (and thus far only one) of the 2018 class to set up a twitter account, though it was made clear at the outset her feed would mostly be staff tweets like Airi's account (as opposed to personal yet professional like Aiko, Megumi, Hinata, Marina, etc.).
• Ms. Imagination: She's arguably the nuttiest Sakura girl since Marina graduated.
  • Photos from preparation for the 2018 Transfer Ceremony show her using her fairy powers to levitate chairs, balls, Miki, etc.
  • Her oddity apparently rubbed off on 2018 initiate Kokona, who revealed in her introductory FRESH! episode that she discussed fairies and aliens with Marin.
• Psychic Powers: Her Time Stop, telepathy, and telekinesis abilities. She can also control another person's body movements if they tick her off enough, and conjure volleyballs to fall on their head (unsurprisingly, Mori-sensei is the usual victim).
• Running Joke: Her tendency to space out and her generally wild imagination has led to people saying she can talk to fairies, along with skits involving her reading the mind of the audience or Mori-sensei, and even turning off the lights in the venue.
  • Taken to its natural extreme in the 2018 Transfer Ceremony where Mori-sen trolled everyone by saying there were zero new transfers. Cue Marin stopping time on stage to talk to the audience by herself as she slowly approached the "frozen" Mori-sen and revealed the actual number of new transfers (three).
• Thousand-Yard Stare: She can mimic one and plays it for comedy. It's the standard look she gives when channelling her ESP powers.

Yuzumi Shintani (新谷 ゆづみ) 2016 - 2019

Subunits: Art Club (trico dolls) 2018 - 2019

Joined in 2016 with Tsugumi and Momoe.

Named Student Council President for the 2018 nendo.

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• Animal Motifs: Yuzu is often compared to an otter. She does kind of look like one, minus the whiskers of course. Her unique way of clapping when she's excited only furthers the comparison.
  • Yuzu admitted on a Summer 2020 episode of her radio show that she's become used to the otter comparisons even if she doesn't quite get it, and that a few fans and Sakura girls gave her plush otters …which she thinks are cute and keeps in her bedroom.
  • This video contains no otters; it's just a succession of identical Yuzu photos.
  • Just to further twist the proverbial knife, both Kokona and Yume mentioned in 2019 diaries (after her graduation) seeing Yuzumi …and then posted photos of otters.
  • Kokona declared early on Yuzu was additionally a caterpillar. Marin disputed this, but Sana agreed.
• Arcadia: Yuzu's been known to describe her home as one of these.
• Country Mouse: She's from Wakayama, one of the least populous prefectures in Japan (less than a million people). Nearly every other member comes from a highly urbanized area. She has talked in diaries about how going back to her home revitalizes her, and that she enjoys picking vegetables for her grandmother to cook for dinner. At the same time, she openly questions if spending so much time in Tokyo means that the big city has rubbed off on her.
  • She has played this for comedy. During the 2018 Transfer Ceremony, when Mori-sensei said that the specialty of one of the transfers was an Olympic sport (it was Kokona and sprinting), Yuzu declared the new girl was an expert in "Mountain Herb Hunt" – i.e. vegetable gathering, her own talent – and then proceeded to demonstrate the "sport" much to everyone's confusion. Naturally, Mori-sensei immediately mocked her.
• Cuddle Bug: Several behind-the-scenes photos show her hugging or snuggling up to one of the other members from behind, often Maaya or Tsugumi.
  • She's very close to Miku due to their time together as part of Ciào Smiles.
  • Sana Shiratori, during her first FRESH appearance, cuddled up to Yuzu several times during the episode, to the point Momoe and (especially) Marin became visibly annoyed.
• Even the Subtitler Is Stumped: One time when Yuzu was trying to read some promotional copy for Ciào, she flubbed it repeatedly. According to the subtitles, what she was supposed to say was ＂肩たたきツアーがサンクトペテルブルグで＂, but the second half of the line ended up as ＂サンペテフル△％＄÷♂…＂ before the screen finally declared ＂なんだって？＂ (Flat "What").
• In-Series Nickname: Yuzu, Yuzumin, Akiko; Zumin or Zu by Momoe; the official twitter of Ciào Smiles once called her Tsun-chama.
  • As the only member from an undeniably rural area, the others would call her "Country Girl".
• She Really Can Act: In-Universe. After graduating Sakura Gakuin, Yuzu decided to take the "serious actor" path, and within months played a small role in a film (alongside Marin) and featured in a couple of commercials, including one where she sings. She also got to be in a play written by Mori-sensei, which she considered an honor.
  • Her acting chops were on full display at Sakura Gakuin Festival 2017 and especially 2018. The latter is described below.
  • invoked Her sketches from the Sakurademy Awards in both years – she won 2017 and lost in a squeaker to Marin in 2018 – are pure hilarity because she had absolutely zero qualms about getting up into Momotaro's or Maasuke's face to play up some technical Les Yay and get them to crack.
• Spell My Name With An S: The kana "づ" can be transliterated into Latin letters no fewer than three different ways, all of which are technically correct, so her name runs into this. She spells it "Yuzumi", and that's the spelling used in promotional materials as well, but her official profile on Amuse's site used the Nihon-shiki variant "Yudumi" until mid-2020.
• Student Council President: The Eighth.
  • She has mentioned that at her real-life schools, she had indeed served on the student council and been class representative. This is probably part of the reason why she was chosen for the position at Sakura Gakuin over Maaya or Marin.
    • It's also reflected in her verse in "Mezase! Super Lady". Her first two years, her spoken line had her do the traditional call-to-attention and bow, usually the prerogative of Class Representative.
  • Although she is the oldest of her class by age, Yuzu is the first President to completely break the seniority system – fellow Seniors Maaya and Marin, as well as Juniors Soyoka and Kano, had all been in the group longer than her. All four were given Student Council positions to back her up.
• Tender Tears: She had a lot of difficulty holding it together when Aiko, Megumi, and Momoko graduated.
  • She could not keep it together at her own graduation. From the actual graduation section to the end of the show, she was in tears the entire time. To her credit, she was still able to sing her solos for "Tabidachi no Hi ni", which some past graduating seniors have failed to do.
  • During the Seniors' skit at Sakura Gakuin Festival 2018, Yuzumi screams at Maaya that Maaya should have been Class President instead. If those tears aren't at least somewhat real, then Yuzu is one hell of an actress.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Umeboshi (dried pickled plum)
  • She's also known to like vegetables and fish, especially if she gathered them herself.
  • Plus tangerines (mikan), which she incorporated into her SG autograph.

Graduated in 2020

Tsugumi, Momoe, Kano, Soyoka

This foursome had the largest amount of institutional knowledge of any of Sakura Gakuin's classes, with a combined 18 years of experience between them at the time of their graduation.

In 2019, spinoff Idol unit @onefive formed around them

Also worth noting Soyoka and Kano are the only Sakura Gakuin members to have served through three different uniform eras: Beige, Grey, Navy 2.0

Due to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic forcing a delay of the Road to Graduation: Final, Soyoka and Kano jointly hold the record for longest official Sakura Gakuin tenure by far — just over five years between debut and graduation. Indeed, all four had already graduated from their real junior highs and started high school before they could officially age out of Sakura Gakuin. ^note  Kano & Soyo would STILL have beaten Aiko's record by five days had RTG'19 occurred on its originally set date of 2020/03/29. The four finally got to graduate in a livestream-only show on August 30th 2020.

Kano Fujihira (藤平 華乃) 2015 - 2020

Subunits: Go Home Club (sleepiece) 2016-2017, 2019^* The group re-formed for Road To Graduation 2018 FINAL.

Joined in 2015 with Soyoka, Maaya, Marin, Momoko, and Mirena

Performance Chairman in the 2018 nendo. Appointed Student Council President in 2019

She holds the record for lowest all-time Nendo Test average (2⅚) and jointly holds the record with Miko for lowest single-test score – one point.

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• Animal Motifs: A Running Joke involves her talking in grunting noises like a gorilla (sometimes accompanied by Momoe translating). Given her strength plus some muscle gain since becoming one of Babymetal's 'Avengers' in 2019, it's even more apt.
  • The gorilla-grunt was her response during Mori-sensei's rapid-fire introduction of the members during the bridge of "Mezase! Super Lady 2016".
• Catchphrase: "Kano-non, Kano-non, Genki na Ko!" Translation: "Kano-non, Kano-non, Cheerful child!"
• Crossdresser: She did this during the 2019 Festival when she portrayed "Kanozaburo Fujihata", based on Ninzaburo Furuhata (often called Japan's version of Columbo) while trying to figure out who killed Mori-sensei. The character returned in early-2020 during Kano's final in-studio episode of FRESH.
• The Ditz: She's undeniably talented at singing and (especially) dancing, but she cannot pass a nendo test to save her life. In every single test except her final one she scored either last or next-to-last. Most-Genius president since Rinon.
  • Discussed on one of Tsugumi's very first LoGiRL appearances, when she (Tsugu) told everyone she's smart for knowing about Kamaitachi, Momoko – herself a ditz – admitted she hadn't known. Then both girls said Kano was clueless about it, to which Mori-sen retorted
    "Fujihira doesn't know anything."
  • Due to the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic pushing back her graduation, fans joked that Kano may be the first Class President to be held back (Mori-sen had said early in 2015 he wanted to do this to Ayami).
    "Hey, Kano worked hard to earn that honor."
• Genki Girl: It's part of her catch-phrase, after all.
  • In the 2016 Nendo Test, she did an impromptu interpretive dance when she placed second from the bottom, ahead of Momoko. Mori-sensei knew why she was happy and told her to tell the camera how she had done the previous year…
    {enthusiastically} "LAST PLACE!!"
  • Kano's increasingly bizarre attempts at the 2017 Transfer Ceremony to convince Miku to give up her dog
    Mori: "She's still saying no, Fujihira. Try harder."
    Kano: {pumping her left fist in the air} "YAY!! YAY!! YAY!! …GIMME YOUR DOG!!"
• Get Out!: At least twice during her first year in the group, Kano told Mori-sen this during LoGiRL broadcasts as part of their tit-for-tat. Mori-sen invariably called her bluff and said she could run the show instead. This probably would have happened had the other girls not begged him to stay, because Kano called his bluff.
• Height Angst: Discussed, a lot. Unlike most other members with a height complex, Kano doesn't single out any particular member who irks her in this department – especially since Momoe is the same height or shorter. She just wants to be taller in general, having been stuck at 155.8cm/5’1⅓” since 2018. She even wrote this when asked to give readers some English.
  Hello! My name is KANO! Recently, I’m having trouble growing tall. Is there a way to increase my height?
  • While she is shorter than the average, she's still taller than the two Graduates she admires most: Saki Ooga and Moa Kikuchi.
• Hidden Depths: Despite her being otherwise completely useless when it comes to general knowledge, she's very good at geography.
  • Aiko, who at the time had just started high school, posted a screenshot of a text conversation with Kano wherein the younger girl tried to help her senior remember European country names.
  • At the 2018 Transfer Ceremony, when Mori-sen said Yume came from a place "kind of far away" (Aichi, which ironically is not nearly as far away from Tokyo as fellow entrants Sana's and Kokona's home prefectures on Kyushu), Kano started naming off random obscure UN Member States just because she could.
• In-Series Nickname: Kano-non. Kano-tée, Kano-chin by Momoe
  • Since her name is four Roman letters anyway, she remains "KANO" in @onefive.
• Little Miss Snarker: In addition to casually insulting Mori-sensei to his face during one of her very first appearances on LoGiRL, she was the one who complained at the 2018 transfer ceremony that every year they were stuck with the same teacher (Mori-sen).
• Perpetual Smiler: Pretty much the only time you'll ever see this girl not smiling is when she's posing for a model photo (or ticked off at Mori-sen). During Sakura Gakuin and @onefive videos, even when the main cameras aren't rolling she'll still be smiling.
  • She was able to briefly twist her smile into Smug Snake during Babymetal's PAPAYA!! video. Partly because that's what that part of the song called for, and maybe also because she knew the other eleven Sakura Girls were in the audience.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Demonstrated at her introduction by lifting Rinon – 4 years older and at the time nearly a foot (30cm) taller. She did it again at Rinon's graduation.
  • For the Road To Graduation 2017 Memorial Book, she was photographed carrying Tsugumi – much closer in size to Kano than Rinon was/is, but still…
    "I am very strong." —TOP YELL NEO interview, June 2019
  • Note that, as of late 2019, Kano has grown the 3rd most of any member during her time in the group (only Yui and Moa grew more) and could easily end up 2nd by her graduation. At 155.8cm, she's no longer quite so pint-sized, but still very much a powerhouse.
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked Fans and some members had since the beginning compared Kano, in both looks and temperament, to Moa Kikuchi, who graduated just six weeks before Kano joined. Kano herself respects Moa greatly to the point that she referred to Moa as -sama on an October 2017 episode of FRESH! after she'd participated in the Juonbu shuffle-unit (in Moa's slot). She was even caught doing the "Gimme Choco" dance in her sleep. Fast forward to June 2019 and Kano is revealed as the second of Babymetal's "Three Avengers" filling Yui's vacant slot during shows.
  • For just over a month, Kano was the only person to have danced onstage with Sakura Gakuin, Perfume (at AmuseFes 2017), and Babymetal. However, her friend Momoko Okazaki also gained this distinction when she was revealed as Babymetal's Third 'Avenger' that August.
• Refused the Call: After hearing about her strength – which is why she chose to introduce Kano – Rinon tried several times to get Kano to join the Pro-Wrestling Circle, down to just her since Hana's graduation. However, Kano wanted to join sleepiece instead, leaving Rinon to revive Logica? with Megumi and Sara.
  • As an aside, it's worth noting that 2015's sleepiece didn't have space for her – Maaya and Mirena joined Saki Ooga in the group, meaning Kano wasn't in a club at all her first year and had to wait until Saki graduated to join.
• Situational Hand Switch: Kano is left-handed, one of only two lefties in Sakura Gakuin (Airi is the other). This may be why, despite her strength, she lost out in the first round of the arm-wrestling competition during her orientation. Since every other member was (and is) right-handed, Kano had to compete at a disadvantage.
• Student Council President: The Ninth.
  • She is the final president, and final member period along with Soyoka, to have served alongside any of the so-called "Original Dozen" – her first year was Rinon's last.
• Tagalong Kid: She was this to Rinon and Saki Ooga, especially Saki, during the year they were all in the group together, even calling Saki daisukina ("My Beloved") during a 2015 LoGiRL episode where she felt Mori-sen was being unfair to the then-Seniors, leading to one of her utterances of Get Out! meantioned above.
  • To this day, Kano considers Saki one of her three oshi along with Moa and Suzuka (formerly Raura).

Soyoka Yoshida (吉田 爽葉香) 2015 - 2020

Subunits: School Store Club 2015-2020

Joined in 2015 with Kano, Maaya, Marin, Momoko, and Mirena.

Education Chairman in the 2018 nendo. Appointed Ganbare!! Chairman in 2019

She has the distinction of being the first member (but not the last) to hail from Japan's Kansai Region.

Soyo is also the only member to be in the same club – Kobaibu – for five years.^note  Yui and Moa were in Babymetal for all five years of their tenure (and beyond), but the Heavy Music Club ceased to be an official subgroup following Suzuka's graduation at the end of SG's third year.

Thanks to COVID-19 pushing back the 2019 Graduation by five months, Soyoka holds the record for oldest member at RTG-time, as she'd turned sixteen 2½ months before the show.^note  Had RTG19 occurred on its originally planned date of 2020/03/29, Soyoka would have been only the 8th-oldest at graduation – behind Raura, Megumi, Saki Ooga, Marina, Ayami, Nene, and Mirena, in that order.

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Can clasp her hands behind her back, and bring them forward over her head while keeping them together.
  • As shown on FRESH, this makes her difficult to arm-wrestle because her wrist will bend backwards, freaking her opponent out.
• Blind Without 'Em: Although several members current and former are known to wear glasses behind the scenes, Soyo is the only girl who wore hers even during performances. While she often used a pair without lenses during photographs and music videos to eliminate glare, video footage of her wearing her real glasses show the lenses are extremely thick.
  • During Summer 2018, she mentioned in a diary that she got new glasses with thinner metal frames (as opposed to the brown or blue plastic frames she had used up to that point - see the photo above), but also lamented that her prescription had become even stronger – i.e. her eyesight had gotten worse.
  • In her "One Hundredth Diary Commemoration" in Spring 2019, she took questions from fans. One that she answered was about her eyesight, which she said was 0.08 without her glasses. Depending on the specific metric Japan uses, that could mean her visual acuity is 20/200 (in other words, only a few steps above literally legally blind)!
• Catchphrase: "Garagara, Bakkyuun!", both onomatopoeias, first a rattling sound then a gunshot, in reference to her introduction at the transfer ceremony where she did a shooting motion while showing off her modeling skills. She later added a "being hit in the heart" motion to it at the end.
  • This was used during the 2019 Festival as a "tell" that SHE was the one who killed Mori-sensei. His "dying message" looked like "668" but was actually "GGB", which meant Soyo's catchphrase. When called on it, Soyo broke into crazy laughter and admitted it.
• Crazy-Prepared: Several members have discussed this about Soyoka in diaries or during their weekly stream. She has a reputation for being extremely organized and quite the Neat Freak. In particular, she is said to haul around a gym bag with everything she or any other girl could possibly need.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: In her final diary. Soyoka included a photograph of her Sakura Gakuin diploma holder resting on a table, and her lensless plastic frames she'd worn for 3+ years sitting folded next to it.
  • Note that Soyo has never worn her glasses during her modeling work or in @onefive, so the gesture was certainly her way of saying farewell to a role she'd played for over half a decade.
• Height Angst: Began showing this her last year or so in SG once it became obvious her vertical growth was leveling off and Miku's wasn't. A lot of the 2019 nendo involved Soyo worried would lose the height battle with Miku – she did by the time of her graduation. Soyo has also admitted that, even though she's the tallest of @onefive, she ended up considerably shorter than either of her parents.
• In-Series Nickname: Soyo, Soyo-chan, Soyo-chin by Momoe
  • In @onefive she is officially "SOYO"
• Psychic Powers: During the 2017 Transfer Ceremony, she somehow managed to use her glasses as a conduit to channel Marin's mind-reading powers for herself in an attempt to guess the identity of the Transfers. Turned out crossing the proverbial streams backfired because they were both wrong.
• Running Joke: All of these got mention in at least one iteration of her "Mezase! Super Lady" verse
  • Despite being part of a manga club in elementary school, her drawings mostly turn out pretty clumsy on live streams. This provides much amusement to Mori-sensei, who's always ready to tease her about it.
  • Her remarkable ability to catch fish with her hand - discovered during the 2017 Outdoors Class Special - has been added to her Amuse profile and even made a return during a festival-themed Fresh! Monday episode in the 2018 nendo.
  • Her Osaka accent, which she used both to threaten Mori-sensei and, increasingly, for comedy.
• Team Mom: Inherited this role after Megumi graduated, discussed by several of her juniors, particularly Yume whose verse on "Mezase! Super Lady 2019" has her giving Soyo this role (in addition to Kano being Boyfriend).
  • As mentioned above, she also evidently inherited Megumi's Big Bag-O-Stuff.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Lemons
  • In 2019, she said in a diary she still likes lemons but was no longer obsessed with them.
• Villainous Breakdown: She had one on Day 2 of Sakura Gakuin Festival 2019 after the class learned she killed Mori-sensei.
• You Don't Look Like You: Soyoka has admitted that many of her fans are not used to seeing her without glasses, even though (as mentioned above) she does not wear them when modeling or performing as @onefive.
  "I’ve wanted people to be able to remember both of my faces since a while ago!"
  • For one song during Sakura Gakuin Festival 2018, "Gokigen! Mr. Tropicalorie", she took off her glasses (which were lensless anyway) for her solo verse, throwing many fans for a loop but also drawing applause.

Tsugumi Aritomo (有友 緒心) 2016 - 2020

Subunits: School Store Club 2016-2020

Joined in 2016 with Momoe and Yuzumi. Appointed 2nd Hamidase! Chairman in 2019

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• Alternate Character Reading: Same case as Momoe, the individual kanji are usually read as 'o' and 'shin'. This also led to a joke with Momoko reading her name as 'Aritomo Oshin-chan'
• Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: She plays the boke to Soyoka's tsukkomi in the School Store Club (Koubaibu) when addressing an audience, including making a funny face when called out for saying something dumb.
• Catchphrase: "Oshin ja nai yo! Tsugumi da yo!" (It's not Oshin! It's Tsugumi!), a reference to both Yunano's catchphrase and the reading of her name.
• Class Clown: During her first two to three years, she may have been an even bigger clown than Kano, which is no mean feat.
  • During the 2017 nendo test, she wrote on her paper, "I won't forgive you!" – meaning Mori-sensei, for pranking them yet again. When he warned her that if she pulled a stunt like that on the next test, he'd mark a point off out of spite, she stuck her tongue out at him. The other girls applauded.
    "Why are you all applauding? Don't encourage her!!"
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Especially when paired up with Yuzumi or Kano.
• Gratuitous English: Upon learning in 2020 that Momoe (genius) and Kano ("genius") had made genuine strides towards becoming bilingual, Tsugu decided she needed to pick up the slack. She will occasionally write short @onefive blog posts completely in English. Although she invariably makes grammar errors, native speakers can still usually understand what she's trying to say and have praised her efforts.
• The Idiot from Osaka: Plays this role as part of the School Store Club, complete with inflecting her speech in a Kansai manner. The irony of this is that she's from Chiba (east of Tokyo) while performing opposite actual Osakan Soyoka (who barely uses her real accent in the skits). Tsugu's just a big fan of Osaka-based comedy troupe Yoshimoto Shinkigeki.^* Technically she is from Kansai; Tsugu revealed in December 2019 that she was born in Kyoto and learned to speak there, but her family moved to Chiba when she was 2 and she quickly forgot her original dialect.
  • In a September 2018 diary, Soyoka wrote about getting a bunch of facial cleansing strips that she tried out with "Maaya and the Osakan members (1 fake)"… accompanied by a photo of herself, Maaya, Miki, and "fake Osakan" Tsugu.
  • When Miki – also from Osaka – wrote about fellow Kansai member Yuzumi's impending graduation, she lamented the disbanding of the "Kansai Trio", but noted Tsugumi The Fake Kansai Girl could fill the slot.
• In-Universe Nickname: Tsugu-chan, Tsugumin, Oshin-chan
  • In @onefive she is "GUMI". ^note  This is probably because they wanted all four girls to have four-letter nicknames and under the most common Romanization styles, "つぐ" is five letters ("Tsugu"), while "TUGU" (the 'strict' transliteration) would result in mispronunciation.
• Perpetual Smiler: Tsugumi is known for her wide smile showing her teeth that are a bit too big for her mouth. Given that this girl is practically built for comedy, she'll sometimes turn it into a Cheshire Cat Grin. Unsurprisingly, Mori-sensei is usually the one on the receiving end of her antics.
• The Quiet One: Tsugumi called herself this on her solo episode of FRESH. It seems bizarre considering how much of a clown she was during the first three of her four years in the group – she credits Kano, well-known for extroversion, with helping her come out of her shell. However, she's much quieter in @onefive, even with Kano around.
  • She finally started to become more comfortable again in early 2021. She hosted a long solo livestream to commemorate @onefive's second single and began with a couple of silly poses.
• Second Place Is for Losers: Invoked/Discussed but also zig-zagged. One of the few times prior to her final year Tsugu was caught not smiling was when she came in third in the 2018 Nendo Test after having tied Megumi for runner-up the previous year. She approached Mori-sensei silently, obviously pissed off. Not for losing to Maaya (who came in second), but for losing once again to Momoe. Tsugu told the camera bluntly her goal is to beat Momoe.
  • She never did best Momoe, losing to her on the 2019 Nendo Test by one point thanks to two small mistakes (one of which Momoe successfully side-stepped by not writing the answer in kanji).
• Serious Business:invoked Tsugu considers her comedy to be this and, especially in her final year, often fretted about whether her shtick was still funny. Same goes for impressions – her specialty. During her solo FRESH! episode in December 2019, she attempted to do a vocal impression of Yuzumi but felt she botched it. Yuzu disagreed.
• Those Two Girls: She and Yuzumi joined Sakura Gakuin at the same time and over the course of three years produced hilarious comedy onstage together, inevitably capped off with their Catchphrase, "Hai!! Yuzumin-Tsugumin."
  • Photos and footage from 2016 and 2017 show her and Kano messing around backstage and after lessons.
• Yandere:invoked She jokingly alluded to this when she posted a diary near the end of 2018 that had (among many other things) a photo of herself hugging Kokona. Her only comment about it?
  "Nassu is mine!!"
  • Kokona said in her first FRESH appearance that Tsugu's idea of an introduction was basically to approach her and declare "We're friends!".^* This is exactly what Kano did to Tsugu when they first met in 2015: "Hi, I'm Kano! Let's be friends!" Despite Mori-sensei's chiding, Kokona didn't seem to mind.

Momoe Mori (森 萌々穂) 2016 - 2020

Subunits: Art Club (trico dolls) 2018 - 2019

Joined in 2016 with Tsugumi and Yuzumi. Appointed Talk Chairman in 2019

She holds the record for highest Nendo Test score average – 16.375 – and is one of only seven members to have never scored below 10/20.^* Nene, Saki Shirai, Mirena, Sara, Megumi, and Tsugumi are the others.

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• Alliterative Name: Momoe Mori.
• Alternate Character Reading: Her given name is incredibly unconventional. The most straight-forward readings for the kanji are 'moe' and 'ho' with the repetition symbol in between. This led to a joke at the transfer-in ceremony wherein Kano pronounced it as 'Moemoeho'.
• The Baby of the Bunch: Kano and Soyoka revealed on Mochikomi that Momoe acts like this amongst their quartet and @onefive because she's the youngest (by three months). May or may not be part of her burikko shtick. This threw Mori-sen for a loop as he genuinely expected her to be The Leader.
• Catchphrase: "Moe-Moe-Ho!" while forming a heart with her hands.
• Crossdresser: She did this during the 2019 Festival and on Episode 130 of FRESH! as part of her attempt to be Mori-sensei. Probably the least-convincing of any girl who had done so.
• The Fake Cutie: Reportedly can be quite harsh/mean at times despite her cute bearing.
  • This may be why nearly everyone in Sakura Gakuin, including Mori-sensei, has their own mocking impression of her – it generally involves speaking with a clinched jaw and snobby affect.
    • Tsugumi in particular likes to mock Momoe. But Tsugu, who joined the group with her, is also one of the girls most likely to be seen hugging her and is the girl Momoe trusted to hold her microphone while she conducted the intro of "School Days".
  • During the 46th episode of FRESH! (her first appearance on the show since the 2018 Transfer Ceremony), Sana revealed that Momoe had spoken harshly to her during practice, leading Mori-sen to rebuke Momoe and saying she should treat her juniors better.
• Girly Girl: Probably the most obviously so of the entire group, past or present.
  • On the other hand, she has been photographed wearing a Metallica T-shirt. This flies in the face of her image… but it makes perfect sense when one remembers she's a huge fan of Babymetal (see below), who have long been on friendly terms with Metallica and opened for them in Seoul.
• In-Universe Nickname: Moeho, Hime (princess); Momo-chan by Maaya after Momoko graduated.
  • In @onefive she is "MOMO"
• Moe: She's invoked this on herself, partly to fit with the unusual reading of her name, and her extremely girly demeanor – her so-called burikko character. It doesn't always work.
• Neologizer: Momoe has a habit during livestreams of throwing unusual suffixes onto verbs, such as mangling ganbaruze to gambarumba. No one, Mori-sensei included, is quite sure whether it's an extension of her burikko character or her native Edokko (i.e. inner-Tokyo) accent or just Momoe being weird.
  • As an extension of this, she'll also give other members unusual nickames (see the entries for most other girls who were in this group at some point between 2016 and 2020).
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked Mainly a fan of Babymetal – she is known to have attended their Tokyo Dome concerts and owns at least a few of their T-shirts – but she had been following its former parent group for a while too. Fans who recognized Momoe from previous work like her appearance in Perfume's "Cling Cling" video or as Aiko's replacement in Takaratomy's Licca-chan doll commercials, saw her in the VIP section of the balcony during the 2015/6 Graduation Final.
• Rich Bitch:invoked Momoe enjoys playing this sort of character in her solo Tiktok videos if she's not dancing. She often lipsyncs the "Rich Girl" sketches by American Tiktok'er Alyssa McKay. While her mouth movements don't match well due to language barrier, her acting arguably outdoes McKay's. Momoe had a reputation in Sakura Gakuin for being a Stern Teacher and appears to come from wealth, but she personally does not fit this trope.
• Shorter Means Smarter: She's the shortest of the '04 quartet and placed first in the 2017, 2018, and 2019 nendo tests (in 2016 she was second behind Mirena, an even smarter shorty…er).
• Smart Girl: Discussed by Mori-sensei during the 2018 Transfer Ceremony during Sana's pre-introduction. Sana said she wanted to become the smartest member in the group …to Momoe's face.
  Mori-sen: "Well then. See that girl standing in front of you? Mori's the smartest girl in Sakura Gakuin! She's your rival. Do you really want to try your luck against her? Tell her!"
  Sana: "I… I… I want to beat her!" ^note  Sana never came close… Okay, she did place 3rd in the 2019 Nendo Test, after Momoe & Tsugumi, but her score was barely half what those two got. It was a VERY difficult test.
• Tender Tears: Goes along with her burikko character AND her infamous perfectionism.
  • She cried at the 2017 nendo test during the (unfilmed) break between the test itself and Mori-sensei presenting the results. Mori-sen was in disbelief, knowing how well she had done on the previous year's test – her first, she was 2nd behind Mirena. But Aiko and Megumi insisted they had to calm her down, and the subsequent close-up shows Momoe's eyes were still puffy. Indeed, Momoe visibly stressed out at every nendo test despite her consistently high scores.
  • Momoe cried again at the 2019 Transfer Ceremony when she didn't get the Student Council position she wanted. More details on that little incident below.
  • She also had a little breakdown in one of her final in-studio episodes of FRESH! when Mori-sen allowed her to take over the broadcast and be "Mori-sen" for the hour. At the end, he came back on and gave her constructive criticism. She was visibly upset at not meeting his expectations.
• Wag the Director:invoked When Momoe first joined SG, she publicly expressed her desire for an Art-themed subunit. Two years later, Trico Dolls happened, and it was all but stated outright that the only reason the senseis allowed it is because Momoe, who had never been in a Club^* (nor for that matter had fellow 2016 inductee + Trico Doll Yuzumi), kept nagging them until they gave in.
  • In 2019, Momoe sort of tried this again when she didn't get the Student Council role she'd hoped for – she was given "Talk Chairman" (in most years including this one, the second most important job), something her skillset made her well-suited for, but she wanted to be Production Chairman, a position created in 2014 specifically for her idol Yui …and only Yui.^* Because Yui & Moa had always been seen by the Suits, whether Moimoi liked it or not, as a two-for-one deal, but there could only be one Student Council President, and Vice President by tradition had to be an 8th-grader (why Rinon wasn't given that role despite her group-seniority over Yunano is a question for the ages), Yui's "Production" role made her a de facto co-president – she handled behind-the-scenes stuff, notably setlists (VERY up her alley), while extrovert Moa was the face of the group.
    In Short: Momoe was asking for even more control than Talk Chair, a powerful position in its own right, would give her. Also, as noted, she wanted validation that she was as good as one of the graduates she most admired. She complained to Principal Kuramoto about it on-stage for nearly five minutes, grinding the Transfer Ceremony to a halt – hers was the first position named. She eventually accepted it and proved to be a very competent Talk Chairman. However, she was very lucky Kuramoto kept his cool and didn't expel her right there on the spot for her antics.

Graduated in 2021

Sana, Kokona

Worth noting both girls in this year, who transferred in at the same time, come from the island of Kyushu – Sana is from Kumamoto and Kokona is from Nagasaki. They are the third and fourth Kyushu members.^note  The first Kyushu girl to join the group was Aiko (Kagoshima), followed four years later by Miku (Ōita).

• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sana openly admits their personalities are opposite.
  • Red: Kokona. She's the more tomboyish and energetic of the two, she's also good at sports, especially sprinting.
  • Blue: Sana. Generally more reserved, and has more girly interests like hair-styling.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: If it isn't obvious enough by that photo.

Sana Shiratori (白鳥 沙南) 2018–2021

Joined in 2018 with Kokona Nonaka and Yume Nozaki

She left Amuse exactly one year after Sakura Gakuin's disbandment, becoming the second member to voluntarily leave the agency post-pandemic (Miku was the first). However, she said shortly after that she still wants to be an Idol, so unlike Miku, Sana is not out of the entertainment game just yet.

By coincidence, she shares a birthday with Yui Mizuno (June 20th). They are exactly 6 years apart.

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• Alliterative Name: Sana Shiratori
• Animal Motifs: Elephants. Sana loves elephants, to the point she incorporates one into her signature.

  Fukei 1: "So is there some kind of special meaning behind all the elephant stuff?"
  Fukei 2: "I think it just means she really likes elephants."

  • For one of her first diaries, she posted photos of herself at a zoo. Most of them were taken by the elephant enclosure.
  • In the December 2018 livestream that included only her and Kokona, Mori-sensei showed them a collage of various animal heads and asked how many were Zodiac animals. Upon looking, Sana immediately shouted, "There's an elephant!!"
  • She has a custom-stamp she'll use in diaries that has an elephant with her name in kana under it.
  • Her twitter bio starts with "I like Elephants" before going on to mention her other interests (hair arrangement, makeup, art).
  • However, her (assumed) family name translates to "swan", which Mori-sensei pointed out during her very first FRESH appearance.
• Cool Big Sis: To more than one member.
  • She has been one to Neo, according to Neo.
    • Sana herself admitted she prayed for Neo to be accepted into Sakura Gakuin in 2019.
  • She's also one to Yume, who joined at the same time but is 2½ years younger. In Summer 2019, Sana gave Yume some hand-me-downs (continuing the Sakura Gakuin tradition), causing Yume to gush about her in a diary entry.
• Cunning Linguist: Averted. She's monolingual Japanese, but has said she would like to be one.
  • Upon meeting Sana in 2018, Marin - an actual example - assumed just from looking that the new girl would be bilingual and introduced herself in English. When Sana replied with an English greeting, Marin immediately worried she would lose her "special quality". But, it turned out that greeting was the only English Sana knew.
  • She has since tried to insert more English into her diaries.
• Determinator: Par for the course for pretty much every member, really, but Sana explicitly invoked it in a June 2019 diary entry where she chided herself for not growing or working enough the previous year. She's very tough on herself even by Sakura Girl standards.
  "Like I said in my diary the other day, I want to become a world famous artist!!! To reach this dream, I have to work many times harder than other people. […] I will use this time more effectively than anyone else and definitely deliver a shining Sana to Fukei-sans. I want to work hard this year to be able to realize my dream. Please support me!!"
  • She then added a postscript…
    "Ah, I forgot!! I’m also going to study hard for my real school!! I want to be able to speak English!!"
• The Ditz: Other members and Mori-sensei have described her as kind of an airhead.
• Genki Girl: Described herself as one. In her first interview since transferring into the group, she said this…
  "I'm said to always be smiling and lively by my friends at school."
  • This has since been backed up by Mori-sensei when he referred to Sana, along with Miki, as loud.
• Height Angst: Sana discussed this in a 2019 diary entry where she recounted herself and fellow classmates at her real school meeting a group of kids from Peru. She said she felt like an elementary school girl despite being in eighth grade because she was so short (at the time 147cm/4’10”) compared to everyone else.
  • As she prepared to enter high school she hadn't grown much, seemingly stuck at 150cm/4’11”. Still taller than Ayami, for what it's worth.
• Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: The most extreme example Sakura Gakuin ever had. Her skin is so pale, fans and at least one member openly wondered if she's a haafu (mixed-race). Her irises are also noticeably lighter than most Japanese – light brown, almost amber, instead of the usual dark brown.
  • She finally confirmed it after leaving Amuse in October 2022, saying her father is "British". This makes her the fifth known Amuse girl to be haafu.^note  She's the third to leave the agency after Nina Hillman (White-American) and Karen Kojima (Czech) – the other two are singer Naomi Claire (White-American) and model Liliane Roy (French).
• Shrinking Violet: Despite the above, Sana opined she was one her first year, saying this about herself in June 2019…
  "I’ve always been someone easily influenced by others and am reserved. I couldn’t improve that part of me last year"
  • Note that literally no one else in SG agrees with Sana's assessment of her reservedness.
• Stage Names: Prior to her being chosen for Sakura Gakuin, she was known simply as "SANA". No one knew her last name until she was chosen for Sakura Gakuin.
  • During her time with a prior agency in her home prefecture Kumamoto, she went by a completely different stage name, which itself may or may not be her real name – Seren Tagawa. "Seren" is girl's name that comes from Welsh, which tracks with her telling a story on FRESH! of having visited Wales as a child and her father being British (Welsh are British but not English).
  • In May 2019, Sana posted a diary filled with old photos of herself, including a couple taken at a school sports festival. The name on her shirt is clearly visible in one photo and reads "Sumire" (a not-rare girl's name in Japan). In short, we'll probably never know what her true name is.
• Suddenly Shouting: She was prompted to do this by Mori-sensei in her first FRESH appearance and he instantly regretted it. When he told her to yell out how she felt in the moment, her scream was so loud she peaked all the microphones and her voice reverberated around the studio. The end result of Mori-sen's prodding is recounted on both his entry and the "Funny" subpage.

Kokona Nonaka (野中 ここな) 2018–2021

Joined in 2018 with Sana Shiratori and Yume Nozaki

In 2020 she was named Student Council President

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• Animal Motifs: She doesn't have one herself but, shortly after her transfer into Sakura Gakuin – which she had originally thought was cool and collected only to learn that it was "a zoo" behind the scenes – she decided to associate every member with an animal. ^{Examples -} Yuzumi was an otter and sometimes a caterpillar. Momoe was the zookeeper. Miku was a squirrel. Maaya was both a turtle and a rabbit. Tsugumi was a mouse.
  • She later changed her mind and said Sakura Gakuin was more like an aquarium. She is not known to have associated any of the other members with fish.
• Boyish Short Hair: Her hair is usually a messy bob and her specialty is stated to be athletics. She is the only other member besides Sara to have short hair throughout her tenure.
• Class Clown: Started becoming one after coming out of her shell late in 2018. This is probably due in part to the influence of Tsugumi (who "claimed" her), and perhaps also the reason Tsugu gravitated to her in the first place.
  • In more than one official group photo, she has made a funny face. Including one where she can be seen puffing out her cheeks and poking them.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: In her introductory FRESH! episode – No.45 – she told Mori-sensei and the other girls that she enjoyed discussing fairies and aliens with Marin. Her weirdness was quickly confirmed by her fellow initiates Sana and Yume.
  • In that same episode, she claimed to be 46.9% nervous. It wasn't intended to be one of the infamous number-puns Japanese is known for; it was simply her "logical" conclusion.
    "Well, it's not 50%. It's not 40%. It's not even 45%. So, 46.9%"
  • She's also reportedly often found staring at the sky alone and spinning around.
  • During FRESH Episode 74 – the one with only her, Sana, and Mori-sensei – she got into an argument with him about whether the Cat is a Zodiac animal and claimed her mother was born in its year. There is no confirmation on whether or not Kokona has read or is even aware of Fruits Basket (its original run ended just a few months after she was born).
• Crossdresser: She's probably done this more than any other member, usually at Festivals.
  • Her character Nasuo, originally a baseball captain and then a photographer.
  • At the 2019 Festival she made a cameo in full cosplay as Detective Coconan for the "Who Killed Mori-sensei?" skit.
• The Ditz: Here's one example (likely the first of many)…
  • Kokona wrote in her diary about losing her train-card. Soyoka, ever the level-headed one, immediately sprung into action, calling people, etc. After a couple hours of no luck, Soyo asked Kokona to search herself …and it turned out Kokona's train-card had been in her pocket the entire time. But then, shortly thereafter, Kokona ACTUALLY lost her train-card.
  • Here's a second example: In late-2019, she recounted a story (complete with visual aid) of how she and Miko were so deep in conversation that they managed to wander out into traffic without noticing. Had Miku not been there to pull them back, Kokona would probably be a pancake now.
• In-Universe Nickname: Koko-chan, Coconuts. Nassu by Tsugumi, quickly spreading to the other girls and herself.
  • Also sometimes "Nasuo" (a masculine name) from the boy character she plays during Sakura Gakuin Festivals
• Spell My Name With An S: Despite the official rendering used by SG/Amuse, she has since 2020 opted to spell her given name as "Cocona". This makes sense when you remember "Coconuts" has long been one of her nicknames.
  • It started when, during the 2019 nendo, she altered her signature/autograph yet again – unlike most members, she changes hers frequently – to a sort of cat motif with C's in place of the traditional K's.
  • In August 2021, she wrote a diary completely in English and explicitly used "Cocona".
• Stage Names: Kind of. Until a few days before the 2018 Transfer Ceremony, her name was listed on her Amuse profile as 「野中 瑚々菜」. Although read the same way, her given name changed from kanji to all hiragana.
• Student Council President: The Tenth and, sadly, the last.
  • She is the only president to never have performed with any of SG's founding members, though of course she has met a few.^note  Yuzumi and Kano worked alongside Hinata and Raura during the Shuoh Gakuen stage play in 2016, and Kano was one of Babymetal's "Avengers" dancing backup for Suzuka and Moa.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Yume and Sana both stated Kokona would do stereotypical boyish things. Kokona herself said she often played with boys, but also admitted to enjoying "girl talk".
• Trademark Favorite Food: White rice, because it goes with everything. She also likes nori (dried seaweed).
  Mori-sensei: "Well, you're cheap to feed."
  • She draws a character in her diaries which she named "Onichuu". It's a rice-ball (onigiri) with mouse ears and a hat.

Still In The Group When It Ended

Middle School 3rd Grade

Miki, Neo, Miku, Miko

Worth noting this is the second class in a row in which none of the members come from in or around Tokyo – Miku and Neo are from Kyushu, Miki is from Osaka, Miko is from Hiroshima.

Yes, the girls themselves are quick to point out the extreme similarities of their given names along with how Neo is the odd one out.

Miku Tanaka (田中 美空) 2017–2021

Joined in 2017 with Miki Yagi

In March 2022, shortly after she would have graduated Sakura Gakuin, Miku announced she was leaving Amuse and entertainment altogether, making her the first girl since Momoko to voluntarily drop out of the spotlight completely at the first possible opportunity, and the first since Nene to make clear to fans it was permanent.^* Yunano waited a year or so before leaving entertainment. Rinon returned but backstage, like she said she would. Saki Ooga eventually returned to the public eye, as did Momoko.

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• Animal Motifs: Kokona has compared her to both a puppy and a squirrel, which is a little bit ironic considering how small Miku isn't.
  • Miku loves dogs and said during her introduction that she wouldn't give up her dog even for ¥350,000,000 (based on the exchange rate from May 7th 2017, that's over 3.1 million USD!).
  • Miku stated that, given the chance, she'd like to be reborn as a big, friendly dog. Her own dog (a Scottie or Mini-Schnauzer) occasionally appears in photos with her on SG's twitter or in her diaries.
• Catchphrase: "Zettai Damé!" is hers from Mezase! Super Lady. It translates to "Absolutely not!!" and is a reference to her protests and unwillingness to do things early on like her first Nendo test or give up her dog.
  • She's tried to coin another one after Miki had success with "Shiranga na!": "March 9th is Miku-Day!" – a pun on how 3 and 9 can respectively be read to get her name (and something she had blurted out during the 2018 Festival). Mori-sensei immediately shot her down, prompting yet another sparring match.
• Cool Big Sis: She decided to become Sakia's. Seeing post-modern SG's tallest and shortest members together is pure concentrated adorable. Staff have posted photos of Miku holding Sakia like a much younger child. The "2019 Retrospective Video" aired before the Graduation Final had a brief clip of a recording session, and Miku carries Sakia up to the microphone to sing her line (because the mic was set too high for her).
• Cuddle Bug: She's known to be very cuddly with Yuzumi, probably due to both pulling double-duty as Ciào girls. She's also been shown rubbing cheeks (virtually) with Neo, likely due to them both having very calm personalities in contrast to, well, everyone else.
• Huge Schoolgirl: Definitely one. She began her tenure in 2017 aged 10¾ about equal in height to Aiko (four years her senior) and only grew from there. Not long after the start of the 2018 nendo she became the second tallest member^* (tied with Maaya at Orientation time but passing her soon after) after Soyoka, despite having just turned 12.
  • At the very beginning of the 2019 nendo, the nine returnees lined up by height for a photo. Soyoka had a clear edge over Miku, with Miku comically trying to stretch herself to look taller and Soyoka looking pleased with herself.
    • At the 2019 Orientation, while the height measurements were questionable (several girls shrank, which makes no sense), the results claimed Miku was 5mm taller than Soyo. Photographs taken after the event showed Miku smiling and Soyoka sporting a sour expression. They looked exactly the same height through the Summer. However, in November 2019 during a recording session, Soyoka said to her, "Stop growing!" At the same time, Miku's Amuse profile (not the SG website itself) updated to list Miku as 1cm taller than Soyoka. Indeed, a photograph shot after the 2019 Festival had the girls lining up by height, as they do, and Miku is noticeably the tallest, although other photos appear to give Soyoka the edge.
    The SAKURA GAKUIN HEIGHT BATTLE will continue forever… —from the SMILE Documentary and still apt
  • By the time the 2019 Nendo finally ended (five months delayed due to COVID), Miku, now 14, had grown to 164cm and Soyo acknowledged the defeat. None of Miku's fellow 2020 returnees are even close to her in height.
    • During the 2020 nendo extension, around her 15th birthday, she hit 166cm/5’5⅜”, making her officially the fifth-tallest Sakura Girl (passing Rinon & Megumi)
• Little Miss Snarker: Okay, "little" is kind of a misnomer considering it's Miku, but, starting her 6th grade year, she began sparring with Mori-sensei during FRESH! livestreams.
  • She was on the FRESH! episode in which Kokona debuted. Mori-sensei gushed about how "fresh" the new transfer was, saying Miku had lost this quality. Miku immediately retorted that she's younger than Kokona – which she is, by five months and thus a grade-level – and thus she felt she was still "fresh". Mori-sen disagreed, saying no one can declare themselves "fresh".
  • Mori-sensei seems to relish picking on her, knowing she'll try to fight back.
    Mori-sen: (to Miko) "Well, you don't seem to be too nervous, unlike Yagi and Tanaka."
    Miki: "I'm always nervous."
    Miku: (Beat) "Hey, why are you including me??"
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Defied by Mori-sensei when she tried to pull this right before the 2017 end-of-year test.
• Shrinking Violet: For most her first year she didn't talk much and looked noticeably lost in front of a camera, despite always saying she wasn't nervous.
• Unusual Ears: The first member in a long time who could give Suzuka a run for her money.

Miki Yagi (八木 美樹) 2017–2021

Joined in 2017 with Miku Tanaka.

Miki had the distinction for two years of being the youngest ever Sakura girl at debut, beating Aiko's record by eight days.

In 2020, she was named Sakura Gakuin's third Vice President in recognition of her having a longer tenure than Kokona or Sana. By that token, she is only the second girl to read the souji at graduation and not be named as President a few weeks later (the other is Yui, but the circumstances with her were wildly different).

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• Asian Buck Teeth: She had them but has gone out of her way to avert this by wearing braces (the first member since Saki Ooga to do so) because, as she put it, having perfect teeth is non-negotiable.
  • Some active members since Ooga have also worn dental apparatuses – for instance, Aiko admitted to wearing clear tooth-aligners, Kokona and Miko have been seen wearing retainers, etc. – but Miki has full-on traditional metal studs and wires, leading to her invoking the braces trope below.
• Catchphrase: "It's Miki who <x>!" with <x> being a random fact about herself, followed by Fukei replying "Shiranga na!", which translates colloquially to "Who cares??".
  • The very first time she did this was shortly after the beginning of her 6th grade year. Yume and Sana had joined and Miki had begun a growth spurt, so she finished off her diary with "It's Miki who is now big."
• Cool Big Sis: Yume considers her one despite their closeness in age, writing in diaries about how Miki offers to ride the Shinkansen train with her – Yume's home is in Nagoya, while Miki's is a few stops down the line in Osaka – and gave her one of her jerseys.^* Senpai>Kohai hand-me-downs are a longtime Sakura Gakuin tradition. This is why in backstage photos you can sometimes see girls wearing shirts from events that happened before they joined.
  • Aiko and Megumi both acted as hers during the 2017 nendo.
• Cunning Linguist: Has been learning English since 2nd grade.
  • She readily admits her pronunciation isn't great, especially compared to Marin. Even so, she'll throw the occasional English word into her diaries.
  • She has a shtick where she'll 'faint' after croaking out "Oh my god!". When Mori-sensei tried to imitate it, his English didn't sound nearly as coherent.
• Cute, but Cacophonic: After finally coming out of her shell during her 6th grade year, Miki quickly earned a reputation as one of the louder genki girls in the group.
• The Ditz: More and more obviously so. She "beat out" Kano to last place in the 2018 Nendo Test (Kano was next-to-last, much to her own surprise; she'd expected to come in last again). In the FRESH epiosde in which Miko debuted, Mori-sensei gave the girls a mini-quiz and Miki got almost every question wrong.
  • Early during the 2017 Transfer Ceremony, Momoko said she hoped for transfers who were cute and also "worse at studying than [her]!". With Miki, she got her wish.
• Jack of All Trades: Ever since her transfer-in, more and more specialties/skills of hers have surfaced that other girls possess. These include: Kansai dialect (Soyoka, Yuzumi), speaking English (Marin), playing with the kendama (Maaya), and ballet (Megumi), among other things.
  • This led to Maaya losing her kendama shtick in "Mezase! Super Lady", replaced with Miki bringing Maaya into her own verse and asking that they do it together.
  • Miki also has an interest in Rakugo and got to tell a story during Sakura Gakuin Festival 2019. Unsurprisingly, she was very happy one of her Open Classes in March 2021 was a rakugo lesson.
• Pubescent Braces: See above.
  • Note however that, for whatever reason, Amuse airbrushes them out of official photos, including the ones on her artist page. As of 2018, she's taken the hint and started wearing white rubber-bands to make the braces less noticeable in photos.
  • Her braces were removed in Summer 2019, though she implied in her diary about it that it might be a two-stage process – not uncommon for kids who start braces young. Sure enough, she began her second round of braces shortly after New Year's 2020. In one of her final diaries, she said that she was supposed to get them off in Spring 2021 but, because COVID forced shutdowns and delays of all the things, Miki wasn't able to get her braces off for good by the time the group ended. In post-SG photos, she's usually flashing a smile showing off her now perfectly straight and metal-free teeth.
• Shrinking Violet: She's not as quiet as her classmate and co-initiate Miku, but she's more likely to clam up if put on the spot. This was especially true her first year.
  • Played up during her "Mezase! Super Lady" verse her first two years, as she would hide behind the boxes.
  • During Sakura Gakuin Festival 2017, it was Played for Laughs during a skit with Maaya. Miki tried to "hide" by lifting up a strategically placed black curtain to conceal herself.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Starting in 2020, Miki would post photos of herself with her dog, who she named "Bob". Even in English, this is an unusual pet name; in Japanese, it's downright insane.

Neo Satou (佐藤 愛桜) 2019–2021

Joined in 2019 with Miko Todaka and Sakia Kimura

She is the fifth member to hail from Kyushu, in her case Saga Prefecture (right next door to Kokona'a home Nagasaki).

By coincidence, she shares her birthday with Aiko and Marin (December 1st).

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• Alternate Character Reading: Her given name is about as unconventional as one can get, to the point she felt the need to explain it to fans twice.
• Determinator: Neo had taken lessons with Sana and Kokona back in Kyushu. When they were chosen to join Sakura Gakuin in 2018, Neo decided to double-down so she could join them.
  • Senior members have pointed out Neo's rapid improvement in dancing.
• Even the Girls Want Her: Invoked by Miko who said that, given the chance, she (Miko) would like to be reincarnated as a guy so she could try to seduce Neo. During one song where members gesture to each other, Miko drew Neo an air-heart, which got a look of shock and maybe a little blush from Neo.
• Meaningful Name: She discussed this in her earliest diaries. Her family name is common (see below), so her father apparently just picked her given name out of the blue and needed time to find kanji to fit it. "Neo" uses the kanji for "love" and "cherry blossom" respectively. Plus, she pointed out that her name means "new" in English. ^note  She's only partly correct – "Neo" actually comes from the Greek Νέος, and English uses it as a prefix to modify concepts because "New" does not work that way. The word itself has an extremely long history and etymology; every Indo-European language but one has a similar-sounding word that means the same thing, going all the way back to Sanskrit.
  • Fans have joked that the kanji in her given name pretty much destined her to be in Sakura Gakuin.
• Mellow Fellow: Sana mentioned this about Neo, having worked with her prior to Sakura Gakuin.
  "Neo-chan’s personality is very calm. She does things at her own pace [and] is serious"
  • Neo also speaks with a noticeably slower cadence than most other members.
• Nice Girl: Several fellow members, particularly Tsugumi, have discussed this. Neo herself unintentionally furthers it in her Doorstopper diary entries by often spending a lot of space complimenting literally everyone.
  • In Neo's introductory FRESH episode, she couldn't even find anything negative to say about Momoe – infamous for her strictness, bluntness, and fake-cutie tendencies – even after multiple "Are you serious?" follow-ups by Mori-sensei.
    "No, Momoe-chan is kind."
• Sore Loser: Sana claimed that Neo hates losing at anything. Neo herself indirectly confirmed this when she wrote in a diary about how upset she was about her first Nendo Test, vowing to improve – she placed 10th out of 12 with a score of 3/20.
• Spell My Name With An S: Should Neo's family name be spelled "Sato" or "Satou"? Sakura Gakuin itself uses the former, while her artist page at Amuse uses the latter. Foreign fans thus far tend to add the extra vowel, probably to distinguish her from Hinata. Neo herself has not yet written her family name in Roman letters to indicate a preference. ^note  For what it's worth, Hinata has written their shared last name both ways. She spelled it "Satou" on Suzuka's Farewell Book in 2013 but spells it "Sato" now.

Miko Todaka (戸高 美湖) 2019–2021

Joined in 2019 with Neo Satou and Sakia Kimura

She is from Hiroshima and trained at the Actors' School, making her the third ASH alumna to join (and the first since Suzuka and Mariri both graduated in 2013).

Miko jointly holds the record (with Kano, no shock) for lowest score on a Nendo Test – 1 point out of 20.

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• The Ditz: Returnee members have said Miko is talkative, energetic, and quite an airhead behind the scenes, but can instantly flip to 'professional' mode when she needs to, not unlike Suzuka.
  • As noted in her intro, she managed to surpass Kano in "Genius-ness" by scoring a single point on the 2019 Nendo test – Kano did it as a fifth-grader (two years younger, thus two years less educated, than Miko).
• Experienced Protagonist: One should expect nothing less from an ASH girl. Upon her acceptance into Sakura Gakuin, other members made note of how proficient she already was at singing and dancing.
  • Miko is only the fourth girl in Sakura Gakuin's history to get a full onstage solo (outside of "Anthology of Song"), during the 2019 Christmas show.^note  Suzuka was the first, partly by default because she was 2012's only Senior so she got the annual Seniors' song to herself, but she also had her solo cut of "My Graduation Toss" on its single. Aiko was second, with several onstage solos during her last two years in the group, with her also playing piano. Maaya was the third, singing ZONE's "Secret Base" during the 2018 Festival Seniors' Drama.
• Idol Singer: She was part of a junior-Idol group within ASH called Kakumei Shoujo – literally translates to "Revolutionary Girls". It broke up when Miko was selected to join Sakura Gakuin, though her fellow members and ASH staff were quick to offer their congratulations.
• Incredibly Lame Pun:invoked Took part in one of these during Sakura Gakuin Festival 2019 where for one sketch she came out onstage dressed as a miko (Shinto shrine maiden)
• Promoted Fangirl:invoked As one would expect, she's a big fan of Suzuka Nakamoto, name-dropping Su in her very first diary. Less then two months after her Sakura Gakuin debut, she – along with 10 of the other 11 members – attended the second night of Babymetal's "Awakens" show in Yokohama and got to see Su do her thing live. ^note  The missing member was Class President Kano Fujihira, and the reason she wasn't with the rest of the girls was because she was onstage performing with Su and Moa.
  • Miko has also said she's a fan of Namie Amuro.
• Tempting Fate: Shortly after her Sakura Gakuin debut, Miko said she wanted to have a dance-off with Kano. Fast forward a few weeks, she goes with the rest of the girls to Yokohama Arena and sees Kano dancing with Babymetal for an entire hour-plus set (unlike Sakura Gakuin, Babymetal have almost zero downtime in between songs). Still sure you want that dance-off, Miko?^note  Miko said she did. Apparently it happened offscreen at some point before SG ended. Kano won.

Middle School 2nd Grade

Yume

Yume Nozaki (野崎 結愛) 2018–2021

Subunits: Art Club (trico dolls) 2018, 2020

Joined in 2018 with Sana Shiratori and Kokona Nonaka

Named PR Chairman in the 2020 Nendo

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• Animal Motifs: She's associated with hamsters, kept one as a pet until Hamu-hamu's passing in early 2020, and kinda looks like one.
• Berserk Button: Don't laugh at her, please. Also, don't touch her stuff without asking. Her little sister is known to do the latter.
• Charm Point: Yume said on her very first FRESH appearance in May 2018 that it was her plump cheeks. However, they began to thin out a bit during the COVID lockdown when she went through a major growth spurt.
• Cuddle Bug: Mostly to Kano, whom she called her "boyfriend".
  • As shown in the 2019 Retrospective, she also glomped Sakia the moment she met her. Several months later she hugged Sakia again during the FRESH broadcast they had to host by themselves.
• Determinator: The best way to ensure Yume will excel at something? Tell her she's bad at it. She'll move mountains to prove you wrong.
  • Sana and Kokona said during one of their first interviews in 2018 that despite being the youngest and smallest of the group, Yume did not want to be treated as The Baby of the Bunch. Kokona further explained that Yume is the type "to fight on in difficult circumstances".
  • She worked tirelessly to get accepted as one of the Amuse Kids in 2nd grade and then worked even harder to make it into Sakura Gakuin the first chance she got.
  • In early May 2020 during the Covid-19 lockdown, Yume sent in this photo of herself studying English. She also mentions that the school year for her had not yet started (she was to enter junior high) but wanted to feel like a 7th-grader by completing some workbooks. Not too many kids would be willing to do that.
    • A couple months later during the long-delayed Road To Graduation 2019 FINAL, she took her cue from Momoe – who had just given an English Shout-Out to international fans – and said a few English words of her own right as the first MC ended.
• Fangirl: Of Idols in general. She has said she's a big fan of AKB48 and had wanted to become an Idol since the age of 5. This desire led to her decision to audition for a spot at Amuse.
  • Of Kano specifically, whom she declared to be her "boyfriend". Several photos from their two years in the group together show her snuggling up to Kano with a satisfied smile.
• Genki Girl: Yume has one of the most outgoing and forceful personalities Sakura Gakuin has ever seen. This despite (or perhaps because of) her size upon her debut.
  • In her very first appearance onstage as a member in May 2018, she gave the audience two introductions: a "Genki" introduction – which played this trope for all it's worth and then some – followed by a "Cool" intro where she used quasi-delinquent speech. She repeated them during her first FRESH! appearance.
    "I may be small, but I'll be fine if I have milk. Yume Nozaki. Good ta meetcha." —her "cool" intro
  • Kokona and Sana stated in their first interview that Yume would play "policewoman" and "arrest" them. Yume's response?
    "My sempais are playing around, so if I arrest them I thought I could play together with them. (lol)"
  • She's also been said by other members to hop around like a rabbit.
    • A photo from Summer 2020 showed her and Sakia running literal circles around the far more sedate Neo, which caused a very confused Neo to start twirling.
  • In both 2018 and 2019, she came up with "roles" for the other members. Kano was named "Boyfriend" both times. Miki and Miku traded off "big sister". When Sakia joined, she immediately became "little sister". Mori-sensei was "Funny old man who lives in the neighbourhood."
    Mori: "Well, at least you think I'm a funny old man."
• I Got Bigger: Discussed by Kano following their mid-lockdown reunion in August 2020 to rehearse for RTG'19. Kano was in absolute shock at how much her "girlfriend" had grown over the previous five months – by that point, Yume was quickly closing in on Sana in the height department and she had lost some of her puni cheeks. Yume replied by basically name-dropping this trope. She is, as of the end of SG, two inches or fewer shorter than Kano.
• In-Universe Nickname: Yumeyume… at least that's what she would like; the other girls may come up with something else.
• Pint-Sized Kid: Yume came close to beating Moa's record for shortest girl ever accepted into Sakura Gakuin. Prior to her induction in 2018, her height was officially listed at 127cm (4'2"), and the first group photo shows she was nearly a head shorter than Miki, the next-youngest girl and previous shorty of the group.
  • Played for Laughs at the 2018 Transfer Ceremony when Tsugumi found a banana in the green room where Yume was seated and used it to measure her.
    Tsugumi: (grabs banana and holds it to Yume's head) "Here's a banana for scale."
    Mori-sen: "Don't use a banana! We can see she's tiny!"
  • Official measurements at the Orientation Event a month later listed her at 131.3cm (4'3⅔"), taller than Yui and Moa were at the same age, meaning Moa's record stands.
  • She wrote a diary in September 2018 about going to an amusement park with her family and bragged that, because she'd hit 131cm (4’3½”), she could go on all the rides.
  • Worth noting Yume has a sister, Juna (also part of Amuse's "Kids" division), who Yume stated during her first FRESH! appearance was <1cm shorter than her. They stayed the same height until 2021, when Juna – who is two years younger – had a growth spurt. As of New Year's 2022 (Yume=14, Juna=12), Juna is 155cm/5’1” while Yume is stuck at 151cm/4’11½”.
• Those Two Girls: As soon as Sakia joined the group, she and Yume immediately clicked, and from that point on they could often be found together, causing raucous mischief.
  • In "her" channel Ponstarland, she and her younger sister Juna count as this and a large number of skits have been built around their dynamic.
• Tsundere: Discussed by Kano in one of Kano's final diary entries. She said Yume acted deredere to her when first joining in 2018 but by Kano's graduation had morphed into this.

Middle School 1st Grade

Sakia

Sakia Kimura (木村 咲愛) 2019–2021

Joined in 2019 with Neo Satou and Miko Todaka

With a birth-date of February 20th 2009 (she turned 10 only 75 days before debuting), she holds the record as by far the youngest girl ever to debut in Sakura Gakuin.^* For added context: That's 3,727 days old at debut. Previous record-holder Miki was 3,800 days old; Aiko was 3,808 days old; Yume was 3,825 days old; and Rinon was 3,901 days old (had the Tohoku Disaster not pushed back her debut, Rinon would have been the exact same age as Yume: 3,825 days).

She also happens to be the first member to hail from Kanto (Tokyo metro area) since Momoe and Tsugumi in 2016. In Sakura Gakuin's final year, she was the only member whose home is anywhere close to SG-HQ

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• Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Sakia is proud of her extreme flexibility, showing it off in diary entries by her and others. In one fellow member's diary, she was photographed laying on the floor with her legs in a position that can best be compared to a crab's.
• Animal Motifs: She had this to say during her introductory interview, with Amuse Mobile…
  "I look like a bunny!"
  • She also said she likes pandas, and draws a duck or swan in the "S" of her autograph.
  • Members and fans have also compared her to a mouse, which she definitely resembles.
• Asian Buck Teeth: This is why she looks like a bunny/mouse. Her front teeth are large and her lesser incisors are misaligned.
• The Baby of the Bunch/Pint-Sized Kid: Dear lord. Not only does she hold the record for youngest ever transfer-in by several weeks, but she might also end up surpassing Moa's record for shortest one too. Though, again, Moa was a year older when she debuted – she'd recently turned 11 at the time while Sakia had just turned 10.
  • Sakia's Transfer Orientation, held in mid-June 2019, measured her at 130cm, the same height as Yui was when she debuted in August 2010.
  • On FRESH! Episode 98, her debut, the men behind the cameras can be heard mumbling in disbelief at how tiny Sakia is – note that Soyoka (then the tallest member) was also on that episode and pointed out there was >30cm (one foot) height difference between them. ^note  At the time the gap was at least 32cm/12.6".
  • After Sakura Gakuin's performance at Tokyo Idol Festival 2019, the girls went backstage for a quick interview, conducted by a former AKB member. Her brain practically melted upon seeing Sakia and she asked how Sakia could breathe for being so tiny. Sakia, being closest to her, also got a disproportionate amount of mic time.
• I Got Bigger: Discussed. When Nocchi invited Sakia to play games with her for Perfume's 15th Anniversary celebration, she expressed shock at the amount Sakia had grown over the previous 18 months – in the photo of the two of them together from May 2019, Sakia standing is only slightly taller than Nocchi kneeling.
  • This was also pointed out, with some irritation, by Sana, the oldest member of SG's final nendo. Yume had already passed Sana in height some months earlier (barely) and Sakia was quickly closing in on her as the farewell performance approached.
  • Shortly after SG officially ended, an update to Sakia's profile listed her at 151cm, taller than Sana. Though Sana herself later hit 151cm too.
  • By the end of 2022, she passed Yume. This was expected as Sakia had always been a bit taller than Yume was at a similar age.
• One Degree of Separation: Despite her young age at debut time, she's been around long enough to have worked with other names familiar to SG fans.
  • She was a backup dancer on a pumpkin-themed song sung by Momoko in 2017.
  • She was also a backup dancer on a Licca-chan commercial with Ciào Smiles member Ayaka Namiki (who was expected by many fans to join Sakura Gakuin in 2019 but didn't).
    • She continued to be a backup dancer for Licca-chan commercials after her SG sempai Miki Yagi took lead. She also performed alongside Ciào Smiles member Miyu Oshima, who's nine months younger than (and thus a grade-level behind) Sakia. Some Fukei consider one of the bigger disappointments of Senseis' decision to wind everything down in 2020 is Miyu and other Ciao Girls born 2007 or later never getting the chance to audition for SG.
  • And of course she portrayed 'Little-Nocchi' in Perfume's 2018 music video "Let Me Know", which is probably a big part of the reason why Nocchi herself attended 2019's Transfer Ceremony and went backstage after to get photos with the group, the Seniors (with whom she'd worked in 2017), and her miniature doppelgänger.
    • As noted above, a year and a half later Nocchi invited her to play with her during Perfume's 15th Anniversary Museum thing. In a tweet afterwards, Nocchi expressd shock at how much Sakia had grown (about 10cm/4" since they last met).
• Running Gag: A large percentage of Sakia's diaries are, as noted, her cooking simple recipes. Inevitably, one of her steps, no matter the dish, will be, "Take a sniff".
• Sci-Fi Bob Haircut: Sakia had this style when she joined Sakura Gakuin as a result of cutting it to portray mini-Nocchi in the "Let Me Know" MV.^note  There is some irony in this, as Bee-Hive era footage shows Nocchi had long hair until Summer 2003 (age 14¾) and did not adopt this particular style as her trademark until ~2008 – she had Boyish Short Hair in the interim. Sakia has said she normally wears her hair long (as in the "Pumpkin" video with Momoko), and spent her time since joining SG growing her hair back out.

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