Takeru "T.K." Takaishi

'''Takeru "T.K." Takaishi', known simply as Takeru Takaishi (高石 タケル) in Japan, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02''. Although his first name is "Takeru", in the English version, he primarily goes by his dub-given nickname, T.K. First appearing in the film Digimon Adventure (1999), T.K. has made regular appearances in the television series as a main character and also in other supplementary medias.

T.K. is the younger brother of Matt Ishida and, as a DigiDestined, is partnered with Patamon. He is also the rightful holder of the Crest of Hope (希望の紋章) and the Digi-Egg of Hope (希望のデジメンタル).

Description
T.K. is the youngest DigiDestined out of the core seven. He is gentle, sweet-natured, and generous. He is also obedient and follows the DigiDestined's lead without complaints. He is also described as Kari Kamiya's "equal."

T.K. is the only DigiDestined to not attend the same school as the rest of the DigiDestined initially due to living in Sangenjaya instead of Odaiba. He is younger brother of Matt, but lives with his mother, journalist Nancy Takaishi (Natsuko Takaishi (高石　夏子) in the original version), instead due to a divorce between their parents. Although T.K. was too young to remember the events of the divorce clearly, he is still affected by it and does not like to openly talk about it. Despite the distance between T.K. and Matt, he admires Matt greatly and tries to be brave to "impress" him, although he begins to open up to the other DigiDestined as well, particularly Tai. In the English version, there was a dub error where Matt indicates that they are half-brothers when in fact they were full brothers.

In the sequel, Digimon Adventure 02, T.K. and his mother relocate to a new apartment building in Odaiba, where he becomes neighbors with Cody Hida and Yolei Inoue. Although he has gotten remarkably taller, his gentle personality has not changed and it makes him popular with the girls at school. He is also said to have "inherited reliability from [Matt]." In addition to this, T.K. becomes the star player on his school's basketball team.

Pilot film
T.K. made his first appearance in the short pilot film Digimon Adventure (1999), which was combined as the first part of Digimon: The Movie (2001) was localized. The film depicts his first encounter with a Digimon as a toddler.

In the television series
Succeeding the film, T.K. is a main character in the television series Digimon Adventure (1999), where he is depicted as a bright, eager boy willing to help out in battles despite his fear of the Digital World. In this series, T.K. is in second grade and is eight years old.

T.K. becomes one of the main characters in Digimon Adventure 02 (2000) along with Kari. Taking place roughly three and a half years after Digimon Adventure (two and a half years in the original version), T.K. is now in seventh grade and twelve years old (fifth grade and eleven years old in the original version). He is in class A with Kari and Davis and regularly leads a helping hand in taking care of the Digital World. At the end of the series, he has become a best-selling novelist after publishing his autobiography about his adventures in the Digital World and has a son, who is partnered with Tokomon.

In the video games
T.K. makes a cameo as a non-playable character in the WonderSwan game Digimon Adventure: Anode/Cathode Tamer, where he is captured by Milleniummon and jailed with Sora until Ryo Akiyama comes to their rescue.

In the game Digimon Tamers: Brave Tamer, T.K. and Patamon are attacked by Devimon, and Ryo has the option to save him over Kari and Mimi Tachikawa. Following the end of the battle, he allows Patamon to join his party.

In other films
T.K. makes an appearance in the film Our War Game! (2000), the second part of the localized Digimon: The Movie, which takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure. In the film, he and Matt are visiting their grandmother, Kinu, in the countryside and are enlisted by Tai to help fight Diaboromon. Early on, T.K. is forced to withdraw from the battle when Patamon is injured horribly.

When the film featurette release of Digimon Hurricane Landing! and its second part, ''Supreme Evolution! The Golden Digimentals, which also made the third part of Digimon: The Movie, T.K. makes his first film appearance in the Digimon Adventure 02'' timeline as he races across the United States to help stop Wendigomon, succeeding in releasing the Digi-egg of Miracles for Davis.

The sequel of Our War Game!, Revenge of Diaboromon (2001), takes place on the spring break after Digimon Adventure 02. With the help of Kari, T.K. is actively involved in stopping Diaboromon's second attempt at destroying the world before the final battle.

In the manga
T.K. makes an appearance in the manga Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, where he and the other Adventure 02 DigiDestined encountered Parallelmon, who absorbed him, Kari, Yolei, and Cody, and inadvertently sent Davis into the "V-Tamer 01" world, where he met the Tai of that series. T.K. and the others helped Davis from inside the monster by recreating the Digi-Egg of Miracles. With the monster destroyed, Davis and his friends returned to their continuity.

In the CD dramas
T.K. is featured in supplementary audio dramas released on CD during the television series' run, most of which consist miscellaneous adventures with the other DigiDestined that do not relate to the overall plot of the show. These include a battle T.K. has in his dream during New Years and tap dancing to distract Boltmon on Valentine's Day. In an audio drama released years after the end of Digimon Adventure 02, T.K. is heard compiling a novel about his adventures in the Digital World.

Development
T.K.'s character was designed for the pilot movie storyboard by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. In an exclusive interview released with the Digimon Adventure DVD box on December 21, 2007, producer Satoru Nishizono revealed that as the staff had agreed on deciding Tai's name, he had tried to name the other characters similarly with kanji that related to "luck."

In Japan, T.K. was voiced by Hiroko Konishi in Digimon Adventure, with the exception of the pilot film Digimon Adventure. Due to her retiring from voice acting in 2000 and her refusal to reprise the role in Digimon Adventure 02, she was succeeded by Taisuke Yamamoto. Yamamoto's portrayal of T.K. is described as more "adult-like [in comparison to his voice in Digimon Adventure]" and that "his gentle voice suits [T.K.] perfectly."

In the English dub, Wendee Lee provides his voice in the Digimon Adventure continuity while Doug Erholtz provides his voice in Digimon Adventure 02. Lee indicated that T.K. was her favorite character to voice during her work in the Digimon Adventure series.

Merchandise
During the run of the television series Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, T.K. was included in merchandise such as trading cards. In Japan, his character was also given two theme songs: "Be All Right" and "Focus." "Be All Right" was performed by his Japanese voice actress in Digimon Adventure, Hiroko Konishi, while "Focus" was performed by his voice actor in Digimon Adventure 02, Taisuke Yamamoto. His only character CD single, Focus: Best Partner 10: Takeru Takaishi & Patamon (Focus ベストパートナー⑩ 高石タケル&パタモン), which also included Patamon's (Miwa Matsumoto) solo "Don't Stop Pata Pata" (Don't Stop パタパタ) and their duet "Steppin' Out", was released on August 23, 2000. It debuted at #86 on the Oricon Weekly Charts and stayed there for one week.

Reception
Initially, T.K. was unpopular with the viewers, but Digimon Adventure 02 saw a rise in his popularity. In a series of online polls conducted on Toei Animation's Digimon website, T.K. was ranked 7th by Japanese voters as Favorite DigiDestined. When the same question was asked two more times, his rank rose to 2nd, but fell to 3rd. T.K. is also ranked 1st as whom the voters would want as a younger brother and as the DigiDestined whom the voters thought was the strongest,. He placed 2nd as the DigiDestined voters would want to switch places with and as the best-looking DigiDestined in the winter. When voters were asked which DigiDestined they would want as their boyfriend, T.K. placed in 3rd.

Jeff Nimoy, co-screenwriter of the English version of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, however, found T.K. "[uninteresting]" for both series and that there was "not much there for T.K.'s personality, unless Davis was pushing his buttons."