Taichi Yaegashi

“Teacher, I haven't heard that it won't work if there aren't five people”

Character Overview
is a member of the Student Cultural Society and the series' main male protagonist. He attends the same homeroom as Iori and Inaba and is a pro-wrestling fanatic. In class, he is a fairly quiet character and he has been noted to have a hard time smiling genuinely.

Personality
He is generally depicted as a selfless and considerate individual. He will usually go to great lengths trying to help others even if it comes at his own expense or has no direct benefit to him. This trait has earned him the title, "Selfless Freak" by Inaba. He is a fan of pro-wrestling, and has a lot of respect for pro-wrestling jobbers.

Taichi has also proven to be a very patient man; rarely ever getting worked up and always trying to understand the viewpoints of others rather than starting an argument. Of course, he is certainly not above throwing in a few smart one-liners, but tries his best not to antagonize people. He has also been shown to be a doting older brother towards his sister, Rina.

Key problems
Taichi cannot bear the pain of watching someone else suffer, and would rather endure their suffering instead. He is obsessed with helping those in need, even if it comes at the cost of himself. Inaba has likened the severity of this trait to that of mental insanity.

Appearance:
Taichi is of average height, and shorter than Aoki. He has short brown hair, and normally displays a calm face. Aoki suggests that Taichi is quite handsome and he'd be popular if he was more cheerful. Taichi is usually seen in his school uniform.

Background History
He originally wanted to join a 'Professional Wrestling Study club'; however it did not have enough members interested in it. So the school placed him in the 'Student Cultural Society' club.

Family
Yaegashi Rina: Taichi’s younger sister. He has been shown to be quite fond of her, however he tends to be a bit overprotective about her having relationships with boys. Ironically, Rina is often the one to give relationship advice to Taichi rather than the other way around.

Friends
Nagase Iori: A female classmate of Taichi and the president of the StuCS club. Taichi has a deep crush on Iori and even confesses his feelings to her. Believing that Iori was going to die, they kiss while she was borrowing Inaba’s body. Their relationship never fully develops due to the constant complications brought on by each phenomena and Iori ultimately rejects his confession after realizing their love was too premature.

Inaba Himeko: A female classmate of Taichi and vice-president of the StuCS club. Taichi helps Inaba get over her insecurities by revealing one of his deepest secrets to her. Over the course of the series, Taichi and Inaba develop a strong bond of trust and need for one another: Taichi helping Inaba with her self-esteem and Inaba helping keep Taichi's "Selfless Freak" tendencies in check. After the class trip, Inaba confesses her feelings to Taichi but he turns her down as he's in love with Iori at the time. Despite the rejection, Inaba refuses to give up on him. At the end of the Michi Random arc, Taichi and Inaba begin dating.

Aoki Yoshifumi: A fellow StuCS club member and Taichi’s best friend. They often share adult videos with one another and Taichi knows about Aoki’s love for Yui. Though they act as emotional supports for each other, Aoki admits to being jealous of how Taichi is better than him at helping other people, particularly Yui.

Kiriyama Yui: A female member of the StuCS club. Taichi helps Yui get on the path towards curing her fear of men and the two develop a strong friendship.

Fujishima Maiko: Taichi’s class representative. Fujishima becomes Taichi's rival for Iori's love after Inaba (while controlling Taichi's body) declares Taichi's love for Iori. Despite their rivalry, Fujishima still cares enough for Taichi to offer friendly advice from time to time.

Gotō Ryūzen: Taichi's homeroom teacher and club advisor for the StuCS. The two are shown to be good friends since Gotō is rather lazy and Taichi is always willing to help others. Gotō will occassionally share words of wisdom with Taichi that even surprises himself.

Watase Shingo: A male classmate and friend of Taichi. Taichi learns that Watase has a crush on Fujishima.

Trivia

 * Taichi is a big fan of pro-wrestling because he sees it as the art of enduring physical pain and has lots of respect for "jobbers": wrestlers who normally throw fights to raise their opponent's popularity . Moreover this reflects his personality, as he'd rather endure pain himself than seeing other people suffer.