Sharaku, Hosuke

Also known as 写楽保介 (Sharaku Hosuke)

Status: Major Star (★★★★)

Though not well represented in English releases of Tezuka’s works, in Japan Sharaku is one of Tezuka’s most recognizable and popular characters. His main series is The Three-Eyed One, though he also appears in others. In daily life Sharaku Hosuke is a shy, clumsy middle-school student, bald and infant-like in appearance, and fond of playing with toddlers who don’t realize his true age. But when the characteristic X-shaped bandage on Sharaku’s forehead is removed, revealing his third eye, he reveals his true nature as a descendent of the ancient race of Three-Eyed Ones, powerful demonic beings whose civilization was related to that of the ancient Mayans. As the Three-Eyed One, Sharaku is a cunning, murderous and ambitious genius bent on destroying humanity, with telekenetic powers and an unsurpassed technological capacity which lets him assemble random objects into machines capable of amazing feats, from cooking people’s brains to time travel. Some believe the character of Sharaku to be derived in part from childhood fantasy’s of Tezuka’s when he too was a shy, awkward middle-schooler excited by the idea of special powers and secret identities, but the dual personality of weak and innocent Sharaku and powerful and devilish Sharaku certainly embody the kind of escapist fantasy play which appeals to all audiences, child and adult alike. In his own series, manga and anime, Sharaku appears in both personae, shy and devilish, but in other series he tends to appear as only one or the other. Shy Sharaku appears several times as a patient in Black Jack and as Assaji the fool/prophet in Buddha, while devilish Sharaku appears as the villain in Marine Express, and American audiences will know him in the same role in the recent Astro Boy: Omega Factor game for the GameBoy Advance, which is largely based on Marine Express.

SHARAKU IN OTHER WORKS
Tezuka often imports Sharaku into other stories, but brings only half of him. For example, the unsealed Three-Eyed One Sharaku is the villain if the Marine Express film, while the foolish, passive but wise boy Sharaku appears prominently in Buddha, never removing the plaster which seals his eye. Followers of recent Tezuka-based works will know the darker Sharaku as the villain of the Astro Boy “OMEGA FACTOR” GBA game, and the passive boy Sharaku as Pinoko’s best friend in the Black Jack TV series. Sharaku also appears in It is Difficult Though Understands (1976), an NEC Advertisement (1979), Rainbow Parakeet (1981), and This is what’s going to happen in 1983 (1983), and in the Last Mystery of the 20th Century TV special. He appears several times in the Black Jack manga, including the following:

写楽保介 （しゃらくほうすけ）スキンヘッドに、額の第三の眼を隠す×印の絆創膏がトレードマークのキャラクター。 『三つ目がとおる』（1974年）の主人公でデビューした。 普段は幼児的で、絆創膏を剥がして三つ目を露出させると狡猾な悪役になる二面性が特徴だが、他作品でのゲスト出演時にはもっぱら絆創膏を貼ったままコミックリリーフとして活躍する。 三つ目を出した状態での出演例は『 プライム・ローズ 』（ 1982年 ）『ミッドナイト』（1986年）など。

Hosuke Sharaku (Sharaku Fukai)
The skin head, plaster of × mark to hide the third eye of the amount of trade-mark character. It debuted in the hero of “The Three-eyed One” (1974). Usually the infantile, but duality is features and expose become cunning villain the third and peel off the bandage, to be active as comic relief while exclusively put a bandage during guest appearances in other works. Such as the appearance example in the state that issued the third is “Prime Rose” (1982), “Midnight” (1986).

詳細は「 三つ目がとおる#主要人物 」を参照

Distinguishing Features

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Manga Appearances

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