Manaka

Manaka is one of the main protagonists in TENKEN. He's a construction boss for the Sakamoto Group and got Saki a job on his team after meeting her in a bar. When Saki leaves the city under mysterious circumstances, he pursues her.

Appearance
Manaka is a man in his late twenties or early thirties. He has short black hair, a beard with no mustache, and usually wears the uniform provided to him by the Sakamoto Group. He often wears a light-colored headband and tucks his work gloves into his belt when not in use.

Personality
Before the events of TENKEN, Manaka is a sullen young man who's content with cutting down irradiated bamboo forests slowly dying of radiation poisoning. His depression is largely due to the avoidable passing of his father and the collapsed state of the world following a nuclear war generations ago. However, he gains more of a sense of purpose after gaining a job with the Sakamoto Group.

He takes pride in his work as a construction boss and is admired by his team members, especially Saki. He's also very mindful of the materials used in the projects he manages.

He was kind enough to offer Saki a job on his team when he saw her struggling as a hostess in a bar he frequented. He's compelled to check in on Saki as her behavior becomes more unusual and tries to help her when she's forced to quit his team under mysterious circumstances. As the story goes on, Manaka realizes that admiration for Saki is turning into a love for her.

Plot
At the beginning of TENKEN, Manaka works as a construction boss for the Sakamoto Group. Saki is the lone female member of his team, and he invited her to work for him after seeing her struggle at a hostess club. He's grateful to have her on his team, especially considering how well she works on high-rise projects. However, he notices that she begins acting strangely after they receive a shipment of radioactive bamboo. Confronting Saki, he discovers that she has a scale-like wound on her back and she is soon forced to leave the city.

Investigating further, Manaka confirms that Saki is a runaway and tied to the Tenken festival. Approaching a Tenken Shrine Priest, Manaka learns that Saki is a reincarnated princess and that she will be sacrificed to the demon serpent Yamata-no-Orochi. Not believing the priest, he tracks Saki down and discovers her declining condition. However, the drug-laced incense in Saki's room causes her to reject Manaka's help and he's captured by the Priest.

Escaping, Manaka confronts Saki as she's being lowered into a secret bunker. As he approaches, Saki fights him and stabs him with a construction knife. As they're lowered deeper into the pit, though, they see projections of Susano and Yamata-no-Orochi. The god battles the serpent and eventually proves victorious, allowing the two to escape.

Years later, Saki and Manaka are married with children. Reflecting on their life together, Manaka is grateful that Saki did not perish through her family's tradition of examining abandoned nuclear weapons in the hidden military base that the Priest guarded.