Akio Tademaru

Introduction

Image Gallery

Akio Tademaru
Name
Kanji	蓼丸昭夫
Romaji	Tademaru Akio
Personal Information
Gender	Male
Status
Status	Deceased
Species	Human
Relationships
Relatives	Unnamed Brother † Kumi Yamagumonoko (sister-in-law) Shiki Tademaru (nephew) Aya Tademaru (creation/adopt. niece)
Debut
Manga Debut	Chapter 11
Anime Debut	Episode 7
Portrayal
Japanese voice	Akira Ishida
English voice	Cody Savoie

Akio Tademaru (蓼丸昭夫,, Tademaru Akio^?) was a human scholar who specialized in Kemono and was Shiki Tademaru's uncle.

Appearance

Akio was an adult man with short, messy hair and glasses. In his first appearance, he wore a long olive-green coat over a black t-shirt, paired with gray pants that reached his calves and brown shoes.

Personality

Akio presented himself as a polite, amicable, and proper adult and parental figure to Shiki when first introduced. In truth, this is a facade. Akio was, in fact, a manipulative, self-serving, greedy, and highly ambitious person with absolutely no morals. He was willing to exploit Kemono powers for his own benefit, convincing Kumi to partake in inhuman experiments with the intention of producing golden silk— all under the pretense of giving her and Shiki with a means of self-sustenance. This led her to endure a torturous experience, all to create a hybrid capable of producing the silk.

Akio felt no remorse or guilt for his actions and, in fact, relished his achievements. He believed he had made a groundbreaking discovery that would catapult him to unparalleled historical fame. He also lied to Shiki about his mother's condition and manipulated him into thinking he had their best interests at heart. Calm and patient, Akio continuously avoided the issue whenever asked, knowing Shiki would eventually give up on it.

History

When he was a student, he followed his older brother on an investigation into Kinshi-Go folklore. On this trip, they met a female kemono Arachne, Kumi Yamagumonoko, that his brother fell in love with.

Some time after meeting Kumi and throughout the process of learning about Kemonos, they came to the conclusion that the legend of Nishikigumo was a true story and that its real source was the Kemono Arachne. For his brother, simply reaching that conclusion was enough—but not for Akio. Then, his brother mysteriously died. However, Akio claimed that "he accidentally slipped in the forest, couldn’t withstand the fall, and ended up dying." At that time, Kumi was already pregnant with Shiki.

Some time later, Kumi sought him out because her son had caught the flu, as there were no medicines for such illnesses in the Kemono world. From that moment, Kumi began to feel that she should raise Shiki as a human. However, being a Kemono, she was incapable of doing so. Akio then made her an offer to use her abilities to make money, and she agreed, as she would do anything for her son. He then subjected her to sexual relations with different types of Kemono and creatures from the forest in an attempt to artificially create the spider that produced the golden thread of the legend. After many attempts, they finally succeeded. With Aya’s birth, he managed to create a being whose thread could heal injuries and illnesses.

At some point, Lady Inari discovered this incident and blacklisted him, preventing him from selling and profiting from the golden thread. After several failed attempts, he hid Kumi in a pool of water as a way to force Aya to obey him.

Plot

Shiki Arc

After Shiki, Inugami, Akira, and Kabane arrived in Kinshi-Go, Inugami went to check the inn and unexpectedly encountered Akio earlier than planned. They then went to a secluded place to talk, where Akio introduced himself as Shiki's uncle—the younger brother of Shiki’s father—and claimed to be somewhat of a folklorist. He also stated that he was aware of the existence of Kemonos but had no intention of exposing them.

After some small talk, he started talking about Shiki's parents. At this point, Inugami and the others left, allowing Shiki and Akio to speak alone. During their conversation, Akio lied to Shiki, claiming that both of his parents were dead.

As night fell, Inugami, suspicious that Akio was hiding something, went to his house to confront him. While they walked through the forest, Akio eventually confessed the truth. However, Inugami had secretly left his phone on a call with Shiki, allowing him to hear everything. Enraged, Shiki and the others confronted Akio, intending to kill him. In an attempt to protect himself, Akio used the children from his previous experiments to fight them, triggering a battle. However, his efforts failed, as all of them were defeated.

With Aya’s help, the group discovered that Shiki’s mother was still alive. So knowing this, Inugami contacted Mihai and, together, they located Aya's cocoon, which contained Kumi submerged in the pool of water.

After everything that had happened, Shiki decided not to kill Akio, realizing that it would be a far worse punishment for him to live without a legacy to leave behind. However, his survival was short-lived—while fleeing through the forest, he encountered Nobimaru, They exchanged a few words before an explosion suddenly occurred.

Powers & Abilities

As a normal human, he doesn't posses any additional powers or abilities.

Relationships

Shiki Tademaru

Akio was a tactful and proper parental figure to Shiki on the outside. In truth, this was all an act in order to hide his misdeeds and make Shiki forget what he had witnessed. At present-day Akio continued to lie to Shiki without the slightest shred of remorse.

Aya Tademaru

Aya is the result of Akio's experiments on Kumi. He has always treated Aya as an object, punishing her whenever she disobeyed him. To ensure her obedience, he hid her mother, Kumi, and used this as blackmail to control her.

Kumi Yamagumonoko

Although Akio was seemingly both kind and friendly to her, although this was in fact a ruse. Akio knew he could exploit Kumi in order to create golden silk which he could use to enrich himself, and manipulated Kumi onto participating in his experiments, all under the pretense of giving her the means by which she and Shiki could live peacefully as humans. He then proceeded to have her systematically raped for 6 years under different kinds of Kemono breed found nearby in order to create an offspring that could create the golden silk. He had her and Shiki separated when he was traumatized by the experiments he witnessed during his childhood. Akio feels not the slightest remorse for what he made her endure.

Appearances

Manga Appearances

Chapters in order of appearance

Shiki Arc

• Chapter 11 - The Spider's Thread
• Chapter 12 - Madness
• Chapter 13 - Dearest Wish
• Chapter 14 - The Golden Thread

Anime Appearances

Episodes in order of appearance

Shiki Arc

• Episode 7 - Home
• Episode 8 - Truth
• Episode 9 - Family

Quotes

• (to Shiki, about dying) "Shiki! You see, I... Would not particulary... mind dying... even if i were to die... my name and what i did would remain in prosperity... what is important is not living a long time... it is "how much you are able to leave behind". and i will... leave behind...!"