Isamu

## Takanashi Isamu

**Takanashi Isamu** (小鳥遊 勇, *Hangul*: 타카나시 이사무) is an actor and singer under Heaven's Entertainment. He is the leader of the upcoming boy group Soul Academia and a former member of the project boy group QUANTUM.

## Background

### Early life

Takanashi Isamu was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, on August 12, 1998. Shortly after he turned 5, he had to move to Seoul with his father due to the latter's job. He has adapted to Korean society and culture since he began learning Korean at a tender age. Despite being of Japanese ancestry, he would claim he is more Korean than Japanese if asked. Peers describe Isamu as a very assertive and strong individual who has a large group of loyal friends.

### Career

He began his acting activities after he joined the Fantagio label in 2015. Although he was trained to be an actor, he also actively participated in the label's singing activities and has sung several OSTs of dramas and films produced by Fantagio. His name was launched into fame in 2018 after he played as a second lead in a K-drama titled *One Wedding and Two Funerals* as a bisexual romantic interest of yet another second lead cast. It was said that his popularity with his acting partner outshone the main couple's. Statistics reported that the highest rating the drama achieved was during the episode where the love story of Isamu's character peaked and resolved. Following the drama's success, the name of his iconic character "Professor Hayashi" became his permanent nickname given by his fans.

His official fan club name is "Hiyoko," which means "baby chick" in Japanese. His last name, "Takanashi," inspires it. The kanji means "little birds play," and the pronunciation means "There is no eagle." It is also why his representing emoji in QUANTUM is a hawk.

Due to personal reasons, he switched labels from Fantagio to Heaven's Entertainment in 2020, where he continues his two passions: acting and singing. According to the media, Isamu had a major falling off with his manager at Fantagio, which resulted in him transferring to Heaven’s. Isamu, however, persistently denied such a claim even to this day.

#### 2022-2023: *Search The Cosmos* & Debuting in QUANTUM

In 2022, Isamu joined the reality show *Search The Cosmos* as a contestant. During the show airing, he paused all of his acting activities. Isamu confessed that he paused his acting activities to join *Search The Cosmos* "just for fun." He had no intention of winning the competition, only seeking experience meeting passionate singers and dancers and receiving extensive training. His fellow actors who worked with him previously looked down upon his decision, but he paid no mind. Instead, he believed that joining the competition would boost his popularity, and his label, Heaven's Entertainment, supported his decision.

Although Isamu is one of the oldest contestants, he respects everyone equally and admires those who possess talent that is far superior to his. He connected with other trainees and learned how to better their singing and dancing skills. As an actor who has made a name for himself, some trainees became Isamu's luckiest fans as they befriended him. One of them is Four Bloc Entertainment's Yoon Jihan, who are both experienced actors and are among the oldest contestants and current roommates for the show. They became friends after Jihan approached Isamu as he had watched one of his dramas. Due to their shared traits, they established a close friendship during the show.

During the show's finale, he was revealed to have ranked 2nd overall, thus making him a member of QUANTUM.

* Episode 1: Isamu performed "To be continued..." by 6topia. He was ranked 1st overall and became one of the three S-Grade contestants.
* Episode 2: Isamu performed STC's title song, "My Name," with his fellow contestants at ASD Nightmine. He received an A+ grade and, at the end of the episode, ranked 2nd overall.
* Episode 3: Isamu carried out the second mission with his group by performing "To be continued..." by 6topia once more. At the end of the episode, he was ranked 2nd overall.
* Episode 4: Isamu participated in the secret visual center mission and ranked 4th overall. During the Ghost Room prank, he was spooked by a ghost "sighting" who jumped out of the room. When he tried to escape, the ghost chased him down and made him fall into fear.
* Episode 5: Alongside his friend, Jihan, Isamu partook in the next challenge of performing live based on positions they wanted to debut in. The two of them performed 6topia's "Immortal Sin" for the Rap x Dance performance. Isamu and Jihan did a spectacular job, landing them on Rank 1 and 2 at the end of the episode, respectively.
* Episode 6: In the Concept Evaluation challenge, Isamu is grouped to perform Lee Jisoo's Funk genre song "Rocket" with Jihan, Feng Chun Yung, Kang Haegyu, and Seo Jisang. Once again, he emerged as the overall Rank 1 at the end of the episode. He is extremely grateful and promised his fans to keep up this energy until the show ends.
* Episode 7: In the first elimination round of *Search the Cosmos,* Isamu was ranked 2nd overall.
* Episode 8-10: Isamu simultaneously placed on every Top 7 ranking and placed 2nd in the final voting, making him a member of the boy group QUANTUM.

## Personality

 File:Isamu doing his things.jpg
Isamu is known for his laidback and chill personality, which he imminently displays in his professional and private life. He loves a good laugh and likes to make great jokes around people, even strangers. Even then, he values the company of people who share the same wavelength as him, meaning people who understand boundaries when fooling around. He brings this mindset to the acting industry, which enables him to improve his acting skills while carefully selecting people who are business partners and genuine friends. Another notable Isamu trait is his outstanding leadership, which comes from experience. He has often been entrusted leadership positions, back in school, at university, and even now as the leader of the boy group QUANTUM. He is a great leader due to his agreeable nature and effective communication.

What makes Isamu even more special is that he has not lost touch with his inner fanboy despite his current status as an idol. He was a vocal fan of several acts before joining QUANTUM, including FINEKIZ, [[Seventeen], ARCANE, IU, (G)I-DLE, and many more. He attends their concerts whenever he can, and he has a large collection of CDs and PCs by his ult bands. Isamu's list of favorite actors and actresses is broad and includes both foreign and domestic talent. He says that if he were only a fan of QUANTUM, he'd be the group's biggest hype guy, and Jihannie would be his ultimate bias. His unfazed confidence also contributes to his "flirty" image, especially towards other male celebrities.

Isamu eunwoo omg so gay.jpgCha Eunwoo's biggest supporter. Omg not him cheating on Jihan like what is this behavior 🙄Isamu jun carat.jpgThe biggest Carat and Huihui in the country yup.

## Relationships

### QUANTUM members

#### Yoon Jihan

Main article: Jisamu
 File:JISAMU1.jpeg

Isamu and Jihan became best friends during their time in *Search The Cosmos*. They are both experienced actors, the oldest participants in the show and they were roommates, making it easier for them to become close. Isamu sees Jihan as a respectable figure, knowing that he is an extremely talented artist who knows how to unite talented people together despite his small stature. Actually, it is because of Jihan's contrasting dominating aura with his petiteness that draws Isamu to him. He dubbed him as "the cutest hyung" and won't stop teasing him throughout the show. Because of their natural and beyond adorable interactions, a lot of their fans started to ship them together and ended up becoming one of the most popular pairings in the show, known as Jisamu. Isamu and Jihan also became friends with their fellow competitor, Sangwoo.

#### Kim Sangwoo

Sangwoo is among the few *Search The Cosmos* participants Isamu became close to. It started with Sangwoo approaching the actor where he revealed that he watched several of Isamu's dramas and was excited to get to know the infamous "Professor Hayashi." Isamu likes Sangwoo and thinks they are alike, being the "chill and relaxed hyungs". Both are extremely talented, but they love to grind to improve their skills as natural hard workers. As each other's support system who experienced extreme fluctuations in their rankings, they do whatever it take to cheer each other up. Thanks to him, Isamu could improve his rapping skill and become confident in writing and rapping his own flows. Since they are excellent communicators, they rarely disagree with each other during the show, making them efficient partners. Although Sangwoo treats him with respect as his hyung, Isamu often ignores his politeness and treats him like his equal.

#### Momoi Masayuki

Isamu and Masayuki are the only Japanese members of QUANTUM, and thanks to that, both warm up to each other quite quickly. They often communicate in Japanese, thanks to how adamant Isamu wants to talk with his bandmate in his mother tongue as his Japanese skill is rapidly slipping. During the competition, Isamu openly supported his dongsaeng and was happy they could debut together. Their friendship is a reminiscence of former IZ\*ONE members Sakura and Chaeyeon.

#### Kang Haegyu

Isamu had an excellent first impression of Haegyu ever since Star Maker 101. He viewed him as a hard-working and passionate youth who would do anything to achieve his dream. Although they did not interact as much during the competition, Haegyu left a considerable amount of impact on Isamu. He had to reevaluate his "just for fun" mindset, so if he managed to debut in the final line-up, it was achieved because he worked for it, not just because of pure luck. They bonded after QUANTUM's debut and discovered that the younger idol had insecurities about being the group's official center. As the big brother and the leader of the group, he convinced Haegyu that he deserved the position and should take pride in it.

#### Hwang Yuwon

Isamu and Yuwon got along quickly thanks to their shared love for Seventeen. They continued to exchange Spotify playlists during and even after the competition, particularly Seventeen playlists for every mood possible. Isamu respects and treats him like an equal despite being seven years older. He learned much about dance and song compositions from Yuwon through their time together in QUANTUM.

#### Won Eunjin

Due to their significant age gap, it was awkward for Isamu to approach Eunjin initially. He rarely interacted with someone younger than him, like Eunjin, who had almost a decade of an age gap. Isamu claimed that Eunjin is so young he can be technically his own son, and it's reflected through their interaction. Isamu loves to tease and bicker around the maknae, while he also takes good care of him by often treating him to Eunjin’s favorite restaurant or making him some snacks.

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