Anastasia

Anastasia (アナスタシア, Anasutashia) is the descendant of Leonhart's Mother, as well as the distant relative of Leonhart and Richard.

Appearance
Anastasia looks similar to her ancestor, Leonhart's Mother, and her distant relative, Leonhart in his human form. She has long black hair that reaches to her waist, a beauty mark near her left eye, and wine red eyes.

Anastasia wears a solid black mid-calf length dress with sleeves that go to her elbows and a dull mustard yellow sarong wrapped around her waist along with dark grayish-brown boots. She can frequently be seen carrying a gardener's sickle in her hand.

Personality
Anastasia is quick to anger. She is known to use threats of violence and physical violence when someone does something that angers her. She also prefers to be left alone. She is known to use the rumors of her being a witch, threats of physical violence, and physical violence to discourage people from being around her or her property.

Early Life
Anastasia is descended from a relative of Leonhart's mother. Because Leonhart's mother laid with a beast, her relatives and those descended from her relatives have faced great discrimination.

Anastasia grew up beyond the outskirts of a small, remote village called Shidai. When she was young, Anastasia and her family were treated harshly by the people in Shidai due to the fact that they are descended from one of Leonhart's mother's relatives. The discrimination and ostracization was so harsh that Anastasia's parents eventually fled the area, leaving her behind. After her parents left, the villagers would call Anastasia a witch, and they would not approach her.

Ocelot was the one exception. When they were children, Ocelot approached her to ask her if she was really a witch. Anastasia became mad by this question, and she smacked Ocelot. Ocelot tried many times to apologize to Anastasia, but she did not take kindly to his apologies. Eventually, thanks to Ocelot's daily visits, they became friends.

One day, Ocelot told Anastasia that he intended to become stronger. He asked her if she would marry him in the future. She rejected him, and claimed that she didn't need anyone else. Soon after that conversation, Ocelot left the village. She was deeply hurt by this, as she believed that he rejected and abandoned her.

At some point during her childhood, Anastasia spent many years learning to read beastkind script through independent study. She had intended to learn beastkind script so that she could decipher a journal left behind by Leonhart's mother. She had wanted to find out if she was part beastkind like everyone said she was. However, she gave up halfway through deciphering the journal because she realized that knowing her origins wouldn't change the way the Shidai villagers treated her. As a result, she was only ever learned enough beastkind script to read about half of the journal.

Adult Life
Anastasia is unable to visit Shidai as an adult because the villagers believe that, she is an evil witch, who intends to use sorcery and poison to kill them. She is frequently harassed and ostracized, by them.

Plot
Sariphi first meets Anastasia when she is sent to Shidai to look for a woman that can read the writing of beastkind. Anastasia spots Sariphi walking around her house and immediately tries to attack her. Bennu defends Sariphi by pinning Anastasia on the ground, and, when he does, Sariphi realizes that Anastasia looks extremely similar to Leonhart when he is in his human form. Sariphi asks Bennu to release Anastasia. She then introduces herself and asks Anastasia for her help in deciphering something written in the beastkind language. Anastasia refuses to introduce herself, only referring to herself as a witch. She tells Sariphi that she does not intend to help because she wants nothing to do with beastkind. She tells Sariphi to leave, and not come back.

Sariphi refuses to give up, and she returns the next morning to ask for Anastasia's help for a second time. Despite Sariphi's attempts, Anastasia completely ignores her. Instead, she goes about her normal daily routines.

During a rainstorm that day, Sariphi sees two men from the Shidai village attempting to ruin Anastasia's garden of edelweiss flowers. She tries to stop them from destroying the garden, but she is quickly overwhelmed. Anastasia appears to defend her garden. She tells the villagers that she intends to protect the garden using deadly force if they ever return to it.

Sariphi thanks Aanastasia for her help. Anastasia tells Sariphi that she did not plant the edelweiss flowers, but instead tended to them so that more of the flowers would grow in the field. She also introduces herself to Sariphi.

Sariphi ends up getting sick from the rain. So, Anastasia allows her to rest and recover in her house. While Sariphi is resting, Anastasia overhears Sariphi telling Bennu that she should contact Ocelot soon. Anastasia demands to know who Sariphi is talking about, and Sariphi describes him. Anastasia then tells Sariphi her memories of Ocelot, and why she thinks Ocelot betrayed her.

Sariphi tells Anastasia that she doesn't believe that Ocelot truly intended to abandon her as a child because he asked for her personally. Sariphi insists that Anastasia go with her to see Ocelot. Anastasia confesses that she is too scared to go see him because she is afraid that he will reject her again. Sariphi promises to help wallop Ocelot if he rejects her, and Anastasia agrees to go with her. They decide to leave once Sariphi's fever goes away.

At night, Sariphi sees Anastasia reading a journal left behind by Leonhart's mother. Sariphi asks Anastasia if she can have the journal. Anastasia agrees to give it to her since she has no longer has any use for the journal.

Soon after this conversation, a mob of Shidai villagers come to attack Anastasia. They set fire to her house to try to force her to come out. Anastasia offers to go outside to distract the mob long enough for Sariphi to get away. Sariphi tries to stop her, but Anastasia insists that she should return to "that precious person of hers. As Anastasia leaves her house, Ocelot shows up and orders the mob to disperse, claiming that there is no witch who lives in the house.

Anastasia and Sariphi leave with Ocelot. While they are traveling, Ocelot explains to Anastasia that he had always intended to come back for her. He even made sure to send her letters, but the Shidai villagers had keept his letters away from her.

When they arrive in Maskvina, Ocelot takes them to a room in the castle. He asks them to wait there while he informs the king of their arrival. While waiting, Anastasia asks Sariphi if she is nervous about meeting the king. Sariphi tell her that she is not nervous because she is not scared of the king.

Sariphi and Anastasia part ways soon after Sariphi's meeting with the king. Before Sariphi leaves she asks Anastasia why she started to learn beastkind script if she wants nothing to do with beastkind. Anastasia tells her that she originally wanted to know if it was true that she was part beastkind. However, she lost interest halfway through learning the beastkind language when she realized it wouldn't change how the Shidai villagers treated her.

Ocelot
Ocelot and Anastasia first met as children. Ocelot was the only person in the Shidai village that was willing to talk to her. Despite this, he did not make a good first impression, and Anastasia ended up becoming angry with him and hitting him for asking her if she was a witch. Anastasia's reaction to Ocelot's question did not deter him, and he ended up visiting her every day. Over time, Anastasia grew to trust him. Later on, Ocelot asked Anastasia if she would be willing to marry him in the future when he was stronger. Anastasia initially refused him claiming that she did not need anyone else's help.

Ocelot left Shidai shortly after that conversation, and it left Anastasia devastated. She believed that Ocelot rejected and abandoned her because she was a witch. She spent over ten years resenting him for leaving her alone in Shidai.

They meet each other again as adults when Ocelot comes to get Anastasia from her home. When they see eachother for the first time in over ten years, Ocelot notices that he is much taller than Anastasia and asks if she got shorter. This question makes Anastasia angry, and she hits him and tells him that he has grown taller since they last saw each other. Ocelot then apologizes for leaving her. He explains that he never meant to hurt her, and that his many letters telling her this had been kept from her by the Shidai villagers.

Ultimately, Anastasia realizes that her family's history, her past, and the rumours about her will never change how Ocelot feels or thinks about her.

Quotes
"Also, if you ask me, I'm not 'taking care of you'. I just can't have you dying and rotting in front of my house. Digging graves isn't easy either"

"To them, I'm the 'witch' from a repuslive clan."

"I have not intention of involving myself with beastkind anymore"

"After all, no matter what I am you know that fool won't listen to a word I say anyway."

Trivia

 * Yū Tomofuji initially had difficulty drawing Leonhart in his human form while she was drawing Anastasia.
 * There is an anime only scene that shows Anastasia translating the letter from Leonhart. In the manga, the translation is unnecessary as the letter has already been given to the King of Maskviana.

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アナスタシア Anastasia Anastasia อนาสตาเซีย آناستاسيا