Asuka Jr. (飛鳥 大貴) is one of the main characters of Saint Tail. He is one of Meimi's classmates at St. Paulia Academy, and spends his free time assisting the police force in the investigation against Saint Tail.
Bio[]
Appearance[]
Asuka has short black fluffy hair that has greenish undertones and bright green shines in place of the lighting. His hair has choppy bangs that fall over his forehead, and small strands here and there that stick out from the top and back of his hair. His eyes are a dark greenish-black, similar to the color of his hair. He is almost always shown wearing his school uniform, a dark blueish-black suit with a white undershirt and black tie, and he occasionally takes off his suit jacket to reveal black suspenders with silver rectangular buckles at the top. Indoors, he wears black dress shoes, and outdoors, he wears a very similar pair of dark brown dress shoes. Asuka is around the same height as Meimi, and is shorter than many of the boys in his class; however, he eventually becomes significantly taller than her after a growth spurt.
Personality[]
In social settings, Asuka Jr. struggles with his insensitivity, often offending others with his blunt rudeness and having a poor understanding of girls or romance. He also easily gets angered, blowing up at mild annoyances and dealing with easily wounded pride. In particular, he reacts badly to others teasing him, especially for his failures in catching Saint Tail.
However, when it comes to Saint Tail's capers, Asuka Jr. is determined, brave, passionate, smart, strategic, focused, organized, and protective of his interests. He cares a lot about the Saint Tail investigation, priding himself on his position in the investigation to the point where he gets noticeably upset when another detective is invited onto the case. He picks up on small details surrounding Saint Tail easily, and is arguably one of the most knowledgeable people in regards to Saint Tail with the exceptions of Seira and Saint Tail herself. He's able to quickly come up with a plan for how to catch Saint Tail, and has no problem scaling buildings to try to catch her, as he does in multiple episodes of the anime.
Relationships[]
Meimi Haneoka/Saint Tail: Asuka Jr. and Meimi often argue in class, but in fact, Asuka Jr. is always worried about her and her tendency to put up with things she dislikes. However, due to this, he also worries that she may dislike him and is merely putting up with him. While he initially only sees Saint Tail as an honorable rival, the incident with Princess Rosa's mirror gets him to suspect her identity as Meimi and begin projecting his romantic feelings for Meimi onto her. Eventually, close observation of Saint Tail's capers gets him to realize that he no longer wants her to be arrested and is in fact worried about the negative effect being Saint Tail is having on Meimi's mental health. Since Meimi had emotionally supported him even when others would treat him like a social outcast, Asuka Jr. believes that he wants to protect her, thus intensifying his desire to catch Saint Tail before anyone else potentially hurts her.
Rina Takamiya: Asuka Jr. and Rina often disagree on how to capture Saint Tail. Rina is determined to catch her herself, as she aspires to become a police officer when she's older, which conflicts with Asuka Jr.'s desire to be the one to catch the thief. Asuka Jr. has no interest in Rina romantically and doesn't get along with her in most instances, but she continues to be aggressive about her affections. In the manga, their relationship is significantly more hostile as Rina constantly orders him around and treats him like property, but in the anime, their relationship is somewhat friendlier, albeit with friction.
Tomoki Asuka: Asuka Jr.'s father, Tomoki Asuka, is very supportive of his son's attempts to catch Saint Tail. He is part of the investigation himself, and is often responsible for the arrest of the criminals who stole the objects Saint Tail is trying to steal back.
Saint Tail Investigation[]
Asuka receiving his badge from the mayor
After getting a photograph of Saint Tail, Asuka Jr. receives a badge from the mayor which acts as a warrant to investigate Saint Tail regardless of where she may be. With this, Asuka Jr. becomes one of the lead detectives in the Saint Tail investigations, leading a group of police anytime he gets a tip from her to attempt to catch her in a heist. He keeps track of the small details of Saint Tail's actions, leading to him being able to predict where she may enter and exit from a scene, and how she may behave while there. On multiple occasions, he gets close enough to her to see her face, however it's still obscured by the setting they're in or by her hiding it from him herself.
In the second episode of the anime, A Wonderful Rival! Asuka Jr., Asuka Jr. receives a challenge from Saint Tail in the form of a note in which she describes what she will be stealing, when, and where. At the end of her heist, as he watches her fly off the top of the building with a large balloon bouquet, Asuka Jr. urges her to keep leaving him challenges, to which she complies. From then on, Asuka Jr. gets messages from Saint Tail spelling out the details of her next heist in some way, often being actual notes, but occasionally appearing on screens he's using such as in episode 6, A Formidable Enemy! New Student, Rina., where she sends her message over the screen of the arcade game Asuka Jr. is playing.