Noble Bandit: Tasuki

Tasuki, the fifth of Suzaku's celestial warriors, is a flame-headed, emotional hurricane, known to some of his friends and enemies simply as "Fang-Boy." In episodes 14 and 15 (manga acts 20 and 21), Miaka, Hotohori and Nuriko discover Tasuki in the mountains when they are captured by a group of bandits. The crystal ball that Taiitsukun gave to Miaka indicates that they could find one of the Seishi in the mountains, so Miaka lets herself be taken to the bandits' boss, to get information. (Wacky hijinks, of course, ensue.) The boss turns out to be a grotesque and horny man who nearly gets under Miaka's skirt, when he tells her he has information on "Tasuki." Hotohori arrives at the last minute to save her from the boss's busy hands, and the boss gets ready to use his battle fan ("harisen") against him and Nuriko, when there's another interruption--a tall man with fiery-red hair busts into the room and challenges the boss. He assumes that Miaka is the boss's concubine, so he lightly tosses her over his shoulder and takes off, leaving a pack of phantom wolves in his wake to deal with the boss, Hotohori and Nuriko.

At the mysterious man's hideout, he tells Miaka that he has nothing against her--he's just getting back at the "boss" for taking over the bandit lair when he was away and the old boss died. He explains that the harisen is the possession of the bandit boss and that it can spray magical fire. While he's telling her this Miaka proceeds to strip him from the torso up, looking for any characters. (Mr. "I Hate Women" is not at all amused by this.) It's her turn to tell him that she's the Priestess of Suzaku, and she's looking for Tasuki. The man tells her he knows Tasuki, but before he can elaborate he's interrupted by Kouji, one of the bandits. Kouji calls the man Genrou, and the two dance around comically, happy to be reunited. Kouji explains that the new boss took charge and stole the harisen when the old boss died. Genrou is now determined to fight his way to the top. Miaka agrees to help in exchange for their help in finding Tasuki, and recruits Hotohori and Nuriko along the way.

Before they storm the bandit lair, Genrou shows them his illusory magic, contained in paper ofuda, which he used before to summon the phantom wolves. He tells them that a priest presented them to him on his travels. (Miaka later uses them to summon all kinds of things, mostly food.) A phantom Tamahome--summoned by one of Miaka's screwy illusion spells--smacks around the boss' supporters, and Genrou regains the harisen. Miaka then asks who Tasuki is, and the boss admits that he never knew, that he just made it up. Genrou tells her that he knows Tasuki--he was the old boss, and he's therefore dead. The Seishi reel, and Genrou and Kouji take them to visit "Tasuki's" crypt. En route they find out that a nearby village is inhabited by a woman who can bring the dead to life. Miaka vows to find that person and bring her to revive the bandit boss. Genrou and Kouji watch them leave, and Kouji knows that his friend doesn't want to stay, even though he feels obligated to take his boss's place.

In the village they find the girl who is said to revive the dead, but she tells them that her power fades when she leaves the village, so they go to bring "Tasuki's" body back to the village. On the way they're attacked by endless hordes of zombies in the forest. Things look grim for them, and Miaka is nearly in the hands of the undead, when a searing blast of fire turns all the zombies to ash. Hotohori, Nuriko and Miaka look up to see Genrou standing above them, holding his harisen. He apologizes for lying about himself, explaining that he felt responsible to his boys, and shows them the character on his forearm--he is the real Tasuki. Relieved to have found the fifth Suzaku Seishi, they return to the village and eventually find the sixth, Mitsukake. So begins Tasuki's story, and his enthusiasm and emotion--he is, perhaps, the most emotional and gung-ho of the Suzaku Seishi--for fighting alongside his friends and protecting Miaka (even though he "doesn't like girls").

In episode 20 (act 30) Tasuki shows everyone just how devoted he is to his duty and his friends. In Kutou he meets Tamahome for the first time, but it's certainly not the loving, dedicated Tamahome whom Tasuki's been told about, but the evil, brainwashed Tamahome. Tasuki goes berserk when he finds out that Tamahome physically and emotionally hurt Miaka. Even though he is unable at the time to use his magic, he gets ready to beat the hell out of this seemingly awful and cruel guy. Miaka begs Tasuki not to hurt him, but it doesn't really matter--in a match of fists alone, poor Tasuki isn't much of a match for Tamahome. He beats Tasuki mercilessly and only through a trick by Chichiri, Amiboshi/"Chiriko" and Tama-chan, Mitsukake's cat, do they escape Kutou--Tasuki barely survives, but complains loudly about Mitsukake's poor bedside manner in healing him. Typical Tasuki.

In episode 50 Tasuki gets one last chance to help Miaka and Tamahome. When the fight between Kounan and Kutou reaches its climax, along with Chichiri, Tasuki is summoned to the "real world" to help fight Nakago. Yui, with her final wish to Seiryuu, unlocks the magic of the Suzaku Seishi, and Chichiri and Tasuki (as well as Tamahome) are able to use their powers. Tasuki eagerly takes the opportunity and blasts as much fire as he can at Nakago, but to no avail--it takes Miaka becoming one with Suzaku, as well as the unification of the Suzaku Seishi--to take down the powerful Nakago. When the battle is over, Miaka says her goodbyes to her protectors, and Tasuki and the others return to the world of The Universe of the Four Gods.

In the OVA, Tasuki's personality goes through a bit of an overhaul. He has always claimed to hate women, but Miaka has always been the (necessary) exception. Throughout the OVA he silently questions why Miaka puts up with Taka, as Taka seemingly causes her nothing but pain: she's always crying and upset. In episode 7 Tasuki is overcome with anger at Taka. Tasuki decides that he is the one who can truly make Miaka happy, and he sets out to do just that. He takes Miaka out to dinner and gets her pretty liquored up. In the room upstairs he tells Miaka--who is more and more frightened by Tasuki's behavior--that he, like Taka, is a man, and he deserves to be loved by her just as much. He boils when he thinks of the tears Miaka has shed over Taka, and vows that he will never make her cry. As he advances on her, though, he sees her tears, and wonders if he really understands women (particularly Miaka) at all. She asks him why he's behaving like this, and knows that the real Tasuki would never be so violent and bitter. Taka, after taking a lot of Tasuki's physical and verbal abuse, finally reaches him, and Tasuki violently screams, as if caught in some internal struggle, that he will never betray his friends. A black demon tears free of Tasuki's body, and Taka manages to defeat it. The two of them are profoundly relieved that the Tasuki they had just seen was not the real one. After that Tasuki resigns himself to his own unique kind of love for Miaka, but vows to always protect both of them from harm.