Taneo Tokuda

Taneo Tokuda is a freelance journalist working for Juzo News, a magazine publisher. He is an anime-exclusive character.

Appearance
Taneo is a tall, slender man with black, wavy hair that hangs on one side of his face and short sideburns on both sides. His face is angular with high cheekbones that the girls of 1-A call handsome. He wears thin-framed glasses with large, circular lenses, contrasting with his thin, grayish-blue eyes with mismatched pupils, one white and one black.

He sports a beige blazer over an untucked black dress shirt and dark slacks. He also has a black camera that hangs around his neck when he's reporting.

Personality
Taneo is relaxed and laid-back, strolling into work with a smile to reassure the flustered editor-in-chief of Juzo News. He has a habit of charming and manipulating others with his good looks, punctuating several of his sentences with a flirtatious wink and complaining to his editor to get access to U.A. Owing to his profession, he's also extremely perceptive, deducing the hidden meaning behind All Might's words at Kamino as well as the identity of his successor.

Despite his manipulative exterior, Taneo is a lifelong fan of All Might after the hero rescued his father from a bombing at an industrial complex eighteen years ago. This admiration of All Might is what convinced him to seek out Izuku Midoriya, All Might's successor, as well as keeping his discovery a secret before declaring that he'll save his findings for a book he'll be writing on the new Symbol of Peace. He also has a playful side, pulling Izuku in for a surprise selfie before saying that he'll keep that picture forever inside of him. This shows that Taneo is an extremely ethical and sentimental journalist.

Childhood
Eighteen years ago, when he was still a child, Taneo witnessed a fire at the industrial complex where his father worked. It was a terrible catastrophe where even the rescue squads hesitated, but All Might intervenes by risking his life and rescues the twenty-four people who working there at time, including Taneo's father.

He was so excited to see his dad safe that he accidentally took a picture of the scene. He submitted the photograph to a newspaper who used it to illustrate the news. This event inspired him to be a reporter.

Shie Hassaikai Arc
Taneo arrives at the offices of Juko News with a proposal for the editor-in-chief, who wants a report that makes them stand out about the competition. After some investigation, Tokuda reveals to her that he has come to the conclusion that All Might is raising a successor within the ranks of U.A.’s very own Class 1-A. After a few deliberations, Taneo convinces the editor-in-chief so that she can obtain permission to him to visit the U.A.

He arrives on campus under the pretense of writing an article about the dorm lives of U.A.'s students after the Kamino incident. He spends most of the day taking photos of the students while slowly narrowing down All Might's potential successor. Tokuda proceeds to do a quick analysis of 1-A’s students and each of their quirks. A montage of snapshots follows the students through a normal day at U.A., with Tokuda narrowing down his assumption that Midoriya Izuku is indeed the successor to All Might.

It turns out, Taneo admires and respects All Might since he saved his father's life from a bombing at an industrial complex 18 years prior, the very same incident that Midoriya repeatedly watched videos of as a child. Tokuda simply wanted to meet All Might’s protégé firsthand. The hope that All Might gave him all those years ago will continue on in Izuku and his classmates. That hope is the inspiration Tokuda had been looking for.

After taking a quick selfie with Midoriya, he confronts Izuku about his findings before assuring the young hero student that this will remain a secret until he finishes the book he's writing about him – titled “When the New Symbol of Peace was Young”. With that, he takes his leave.

Next day, Taneo returns to Juko News and pretends that he his scoop was a bust, apologizing to the Editor-in-Chief for jumping to the wrong conclusion. Even though he isn't able to give Juzo News the story he promised, he still gives them a different scoop they can run: All Might eating meat buns. Editor-in-Chief loves the idea.

Abilities
Skilled Reporter: Taneo is a skilled reporter whom the editor-in-chief of Juzo News calls "the heaven-sent scoop finder". Not only was he able to deduce the true meaning behind All Might's words, "You're next.", but he was able to discover the identity of All Might's successor while discreetly snapping a picture of the two of them as proof.

Quirk
Whole-Body Lens: Taneo's Quirk allows him to sprout camera lenses anywhere on his body and take pictures with them. He can then print the pictures out of his chest.

Trivia

 * His mismatched pupils are a reference to the in photography, which refers to the size of the camera's aperture. His right eye has a small, dark pupil, referring to a high f-stop setting that lets in little light. His left eye has a large, white pupil, referring to a low f-stop setting that lets in a great deal of light.
 * Taneo's English voice actor for when he was a child, Monica Rial, also voices Tsuyu Asui.