Manabu Sakura

Manabu Sakura is a teacher with a secret passion. While he may work all day teaching elementary students at a private tutoring school to never give up on their dreams, at night its his own dream of earning a knock-out in the boxing ring that motivates Manabu.

Manabu is no easy opponent in the ring, but he is constantly criticized for his boring style as well as his inability to knock out opponents. While most fighters have no trouble relying on their fists to settle things in the ring, Manabu scores points by clinching repeatedly and avoiding his opponents attacks. Instead, in every match he's fought in he has been forced to settle for a less than crowd-pleasing decision from the judges. His match with Kosaku takes place at at turning point in Manabu's career. If he does not win via K.O. he will quit boxing for good.

Manabu wants nothing more than to continue being a boxer. His by the book style of boxing resembles his kindhearted personality, but in his match against Kosaku he realizes that he has to dig deeper, and promises to knock Hatanaka out during their bout.

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The Meaning Behind the Name - 桜学

Manabu (学) is written with the kanji for "study," (quite appropriate since he is a teacher). Sakura (桜) is "cherry blossom".