Tomoya Taniguchi

**Overview**Character

**Tomoya Taniguchi** (谷口 智也 (たにぐち ともや) , *Taniguchi Tomoya*) is one of the characters in *Loving Yamada at Lv999!* series, written and illustrated by Mashiro.

## Appearance

Tani's height is a little below average for someone his age. He gained weight and often comes across as messy as a result of his poor eating and drinking habits. He usually wore a baggy shirt that wasn't too thick inside, some sandals, a hoodie jacket, and pajamas outside. He would also frequently wore glasses, probably to correct his vision, and usually kept his hair up with a headband.

Tani was described as having slightly less hair than usual because he resembled Yamada's Afro character, according to Mashiro, the series' author. He has a slightly smudged face and resembles the owner of the convenience store where both Akane and Hasegawa works as a part-time employee.

## Personality

Particularly when he's drunk, Tani is a bit hyperactive and loud. His gambling and alcohol addictions have likely contributed to the development of his loud personality. Even though he hasn't found one, he seems particularly passionate about seeking out a girlfriend. He initially mistook Akane for Rio-Rio, a bar hostess he knew, and would have almost clung to her had Yamada not already been present at that time.

Despite looking messy, he was the oldest member of their team and was primarily responsible for strategizing their attack on Akane's livestreamer neighbor in order to forcibly evicting him to his room due to noise issues, preventing Akane from getting enough sleep.

## Chronology

### Post-Time Skip Arc

 ***Main Article: Post-Time Skip Arc***
Yamada had a fun time playing with his Red Fox Team, led by Tani, before deciding to leave.

### Red Fox Riot Squad Operation Arc

 ***Main Article: Red Fox Riot Squad Operation Arc***
Tani arrives drunk and offers to help deal with the neighbor while dragging Yamada along.

Pandora of the Dawn is a livestreamer who plays the game War of Dolls and gains followers by shouting and cursing during his streams. Tani and Yamada suspect that Akane's noisy neighbor is also a livestreamer, but they are hesitant to confront him. While Akane prepares brunch using a cooking set she gave Yamada as a gift, he arrives at her apartment and asks if she got enough rest.

Tani calls a meeting with Team Red Fox in the middle of the night to discuss their plan for playing the War of Dolls game. The team is split into two groups: one to corner Pandora in-game and the other to cause chaos in her livestream comments. Yamada brings a laptop with sufficient hardware for them to play without any issues.

Jet Black Bride snipes Pandora's character, while Metabolic Panda chases him down and throws Molotov cocktails at him. Pandora tries to recover but is attacked by Tanaka, causing his performance to be criticized by his audience. Gobou tries to make friends with him on chat, while Kim causes havoc in comments as per their roles. After the game, Yamada and Akane are on the phone planning a movie date when Akane heard Pandora's screams, but Yamada brushes it off as just TV noise from his neighbor's room when Akane asked.

Meanwhile, Tani and Gobou are bored in a voice chat discussing their plan to make a girl happy by pressuring Pandora in-game to leave the apartment complex alone. The team has recently been motivated by tampering with Pandora because they get bored when they don't do it. Their main goal is to put pressure on Pandora so that he must leave the apartment complex alone—an idea Tani came up with called "Let's all make the girl who was nice to me happy."

Pandora is frustrated with his continuous loss streak in the game due to three players who keep harassing him, even off livestream. Gobou suggests he move to a streamer-friendly home and take a break from streaming, but Pandora refuses to quit. He mentioned that he sent a message to Tanaka, to which Tani made Aqua reply to the message because only he can understand his own dramatic idioms.

Pandora suspects the three players are cheating but Gobou just warns him that he may have more serious stalkers as a rising star. While showering, Pandora sees Tanaka in the mirror and receives a noise complaint from his neighbors. He decides to play a game and when he announces it, Tanaka starts playing too. The next day, Mallard Moving Center helps Pandora move out of his apartment while Tani and Yamada stop by his balcony to say hello, causing Pandora discomfort given their past interactions.

## Relationships

### Non-familial

#### Akito Yamada

Yamada is a member of the same team Tani belongs to, which is called Team Red Fox. During their inspection of Akane's apartment, Tani helped Yamada by providing support and assistance. Specifically, Tani was responsible for planning their team's strategy during the operation to get Pandora, the neighbor who was livestreaming late at night and disturbing Akane's sleep, to leave the apartment complex where Akane lived. While Yamada may have had a different role or responsibility within the team, Tani worked alongside him to ensure the success of the operation. Together, along with the rest of the Team Red Fox, they were able to help Akane and resolve the problem caused by Pandora's disruptive behavior.

#### Aqua

Aqua is a member of the same team as Tani, which is called Team Red Fox. Aqua is primarily responsible for being the sniper on the team, which means that he is skilled at using long-range weapons to take out targets from a distance in-game.

#### Kim

Kim is a member of Team Red Fox, in which the team that Tani is a part of.

#### Gobou

Gobou is also a member of Team Red Fox, the same team that Tani belongs to.

#### Akane Kinoshita

In addition to mistaking Akane for Rio-Rio, the bar hostess that he had feelings for, Tani also played an active role in helping Akane with her issue involving a neighbor who was livestreaming late into the night, causing her to have trouble sleeping. Tani was the one who took the initiative to provide assistance to Akane and help her resolve the problem along with the rest of the Team Red Fox.

#### Rio-Rio

Although the bar hostess's face was never shown in the series, Rio-Rio has become the love interest—more accurately, a one-sided love—of Taniguchi. He visited her twice a week for three years, according to Tani, but all he ever received was the occasional message from Rio-Rio calling him creepy. She had never spoken to him, much less gone on a date with him.

## Gallery

Tani on his in-game character with Yamada (Tanaka) and Aqua (Jet Black Bride)Tani LINE sticker (1)Tani LINE sticker (2)Tani LINE sticker (3)Tani LINE sticker (4)
### Chapter Covers

Japanese Chapter 66 CoverEnglish Chapter 66 Cover
## Etymology

Taniguchi's name is broken into three syllables, *"TO-MO-YA,"* but only two kanji characters - 智也.
 **智 (TOMO):** means wisdom, intellect, reason;
 **也 (YA):** means to be (classical).
While Taniguchi's surname is broken into four syllables, *"TA-NI-GU-CHI,"* but still only two kanji characters - 谷口.
 **谷 (TANI):** means valley;
 **口 (GUCHI):** means mouth.
## References

*My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999* Manga: Chapter 52. — Author's Postcard for Tani.