Yuji Sakai

"It happened in Misaki City, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. They were later than usual this year. My name is Yuji Sakai. The school year had just begun & I was settling in to daily routine that was the life of a high school student. A normal morning no different from any other, Nothing out of the ordinary. Days like that were supposed to last forever. At the time, I couldn't even begin to imagine what was about to happen. I had no incling of the strange diverging world I was soon to encounter or of the fact that I was going to die. And then I saw her, the girl with the flame red hair & blazing eyes. That was the day my world...changed forever."

- Yuuji's opening narration

Yuji Sakai is the main male protagonist of the light novel and anime series Shakugan no Shana. He is a Mystes who has the Treasure Tool Midnight Lost Child inside of him, and gets involved in the seemingly never-ending battle between the Flame Haze and the Crimson Denizens, alongside the Flame Haze Shana.

He is voiced by Satoshi Hino in the Japanese version of the anime, while in the English version he is voiced by Kristian Ayre in season 1 and Josh Grelle in seasons 2 & 3.

Appearance
Yuji (post-Snake of the Festival) is a young man with black hair that goes down to his neck (originally they were almost thigh-length hair). He has a fair complexion, dark blue irises and slitted pupils (varying from normal human pupils to very slitted pupils). He is about 15–16 years of age,  and is a first-year high school student. In the anime, he is 5 1/2 feet (165 cm) tall.

Before merging with the Snake of the Festival, Yuji usually normally wore the Misaki City Municipal High School uniform, had brown hair and his eyes were of a lighter shade and a more fucking olive complexion.

Personality
"Yuji: You think I'm spending too much time with Konoe. You've seen how helpless she is. It's not like I can leave her to her own devices, you know. Ike: I think you're missing the point here, buddy. You don't see what's going on around you."

- Hayato Ike calling out Yuji on his obliviousness Yuji is a kind person who puts others before himself. This drew much confusion and annoyance from Shana, as prior torches from Shana's experience exhibited selfish attitudes. He took being considered a mere 'thing' very harshly, insisting that even if he was just residue of his former self, he was still Yuji Sakai and didn't hesitate to call out Shana for her nihilism and lack of empathy. Soon, his kind nature rubbed off on Shana and she began to see herself as more than just the Flame Haze she was raised to be. Simultaneously, Yuji's compassion and empathy sow the seeds of attraction between him and Shana.

Before learning he had the Midnight Lost Child inside him, Yuji was determined to make proof that he existed, going so far as to give up much of his Power of Existence to repair the damage to a classroom, something that had never been done by any other Torch Shana had met. After discovering that he had the Midnight Lost Child in him and was effectively immortal, however, he was relieved and gained a desire to help Shana in her battles, asking Shana to train him in case any other Denizens come to attack Misaki City. While initially unable to fight, Yuji is able to help Shana through his intelligence and insight, and has done so numerous times.

However, Yuji has been shown on several occasions to be too helpful for his own good. An example of this is when he agreed to help out the school committee in place of Ogata, when he had already agreed with Shana to do more training after school. After Kazumi found out that he was a Torch, he chose to abandon Shana and run after her to explain himself, an act that ultimately proved to be completely unnecessary as she already knew the truth by the time he found her. Yūji is also shown to be highly oblivious to Shana and Kazumi's feelings for him, believing that there's no way they could be interested in someone like him. He has come close to figuring it out several times, but always dismisses it as his imagination. This is due to the fact that, for a long time, he was still convinced Shana saw him as nothing but a Torch, not realizing the truth until she came to rescue him from Bal Masqué.

As a result of his obliviousness, Yūji is prone to doing things that end up hurting Shana or Kazumi's feelings when he has no intention of doing so. When Fumina Konoe first came to Misaki City, Yūji ended up helping her a great deal due to her being incredibly helpless. However, this caused a great deal of grief and jealousy to both Shana and Kazumi, especially the former, who ended up leaving his training to Wilhelmina Carmel to avoid having to face him. Even after Hayato Ike pointed out the effect Yūji's actions were having on the girls, Yūji couldn't even begin to understand why. Later on, Yūji's personality undergoes a change for the worse and he begins to lose some of his kind nature, becoming cold and indifferent towards others. This is shown when he bluntly rejects Kazumi's gift that she brought for him and his mother, saying that the two of them live in different worlds and he couldn't keep accepting things from her, though he later admits how rude this was after being chewed out for it by Shana. He also becomes more ruthless, such as when he kills one of the Jaeger Zarovee's duplicates with his bare hands and then proceeds to incinerate the rest.

At times, Yuji's personality can take on a very drastic side, to the point that he would carry all problems and burdens by himself, thinking that it would be too much for others, even Shana, whom he wants to walk with forever. This side is noted by Wilhelmina, who describes him as a very unique boy, and wonders how he can view the world the way he does. After Bal Masqué puts a transmitter on the Midnight Lost Child, Yūji starts taking his training more seriously, though this results in him getting ahead of himself and requesting training he's not ready for yet, forcing Wilhelmina and Margery Daw to remind him that he has to be patient. He also decides it's finally time for him to leave Misaki City, believing that he'll just attract more trouble and keep putting the city in danger if he stays. However, this draws criticism from Shana, who doesn't believe he's actually serious about leaving and is really just lying to himself. Though he denies this at first, Yūji comes to accept it as the truth during the ambush from Sabrac, having realised the city won't be safe even if he does leave. As a result, he gains a strong desire to protect Misaki City and everyone who lives in it, believing that it's what he has to do. However, that desire comes to an abrupt end when he mysteriously vanishes on the night of Christmas Eve.

Powers and Abilities
Yuji demonstrates the unique potentials of a Mystes which was supported by the Reiji Maigo, causing him to possess an almost infinite amount of Power of Existence.

Although Yuji lacks of the training and discipline of a Flame Haze, he has demonstrated an admirable amount of intelligence and logic, often thinking outside the box and solving puzzles others can't (though it still stands for a fact that he is totally clueless to the fact that Shana loves him and is often jealous of any girls who get too close to him).

While many Flame Haze and Lords of the Crimson Realm would be deceived or confused by unconventional casting of magic, Yuji is able to quickly deduce and see through the ploy despite his unfamiliarity with many magical spells, enabling his allies, generally Shana, to strike at the heart of their opposition. Furthermore, by the start of the second season, Yuji's training has enabled him to foresee as well as dodge a good majority of attacks from skilled Flame Haze such as Shana and Wilhelmina due to training from them, and he has gained the ability to cast Power of Unrestraint with the help of Margery Daw. He also has the ability to wield Blutsauger and infusing it with some of his own power. He also can create his own fire, which is silver and black in color, to fire at targets.

However, he loses his detection ability to sense the Power of Existence, due to Johann leaving the Reiji Maigo.

It is also shown that Yuji is able to remain calm in any situation no matter how dangerous it is. This allows him to think aggressively during combat and counter his enemies with the same level of aggressiveness. Due to that, he has been referred to as a brutal genius by both Flame Haze and Denizens.

The Midnight Lost Child
In the series, Yuuji has survived being a Torch for most of the series because of the power of the Midnight Lost Child. At first, he was not aware of its existence, until one encounter with Friagne which forced him to use up his Power of Existence to heal his classmates who were severely wounded by Friagne's attacks. By midnight, the flickering flame which was seen on Torches suddenly burst back into life, much to the shock of Shana and Alastor, who realized that Yuuji is the keeper of the Reiji Maigo. Later on, he has been using the Reiji Maigo on a variety of purposes, especially restoring anything which was involved due to the battles with the Crimson Denizens.

Having the Midnight Lost Child soon became a double-edged sword as the Treasure Tool gained the interest of Bal Masque, whose purpose in the series is to grant Hecate, a powerful Crimson Lord, an endless supply of Power of Existence. Hecate almost succeeded in tapping into the powers of the Treasure Tool, causing the Midnight Lost Child to increase the limit of its Power of Existence restoration. Because of this, Yuuji's Power of Existence now rivals those of a Crimson Lord's.

The two great battles with Bal Masque endangered Yuuji and the Reiji Maigo, but due to the joint efforts of Wilhelmina Carmel, Margery Daw, and Shana, and also due to the abilities of Yuuji himself, he managed to hold on to the Reiji Maigo and fend off Bal Masque's attempts.