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| “ | This is the first time I've seen you so upset. Cry! Cry and beg! If you don't...we'll have to hurt the dog instead of you. | „ |
| ~ Tomoo forcing Lucy to show some emotion, by torturing her puppy. |
Tomoo is a minor, but significant antagonist in the anime and manga series Elfen Lied. Tomoo served as the chief force that ultimately turned Lucy into a homicidal maniac, and he's also the reason for her deep hatred of humanity.
Biography
Tomoo was an eleven year old boy who was the ringleader of a group of nameless bullies. His favorite victim was Kaede. He and his acquaintances taunted her because of the small horns on her head, and then bullied her further when she shut down emotionally in order to deal with the pain they caused her. Tomoo at times seemed concerned about the staff finding out what he was doing, yet he may have been taking some of his cues from the staff, who seemed to despise young Lucy/Kaede just as much.
Elfen Lied Dog Scene - English Sub
One day, Lucy met a young girl at the orphanage who warned Tomoo off by threatening to call a teacher. It's unknown if the girl befriended Kaede because she genuinely felt sorry for her, or if Tomoo set her up to gain Kaede's confidence. Evidence exists in both directions concerning this. Whatever truly happened, the girl told Tomoo that Kaede had a puppy that she was taking care of, which they found and caught, presenting it to Lucy the very next day. Tomoo teased Lucy about the puppy, then proceeded to throw it hard against the wall. Grabbing a vase (a rock in the manga), he then beat the dog, continuing to do so until it stopped moving. Tomoo expressed mock-regret that the dog hadn't lasted longer. With this brutality and the possible betrayal of her confidence by the girl, Kaede finally had enough. Enraged, she released hidden powers, a series of invisible telekinetic arms called vectors, tearing all four children present to pieces. Tomoo was the last one to die, and was thus most aware of the horror he had unleashed.
The influence that Tomoo had on Lucy continued even after he had died, sometimes appearing to her as a taunting headless specter. Kaede's actions after this remain her own responsibility, and her alienation within the orphanage had already set a bitter seed in her young soul. Yet even though his killing of the pup was, so to speak, the trigger and not the gunpowder, without Tomoo's focus on hurting and pushing Kaede, she might have escaped being the cruel monster she became as Lucy.
Personality
Tomoo seemed to be quite sadistic, at least towards young Lucy. He showed depraved indifference to her pain and to the idea of killing the puppy. Whether this was in his mind 'allowed' because his target seemed to be not Human and whether he was different to others is never shown. While cruelty to small animals can be indicative of certain mental disorders, Tomoo did not live long enough to be certain of anything.
Gallery
Trivia
- Tomoo, alongside with his companions, are very similar to Chris Hargensen & Billy Nolan as both bullied the protagonist for fun thus turning them into psychopaths, one of them directly killed an animal, both their victims are psychics, both are later killed in a gruesome death by the protagonist's power as a revenge & both appear as hallucinations in the protagonist's mind, particularly in the 2002 version.
- Tomoo is also very similar to Henry Evans as they are roughly the same age, males, dog killers (done for fun), and target a specific young girl they enjoy torturing, though unlike Tomoo Henry Evans went beyond simply killing animals.
- Even though he is a minor villain, Tomoo can be considered as one of the most hated Elfen Lied villains ever due to his cruel & inhumane treatment towards Lucy, possibly more than his companions & Elfen Lied's main antagonists Director Kakuzawa and the Unknown Man who are far more evil and sadistic.
- Some fans believe that if Lucy had never killed Tomoo, he would have likely grown up to be a serial killer himself.
- Even though Tomoo is a child, the visceral moment he creates have many viewers stating that he deserved that kind of gruesome death.
- On the flip side of the previous two statements, controversy has arisen between fans, viewers and critics of the show regarding Tomoo as many do not believe that a child of his age can be as evil as he was.
- Additionally, Tomoo likely suffers from sadistic personality disorder, a mental condition that causes people to be sadistic towards others. The disorder is treatable, however, the younger the person is, the easier they are to rehabilitate. Surprisingly that means that given the proper mental hospital environment, the proper psychologists, Tomoo and his allies might have had a shot at rehabilitation had they been taken to a mental ward.
- Tomoo is voiced by Christopher Patton in the English version, who also voiced the English versions of some notable anime villains such as Greed & Turles.
- Like many other young male characters in animation, in the Japanese version, Tomoo is voiced by a woman, Reiko Takagi.
- He was erroneously given the name Tomohiro in the original ADV credits.
 Villains
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