Takato Matsuki

"It's not your fault. They're jealous ... Of what? The generous and kind person that you are…"

- Jeri, to Takato

Takato Matsuki (松田 啓人 Matsuda Takato) is the leader of the Digimon Tamers and one of the four main protagonists.

Before Digital Dawn (Digimon Tamers)
Takato is an only child. He comes from a family who runs their very own bakery. Takato is extremely imaginative and loves to be creative, so he likes drawing. One day he draws Guilmon on a notepad and his recently acquired D-Power scans the drawings to create his new partner, donning yellow goggles to show his Digimon Tamer status. At first he's not very good at battling (an example is the battle between Guilmon and Devidramon he was using cards that made things worse and the only reason that they won was his caring about Guilmon caused him to digivolve into Growlmon) but as time goes on he gets better at it (an example of this is the fight with IceDevimon an enemy even Kyubimon couldn't destroy but he'd gotten good enough at battling that he used the perfect combo on Guilmon that he was able to destroy IceDevimon easily without even digivolving to Growlmon). He seems to have a deep bond with Guilmon and when Guilmon was mortally wounded by the tiger Deva Mihiramon, he had some kind of dream where he and Guilmon (as Growlmon) talked where he said that he wasn't worthy to be a Tamer but if Growlmon still wanted to fight he'd help. This caused him to get a Blue Card and Growlmon matrix digivolved to WarGrowlmon thanks to it and destroyed his foe. WarGrowlmon told him that he was worthy and thanked him for fighting with him. During the fight with Vikaralamon when everyone else had given up he stepped up and through his bond with WarGrowlmon shared his own energy and strength with him. Takato and WarGrowlmon's combined strength freed WarGrowlmon and destroyed Vikaralamon who before was too powerful to be beaten.

The death of Leomon in episode 34 unbalances Takato's mind and in his blood-lust for Beelzemon, he forces WarGrowlmon to Digivolve to the Mega level. However, his dark emotions got the best of him, and twisted the evolution and WarGrowlmon dark digivolved into Megidramon, as well as causing his Digivice to overload and shatter. In the following episode, realizing what he had done and what his partner meant to him, Takato reached the Guilmon inside Megidramon and caused him to revert back to Guilmon. He wanted to help Guilmon fight Beelzemon so badly at that point that they digivolved together (called Biomerging) to form Gallantmon and defeated Beelzemon. Takato received a new Digivice (with gold-colored accents) as a result.

Takato's imagination often gets the best of him, and he can occasionally let his feelings or his imagination cloud his judgment. He tends to act goofy, carefree and childish, but is capable of donning a more adult image when circumstances become serious.

In Digital Dawn
In Digital Dawn, Takato is 14 years old, going to 15. Takato makes his first appearance in the first chapter of Digital Dawn. He worries very often, about her cousin, Luna Takuan, because of her problems to make friends. He also makes jokes about Henry's relationship with her cousin, saying that, they have a crush on each other. He's also in love with Jeri Katou, a friend, who is also a Tamer. Later, in the story, he wins the Crest of Courage and he digivolves with Guilmon to AncientGrowlmon (a Digivolution process, similar to the Biomerge evolution). He's also the creator of the band, The Digitals, as the bass guitarrist of the group.

In chapter 1, Takato doesn't appear too much. He appears, trying to wake up Luna; when the two of them went to school,along with Yumi. Later, he makes a brief appearance in the cafeteria and then in the park with his friends. However, he appears very often in battles. During the story, Takato will be driven into situations, that will make him act as a stubborn and narrow-minded person, specially when he remembers about tragical his past with Luna, because they don't have a close relationship.

He also tries to convince Henry and Luna, along with Rika to create their own band to a contest, which they win in the end. During chapters 5 and 6, Takato's friendship with Henry was in danger, because he almosts lost his trust on him, because he thought he caused the car accident and agrued with Luna because of that. In the end, they become friends once again.

In chapter 8, Takato won The Crest of Courage, by giving his life for Jeri. This almost leads him to a serious death, as he ended seriously hurt. However, Guilmon and he could digivolve to Grandismon.

At the end of chapter 9, when Henry, Rika, Luna and he were discussing about the band's CD, he noticed what was going on with Luna with her real parents and got really angry with her, tired because Luna should forget about "something that happened 6 years ago". But in the end, Luna shouted furious to Takato, explaining why she was so angry and sad to find out that her parents died 6 years ago and she never knew about it, making her to leave angrily the music store, without letting Takato to answer her.

Takato's relationship with Luna, will have lots of changes in the story. They fight and agrue very often, but in reality, Takato cares deeply about Luna and loves as her sister.

Personality
With a great sense of humor, caring, brave and extrovert. He's a very funny person, but often emotionally immature and insensitive. He has a sardonic, wisecracking sense of humour that often brought his friends laughter and relaxation. Takato is the most sweet of the male characters of the story. Although he's very distracted, he's very mature when it comes to important decisions, but he can also be stubborn when he gets in trouble.

Takato's character is also marked by moodiness and insecurity. He can be argumentative, a trait particularly displayed in his bickering with Luna. He also has a fierce temper, which is especially prone to provocation if his loved ones are insulted.

As a boy, Takato was very sensitive about his family's poverty, and sometimes embarrassed by them.

Takato a big passion: drawing. He became a exellent artist with a lot of imagination.As Guilmon, Takato is particularly fond of food. He has a tendency to talk with his mouth full, often to Rika's disgust, and a great fondness for any kind of food.

Takato often jokes about his friends' relationships with girls, but when it comes to love, he gets really nervous and doesn't know when to act or not, specially with Jeri, the one he's in love with.

Physical description
Takato has a similar image of his mother, having almond-shaped eyes startlingly red eyes, but his untidy brown hair, as chocolate is identical to his father's hair. Takato's physique is small and skinny. with a thin face and knobbly knees, like 3 years ago, when he was 12 years old. Now, at the age of 14;almost 15; he growed up as tall as his mother.

One of Takato's principal characteristics is that he always wears a pair of round-rimmed googles on his head (similar to Tai's from Digimon Adventure),hiding his bangs; except when he wears his pijamas or his school's P.E. uniform.

Unlike Henry, Takato often uses vivid colors like light blue, grey or yellow, as a symbol of positivism and happiness. Takato's casual outfit consists in a blue long-sleeved hoodie, a white undershirt, grey pants and white sneakers with green- colored accents, an outfit very similar to his outfit in Digimon Tamers.

Original source
Digimon Wikia