Sakurako Shiina

Student Number 17:

Personality
She is the most cheerful of the three cheerleaders in the class. She likes Negi, but only because she thinks he is cute. She loves karaoke and her pet cats, Cookie and Biscuit and is in the lacrosse club. As a hobby, Sakurako gambles a lot (it was probably a habit instilled in her younger days). She wins her bets most of the time, with great profit, as seen when the Love-Love Kiss Operation concluded and it was discovered that she was the only one who bet on Nodoka to win. She had also bet on her class to get the highest scores during the final exams. She has been in the same class as Asuna and Ayaka for a very long time, so she knows a lot about them (and bets when they fight since Asuna first transferred). A recent chapter also shows that she has known to Yuna from elementary school as well. During the "Mages vs the Martian Attacks" game, she is stripped to her underwear along with her cheerleader compatriots. She is shown to fantasize to the point where it is nonsensical. This is displayed when it is found out that most magic partners marry each other and the rumor that Negi is a prince, she instantly believes that she is going to be a princess in waiting and is the first to throw herself at him when he comes into the class moments later. On another note, she seems to have a enormous amount of luck. Aside from her gambling tendencies, it was because of her that the normal students (the cheerleading squad, Makie, Yuna, Akira, Ako and Natsumi) were able to find the gateport to enter the Magical World. As McGuiness said, "The likelihood is as good as winning the lottery". The girls also called Sakurako a "Daimyoujin" and said that she was Mahora's Lucky Mask as they asked her for indications as they were lost in the fog. A Daimyoujin is a title for Shinto demigods.

Synopsis
Journey to the magic world Sakurako was with Ayaka's group who travel to England and Negi's hometown. She and the other cheerleaders along with sport girls and Natsumi follow Ala Alba to the gateway, on the way they got lost in the fog but using Sakurako's luck, they somehow pass through. Accord to Donnette, this is like won the rarest lottery. Though while near the gate, she and the cheerleaders somehow didn't make it through and still stay at England instead of Magicus Mundus.

When the group were informed to return to Mahora Sakurako was among the people who saw the Gravekeeper Palace in the sky and guess it was Magic Castle from Magical Country. She was brought along to Magicus Mundus this time along with the rest of the class by Zazie in order to wake Asuna up.

Epilogue

She, like the rest of the class, assists Negi in saving Nagi and defeating the Mage of the Beginning﻿. Making the best use of her characteristic clear intuition, she works at a securities company. The results of her getting serious apparently affect the world economy and Negi's Plan going well or badly. She is now getting on with work reasonably, prioritizing the days off that she spends with her friends. Fate is seriously considering whether this power can be pointed in a positive direction.

Appearance in other media

 * Negima!: Her pactio ability, combined with Misa and Madoka, is an energizing cheer.
 * Negima!?: Like Misa and Madoka, Sakurako is rendered as part of one cheer unit, speaking alongside the other girls and even finishing sentences. The only time she shows enthusiasm similar to her manga counterpart is during certain songs, most notable in the anime for the cheerleader version of "A-LY-YA!". During the "Suka incident", she turns into a dog (of interesting note: a pic in the final episode pairs her "dog form" with Makie in her monkey suit. This has many multiple meanings: Makie's backstory about "Father", the bad relationship between dogs and monkeys in Japanese folklore, as well as Makie and Sakurako's common ancestry as Kozue Migara). Her cosplay pactio's weapon is a stick and there is little tree on her head in this form. Her armor form is based on Kyoko "Okyo" Nakamura, a character from the second Sukeban Deka TV series, with her weapons consisting of marbles.

Trivia

 * Popularity: 7th >> 15th >> 16th >> 30th >> 24th >> 23rd >> 21st >> 17th
 * Sakurako's family name is pronounced Shii-na (shii is a species of oak).
 * According to character design notes in Volume 2, the idea for Sakurako sprang from the character design of Kozue Migara who was in the Lacrosse Club.
 * Akamatsu said if he were to make her a pactio, she would have the ability to increase luck.
 * Luck is always by her side.
 * Sakurako is the third student voiced by two voice actresses, due to Akane Oomae is retired from voice acting and now her role is replaced by Chiaki Omigawa. The first student was Chao, and second is Ku Fei.