Sakura Shinguji

Sakura Shinguji is one of the main protagonists in the Sakura Wars series, and the titular heroine.

Appearance
Sakura is a young dark haired Japanese girl dressed in a pink kimono decorated with sakura petals. She wears a big red bow in her hair.

History
Sakura Shinguji is first seen in Sakura Wars watching the cherry blossoms fall in the busy Ueno Park when suddenly she senses evil. A monster in kobu armour appears, and threatens the citizens. Sakura draws her blade and makes quick work of the monster, slicing through them vertically into two halves.

When Ichiro Ogami is transferred to work in the Flower Division of the Imperial Assault Troop, Sakura recieves orders from Lieutenant General Yoneda to meet up with Ogami in Ueno Park and bring him to their top secret HQ. Ichiro Ogami is surprised to see Sakura is a girl, but figures as it's a top secret dvision, maybe having female members isn't so unusual. Sakura reveals she is from Sendai and is the newest member of the Flower Division, and although she feels like she causes nothing but trouble for the troop she'd give her life to protect the capital. She declares that newbies like her and Ogami should stick together. Sakura then takes Ogami back to the theater to be enrolled.

Upon arriving, Iris Chateaubriand teases Sakura suggesting Ogami is her boyfriend. When Ogami is being briefed Lieutenant General Yoneda, both Iris and Sakura eavesdrop on what's going on. When Ogami exits, he bumps into the two of them and must choose who shows him around the theater, guiding him to the reception.

Sakura does not get on well with Sumire Kanzaki, accidentally standing on her Kimono during practice, and being insulted for it, before purposely doing it again when Sumire insults her for being a country bumpkin. The two get into a slap fight which Ogami recieves the brunt of trying to split them up.

Many years later, Sakura saves a young Sakura Amamiya from a demon attack, kickstarting her adoration of her and eventually causing her to follow Sakura's footsteps in joining the Imperial Combat Revue as a member of the Flower Division.

Trivia

 * Segata Senshiro appeared in a TV advert where he and Sakura seemed to be having a loving moment together. Project × Zone 2 has the two characters meet up again under the same cherry blossom tree as a shoutout to that advert.
 * Sakura's voice actress, Chisa Yokoyama, also portrays the character in real life stage plays based on Sakura Wars.
 * Although Sakura is not the main protagonist in Sakura Wars(that role going to Ichiro Ogami), she is the main protagonist in the TV series adaption.
 * Sakura was named the most popular female Sega character in a Famitsu poll, beating Ulala and Nei. She came third overall in the poll being beaten only by Sonic the Hedgehog(1st) and Opa-Opa(2nd), and beating Alex Kidd(Joint 4th), Kazuma Kiryu(Joint 4th), NiGHTS(joint 6th with Ulala), Ichiro Ogami(8th) (Nei, 9th), Akira Yuki(Joint 10th) and Miles "Tails" Prower(Joint 10th).
 * Sakura appears as a unit in Lagrisser alongside Ichiro Ogami and Sumire Kanzaki.
 * The demon Yasha appears to be a spitting image of Sakura Shinguji, causing Sakura Amamiya to lose her confidence.
 * Sakura Amamiya has a Sakura Shinguji outfit as a special DLC costume in the legacy pack for New Sakura Wars.