Rei Sakuma

A self-proclaimed vampire who possesses a wealth of knowledge, but is vulnerable in the morning. He has a strong connection with the comrades he considers family despite being so philosophically profound.

Dotes on his younger brother Ritsu Sakuma. With a mellow voice that entices the audience, his performance is tender yet powerful.

A member of Rhythm Link, as well as UNDEAD's leader.

Appearance
Rei is a tall young man with a good build. He has slightly long, wavy black hair that stops at his shoulders and curves inward, and red eyes. He wears a black-striped, loosely-fit mid-sleeved shirt with a chain around his neck and tucked inside. He also wears dark-washed jeans with a long link chain clasped to the side and red stud earrings.

On stage, Rei wears UNDEAD's uniform, a black jacket with a small fur collar, silver accents and a dark purple lapel. The jacket has a black and gold epaulette with thin silver ropes flowing from it on the right side, as well as gray side strip on the sleeves outlined with silver, and a strap on the lapel tied and clipped to look like a small belt. Attached to the jacket is a long, black/purple layered tail coat with a silver outline. On Rei's left arm is a purple arm-band embroidered with a gold design. Underneath the jacket is a gray v-neck shirt. He wears a black belt with a silver buckle and chain accessory hanging from the loop. Rei wears black jeans with small yellow buttons, and knee high lace-up black boots with silver lining + gold buttons, a flap in the front and a small zipper on the side. Rei wears a black choker with gold designs that resembles a belt buckle, as well as a black pointed cap with silver lines. He also wears black palm gloves with gold lining.

Personality
Rei, at first glance, appears to be distant yet wise, taking upon the persona of an immortal vampire with boundless knowledge. He spends most of the daylight hours sleeping in his coffin, and is very disconnected from the rest of the school, and has a soft spot for his little brother, Ritsu. However, deep down, he is highly empathetic. He loves humanity greatly, yet consistently struggles with isolation and loneliness.

During The War, Rei was best described as a slave to humanity’s whims and his own empathy. During his last year at Yumenosaki Academy, he had become unnaturally distant and closed off as a means of self-preservation. Post-Repayment Festival, Rei finally becomes able to move forward, and consolidate these both extremes into one human, and enter society as himself; not as a god or a vampire high above society.

Most of Rei’s actions and feelings stem from a lengthy history of loneliness and isolation, ever since he was a child. Growing up, his disease prevented him from living a normal life outside and making friends; he instead developed an affinity with books and would read in excess. Even as just a child, he was considered more well-read and more intelligent than most adults.

He is a highly empathetic person, and loves humanity to the point that he cannot ignore a person who is suffering. However, this high emotional intelligence of his led him to his reputation as a “god”. His high intelligence and proficiency in giving advice resulted in him beginning to be exalted as a god-like figure, as adults would approach Rei to have their problems solved by him. Unable to refuse a person in need, Rei took on that emotional burden and began to attribute being a vessel for advice and guidance as a core part of his existence. Rei began to notice people his age fearing him and avoiding him, isolating him further.

By his first year in Yumenosaki Academy, he was disillusioned with the world, and by his second year, he was bored of the world and continually sought out excitement. However, he never was able to distance himself from humanity, and continues to take on burden after burden of helping others. Hyper-aware of his place in the world, Rei felt he had to continually prove himself out of fear. If he couldn’t respond to the constant demands of people around him, he was scared he would be deemed a failure, and lose his place.

And so, he disciplined himself and responded to every demand in order to “affirm his existence”. This need for affirmation ultimately led to his destruction and execution during The War. Every time Rei went abroad, he would make acquaintances, get deeply and emotionally involved in them, and then become loved and relied on by everyone. The emotional burden of catering to everyone’s needs, and then having it be weaponized against him, finally took its physical toll on Rei; resulting in the Rei we see in the !-era.

Rei from then on resolved to change himself, as a means to protect himself. He began to make efforts in distancing himself from humanity, no longer meddling in others’ personal matters—and if he did, he would take a backseat approach. He begins to take on the persona of an “old man”. When asked about it by Tsumugi, Rei tells him that it’s because he's physically weakened from The War. In truth, this new persona of Rei’s grants him the image of feebleness, so people wouldn’t demand or expect things from him. Through this, Rei is able to alleviate himself of the unconscionable burden of his intelligence and prowess. In another attempt to detach him further from humanity as he heals, Rei also strengthens his vampire persona, taking on an inhuman identity and describing himself as more akin to a monster.

In the end, however, Rei cannot fully reject his core values, and remains to crave connection with others. He still continues to meddle with other’s affairs, often without permission, as seen in Setsubun Festival and Romantic Comedy.

As time passes, Rei’s able to rediscover his own humanity through both UNDEAD, and later Ritsu. By the time the Repayment Festival comes around, Rei’s persona as an “immortal vampire” has broken down, and he is able to accept himself as human. Using Keito’s words; time begins to move forward again for him, and Rei’s growth is able to come to fruition.

Etymology
Rei's first name (零) means "zero". “Saku” (朔) in his last name refers to the first day of the lunar month, which begins with a new moon. “Ma” (間) refers to an “interval of time”. Together with his first name, this gives a meaning of a moonless night. The moon motif also compliments the Tsukuyomi imagery that he represents in the Three Oddballs.

Trivia

 * He shares the same birthday as Izumi Sena.
 * Rei is the only one to not have a spoken line in the first verse of Melody in the Dark.
 * He can play the violin, and, like Ritsu, he can play the piano. In a 4koma, it is shown he can also play the drums.
 * He can't stand the taste of blood and takes iron tablets instead and prefers tomato juice.
 * In Wataru's 2020 birthday course it's revealed that Rei uses kaomojis in his texting habits, having sent one to Wataru when telling him he couldn't be at his party.
 * In the CN story, In the Dark, Rei is shown to be so careless he'll forget to eat and drink expired tomato juice without paying attention.
 * In Summer Live, Rei wanted somewhere cool to sleep and ended up sleeping on the cafeteria floor despite Mao's concerns about how that may be unsanitary.
 * In stories such as Blood Banquet and the official 4koma, both UNDEAD and the Aoi twins are shown to look after Rei, who teasingly plays up how helpless he is (being elderly) without assistance.
 * In stories such as Pirates and Setsubun Festival, it is shown that Rei often does make genuine blunders as well and does require physical assistance. However, he acts as if he were merely playing up his old man persona so he is often not taken seriously.
 * Rei states that his coffin, built by Natsume, also doubles as a living space, and by tricking it with excellent arranging skills, he's able to fit in items such as manga borrowed from one of the Aoi twins, gardening magazines, clothes and even a refrigerator full of dry-cured ham. His coffin also has wheels.
 * Madara is Rei's successor.
 * Though it's unclear what exactly being Rei's "successor" entails, in stories such as Shinsengumi Madara references he's learned a number of underhanded means of persuasion from Rei.
 * Ritsu states that Madara is often over at their home for that reason.
 * Rei, despite his vampiric persona, is actually not adverse to garlic. in his !!-era idol story with the light music club he begins admiring garlic bulbs that Koga had grown before Adonis comments on it, reminding himself that garlic and crosses are not something vampires should come into contact with.

Voice Actor Comment
"I felt that this is a character very worth portraying. He speaks like an old man; he has to repeat a grade; everyone treats him like a weirdo; and most of all, he's Dracula. I had a lot of fun acting out this character with so many quirky traits. Sakuma Rei... a great character, indeed." (Enstars!)

"Congratulations on the release of the new chapter of Ensemble Stars!! Basic and the new application Ensemble Stars!! Music. There's still so many doors waiting to be opened, and nothing could make me happier than performing as Rei as he continues to change. Thanks for all your continued support, so strong that it even rivals the way they always keep trying their best!" * (Enstars!!)