Saimoe 2007 Group Finals Preview
Group G
Sayuri Kurata
How she got here:
1st Round: Defeated Anri Hiiragi 934-395
2nd Round: Defeated Alice Carroll 599-349
3rd Round: Defeated Eruru 827-757
(from Wikipedia)
In Kanon, Sayuri is Mai Kawasumi's only friend before she meets Yuichi, and thus her biggest part is in Mai's story. She is the daughter of a wealthy family, and always tries to smile and help others. She uses more formal Japanese honorifics for Yuichi when she addresses him, even when they become close friends. Sayuri cares very deeply about Mai, as it shows since they not only hang out together constantly, but Sayuri will get worried if Mai is in trouble; she also never forgets Mai's birthday. Initially, she is completely ignorant about the demons but even though some begin to target her near the end of Mai's story, she stubbornly stays by Mai's side. Sayuri, as with Ayu and Makoto, has a cute quirk; when she laughs, she voices a distinct Ahaha. Sayuri always addresses herself in the third person due to an event in her past.
Despite Sayuri being a supporting character, she gets some back story to explain some of her current situation and how she came to become such good friends with Mai. Sayuri's story begins many years ago when Sayuri was still a young girl. She had been raised primarily by her father who did not spoil her, so she grew up with manners. When her younger brother Kazuya was born, Sayuri decided to be rather strict with him as her father had been with her so that he would grow up to be a better person. In her heart, she really wanted to console him when he was crying or scared, but Sayuri believed that it was for Kazuya's sake that she was strict. Kazuya himself was slow to develop and did not talk even after entering kindergarten; he hardly ever laughed. Kazuya was always alone; he had a weak body so Sayuri would walk him to and from kindergarten.
Kazuya eventually starts to get more sick and weak and is admitted to the hospital. For the first time in Sayuri's life, she decided to go against being strict with Kazuya and went out buying many toys and junk food which she brought to Kazuya's hospital room. Soon after that time, Kazuya died, which completely changed Sayuri's attitude and personality. After he died, Sayuri began to address herself in the third person. Sayuri explained that she could only see herself from a third-person point of view from then on; she did not smile either until after she met Mai.
Sayuri first met Mai in their first year of high school. They were in different classes so the two did not know each other at first. One day, there was a dog scaring some people in front of the school and Mai managed to scare it away with a shovel. Later, Sayuri found Mai feeding the dog her lunch and Sayuri offered to give her lunch to the dog as well. After that point, Sayuri and Mai started to hang out and soon became best friends. Sayuri believes that Mai saved her and has been a much larger help in her life than what Sayuri has been able to do for Mai since they met.
Sayuri's main involvement is during her best friend Mai's arc. Yuichi first meets her the day after he ran into Mai at the school at night for the first time. Sayuri asks Yuichi if he would like to have lunch with them, and Yuichi agrees. Upon discovering that Sayuri's food is very delicious, and because now Mai will have one more friend, Yuichi starts to eat lunch with the two third year girls every day for the rest of Mai's story. For the dance party, Sayuri lends Mai an expensive dress that she got from a friend; Sayuri also lends Yuichi a tuxedo for the event. When the demons attack the party, Sayuri is one of the people that get hurt which sets Mai's temper off, leading her to wield her sword in front of everyone, an event which almost gets her expelled.
When Sayuri begins to notice that Yuichi and Mai are spending more time alone, Sayuri starts to suspect something is going and tries to prove herself to Mai that she is able to help too. This attempt fails miserably, and Mai attempts to drive her away by telling her she is in the way in order to protect her from subsequent attacks from the demons. A few days before Mai's birthday, Sayuri meets with Yuichi where they decide what they are going to go for her birthday. They decide that a small party between the three of them and Mai's mother would be sufficient. The night of Mai's birthday, Sayuri phones the Minase house to discover that Yuichi is not there. Knowing that he and Mai were most likely at school, Sayuri heads there with the food and presents she brought for Mai's birthday. Unfortunately, soon after entering the school, Sayuri is seriously attacked by one of the demons which gets her admitted into the hospital with a head injury. This event causes Mai to attempt suicide, but Yuichi saves her before she can go on with it, convincing her that if she wants to end this, then they should go back to the school and destroy the rest of the demons. At the end of the story, Sayuri graduates high school with Mai.
In Saimoe 2007, you don’t need to be a protagonist to make it to the next round. You just need the most votes; that’s all. But you also need to have the attributes that warrant the support you get. Sayuri Kurata from Kanon is an example of a secondary character being able to rub shoulders with the other heavy hitters. A great figure, combined with a great personality, compassion and companionship are the things that gave Sayuri the nod into this group final.
Sayuri's seiyuu, Tomoko Kawakami, is famous for doing the roles of notable characters like Utena Tenjou from Revolutionary Girl Utena, Chrono Crusade’s Rosete Christopher, AIR’s Misuzu Kamio, Chiriki from Fushigi Yuugi, Hikaru Shindo from Hikaru no GO, Bleach’s Softon, and Fuyuki Hinata from Sergeant Frog.
Rika Furude
How she got here:
1st Round: Defeated Nia 786-371
2nd Round: Defeated Nono Ichinose 714-287
3rd Round: Defeated Mion Sonozaki 932-571
(from Wikipedia)
In Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni, Rika is the main character in Minagoroshi-hen. She is a younger classmate in Keiichi's school, and is in the same grade level as Satoko. Naturally, she is great friends with her, as they live together in the same house. She is revered by the villagers as the heir of the local shrine, and plays the role of a miko in the annual Watanagashi Festival. She has been the head of the Furude house since her parents died, but rarely attends town meetings due to her young age. While she does not speak a lot, she likes to say nonsense words such as "mi~" and "nipa~", which inflame Rena's passion for cute things. She also likes to describe events using sound effects, such as "The cat was going 'nya nya' and 'scritch scritch'. In fact, she is one of the main components of the eternally repeating June 1983, and is the only one who is consistently able to remember the past repetitions. She believes she has lived over 100 years by the time of Tsumihoroboshi-hen, but continues to act like a child in order not to alarm her friends. Prior to Matsuribayashi-hen, she is the only one able to see Hanyū, who has been an 'imaginary friend' to her all her life. Despite her young appearance, she seems to be quite fond of sake.
A number of factors have placed Rika Furude into the round of 16: a miko garb, sound effect descriptions, and the use of nonsensical vocabulary. Add a fetish for sake, and it seems that it was only proper for the voters to give the nod to Rika, at the expense of Mion Sonozaki.
A note: The seiyuu of Rika is also the seiyuu of Nanoha Takamachi, Ms. Yukari Tamura. She also is the seiyuu for a number of other well-known characters, including Galaxy Angel’s Ranpha Franboise, Da Capo’s Sakura Yoshino, and Kanami Yuta of s-CRY-ed.
What to expect:
A tight contest. It’s a tantalizing, yet intriguing match: Sayuri Kurata of Kanon vs. Rika Furude of Higurashi. I am calling for Sayuri to pull off another one here.
BoBA predicts:
Sayuri Kurata by less than 100 votes
Nanoha Takamachi 797 
Vita 673
