Yamazaki, Takashi
Summary
Takashi Yamazaki is a student in Sakura Kinomoto's class and stands out as the only male student referred to by name before the arrival of Syaoran Li. He is named after the film director Takashi Yamazaki, a friend of the series creators CLAMP. His defining trait is an ability to fabricate highly detailed fake stories and histories about almost any subject. While most classmates see through these lies, Sakura and Syaoran often believe them. When Eriol Hiiragizawa is introduced in the second half of the series, he becomes Yamazaki's storytelling ally. The two respond to each other's clues perfectly and spin complex stories on the fly. Fellow classmate Chiharu Mihara often interrupts his tales to reveal his lies, punishing him by pretending to strangle him or dragging him away by his collar. Although they appear to argue, they are actually a couple who have known each other since kindergarten. She is the only girl he addresses by her first name. Despite his joking nature, Yamazaki has a serious and sensitive side, demonstrated when he jumps into fierce waves to save Rika from drowning and leaves Chiharu alone to talk to Sakura when she struggles with her feelings for Syaoran. In the anime adaptation, he is rarely shown with his eyes open. His relationship with Chiharu is more ambiguous in the anime, but on the day of Judgement, when Sakura sees a world where everyone loses feelings for their loved ones, Yamazaki and Chiharu lose their feelings for each other and act like strangers. In the Cardcaptors English adaptation, his name is changed to Zachary Marker, and hints of his relationship with Chiharu are removed. They are described as cousins, and Chiharu's joking strangling is treated as sibling rivalry. Yamazaki is voiced by Issei Miyazaki in the anime and by Philip Pacaud in Cardcaptors. In the English dub of the second film, he is voiced by Joshua Seth.
