Tonpachi

Also known as 豚八 (Tonpachi)

Hello, My Name (in English) is…

Tonpoachi’s name in Japanese is a combination of the words buta (豚), meaning “pig”, and hachi (八), meaning “eight”. A good name for a low-level gangster or thug.

Distinguishing Features

Tonpachi is easy to pick out of a group of gangsters. He’s the short one, with the round face. He’s usually wearing pitch-dark sunglasses and sucking on a cigarette.

Status: Secondary Star (★★)

One look at Tonpachi and you just know he’s a low level thug and general ruffian. Not terribly bright, he’s usually brought in by some other mid-level Tezuka boss, be it Hamegg, Lamp or Tonshipei, to act as the muscle. He’s more of a safety in numbers kind of guy, so he doesn’t usually work alone.

Notable Roles

Tonpachi made his debut as a Wang Tu, one of the thugs reporting to Adam Dandy in Jungle Emperor (1950-54) – although this wasn’t the first published, but based on the Complete Works edition. Besides that, he’s also made appearances in Astro Boy (1952-68), including in the chapter Ambassador Atom (1951) as one of Ampere’s henchmen at the Space Theatre, as well as in Boy Wonder (1954-55), and Hikari (1959) – all as someone else’s henchman.