Taisuke Hayama
In “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony”
Name: Taisuke Hayama
Mermaid kingdom: Sambath’s colony in Japan’s Inner Sea (also known under the name of Seto Inland Sea).
Age: 18 years old, but he looks younger.
Occupation: High school student in Santa Ana, and aspiring karate-ka.
Looks as a human: When Amelia first meets Taisuke, it’s in the dojo. He’s wearing a white karate-gi with a black t-shirt beneath (as we learn earlier when he takes off his jacket). His height and weight match Amelia, so he’s probably neither tall nor bulky, but she describes him as handsome nevertheless. He’s got thunderstorm gray eyes, and spiky, brushed up hair that’s black with an unnatural, crimson glow. He appears serious and quite cold at the first glance.
Looks as a triton: Taisuke doesn’t appear as a triton, hence, we don’t know what he look like. However, he probably has a red tail taking into consideration his ancestry.
Personality: Taisuke seems stand-offish in the beginning. He doesn’t smile, doesn’t talk to Amelia, and he fights quite intensely. When sensei compliments him, Taisuke doesn’t say anything. He and Amelia mostly talk from their second training on. Taisuke speaks slowly, and he seems more of a listener. His silence, feels extremely awkward to Amelia. Later, Jayden states that during training, Taisuke is going easy on Amelia, because she’s a girl. He also adds other things that throw some light on Taisuke’s personality. Taisuke’s friends died in some sort of accident when he was younger. This left him with an emotional scar, he had become distant, and somewhat depressed. However, after Amelia rescued his brother, he learnt that he needed to live in the present moment and decided to change. Taisuke has good manners, and generally appears as very polite, unlike his twin brother.
Interests: Not much is known about Taisuke; for sure, one of his greatest passions, is martial art. He also seems interested about his kingdom, as he mentioned going to a meeting organized by a representative.
Best friends: His best friend is probably Jayden. When Jayden tells Taisuke: “Thanks a lot, bro! I can always count on you!” Taisuke responds: “And vice versa,” which shows, that the two have each other’s backs.
Taisuke is also friends with Greene, who’s his classmate.
As for his relationship with Amelia, that’s quite complicated. At first, Amelia isn’t sure at all, if she likes Taisuke. She sees him as an important opponent, and cares about winning fights. Later, she sees Taisuke lose to another person, but this makes her realize, that he’s very talented, anyways. However, she still considers talking to him awkward. Learning about his past from Jayden, though, evokes empathic response in Amelia, who wants to become friends with Taisuke.
When she spots his twin brother drowning, and mistakes him for Taisuke, she panics. When it turns out, it was Hansuke, and the two start arguing, Amelia fiercely defends Taisuke from him. When Hansuke asks Amelia if she likes Taisuke, Amelia wonders if it’s true.
Amelia tries to keep a normal relationship with Taisuke but she still can’t communicate with him, and she gets distracted all the time, looking at him. Later, Taisuke wants to help her, and accompany her to the Jade Dragon Restaurant. When Amelia’s friends learn about this, they joke about her having a crush on him. Amelia can’t stop blushing, but she still isn’t sure, if she’s in love with Taisuke. She mostly thinks to herself that they can’t communicate because she secretly admires him, and also because, they’re from two different countries, and there aren’t many common topics.
When they meet for their “date,” Amelia is stressed, and wishes, he wouldn’t show up, but he does. He thanks her for saving his brother, and compliments her, which makes her embarrassed. But then, the conversation flows, and at some point, Taisuke confesses that he’s from Sambath. At that point, Amelia says she won’t judge him, and that he’s “always cool” in her eyes.
Love interest: It’s not clear, who Taisuke is in love with. We know that he considers Amelia pretty and that he’d like to see her as a mermaid. We also know, he’s going easy on her during training, and he shows some interest in helping her, when Jayden can’t. However, that’s too little information to conclude if he feels anything for her or not.
In “Stories from the Undersea World of Mermaid Princess Amelia, Vol. 2”
Taisuke Hayama is a young man sculpted by the spaces between identities: between land and sea, between human and merman, between crippling self-doubt and a nascent, desperate yearning for self-worth. His story is not one of inherent heroism, but of a painful and often reluctant awakening, forced to navigate the murky waters of a heritage he never chose and a societal self he never felt he fit.
The Outsider
From the outset, Taisuke is defined by a profound sense of alienation. This alienation is multi-layered, beginning with his most fundamental identity. As a half-merman living in the human world, he is a secret, a “shameful family secret” to be hidden. His mother’s refusal to speak of their sea nature and his father’s adamant prohibition against anything “sea-related” create an environment where a core part of his being is treated as something aberrant. This internal conflict is physically mirrored in his rare transformations; he has hardly ever seen his own magnificent crimson tail, a symbol of a self he is forbidden to know or embrace. This enforced disconnection from his true nature fosters a deep-seated feeling of being “weird,” of not fitting in “anywhere, not even in his sea country.”
This otherness extends to his social and cultural existence. Living abroad, he is perpetually caught between cultural assumptions. In the West, he faces the ridiculous stereotype that he must be a martial arts expert simply because “I look Asian.” In Japan, his father’s homeland, he is gripped by social anxiety, terrified of missteps and unfamiliar customs, feeling like a “total outsider” during a simple visit to a family friend. He is hyper-aware of his own perceived inadequacies, a feeling brutally amplified when he meets Hirotaka Ito. Hirotaka—handsome, academically accomplished, a karateka on the path to a black belt—becomes the perfect mirror reflecting everything Taisuke believes he is not: confident, successful, and universally admirable. Taisuke’s initial reaction is a familiar spiral of inferiority and self-loathing, expecting only “negativity and belittlement” from someone so seemingly perfect.
This social discomfort is rooted in a deeper trauma. The “devastating loss” of his childhood friends in a tragic accident has left an “indelible mark,” making the formation of new friendships feel perilous. This is compounded by the “toxic dynamic” with his twin brother, Hansuke, whose intense jealousy over Taisuke’s merman abilities manifests as relentless bullying that pushes Taisuke to the brink of suicidal ideation, often dreaming of “slitting his wrists” to escape the abuse. His inner world is a “constant state of inner conflict, torn between the need to protect his space from others, and fearing the isolation that came with total solitude.” He is a boy profoundly alone, isolated by his heritage, his trauma, and his own crushing insecurity.
The Yearning for Belonging and the Spark of Change
Beneath the layers of anxiety and depression, however, lies a resilient and curious spirit. Taisuke is not passive; he is driven by a powerful, almost compulsive need to understand his origins. The cryptic message from his mother, hidden in a throat candy, is not dismissed but seized upon as a crucial clue. Despite his father’s warnings and his own fears, he makes the conscious, defiant decision: “I suppose, I’ll just go there and learn what it’s all about.” This act of rebellion is the first step in his journey toward self-discovery.
His encounter with Hirotaka serves as the catalyst for a profound internal shift. Prepared for hostility, he is instead met with “kindness and compassion.” Hirotaka’s genuine interest and modest demeanor disarm Taisuke completely. The simple, absurd act of chopping a watermelon with a karate chop becomes a pivotal moment of shared laughter and connection, a symbolic “breaking of the ice” that Taisuke desperately needed. More importantly, Hirotaka’s philosophy—that excellence is born from “effort, persistence, and time,” not innate talent—ignites a “flame of motivation” within him. For the first time, Taisuke, who had “always felt like a misfit and loser,” is presented with the radical idea that he can change. Hirotaka’s sincere admiration for Taisuke’s ability to live in a foreign country leaves him “speechless” and “deeply touched,” offering a validation he has never received.
This spark of inspiration directly fuels his courage to finally explore his underwater heritage. He doesn’t just go for a swim; he goes with a newfound sense of purpose, his mind “filled with memories of the deeply inspiring conversation.” The transformation into his merman form is not just a physical change but an emotional catharsis, a “profound sense of liberation” where he can escape the “constraints of society.” In the water, in his true form, he is not an outsider; he is home.
Confronting a Haunted Heritage
Taisuke’s journey through the underwater town of Kowai Mizu is as much an exploration of a physical space as it is a descent into the psychological underpinnings of his own identity. He is not a fearless adventurer but a nervous, observant tourist in a world that is both fascinating and terrifying. His observations are sharp and detailed, from the local fashion of daring hairstyles and simple hakamas to the unsettling popularity of horror poetry and fear curses. He is an ethnographer of his own culture, trying to piece together a puzzle.
What he discovers is a society steeped in collective trauma. The eerie captions on decaying walls—”Empty eyes, full of hunger,” “the clock ticks, but backwards”—the Fear Temple where one can curse others with terror, the Dream Club photo with faces erased: all these elements paint a picture of a community grappling with deep-seated anxiety and a distorted relationship with hope and fear. His initial reaction is one of “unmistakable sense of disturbance,” and he quickly understands why his mother never returned and his father wanted no part of it. He is not just seeing a strange town; he is witnessing the historical and psychological reasons for his own fractured upbringing.
His encounters with Mizuka Nakajima and Kairi Sakamoto further refine his understanding. They represent an active resistance to the darkness he perceives. Mizuka, the character-slayer, is everything Taisuke is not in that moment: confident, decisive, and powerful. Her rescue of him from the malevolent red kanji is a moment of awe, placing him “in the middle of an action movie.” Through them, he learns of the REEF and their fight against “dark mermaid magic,” showing him that even within this troubled society, there are those who fight for light and comfort.
The Dawning of Integration and Purpose
The final piece of the puzzle falls into place with Mirai and Mr. Shimizu’s lecture. Mirai acts as a gentle guide, helping him contextualize his experiences. Through her and the lecture on the history of Sambath, Taisuke moves from mere observation to comprehension. He learns that the “sense of disturbance” he felt is the legacy of war, economic decline, and generational trauma—a far cry from the mythical, glorious empire he might have imagined. The story of Sambath’s descent from a great civilization to a genocidal, fortune-obsessed cult serves as a macrocosm of the themes in his own life: the dangers of relying on luck over effort, the corruption of inherent gifts, and the devastating cost of isolation.
This newfound knowledge catalyzes a “profound transformation” in Taisuke. The insecure, depressed teenager begins to recede, making way for a young man with direction. The realization of his “secret wish to become a doctor” is a monumental moment of self-awareness, connecting his own nature to the advanced medical history of Sambath. It is a purpose that feels intrinsically tied to his identity, something his surface-life parents never encouraged but which his underwater heritage seems to demand.
His decision to “embark on a journey of self-improvement” by signing up for karate is the ultimate symbol of his transformation. It is an active embrace of Hirotaka’s philosophy—that excellence is earned through hard work. It is a rejection of his former passive despair. He is no longer the boy who thought he was “not good at anything, really”; he is now the young man who believes he can “change himself too, and maybe one day, become the best version of himself.”
In conclusion, Taisuke Hayama is a character of remarkable depth whose journey is one of synthesis. He begins as a collection of fractured parts: the hidden merman, the anxious son, the traumatized friend, the insecure student. Through a series of challenging encounters—with kindness, with danger, with history, and with his own reflection in the waters of Kowai Mizu—he begins to integrate these parts. He learns that his feelings of not fitting in have a historical context, that his desire for belonging can be met with genuine connection, and that his future is not predetermined by his past suffering. By the end of his journey, Taisuke is not yet a hero, but he is finally, and irrevocably, on his own path.
Trivia about Taisuke Hayama:
- Nobody ever reads Taisuke’s name right. It should be read without the “u”, as “Tais-ke.”
- Taisuke inherited his name and surname from two anime characters: Daisuke Niwa from DNAngel and Akito Hayama from Kodomo no Omocha. Interestingly, Taisuke shares more traits with Akito, than with Daisuke. Akito also trained karate, and he was mistreated by his sibling (sister). However, he had a much more defiant and mischievous personality, than Taisuke.
- Sambath was originally invented by Maxine’s best friend forever, Vincent. Maxine decided that Taisuke would be from Sambath, as a token of friendship for Vincent.
- One of the reasons why Maxine went to train karate, was to be able to better describe fights between Amelia and Taisuke. However, Maxine had loved martial arts since long, and was also a great fan of Karate Kid and Cobra Kai.
- Taisuke’s scent is a perfume with wood notes and chrysanthemum. Maxine chose chrysanthemum for a personal reason. In Poland, chrysanthemum is the most popular flower on All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Maxine’s grandmother died early and she and her family would always go to the cemetery. Maxine watched graves laden with countless chrysanthemums and she felt a pervasive feeling of nostalgia and yearning. More or less at that time, she was writing the first draft of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony.” She wanted Taisuke to be quiet person who was somewhat hurt in the past, but nevertheless, had a pure soul, just like a chrysanthemum. So later, when picking his signature scent, she took this flower.
- When Taisuke arrived on the date with Amelia, he brought with himself “The Old Man and the Sea” by Ernest Hemingway. He said that he had to read it for class but that he liked it.
Grab your copy of “Mermaid Princess Amelia and the Lost Symphony” here…
English: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08T6BJ6RG
Spanish: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08Z8GK1JX
Italian: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0953PN3Y7
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