Saya Otonashi

''This article is not about a character from BLOOD+. For the original movie, see BLOOD: The Last Vampire (Anime).''

The main character of the series, Saya Otonashi is a seemingly ordinary teenage girl who was adopted a year before the start of the series by a Okinawan-American veteran who fought in the Vietnam War. Although she suffers from amnesia and has to receive regular blood transfusions to remain healthy, she is a bright, cheerful person. Her life changes for the worst the moment she finds out she is actually a chiropteran and is also on the top of those creatures hierarchy along with her twin sister, Diva.

Appearance
Small and lithe, Saya stands at about 5'2" (157cm) and weighs no more than 89lbs (40.4kg). At the beginning of the anime, she appears as a sweet, rosy-cheeked high-school girl.

Her hair length changes depending on the time we see her in the anime. When she is staying at the "Zoo" her hair is kept long and flowing with a few short bangs falling over her forehead. Afterwards, she is mostly seen with a very short, boyish haircut. During season 2, we see her with chin-length curls that give her a more mature look. We also catch a glimpse of her with floor-length hair after she wakes up from her hibernation during one of George's visits.

Saya's most interesting and unique feature are her color changing eyes, that turn from a rusty maroon to a intense, glowing red whenever she draws blood or feeds with blood.

At the Zoo
Saya Otonashi (音無 小夜 ,Otonashi Saya) was born in 1833 from one of two objects taken from the belly of a chiropteran mummy, the other cocoon containing her sister Diva. Both are kept at the Zoo by Joel Goldschmidet, where Saya is treated as his daughter and Diva, who is left nameless, is confined to a tower. Saya does not learn about Diva's existence until 1863, when she hears Diva singing and finds her locked in a room at the top of the tower. Saya then names her Diva. In 1870, Amshel purchases a twelve-year old boy named Haji from his parents to become Saya's companion and friend. During a birthday party for Joel, Saya releases Diva so that she can sing for Joel. Diva, however, slaughters everyone in the Goldschmidt house while Saya and Haji are out looking for Joel's favorite flower. Recognizing that Diva is a monster, Saya spends her periods of activity hunting Diva to try to kill her, her chevaliers, and any chiropterans they have created.

In Vietnam
Saya was deep in hibernation when the Red Shield was in need of her blood to slay Chiropterans during the Vietnam war. She was taken from the coffin Haji had placed her in to sleep and was cut out of her hibernation cocoon. Being given an injection of human blood to awaken, Saya's consciousness did not return; instead her subconscious was in control. Killing the Red Shield operatives that had forced her awake, Saya heard Diva's singing and ran to find her. This led her to an empty container, which had presumably contained Diva, surrounded by chiropterans. Here she engaged Carl in combat with Haji who had come to assist her. She managed to cut off Carl's forearm with her blood soaked sword, forcing him to tear off the rest of his arm so that the crystalizing reaction would not spread to the rest of his body. Carl then fled the battle leading Saya toward a small village. Saya, still in a frenzied rage, cut off Haji's arm when he tried to stop her and then proceeded to slaughter the villagers. Once the battle had ended Saya fell back into her hibernation period. It was then that the dying David entrusted Saya to George Miyagusuku.

In Japan
In 2005, when Blood+ begins, Saya is a high school girl living in Okinawa who was adopted a year ago by George Miyagusuku after waking from her hibernation cycle with no memory of her identity or past. Though she appears to be a normal teenager, any injuries she sustains heal almost instantly and she must receive regular blood transfusions to remain healthy. When a chiropteran attacks her school, she finds her life turned upside down. She is reunited with her chevalier Haji, though she doesn't remember him, and learns that her blood can kill the chiropterans. She is approached by David, from the Red Shield, who tells her it is her duty to kill chiropterans because she is the only one who can. Neither David nor Haji will tell her the truth about her past, telling her she must remember on her own. Though at first Saya is reluctant to fight and afraid of who she might be, she slowly comes to accept her duty and regain her memories.

After Riku's Death
After Riku's death, Saya confronts Diva in a final duel at the Metropolitan Opera House, which ends as they simultaneously pierce each other with their blood-coated swords. Saya is unaffected by Diva's blood, because it lost its potency when she became pregnant. Diva, however, begins to crystallize, and Saya cries for her and tries to hold her shattering pieces together. With Diva dead, Saya turns to kill the babies and herself fearing that if they lived, they would be forced to become military weapons. Kai pleads with her to live, promising to protect her and the babies and make anyone afraid of her understand. Haji disobeys Saya for the only time in his life, taking her sword and confessing he has loved her from the moment they met. Saya tearfully admits she wishes to live as she kisses Haji. She and Kai escape the opera house with the babies as Haji battles a returned Amshel and the US military begins bombing the building.

A month later, back in Okinawa, Saya finally goes into her next thirty-year hibernation period. At her request, Kai puts her back in the Miyagusuku family crypt to sleep, and he watches over her with Diva's children. Several years later, a fresh pink rose with Haji's blue ribbon is left at the crypt.

Abilities

 * Saya uses a special katana with an edge she can cut her finger or hand on, that has grooves running down it's length designed especially to allow her blood, which is poisonous for chiropterans, to spread through the entire blade. After breaking it in a fight with Amshel she receives a new one from David.
 * Any injuries Saya sustains heals almost instantly.
 * She has all natural abilities of a Chiropteran, but due to her aversion to drinking human blood, her powers are barely above human level
 * Saya also possess a sixth sense when sensing Diva and possibly other Chiropterans, similar to Irene and Riku's sense, although hers is "colored" red and Irene's is green.

Weaponry
also see Saya's Sword

Saya's trademark weapon is a long sword with a groove that begins at the upper base of the blade and then slopes downward to follow the length of the blade, branching out to the edge along the way. This allows Saya to cut her thumb on the top of the blade and let her blood flow into the channel, where it is distributed along the length. Once loaded with her blood, it is a deadly weapon against Diva and any chiropteran created from Diva's blood. After Saya's first blade is broken, David gives her a new one that has a red crystal at the base of its blade, symbolizing her membership in the Red Shield organization. The crystal is a piece of her adoptive father's body, which crystallized when she killed him with her own blood in order to spare him the fate of turning into a chiropteran.

Family
Diva - Sister (deceased)

Diva's daughters - Nieces

Riku - Adoptive brother (deceased)

Kai - Adoptive older brother

George - Adoptive father (deceased)