Nao Sadatsuka (
Appearance
Nao is of average height and has a Sadako-like appearance, due to her very long jet black hair that flows down to her lower back. Her long flowing bangs commonly covers her right eye, even when she ties her hair back whenever she cooks.
Despite her creepy appearance, she wears a neat standard school uniform during school hours and wears a standard chef's uniform whenever she cooks. Compared to the rest of the female cast, Nao's red eyes are much more sinister, lacking the luster and shine of normal female eyes. Instead, her irises are much more pronounced. During her "exorcism," her long hair gained much more luster and her eyes changed to the standard female eyes while her face became more normal.
In said "exorcism" mode, her creepy and Sadako appearance is removed entirely which causes Nao to become much more beautiful and attractive, possibly (and ironically) making her one of the most attractive girls in the Academy if she were to stay this way.
Two years prior to Sōma Yukihira's entrance into Tōtsuki Culinary Academy, when Nao challenged Hisako Arato to a Shokugeki, her hair was much shorter, at about shoulder length and had an umbrella shape to it. Her bangs still covered her right eye.
Personality
Nao in a nutshell
Nao holds a deep harboring affection towards Erina Nakiri. Nao would do anything to get close to Erina, including sending her 30 letters daily or watching her from afar using binoculars. As a girl who has a strong obsession, her pride and desire to fulfill her fantasies often clouds her judgment. In her mind, Nao labels anyone close to Erina as her "mortal enemy". She will not hesitate to crush her "love rivals" and place herself as Erina's personal associate, even if that person is close to Erina, such as Hisako Arato. Her jealous aura is so strong that it even unnerved the academy security guards. Nao later extends her obsession to Hisako and shows the same admiration as Erina, to the latter's dismay.
She also appears to be a masochist, wishing to have Erina insult her and only her. Originally, Erina was her only target of affection, but after tasting Hisako's Autumn Election Preliminary dish, Nao developed affections for Hisako as well and calls her "Hisako Onee-sama".
Nao has gained a profound amount of respect for Sōma due to their shared interests in making food that are disgustingly delicious. This respect was so great that she was able to forgive Sōma for spending a whole week with Hisako during the Stagiaire period.
History
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Nao, 2 years ago during her middle school Shokugeki
The origins of Nao's obsession with Erina is unknown, but has existed at least since two years prior to the story. Approximately two years before Sōma's transfer into the academy, Nao challenged Erina's secretary, Hisako Arato to a Shokugeki for the right to become Erina's secretary in a losing effort. As a result from this defeat, she was not allowed to come within 50 meters of Erina. She worked around this by staring at her idol from a distance using binoculars and continuously sent 30 letters each day to Erina. While enduring her humiliating defeat, Nao harbored a deep grudge against Hisako.
Plot
Life at the Academy
Main article: Introduction Arc
Much of Nao's Tōtsuki high school life is unknown, but it is shown in the anime that she was present during Sōma Yukihira's speech during the orientation ceremony. However, she did not particularly care for his speech as her attention was focused only on Erina. Because Nao was still present in Tōtsuki during the participant announcement for the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election, Nao was among the 628 students to have survived the Tōtsuki Friendship and Rapport Training Camp.
The 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election
Main article: Tōtsuki Autumn Election Arc
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Nao's jealousy boils as she sees Hisako walk beside Erina
Several months after the camp, Nao was chosen as one of the 60 participants for the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election. She was placed in the "B" block. While everyone else was checking the names for the election, Nao sat in a tree and looked Erina from afar with her binoculars. As always, Nao praised Erina for her beauty and her desire to be punished by her. In the same view,3 however, she also saw Hisako beside with her. Infuriated by the scene and jealousy in her mind, Nao vowed herself to defeat her in the Autumn Elections in order to get close to Erina, while begin to laugh hysterically. Her laughter caught the attention of the academy security guards, but they were deterred by her dark aura.
Tōtsuki Autumn Election: Preliminary Round
See also: 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election
After the summer break where she spent choosing her recipe for the preliminaries, Nao joined the 59 other students and listens to Nakiri Senzaemon's speech about the many past Elite Ten members who battled in the very halls they are standing in. Senzaemon officially started the challenge and Nao quickly headed to the "B" Block to begin the preliminaries.
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Nao during the Preliminaries
As the Preliminaries began, Nao set to work on her dish for the curry theme. As she prepared her dish, she watched Hisako from afar with spite, muttering to herself that her time with Erina is nearly up. At that time she was making a roux, however it had an odd black color to it rather than the standard yellow, white, or dark brown color which caused all the spectators to feel as if they were watching witchcraft instead of cooking. As judgement time finally came, Nao was among the first to present her dish, a Jet Black Curry Laksa. The judges were initially shocked by the putrid aroma of her dish which smelled like an unwashed toilet to Sendawara Orie, the head judge of the "B" Block. She explained that she used squid ink to give the roux its strange black color and the basis of her dish comes from Kusaya, a dried fish known for its strong bad smell, which accompanied the Laksa noodles base, completing her dish. The smell alone nearly caused her to fail the challenge if not for Orie's insistence on fulfilling her role as a judge. Despite her initial wariness of the dish, to her surprise, Orie found it delicious and all of the other judges began to try the dish. As each of the judges tasted her dish, even though the horrid smell is powerful, the taste of the dish was enhanced by the strange ingredients which eventually overwhelmed the aroma. Much to the surprise of the audience, Nao was given an 84 for her score, the first person in the "B" Block to achieve a score over 50 at that point. Nao was delighted over the result as she hoped that Erina will one day try her dish.
Nao Vs. Hisako
As she snapped out of her delusion, she realized that the next person to present their dish is none other than her rival, Hisako, whom she declared that she now has the chance to defeat in public. Nao reminded Hisako of their previous Shokugeki and promised to defeat her here in the preliminaries and rectify her defeat all those years ago. Unfortunately for her, Hisako's dish invigorated the judges and overpowered the impression on Nao's dish.
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Nao's exorcised form
Still unconvinced, Hisako handed her a sample of the dish. As Nao ate the dish, her sinister thoughts slowly began to fade away, as if being exorcised. Nao temporarily assumed a much more pure and innocent appearance before returning to her creepy persona. Though Hisako garners a 92, beating her score and becoming the leader of the block, Nao oddly developed a crush on Hisako as well. For the rest of the preliminary judging, Nao remained in a daze, muttering "Hisako Onee-sama" to herself as her score eventually became the 8th highest score. Hence, she is not qualified to advance to the Main Tournament.
Tōtsuki Autumn Election: Main Tournament
On the second day, Nao appeared within the crowd and cheered for Hisako, much to everyone's speechless reaction.
Moon Banquet Festival
See also: Moon Banquet Festival Arc
Nao excited by Hisako touching her
On the last day of submissions for setting up a booth at the Moon Banquet Festival, Nao found herself in competition with Don RS for a location on the Main Avenue, and was challenged by Ikumi Mito to a Shokugeki, which she accepted. Erina soon arrived, followed by Hisako, who tried to direct Nao away from Erina. This resulted in Nao expressing glee that Hisako had touched her, much to Hisako's confusion.
Nao ultimately lost the Shokugeki, but still managed to run a fairly popular stall in a corner of the Central Area, where she served kusaya. As she predicted, her stall was a hit (mostly with older people who wanted to eat her food with beer, which puzzled her), although some expressed annoyance at the smell's spread over the area. While cleaning up on the second day, she ran into Sōma Yukihira and Megumi Tadokoro, who were taking their Chinese Cuisine cart around the grounds and offering free samples of their items. Nao and Sōma quickly bonded over their shared love of disgusting foods and promised to taste-test each others' creations in the future (which deeply concerned Megumi). She observed Sōma's marketing strategy and complimented his ability to improvise Fake Dan Zai Noodles out of the ingredients for Hujiao Bing, before happily consuming one of the buns herself.
Promotion Exams
See also: Promotion Exams Arc
Upon learning of Rindō Kobayashi's specialty in rare ingredients, such as insects and alligators, Soma excitedly thought about having a talk with her and Nao about their respective ingredients. The thought of the three of them together terrified those around him.
Cooking Style
- Boiling Dishes - Nao is an expert in the crafting of boiled cooking. When she cooks, if one is watching her do so, it is said that her cooking preparation resembles witchcraft.
- Foul-smelling Ingredients - Nao's most notable trait is her preference in using ingredients with strong, often stinky, odors, such as kusuya and squid ink. As a result, her dishes have extremely unpleasant smells. However, despite the horrid smell, her dishes have a unique flavor that actually taste delicious. Nao's main cooking philosophy is that beautiful appearing dishes hold no artistry compared to the hidden beauty behind her strange dishes.
Dishes
Original Dishes
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Jet Black Curry Laksa
- Jet Black Curry Laksa - Nao's very first dish shown in the series and was introduced in the 43rd Annual Tōtsuki Autumn Election. A famed Southeast Asian dish, this is a one of a kind that makes you think twice. Made exclusively by Nao Sadatsuka, this dish is infamous for using the Kusaya salted fish method and nao decided to use mahi mahi and flying fish to create the incredibly awful stench of the dish. Behind the horrible smell of the dish however, is the surprising delicious taste as it is made with Laksa noodles that are made of coconut milk, together with other unsuspecting ingredients. Eat if you dare and you have been warned...
Cooking Duels Record
Official Shokugeki
| Rivals | Culinary Theme |
Dish | Stipulations | Results | Record (W-L-D) |
|---|
| Hisako Arato | Unknown | Unknown | Win: Hisako will give her position as Erina's new secretary.
|
Loss - Nao must not come within 50 meters of Erina and Hisako will maintain her position as Erina's secretary. | 0-1-0 |
| Ikumi Mito | Unknown | Unknown | Win: The Don RS would have to give up their booth to Nao for the Moon Banquet Festival.
|
Loss - The Don RS keep their booth for the Moon Banquet Festival. | 0-2-0 |
Etymology
- The name Nao is written in katakana (ナオ), which has no special meaning. However, when written in kanji (直, 奈央 or 奈緒), it could possibly mean:
- 直 - "straight, direct".
- 奈央 - "apple tree" (奈) (na) and "center" (央) (o).
- 奈緒 - "apple tree" (奈) (na) and "thread" (緒) (o).
- Nao's surname Sadatsuka means "upright, chastity, constancy, righteousness" (貞) (sada) and "mound, hill/hillock, heap, knoll, pile, drift, stack, bank" (塚) (tsuka).
Trivia
- In Episode 51: Onward on the Totsuki Train, Nao and Miyoko Hōjō are shown to pass the first exam with the Rebels. Whether this means she is part of the rebels opposing Central, but in secret, is unknown.
- A "purified" Nao (white) bears a striking resemblance to Gin Akutagawa (civilian/casual) from series Bungou Stray Dogs.
References
| Isami Aldini • Takumi Aldini • Daigo Aoki • Hisako Arato • Ken Dakekanba • Madoka Enomoto • Akira Hayama • Miyoko Hōjō • Shun Ibusaki • Takumi Ishiwatari • Urara Kawashima • Ryō Kurokiba • Zenji Marui • Subaru Mimasaka • Ikumi Mito • Alice Nakiri • Erina Nakiri • Nao Sadatsuka • Ryōko Sakaki • Yua Sasaki • Shōji Satō • Megumi Tadokoro • Yūki Yoshino • Sōma Yukihira |