I’m actually surprised we didn’t have a Sakuya thread.
The entirery of Rewrite can be discussed in this topic.
Anything outside of those routes must be marked with a spoiler tag - [spoiler] [/spoiler]. Anything Harvest Festa and Manga-related should also be marked with spoiler tags.
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Chihaya being a non-character and Sakuya being all the character jokes aside, Sakuya was a pretty amazing character :kurumu:
The best part about Sakuya, I feel, is his relationship with Kotarou. A lot of times, we see him as this higher-than-thou bully towards Kotarou but, not only in Chihaya route but in the rest of the novel, we see how this attitude actually spurs Kotarou to grow. Eventually, we can see Sakuya as the “person that Kotarou wants to become” simply because of how awesome he is.
It’s a bit interesting to think about whether Sakuya intended that from the beginning, or was simply being an ass to Kotarou for shits and giggles; but the outcome was good enough for me
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Sakuya was the best thing about Chihaya’s route, Seeing him in the ending made it all worthwhile.
Jokes aside from the whole “Sakuya Route” I personally think he’s a great character, in the beginning he just seems like this usual stereotypical butler/brother, but once you get to a certain point in Chihaya’s Route, he’s more than just that, and he seems rather caring for the well being of Kotarou despite being his “rival” so to speak.
Tonokawa really did a lot of work to make Rewrite as great as it is. Chihaya’s route bears a lot similarity to the Unlimited Blade Works route of Fate and in all the right ways. Sakuya acts as the parallel and also in ways the antithesis to Kotarou, representing the man he could be, both in good and bad. Rewrite suffers from a bit of an unfocused thematic backbone, but it is through Sakuya and Chihaya’s route that the ideas about selflessness and friendship best come through the woodwork. Sakuya’s role as the knight takes on a lot of obvious metaphoric implication as a paragon of virtue. This is seen clearly in his quote towards the end that, “Samurai die for themselves while knights die for the sake of others.” Though it also has some subtler connotations in things like the shape of Kotarou’s aurora being that of a longsword, mimicking Sakuya’s role as the knight. This comes to ahead in the end of the route in which Sakuya passes on the role of the knight onto Kotarou.
This acts as an acknowledgment of the growth that Kotarou has gone through. Early on Sakuya asks Kotarou if he could die for the sake of others and the only responses are “I don’t know” and “I couldn’t,” bu the routes conclusion this is no longer so. Kotarou has his final battle with Sakuya after destroying the dragon shell and in this it is not only a test of strength but also of character. Kotarou has surpassed Sakuya, not only physically but in accomplishment.
Sakuya is a good example of Nasu writing, in that his superficial actions are all contrary to his feelings and motivations. He has a mask separate from his true will, but the distinction is drawn through the readers understanding of the character and the observation of his outward actions as opposed to monologue. Throughout the early portions of the story where Kotarou is living with Chihaya under seemingly aimless days Sakuya’s writing is at some of its best. He seems to harass Kotarou, but he is doing so to help him advance and to lead him away from the path he took. He seems like he dislikes Kotarou, but this is but a face put up. Sakuya takes the role of mentor to both Chihaya and Kotarou in order to make amends for his past failures, never breaking his mask.
There is a lot to appreciate in Sakuya and I feel like a lot of it comes through in the second read perhaps more so than the first. Certainly my favorite thing about him is the subtlety of his writing in the early stages of the route. He stresses not perfection, but responsibility and the desire to do good, failing but getting back up and continuing, making up for his shortcomings. That level of responsibility is simply not something that we see in many Key works where the cast is largely composed of young people and even among cases like Yoshino in Clannad where this is present Sakuya does more than enough to make him distinct.
Lastly is a finer point, but one that is just as moving and important as the others. Chihaya’s route pushes the idea of friendship more so than the other routes. It is through his connections that Kotarou is able to diffuse the conflict at the end. Early in the route Sakuya makes the remark, “You can not change anything by yourself.” It is through this that Kotarou once again excels past Sakuya, and through this that Sakuya does yet another thing to reinforce the themes and the messages of what is in my mind the strongest part of Rewrites story.
Basically Ohtori Sakuya is a hero.
Stay golden,
Bread.
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Something I only caught on my second reread, along with hours of deliberating and refining, is why Sakuya is such a good character to me. There is his surface, where he is a just a hero and does cool things, like being both Chihaya’s protector and Kotarou’s mentor. That’s his role in the story that the story tells you. I want to share my thoughts on the greater scope of what his character represents.
I would like to preface this by saying that Chihaya’s route, his finest hour, is essentially Unlimited Blade Works from Fate/Stay Night. There are a number of parallels that I won’t get into, as what matters here is how Sakuya plays the same role in Chihaya’s route that Archer does in UBW. Both of these characters tie into the main themes of their routes, which involve being the threshold the main character must overcome to reconstruct their ideals. Kotarou wants to protect Chihaya, and Shirou wants to be a hero of justice.
Now, we get into the meat of my observation. Near the end of the route, Sakuya has a last stand against Akane’s familiars. At this point, we know his entire backstory. He tells Chihaya to forgive him, because he may have been seeing her as a way to atone for his guilt at being unable to protect Minata. I wholly believe this is what drove him all these years, and this is portrayed as his tragic flaw. However, if we step back and look at what effect his actions have had, actions motivated by this strong guilt and need to protect someone, what has he truly accomplished? He saved Chihaya’s life, and because of his guidance she became the very strong character we see her to be. It was because he cared so much about Chihaya that he helped train Kotarou into becoming his replacement, knowing his time would soon come. He has had a profound and positive effect on everyone around him, all because he wanted to protect Chihaya.
Kotarou then echoes this, being the Shirou to Sakuya’s Archer, toward the end of the route. Before he attacks Dragon? Sakuya, he ponders on why he made this long journey. He states he didn’t care about Gaia and Guardian, or the fate of the world. He just wanted to protect Chihaya. It is because of that will, though, that he subsequently brought a truce between Gaia and Guardian, rebuilt the Occult Club, and brought peace at minimal loss. This is the equivalent of Shirou stating that yes, he fights for others because that’s the only way he can find value in himself, that him sacrificing himself is hypocritical because he’s doing it to soften his guilt, but it doesn’t matter because wanting to help others always worth fighting for. I find that incredibly beautiful. Kotarou takes that same role, showcasing through his actions that it’s okay to devote yourself to a single person if it gives you the will to forge on through any trial. This is a role he inherited from Sakuya. I love reconstructive fiction, and both Kotarou and Sakuya thematically reconstruct what it means to protect someone. They are heroes.
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Sakuya is a fantastic character.
I love how every single thing he does, he does it for Chihaya.
Even when he didn’t like Kotarou, he trained him to be strong enough to protect her since he knew he would eventually not be able to.
Not only that, he started to respect and even like Kotarou after he showed he truly cares and is able to protect Chihaya.
I find it great how after sacrificing everything then failing to protect a loved one, he made it his life’s mission to protect Chihaya instead of losing all hope in himself.
He quickly went from being a meh character, to being my favorite character in Rewrite.
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