Punch Tanaka

> "Eight ball, corner pocket,"
>
>

"Punch is really cool and owns a lot of motorcycles. I've never ridden on one. Maybe he'll let me!"

### Abilities

Counter Stance, Called Shot, Shakedown, Magnificent Combo

### Affiliates

Big Norman, Johnny Katana, DeeDee

Punch Tanaka is the leader of the Petty Thugs. He and his gang serve as minor antagonists around the beginning of the game, as he was paid to torment Jimmy by the Pulsating Mass, but he eventually comes around and joins Jimmy's party. He specializes in using his street smarts to mess with enemies, and is particularly good at stealing items.

## Appearance

Punch is heavily inspired by the gangster/delinquent archetype, particularly that of the greaser subculture popular in mid-20th century America. As such, he sports a jet-black exaggerated pompadour haircut, dark sunglasses that he's never seen without, a sleeveless leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, baggy jeans ripped at the knees, and red sneakers.

## Personality

As the embodiment of everything cool in Jimmy's eyes, Punch always talks like he has everything under control; even if he's actively talking about how he doesn't know what's going on. He often monologues about himself and his thoughts, with heavy use of metaphors and analogies to emphasize his cool nature. This all puts up a facade of being cold and uncaring to those around him, but it doesn't take much for him to express how much he really cares about his gang, and eventually, Jimmy. After jumping off the bridge at the end of the Blood Marsh, he suffers from amnesia, and his monologues get far less boisterous and more introspective as a result. Even still, no matter what he's talking about, his manner of speech never deviates from the cool attitude he lives for.

## In Battle

Punch is a versatile physical attacker with a focus on stealing items and playing tricks. His **Shifty** personality and very high LCK stat make his steal rates naturally high, and his Shakedown skill allows him to steal items while still dealing damage. His high AGI ensures he acts before many enemies, allowing him great utility out of skills that startle, such as his unique Scare Tactic manual that inflicts startle on all enemies at once.

One of his most unique attributes is Called Shot, a skill that doubles Punch's damage for one turn after use. It can be used to boost hard-hitting moves with long cooldowns such as Mag Combo or the manual skill Kung-Fu Punch, effectively using these moves twice at the same time for no extra cooldown penalty. It synergizes particularly well with other damage multipliers, such as Andrew's Analyze, or the buff granted by the Dream Stone. Stacking multipliers like this is how you get damage high enough to defeat bosses in one turn!

### Base Stats

When Punch initially joins the party, his level is set to the average of Jimmy and Lars' levels.

### Tanakarate

 **Shifty** | The STREETS rub off on you, you know.
 **Counter Stance** | A technique learned from training as a monk.
 **Called Shot** | A little trick picked up in pool halls.
 **Shakedown** | You can't take the street out of the thug.
 **Mag. Combo** | Perform a magnificent combo!

### Unique Equipment

#### Outfits

 **Leather Vest** | It takes a real man to pull off a leather vest.
 **Spring-Loaded Shades** | Cool but wildly impractical.
 **Violent Video Game** | You can punch a turtle in this!
 **Scare Tactic** | A special technique used to surprise the enemy.

## Trivia

* He might be a reference to Teddy from Earthbound Beginnings/MOTHER, considering he the fact that both are characters who are Gang Leaders that start out as antagonists, and then become Party Members.
* His name is likely a reference to Hirokazu "Hip" Tanaka, a composer who worked on the first 2 Mother games.
* He was called the only villain that matters on the tumblr blog Here.