Tadashi Hamada


 * "Wait 'til my brother sees you! You're going to help so many people, buddy. So many!"

- Tadashi to Baymax

Tadashi Hamada is Hiro Hamada's older brother and a major character in Disney's 2014 animated feature film, Big Hero 6. A gifted robotics student at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, Tadashi is the creator of Baymax, the robotic Personal Healthcare Companion. He is voiced by Daniel Henney.

Tadashi's sudden death in a mysterious fire catalyzes the events of Big Hero 6, leading Hiro, Baymax and Tadashi's friends to band together to investigate the accident and catch the person responsible for it.

Background
Tadashi Hamada is a brilliant inventor and older brother of Hiro. Together, the two live with their aunt, Cass, in the beautiful city of San Fransokyo. Their parents died 10 years prior to the film, growing 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 Tomago, 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 Disney Bio

 * 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.

He is a very hard worker and very 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 Hiro, all the while keeping a good attitude and a 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 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 he had to lead Hiro and 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 occasionally can still be rough. He is also not above scolding Hiro or becoming upset with him, 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.

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 an tall, slender, slightly muscular young adult male, of a larger build than others in his family. He is of mixed Japanese and Caucasian descent, which shows in his various facial features. He has large, warm brown eyes and neat black hair, cut above his prominent ears. His face shape is different from his aunt and brothers', 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 never takes this cap off, except when doing tech presentations or speeches, as well as in family photos.

Since his 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 across his shoulder.

In the first day of the film -- the day 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.

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. At some point his hat falls of his head, as it is seen lying on the ground outside the building.

Hiro Hamada
Hiro is Tadashi's little brother, and likely the most important person in Tadashi's life. He and Hiro have also become best friends, considering their duo as an 'exclusive club', according the Hiro and Tadashi book. They like to keep secrets and make up rules that only the two can know. They've shared a bedroom presumably since they moved in with Cass 10 years ago, allowing Tadashi to always be there when Hiro needs him, academically or emotionally. Because they were raised together, no one knows Hiro's emotions and issues better than Tadashi, and vice versa. Tadashi was also the one who encouraged Hiro to be interested in robotics, and they are seen assembling a robot toy together in a family photo, as children.

Hiro's health, happiness and wellbeing is of utmost importance to Tadashi, and he is disappointed when Hiro continues to bot-fight underground instead of trying to do something productive with his incredible intelligence. He not-so-subtly persuades Hiro to apply to SFIT and pursue a career in robotics alongside him, and is tremendously proud when Hiro succeeds.

Cass Hamada
Cass is Tadashi's over-worked but loving aunt. She has raised them for a decade since their parents died, although she admits she's not perfect. He hates making her upset, and tries his best to make her proud, encouraging Hiro to do the same.

Unnamed Parents
Tadashi appears to be the only one with clear memory of his and Hiro's parents, being the older of the two. He still lives his life in consideration for what they would have wanted, and reminds Hiro of how dissappointed they would be, had they known he was participating in underground bot fights.

Baymax
Tadashi is the creator of Baymax. Before completing him, Tadashi suffered from Baymax's unintentionally erratic and violent behavior, such as quickly jabbing into Tadashi's head with its fingers, shorting electrically (creating a burn hazard) or hurting his ears with high-pitched noise. As soon as Baymax functioned properly, however, Tadashi was ecstatic, humourously running around the room in a happy panic before asking it to scan him. Tadashi is incredibly hopeful at the existence of Baymax, hoping that someday the healthcare companion could help the sick and injured all over the world.

After Tadashi's death, Baymax must take his place as Hiro's emotional support, something Hiro doesn't initially want, nor does Baymax understand. Attempting to make sense of Tadashi's absence is also one of the first times Baymax deviates from his normal functionality. At one point, he calls Tadashi's name while looking at Tadashi's belongings, wondering where he is and when he will come back, something unusual for him at this point. He did not understand that Tadashi could be dead, as he had previously scanned him and calculated that Tadashi was in excellent health.

Whether or not Tadashi intentionally programmed Baymax to look for or remember him is never made clear.

Big Hero 6
Tadashi had a close relationship with all members of Big Hero 6, as the team is originally formed to stop the person responsible for his death. The entire team comprises of his family, best friends, and even the robot he created.

Printed Media
Tadashi has appeared in a few books related to Big Hero 6, including novelizations, colouring books and the manga.

The prequel manga, Baymax, which is currently in serialization, 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, sacrificing himself so Hiro could get out of the way of it. He is sucked into the portal, and is never seen again (so far).

He is also the center of the book, Hiro and Tadashi, 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.

Trivia

 * He may be based off of Hiro's father in the comics, Tomeo Takachiho, who died, and Hiro built Baymax to fill his void.
 * Before the film was released, Tadashi was rumored by many fans to be Yokai.
 * Although his death was accidental, the 2013 Rotoscopers video and early information regarding the plot somewhat implies that Tadashi was deliberately murdered in some early drafts of the script. The Rotoscopers video also depicted Tadashi as already attending classes with Hiro and was also the man in charge of a science research team (most likely consisting of Honey, GoGo, Wasabi, Fred) in which each individual would make different things and would eventually lead up to a competition.
 * Tadashi's role is similar to Ben Parker, Peter Parker's uncle. Uncle Ben is murdered early on by a mugger, and Peter Parker becomes the superhero Spider-Man to find the killer, just as Hiro becomes a superhero to find who was responsible for Tadashi's death. Peter was also very attached to his uncle and looked up to him as a mentor, just as Hiro looked up to Tadashi.
 * Tadashi's role is also similar to Sitka, Kenai's older brother from Brother Bear. They both guide their younger brothers from their wrong ways and then are both killed through discretion/off-screen shots.
 * Although his specific age is unknown (usually debated as either 18 or 21), Tadashi is a legal adult. This can be assumed because when arrested, while Hiro is placed in his own cell because he is a minor, Tadashi is placed in a regular cell with other adults. No adolescent under the age of eighteen is allowed to share a cell with an adult due to the risks of child abuse.