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| Taisuke Sawanaga | |
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| Blood-Type | O |
| Gender | Male |
| Height | 172cm |
| Hair | Brown |
| Eyes | Teal |
| Affiliation | Sakakino High School Aoi Gakuen (formerly) |
| Occupation | High School Student |
| Family and Relatives | Ayumu Inou (father) Mrs. Sawanaga (mother) |
| Seiyuu | Yoshirō Matsumoto (credited as Hikage Hinata in the games) |
Taisuke Sawanaga is a friend of Makoto's who envies his success with the ladies. In spite of being somewhat of a lecher, he seems to be relatively good-natured
Appearance
Of the entire cast Taisuke's nearly the tallest character, surpassed only by Nanami by a single centimeter. He's generally seen wearing the school uniform and his casual attire consist of a grey shirt and blue pants. In the pool he's seen wearing a red speedo.
Personality
He's generally seen as a loud and relatively good-natured friend of Makoto and serves as a comic relief character with humorous outbursts and crying because of his misfortune, especially when it comes to his lovelife - or lack thereof. Taisuke's in the movie club of Sakakino School.
He is very perverted, rather shamelessly ogling the girls when oppertune moments appear, such as in the Anime when the girls are all in swimsuits.
However, later in the game it's shown he has a habit of pressuring his girlfriends into having sex and does not care if they don't want to - he doesn't seem to understand the concept of rape, since he seems to think whatever he does is normal, including raping Kotonoha and Yuuki. However, it's also implied this is because he is simply too dense about reading people to understand the difference between reluctance/hesitancy and outright fear/panic. In the case of Kotonoha, it's more understandable because he was outright told by Otome Katou to do so, lying to him by saying Kotonoha was simply anxious and he should be forceful to break her out of it - thus making his subsequent rape of her an unwitting act. This incomprehension also lends itself to his having no qualms about swinging, as shown in Hikari's route, though it seems he only does so if all parties - both his girlfriend and the other girl and her boyfriend - agree as well.
While his denseness and bluntness in regards to sex and physical relationships are significant hurdles, he possesses redeeming qualities in that he can be a good boyfriend, thoughtfully asking those he dates what they want and if he can do anything for them. He even shows he could possibly husband to Hikari in the To My Children Bad End (though this would be well into the future when he has potentially matured somewhat). It's also worth pointing out that, for all his forcefulness and perverseness, Taisuke tends to only do these things with someone either when he's in private when they both agree or plan on it, or when the other person is his girlfriend. He also, should his girlfriend break up with him for whatever reason, take it rather amicably and, while often whishing to get back together with them, will respect their decision.
Despite his apparent idiocy when it comes to intimacy and reading someone's moods, Taisuke ends up being something of an idiot savant when it comes to reading people's feelings toward others - the hight of irony, considering he fails miserably when he's the one interacting with someone, which is a deficiency he arguably shares with Sekai. He shows this when telling Makoto that he should do what he feels is right if the latter is having trouble deciding on who he likes, advising him that he won't be able to choose if spends too much time trying to not hurt anyone and that no choice will work out if he doesn't give the one he picks his best. Taisuke also informs Kotonoha to abide by Makoto's decision in choosing another girl, saying that if she truly cares about him that she should respect his choices, which can stop her from going into Yandere mode and ultimately prevent a bad ending. In the With Kotonoha ending, Taisuke even goes as far as to reassure Kotonoha that he's rooting for her and hopes Makoto picks her, showing he's completely willing to let go of his own crush on her if Makoto's affections prove to be as genuine as Kotonoha's own.
Ultimately, Taisuke's concern about the well-being of others paints him as someone who generally means well. On the other hand, his rapist tendencies are attributed to his simply being an idiot that either doesn't understand what "personal boundaries" mean and thus doesn't realize he's doing wrong, or that he takes the moniker of "give it your all" far too literally to the point that he doesn't get his forcefulness isn't a good representation of love.
School Days
The Visual Novel
In the visual novel, he generally serves as a comic relief character for the most part. His part in the story depends on the player actions:
- If Makoto is devoted to Kotonoha, then Taisuke will try to ask out Sekai and can have a sexual relationship with her - albeit a rather one-sided and unwittingly forceful one as Sekai cannot get over Makoto enough to reciprocate. Makoto can take Sekai back and, depending on how its done, Taisuke will demand Makoto set him up with another girl or end their friendship. If Makoto doesn't take Sekai back, she'll ultimately stop seeing Taisuke anyway
- If Makoto is more devoted to Sekai and completely abandons Kotonoha, then Taisuke can start dating Kotonoha. He can then be seen having sex with Kotonoha, despite her protests - with one scene in a certain route taking place after being tricked by Otome with some 'advice' that Kotonoha wants him to force himself on her but is too timid to ask. Makoto can take Kotonoha back, but if he doesn't she will - unlike Sekai - actually stay with Taisuke.
- In some routes, Makoto can also try to set up Hikari and him. He and Hikari can become a couple either by Hikari's own suggestion or by help from Makoto and Sekai.
Anime
Like the visual novel, he generally serves as a comic relief character for the most part, but he's heavily implied to have raped Kotonoha during the school festival. Unlike the visual novel however, Kotonoha asks him to forget what happened and severs connections with him instead of starting to date him.
Cross Days
The Visual Novel
He and his friends can rape Yuuki in a few routes, In the ending "Licentious Beasts", he and his friend confine Yuuki at their house and continue to rape him, portraying him as either much less apologetic or far more dense (depending on whether he believes Yuuki is willing or not).
Relationships
Makoto
In the Visual Novel, he generally turns to Makoto for advice with girls and his help in finding a girlfriend by organizing a pool event. Makoto thinks of him as a friend and tries to help him.
In Valentine Days, Sawanaga expresses the size of his affection for Makoto by having Setsuna give him a giant homemade chocolate heart, bigger than all the gifts from the other girls combined!
In the anime he teases Makoto about his relationship with Saionji.
When Makoto's romance tip book fails to guide him well, he passes the book on to Taisuke.
Hikari
Hikari's had a crush on him for a long time. She's mentioned to have done the cell phone charm with him since junior high.
In the Visual Novel, Hikari can start dating Taisuke after telling him she would like to go on a date with him. Other ways include Makoto and Sekai making sure they spend time together at the pool the help them grow closer. However, if Taisuke is dating Kotonoha and Makoto tries to help Hikari win Taisuke, it doesn't work and Makoto ends up in a secret relationship with Hikari. In the LxH version of To My Children, he and Hikari are married and have a child together.
In the anime, Hikari tries many times to get noticed by Taisuke, being very obvious but repeatedly ends up overlooked. She then seemingly gives up on him and starts sleeping with Makoto until Sekai claims to be pregnant, severing ties with Makoto to keep from ending up the same.
Kotonoha
In the visual novel they get to know each other during the school festival. If Makoto completely abandons Kotonoha, she can start dating him. She can also be raped by Taisuke during the school event in certain routes, such as when Otome gives him 'advice' on what to do. In the anime, Taisuke's attention has been on Kotonoha pretty much from the start. He backed off while she was dating Makoto, but renewed his expressions of love when he thought they broke up. After learning they hadn't, Taisuke confronted Kotonoha at the festival in hopes she would abandon Makoto. From the end of episode 9 to the start of episode 10 during the festival, it's uncertain how far he got with her, though a red ribbon was dropped from amongst her clothes followed by red ripples(which may indicate loss of blood or loss of virginity) which heavily implies that he may have raped her. Kotonoha then asks for him to forget what happened between them.
Since Taisuke is an idiot, his continuing to turn down Hikari (though to be fair, she wasn't seen asking him to the festival) and pursue Kotonoha is likely the reason Hikari was driven to Makoto.
In some routes of the visual novel, he doesn't play much of a role - if Makoto explicitly chooses Sekai he can rape Kotonoha or simply date her. He can also be seen having sex with her despite her protests.
Sekai
In the visual novel, if Sekai doesn't have an affair with Makoto, then either Makoto or Kotonoha can encourage Taisuke to go after Sekai. Sekai can start dating him, but she is clearly unhappy in the relationship. She can be caught running away in anger after having sex with Taisuke, who cums inside her once at school if Makoto doesn't intervene. Sekai inevitably stops seeing Taisuke in all endings.
Mori
In the Visual Novel, some girls said that Taisuke had such a cross on Kumi Mori in junior high and cried at graduation when he heard she was going out with Shiba.
Family
In the visual novel, Makoto mentions that Taisuke has a sister complex, to which he replies it's caring about his sister. He seems to have a good relationship with her as Miki seems to treat Taisuke to meals when her boyfriend is not around. In the second half of episode 7 of the anime, Taisuke mentions having a sister who told him that any couple who dances at the festival won't break up.
The family chart from Overflow depicts Miki Sawanaga from Pure Mail as his older sister and Taisuke also made appearance in that game.
The chart revealed that he and Miki's father is Ayumu Inou, which would make him Makoto's nephew.
Galleries
Grappling
Swimming
Trivia
- His name Taisuke means "peaceful shell". While his surname Sawanaga mean "Swamp of eternal".
- In Puremail After it's revealed that he was raped by Kei Ogata, who mistook him for his sister. Since in School Days and Cross Days it's mentioned that Miki has a boyfriend that's presumably Kei, it's likely that the event is canonical.