Cherry Blossoms

aka: Sakura

"Such a special feeling these petals give to the human heart. Where one story ends, another begins. Such is the way of the Sakura tree. A tale spoken with each bloom."

— Michael Garcia, The Impossible Man

A common symbolic element in anime and other Japanese media, falling sakura petals have several interconnected meanings, depending on who they are falling on and the context thereof. Cherry trees bloom en masse in early spring, usually in the month of April, but the white-to-coral petals shed and rot very quickly and the peak bloom is only a week or two. There is a celebration called hanami associated with the peak bloom, which often entails picnics and drinking with old friends under the cherry trees.

Sakura season is thus a highly visible sign of spring, the beauty of nature, renewal of life, and first love... but can also represent the transiency and fragility of beauty, life (especially a samurai's life), and love. Since the meanings are highly romantic, the sakura motif is especially common in media aimed to the Shoujo audience.

Japanese symbolism also connects cherry blossoms with death; a famous story by Kajii Motojirou speculates that cherry blossoms gain their ethereal beauty from dead bodies buried beneath the trees. Anime will sometimes take this further, putting a body beneath a cherry blossom and turning the petals pink or a deep red. (The fact that they last, at most, two weeks is a more mundane contribution to the symbolism.) When it doesn't show any romantic subtext, it can simply be used for a nice Scenery Porn.

As the Japanese academic year begins in April and ends in March, scenes of graduation from high school or the coming of a new transfer student are often given atmosphere with a liberal sprinkling of cherry blossoms in the air. In this context, sakura evokes both the "new beginning" of spring and the transiency of passing from one stage of life to another.

Sakura also happens to be a somewhat common name for women and men in Japan, and as such, characters in Japanese media will often show up bearing the name. See Cherry Blossom Girl for uses with characters with strong themes of this, and Petal Power for attacks that actually use Cherry Blossoms. The Tragic Rose can be seen as this trope's rough equivalent in western media.

These should not be confused with the similar-looking plum blossom, or meihua, which has similarly symbolic connotations in China.

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Examples

Anime and Manga

• Daimos: When Kazuya and Erika have a Meet Cute in the garden, we see them surrounded by beautiful pink blossom petals. Erika remembers the flowers she saw and later sends Kazuya some similar ones when they're separated.
• .hack//Legend of the Twilight: An early episode sees the characters trying to clear an event by making a (virtual) sakura tree bloom. The trick to it is to figure out that an undead monster ("body") is buried underneath it and defeat it. Of course, things don't go as planned by the event organizers...
• Did you know that the rate that Cherry Blossoms fall is 5 Centimeters per Second?
• Cherry blossoms are more or less ubiquitous in Ai Yori Aoshi. The theme is echoed in the name of the lead character Sakuraba Aoi and in the sakura blossom motif on the obi she almost always wears.
• In Amanchu!, Hikari and Futaba share a romantic moment while they walk through a lane flanked by blooming sakura trees.
• ARIA has the scene in which Alicia and Akari visit the remote part of an island, where a huge sakura tree blooms, covering the abandoned train car under it with cherry blossoms.
• One of the most poignant episodes of Azumanga Daioh involves "flower watching," and showing how three sets of friends (Yukari and Nyamo, Tomo and Yomi, and Kagura and Chiyo) enjoy the spectacle of the cherry trees in bloom in their own ways.
• Another example playing up the death angle: Battle Angel Alita: Last Order has Zekka converting a space-station-consuming giant blob (and presumably the preceding fight's casualties) into a giant cherry tree by karate chopping it. This is instantly labeled a miracle.
• Cherry blossoms are featured in a significant context twice in Beyond the Boundary. The first instance is in the first episode, when Akihito decides to help Mirai kill the youmu in her apartment, thus creating a truce between the two and signaling the start of their friendship. The second is in the sequel movie, Beyond the Boundary: I'll Be Here, where cherry blossoms are part of a heartbreaking scene where Mirai, having lost her memories, is begging Akihito to tell her who she is and what exactly their relationship is with each other.
• Whenever the two sisters in Binbou Shimai Monogatari share an intimate moment—which is several times per episode—the screen gets filled with a flurry of cherry blossoms.
• Invoked twice in Bleach: Captain Shunsui Kyouraku likes the aesthetic of falling sakura, so he has his subordinates drop them on him as he enters battle. And Byakuya Kuchiki's special move is a thousand tiny but deadly blades (or a nigh-infinite number of them, in Bankai), which reflect light to look like sakura floating on the wind.
• Sneakily used in Candy♡Candy, a series that lacks any other Japanese symbolism since it's set in the USA. The grounds shared by the nursing school that Candy attends and the nearby hospital that she works in have several of these, and they just happen to be in full bloom when Mr. McDermott, a Cool Old Guy whom Candy holds an Inter Generational Friendship deal with, passes away in peace after a long illness.
• Case Closed features several examples of this trope, and often as proofs in the cases to solve:
  • The seventh Non-Serial Movie shows that the Hattori family's house in Osaka has a cherry tree in its yard, right next to Heiji's bedroom window. It also involves the blooming cherry trees in Kyoto where Heiji saw his first love, a little girl in a very fancy kimono, many years ago. He spends quite a part of the movie searching hints about who could she be... and it turns out she was Kazuha, his Tsundere love interest, who had been dolled up in a cute kimono by her Kyoto relatives.
  • In the series proper, the "Mist Goblin" case is triggered by Kogoro taking Conan and Ran out to a famous cherry blossom watching spot right out of Tokyo. Then they have to stay at a nearby Buddhist temple, but the lead priest dies all of a sudden... And finding some cherry petals where they should not go is what allows Conan to unlock the mystery.
  • Cherry blossoms are pointed out to be the motif behind the emblem of the National Police Agency. This becomes a plot point in a series of cases focused on Inspector Ninzaburou Shiratori, a person who has been deeply in love ever since childhood with a girl who told him about the meaning of cherry blossoms for the Police and gave him some sakura made out of paper straws, inspiring him to become a policeman. He believes for a long time that Action Girl Sato was his "girl of destiny" (leading to the Love Triangle with Takagi), but later he finds out that his fated love has always been Cool Teacher Kobayashi, and soon they get together.
  • It's made even more anvilicious by the cherry blossom-themed names of these manga chapters/anime episodes, by one of the chapter covers featuring Shiratori and Conan standing under a blooming cherry tree and a slight shower of sakura petals, by the murder victim's name sounding a LOT like the Japanese name of the most popular cherry variety in the country, and by how, right after Shiratori sees Kobayashi for the first time after many years and has his Love Epiphany, Conan and Ai notice that a bunch of nearby cherry trees are in bloom...
  • In the ninth ED sequence of the series, Ran is seen sadly singing the ending song itself while she's standing under a blooming cherry tree.
  • The Lupin III vs. Detective Conan TV special has a very important, plot-wise, cherry tree from the land of Vespania. Underneath it, Prince Gill accidentally shot his mother Queen Sakura dead and then killed himself in grief... (Or not).
  • Cherry blossoms are also seen all around in chapters 921-924 of the manga, which depict how Shinichi and Ran met each other. Their daycare group was named the "Sakura Group", little!Ran made a sakura-shaped name tag for herself (after Kogoro accidentally broke hers) and another for little!Shinichi (after he told her he had lost his own - he hadn't, but he said he did in an attempt to befriend her), and under the direction of their daycare teacher, the whole group goes say hi to said teacher's wife, whose hospital room's window is right next to a bunch of blooming cherries, unaware of the actual reasons why they're doing it...
  • Chapters 850-852 feature a Whole Episode Flashback from Cool Teacher Jodie, who remembers a murder committed in the middle of a hanami (flower watching) day taking place at a Shinto shrine. Agasa and Conan have to work together to unmask the culprit.
• Cat God has Yoshino, the goddess of cherry blossoms. Mayu helps Yoshino get back the blooming ash (that Mayu was responsible for losing in the first place) so the viewing can take place.
• CLAMP are addicted to cherry blossoms (among other Shoujo tropes), using both sides of the metaphorical coin (petal?). The most prominent uses of cherry blossoms appear in Cardcaptor Sakura (where they represent the hope and youth of the main character; however, despite her name, they aren't actually Sakura's motif, which is wings), in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- (where they are once again connected to Sakura as a symbol of hope, but also represent her vulnerability), and Tokyo Babylon/X1999 (where they represent betrayal and death lurking behind beauty).
  • Tokyo Babylon is the source of a popular story where cherry blossoms are dyed pink from the blood of corpses resting beneath them. Sakurazukamori, the 'assassin of the cherry blossom tree' buries their victims under a sakura tree and are 'fed' to it. The tree in return feeds the Sakurazukamori its power. It's likely inspired by Kajii Motojirou's 1927 story called 'Under the Cherry Trees', which begins with the phrase 'dead bodies are buried under the cherry trees.'
• Yasako from Den-noh Coil has cherry blossoms rain down on her while she has her (probably) last phone conversation with Isako.
• In Descendants of Darkness, the bureaucratic headquarters of the afterlife are surrounded by sakura in eternal bloom, representing how time has stopped for the dead and they remain forever as they were in life. Hisoka was also killed (and raped) by Muraki under a cherry tree in full bloom, and when they meet again in the manga, Muraki reminds him of their meeting "beneath the cherry trees where corpses sleep."
• Cherry blossoms are shown falling in the first episode of Elfen Lied.
• The 4th opening song of Eureka Seven is titled "Sakura" and has "Cherry Blossom" repeated in the lyrics. The lyrics of the song is actually symbolic to the ending of the show.
• In the first episode of Excel♡Saga, we see a brief flashback to Excel's high school graduation. The cherry trees are in bloom, and Excel is singing the word "ACROSS" to a tune that sounds suspiciously like the traditional song "Sakura Sakura". (Note that she's using the closest Japanese pronunciation, "akurasu". Say it a few times fast...)
  • In one chapter of the manga, the Department of City Security has a picnic at a cherry blossom festival that the ACROSS girls are working at as vendors.
• Fairy Tail has glowing rainbow cherry blossoms. In one of the omake Lucy comes down with a cold the day before the annual Blossom Viewing Festival where the leaves of the titular tree turn rainbow-colored at night, and is naturally unable to go. Natsu and Happy feel bad for her, so they uproot the tree and send it on a boat down the canal in front of her house that evening, allowing her to see it in all its beauty.
• Early in the first episode of Full Metal Panic!'s anime adaptation, Kaname enters the story showered in Cherry Blossoms, depicting the very essence of love—until she starts shouting at her best friend for setting her up on a disastrous blind date. Likewise, when Kaname suggests that Sousuke, weird as he is, might yet find a nice girl someday, a sudden gust of wind showers her with cherry blossoms (and gives the audience a gratuitous Panty Shot), lampshading their future romance.
• Fushigi Yuugi has the sakura trees in bloom (quite literally) at the end of Volume 1 when Miaka and Tamahome (or Taka, depending on whether you follow the anime or the manga) meet again. As it's the beginning of the Japanese school year, this is justifiable.
• Not just the petals, but the dog himself in Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin. In fact, Benizakura's name means "Crimson Cherry Blossom". When he drowned while tying Mosa to a log underwater, his blood floats up to the surface to take on the shape of a cherry blossom.
• One of the more memorable moments in the Gintama series involves the Yorozuya vs. the Shinsengumi in a rock-paper-scissors match to determine who will get the best spot at their own cherry blossom picnic. Fisticuffs and tequila are involved. (And in the animated adaptation, a Humongous Mecha as well!)
• Cherry blossoms are a common motif in Hanayamata. Naru's first meeting with Hana even involves her watching Hana dance among falling cherry blossom petals.
• Handsome Girl and Crossdressing Boy: In Chapter 40, Hazuki takes Iori on a date to see the cherry blossoms, and makes a pun about being able to see them after spring (since his last name, Akizakura, contains the kanji for autumn and sakura).
• Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Hachiyou Shou has falling sakura petals in the beginning the opening, and a few instances within the series itself. And then, of course, there's the series' ending(s); judging from the picture collection, this also applies to the Kyou endings in the game's remake. After all, what can be more romantic than your favourite Bishōnen meeting you under the blooming sakura trees?
  • The opening theme for an earlier OAV, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de - Ajisai Yumegatari is "Sakura Fubuki" ("Cherry Petals Storm").
• Subverted in Hayate the Combat Butler, where one butler, who uses roses as a weapon, makes dramatic appearances amid falling blossoms, only for the scene to reveal a moment later his master following behind him with a basket of petals, showering him by the handful. Also used straight elsewhere, particularly with Isumi and when Hinagiku and Ayumu are walking home from work in one scene.
• A heartbreaking episode of Hell Girl tells the true story of Yuzuki's past, and we see her bury her mother in a mound of sakura petals. In later episodes, Ai sometimes appears in a flurry of petals.
• When Japan makes his first appearance in the anime version of Hetalia: Axis Powers he has cherry blossoms falling around him. He also occasionally appears with them in official artwork. Justified Trope as cherry blossoms are one of Japan's national flowers.
  • He also invites America to celebrate hanami with him.
  • Japan's gender flipped self wears a cherry-blossom shaped hairpin.
• Honey and Clover uses the annual cherry blossom viewing party as a way to tie the storylines together once a year. Even though the original cast all move apart and have their own plot lines after a point, most of them still attend.
• The Idolmaster: Prominent in the final episode.
• I Want to Eat Your Pancreas: Cherry blossom symbolism is heavily present throughout the story, especially given the main female protagonist is called Sakura and the beginning of the story takes place in early spring, rife with cherry blossoms. After her death in the animated adaptation, Sakura's continued influence is represented through a single cherry blossom petal on her tombstone. Sakura also compares herself to a cherry blossom tree, waiting to meet Haruki (whose name means 'spring') to bloom, in her diary.
• Kaitou Saint Tail once had to steal a painting called "Cherry Blossoms"; the episode was filled with the actual flower.
• These show up prominently in Kamisama Kiss when Jirou and Nanami first meet.
• In Kekkaishi, there is a cherry tree that blooms out of season a lot. Every time this happens, the Kekkaishi have to stop the hordes of demons that come to the tree.
• In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2016), Ilia's recollections of Link are always accompanied by floating sakura petals. Sure enough, their feelings appear to have been transient on both sides.
• The opening credits of Love Hina—a show centered around romance—show the Hinata Inn amidst a grand flurry of cherry blossoms. And the opening theme is "Sakura Saku" ("the cherry blossoms will bloom"), no less. Subtle, it ain't.
• Love Live!:
  • In Love Live!, it marks the beginning of the school year during the first three episodes.
  • Love Live! Sunshine!! uses cherry blossoms in a similar way to the original series during the first few episodes, particularly in the first episode.
  • Ayumu Uehara from Love Live! Nijigasaki High School Idol Club is frequently associated with Flower Motifs, which include cherry blossoms alongside sunrays and roses, referencing her status as a "blossoming" idol.
• Lyrical Nanoha:
  • The final shot of the first season was a flurry of cherry blossom petals flying through the sky.
  • At the ending of StrikerS, the Forwards are brought to a place filled with cherry blossoms from Earth for their graduation party, and Fate explains that the flowers symbolize a farewell and the beginning of a new season.
• The episode "Ichō no Naka no Sakura" of Maria Watches Over Us uses the image of a cherry tree (in full bloom with cherry blossoms, of course) amidst ginkgo trees to describe Shimako's apparent aloofness. Both Shimako and cherry trees are also involved in arguably one of the series' most romantic moments, when Shimako picks cherry blossom petals out of Noriko's hair.
• Mizuki in Mokke at one time gets haunted by ghosts who attack her with cherry blossoms. No, really.
• Mocchi's first attack in Monster Rancher is the Cherry Blossom Blizzard.
• In Mushishi, Ginko has to deal with a mushi-infested cherry tree that's connected to a girl whose beauty inspired several generations of men to keep her alive by grafting her head to other women's bodies. It blooms magnificently just once when they both finally die.
• Falling cherry blossoms (along with dramatic music and lighting) highlight San's proclamations of mermaid chivalry in My Bride is a Mermaid. The petals appear no matter her location. On at least one occasion, either Nagasumi or others have asked where the flower petals are coming from.
  "Where are these petals coming from? We're in the middle of the ocean!"
• My Lovely Ghost Kana: There's a big tree in the apartment's yard. Given the many connotations of cherry blossoms in Japanese culture (death, fragility of life, renewal, passing from one stage of life to another, beauty of nature, first love...), it's highly symbolic, especially as it's in full bloom both when Daikichi meets Kana and at the end of the story.
• Negima! Magister Negi Magi has these on occasion. Several special attacks of Setsuna Sakurazaki also produce these. It also uses them in a somewhat more disturbing way: people who get erased by the Code of the Lifemaker explode into Cherry Blossoms when they go.
• Tony Tony Chopper of One Piece has a lot of cherry-blossom themes (in his attacks and his character), which he got from his father figure, Dr. Hiruluk. Hiruluk was a quack doctor who believed in the power of miracles after one cured him of a fatal disease, and whose dream was to cause cherry-blossom bloom in the eternal winter of the Drum Kingdom. In the end, that dream does come true, resulting in one of the most heartwarming scenes in the series.
• Cherry blossoms are prevalent throughout Ouran High School Host Club, especially in the anime intro.
• Cherry blossoms are the main motif in The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, not unexpected for a romantic comedy anime. They often show up around Mashiro and Kanda or important plot points. "Sakurasou" means "Cherry Blossom House" as well.
• Westernized slightly in the first chapter of Please, Jeeves, the manga adaptation of P. G. Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories. Is it a coincidence that the rose petals in Jeeves's basket start floating on the wind while Bertie is watching him? And that the top half of the next page is devoted to even more of those petals? No, I think not. Inverted slightly by the fact that Jeeves is insulting Bertie's intelligence in that same panel.
• Pretty Cure:
  • During the first episode of Yes! Pretty Cure 5, Syrup is introduced leaning against a wall as cherry blossoms fall, all in shadow.
  • These are the motif of Cure Blossom of HeartCatch Pretty Cure!.
  • In Go! Princess Pretty Cure, Cure Flower's final key is the Sakura Key.
• Tezuka and Fuji's Ho Yay-tastic duel in In The Prince of Tennis anime included cherry blossoms surrounding the courts, and much other imagery. Also featured at the beginning of the series, when Ryoma arrives to Seigaku grounds, and in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue of the TV series.
• RahXephon takes the "body beneath the cherry tree" theme and associates an aberrant blue-leaved tree with a member of a blue-blooded race of humans.
• Early episodes of Ranma ½ highlight the birth of Ranma and Akane's relationship with a near-constant flutter of falling blossoms.
  • Harumaki and Gyouko promised to meet each other and elope when the cherry trees bloomed. When the spirit of Harumaki goes on a date with female Ranma (who reminds him of his old love) he tries to find those same cherry trees, but is devastated to discover a construction site in their place. In the manga, this causes him to finally let go of the past, and peacefully return to his deathbed (he gets better) but in the anime, female Ranma convinces him that the trees are still there, he's just not looking hard enough. Sure thing, they all see the cherry trees and Harumaki is at peace.
    • The gag is, Harumaki and Gyouko have been married for decades, and Harumaki's just incredibly senile (even when he's ethereal), at least in the anime version (I forget about in the manga version).
• In an episode of Reborn! (2004), Dr. Shamal infects Hibari with the 'Sakura-kura' disease at a cherry blossom picnic, rendering him weak whenever he so much as looks at them. The disease comes to bite him in the ass later when Mukuro conjures up an illusion of cherry blossoms during a crucial battle to weaken him, but Gokudera gives Hibari an antidote afterwards. He still hates looking at them now.
• As one might gather from the title, The Rows of Cherry Trees features a main motif of cherry blossoms. In fact, the story begins with an Opening Narration that talks about the Sakura Girls' Institute, how it's located in a place named Sakuragaoka (Cherry Blossom Hill), how it's chock full of cherry trees themselves...
• During the Kyoto Arc in Rurouni Kenshin, Kenshin daydreams of a blood red plum blossoms falling in front of him into a stream. Plum blossoms have a similar symbolism for spring and female beauty and purity. Kenshin's first Tomoe Yukishiro used a plum blossom perfume and they are used as a symbol for her, especially in the OVA.
  • The climactic departure of Kenshin to Kyoto also happens under a shower of cherry blossoms.
  • In the Seisouhen OVA, Kenshin and Kaoru are Together in Death beneath the blossoms.
• Being the mothers of all Aloof Allies, Uranus and Neptune from Sailor Moon are immediately surrounded by pink petals in their introduction. However, they're actually pink roses. Sailor Saturn, after being reverted to child form, actually is associated with cherry blossoms, thanks to her power sphere of death and rebirth.
  • In the first anime, Zoisite is always surrounded by swirling cherry blossom petals when he teleports (and later when he dies, thanks to Kunzite/Malachite.)
  • Another anime-exclusive episode has the Sailor Senshi, Haruna-sensei, Naru and Umino having a picnic under the cherry blossoms, as a part of the cherry tree watching tradition. Then, they're captured by the cherry-tree-themed Monster of the Week. Fortunately, that's also the episode in which Moon gets her first power-up, as with some help of Queen Serenity's spirit she engraves the Silver Crystal in her Transformation Trinket and learns to use its powers better.
• In Saiyuki Gaiden, the cherry trees in heaven bloom all the time and as a result nobody pays them much attention. The symbolism of this and the value of mortal lives vs. eternal ones is played up throughout the manga.
• In Saki, the titular Saki sees Nodoka for the first time as the latter is surrounded by cherry blossoms. Cue the Les Yay.
• Cherry blossoms not only are mentioned in the title of Sakura Gari, but are a constant presence in the plot. e.g., Sakurako was locked away because of her Creepy Child behavior in a cherry blossom watching party among other things, Masataka's younger brother Mitsugu makes many paper cherry blossoms as charms to wish Masataka good luck in his studies, and later Katou snaps over Sakurako's suicide and stabs Souma, who then collapses under the blossoming cherries.
• While less present in Sakura Trick than the title may have you expect, they were there for Haruka and Yuu's first kiss, probably the most important scene in the series.
• Like the games, Sakura Wars (2000) has its fair share of cherry blossom imagery, as one would expect from the name.
• Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei begins with Kafuka Fuura skipping happily through the cherry blossoms, just before she encounters the main character trying to hang himself "trying to make himself taller".
• Shakugan no Shana subverts this. In the first episode of the anime, the wind blows the cherry blossoms around as Yuji walks A street of Miyasaki. What happens next, however, is a nasty surprise - the first Fuzetsu shocking the hell out of him followed by Shana explaining to him about torches and that he's already dead and bound to disappear anytime soon. Ouch. Shana is also surrounded with cinders during fight scenes; it's probably no accident that this sometimes looks uncannily like a shower of cherry blossom petals.
• Karen's wedding dream in the first episode of the Sister Princess anime's second season, RePure is liberally sprinkled with cherry blossoms, as are the opening episodes of the anime.
• Slam Dunk begins when Sakuragi and his friends are starting high school, so the cherry blossoms are in full bloom. At some point, a depressed Sakuragi stares at them and says his heart is still "in winter". And then Haruko Akagi shows up to "defrost" it.
• During Cosmo's death in the finale of Sonic X, she matures to her adult form and turns into a blossoming tree. Therefore she actually is her own cherry blossom.Tails then has to shoot her with the power cannon resulting in her death - the blossoms fly everywhere, surrounding a Superformed Shadow and Sonic as he says goodbye.
• Mew Mint's Transformation Sequence in Tokyo Mew Mew has cherry blossom petals floating by as she's dancing in the wind.
• In Umineko: When They Cry, Bern and Lambda get a sprinkling of these when they show up in the anime's opening.
• Since the series starts in April, plenty of cherry blossoms can be seen in Your Lie in April. They serve as a symbol of Kaori and her relationship with Kousei, as they first meet in a rain of cherry blossoms. Ultimately, they carry a sad or bittersweet at best connotation, since like the short-lived cherry blossoms, Kaori's life was vibrant and short. The way her spirit, or Kousei's hallucination of her — it's never made explicit — dissolves in the final chapter/episode even looks like cherry blossoms being blown away by the wind.
• Vampire Princess Miyu and its spin offs include quite a bit of cherry blossom-like imagery:
  • In the fourth OAV, a middle school girl was found almost dead under her school's cherry trees. She was one of Miyu's classmates, and Miyu accidentally killed her by draining her out of blood right after her Awakening as a vampire.
  • In Vampire Princess, Miyu's expy Yuu gave her best friend Yui Shougakuin a Declaration of Protection under a cherry tree before biting her and drinking her blood.
  • In Vampire Princess Yui, Yui's powers are connected to cherry blossoms and trees. Her Big Fancy House has many cherries in its yard, which Yui dislike because she can't help thinking of the "fleeting life" meaning behind their flowers. At the end of the second chapter, the trees are all that's left from the now destroyed home, which Yui and Nagi have just left.
• In Video Girl Ai, the last chapter of the manga happens in April so the cherry trees are in full bloom. As Youta finally is reunited with Ai, never to be parted, Nobuko, Takashi and Moemi are pretty much showered in cherry petals.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V:
  • The anime starts with cherry blossom petals falling into the scene to attribute Gongenzaka's samurai motif.
  • Starve Venom Fusion Dragon has a carnivore plant motif, but once it fuses with Odd-Eyes Pendulum Dragon, it gets purified and becomes Odd-Eyes Venom Dragon, gaining a beautiful body and a cherry blossom motif to replace the carnivore plant theme.

Asian Animation

• In the Bread Barbershop episode "Soboro Ppang's Crush", Soboro Ppang imagines cherry blossoms falling when he sees his love interest for the first time.
• Flower Angel: In Season 1 episode 20, Xiamu asking Lily if she would like to marry him is accompanied by cherry blossoms falling.
• Happy Heroes: In Season 10 episode 5, a monster drops his gun. Careless S. immediately notices the gun, and the resulting scene plays out like he's literally fallen in love with it, complete with cherry blossoms floating in the background as he's admiring it.
• In Pleasant Goat Fun Class: Travel Around the World episode 14, the gang visits Japan and they see cherry blossoms falling everywhere.

Fan Works

• Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità: According to Italy, one of the beautiful things about Japan is the blossoming of cherry blossoms. Japan subsequently exploded.
  "Just stop it!" This must be revenge for all of the times the blithe flustered him. Well, two can play that game. The red faded from the brunet's cheeks as a devious smile graced his features. "What you said isn't completely true; Japan is an incredibly beautiful place too what with all its grand mountains, ethereal shrines, the elegant bloom of sakura petals in the spring, and so much more. The Pacific Ocean never looked better from the shores of this exquisite country."

  Said country combusted. "I-Italia-k-kun!" Boom. Boom! BOOM! KABOOM!
• The Doctor Who / Sailor Moon fusion Sailor Who: No Restaurant for the Wicked enforces the trope:
  A gust of wind carried a shower of cherry blossoms across both combatants, in spite of there not being a cherry tree within miles.

Films — Animated

• Although it isn't Japanese media, cherry blossoms play an important role in the Franklin film Franklin and the Green Knight. In the story told in the film, the Green Knight finds a magic cherry tree, whose blossoms he uses to bring spring to a village that has been blanketed for far loo long under a deep winter snow. Then, later in the film, Franklin goes on a journey with Snail to find a cherry tree in order to bring spring to their home village, Woodland.
• Spotted in Grave of the Fireflies, and it's a Justified Trope since the movie itself takes place in the Japan of World War II.
• Utilized rather beautifully in Kung Fu Panda. A death scene takes place in a flurry of blossoms, and Po's new life as the Dragon Warrior really gets underway after a pep talk near those blossoms. The blossoms are peach blossoms, not cherry blossoms, but the symbolism is still mainly the same.
• In Turning Red, cherry trees are seen in the city in full bloom for the entire duration of the film which spans late April to at least late May.

Films — Live-Action

• In Chushingura, the cherry blossoms are shown falling at the moment Lord Asano commits seppuku, having been unfairly condemned by the emperor.
• At one point in Elysium, Max and Kruger are fighting in what appears to be a factory with random cherry trees dancing everywhere. Fittingly, Kruger uses throwing stars and a katana.
• The Emperor in August: It's April 1945 and Prime Minister Suzuki is being driven down a road lined with cherry trees. He watches the blossoms falling and murmurs that "There will be no more cherry blossoms if we fight at home." Cherry blossoms are symbolic of Japan of course, and Suzuki is fully aware that with the Americans firebombing Japanese cities and gearing up for a full-scale invasion, Japan may soon be wiped off the earth.
• Used for foreshadowing in The Forbidden Kingdom. There's a big fight scene that has a literal storm of them, and it's a scene where a character ends up dying.
• In possibly the weirdest coolest damn use of blossoms ever, seen in the Japanese garden in Iron Man 2 when Rhodey and Tony battle the Hammer Drones.
• An important element in the climax of The Last Samurai. Katsumoto says to Algren at one point that a man could spend his entire life searching for a perfect cherry blossom and it would not be a wasted life. As he dies committing seppuku on the battlefield, he sees the cherry blossoms in the distance:
  Perfect. They are all perfect.
• Used in Legend (1985), and short gloriously, as a symbol for the fragility of life and the temporary nature of feelings hapiness and safety.
• In Memoirs of a Geisha Sayuri attends a gathering in the Baron's garden which is covered in flowering cherry blossom trees. The Chairman comments that even the cherry blossoms are envious of her beauty.
• At the end of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, the final scene slowly fades falling snow into falling cherry blossom petals, symbolizing new beginnings and Scott's second chance on love.
• Cherry blossoms are seen during the early scenes in Japan in The Warrior's Way. And then the ninjas apparently bring the blossoms with them when they show up in the American desert.

Literature

• Faithful Elephants by Yukio Tsuchiya uses cherry blossoms for their death symbolism. The story is (somewhat loosely) based on the true story of three elephants that were deliberately starved to death at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo during World War II. ^note Fears of an Escaped Animal Rampage if the zoo was bombed during an air raid led to the staff being ordered to kill all animals deemed to be "dangerous", including the elephants. Poison was used in most cases, but the elephants proved impossible to kill by this method, so their food and water were withdrawn and they died from starvation. The final paragraph talks about cherry blossoms falling onto a monument to the elephants.
• Played with in Haruhi Suzumiya when Haruhi (who, unbeknownst to her, is a Reality Warper) makes cherry blossoms bloom out of season for a dramatic effect for their student movie.
• A. E. Housman's "Loveliest of Trees" is a rare Western example, with the speaker musing that life's too short not to go around looking at the cherry trees in bloom.
• Poema XIV by Chilean poet Pablo Neruda has the iconic line "Quiero hacer contigo lo que la primavera hace con los cerezos" ("I want to do to you what the spring does to the cherry blossom.")
• In The Silmarillion, we have the silver-white tree Telperion. When describing the Trees of Valinor in his letters, Tolkien likened the blossoms of Telperion with the blossoms of Sakura trees.
• Older Than Print: The Tale of Genji uses cherry blossoms as a visual motif. Genji and other characters quote poems from the Manyoshu about the beauty of cherry petals. It was already a trope when Murasaki Shikibu wrote it, 1000 years ago.
• In Thief of Time, the monastery of the History Monks is in a temporal pocket whereby it is always spring, and therefore the cherry blossoms are always falling. This is by design, as the History Monks believe this to be the most beautiful time of year. Lu-Tze is quietly annoyed by this, since as a Sweeper he gets to constantly deal with the petals, and the cherries never actually ripen so anyone can eat them. He gets his wish in the end when Lobsang adjusts the season around the monastery as a gift to Lu-Tze.
• In The Zombie Survival Guide, Imperial Japan's attempt to weaponize zombies was codenamed "Operation Cherry Blossom."

Live Action TV

• Best Love: Do Ko Jin takes Gu Ae Jeong to a park overlooking the river, and attempts to tell her how he feels, all while standing under the flowering trees.
• Can You Hear My Heart?: Cha Dong Joo stood beneath the falling petals and used spoken imagery to test the voice-recognition software that will enable him to begin a new adult life hiding his deafness from a hearing public.
• The City Hall: The trees flower just when the corrupt Mayor resigns, ushering a new era for Inju City.
• In Dracula (2013) there is a cherry blossom tree outside Dracula's castle. Though the blossoms don't fall exactly, it's still a potent symbol of life and death considering Vlad Dracul was killed in front of it, and later Mina Murray has a vision of it (triggering her lost memories).
• The Eternal Love has the Chinese equivalent. When Xiao Tan first sees Lian Cheng he's surrounded by falling petals.
• Happens in season 2 of Heroes, in medieval Japan.
• Ice Fantasy: There's a large and perpetually blooming cherry tree in Snowblade City. Its falling blossoms work as a symbol for both love (the romantic love between Ka Suo and Li Luo and the brotherly love between Ka Suo and Shi) and death ( Shi).
• Il Ji-Mae: He met his first love when they were children, saw his father assassinated, then meets up again with his first love as an adult, each time while the trees bloomed. He ultimately uses a painting of a flowering branch as his symbol.
• Lie To Me: The petals fall as Ki Jun and Ah Jung discover their attraction for each other. Later, she cries because the flowers are gone.
• Schitt's Creek: Stevie lures Japanophile David to Elm Valley with the promise of a visit to the Botanical Gardens to see the Cherry Blossoms, a prospect which delights David.
• In Smallville, Clark uses this to set the mood when he's finally ready to propose to Lois Lane.
• Twinkle Twinkle: Han Jung Won takes her mother driving along the cherry tree-lined streets of a park in Seoul. It's a bittersweet scene because they both are aware that her mom has a degenerative condition in her eyes and that she may be blind the next time the trees blossom.
• Ultraman Tiga: The incredibly weird episode "Flower" is entirely based on this. Two aliens called the Manons come to seize Earth so they can admire the cherry blossoms for themselves while GUTS is having a hanami celebration. The resulting episode is a surreal mix of poetry, kabuki theatre, and standard Ultraman fare.

Music

• During the graduation season, Japanese bands will release tons of songs featuring the word "sakura" in the title. A short list: Ikimono-gakari ("SAKURA"), NIRGILIS ("sakura"), Remioromen ("Sakura"), Yazima Beauty Salon ("SAKURA -ハルヲウタワネバダ-"), YUI ("CHE.R.RY"), Kobukuro ("桜"), capsule ("さくら").
  • The biggest one is Naotaro Moriyama's "Sakura". It's sung at nearly every school graduation in Japan.
• From Kayleigh by Marillion: Do you remember / The cherry blossom in the market square / Do you remember / I thought it was confetti in our hair.
• It's hard to find a song by Kagrra, that doesn't mention cherry blossoms.
• Another rare non-Japanese one by Air, called "Cherry Blossom Girl".
• Fall Out Boy invokes this in "Centuries": And you're a cherry blossom / you're about to bloom / You look so pretty / but you're gone so soon, perhaps in contrast to the singer's claims of historical immortality.
• The concept is obliquely used by Hey Rosetta! in "Yer Spring," though it doesn't specifically mention cherry blossoms: While everything is blooming / you know the wilting always waits / to steal away your body / to steal away your brain
• ''Achilles" by The Dead South:
  And when the time calls upon me, I will know where to go.
  The petals will fall past me, as I find my way home.
• Korean Pop Music has its share of songs themed after cherry blossoms. They became popular in 2012, when Busker Busker released "Cherry Blossom Ending", which became a hit. The song goes up the charts in South Korea every spring. It inspired songs by other spring themed songs:
  • Music/IU deconstructed this trope in "Spring Love Not Cherry Blossoms". In this song, she laments how the cherry blossoms make her even more lonely, when she does not have a romantic partner.
  • Subverted in "What The Spring?" by 10cm. The music video starts pretending to be a romantic song about cherry blossom season. The lyrics are actually cursing the flowers, telling couples to break up as the petals fall.

Theater

• In Carousel, tree blossoms are falling when Julie and Billy kiss for the first time.
  Julie: You're right about there being no wind. The blossoms are just coming down by theirselves. Just their time to, I reckon.
• The Love Theme of the 1919 operetta The Royal Vagabond is "When the Cherry Blossoms Fall."

Video Games

• In Ace Combat 5: The Unsung War, there is an ace named Zipang early in the game. Shooting him down gets you an unlockable paint scheme for the F-14D Super Tomcat, which is primarily purple with cherry blossoms all over. The paint scheme returned in later games as an unlockable bonus or DLC.
• Akatsuki Blitzkampf is a game set in a dystopian East Asia and has several characters that resemble people from the Imperial Japan times, so this trope shows up as well:
  • Murakumo's Super in Ausf. Achse has him slashing the foe upwards several times and then stabbing them back to the ground while some cherry blossom petals fall on them. This is a bowdlerised version of the original Super, which is pretty similar save for the lack of petals and the borderline Rain of Blood...
  • Also, the pre-Ausf. Achse game's pre-fight screens had cherry blossom petals raining down on the rivals's portraits.
• Alliance of Valiant Arms had the "TAR-21 Cherry" which was a Tavor TAR-21 assault rifle painted with pink cherry blossoms. Further reinforcing this motif was the fact that the weapon was only available from mid-March to late April, which is roughly the same time that cherry trees bloom.
• Animal Crossing has an annual cherry blossom festival, even if you don't have any cherry trees in your town.
• In the first Boktai game, the Solar Tree recovers gradually as you absorb more sunlight. When you hit the maximum, it becomes a sakura tree in full bloom. Love interest Lita is deeply moved.
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II includes a cherry blossom-themed camouflage pattern for weapons in multiplayer.
• Even Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 includes this trope. Of course, it's way backwards. It's the final Soviet mission against the Japanese Empire. The Cherry blossoms are blooming, love is in the air, and the Red Army is on the march.
• Cherry blossoms are part of Kasumi's motif in Dead or Alive. Her Vs. win icon is that of a cherry blossom head, and she uses the petals as a smokescreen when she teleports in or out of a stage.
• Dragon Age II has a rare Western example during the epilogue. Cherry blossoms scatter across the narrative painting as Varric, the narrator, says that Hawke's companions were all forced by circumstance to leave them, except for their Love Interest. The symbolism is there: the blossoming of love, but also the transience of friendship and the end of one stage of Hawke and everyone else's life. It's also very likely that at least one of your party members has died during the endgame (depending on your choices), so the transience of life is another possibility.
• The first Ensemble Stars! event was based around cherry blossoms, focusing on the second-years having a picnic together among the trees, to symbolise the game's beginning. This is despite the fact that events usually match the season they're set in, but this one ran in late May, by which time sakura season has usually already ended. Later years often also contained sakura themed events, such as Happy Spring in 2019 which revolved around Ra*bits putting on a performance in a garden wearing clothing decorated with sakura petals.
• In Fairune Origins, rescuing the Purple Fairy causes the tundra she was imprisoned in to turn into a sakura grove.
• In Fatal Frame, Kirie and the man she loves meet for the first time under a cherry tree with petals falling around them, although technically it should be winter. Both of them die soon afterwards.
• Final Fantasy:
  • Freya Crescent, the dragoon PC from Final Fantasy IX, has an attack called "Cherry Blossom." It hits all opponents for damage and scatters petals all over the place. It's pretty much hitting all of the above-cited meanings — Freya's deadliness, her search for her first love, and her growing maturity.
  • In Final Fantasy X the cherry blossoms are associated with Yojimbo Aeon. Namely, a blooming tree appears when Yojimbo is summoned, and the petals accompany his dismissal or when performing Zanmato move. Fitting, as Zanmato is One-Hit Kill against everything in the game, up to and including enemies immune to such attacks.
• Fire Emblem:
  • Subtle and easily missed, but if Ignis activates in Fire Emblem: Awakening, it will leave a burst of petals after the hit. Also a nod to how it was written in Japanese with the kanji for flower (華).
    • Similarly, a male Avatar's romantic support with Fallen Princess Say'ri has them mention cherry trees and promise that they will go watch them bloom.
  • In Fire Emblem Fates, the Medieval Japan-inspired Kingdom of Hoshido has the cherry blossoms as Floral Motifs and as a parallel to the Kingdom of Nohr's purple roses.
• Flower has them during the final level when the purification the city is underway or completed.
• Week 6 of Friday Night Funkin' takes place in a generic Japanese schoolyard setting, complete with cherry blossom trees in the background.
• In Fruit Ninja, the Sakura Slicer blade adds a bonus cherry for every ten pieces of fruit you slice. When used with the Cherry Blossom Dojo stage, tiny cherry blossom petals will fall in the background throughout the game.
• Baiken from Guilty Gear generates spontaneous cherry blossom petal showers with almost every move she does.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Organization XIII member Marluxia has an affinity with flowers. As a result, he is perpetually surrounded with an aura of petals (not to mention that his hair is pink and he wields a huge scythe with a pink blade). In RE: Chain of Memories, however, they appear to be rose petals rather than sakura.
  • From the second console game, whenever the "Duel Stance" reaction command is triggered with the Samurai Nobodies, pink petals fall from the sky.
  • Similarly, the Zantestsuken command in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] leaves pink petals in the wake of its strike.
  • In the Symphony of Sorcery world in Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], Young Xehanort is surrounded by cherry blossoms as he taunts Sora. He even snatches one out of the air mid-gloat.
• Occurs when fighting Yakisoba the Executioner in Kingdom of Loathing (The fact that the opponent's name translates to "Fried Noodles" shows you how seriously the dev team takes this trope - or anything at all).
• A gameplay mechanic in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess's fishing hole. Cherry blossoms filling the trees lets you know that the current season is spring, which affects the likelihood of finding certain fish.
• In Lightning Legend: Daigo no Daibouken, cherry blossoms are Mayu Uzaka's Flower Motif. They appear during her In the Name of the Moon speech, her Victory Pose and her Limit Break; her stage is a park filled with blossoming cherry trees; and she has pink hair.
• Another rare Western example: In Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Deadpool gets pissed at the enemy mercenaries because they ruined the cherry blossom festival in Washington, D.C.
• The ending of Mega Man 2 shows Mega Man walking amongst falling cherry blossoms (while equipped with the Quick Boomerang, perhaps to give a reason for the odd pink color scheme of the weapon). He similarly walks among other symbols of death/destruction associated with the other three seasons (driving rain, dead leaves, and snow) during said ending. Anyone's guess as to what it means, though.
• Rockman 7 EP: Fitting for a Japanese hot spring-themed stage, cherry blossoms fall in Spring Man's level, "Viva! Spring World!".
• Metal Gear:
  • Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater doesn't use cherry blossoms, but the white petals in Rokovoj Bereg turn a deep shade of pink after The Boss is killed. It's clearly symbolic, as one petal Snake took with him becomes white again once he lets go of it.
  • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots also doesn't use cherry blossoms (at all), but the graveyard where Solid Snake spends most of his massive introspective angsting has a crap-ton of flowers whose petals are scattered wildly in the beginning when Otacon and the Colonel touch down in their helicopter. They are also falling when Snake is working up the nerve to kill himself and prevent the FOXDIE infectious disease from destroying the world as he knows it. Despite the fact that the flowers resemble daffodils, the symbolism is the same.
  • Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance's first DLC, Jetstream, begins with a cutscene of Monsoon and Senator Armstrong walking through the Japanese-style garden from the main game while discussing cherry blossoms. Armstrong hates them for the same reasons Monsoon says they're so popular, seeing their fleeting nature as a weakness.
• Ōkami is made of these. They're everywhere, but they're all dead until you resurrect them for Experience Points. The various cursed zones are only dispelled when Amaterasu locates a particular cherry tree maintained by the wood sprite Sakuya, known as a Guardian Blossom, and makes it bloom again. At that time, the power of the Guardian Blossom will force the curse out and nature.
• In the gym teacher scenario in the first Ouendan game, cherry blossom petals are falling at the end when his students graduate. A cherry blossom also appears behind the chart at the end of the level if you get the normal ending or higher in any level.
  • In the sequel, cherry blossoms are everywhere. Especially if you beat the game on Insane. The blooming river is actually very similar to a similar river◊ in the location of the developers.
• Palworld: The Grass-type Pal Broncherry appears to be a cross between a Gentle Giant Sauropod and cherry blossoms. Their Paldeck entry also shows that they're very love-themed, producing a pleasing aroma after they find a mate.
• Persona:
  • Both the original Persona and Persona 3 have this in spades. The emphasis seems to be on change, as the original game has it at the main characters graduation from high school. Persona 3 also uses it for the New Transfer Student, the main protagonist, and appears again at the end of the game, in which, s/he dies on graduation day.
  • Konohana Sakuya, Yukiko's initial persona in Persona 4, also has this theme. Especially visible in her finishing move from Persona 4: Arena. Justified: it's named after Konohanasakuyahime, the goddess of flowers and Mount Fuji.
• Pokémon:
  • Most of the grass attacks involve either leaves or vines, but the Oddish line (and a rare few others later) uses an attack called Petal Dance. In the anime and the Stadium games, this filled the air with what are quite clearly cherry blossoms, despite the line being based on the mandrake and rafflesia plants. It wasn't until the fourth generation of games that Pokémon based on the cherry and cherry blossoms (Cherubi and Cherrim) were created, at which point almost all of the flowering grass-types can learn the move...and it still uses pink cherry petals.
  • In Gen. VI the move Retaliate has pink blossoms follow the attacker after hitting the target.
• The Sakabashira Game uses both the life and death meanings simultaneously, as they are featured extensively in the titular Deadly Game to mark the paths where it is save to traverse, while stepping outside of them nets an instant death and Game Over.
• Sakura Wars has the full quota you'd expect from a series with the title.
• The Attract Mode of Samurai Shodown shows falling cherry blossoms along with the opening narration: "A samurai fears not death. Struggles to triumph over evil. And lives for one purpose: TO DESTROY ALL ENEMIES!"
• Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master has falling cherry blossoms for atmosphere during the second part of the Round 6 Boss Battle.
• In Something Else, World 3 in Something Else is covered in cherry blossom trees.
• In the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog game, this is shown during a relatively early cutscene between Sonic and Elise, foreshadowing the much-debated death and resurrection of Sonic at the end of the game. With the Ship Tease and Scenery Porn, one could view it as the frailty of Sonic and Elise's relationship.
• Setsuka's stage in SoulCalibur III made heavy use of the cherry blossom theme.
• Super Metroid: Take a close look at the background in the green areas of Brinstar — you'll notice it's raining sakura petals. This fits with green Brinstar's role as the only more-or-less friendly part of the planet. Among other things, it's home to the only two native creatures that don't try to kill you. Don't get your hopes up for natural beauty elsewhere on Zebes... unless you really like lava and acid.
• In Super Robot Wars Original Generations, DyGenGaur's final attack begins with a cut-in of Sanger drawing his sword while cherry blossoms float by. They come again as DyGenGaur poses at the end of the attack, despite the fact that they should be too small to be clearly visible compared to the Humongous Mecha.
• The Ayame-only level "Cherry Tree Hill" in Tenchu 2.
• Touhou Youyoumu ~ Perfect Cherry Blossom bases its story almost entirely on the "body beneath the cherry tree" myth, and its scoring system is cherry-themed too. The game's final boss, Yuyuko Saigyouji, whose body is buried underneath said tree in the netherworld of Hakugyoukurou, also makes full use of Butterfly of Death and Rebirth imagery as well. Mind you, the tree hasn't bloomed yet (which is a good thing, because that tree is the closest thing to pure evil in the entire series).
• Cherry blossoms are practically everywhere in Touken Ranbu. The loading bar is in the shape of a cherry blossom, a sword's rarity is determined by a number of petals, and when a sword is leveled up to 20 there's petals blowing in the wind behind him.
• In A Witch's Tale, Florin is filled with these; there's even a Fetch Quest where you help two souls in different gardens reunite. When you first see a particular sakura tree, the Mad Hatter talks about their connection to death.
• One of Citan's Deathblow combos in Xenogears has a spray of sakura blossoms blow across the screen after he hits the enemy, which can be very disorienting when fighting in snowfields or deserts
• Akademi High School in Yandere Simulator has many sakura trees in the path leading up to the school and the courtyard. Of particular note is a lone tree behind the school, in which legend has it that anyone that confesses their love to someone under that tree on a Friday will have their love requited. Yandere-chan's goal is to keep any of her rivals from doing that to her Senpai. So far, it is seen that cherry blossoms fall from the tree if a couple confesses, as seen in the Matchmaking example in the alphas, but it's currently unknown if it will make it to the final game.
• zOMG! features Sakura trees heavily in the Zen Gardens area. The intro shows the area's NPC surrounded by falling petals. The area is filled with Sakura trees, and there are even Cherry Fluffs made from the petals. Keeping in theme with the Sakura Tree's connection with death, it is highly advised that lower leveled players avoid attacking them... The after effect is devastating. Gaia also features a cherry blossom-themed monthly collectible, complete with a shower of blossoms.

Visual Novels

• Astoria: Fate's Kiss has Astraeus, a Titan whose magical aura is cherry blossom petals. This frequently signifies to the heroine that he's nearby.
• CLANNAD has enough to cover a whole town, being Key/Visual Arts' spring game (summer being AIR, winter Kanon).
• Da Capo is set on an island where the cherry trees are literally always blossoming.
• ef - a fairy tale of the two. parodies this phenomenon by having childishly drawn pink blossoms begin to cascade all over the game screen when Mizuki starts to go on a lovestruck ramble about Kei (and later, Chihiro).
• When things look especially bleak for Sakura (hmm) in Fate/stay night's third route, Shirou cheers her up by promising to go watch the cherry blossoms with her when it's all over. The Normal Ending to this route has a painful Downer Ending in which Shirou dies, and Sakura watches the cherry blossoms every year for the rest of her life, never quite giving up hope that he'll return to keep his promise. On a slightly better note, in the True Ending he’s saved, and everyone still alive at the end (sans Taiga) goes out to fulfill the promise and watch the cherry blossoms.
• Cherry blossom symbolism appears at a few points in Hakuouki. When Hijikata first appears in the prologue, Chizuru observes that the snow falling around him looks like out-of-season cherry blossom petals; actual cherry blossoms appear during the end of Hijikata's route, in contexts involving both death (in the ending itself, which is also used for the ending of the anime adaptation) and romance (in the epilogue scene between Hijikata and Chizuru). "Hakuouki" is actually written with characters meaning "pale/fleeting cherry-blossom demon" — it's a name given to Hijikata by Kazama, recognizing Hijikata as a true demon after his defeat of Kazama in the middle of a grove of flowering cherry trees.
• In I Love You, Colonel Sanders!, the entrance of Colonel Sanders onto the scene is often heralded by cherry petals floating across the screen.
• In Kanon, where the city seems to be perpetually shrouded in winter, Yuuichi's one wish for Makoto after she dies is that she can find peace in a serene, sunny meadow, sleeping happily with sakura petals floating down all around her.
• Cherry blossoms are strongly associated with Kanzaki Nami of Triangle Heart 3: Sweet Songs Forever. There's also a haremette in Triangle Heart (who reappears in 3) named Sakura.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Capsule Monster Coliseum, Ryou Bakura's stage is a cherry blossom garden, referencing his dead sister and mother from the manga.

Web Animation

• Animator vs. Animation: In the short "Cherry Blossoms", Purple is in the Minecraft world where he is picking up a branch from a cherry blossom tree who then leaves Minecraft to his homeworld, the outernet. It's later revealed those cherry blossom branches are for his late mother, Pink, to whom Purple mourns. Cherry blossoms symbolize love, death, and spring (the season the short was published).

Webcomics

• The gratuitous appearance of Cherry Blossoms during a fight scene is lampshaded in this Adventurers!! strip.
• In this from Dan and Mab's Furry Adventures, Dan strikes a cherry-blossom-enhanced pose in preparation to deal death to Dark Pegasus.
• Joked with in this Fey Winds comic.
• Odd use in Homestuck, Terezi is blinded by staring into the sun while leaves that look like cherry blossoms fall. Probably a rare use in that it's solely because it looks cool.
• Right at the start of Nineteen, Twenty-One and lampshaded.
• In Okashina Okashi, sakura petals are constantly falling in the shoujo manga dimension.
• Used twice in Red String; both relationships crash and burn later on.

Web Original

• Acedemy Sugoi Seiun's second opening
• A strange example in the Blood-Drenched Blossoms short story from Dominion and Duchy. It takes place in a fantasy kingdom where cherry blossoms fall all year around. The story explains why the blossoms are red and also why they spread all across the world of Pandora.
• In The Impossible Man, Michael Garcia made the above quote to Yuki Shimizu during the Cherry Blossom Festival. The entire scene occurred under a Cherry Blossom Tree and symbolized the state of their relationship.
• SCP Foundation: SCP-143 is, basically, a grove of Senbonzakura trees; the edges of the petals are razor-sharp. The flowers are small and therefore can only make small cuts, but lots and lots of little cuts can do a lot of damage.

  Document 143-A: We'll have to pick up the remains when the wind dies down in a couple days.

Western Animation

• Happens in Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo, where Robin and Starfire are enjoying a boat ride during a visit in Tokyo. Real-life cherry blossom trees also signify romantic love.

Real Life

• In 1912, the Mayor of Tokyo sent over 3,000 Sakura to Washington, D.C., to be planted across the American capital as a gesture of US-Japan friendship. By coincidence, the new Congressional session started in March each year at the time, meaning that the trees' bloom matched with the beginning of a new legislative session. However, the 20th Amendment to the Constitution (ratified 1933) changed the beginning of the legislative year from March to January, so by the time of the first annual National Cherry Blossom Festival (in 1935), the interesting symbolism was lost.
  • Nevertheless, March remains one of the two best times to visit the District^note The other is October, on account of the usually-nice weather; Washington in the summer is stiflingly hot and humid, and the winter, while objectively mild, is still cold enough and wet enough to be unpleasant. Conveniently, DC winter typically begins in November/December and ends in March, while DC summer starts in April/May and ends in September. on account of the Festival. It's one of the few festivals that the locals take seriously. Also, the actual blooming of the trees is rarely concurrent with the schedule of the festival.
  • The March/April timing of the blooms do however coincide with major legislative breaks. While most of the American public sees this as yet another congressional vacation, for Congress it's a time to go back and visit with the constituency and discuss the progress of new legislation, so there is some symbolism still.
• In Macon, Georgia, a massive grove allegedly containing 300,000 sakura trees (possibly the largest collection in the world, and certainly the largest outside Japan) is the site of the International Cherry Blossom Festival.
• During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Imperial Japanese Army planted sakura trees on conquered territory, because the cherry blossoms would mark it as Japanese space.
• In the 1920s and 30s, many varieties died out to industrialisation, the Great Kanto Earthquake, and replacement by the fast-growing somei-yoshino. Fortunately, some of these were maintained in nurseries in England, and returned to Japan after the Second World War.
• During the final months of the Second World War, the Imperial Japanese Air Force unveiled the Yokosuka MXY-7, a human-guided Kamikaze missile. The MXY-7 was named the 'Ohka' - Japanese for 'cherry blossom', as once falling, cherry blossoms never return to the branch they were attached to.

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