Tatsuhiko Hirayama

**Tatsuhiko Hirayama** (平山竜彦 (ひらやまたつひこ) , *Hirayama Tatsuhiko*?), also known by his pen name **Hikotatsu**, is one of the main characters of BEAT & MOTION written and illustrated by Naoki Fujita. Tatsuhiko is a college student, independent animator, and former bass guitarist for the now defunct punk band Chic. Impressed by his first published piece on animation which becomes an overnight sensation, musician Nico Kashiwagi asks him to animate a music video for her.

## Appearance

Tatsuhiko is a young man of average height. In addition to having black eyes, he also has black hair. Even when he is outside, he frequently dons comfortable, casual clothing.

## Personality

Tatsuhiko is prone to being influenced by his feelings, especially on days when he feels sympathetic toward his goals. He is too emotionally unstable to consider taking his own life in order to alleviate the guilt of living a life of failure and failing to realize his undetermined goals.

Once he gets back into animation, Tatsuhiko begins to feel better about his life and looks forward to entering his work into contests and seeing where it leads him. Thanks to Nico's influence, he begins to follow a new dream of being an anime film director, with Nico composing all the songs for his films.

## Plot

Since he was a young boy, Tatsuhiko has liked doing animation. When he was younger, an anime director voiced his respect for Tatsuhiko's thoughts and stated that he would have delighted to have him work as an animator at his studio someday. This statement encouraged Tatsuhiko to become fascinated with painting and animation, and the encouragement he got from his family provided extra drive.

He was so driven that he would draw portraits of a girl called Tadaka while looking out the window of his school. However, one of Tadaka's classmates saw him painting a portrait of her and handed it to her; she instantly termed him creepy. Tatsuhiko was saddened by this and promised never to sketch or exhibit his drawings in front of anybody ever again.

Tatsuhiko was attracted despite never having played the guitar before when a friend of his wanted to form a punk band and offered him the position of bass guitarist. Tatsuhiko accepted the invitation and instantly made acquainted with the remaining three members of the band. Despite the fact that the band never fared well because they didn't take punk music seriously, he regarded it as his new passion. They performed for small crowds throughout college before parting up amicably.

However, Tatsuhiko's mental health worsened as a result of the band's constant rejection. He came to feel that everyone was out to get him, and he was afraid that his death would be forgotten. As he saw others thriving where he had failed, he became more prone to fury and anger, and he developed suicidal thoughts as a result.

His admiration for the musician Nico Kashiwagi, whom he began following around the time the band was established, was the only thing that brought him solace during this difficult period. He hoped that the success of the band would bring them together since he admired her and hoped to marry her one day. He would message her every time she published a new song to let her know how much she was appreciated, and if this didn't happen, he would quit.

Tatsuhiko decided to return to animation after a near-death incident caused by a drunk female at a bar, as well as after browsing over all of his previous works. In his perspective, doing what he liked was the most important thing, even if he didn't make it a career. Otherwise, he determined, life wasn't worth living. As a consequence, he regained his passion of sketching and animation, and the positive comments he received from individuals he knew further fueled his excitement. He has exploited his predisposition in observing motion in living things to further inspire his art.

He didn't anticipate his work to be seen by more than a few people, so he was taken aback when his first professionally released animation received 20,000 likes and 10,000 followers in an instant.

## Etymology

Tatsuhiko's name is broken up into four syllables “TAT-SU-HI-KO,” but only two kanji characters - 龍彦.
* **龍 (TATSU):** means dragon, imperial;
* **彦 (HIKO):** means lad, boy (ancient).

## Gallery

Manga PortraitOriginal DraftTatsuhiko: Chapter 1 Lead Page