Tanaka

"PLEASE, DON'T TELL ANYONE..."

This article contains spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Overview

Gallery

Tanaka
Japanese	田中
Rōmaji	Tanaka
Biographical Information
Status	Alive
Physical Description
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Height	~190cm
Eye color	Gray
Hair color	Blonde Black (roots)
Professional Information
Occupation	Folklorist
Affiliation	"Company" Case AA-104
Portrayal
Japanese VA	Chikahiro Kobayashi
English VA	Daman Mills
Debut
Manga	Chapter 9
Novel	Book 1, Epilogue
Anime	Episode 1

“	Something's come down from the mountain. My guess is it's hiding out somewhere in some other form. Well... How about we smoke it out?	”
—Chapter 13

Tanaka (田 (た) 中 (なか) , Tanaka^?) is one of the Characters in The Summer Hikaru Died, written and illustrated by Mokumokuren.

Overview

A man who works for a certain Company. His job is to locate Something that originates from The Other Side. His personal motives in the matter are unclear.

Appearance

Tanaka is a man of tall stature, nearly 190 cm tall (6'3"). He has gray eyes and blonde hair with black roots, and light stubble on his chin. He wears sunglasses, dark green sneakers, black pants, and a slightly dirtied white button-down shirt over a black undershirt. He also wears a dark green fanny pack facing his back and keeps a pen hooked on his shirt pocket. There is a patch of scar tissue on the right side of his neck.

Personality

Tanaka has a carefree, aloof demeanor. He can keep up friendly conversation, but both Asako and Yoshiki describe him as somewhat strange.^{[citation needed]} As demonstrated in his interactions with impurities, Tanaka is decisive and able to keep a level head during intense situations. He must have reasonably strong intuitive judgement, since his line of work requires him to make assumptions about impurities that he can't actually perceive himself. Although Tanaka dislikes the Company he works for and doesn't want to let them have their way with "Something", his unexplained personal motivations related to this particular job drive him to take his work on Case AA-104 seriously. It matters to him to the point that he is willing to damage or sacrifice parts of his body for it.

History

Due to a spiritual impairment he suffered a long time ago, Tanaka is now blind. Upon medical examination it was found that there is no physiological reason for his blindness. However, he is more or less able to see using a pair of sunglasses provided by his company. He at some point sustained a spiritual injury when he became too "absorbed" in his work, which resulted in the scar on his neck that occasionally erodes into his body. Around twenty years in the past, he acquired a hamster that he uses for work.

Spoiler Warning: This dropdown contains plot details for Chapter 41.

Abilities

Hamster

Tanaka has no spiritual abilities. Instead, he must draw conclusions based on physical signs that impurities are present. One such example is the hamster that Tanaka carries with him on the job. The hamster contains the soul of a human child, which allows her to sense things from The Other Side (although her consciousness is still that of a regular hamster). When impurities are near, she becomes active or makes noise, which alerts Tanaka to their presence.

Hunting Dog

Tanaka can create a curse that makes use of an impurity that he likens to a Hunting Dog (猟 (りょう) 犬 (けん) , Ryōken^?). The Hunting Dog is attracted to beings such as the Great Brain-snatcher and will seek it out even over the course of days. It can then transfer all the memories it has gained during its search to Tanaka by running through his body.

Barriers

Tanaka can erect barriers that protect against impurities and those who are mixed with impurity, preventing them from entering the established "safety zone". However, setting the barrier required one of his organs, so he cannot do it repeatedly. Although it is strong enough to prevent "Hikaru" from entering the protected area, doing so caused significant damage to the barrier.

Communicating with Impurities

Since Tanaka lacks spiritual abilities, he normally can't communicate with impurities. However, he can use a special vocalization method that allows him to speak to them directly, although he cannot hear their replies. The vocalization is represented by a black speech bubble.