- "That's not just a random animal - that's a Tanuki, Motoko's spirit animal. A manifestation of her power."
- —Zilla explaining what Tanuki really is to Lo Wang.
Tanuki is Motoko's familiar appearing in Shadow Warrior 3.
History[]
Shadow Warrior 3[]
When Lo Wang and Zilla reach Motoko, she summons the Tanuki in order to separate Wang from Hoji's mask. As Tanuki grabs the mask and runs away with it, Lo Wang chases after it. Eventually, Tanuki reaches her master's lair, Motoko's Thunderdome. Soon after, the yokai besiege the Thunderdome, forcing Motoko and Lo Wang to work alongside each other to repel the attack.
After repelling the yokai attack, the Tanuki brings Hoji's mask to Motoko. As she begins the ritual to consume the power inside the mask, Hoji's immortal soul is awakened from sleep. This scares Tanuki enough, that it hugs Motoko's leg for comfort. Meanwhile, Lo Wang decides, that he won't let Hoji die again. He grabs the mask, punches Zilla and runs away. Although Tanuki tries to stop Lo Wang, she's easily pushed away by Wang.
Later, when the Doomsday Device fails to extract Evildoing Dragon's power, Tanuki alongside Motoko and Zilla, meet up with Wang. Without the mask, the team come to the conclusion, that the dragon is now unstoppable. Suddenly they're interrupted by Hoji, much to the delight of Tanuki. He shares his plan in defeating the Evildoing Dragon once and for all, alongside the fact, that Zilla and Motoko are a couple, which surprises Tanuki. Hoji tells Motoko to extract all his power into the mask, turning it into a thaumaturgic bomb. They then will deliver it to the mouth of the dragon with the help of Tanuki.
Lo Wang takes up the task to deliver Tanuki to the dragon. After traversing hostile terrain, he sets up the bomb and hides. As the dragon gets Tanuki and the mask inside his mouth, the bomb explodes prematurely. With mask now inside Evildoing Dragon's guts, Lo Wang has no other option, but to jump into dragon's maw. Inside the dragon's guts, Wang finds Tanuki, now in her spirit form. Determined to kill the dragon, Lo Wang goes deeper into its guts, ignoring Tanuki's objections. In the end, Wang succeeds in killing the dragon and Tanuki is seen celebrating with the rest of the crew and eating sashimi.
Personality[]
Tanuki is the inquisitive follower of Motoko. Bound to her will, Tanuki will do anything she commands even if it kills it.
Design[]
Tanuki looks just like an ordinary raccoon. It also has harnesses around his body with glowing bobbles and a bell around her neck.
Gallery[]
