Ritsuko Sasaki

Ritsuko Sasaki
Data
Type	Ally
Gender	Female
Family	Husband (deceased) Atsuko Sasaki (younger sister)
Affiliation	Katsumi Kajio XIG
First Appearance	Ultraman Gaia episode 19 "Lilia's Maze"
Latest Appearance	Ultraman Gaia episode 46 "The Attack of the Forest"
Portrayed by	Azusa Sawamura

Ritsuko Sasaki is a character that appeared in Ultraman Gaia. She is Atsuko Sasaki's older sister.

Personality

Ritsuko has a very gentle and considerate personality. She takes good care of her younger sister Atsuko, while also frequently helping and encouraging others. Additionally, in order to avoid worrying those around her, she has a determined and strong attitude when facing crises.

At first, she expressed her goodwill towards Kajio for helping Atsuko, and as the series progressed, they seemed to develop mutual feelings for each other. However, due to the death of her ex-husband, she hesitated to accept her feelings for a soldier involved in combat. Nevertheless, in the end, she accepted her feelings for Kajio.

History

Ultraman Gaia

Photos of Ritsuko and his deceased husband in the past.

In the past, Ritsuko was married to a man who was a pilot in GUARD. However, he died in battle against the Radical Destruction Bringer.

When Atsuko was suspended from XIG due to her trance, Ritsuko silently took care of her at home and became acquainted with Kajio, who came to investigate. After learning that Atsuko had fallen into the Phantom Trap of Psycho Mezard II, Ritsuko cooperated with Kajio to go to the amusement park to rescue Atsuko. They finally succeeded in persuading Atsuko that Lilia's existence was just an illusion.^{Lilia's Maze}

Later, when Ritsuko was recalling memories of her late husband at the location of his death in the bay area, she and Yuki were accidentally captured by the appearing Gokigumon. When Team Seagull went to rescue the victims in the building, Ritsuko decided to sacrifice her chance to be rescued to ensure the successful rescue of the girl. However, as Gokigumon laid eggs in the room, Ritsuko gradually lost consciousness and was in danger. Being trapped inside the building, Kajio also hesitated when attacking Gokigumon, but with the overall situation in mind, he launched a flamethrower with Ritsuko's consent. With the assistance of Ultraman Gaia, Ritsuko was rescued by Kajio just in time before the building collapsed.^{The Demon's Cocoon}

Ritsuko accepts feelings for Kajio.

In the hospital, she forgave Kajio's decision to burn the spider web to save people and accepted him. Afterward, she rested at a hospital in Tsunamura and began to feel hesitant about her feelings toward Kajio.^{Ground-Breaking Tusks}

As their relationship progressed to a certain point, during a date, when Kajio made a promise to "definitely come back," Ritsuko finally established a relationship with him, and the scene ended with a kiss between the two.^{The Attack of the Forest}

Gallery

Ultraman Gaia

Trivia

• According to director Masaki Harada's 2000 interview:
  • Regarding Ritsuko's character development, Harada mentioned that in the original script, Atsuko was initially written to return home under the influence of the enemy’s mental interference and live with her older sister, Ritsuko. However, Harada found this setup questionable. For instance, why would Atsuko live with her sister instead of her parents? Additionally, given that Atsuko felt lonely as a child, had her sister ever cared for her? To address these concerns, Harada added more background details for Ritsuko: her parents had left her a significant inheritance, making her wealthy, but she had become a widow after her husband passed away and was now living alone. This is why Ritsuko wears a wedding ring.
  • While preparing on set, Azusa Sawamura, who played Ritsuko, remarked, "So, I was married? Shouldn’t there be a photo of my husband in the room?" Harada found this observation compelling. Coincidentally, the props department was setting up the scene at that moment, so Harada asked Takehiro Kuramochi’s assistant, Shuji Kagami, to take a Polaroid photo with Sawamura. The photo was then placed in the scene as part of the set decoration.
  • During the filming of episode 30, the original script included the appearance of Kajio’s older sister. However, after discussing with producer Masato Oida, Harada decided, "Let’s not introduce another new character. The team members alone are already numerous enough. We just introduced Atsuko’s sister, and now bringing in Kajio’s sister might overwhelm the audience." As a result, the role of the trapped character was reassigned to Ritsuko.