Yutaka Takai
| Yutaka Takai | |
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| Japanese name: | 高井 豊 (Takai Yutaka) |
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| English name: | Yutaka Takai |
| Age: | 15-16 (beginning) 17-18 (post-timeskip) |
| Gender: | Male |
| Date of birth: | 1970 or 1971 (manga) |
| Occupation: | High school student Genius inventor |
| Status: | Alive |
| First appearance: | Manga: Wait For Me (short story) Anime: Wait For Me (OVA) |
| Appearances: | Yutaka Takai Appearances |
| Japanese voice: | Kappei Yamaguchi |
Yutaka Takai (高井 豊 Takai Yutaka) is the protagonist from the one-shot Wait For Me and its anime adaptation, who also appeared as a fictional person in an Original Video Animation related to Detective Conan. He's a 15 or 16 years[1][2] old teen prodigy (17-18 years old after a time skip) and inventor currently attending a unnamed high school in the Senkawa District[3] of the Toshima Ward in Tokyo.
Plot overview
Wait For Me
Yutaka Takai is a genius inventor, despite just being in the first year of high school[4]. During a test run he inadvertently creates a time machine while trying a jetpack he built. With this, he plans to travel to the past to be the same age as his girlfriend Mamiko Abe, who's two years older than him. But in a moment of distraction, she grabs the jetpack instead and travels two years into the future to fulfill Yutaka's wish... Can Yutaka remember Mamiko in time to catch her when she returns?
The Wandering Red Butterfly
Yusaku Kudo and Wandering Red Butterfly go to the cinema to watch the double feature movie Wait For Me/The Santa Claus of Summer, with Yutaka Takai, Mamiko Abe, Keisuke Hara und Asuka Anzai visible on the promo poster. Yutaka and Keisuke can also be seen on the cover of the Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories volume Yusaku is placing down on the seat next to him.
Trivia
- Yutaka Takai's name is a composite of the names of Yutaka Abe (Gosho Aoyama's senpai he was an assistant of back then, in turn an assistant of him nowadays) and Mamiko Takai (a popular Japanese idol during the eighties), who was Abe's favorite idol back then. She is also mentioned in-story by Yuri Shiozawa. Yutaka Abe in turn made a similar joke that same year in his series 100% Tantei Monogatari, in which the protagonist is named Momoko Aoyama, a portmanteau name of Gosho Aoyama's surname and the first name of his own favorite idol of that time, Momoko Kikuchi.[5]
References
- ^ Wait For A Little While, p. 5, translation by Endless Youth and Co. (conan-magic.com):
TV reporter: "Not to mention, Takai-kun... is only 15 years old, right?"
Furthermore, students in the 1st year of high school (10th grade) in Japan are in the age range of 15-16.
(Image source: Sociology, Chapter 13: Illitrecy in Japan ,and Japan’s schooling system. | Japan and its Sociology, last retrieved January 19th, 2020) - ^ Wait For A Little While, p. 12, translation by Endless Youth and Co. (conan-magic.com):
Yutaka Takai: "The 14 year old me will be replaced by the 16 year old me....." - ^ The manga never specifies where the story is set, but the local TV station is named "Senkawa TV" in the OVA, implying it to be in the Senkawa District in the Toshima Ward of Tokyo.
- ^ Wait For A Little While, p. 8, translation by Endless Youth and Co. (conan-magic.com):
Kanzaki (to Yutaka Takai): "That an idiot 1st year is going out with a 3rd year girl, it makes me sick!" - ^ 阿部ゆたか#青山剛昌とのエピソード
こぼれ話として『100%探偵物語』の登場人物の青山桃子は青山が当時好きだった菊池桃子と合体した名前である。(...) 青山デビュー作『ちょっとまってて』の主人公の名前は「高井豊」「阿部麻巳子」だが、これは阿部が当時好きだったアイドル高井麻巳子と合わせたもの。
Rough translation: "Momoko Aoyama, a character of 100% Tantei Monogatari, is a name combined with Momoko Kikuchi, who Aoyama liked at the time. (...) The protagonists of Aoyama's debut work Chotto Mattete are Takai Yutaka and Abe Mamiko.
(Last retrieved May 30th, 2018)
