Tadashi Hamada

"Unbelievable. What would Mom and Dad say?" Tadashi Hamada is a tritagonist of Disney's 2014 animated feature film, Big Hero 6 and of Disney's sequel television series, Big Hero 6: The Series. He was an older brother of Hiro Hamada and a gifted robotics student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. Tadashi was the creator of Baymax, a robotic healthcare companion. Tadashi's sudden death in a mysterious fire catalyzes the events of the film, leading Hiro, Baymax and Tadashi's best friends to band together to investigate the "accident" and catch the culprit responsible for it.

Tadashi Hamada is based on the character of the same name from the original comic book series, Big Hero 6 published by Zenescope Comics.

Background
Tadashi Hamada is a brilliant inventor and the older brother of Hiro. Together, the two live with their Aunt Cass in the beautiful city of San Fransokyo City. Their parents died 10 years prior to the events of the film, and the boys grew up together in Cass' cafe and bakery. Tadashi was also a student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology and worked alongside his best friends Wasabi, Gogo Tamago, Honey Lemon and Fred under the guidance of their mentor--the world-renowned Professor Callaghan.

Aside from innovating and inventing, Tadashi spent his days with his little brother and best friend Hiro and often made attempts to convince the young prodigy to use his intellect to do great things. Under Callaghan's guidance and with the funding of San Fransokyo Tech, Tadashi now has the means to create useful technology that could change the world--an opportunity he eventually seizes to create Baymax.

Official Description
''Tadashi is a good guy. He just is. He actually developed, built and programmed a state-of-the-art nursebot—a Healthcare Companion named Baymax that will likely help millions worldwide. But it's his role as big brother that makes Tadashi truly special. Every kid needs a guy like Tadashi looking out for him, and Hiro knows just how lucky he is to have him in his life.''

Personality
Incredibly kind, encouraging and hard-working, Tadashi is considered the epitome of a great brother, nephew and student, always there when people need him. He has an energetic sense of humor and can be silly and excitable.

Tadashi is very hard-working and intellectually gifted. He does not believe in "dead ends" and values hard work to accomplish goals. He also has a large understanding of health and medicine. Ever the optimist, he successfully balances this rising career in cutting-edge technology and providing moral and emotional support for his younger brother while keeping a good attitude and happy smile. He also even appears to be athletic and he is known to have taught Hiro some karate; Baymax's statement that Tadashi was in 'excellent health' also indicates that he is physically fit.

As the only male figure in Hiro's life, he has carried the burden of responsibility from a young age, knowing that he had to be a good role model. Having to care for Hiro alongside their aunt Cass has made Tadashi gentle and understanding, though as the big brother, he can still be rough on occasion. He is also not above scolding Hiro or becoming upset with him, getting angry at Hiro's unwillingness to try and make something of his life, showing a slightly frustrated side to his personality not seen anywhere else. He encourages Hiro to be the best that he can be and supports him in his endeavors. He was also sneaky, as he promised Hiro he would take him to a bot fight but in reality took him to his university, claiming he "needed to get something" before they headed off in order to get Hiro to come to his university and become interested in it while technically keeping his promise of "taking him to the bot fight" without actually doing it.

However, he was also shown to have a silly, goofy side to himself. When he introduced Baymax to Hiro and Baymax asked if he is experiencing any pain, Hiro asked "physical or emotional", causing Tadashi to comically pout. When Hiro ran out of ideas, he grabbed Hiro and shook him upside down in order to shake some ideas into his head and stated that Hiro needed to "look at things from a different angle"--a philosophy that Hiro eventually adopts as his own during the film. He was also excitable, as shown when he was happy after finally activating Baymax (after 84 tests) and ran around and kissed Baymax.

Tadashi also values his aunt; he does not like to make her upset and is appreciative for all she has done to raise them, especially having done it alone. His concerns extend to the general public, developing Baymax with the sincere hope that the healthcare companion would help people all over the world. He is dedicated to helping others no matter what the cost is to him--a statement undeniably proven when he makes the ultimate sacrifice in an attempt to protect his teacher.

Physical Appearance
Tadashi is a young man of native Japanese and American decent. According to the official sources, he is 18-year old. He is 6'0" (184 cm) tall in height and is slender. Tadashi has fair skin, obsidian black hair and brown eyes. His eyelashes and eyebrows are somewhat medium thick, and his eyes are in a prominent shape. Tadashi is a slightly muscular young man of a larger build than others in his family. He has large, warm brown eyes and neat black hair cut above his prominent ears. His face shape is different from those of his aunt's and brother's, with a longer face, larger jaw and slightly larger nose.

His most notable physical trait is his preference for a black baseball cap with a red-and-gold San Fransokyo Ninja lettering on it. He is rarely seen without this cap except for a few scenes, such as when he takes off his moped helmet; it is also off in many family photos that can be seen in his home.

Since he changes his clothes daily, he does not wear any one outfit for much longer than others. However, he owns many similar articles of clothing, only varying in color. He owns several blazers, crew neck t-shirts and cardigan sweaters, usually in the colors white, black, tan, red or various shades of green. He often wears mint-colored sneakers with white soles and shoelaces and occasionally carries a tan satchel.

When he introduces Hiro to his friends, he is wearing a white crew neck t-shirt with artwork of a ninja, along with a grey cardigan, brown pants rolled up around his ankles and his mint-colored sneakers. He wears the same shirt to bed that night, with green plaid pajama pants.

On the day of his death at the San Fransokyo Tech Showcase, he wears an olive green blazer over a black shirt, with a similar pair of rolled-up brown jeans. Before he runs into the burning building, his hat falls off of his head, which Hiro retrieves and keeps as a memento.

Manga
The prequel manga, Baymax, describes Hiro and Tadashi's childhood and provides an alternate version of the film. Beginning with his first meeting with Hiro at his birth, the first chapter elaborates on Tadashi's opinion on growing up alongside Hiro and what he wants for Hiro's life. As children, Hiro is always seen as the smarter of the two despite his age, and Tadashi originally expresses slight jealousy, though he grows out of it with age. Overall, he decides to not give up and continues to work hard as he creates his greatest work, Baymax.

His death in the manga is entirely different from the film. Instead, he dies protecting Hiro from a portal that Yokai activates from underneath the robotics lab, pulling Hiro to safety while a loose pipe knocks him over the ledge. After confessing his pride and love for Hiro, he is sucked into the portal, and is never seen again.

Hiro and Tadashi
Tadashi is the center of the book, alongside his brother. The book gives more insight into the Hamada brothers' closeness and the importance the relationship has on Hiro, as they build an "awesome robot" for Professor Callaghan's class. According to the book, the brothers are always coming up with secret rules for each other (at least 457 of them), and mentions Tadashi as being the one who gives Hiro the journals he uses to brainstorm inventions. This is also exhibited in the Hiro's Journal book -- the first page includes a letter from Tadashi, telling him that to use the notebook because "every invention needs to start somewhere".

Other Books
Tadashi also appears in the Big Hero 6 Golden Books, which are condensed versions of the film for small children. The Little Golden Book does not detail the circumstances of his death or Callaghan's involvement in it, mentioning him only as the creator of Baymax and having been lost in an accident at school. However, the Big Golden Book (written for slightly older children) discusses Tadashi and his death at length, calling him the "best brother ever". In a few publications, he is mentioned to be eighteen year old during the events of the film.

Trivia

 * Tadashi's character went through a few changes during development:
 * Early information regarding the plot somewhat implies that Tadashi was deliberately murdered by Yokai in some early drafts of the script.
 * Pre-release information also depicted Tadashi as already attending classes with Hiro and was also the man in charge of a science research team in which each individual would make different things, eventually leading up to a competition.
 * Artwork by the film's character designer Shiyoon Kim suggests that Tadashi wore glasses during development, and was also at one point designed to be older.
 * Tadashi has been assigned different ages from different sources.
 * In the film, it is implied that Tadashi is at least of the age of the majority (18 years old in the state of California, where Big Hero 6 takes place) because he is in the same cell as the other bot fighters. If he were a minor, he would have been assigned his own cell, as Hiro was.
 * In an interview, Daniel Henney stated the he believed Tadashi would be around 19 or 20 years old.
 * Japanese media prior to release gave Tadashi the age of 21 years.
 * According to the book Big Hero 6 (Disney Book of Secrets), Tadashi is 18 years old.
 * The colors of the logo in Tadashi's hat invert between the film and the illustrated books. In "Hiro and Tadashi", the N is red while the S and F are gold, but it is vice versa in the film.
 * According to the junior novelization, Callaghan was the last person Tadashi saw before his death.
 * In the manga version of Big Hero 6, Hiro was bullied by other children because of his intelligence. Because of this, Tadashi would protect him. In order to cheer Hiro up, Tadashi would give him a lollipop; this may have been the inspiration for Baymax to give his patients lollipops after treatment.
 * Tadashi is a common Japanese name meaning "loyal" or "true", a name suited to his personality as he is loyal to his friends and family, and true to himself and to others.
 * Tadashi is pronounced slightly differently in its native language, being phonetically pronounced as "TA-da-shi" rather than "ta-DA-shi".
 * In the Korean dub of the film, Tadashi Hamada is renamed Teddy Armada to avoid any references to Japan and Japanese culture, due to the tension between Japan and South Korea.
 * Similarly, the mainland Mandarin Chinese version also renames him "Teddy", because of intense relationships between Japan and China.
 * According to the directors Don Hall and Chris Williams, Tadashi would make an appearance in the television series.