Takeshi Saehara

Takeshi Saehara冴原 剛
Profile
Age	14
Gender	Male
Occupation	Student, Newspaper Club Leader
Relations
Daisuke Niwa (Friend) Masahiro Sekimoto (Friend) Inspector Saehara (Father) Menou Kurashina (Crush) Mio Hio (Crush) (Anime)
Debut
Manga Debut	Chapter 1, Stage 1, Volume 1
Anime Debut	Episode 1, Dark Revived
Voice Actors
Japanese	Minoru Shiraishi Yumiko Kobayashi (Flashback)
English	Kira Vincent-Davis

Takeshi Saehara (冴原剛 Saehara Takeshi) is Daisuke’s schoolmate and friend of ten years. As the son of police Inspector Saehara, who is pursuing Dark, he is shown to be an enthusiastic reporter who uses his father’s contacts to obtain information, particularly about Dark.

Appearance

Takeshi has dark hair and eyes. His hair is spiky and short, with a buzz cut in the back and long bangs in the front. He always wears an arm band with the text "reporter" (報道 hōdō) pinned to his Azumano Middle School uniform. His uniform is usually unkempt, having rolled sleeves and being half-buttoned.

Personality

Excitable, friendly, rude and irresponsible, Takeshi can be reckless in making plans to get photographs of Dark. He is seen bribing Daisuke into doing his homework and his duties at school by offering candid photographs of Risa.

He is shown to do all of the housework at home, and is considered a good cook by his fellow students.

History

In the manga

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Takeshi Saehara lives with his father, a police inspector. As a middle school student, he is passionate about journalism and sees Dark’s return after 40 years with excitement. On the evening of the Saint of Tears’ heist, he climbs up a tree to record the thief’s flying appearance, and happily shows the tape to his father afterward.

In the anime

Takeshi diverges from his manga counterpart on the day following Daisuke's birthday: the boy shares with his classmates news of accidents from the night prior, incorrectly concluding that Dark was the “bird” of which the victims had spoken.

The following day, he sees Daisuke in the restroom, where he tells him about numerous girls disappearing from their locked rooms.

Days later, Takeshi tries to sell pictures of Dark to classmates in exchange for notes when Risa Harada arrives and asks him information about Dark. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have anything… and notices too late the girl left with his pictures.

A few minutes later, he hears Daisuke asking Riku Harada about present ideas for women. Immediately curious, Takeshi teases him for his playboy side. When his friend explains his mother’s birthday is coming, his interest drops: why should a boy their age worry about a present for their mother? He suggests writing massage coupons.

When Dark announces he’ll steal the heart of the “world's number one lady”, Risa comes to him again for more information that he doesn’t have.

The 8^th episode, which is dedicated to the Agate Links’ story, follows the manga closely, except for a few details.

One day, Dark announces he’ll steal the Agate Links necklace, and Takeshi goes to the Lagalith Art Museum to report on the upcoming heist. In front of the statue’s stand, the crowd is so agitated that Takeshi is shoved and accidentally takes a picture of a girl.

Mesmerized by the picture, he can’t stop thinking about her, to the point of his dreamy behaviour worrying his friends. The following day, he even starts picking a flower in the classroom.

Takeshi shows the picture to Daisuke.

After school, he offers Daisuke ice cream and shows him the picture to hear his impressions of it. Even if his friend is far from interested, Takeshi knows he himself wants to learn more about that mysterious girl.

That night, despite his father’s (flawed) security, he trespasses the museum in the hope of meeting the girl again. When she appears before him, she explains that the phantom thief gave her one more day before stealing her treasure, the Agate Links. Takeshi promises he will protect it for her.

As expected, the following evening, Dark arrives to steal the Agate Links and Takeshi, ready to fight, faces him with a baseball bat. In front of his stubbornness, Dark must use a feather to disarm him. Takeshi manages to escape with the necklace before Dark can get it, however he falls from the roof and accidentally breaks it. Before he faints, the girl, who has rushed outside, tells him her name and thanks him dearly.

The following day, on their way to school, Takeshi excitedly tells Daisuke what happened and even boasts about how the girl seemed fond of him.

Summer coming back is an occasion for Takeshi to sell bathsuit pictures. He even announces to Daisuke that preorders for Risa shots are open.

One evening, Dark is expected near the coast after announcing he will steal the Horn of Neptune from an underwater temple. An excited Takeshi joins the crowd of spectators with the Harada sisters to watch the heist, looking forward to seeing Dark arrested by the police’s high tech material.

Replicas of the Rutile of Grief become popular at school.

Takeshi excitedly buys a replica of the Rutile of Grief artwork that has been given to the Granbel Museum recently. Since the artwork is rumoured to enhance natural abilities, Takeshi believes his own copy makes his natural charm shine. After Dark successfully steals the real Rutile, the boy is disappointed many details about the heist remain unknown; how is he supposed to write an article in such conditions?

When the boy learns about the Eternal Mark’s heist, he immediately tells his classmates details regarding police measures and security. Risa Harada, who’s interested in meeting Dark, persuades him to go with her.

The two teenagers go to the heist’s location, an abandoned house out of town. After they find the artwork, their classmate Satoshi Hiwatari appears before them and warns them about something. However, he transforms into a mysterious winged man (Krad) who makes Risa and Takeshi pass out with magic. A fight between Dark and Krad accidentally seals their souls in black ore and Daisuke Niwa rescues them, but the thief makes sure Risa and Takeshi have no memory of the event. When the two teenagers wake up again, the abandoned house is empty and they conclude Takeshi’s information was wrong.

The following day, a new girl called Mio Hio transfers to Takeshi’s class. The boy gets romantically interested in her and tries in vain to get her attention. Takeshi’s class spending a few studious days on a southern island is an occasion to get closer to her. On the boat, when Takeshi refuses to take pictures of them, classmates even tease him about his recent flirty behaviour.

The boy is also ready to help Daisuke to make a move with Risa Harada… and make sure he doesn’t get closer to Mio. He punishes Daisuke by partially burying him in sand when he sees him with Mio on the beach.

That evening, the two boys stargaze outside, but Takeshi is more interested in peeking in the Mio’s bedroom through his camera lenses. The boy unfortunately gets caught and scolded by the teacher in charge, Kaseda.

The following day, Takeshi goes his own way during the nature observation class to leave Daisuke alone with the Harada twins.

Takeshi attempts to seduce Mio during the meteor shower but can’t find her.

The class starts preparing the play.

As the class is preparing their Ice and Snow play for the Fall Cultural Festival, the boy still tries in vain to get Mio’s attention. He even chooses her to be his assistant while he is in charge of the script and directing.

But Takeshi one day sadly learns that Mio has suddenly transferred to another school, and assumes her feelings for him were too much to withstand. The thoughts of her motivate him to throw more energy into the play preparations. On top of his other tasks, he will also perform as a villager in the play.

On Christmas Eve, Takeshi takes pictures in town when he notices the sea level is abnormally low. Despite phone issues, he reaches his father and asks him if the town is at risk. However, the call is cut short.

His father later issues the town’s evacuation and, during the night, Takeshi helps manage the evacuees with classmates and their teacher at school.

Relationships

Daisuke Niwa

Daisuke is Takeshi's best friend and has known him for 10 years. They both call each other by their names with no honorifics.

Takeshi often roughhouses with his friend, whom he believes to be clumsy and in need of harsh pushes to become more assertive. He proudly hugs Daisuke after the boy strongly punched him during a nightmare, and he frequently encourages Daisuke to take steps forward in his relationships with Risa and eventually Riku. Despite his efforts, he still takes advantage of Daisuke's passivity and foists his school cleaning duties onto Daisuke on the night of Dark's appearance.

Though Takeshi is shocked by the Niwa family's apparent wealth after seeing their new maid and butler, he shows no resentment for Daisuke and instead laments living with his father rather than Daisuke's beautiful mother.

Takeshi is extremely blunt with everyone, including his best friend with whom he wastes no time teasing his lack of confidence, tired appearance, and sudden disappearances. Takeshi easily shares his own feelings and accompanies Daisuke to Satoshi's apartment so he can confide in Daisuke about a crush.

While Takeshi notices when Daisuke begins acting strangely after Dark's appearance and offers to be a sympathetic ear, his eagerness to be a journalist (as well as the recording device in his trousers) prevent them from connecting over Daisuke's struggles. His "comfort" of Daisuke when Riku rejects the latter's invitation to the dance was ineffective and mostly amusement.

However, Takeshi is also the first to visit Daisuke's home after the boy was absent from school for three days, following the incident at Azumano Joyland. Daisuke is the first to hear Takeshi's belief that Dark did not kidnap Risa and of his plan to challenge Dark to prove this.

Takeshi also offers to give Daisuke the video that he recorded of his and Riku's supposed flirting during the dance.

Trivia

• Takeshi placed 6^th in the first DNAngel character popularity contest.
• In chapter 2 in the manga, Takeshi breaks the fourth wall by saying "This is a shoujo manga."
• Takeshi often uses photos (of Dark or crushes) as a mean of getting favours from classmates.