- "I don't know what to do... Akito and I may act like we know everything, like we're all grown-up... but... when it comes to something like this? The truth is, we're really just... kids. I don't think we're ready to grow up yet."
- ―Sana Kurata
Sana Kurata (å€‰ç”°ç´—å— Kurata Sana) is the main character of Kodocha series. She is a child actress who stars on the hit TV show Kodocha (Child's Toy) and is 11 years old at the beginning of the manga and anime. Her birthday is on March 7. In the start of the series, she moved class, but this class was overrun by delinquents. Her teacher (Miss Mitsuya) couldn't do anything about it because their leader, Akito Hayama, blackmailed the teacher with a photo of her kissing her boyfriend, so she tries to do the same but finds out there's more to Akito that meets the eye.
Appearance
Sana has brown eyes and long red hair. Her skin is pale and she is average in height. She is very underdeveloped and has no curves whatsoever - appropriate for her age, but something she worries about deeply. Sana has three moles on her backside; which she gets very embarrassed about and have been nicknamed "orion's belt" (after their resemblance to the constellation). She is considered beautiful and charming (although not acknowledging it herself). She often wears her hair in pigtails (especially in elementary school), though she starts doing more complicated hairstyles as she gets older.
In chapter 22's author's notes, Miho Obana explains that she pictured Sana as looking like Noriko Ogawa when she designed her.
Personality
Sana's has a very energetic and hyper personality, which often attracts people to her. Though she has her heart in the right place, she's quite oblivious about matters that involve the bigger picture of things and lacks knowledge in some areas. For example, she does not realize her feelings for Akito until later on, when she's on location for the movie she is starring in, Mansion of Water.
Sana has a deep sense of what's right or wrong, and will go to extremes to correct situations if they are involving those she is close to. An example of this is when she intervenes in Akito's family situation. Overall she is very kind, and will do whatever she can do to help people.
She has a habit of picking up strays, typically dogs, but she also considers Rei to have been a stray as well. In the manga, she has three dogs named Ruma, Gonta, and Choco that were formerly strays.
She is seen to be making sacrifices when it comes to those dear to her. Such as giving up on getting together with Akito when she learns that Fuka is in love with him. In the anime she almost sacrificed her whole acting career when she could not bring herself to say a line from her drama script as it could have hurt Akito deeply.
She always wakes up late and arrives at school just as the bell rings.
Biography
Sana was born to Keiko Sakai, who was only 14 at the time she gave birth to her. She abandoned Sana on a park bench after giving birth to her alone (having kept the pregnancy a secret). Misako Kurata, who had been struggling with fertility issues found her. Sana was made to stay at the Kamura Academy for a few days while Misako went through the legalities of adopting her (being able to a month later). When she was 5, Misako told Sana she was adopted, and informed her of her goals of becoming a famous author, and Sana became a famous actress. Misako did this so she could eventually write a tell all book titled My Daughter And I, explaining the circumstances of her finding Sana, and giving Sana the opportunity to meet her biological mother. Sana agreed to this, and Misako helped start her acting career by enrolling her in a theatrical company Gekidan Komawari. Unbeknownst to Misako, Sana fears that this agreement means Misako wants to give Sana back to her biological mother. Meanwhile, in actuality, Misako is scared that Sana's biological mom would try and get custody over Sana - so writing My Daughter and I, and finding her biological mom through it - is Misako's way of asserting that Sana is her daughter, and no one else's.
While coming home from a dance class at age 9, she saw a young homeless man, and decided to bring him home (thinking of him more like a stray dog, than a person). Sana's mom was initially shocked by this, but agreed to let him stay with them after having a good conversation with him. The man was Rei Sagami, who Misako hires as Sana's manager. Sana has an innocent crush on Rei, calling him her boyfriend.
By the time Sana was 11 years old, she was quite a figure in entertainment and also secured a lead role on the hit TV show Kodomo no Omocha. She attends Jinbou Elementary while working on her acting career, juggling these two priorities, and although it was a struggle for her sometimes.
Unfortunately, in sixth grade, Sana found that she, along with the rest of her classmates, were unable to learn any material because of a boy named Akito Hayama. Akito led a group against their teacher, disrupting class while the remainder of the class was trying to learn. He was able to do this without getting in trouble thanks to a photo he got of their teacher Ms. Mitsuya kissing fellow teacher Mr. Tanaka, blackmailing their Ms. Mitsuya into inaction. Sana hates what Akito has done to their class, and makes daily attempts to get him to stop.
She's finally able to make him stop when she gets a photo of him with his pants down that she's able to use as blackmail. However, in getting the photo, Sana learned that the way he acted was due to the way his family treated him at home and feels sorry for him. His older sister blamed him for his mother's death, and his father was busy with work, and rarely talked to him. Sana sees this as unacceptable, and sets out to fix things. She gets cast in a TV movie that parallels much of Akito's family, and has a happy ending, and makes Akito's family watch it. This makes his family rethink how they interact with him, causing them to be nicer to him. After this, Akito and she become more proper friends, and rely on each other for many things. This is seemingly when Akito starts having romantic feelings for Sana, but is unable to put his feelings into words. He kisses Sana while on a field trip in a bid for her to understand, but she feels cheated.
The TV movie the Hayamas' saw had Sana acting alongside famous actress Asako Kurumi. After the movie is done filming, Asako invites Sana to do an interview, where she continually asks Sana about her manager, Rei (who uncharacteristically has been absent during many of Sana's interactions with Asako). This leads to Sana finding out that Rei and Asako were high school sweethearts, which makes Sana feel insecure about her place in Rei's life. Sana has believed she loves Rei romantically, and that she employs him (not her mom). Misako, seeing Asako's lingering feelings for Rei, decides to drop the facade and tell Sana the truth - that she employs Rei, not Sana, and that as an adult, Rei could never have romantic feelings for an eleven year old. Rei is hesitant to rip off this bandaid, because he respects and owes Sana so much for helping him off the streets, which has led him to deciding to honor Sana's feelings, instead of making her feel silly for a childhood crush. Sana feels embarrassed, only starting to feel better after a conversation with Akito. After this, she discovers that her feelings for Rei weren't romantic love, and gives her blessing to Rei and Asako's relationship. Rei continues to be her manager, and member of her family.
As the release for My Daughter and I approaches, Sana gets more insecure about Misako's motives of publishing such a book. Sana fears Misako wants to give Sana back to her birth mother, and Akito is the only one to pick up that Sana isn't her usual chipper self. Akito tells Sana that he's there for her if he needs him, and thanks her for the positive impact she's had on his family. Sana feels reassured by this, and seems to fully grasp how close she and Akito have gotten.
Over summer vacation, Naozumi Kamura is cast in a commercial alongside Sana, which creates tension with Sana (after he alludes to knowing she's adopted), and Akito (who feels a rivalry towards him). When My Daughter and I releases, Sana's fears are semi founded when it creates a rift between Rei and Misako, and the press is frenzied over the news Sana is adopted. Akito ends up whisking Sana away to his house for a sleepover to get her away from the craziness, where she fully expresses her worries over Misako abandoning Sana. Akito firmly reassures Sana, which makes her cry (in the relieved way). In an attempt to divert the presses attention, Naozumi holds a conference where he discloses that he too was abandoned as a baby, and that he grew up at the Kamura Academy - the same one Sana was at for a month as a baby. Concurrently, the Kurata residence gets a call from Sana's birth mother Keiko.
Sana meets her birth mother (insisting she only will if Akito tags along as he "makes her more calm"), where in place of "serious questions" she just thanks her for giving birth to her, and double checks that her birthday is truly her birthday. Keiko shares that she went on to have another child, Mariko, so Sana has a half sibling. They arrange for Sana to meet her, and when this happens - Sana just feels like a kid playing with another kid, with no sibling bond present. Keiko offers for Sana to live with her, but Sana declines, saying she never wants to see Keiko or Mariko again because she already has a wonderful family. When she gets home, she has a touching heart to heart with Misako where they mutually share their want to stay a close mother-daughter duo forever.
Sana visits the Kamura academy with Naozumi, feeling a reassuring comfort from the building in spite not remembering her time there as a baby. She learns that Naozumi became an actor thanks to her, and she's touched.
She learns Akito refuses to celebrate his birthday thanks to it also being the day his mother died, so resolves to have a middle birthday (the date exactly between Akito and Sana's birthdays) party with him - which happens to land on Christmas Eve. At their middle birthday party, Sana gives Akito a dinosaur figurine since she noticed he collected some in his room, and Akito makes Sana a snowman. Tsuyoshi encourages Akito to tell Sana his feelings, which Akito attempts to do by again - giving Sana a kiss.
In time, Sana and her classmates graduate sixth grade and move onto attending Jinbou Junior High. There she meets Fuka Matsui, a girl who recently moved to Tokyo from Osaka. The two immediately hit it off, and turn out to be in the same class. Once Fuka meets Akito though, things turn sour - with Fuka slapping him and saying he ruined her life. As it turns out, Akito and Fuka went to kindergarten together, and Akito kissed Fuka on a bet, an event that led to a nasty rumor go around Fuka's elementary school in Osaka, hence her resentment of him. The fact both Fuka and Sana have had their first kisses stolen by Akito makes Sana affirmed in her existing belief that the kisses meant nothing. Akito tries to explain, but it flies over Sana's head.
Separately, Sana is cast in a movie titled Mansion of Water which is to be directed by the famous Mikio Ono, and this will require Sana to live on location in the mountains for at least two months.
Tsuyoshi is worried about the state of his friends, and tells Sana that Akito likes her. Sana is enraged, saying that if he feels that way, he needs to say it directly. She goes onto explain that because of her childish crush on Rei, she feels like she can't tell where the line between romantic love is, so she needs Akito to be direct. Tsuyoshi relays this to Akito, encouraging him to tell Sana before she leaves to film Mansion of Water. The looming filming becomes more tense when its revealed Naozumi Kamura will also act alongside her, which has the press making rumors of Sana and he dating. On the day Sana leaves to film, Akito sees her off - telling her he has something to tell her when she gets back.
In the mountains, Sana enthusiastically works on the movie. Sana is unable to call any of her friends on the phone due to the rural infrastructure. She and Asako (who is also in the movie) buy Sana her first bra, which makes her feel more grown up. Things go sour though when a group of Naozumi fans who saw the bogus rumors about he and Sana dating attack her, leaving Sana with a fracture in her leg. In spite of this, Sana continues to work hard on the movie, giving a great performance.
It's figured out that Director Ono's cell phone is able to make calls, and Asako arranges for Sana to have a turn using it. She uses it to call Akito - where she gets the shocking news that in the time Sana's been in the mountains, Akito and Fuka have started dating. Sana goes into a depressive state, where she's unable to act. Rei, Naozumi, and Asako all try to help Sana feel better, though only Asako is able to help - supporting Sana through the revelation that she's had feelings for Akito for some time now. Rei ends up calls Misako, who visits (via helicopter), and helps Sana work through her feelings. After this Sana feels more herself. She accepts that she loves Akito, but won't get between he and Fuka since she also values Fuka and she's friendship. With Sana feeling more normal, Naozumi confesses his own feelings for Sana - which she rejects on the basis she doesn't feel the same way. She relays that she feels like they're in the same boat, Sana being unable to date Akito, and Naozumi unable to date her.
The penultimate scene of the movie, and the final one filmed, sees the crew actually burning down the set, and Sana is to exit the burning building from the inside. Due to her leg fracture, she's unable to leave the building in the planned way, and nearly stays in the building to get burned - feeling tired from all the woes she's gone through during the filming. She gathers the courage to continue after thinking about how she wants to see how it all pans out, and to be with her friends. The scene is filmed perfectly in spite of these setbacks, and a stray flame nearly burns Sana - but she's protected by Naozumi - who gets burned instead.
Back at home, Sana avoids meeting her friends until summer vacation ends and she's required back at school regardless of how she feels. Things are normal with Fuka and everyone, making Sana happy, but she's shocked to learn Akito has grown five centimeters (two inches) in the months Sana was gone. Things continue to be tense around Akito, made worse by the fact he casually calls Sana by her first name (having called her by last name up until now), they come to a head though while out getting food with Akito, Fuka, Aya, and Tsuyoshi, where the group say some things confirming they believed the tabloid rumors saying Naozumi and Sana were dating. Upset by this, Sana leaves the group crying.
Sana tells Naozumi how her friends believed the rumors, and he takes matters into his own hands. On an interview, he dispels the rumors, saying the whole truth: that he confessed to Sana and she rejected him, and that the person Sana really has feelings for met her on the bus as they left to film. Sana is furious at Naozumi, going so far as visiting his apartment to tell him she's not going to speak to him after this. The next day at school, she tries to avoid Akito - not wanting to know whether or not he watched Naozumi's interview. She ends up being cornered by Akito though, where he demands to know what Naozumi meant. Akito confesses he's always loved Sana, and she truthfully tells him the same back... this is until Sana learns Fuka overheard the whole thing, which makes Sana backpedal and say it's all in the past.
Sana decides to focus on her acting career, having the school know she'll rarely be attending (opting for tutors). And she tells Akito goodbye, knowing they won't see each other often. Sana hopes she can forget Akito, and move on.
From here, the events of the manga and anime differ greatly.
Manga Continuity
In the manga, Sana's biological father is Keiko's own uncle.
When Sana was 7 years old, she stopped showing all emotion on her face. Regardless of if she laughed, or cried, she would still have a blank look on her face. Misako dubbed it "Doll Syndrome" and believed it was because she knew she was adopted. For fifteen days, Sana had doll syndrome, but on the fifteenth day on the way home from school, she met Naozumi Kamura (who she mistakenly thought was a little girl because of his long hair). He cured her of her sickness by reassuring her that she's a good person.
After the publication of My Daughter and I, Sana considers quitting acting. She only to take the role in Mansion of Water after Akito reassures her. Also in general, Kodomo no Omocha is shown less often in the manga, and is hosted by Yonma Akashiya.
After Sana says goodbye to Akito and decides to work on acting, she joins Seito Talent and has an influx of jobs. Radio shows, commercials, a TV series and more. Her reputation as a child actress is shed in place of being a major star. Inside, she struggles to forget Akito, but believes that working a lot will get her to. Unbeknownst to her, Akito is struggling majorly due to Sana's absence. He suffers from insomnia, is suspended for ten days (after punching a teacher, which was done in self defense - but no one believes him), and in many ways reverts back to how he acted before he met Sana. While Sana is out filming near Jinbou Junior High, Tsuyoshi and Aya notice her and flag her down to tell her all that Akito's been going through. Sana is shocked, and soon after happens to bums into Akito on the street, where they fight and hug at the same time.
After this, Sana decides to go back to school more often. She has a brutally honest conversation with Fuka, where they accept that their goals with Akito are at odds (both wanting to be with him). Sana is saddened that it turned out this way since she loves being friends with Fuka, but cannot deny her feelings for Akito just because Fuka feels the same.
When Akito's suspension ends, he is quickly swept up until drama again when a classmate blames Akito in an apparent suicide note. The teacher who already had it out for Akito decides to latch onto this, and graft it onto the narrative that Akito is a bad kid who hurts everyone around him. Sana is angered by this, but is too busy with work still to meaningfully do much. In the end, Akito deduces the location of the classmate, and sets out to save him (seeing it as an opportunity to make amends for his past transgressions). He calls Sana to ask for train fare, and she gives it to him in spite of her concerns for Akito's safety.
Sana worries for Akito, and ends up telling the teachers about his plan, questioning if she did the right thing. When Akito returns, her relief quickly turns to panic when it's discovered Akito was stabbed - and is on the brink of death. She ends up spending much of the night at the emergency room, swearing not to leave until she knows Akito will be alright. This in turn means she misses a planned live broadcast, with Naozumi taking her place in it after he learns the reason why Sana is absent. In the end, Akito pulls through, and Sana makes it to the tail end of the broadcast. Hearing what Naozumi did, she mends their friendship.
After this: Sana's career takes a nosedive, with people mad she missed the live broadcast. Sana doesn't mind, seeing it as an opportunity to go back to school with more focus. She gives Akito space, not visiting him while he recuperates in the hospital. That is, until Fuka tells her that she should. Fuka explains that she and Akito broke up, and that due to his wound, his hand is paralyzed. In addition, he's been having mysterious "attacks" thought by the doctors to be caused by stress, and during these he keeps saying a name - that the doctor's mishear as 'Hana' (but is obviously in actuality: Sana).
Sana does visit him, and they hug and he tells her what's been happening in his usual dour tone. Sana meanwhile puts a positive spin on things, lifting his spirits, and he stops having those mysterious attacks after that. At school, Sana learns that the classmate who stabbed Akito is moving, and tells Akito this - which prompts Sana and Rei to sneak Akito out of the hospital so he can say goodbye. After he does, Akito tells Sana that they need to have a talk about their relationship, where they more or less confirm their mutual romantic feelings for each other.
Soon after this, Akito is able to return home. Sana tries to do things with only her left hand to see how hard things will be for Akito, and feels terrible for him. When he returns to school, Sana tries to stick up for Akito to the bad teacher, to not much avail. With their middle birthday approaching, Sana tries to plan a party - but with no one able to come, it ends up being a date with just the two of them.
On this middle birthday party date, Akito takes Sana to visit his mom's grave (initially Sana is upset by this, but then is flattered). She raises Akito's paralyzed hand, and asks Akito's mom to do anything she can to heal it. They then go ice-skating, and bicker for much of it. They end up at Akito's house, where Sana notices that the dinosaur she gave him the year before has a little scarf (which is actually one row of knitting that Sana did as an attempt to knit Akito a scarf). She finds it adorable, and the two kiss in his room before she leaves.
Sana is elated about her relationship with Akito, but a bombshell is dropped by Akito's dad: their family is moving to Los Angeles due to Akito's dad's job. Akito predicts that Sana will take it well, but when he tells her, Sana herself is shocked by how negative of a reaction she has. She pleads with him not to leave, and when Akito relays to her that he was told by his dad that there's no way to stop this move from happening, Sana hangs up the phone on him.
The next day while at a photo shoot, Rei and everyone is confused when Sana is directed to smile, but her expression stays a vacant neutral look. She's sent home, where she's confused about why they sent her home (feeling that she is smiling wide, just as they're directing. Even seeing so much in the mirror). Unbeknownst to Sana (at Misako's insistence, since she fears that if Sana knows, it might make her even worse), she's going through another bout of "Doll Syndrome". Doll syndrome's symptoms are Sana's lack of expression, extreme fatigue (falling asleep constantly, where she has upsetting dreams), forgetfulness (going so far as to not know who Akito is at one point), generally not making sense, lack of appetite, and nausea.
Sana sees a doctor who confirms physically nothing is wrong with her, and starts to see a therapist. In spite of this, the person who helps the most is Akito, who's looming moving date seems to be the thing troubling Sana more than anything (consistently bringing it up in conversation, even when it's out of turn). Akito continues to try and convince his dad to cancel their move, and when the move is just around the corner - Sana and Akito concoct a plan to run away from home together.
Their plan as runaways works out well initially. They take a train to an amusement park, where they have a day full of fun, and take a lot of photos. Unshockingly, in all the photos, Sana's expression is blank due to her doll syndrome - so Akito hides them. They manage to get a hotel room, where Sana collapses. Akito panics, and is going to call emergency services until Sana stops him. She falls asleep after this, and when she wakes up - she finds the photos Akito hid, and sees her lack of expression. She's confused by this, and checks herself in the mirror, where she can see herself smiling in spite of the fact that in reality she isn't. Akito explains doll syndrome to her,and breaks down crying - saying he'll go crazy with her if this is how she's going to be from now on, but that he needs to see her smile in order to keep himself together. Sana cries too, realizing that she's been so busy thinking about her own upset towards Akito's move, that she hadn't thought of how upset it's also made him.
The next day, Sana wakes up as her silly normal self, cured of her doll syndrome. Their family's have tracked them down at the hotel, and are happy to see they're safe, and that Sana is cured. Misako has convinced Mr. Hayama to explain the more truthful version of events: that they're not moving to Los Angeles for his job, but instead for Akito to receive treatment for his hand. With this, Sana and Akito accept their distance as a necessary thing that they'll get through.
Sana starts hosting a successful write-in advice radio show, and when its success overwhelms her and she needs help, she recruits Fuka - who becomes her co-host. She also has a hotline for people who are troubled, where she tries her best to make people smile. She and Akito communicate through fax, and telephone, and as two years pass - he comes to visit. On his visit, he tells everyone he'll be moving back to attend high school with them, and he's happy to see Sana thriving.
Deep Clear
Sana continues to have a successful acting career, and at age 23 marries Akito (her legal name is changed to Sana Hayama, but she continues acting under the name Sana Kurata), and live together. However sometime around when Sana is 26, she becomes pregnant, and stops living with Akito during the pregnancy due to him being scared something will happen to Sana like what happened to his mom. During this time, she's cast in a detective drama, which makes her seek out input from an actual detective in order for her to play the role correctly - this leads her to Office S, where she meets Shuri Otokawa, who gives Sana the input she's looking for. Separately, Shuri has been hired by Rei to investigate the reasons for Akito and Sana's separation.
Sana has some complications during her pregnancy (an unusual uterus position), which gives Akito more anxiety, and also eventually causes her to have the baby slightly prematurely. In specific, Shuri notices the baby getting weaker (thanks to her mind-reading ability), and urges Sana to go to the hosptial - which saves the baby's life. When the baby is born, Sana bursts out laughing - which shocks the whole hospital staff since they'd never seen that before. She and Akito happily reconnect, since he no longer has to fear for Sana's well being during delivery. They're unsure of what to name the baby, until they decide to name her after Shuri as thanks for her saving the baby's life - settling on the name Sari Hayama.
Anime Continuity
In the anime, Sana's biological father is Takeshi Gojo. Also in the anime, Sana is less firm in her decision to not see Keiko and Mariko, seeing the two (of her own volition) in the episode Sunny, With Occasional Disappearing.
Sana is tempted to quit acting after My Daughter and I released, but decides to continue when she sees how hard Akito is training for karate. Sana also performs in a short lived pop trio with fellow actresses Mayu and Ayano.
The day after Sana and Akito's middle birthday party, the Kurata family home - and all their possessions are repossessed by the bank due to Misako going bankrupt. They live in a small apartment while they scrounge up the money to do better. Sana writes an autobiographical essay, sold as a book, and gets cast in a show called Late Night Murder Mystery Theatre. Sana feels oddly drawn to her on screen dad, played by Takeshi Gojo. Misako ends up doing an investigation, that yields the information that: Takeshi is in fact Sana's biological father. Sana nor Takeshi learn of this. Takeshi has an incurable disease that continues to get worse, resulting in him dying on set, with Sana in his arms. Sana struggles to cope with him gone, but is able to move on after Akito helps her. With this, the group graduate the sixth grade and move onto Junior High.
Later on, when Sana comes back home after filming Mansion of Water, she makes up with Naozumi rather soon after claiming she'd never talk to him again (specifically making up with him when she decides to fully commit herself to her acting career). Kodomo no Omocha is cancelled, shocking Sana. Meanwhile she and Naozumi are offered a role on Broadway, in a play produced by the prestigious Gary Hamilton which they accept. So Sana, Naozumi, Rei, and Naozumi's manager Maeda set off to New York. Before they leave, Tsuyoshi, Aya, Akito, and Fuka see her off, with Akito gripping Fuka's hand, making Sana grip Naozumi's.
The group initially experience some hostility in New York, later revealed to have been orchestrated by Brad (a boy their age who happens to look just like Akito). Naozumi experiences a lot of surprises while in New York (meeting both his biological parents) and Sana is supportive of Naozumi through everything. When the play is finally performed, they receive rave reviews.
When the group returns home to Japan, Naozumi and Sana tell the press that they are in fact a couple now, having grown closer during their trip. Due to the good reviews from the play, the two immediately land a role in a show together. Sana is shocked however when she sees parallels between the lines she's meant to say in the script, and the things Akito's sister used to say to hurt Akito. Thanks to this, Sana is unable to act in the role - and is kicked out of the show. This causes Sana to be labeled as hard to work with, and unable to get jobs.With all this, Sana returns to school, where she learns that Fuka and Akito have broken up. Unrelated, Naozumi recognizes why Sana was unable to say the line, and breaks up with her over the implication that she isn't over Akito.
On Christmas Eve, Naozumi calls Akito, telling him to watch the premiere of the show Sana was meant to act in. When he watches the episode, he understands the context: that Sana was unable to do the show thanks to it's resemblance to Akito's own life. He makes another snowman for Sana in an attempt to show his gratitude, and Sana coincidentally runs into Akito right as he's done making it (perhaps being drawn there). The two almost share their feelings for each other, but are interrupted by their friends starting a snowball fight.
Sana is offered a role in a math instructional video, which is difficult as both math is her worst subject, and also - she'll be playing multiple roles. Fuka helps Sana with math, and she does great in the video. This helps get Kodomo no Omocha (this time shortened officially to Kodocha) back into production.
Sana helps Akito form a Karate Club at their school, unintentionally resulting in problems for their classmate Nakao - who ends up going missing. Akito is shunned, but Sana stays by his side. Eventually, Akito realizes where Nakao is, and he and Sana find him - though get stuck in doing so. Their friends notice their disappearance, though being stuck, they can't do anything to alert them where they are. In trying to escape, Sana goes unconscious - seemingly hurting her neck. Help eventually comes, and the three (Akito, Sana, and Nakao) are taken to the hospital. Sana is fine physically, but hurt emotionally by the entire ordeal. She cries alone with her mom, not wanting Akito to see her like that. Akito tells her he would've ended up like Nakao if it wasn't for her, and she refuses to leave the hospital until Nakao regains consciousness - mostly staying with Akito. When he does, Sana feels affirm to stay at the school and continue to help Akito with the Karate Club.
On the school's roof, Akito kisses Sana, and she once again gets mad at him. Nevertheless, Akito tells her he has his black belt karate exam the next day, and tells her he'll have something to tell her if he passes, and Sana says she'll have something to tell him then too.
Career
Sana is an actress, model, and idol. Found in a park by Misako Kurata, the two promised that when they both became famous, they would reveal the truth about the adoption to the public. Sana started acting when she was 5 years old, mostly in plays, and by the age of 7 years old she had her first TV show appearance. By the age of 16 years old, she was a superstar starring in multiple TV shows, movies, and commercials, and also had a radio talk show she co-hosted with Fuka where they would help people who were in bad spots or needed someone to talk to.
Relationships
Family
Misako Kurata
Sana's adoptive mother, an award winning author and was the person who had pushed Sana to pursue her acting career when she was 7 years old. She is very protective of Sana as she cannot have any children. Though she and Sana have similar attitudes in the anime, it is shown that Sana inherited her temperament from her father.
Keiko Sakai
Sana's biological mother, who had her when she was a teenager and abandoned her as a newborn. She came back after Misako's autobiography My Daughter And I came out, and she met with Sana. They went to a theme-park with Sana's half-sister, Mariko. Keiko asked Sana if she'd like to live with her, but Sana politely refused and told her that, while grateful to her for having given birth to her, she doesn't really want to see Keiko again since she already has a mother.
Takeshi Gojo
Sana's biological father, he becomes a late night drama actor and even acts with Sana. He dies in the episode 49 of a chronic illness while acting with Sana and holding her in his arms. Shortly before his death he learned that Sana was his daughter. Sana loved Takeshi as a daughter would, though she never learned he was her biological father, and held great respect for him as an actor.
Mariko Sakai
Sana's younger half-sister, who is also a Sana fangirl. While Sana cannot really see her as a sister since they were raised apart, she thinks she's cute.
Rei Sagami
Rei was a homeless man who Sana adopted, but is now her manager. He treats her as if she were his daughter or younger sister, even though in earlier episodes Sana held romantic feelings towards him and called him her boyfriend. Those feelings towards him eventually changed when it became clear to her that their relationship was only family- and business-like. Because of this, Rei tries his hardest to make Sana a star and considers Sana the most important person in his life, the only one who comes before Asako.
Romantic
Akito Hayama
Akito was the "monkey-boss" of Sana's sixth-grade class. He blackmailed the teachers and scared everyone causing a ruckus in his classroom. It was Sana who stood up courageously against him, making them rivals for some time. After she blackmailed him with a photo of his pants down, showing his boxers, Akito gives up the photos of the teachers and stops being such a troublemaker. Sana soon learns that it was his family who had influenced him to become this way, and so she helps them become 'one' again. After Sana helped his family, through the whole course of events, Akito develops a crush on her which later on grows to strong romantic feelings.
Sana has the deepest influence on Akito's life and his morals, influencing him to become a better person. It is because of her that he opens up and takes karate (something he had been interested in but never really started). Even though Sana becomes shocked over the fact that Akito could be serious about something, she nevertheless supports his decision. His karate more or less acted like a connection between the two over the series. Akito's perseverance for karate as well as his perseverance for his love for Sana helped flourish their relationship. Akito's love for Sana remains one sided untill he starts going out with Fuka to which Sana realizes she was in love with Akito this whole time. He is shown to be quite jealous when he see Sana with another guy and often get depressed over not being able to see her because of her busy schedule. At one point, Akito even started wondering if he was considered another 'stray' whom she helped out of sympathy.
Through the events over the whole anime series and manga, Akito seems to believe that it is only he who holds feelings for Sana and that it is not mutual since she might not consider him as a good match for her. Although his feelings are quite open and pretty much viable to everyone around him, Sana is the only one to remain naive of his advances. By the second half of series, Akito tries his best to get over his feelings as he believes they will never be reciprocated and starts dating Fuka. This, however, doesn't help at all as things become more tense after Sana confesses to him that she holds feelings for him before suddenly disappearing to New York without giving him chance to explain himself thus leaving him alone again. During that time, Sana and Naozumi became closer; following the sudden unexpected with his biological parents, Sana comforted Naozumi from his depression that neither of his parents ever cared for him or noticed that he existed at all. On their arrival back to Japan, Sana and Naozumi announce they are dating each other which leaves Akito distraught. He starts getting frustrated over Sana and Naozumi' closeness and the fact that everyone comments on how Sana and Naozumi are a perfect match. As time passes, Akito makes an effort to deny his feeling for Sana but it is futile as he still loves her very much. He even asks Fuka to stop dating for sometime making excuses that he has his elementary karate exam and he wants to concentrate. It isn't until Christmas Eve that he finds out Sana gave away her precious work and left her career in jeopardy for him. He realizes how foolish he was acting all this time thinking Sana always leaves him alone and that she thought nothing of him. He comes to the conclusion that she has always been the same, always supporting him from afar, always considering him as someone very dear, and that it was he himself who was turmoil of not having his feeling reciprocated. He recalls how she gifted a lot of happiness to him all this time and realizes he can't love anyone but Sana. He is able to break things off with Fuka and decides that he'll confess his love for her once he earns his karate black belt.
Akito and Sana eventually get together and by the end of the manga they are happy. In a side one-shot manga, Akito and Sana are married and have a baby girl named Sari.
Naozumi Kamura
Naozumi is a child actor who has been in love with Sana since he was young. They were both in the same orphanage for a month and had worked on the movie Water Palace together, plus several commercials. Sana holds a special corner in her heart for Naozumi as he gives her the warmth of being needed by someone and because they both share same past of being abandoned by their parents.It is shown that sometimes he has stronger control over her emotions than anyone else compare to her mother or Akito. It was he manages to pull her out of her mannequin sickness when she was 7. He even calmed her down of her stirring emotions over Akito's relationship with Fuka while suggesting her to run away to New York with him. At the airport when Akito and Fuka hold hands together, he grabs on Sana's hand making her realize she is not alone. Naozumi is shown to be very calm and collected towards Sana and holds her as his first priority throughout the manga and anime. In the anime ,Sana is shown to make a confusing confession that she might be in love with Naozumi and he is a very important person to her. At last,Naozumi breaks up with Sana around Christmas time, knowing that Sana's heart belonged to Akito alone. Although Naozumi was heartbroken over the fact that Sana chose Akito over him, he nevertheless support her relationship with Akito in both the manga and anime. In the sequel, while it was revealed that Naozumi was never able to move on from his feelings toward Sana, he nonetheless found some form of happiness with the guy he is dating, this also suggests he is bisexual. Although Sana knew that she hurt Naozumi and remained worried whether he was able to found happiness (even after she and Akito got married and had a daughter), she was relieved when Shuri informed her that he is happy right now. This shows that despite everything that happened between them, Sana and Naozumi remain close friends.
Friends
Fuka Matsui
One of Sana's best friends. She and Sana met in the bathroom on her first day in Junior High. They both accidentally cut their bangs too short and instantly clicked over that. Fuka quickly becomes Sana's best friend, considering they were very alike. She is, more or less, the reason for Sana acknowledging her own feelings for Akito. She's not shown to be very considerate of Sana's feelings, especially when it comes to her love for Akito as she refuses to break up with him even after listening to their real feelings for each other. She thinks Sana will always abandon Akito and will prioritise her career over him. She holds a bit of complex towards Sana while being her friend in a healthy way. Their relation never goes sore over the time even during the tensions between them over Akito. At last, she breaks up with Akito as she realises Sana was always there by his side all this time and her love for him is no match to anything else.
Tsuyoshi Ohki
Akito's best friend and a close friend of Sana's. He used to have a crush on Sana, but only because he received a gift from her on Valentine's Day. That crush quickly ended when he received a gift from Aya, a bag of cookies, showing that he falls in love with any girl who gives him a gift. He supports Sana a lot and worries about her at times like when the essay about her "my daughter and me" comes out. He is the first and the only person who comes to realise Sana's insecurity over love relationships which he discovers after asking her if she really is that thick-headed to ignore Akito's feelings for her.
Aya Sugita
Sana's close friend and Tsuyoshi's girlfriend. She is almost always seen with Sana's group of friends. She idolizes her like a fan would, and because of this she can't be as close to Sana as Fuka is.
Gallery
- Main article: Sana Kurata/Gallery
Etymology
- The name Sana means "thread, silk" (ç´—) (sa) and "south" (å—) (na).
- Sana's surname Kurata means "warehouse" (倉) (kura) and "field, rice paddy" (田) (ta).
Trivia
- In the Author's Notes for Chapter 2 of the manga, Miho Obana mentions that Sana is inspired by three sources
| Kodocha Characters | |
|---|---|
| Main | Sana Kurata • Akito Hayama |
| Kurata Residence | Misako Kurata • Rei Sagami • Shimura • Maro |
| Hayama Residence | Fuyuki Hayama • Natsumi Hayama |
| School Friends | Tsuyoshi Ohki • Fuka Matsui • Aya Sugita • Aono Ohki • Hisae Kamayai • Mami Suzuki • Mitsuya • Morio Tanaka • Principal Narunaru • Sengoku • Shinichi Gomi • Sumirei Ando |
| Showbiz Friends | Naozumi Kamura • Asako Kurumi • Zenjiro |
| Other | Isao Ohki • Keiko Sakai • Koharu Hayama • Mariko Sakai • Mrs. Sasaki • Principal Kamura • Ryousuke Motodana • Yuta Takaishi |