Taokaka

Taokaka (タオカカ) is the current guardian of the Kaka tribe village. She is a playable character in the BlazBlue series.

Appearance
Taokaka is a rather unique take on the catgirl archetype with brown skin and long blond hair tied up into two braids and a black cat tail with a faded white tip. She seems to spend her entire time wearing a beige-colored hoodie with a cat hood and long cat-themed sleeves that cover her arms. She wears a pair of unusually-designed high-heel boots with the same cat theme but appears to be more fit for a creature with high ankles. According to concept art, Taokaka typically dresses skimpy underneath the hoodie, wearing only red panties with red straps. Taokaka’s actual face has been the subject of interest by both the characters and audience alike; her hood has been stated to conceal her facial features and she never removes it. All that can be seen are a pair of red beady eyes and an ever-constant toothy grin that tends to emulate emotions when conveying facial expressions. When co-creator Daisuke Ishiwatari was questioned about Taokaka’s true appearance in an interview, he responded that he wanted to leave it to the players’ imaginations. However, he does confirm that her shadowed visage is not her true face. Her younger design shows a smaller, chibi-like body with shorter braids and no shoes.

In BlazBlue: Alter Memory during the hot spring scene in Episode 5, she wears yellow wraps on her top and another wrap on her bottom that resembles cycling shorts and is the first time to see her without the hoodie but maintains her facial features and wears paw-like gloves.

Personality
Taokaka is the personification of innocence in the BlazBlue world. She is a happy-go-lucky catgirl who only wishes the best for her friends and family. Her only desire is to protect those she holds dear to her heart, or who offer her food (in her mind anyone who offers her food is a good person).

Unfortunately, she is also the least intelligent character in BlazBlue. Like most cats, Taokaka’s daily routine consists of eating and sleeping, and she can, and often will forget anything she does or is told to do within three steps or seconds. Of course, it goes without saying that she is not totally dumb. Taokaka often gives nicknames to those she meets so she can try to easily remember them later. She does actually know who they are but prefers the nickname routine.

Of course, much of her simple-minded traits can be compared to how a cat’s mindset actually works, especially when it comes to how fascinated by things she can be (such as a pair of breasts) or how her mind tends to seemingly drift away from more serious things.

History
A resident of the Kaka Village and a member of the Kaka Tribe. Taokaka wants to get back the sky above her village, which was sealed off. She was sent by the Kaka Elder to retrieve the bounty on Ragna’s head, becoming a vigilante in the process. Despite this resolve, she is considerably food-obsessed and forgetful, often falling asleep on a whim, becoming hungry moments after a meal, or forgetting details moments after hearing them. She is good friends with Litchi, affectionately referring to her as “Boobie Lady”.

She does not seem to refer to anyone other than herself by name and creates nicknames for people she meets. She is unable to recognize that Ragna, the “good-guy”, and “Rawgnya”, the rebel, are the same person, though there are times she seems to know but does not care. Interesting to note is the fact that the Kaka tribe, which she hails from, is actually genetically engineered from the genes of Jūbei, one of the Six Heroes. As a tribe, they are copies of each other, and cannot reproduce above one hundred members.

In the fourth-wall-breaking non-canon mini-series “Teach Me, Miss Litchi!”, Taokaka is studying under Litchi in order to become a great vigilante.

Capricious Us
Totokaka began to hold an important conference within the center of the Kaka Village, discussing the events that had happened with Arakune and the lack of food. Taokaka, however, was absent from the meeting.

Taokaka wandered into the center after the meeting and was met with deception from the Elder. She carefully asked if Tao liked to walk, which was met with an excited yes, Totokaka went further on, saying she had a job for Tao, however, this was met with a swift turn as she thought of it to be too much of a drag. Taokaka, however, was easily won over as Totokaka bribed her with a year’s supply of catnip if she did it. The mission in question was just to simply visit the human town, which could help with sunlight returning to the lower area.

Trigger Shift
The aftermath of Highlander: Takemikazuchi’s shattered blast left multiple areas with several civilian injuries. Tao helped Litchi and the Ikaruga ninjas in trying to calm down the situation, fetching medical supplies for the aforementioned to use.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, while taking a nap, Taokaka sees Ragna fall to her village (after being wounded by Nirvana). She manages to defend Ragna from Arakune’s assault and goes to fetch Litchi to heal him. Ragna leaves shortly after recovering and Tao follows after, although she ends up encountering a brainwashed Noel and Hazama. She is thoroughly beaten by Hazama, although Jūbei manages to save her and brings her back to the village. Realizing that she has a lot of training to do, Tao leaves in order to get stronger while allowing her sister Torakaka to be the village guardian in her absence. She manages to catch Ragna to set the stage for BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, as he leaves Kagutsuchi for Ikaruga as Jūbei told her to keep an eye on him.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma
On Tao and Ragna’s journey to Ikaruga, they visit the Church. Ragna tells Tao that he is just going away for a moment and tells her to stay put until he comes back. While Ragna visits the Sister’s grave Tao, disobeying Ragna’s orders, goes somewhere else because something seemed strange. When she arrives, she runs into Tora, who explains she is there because Jūbei asked her to take care of something, saying she left the village in Momo’s care. Tao instantly wants to go and see Momo but Tora points out that Momo will not be there for long and that Tao has to stay on her own journey. Tora then asks what Tao was doing there, knowing she should be with Ragna. Tao tells Tora that she is there because she smelt something familiar. Tora then explains that it smelt familiar because this place is the site of the original Kaka tribe village, founded during the Great Dark War by Jūbei’s youngest brother, Munefuyu, and it is the Kaka tribe’s hallowed ground. Tao then senses something strange and dashes straight to Ragna to find him, beaten up, with Rachel. Ragna wondered how Tao had found them, and Tao told them about the strange feeling she got. Rachel realizes that this means that Tao could sense the Emperor. Tao and Tora then take the injured Ragna to the Kaka hot springs.

After Tao and Ragna arrived in Ikaruga, they went straight to a restaurant where they had a run-in with Bullet. Tao finishes her food and runs off to find Noel, but when an Event Interference happens, Tao and Ragna are reset to the restaurant. Ragna then starts bleeding everywhere and walks outside, telling a deeply concerned Tao not to follow. Tao runs after Ragna but is held up by an employee of the restaurant. She then finds a collapsed Ragna, not knowing what to do, she calls on Celica who was walking by to help. Later on, Tao appears at the Ikaruga Control Organization branch enjoying the lunch, that Hibiki prepared, with everyone else.

Powers and abilities
Unlike most characters, Taokaka does not have much in the way of abilities compared to the rest of the cast, although she is still able to utilize magic element according to Kokonoe Mercury and Litchi. She relies on her inborn instincts as opposed to a trained fighting style, and she naturally uses magic element, even without formal education as to how. Her hands and feet also have large retractable metal claws. What’s more, these claws seem to change slightly depending on what attack she wants to do at the time; even though they seem to default as curved, knife-sized flat metal blades, they can also appear as serrated saws, “can-opener” style hooks, or even more ornate blades that resemble arrowheads. What she lacks in strength and durability, she makes up for in agility and speed and extreme mobility, wailing on her opponents and catching them off guard with lightning-fast, unpredictable maneuvers and techniques. Tao is so fast that she can sometimes create an afterimage of herself when she attacks. Yet as Tao doesn’t appear to have any superhuman durability and has a chaotic fighting style, it is easy for her to get overwhelmed by a skilled or powerful foe. Also, her stupidity is so intense that she quickly forgotten Litchi’s schooling and quickly befriended Ragna despite attempting to assassinate him (This is because Tao thought that the bounty wanted someone named Rawgna instead.)

Taokaka’s Drive is Dancing Edge (ダンシングエッジ), which has her lunge forward. During this lunge, any other button press can alter her approach such as a feint, passing by her opponent, hopping in mid-air or a standard attack. She can also latch onto the edge of the screen if her lunge reaches that point, giving her additional attack options. Her Overdrive, originally a Distortion Drive, is Almost Becoming Two, Meow! (ほぼ２匹になるニャス！), which creates an afterimage with mass that attacks with her, doubling her strikes.

In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Taokaka displays an unusually keen sixth sense. She was able to sense the Emperor despite Rachel, a powerful being capable of using magic, not even noticing the Emperor’s presence.

Trivia

 * Appearance
 * When electrocuted, it can be seen that she is holding a fish in each hand under her sleeves.
 * In an episode of “Teach Me, Miss Litchi!”, Rachel outright asks Taokaka (who is not paying attention) if she is wearing a mask, and Litchi comments that even she (Litchi) does not know.
 * Other
 * Taokaka’s birthday, February 22, happens to be World Thinking Day, a day to study other countries and cultures.
 * During an episode of “Teach Me, Miss Litchi!”, Taokaka makes a reference to Spider Man with the quote “And the best way to find that person is by using Tao’s spide…err…Kaka senses!”.
 * Before her fight with Hazama in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Taokaka exclaims “In the name of… the big white thingy in the night sky… Tao shall punish you!”, a reference to the Sailor Moon franchise.
 * If Taokaka fights against Arakune, she will call out an “Anti-Squiggly” move during most, if not all, her attacks (Ex. Squiggly punch, Squiggly kick, etc.)
 * In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Taokaka will help guide the player through the Tutorial Mode’s Intermediate- Combos section alongside Bang Shishigami.
 * Jūbei appears in her astral to finish the opponent off, however, if fighting Jūbei Torakaka will finish him off.
 * She creates her own nicknames for other characters which she meets:
 * Ragna: Good Guy/White Guy (before “Good Guy”), Pinhead person and white-blockheaded person
 * Jin: Creepy Guy/Ice Man/Shivers
 * Rachel: Bunny Lady/Rabbit Person
 * Noel/Mu: Lacking Lady
 * Carl: Little Guy/Shorty
 * Nirvana: Hard Person/Not-so-soft Person
 * Litchi: Boobie Lady
 * Arakune: Black squiggly
 * Tager: Big Guy
 * Bang: Scruffy-man (Or “Scruffy Old Man”)
 * Bang’s subordinates: Blow Pops
 * Nu and Lambda: Flappy-flap
 * Hakumen: Mask Person/Cocky person
 * Hazama/Yūki: Green Guy/Scary Guy/Hipster person
 * Tsubaki/Izayoi: Red Lady/Eye Woman/Average Lady
 * Makoto: Furry girl
 * Valkenhayn: Butter Man/Dog person
 * Jūbei: Cat person
 * Kokonoe: Big sister/Tail lady
 * Relius: Big Fat Fibber Guy
 * Bullet: Butt Lady
 * Amane: Leader person
 * Kagura: Dark Man/Knightbro
 * Celica: Antenna Girl
 * Nine: Hat person
 * Es: Pudding Girl
 * Mai: Ribbon Girl
 * Despite this habit of using nicknames, she refers to Torakaka by her name.
 * When Taokaka hits her opponents with Cat Spirit Encore!, they drop an item related to them:
 * Ragna: A deep plate with tentama udon.
 * Jin: Shaved ice.
 * Noel, Mu, Nu: A plate with Death Dinner.
 * Rachel: A cup of tea.
 * Taokaka: A fish.
 * Tager: A bottle of oil.
 * Litchi: A meatbun.
 * Arakune: A bug, which, according to his concept artworks, is called Memekurage (メメクラゲ).
 * Bang: An onigiri.
 * Carl: A bolt with a slotted head.
 * Hakumen: Pakumen.
 * Tsubaki: A painting of Jin from this illustration.
 * Hazama: An egg.
 * Makoto: A hazelnut.
 * Valkenhayn: A pocket watch.
 * Platinum: Jūbei toy’s head cookie.
 * Relius: A bolt with a cross head.
 * Izayoi: A painting of Tsubaki, Makoto and Noel from this illustration.
 * Amane: A sakuramochi.
 * Bullet: A red chili pepper.
 * Azrael: Meat on the bone.
 * Kagura: An erotic magazine, titled “Play BB” (プレイBB).
 * Kokonoe: A bag of potato chips.
 * Terumi: A snake hatched from an egg.
 * Celica: A sweet roulade.
 * Lambda: Tartar.
 * Hibiki: A vase.
 * Naoto: An open dating sim game box with a CD visible inside.
 * Nine: A bowl full of sugar cubes.
 * Izanami: A skull
 * Es: Pudding with whipped cream and cherry.
 * Mai: The T-shirt from a school P.E. uniform with Mai’s name on the name tag.
 * Susanoo: Terumen, a Black Susanoo version of Pakumen.