Natsuhiko Taki

A man with an odd and rather foolish attitude, and is apparently quite oblivious to the silliness of his actions. He was first introduced in the series when Sena met him in the San Antonio stadium (Taki was trying out for the team there). He has a habit of opening his jacket to bare his pecs, making weird poses like rising up his leg 180 degrees and is often portrayed as a ladies-man. His dream is to become a pro football star, even though he didn’t know the rules, nor the positions, stating that he was an all-around super player. He couldn’t play American Football in Japan; he wasn’t qualified, so he went to America to apply for a position in the San Antonio Team by taking all the savings in his house to fly to America. He failed; however, the coach did praise him on his potential and asked him to try out again after gaining some experience in high school football. Sena passed the pro-tryouts as Eyeshield 21, (though he and the Taki siblings left before his name was announced). Sena, feeling sorry for him, sensed that Taki had potential and that his talent shouldn’t be wasted, asked him to join the Devil Bats back in Japan as a Tight End. He manages to qualify as a Devil Bats team member after undergoing the rest of the Death March.

Although he’s quite the clueless, narcissistic fool, he is undeniably a very good (not to mention useful) player in the team. His personality is noted to be gentlemanly, but he’s still an idiotic, competitive showoff. Taki gets serious for the first time in the game against Bando and manages to out-perform Akaba. He also began wearing his hair in a samurai topknot. However, after getting a tiny bit of praise, he reverts back to his usual idiot persona.

Monta harbors an intense dislike towards Taki; in junior high, while Monta was taking an entrance exam, Taki approached Monta and asked him whether a book he found earlier, Son Son (with a picture of a chimpanzee on it) was Monta’s, since he thought that Monta looked like a chimp. Taki’s flexibility is also comparable to Monta’s, further deepening their rivalry.

He always addresses Suzuna as “My Sister.” His catchphrase is usually a loud “AH-HA-HA!” and exclaiming that he has a 150% success rate at anything he does. This usually leads to the Ha-Ha brothers being irritated at him.