Eichi Sakurai

Eichi Sakurai ( Sakurai Eichi) is the childhood friend and first love of Mitsuki Kouyama.

Early Life
According to Mitsuki, Eichi lost his parents when he was very young, and lived with his grandfather until his death, and was sent to live at an orphanage. In the manga, Eichi was 7 when he first met Mitsuki, who was 3; in the anime, he was 11 and she was 5. In the manga, Eichi hated the moon because it saw him cry as he mourned the death of his grandfather. However, when he met Mitsuki, he started comparing her smile and personality to the moon ("Shining brightly while hiding its wounds"), and he grew to love the moon. He quickly befriended Mitsuki and they became as close as brother and sister. He developed a deep interest in astronomy, and taught Mitsuki many things about the moon and stars while she taught him about music. He encouraged her to be a singer while she encouraged him to be an astronomer. As the years passed, they began to fall in love with each other, which Eichi quickly realizes while Mitsuki was oblivious until he finally confessed to her (even kissing her in the manga). The next day, Mitsuki learns that Eichi is moving to America with his adoptive family, and is saddened. Eichi erroneously thinks that his confession burdened Mitsuki and he says that he will never bother her again, and asks her to forget about him. However, on the day of his departure, they make a promise to achieve their dreams before meeting again. Once again, before leaving, Eichi confesses his love to her.

Storyline
The story revolves around Mitsuki's desire to find Eichi by becoming a singer, and constant recurring flashbacks of him. Mitsuki has spent the next two years searching for Eichi, hoping her music will reach him in America and he will realize her feelings for him. Tragically, any chance of a happy reunion between the two is shattered when it is discovered that he has been dead the whole time. In the manga, Eichi died at age 14 when his flight to America crashed, and Mitsuki knew about it all along; in the anime, he died at age 16 from a car accident which occurred about two months after moving, and Mitsuki didn't discover this until two years later during a trip to America. In the manga, it is revealed that Takuto's first assignment was to take Eichi's soul, but he refused to depart from the world because there was one girl who could take or break his soul. In both the anime and manga, Mitsuki struggles to live her life without Eichi, at one point considering suicide just so that she can be with him again. However, she comes to realize that Eichi would have wanted her to move on and sing again. In the manga, Mitsuki discovers that the reason she can see the shinigamis is because Eichi's soul has been with her the whole time. She is finally able to move on with her life, start a singing career, and pursue a relationship with Takuto, but she will forever keep Eichi in a special place in her heart. Seeing her happy for the first time in several years following his death, Eichi (as a spirit) smiles tearfully and disappears, finally able to let her go.

Physical appearance
Eichi is a sixteen-year-old boy with golden brown hair and brown eyes. He is tall, wears a white button shirt and blue jeans in Mitsuki's flashbacks.

Personality and traits
Eichi was a wonderfully kind young boy who was always smiling. He treated Mitsuki with genuine affection, and according to her, was the first person to ever treat her with kindness. He loved astronomy, especially the moon, because it reminded him of Mitsuki. All his life, and even after his death, his love for Mitsuki remained strong.

Mitsuki Kouyama
Mitsuki is Eichi's one and only true love. He met her when he was 7 and she was 3 (manga; 11 and 5 in the anime). They quickly became friends and Eichi became a big brother figure to Mitsuki. Mitsuki is the reason Eichi inspired to become an astronomer, and he often compared her to the moon. By the time he was 16 (anime; 14 in manga), Eichi confessed to Mitsuki that he loved her because he was going to be adopted away in America. Although his confession confuses her, they made a promise to achieve their dreams before they met again. In the manga, after his death, he refused to leave the living world and stayed with Mitsuki as a ghost, until the final chapter, where he sees that she is finally happy, and thus he is able to let go of her so she can live her own life.

Trivia

 * The author purposely made Wakaouji look like Eichi. She says that Wakaouji's image is that of Eichi as an adult. The two even have the same hairstyle.
 * In the manga, when Takuto saw a picture of Eichi for the first time, he immediately recognized him because the plane crash that killed Eichi was Takuto's first assignment as a Shinigami. He saw Eichi's soul.
 * In the manga, Eichi died in an airplane accident while in the anime, he died in a car crash.
 * In the manga, Mitsuki knew Eichi was already dead because she saw a news report on TV about the airplane accident. However, in the anime, she didn't know until episode 42.