Miyabi Kagurazaki is a supporting character in the anime/manga series Ai Yori Aoshi. She is a talented businesswoman and Aoi Sakuraba's appointed guardian and caretaker. She spent most of her life looking after Aoi and helping in her uprising, and serves as the manager of the Sakuraba summer house. She is also a manager of a department store owned by the Sakuraba family. Initially, she disapproves of Kaoru Hanabishi but warms up to him over the series.
She is voiced by Akiko Hiramatsu in the Japanese version of the anime and Lia Sargent in the English version, the former of whom also voices Vento of the Front.
Appearance
Miyabi is a youngish-looking woman who stands at a few inches taller than Kaoru. She has long purple hair and blue eyes. Flashbacks show that she had shorter hair when she was younger.
Personality
Miyabi is generally very strict and enforces the rules of the Sakuraba summer house as the manager. However, she shows various signs of being a very deeply compassionate person although the impression is given that she is a tough-as-nails workaholic. She is deeply devoted to Aoi's family as her parents took Miyabi in after her own parents passed away.
Despite her tough attitude, Miyabi has a paralyzing fear of small animals, including, initially, Tina's pet ferret Uzume. However, when Uzume was in danger of dying from being crushed by a gigantic heirloom pendulum clock, all her initial dislike of the animal disappeared and she raced to find a crowbar which she then used to free Uzume, which later became more attached to her than to Tina. Aoi later explains that the ferret could sense the kindheartedness within Miyabi's samurai-like demeanor.
Given her role as Aoi's caretaker, Miyabi has developed a close bond with Aoi. Initially, she dislikes Kaoru and all of his friends. She disapproves of his relationship with Aoi, now that he has severed ties with the Hanabishi, and tries to keep him away from her. However, as the series progresses, she learns to accept him because of his kind personality and the true devotion that he and Aoi have for each other. After she learned the truth from both Kaoru and Aoi, Miyabi accepted Kaoru's reason for leaving the family. Eventually, she admits to Kaoru that her initial disdain of him stemmed from deep disappointment; Kaoru was on Aoi's mind almost all the time when she was growing up, and therefore her expectations of him ended up being set extremely high. When she finally met him, however, he was little more than an ordinary college student who lived in a small apartment and couldn't begin to guess what Aoi saw in him.
Miyabi is also somewhat humbled in the episode where Tina is introduced courtesy of losing in a drinking game with her. She has great respect for Aoi, and shows this by adding the honorific "-sama" after her name (in the English dub, this is translated as "Lady Aoi"). After accepting Kaoru, she adds the honorific "-dono" after his name (translated as "Sir Kaoru").