Takeo Masaki

"Die for your dishonor!"

- When killing Zombies

Takeo Masaki (Japanese: Masaki Takeo 正樹 武雄) was a soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army, as seen in Call of Duty: World at War. He appears in Shi No Numa and Der Riese in Call of Duty World at War, but in Call of Duty: Black Ops he appears in Kino der Toten as well as all four original zombie maps and will be appearing in the new upcoming Zombie map, Ascension. He is voiced by Tom Kane.

Takeo's personality can best be subscribed as being the most serious person in the group.

He rarely makes jokes, instead he's very serious and straight-forward.

Biography
Very little is known about Takeo. However, he is shown as a loyal, Imperial Captain and is one of the four soldiers fighting off the Zombie horde. It is unknown how he feels fighting against his undead brothers, but is shown fighting them off. He is the least seen of the four soldiers in the Shi No Numa trailer.

Tattooed on the inside of Takeo’s eyelids is the Japanese proverb “Life is light when compared to honor”. For Takeo, life has no meaning if not to perfect one’s discipline and to reveal a warrior’s true character and honor. He ponders this and other philosophical questions as his Katana slices through the flesh and sinew of his enemy.

Takeo was born into wealth. His family dynasty dates back several centuries, and throughout that time they have been highly decorated Samurai and Bushi. Takeo is no exception to this celebrated bloodline. When the family first saw the young, life-filled 5 year old Takeo playing in the street with his Katana and slicing the tails off terrified kittens, they knew he was destined to bring honor to the Masaki name.

The war was a perfect opportunity for Takeo to explore his blood-lust and study the nature of those less honorable than himself. If you fall victim to his swift action and might, know that you have helped a man better than you reach enlightenment

It was discovered that Takeo had a piece of his memory wiped from Element 115, and is currently being observed by Richtofen who knows about the mind wiping.

Trivia

 * In Black Ops, Takeo's appearance has become slightly different. Now he has a mustache and a few wrinkles under his eyes. But the rest of his appearance is fairly the same.
 * Takeo is a Captain, as shown on his wrist cuff insignia.
 * If Dempsey sees Takeo stabbing a zombie to death, he remarks, "You could have just put a smoke into his eye...", and he also says, "I'm surprised you didn't torture him first." referencing to the officer that put a smoke into Pyle's left eye on the campaign mission 'Semper Fi', suggesting that Dempsey was part of the Marine Raiders who attacked Makin Atoll, or this could be a joke about Japanese interrogation methods in World War II.
 * Doctor Richtofen and Takeo Masaki are the only playable Axis soldiers in singleplayer. This not just in Call of Duty: World at War, but in all of the Call of Duty series as well.
 * Takeo always seems to team up with Dempsey in the trailers even if they are direct enemies, and even more oddly, Dempsey displays some respect for him.
 * Takeo respects Richtofen, probably because both Takeo and Richtofen fought on the Axis side.
 * Like Dr. Richtofen, Takeo seems to have no respect for Tank Dempsey. In Der Riese when he runs out of ammo he will say "My gun is like Dempsey's head. Empty!" Also while examining Dempsey's portrait in Kino Der Toten he will say "Here is a picture of an ugly American! Eugh!" This would make sense as Dempsey is affiliated with the U.S. Marine Raiders, however Dempsey still respects him. The reason for this is unknown.
 * Takeo seems to be the quietest member of the team, because he rarely ever says anything. He is also the most serious of the group, and seemingly never resorts to sarcasm.
 * Takeo carries an unusable katana on his character model.
 * Takeo's bio picture has his face facing the opposite way from Richtofen, Nikolai, and Dempsey.
 * Many people think that Takeo's skin is based on the first Japanese officer the player sees in the game in when in fact, his skin comes from the enemy NPC Japanese officer.
 * Takeo seems to despise Nikolai, as most of his interactive quotes revolve around insulting the Russian.
 * Takeo makes a direct reference to the boxer, Manny Pacquiao where states, "You will feel the wrath of Pacquiao..! And then some..."
 * Takeo appears to have a preference for SMG type weapons, as when he gains/uses them, he sometimes states: "Ahh.. .a small weapon, very dangerous, just like me."
 * Takeo only seems to have one quote referring to a weapon from his home country. When out of ammo in Kino der Toten, he will sometimes say "I'm still better off than with the Arisaka.".
 * The player will know that they are Takeo when their point counter color is yellow.
 * In Black Ops, his first-person character model is the same as of the NVA character model.
 * In Kino Der Toten, when playing as Takeo, turining on the power will Takeo say "Oh!.. Sounds like a big monster is attacking the building!". This a strong reference to Godzilla, a very famous Japanese monster.