Anri Sonohara (園原 杏里, Sonohara Anri) is a bespectacled girl who attends the same school as Mikado and Masaomi. She is rather quiet and timid, but appears very close towards Masaomi and Mikado. Although possessing a tendency to seclude herself from others, she is intelligent, clever and resourceful. Her full figure and shy behavior gives her the unwanted attention of many males (though she doesn't do anything about them). Her online chat screen name is "Saika".
Apperrance-wise, Anri is known for her short, bob-cut hair, glasses and her rather large breasts. She is usually seen wearing her Raira uniform but is shown wearing a black vest with a pink dress underneath when not in school.
Initially, Anri is very introverted and quiet, rarely speaking to anyone for any extended period of time. She is shown to be rather submissive and tends to "go with the flow" even when somone is harassing her. This timid demeanor stems primarily from the trauma she recieved when her parents died. As the series progresses, while she retains her shy personality, her interactions with Mikado and Masaomi serve to pull her out of her emotional shell and she become much more expressive and shows a caring side to those close to her.
Although Anri tends to let things slide, there have been moments where she has been shown to lash out at people such as when Izaya was taunting her about Saika in episode 24, or when someone threatens her friends.
It is revealed in episode 17 that Anri and her mother lived with an abusive father (although it is implied that he wasn't always like that) who regularly beat them severely. One day, when her father started to take things too far, Anri's mother, Sayaka, used Saika to kill him before he could kill Anri. Possibly starting to lose control, she tells Anri that she loved her before slitting her own throat with the blade. This incident was covered up and it was spread that a burglar killed Anri's parents, and that she was the only one spared.
Anri start attending high school at Raika acdemy. When she introduces herself she looks around and stares at Mika Harima's seat, wondering where she was. The next day Anri volunteers to be class representive and asks if any boys want to do it with her,and she looks at Mikado. Taking her hint, Mikado agrees.
She asks Seiji where Mika was but he dosen't know. She then walks around then she sees a girl that looks like Mika. She runs up to her but realizes it wasn't Mika so Anri apolizes and runs away.
Later she gets pulled in an alley by some bullies and gangsters. They begin insulting her about how shekeeps clingng to people. Luckally Izaya comes in with Mikado and scares to Bullies away. After talking with Izaya, Shizuo suddenly appears and attacks him. She start to shake so Mikado takes her hand and runs away with her. The next day she walks with Masaomi and Mikado to the park where they eat ice cream. She tells themabout her friend called Mika Harima that went missing. Mikado stops Masaomi from hitting on Anri.
She explains Mikas' eccentricities, going so far as to call her a stalker. She also brings up how they were both using each other to make themselves feel better. The next day she walked with Mikado out of school, but Mikado went on ahead because the Celty and Izaya were following him. Then next day Masaomi hits on her and Mikado stops him.
She protects Takashi from the black rider by stabbing its arm and cutting off its helmet and runs away. The next day she goes to school. Mikado offers to bring her notebook to the teacher for her but she refuses. Then she walks out of class.
She gets apporched by Takashi. Then he starts sexually harassing her. Luckally Masaomi came in to stop him. Later she walks with Masaomi and Mikado with Masaomi bringing up a rumor about Takashi going after another student named Haruna Niekawa. Then, when they split up, she gets pulled in an alley by her bullies. As they begin to bully her, Anri retreats back into her emotional shell. In the light novels, she describes it as a frame room where she looks at the world as though it were inside a picture frame. As the bullies continue to taunt her, she witnesses the slasher appear behind them and attack.
Then she goes to the police box where Mikado picks her up and tells her to be careful. The next day Takashi She is about slashed by Shuiji
harrasses her again and, once again is saved by Masaomi. Then at night she goes in an alley asking why is she doing this. Then Shuiji comes in with a knife and attacks her.
Suddenly Saburo runs him over with his car. When the others got out Shuiji gets up and tries to attack again but Celty and Shizuo come in and stop him. Then Celty drives Anri home and formally introduces herself. Anri asks what was under her helmet. Celty shows her and Anri, with no fear, says Thank You and walks in her house. Then at late night Haruna comes to visit Anri's house. Anri cautiously invites her in and appears visibly distrubed by Haruna's presence. Haruna then tells her that she is going to die for taking her Takashi.
Anri told her that she dosen't like him but Haruna dosen't believe her. Then someone knocks on the door and Haruna says whoever it is she's going to kill them. When Haruna opende the door, it was Takashi. Haruna, madly in love, chases after him but sends some of her men to kill Anri. But Anri takes care of them then follows Haruna and Takashi. After Haruna asks how Anri escaped, Anri draws her Saika, the True Saika.Anri's parents die.
After a brief fight Anri pins Haruna down and told her past. She tells her of her abusive father and how her mother used Saika to kill him when he almost killed Anri. When Anri touched the blade she heard Saika's voice speaking to her. Anri decided to keep Saika hidden within herself from that day on, locking away her emotions in the process.
Anri then took care of Haruna by cutting the back of her neck. This brings Haruna under Anri's control and knocks her out. Takashi is initially relieved until he sees Celty. Takashi tels Anri to run but Anri reveals that she was the monster that attacked Celty the night she was chasing him. In fear, takashi runs away.The next day she went to the hospital as the last person to be attacked by the slasher.
Anri gets released from the hospital and notices Masaomi is acting weird. So she tails him and watches at the Yellow Scarves hideout. She is soon spotted and a cahse ensues. She texts for Celty to help her and she arrives in time to get Anri to safety.. When they trie to leave a Yellow Scarve member threw a metal pipe at Anri so she pulls out her sword and cuts it in half.
The next day she is with Mikado and Masaomi and she feels funy around Masaomi. Then the next day the Yellow Scarves corner her as a way to get backat her for spying on them.. Then they hear a noise then Anri escapes. Anri runs on the street then Shiri told her to follow her. Shiri grabs her arm and runs her into a building and into a hallway.
The Yellow Scarves continue to chase her bu tKazutano helps Anri escape through a back garage door, shutting it as she leaves. Horada continues the chase, but a man in a bunny suit grabs her and gives her his suit as a disguise. She runs into a grocery store where Ryo kicks some boxes down on the Yellow Scarves to help her.Masaomi runs with her.
She takes of the bunny mask but the Yellow Scarve manage to catch up to her. Simon intereves as Anri makes another escape. Then Masaomi grabs Anri and goes to an alley with her. Masaomi, clearly angry over Anri spying on him, accuses her of using him and Mikado for her own ends which prompts her to slap him.
As Anri removes the suit, the Yellow scarves finally surround her. She almost draws Saika when Shizuo jumps in and beat the crap out of the Yellow Scarves. Then Celty comes and brings Anri to her and Shinra's apartment saying that she needs to stay there for a little bit because the Yellow Scarves are after her.
Then the next night a shot Shizuo comes in which causes Anri to run out and save Masaomi. Then she cuts down the Yellow Scarves base door open then sees Masaomi bloody on the ground. Then Mikado comes riding on Celty's bike. As the three reunite, Kyohei and Sabuor as well as many of their allies attack Horada's men, giving the others time to escape. Kyohei comes in and takes Masaomi to the hospital when he was out cold. Anri was relievedwhen Masaomi turned out to be alive. After Masaomi leaves the city, Anri is last seen eating lunch with Mikado, discussing how they were going to welcom Masaomi when he finally returned. Then she joins the chat as Saika.
After the opening ceremony comes to a close, Anri and Mikado are approached by Aoba Kuronuma about giving him a tour of Ikebukuro. The two are immediately overwhelmed by Aoba's hyperactive personality and they have no choice but to accept. Having no experience in being tour guides Anri and Mikado turn to Walker and Erika for help. Walker and Erika agree to accompany them through their tour and they decide to meet them the next day. After the four of them separate, Anri sees Shingen Kishitani conversing with a tall Caucasian man. Saika resonates within Anri at the sight of her old owner and Shingen recognizes Anri as the daughter of a friend of his. Anri asks how Shingen knew her father and Shingen reveals that he was the one who sold Saika to her father in the first place. The man Shingen was conversing with introduces himself as Igor and places a comforting hand on Anri's shoulder. Despite the polite way of speech, Anri has a deep sense of dread and danger when Igor approached her. Almost without her noticing, Saika extended itself out of Anri's shoulder and pricks Igor's palm, infecting him with it's curse. Anri bids farewell to the two of them and runs home.
Anri and the others get together but Mikado is immediately accosted by a few ex-members of the Yellow Scarves looking for revenge but they are saved by Walker and Erika who pull them into their van. They notice that Mairu and Kururi are also in the van with them and Mikado asks what was happening. Kyohei apologizes to them about dragging everyone into their mess. Anri and the others are confused until they see several members of a biker gang called Toromaru barreling towards them. After several hours, they are joined by Celty (who is also being chased) and eventually come across an overpass. Celty tells Kyohei to take the kids away while she holds Toromaru off. Anri and the others are dropped near a police station while Saburo and Kyohei drove back to give Celty a hand. Anri and Mikado also ran back to try and help, with Anri calling out to any of Saika's children. She senses Igor in the bag Celty was transporting and orders him to assist her. When the two of them arrive, Ruri Hijiribe (disguised as another dullahan) has also joined in the fight and she and Igor successfully defeat the Toromaru members. After the incident blows over, Anri attends the hotpot party held at Celty and Shinra's and even helps with the cooking. The color illustrations rate the girl's cooking skills and anri ends up scoring a 30.
Anri and Mikado are once again approached by Aoba about touring Ikebukuro since their last outing was interrupted by Toromaru. Mikado initially turns him down so Aoba begins to subtly flirt with Anri. Anri doesn't really pick up on it but Mikado panics and states that what he had planned that day could wait. The three of them set a date to meet up the next day. Later that night, Anri answers a knock at the door only to find Vorona coming at her with a pair of garden scissors.
Anri draws Saika and manages to gain the upper hand and (with some help from Celty) manages to chase Vorona and Slon away. After chasing the two Russians across the highway, for a bit, Celty returns and asks if Anri is okay. Anri is unharmed but Celty insists that She stay at her place for the night since Vorona would most likely return for a rematch. Celty drops off Anri at the apartment and introduces her to Akane and she spends the night there.
Once Anri wakes up, she gets ready to meet Mikado and Aoba. Shinra suggests that she take Akane with her since there wasn't much to do at home. Anri agrees and the two of them head off. While they are waiting, Rio Kamichika recognizes Anri and asks her if she wanted to hang out with her and her friends for today. Anri declines and watches as Rio and several of her friends head towards a near by cafe. Not long after, Anri gets a message from Aoba stating that Mikado couldn't make it after all and telling her to wait for him. On top of that, several members of the Awakusu surround her and begin talking to Akane. Anri is cautious but doesn't try anything since Akane actually appeared to know them.
Celty and Mikado suddenly rush to the scene and Anri asks him about Aoba's message. Mikado is unable to fully explain but he tells Anri not to trust Aoba. After the arrival to Toromaru, the Awakusu members tell Celty to keep Akane safe while they hold them off. Celty transforms her motorbike into a chariot and Anri, Akane, and Mikado get on and ride thorugh the city. The four of them eventually come to an underground parking lot to regroup. Mikado gets a message from the dollars message board and runs off in a hurry.
Celty shows Anri the message about the kidnapping and sees Rio and her friends in the picture. She rushes after Mikado and finds him about to get beaten to death by several rogue dollars members. Anri easily incapacitates them with Saika and tends to an injured Mikado. Although bruised, Mikado has no broken bones and the duo proceed to Raira which is where the kidnappers said they were going. Vorona follows them discreetly.
When they arrive, they see the rogue dollars confronting Chikage and Kyohei. As Mikado watches, Vorona launches another attack on Anri and throws a flash bang which blinds the two of them. Although she loses her eyesight, Anri allows Saika to take control and allows it to fight for her while her eyesight recovers. She tells mikado to run as Vorona leads Anri into the large battle surrounding the Dollars and Toromaru against kidnappers. As they continue to fight, Vorona manages to knock Anri off balance and is about to make the killing blow. Rokujo Chikage blocks both of their attacks, reprimanding them for trying to kill each other.
The entire battle is interrupted by the arrival of Shizuo who incapacitates all of the kidnappers. After Shizuo starts chasing after Vorona, Kyohei and the others ask Anri about her Katana. Anri is reluctant to tell them the full details, but the others understand and accept her for who she is which touches Anri. Anri looks around for Mikado but can't seem to find him anywhere. She returns home, exhausted, and logs on to the chatroom. She makes a comment on how empty the forum has been recently and logs off, unaware of the change that has occurred in Mikado's heart.
Anri is worried over the recent change in Mikado's personality as he begins to grow increasingly distant from her. When she confronts him about his recent change, Mikado asks her about Saika upfront which shocks Anri since they promised not to discuss their secrets until Masaomi had returned. When Anri refuses to give a straight answer, Mikado simply replies that if Anri stayed out of his business, he would stay out of hers. Things are further complicated as Anri begins to notice that it is getting harder and harder for her to keep Saika in check.
Anri talks to Celty about her predicament and Anri realizes that Saika only appears to get worse whenever Mikado is around or if she is thinking about him. Since Anri has only been able to keep Saika under control due to an apparent lack of love, the fact that Saika acts up whenever Mikado is around implies that Anri may be developing feelings for him. Anri eventually meets Masaomi who, by this time, has reassembled the yellow scarves. Although Anri is worried, he reassures her and tells her that he'll set Mikado straight. Anri is relieved that Masaomi has returned but is still deeply concerned about Mikado and Saika.
Anri doesn't appear until near the very end of the novel where she runs into Erika while out shopping. Erika suggests that Anri take up cosplay however Anri is less than enthusiastic about the idea.
Erika asks anri to get cat ears at a cosplay shop so that Kyohei will wake up surrounded by girls wearing cat ears when they visit him. Anri bumps into Haruna who asks her to follow her to a park. Anri asks Haruna if she’s planning on killing her. Haruna said that she would if she were younger but will forgive her now and asks to collaborate. Anri rejects her offer. Haruna thanks her for rejecting her because now she has a reason to fight her. Later Izaya told her what he is going to do with Masaomi and Mikado that it really wreaked Anri. When that happened Erika got pissed off. Then Erika defended Anri by saying that she is Anri's friend and would support her.
Although initially overwhelmed by his overly energetic personality, Anri and Mikado quickly welcome Aoba as a friend into their group. In a way, Anri's interactions with Aoba vaguely mirrored those she had with Masaomi before he left. All trust she had in Aoba was shaken, however, during the incident with Akane awakusu when Mikado warned her not to trust Aoba. She began to act more cautiously when the three of them would hang out together but remained unsure about how to react. Aoba expresses some interest in Anri but this may only be due to Anri possessing Saika.
Ever since the slasher incident, Celty and Anri have remained very close friends to the point to where Celty would drop everything to help Anri should she ever need it. Celty is one of the few people Anri knows that would accept her along with Saika and would be able to talk about the problems Saika presents. Anri is also one of the few who have accepted Celty's true nature as a dullahan which strengthens the friendship they have. In volume 2 of the light novels, Anri expresses a vague attraction to Celty but this is never addressed again in later volumes.
When Akabayashi offers to support Anri financially, she is unsure of his motives but gradually grows to trust him as time goes on. Akabayashi treats Anri like a daughter and is very protective of her but it is unknown if he knows that Anri has Saika.
Since Mikado and Anri asked Erika and Walker for some advice on the guide tour matter in volume 4, Anri got closer to Erika, and also to the van crew. After the fight against Vorona and the guys who had set a trap on Chikage's girlfriends in volume 6 where she used Saika to beat her opponents, Erika didn't think of her as a monster and didn't judge her which surprised Anri in a good way. The two remained on friendly terms, and at the end of volume 9, Anri goes out to cosplay with Erika's team. In volume 10, she stayed with Erika the whole time at the hospital when her friend learned that Kadota had been attacked. Finally in volume 11, after Izaya mentally wrecked her with what he intended to do to Mikado and Kida, Erika defended her in front of Izaya, saying she was "Anri's friend" and that she supported her.
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