Takuma Hasumi (蓮見 琢馬, Hasumi Takuma) is the main antagonist of The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~, a light novel based on Diamond is Unbreakable.
He is a student residing in Morioh who finds himself entangled in a murder incident, prompting him to hunt for Josuke Higashikata and his friends after their investigation leads to him as a major suspect.
Takuma is also a Stand user wielding The Book, which allows him to utilize his photographic memory and cause his opponents to relive his memories when they touch the Stand's pages.
Appearance
Takuma is a teenager with a slender build. His hair is described as light-colored, with bangs covering his forehead. His eyes are narrow, sharp, and pitch black, almost perpetually cold like the void of space.[2] His distinctive features are the horse-shaped birthmark on his right shoulder and several permanent red marks on his arms, which had scarred from his habit of continuously scratching them.
To hide his scratch marks, Takuma wears his black school uniform at all times to the point that it had become symbolic of himself.[2] He also wears a set of three belts on his neck and earrings on his right ear. He constantly keeps a fountain pen in his chest pocket, a gift from the Crybaby Boy.[3]
Personality
Takuma is an aloof and immoral boy burdened by his memories and dedicated to avenging his mother.
His personality is heavily influenced by his eidetic memory and as he is cursed by the inability to forget, he is an especially cold and solitary person. During his youth, Takuma was a fairly normal boy, but as he kept remembering every bad memory between him and his comrades, the boy cut off all relationship with them.
Notably, Takuma sought to console a comrade nicknamed the Crybaby Boy from the abuse the latter suffered.[2] Takuma is formal and doesn't try to be sympathetic with people. His only current acquaintance and friend is his sister, Chiho Futaba, with whom he still acts rather coldly. Takuma is utterly incapable of love, even toward Chiho. The only person he values is his mother, who took care of him and sacrificed herself for him.
In order to avoid collecting more memories and burden his mind and Book, Takuma has chosen to live a reclusive life, living alone and trying to do as few things as possible. Nonetheless, he is seen having a routine and hanging out in the same places, such as the Thorn Library[2] or often visiting his deceased grandparents' house. Takuma still regularly reads, notably his own notebook, and values the activity, stating that interrupting a lecture session is especially rude.
Because of The Book, Takuma has learned about the tragic circumstances of his birth. Knowing of his mother's suffering, Takuma is seeking revenge on his father Teruhiko Futaba. Takuma is dedicated on this goal, having spent years investigating his father to uncover his crimes, and planning his every move even several years in advance to maximize the pain he would inflict on Teruhiko.[4]
Also because of this knowledge, Takuma is an atheist as in his mind, believing God wouldn't allow someone as wicked as his father to thrive if he truly existed.[1] He doesn't consider that he will be free of his past until he takes his revenge. Yet, Takuma has not formed any real plan beyond avenging Akari, and his ultimate suicide hints that he thought he was done with his life after having avenged his mother.[4]
In his quest for revenge, Takuma is particularly callous and ruthless. He had killed Hanae Orikasa with his Stand[5] and sought to assassinate Josuke Higashikata when he learned that he was investigating the murder.[5] His greatest misdeed was manipulating his half-sister Chiho into falling in love and having sex with him so that she becomes pregnant with his child. He then hinted his actions to Teruhiko to crush his spirit when he realizes. However, he still felt guilt for his crimes and was sick at the idea of his incestious actions.[4]
In a fight, Takuma typically aims to kill his enemy as efficiently as possible. Particularly knowledgeable, Takuma has a tendency to look down on uneducated types or rough-looking individuals like Okuyasu Nijimura, underestimating them in the process, but is able to learn when he misjudges someone and recognizes his enemies' merit.[1]
Abilities
Stand
Takuma's Stand The Book is a complete record of his personal life and makes anyone who reads the text relive a related event of Takuma's life.
Knife Throwing
Takuma is adept at throwing knives in order to kill. As he cannot easily murder with The Book, Takuma took it upon himself to learn how to attack from a distance outside of his Stand's range. He can determine the distance between him and a target, thus know how to throw his knife so it lands on the tip, throw multiple knives at the same time, and can play with them with his hands easily.[1]
Lip Reading
Takuma is able to read lips and understand what people are talking about without hearing them.[1] It enabled him to learn that Josuke was investigating him.[3]
History
Background
Takuma was once involved in a traffic accident when he was in grade 2. He was recalling classical music he heard in music class and found the music so familiar, yet he had no clue. During his concentrating, Takuma accidentally walked down to the road and got severely hit by a car. Though saved after a few days of coma, the crash left a scar on his right thigh root.
It turns out his ability made his life much worse, as he could never forget anything in his head, even those unpalatable scenes and experiences. Overwhelmed by the infinitely increasing memories and the horrible feelings, Takuma excluded himself in a single room in the orphanage and cut off all communication. When the memories still didn't stop emerging, Takuma started to hurt himself, mainly scratching his arms strongly. He even attempted suicide multiple times, including stabbing the veins in his wrists with scissors and jumping down the building, but never succeeded.
During his hospitalization, he developed his Stand, The Book, and the memories once stored in his head were all transferred to the Stand, the long pain he felt finally being gone. He soon recovered and returned to the orphanage, but still lived in the single room in case something happened again. Later, he found nobody could see The Book except himself, and that he could recall anything that has happened in his life anytime he wanted just by looking at the pages of it.
By reading the distant past of himself from The Book, with the hints of the classical music and his annual nightmares, Takuma got to know Akari, who gave birth to him in a dingy place and dedicated her utmost to him for only 3 days, during which the classical music was played and left an impression on Takuma. Then a man came along with a woman, took him away and left him at the doorstep of a temple.
The Book recorded the whole process including their conversation. From this information, he ascertained Teruhiko and Hanae and understood what happened between them and Akari. To verify this, Takuma made his way to the building gap in which Akari was trapped and found Akari's corpse there. Takuma regathered Akari's scattered bones and hair, collected Akari's necklace, as well as the postcard with a horse on a grassland which was later decorated in Takuma's room. After knowing that Akari died due to Teruhiko, Takuma vowed revenge.
Takuma started to practice throwing knives when he was in grade 6. With the help of The Book, he soon mastered this skill no matter what kinds of knives he used. When Takuma was 13, on a winter night, he encountered the 12-year-old Chiho Futaba, Teruhiko's daughter, who was being entangled by a delinquent on her way of home leaving. Takuma then used a knife to cut off one of the delinquent's ears, saved Chiho and left. From then on, Takuma continued his reclusive life, remaining unfamiliar to anyone, but having a plan for his revenge.
After Takuma graduated from middle school, he moved into a house where a family suicide case happened before. It is revealed later in the story that Takuma still keeps contact with the orphanage and occasionally goes there to help the work, likely implying Takuma's living is supported by the orphanage.
The Book: 4th Another Day
When Takuma gets to know that his father's former lover Hanae Orikasa is searching for him, he makes his first move. He goes to Hanae's house, shows her his identity, and kills her with his car crash memory from his Stand, so her death would reach Teruhiko's ears. He then meets Chiho again at Thorn Parlor, a local public library Takuma likes to go, and develops a friendship with her.
It is mentioned by Chiho during their conversation that Takuma likes going to bookstores, second-hand bookstores, stationery shops, and libraries. He also visits a deserted house located in the farmland of east Morioh a lot for some fresh air in his own words. The house used to be Akari and her parents' home. Several years after Akari went missing, her parents died of illness one after another, hence the house being deserted. Takuma also claims that he knew the old couple who used to live there (who were, unbeknownst to him, his grandparents), but only their appearances.
Believing Hanae's death to be the work of a Stand user, Rohan Kishibe and Koichi Hirose start an investigation on the death of Hanae, which is later accidentally discovered by Takuma. When Takuma secretly observes Koichi as he was the first discoverer of Hanae Orikasa's body, along with his fellows, Josuke Higashikata and Okuyasu Nijimura, he realizes they are in pursuit of a student with scratches on the arms.
Then, Takuma passes by Koichi along with Josuke and Okuyasu, before Okuyasu unintentionally steps on his pen and breaks it, which was received from Crybaby as a gift when Crybaby got adopted and left the orphanage. Josuke then uses Crazy Diamond to repair the pen, being seen by Takuma's eyes and causing Takuma's vigilance to them. In order to confuse them, Takuma later uses The Book to implant his memory of strongly scratching his arms to multiple male students in the high school, causing the actual scratches on all of their arms.
At a day when Takuma is walking with Chiho, he is stopped by Josuke sitting near a pool in front of the train station, asking for the time. When Takuma looked at his watch, Josuke uses Crazy Diamond to loosen the watchband with a clip and make it drop into the pool, forcing Takuma to pick it up with his sleeves rolled up so that he can check Takuma's arms. Understanding Josuke's intention, Takuma picks up his watch without rolling up his sleeves, causing Josuke's suspicion. The small interrogation ends with Okuyasu running to Josuke and telling him the discovery of several students with scratches on their arms.
Regarding the investigation of Josuke and his fellows as an obstruct, Takuma decides to kill Josuke. He tears down one page from the forbidden area of The Book, recording his painful memories during his childhood, such as his suicide attempts, the car accident (which is the one Takuma used to kill Hanae Orisaka), and influenza. Planning to use the page that contained his wrist-cutting suicide memory to kill Josuke, he seals the page in an envelope and directly sends the letter to Josuke's home. However, Takuma's plan unexpectedly fails as Josuke's mother, Tomoko Higashikata is the one to check the letter and read the page. Though Tomoko's life is safe thanks to Josuke's immediate rescue, what Takuma's done has seized Josuke's attention and made his mind to catch the culprit.
As time goes by, Takuma and Chiho start a relationship, based on Chiho's growing affection to Takuma and her discovery of the truth that Takuma is actually the teenager who saved her from the delinquent with a knife during her home-leaving. Later, Takuma is invited to Chiho's home for dinner, getting the chance to confront his father, Teruhiko Futaba. Though surprised at finding out Teruhiko can also see The Book, Takuma manages to show his tracking research of Teruhiko's social circle, Teruhiko's illegal commitments, and his idea of marrying Chiho to Teruhiko, making him panic.
After that, on the way of Chiho sending Takuma off, she receives a black amber necklace from Takuma, which is the one Teruhiko gave to Akari and that Takuma collected from the building gap while searching for Akari's corpse. The necklace gives the final hint about Takuma's identity to Teruhiko, arising an enormous despair to Teruhiko. Right at this point, Takuma's revenge is considered completed, for his true purpose is not killing Teruhiko, but making Teruhiko live the rest of his life in deep regret.
Takuma plans to leave Morioh Town, for he has achieved his goal here. Before he sets off, he wants to finish Chiho's manuscript at Thorn Parlor. However, Okuyasu finds Takuma and tries defeating him. Lacking experience of Stand battles, Takuma has a hard fight. Even though Takuma manages to defeat Okuyasu using his influenza memory, he is later chased by Josuke to the roof.
During their fight, Takuma is overpowered. Takuma finds out that Josuke was saved by an student with a pompadour in his past and tries to use it against him, but this just further upsets Josuke. While Takuma is able to heavily injure Josuke, he is eventually defeated by him. When Josuke holds Takuma off of the edge of the building by his jacket, Takuma dislodges himself from the jacket, falling to his death on his own accord. After this happens, the orphanage claims Takuma's body from the police and holds his funeral at the temple where he was initially found.
It is subsequently revealed that Chiho is pregnant with his child.
Quotes
Quotes- “I suppose that a novel is something made up of many lines of characters. The characters are symbols which, when strung together, form words. When words are strung together, they form sentences. And then when sentences are linked together, they become a novel. Much like how DNA is made up of base sequences, characters are arranged into a sequence. That is what I consider a novel. I expect that the job of an author is a lot like weaving a thread to create a carpet. The shape woven with the thread that is the long sequence of characters is not a simple visual image, but a certain type of value or an emotion that cannot be put into words.”—Takuma Hasumi, The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 2: Dies irae
- “Have you ever felt it? The power of a story? A long string of characters can undulate, arrest your heart, and carry it to a far-off place. When you read a novel with real power, it makes you feel like the characters in the story truly exist. The pain and joy of the characters start to feel like your own. Your heart sympathizes with them. Sometimes when the characters in the story suffer an injury or are betrayed by a friend, you the reader also feel a largely physical pain. That is empathy. Similar to how a shaman is writing on a charm that jinxes his target's body, an author kills a person with empathy.”—Takuma Hasumi, The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 2: Dies irae
- “Our battle starts now. Are you ready, The Book?”—Takuma Hasumi, The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 4: Lacrimosa
- “Taking revenge on my father. I lived thinking only of that.”—Takuma Hasumi, The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 4: Lacrimosa
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 4: Lacrimosa
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 1: Kyrie
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 2: Dies irae
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Final Chapter: Communio
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 The Book ~jojo's bizarre adventure 4th another day~ Chapter 3: Confutatis