Anna Sasaki

Anna Sasaki (アンナ佐々木, Sasaki Anna) is the introverted core protagonist of the Japanese animated film When Marnie Was There directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi of Studio Ghibli.

History
Anna was adopted at the age of five by Yoriko Sasaki and her husband. Anna had a happy childhood until she found out that the government sent her foster parents money to take care of Anna, leading the young girl to think that they only took Anna in for money and this lead her to distance herself from her parents. She also preferred to be alone rather than hanging out with other kids.

When we first see Anna she is sitting at a bench in a park drawing, after conversing with an art teacher who had to turn their attention to another student who had hurt themselves Anna appears to suffer an attack of sorts as she gasps for air and tightly hugs her art book. Afterwards we learn that Anna suffers from asthma. After talking with Anna's foster mother, Doctor Yamashita suggests that Anna takes time away from city life and live in the countryside to help alleviate her symptoms of her asthma so Yoriko sends Anna to a rural town where her relatives live.

Appearance
Anna has short brown hair and blue eyes. She typically dresses in tan shorts, blue sneakers, and a two-shades of blue t-shirt. At the Tanabata festival, she wears a pink yukata that belonged to Setsu Oiwa's daughter.

Character
Anna is a caring, curious, and introspective person. She is an artist, and is often carrying around her sketchbook. The drawings shown in the movie are mostly of landscapes, such as the playground in the beginning and the marsh house, and of Marnie. Anna has a low self-esteem, deeming herself worthless, ugly, awkward, a nuisance, and abnormal. Her social anxiety is also very prevalent, causing her to struggle in large crowds and interaction with people, cutting herself away from others. This is usually mistaken for shyness, but social anxiety and shyness are different things. She suppresses her emotions, usually donning on a neutral expression, and is also very prone to emotional outbursts, suddenly changing moods.

Anna Sasaki