Name: Hanagata Kamatarou
Age: Never mentioned, but from the looks of him, probably early to mid forties
Height: Again I don't have official stats, but compaired to Hanagata (who is five foot four), well above six feet, probably six and a half.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hard to tell on my crappy DVDs, but they look grey/blue.
Job: President of the Hanagata Conglomerate
Hobbies: Sports, sumo, drawing manga, sewing, video games, beating the crap out of his elder son

While Kamatarou, Hanagata's muscle-bound domineering father shows up only in one Episode of Saber Marionette J to X, he is, nonetheless one of the more fascinating characters in the Saber Marionette world and one of this web mistress' personal favorites. While many fans may be quick to dismiss Kamatarou as a colorful but ultimately unimportant character in the grand scheme of Saber Marionette, his influence (at least in his unfortunate son's case)is both far-reaching and profound.

Kamatarou is the leader of the Hanagata Conglomerate (at least that's what I think it's called. My J to X DVDs are subtitled pretty poorly :_:), a world-wide corporation dealing in everything from building construction and electronics to clothing, a fact which makes Kamatarou one of Terra Two's most powerful and influential citizens. Along with his financial and political power, Kamatarou is also a shrewd businessman with enough talents and intelligence to qualify him for membership in Terra Two's equivalent of MENSA. He sews, he draws manga, he plays sports, and plays a mean game of Tetris... and did we mention he's got a physique that would make Mr. Universe look like Pee Wee Herman? Well, he's built like a panzer division, and he's also a sumo champion (again I'm not sure about the specifics, the subs were really bad, people...).

Despite his many talents, however, Kamatarou does not seem to be a particularly talented parent. While Kamatarou appears to be on fairly good terms with Hanagata's younger brother Yumeji, he doesn't seem to be close to either of his sons (it takes him two entire series just to appear, after all) or very involved in their lives. For example, while Pinsuke, the family's loyal retainer, does mention that Kamatarou 'cleared all of Hanagata's debts' from the previous year in SMJ Episode twelve and that Kamatarou is "furious" with his elder son for not coming home to spend the new year with him, this is all we really learn about Kamatarou's feelings to his son before J to X. One could almost infer from this short clip alone, in fact, that Kamatarou has always been far too busy with his business to do much actual parenting and has probably left most of that up to people like Pinsuke and the rest of Hanagata's stooges.

Not that the lack of Kamatarou's presence in Hanagata's life has in any way made him meaningless in the young man's eyes. While in the same episode, Hanagata scoffs at Pinsuke and refuses to visit his father, as if visiting the old man were some sort of boring chore, when his henchmen drag him off he begins screaming bloody murder. And in Episode Three of J to X we learn why. Hanagata is absolutely terrified of his father for good reason. Aside from being cold and intimidating, Kamatarou, like everyone else in Japoness, regularly beats Hanagata up and seems to relish doing so. And not only that, but, as a trip through Hanagata's family album reveals, he also seems to enjoy humiliating his son by challenging him to games and activities Hanagata does poorly at (namely most things). Consequently, Hanagata is so frightened of the man that he usually obeys his orders immediately and without question.

However, this is not to say that Kamatarou is a heartless child abuser (if he were, this webmistress would not like him and would have consequently turned this page into a hate shrine). On the contrary, he seriously believes he is doing Hanagata a favor by (mis)treating him this way. In his eyes, Hanagata is a cowardly, weak, timid and overly idealistic layabout who needs some (extreemly) tough love in order to become strong and pragmatic enough to sucessfully run his business and live a happy and productive life. While his methods of 'teaching' seem unusual and often cruel, his motives and logic are very much in step with those of many fathers when considering how to help their children 'grow up' (see any Arthur Miller play for an example of what I mean).

And in the end, it seems that all Kamatarou really wants from his wayward son is a show of backbone. Late in Episode Three, Hanagata actually challenges his father to a sumo round in order to win the right to stay in Japoness with his friends. Although he loses this round (and for the record, gets severely injured for the first and only time in any Saber series), Kamatarou relents. Via a letter in which he calls Hanagata such things as "my silly son" and "too weak to run such an enterprise", Kamatarou orders Hanagata to remain in Japoness to "practice yourself"; in other words to improve his body and mind for the day he will take over the Hanagata Conglomerate. And while read at face value Kamatarou's letter seems insulting, petty and as vicious as any of his previous physical and emotional attacks on his son, this is hardly what he truly means. At the very end of the episode, we see Kamatarou standing at his office window gazing out upon Japoness below. He smiles fondly and gently murmurs "bastard Mitsurugi". Deep down, (okay very deep down) it seems that Kamatarou loves Hanagata and wants him to be happy, even if his means of showing that love are entirely inappropriate and physically and psychologically harmful.

It's really a shame that Kamatarou, like all the Hanagatas, got such little screen time in the series. I would have loved to have seen a more in-depth treatment of his relationship to both of his sons and to learn if he and Hanagata ever developed a more healthy way of interacting. While I suppose such questions will always be left to fan fiction and speculation, it would not surprise me if Kamatarou ever received hefty bills from his sons' therapists!