Saya Otonashi



''This article is about a character from BLOOD+. For the original movie, see BLOOD: The Last Vampire (Anime).''

Saya Otonashi is the main protagonist of Blood+. She is a pure blood chiropteran Queen, with a twin Diva. She has a adoptive father named Geroge Miyagusuku, an older brother named Kai Miyagusuku, and a younger brother named Riku Miyagusuku. Back in the 1800's, her family consisted of Joel the Iand a boy named Haji.

Viewer Reception
As Saya from the Blood+ series is very different from Saya from BLOOD: The Last Vampire viewers reactions were mixed. Most expect the same dark, dour young lady from the movie so when this proved not to be the case they avoided the show entirely. Others were surprised to see the main character change completely to a seemingly normal, bright schoolgirl, which immediately captured their interest.

History

At the Zoo
Saya Otonashi (音無 小夜 ,Otonashi Saya) was "born" in 1833 from one of two cocoon-like objects taken from the belly of a chiropteran mummy, the other cocoon containing her sister Diva. Both are kept at the "Zoo" by Joel Goldschmidt, 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.

Saya is a skilled athlete and fights using a special katana with an edge she can touch with her thumb while gripping it so as to draw blood, and grooves specially designed to spread her blood through its entire blade. 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.

In Vietnam


In 1972, after receiving reports of chiropteran sightings in Vietnam, Red Shield made the decision to bring in Saya in order to combat Diva and the chiropteran threat. At the time she had already entered her thirty year hibernation cycle and was not yet due to awaken. However, Red Shield decided to forcefully awaken Saya by directly injecting her with Haji's blood. This resulted in Saya awakening in a frenzied state in which she attacked and killed the soldiers assigned to guard her, including the previous David- father of the current David.

After attacking the soldiers 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 hibernation. It was then that the dying Daving 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 disappears for a year, along with Haji. When she returns, she has longer hair and a harder, darker appearance, became a cold person. Now accepting of her chiropteran biology, she accepts the necessity of feeding on Haji's blood to live and be strong enough to fight. However, she has a less cheerful personality, is more morose and less talkative than she used to be. Moses and Lulu both remark that she has lost hope. Believing the fight with Diva is hers alone, and not wanting to have to grieve for any more lost comrades, she avoids cooperating with Kai or the Red Shield. Saya's friends repeatedly work to help her understand that this fight is not for her to bear by herself, and that she is never alone. As the battle with Diva continues, Saya's next hibernation period draws nearer, she starts having sudden bouts of fainting spells, and her regeneration ability slows.

Finale[[Image:Saya_Secondhalf_series.jpg|thumb|Saya as she appears in the second half of the series]]
At the Metropolitan Opera House, Saya confronts Diva in a final duel, 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 and weapons

 * Saya uses a katana to fight chiropterans, coating it with her blood which is poisonous to them. Her first sword was broken in a fight with Amshel, and later received a new one from David.
 * Saya also has healing abilities, any wound she gets will be healed no matter how serious it is.
 * She has all natural abilities of a Chiropteran, but due to her aversion to drinking human blood, her powers are barely above human level