Masked Takenouchi is a character who originates as a criminal: he was one of a group of hijackers who attempted to commandeer a plane carrying Cromartie High School students on a field trip to Kyushu. During the hijacking, Yutaka Takenouchi, a Cromartie student suffering from severe motion sickness, urged the hijackers to make increasingly outlandish demands in order to get the plane moving and ease his discomfort. To everyone's surprise, the authorities complied, even agreeing to let the plane fly to America. In the ensuing chaos, the real Yutaka Takenouchi was mistakenly identified as one of the hijackers and taken away, while the actual hijacker escaped. Out of a sense of gratitude or opportunity, this hijacker decided to assume Yutaka Takenouchi's identity. To conceal his face, he began wearing a typical wrestler's mask, and upon arriving at Cromartie High School, he drew the kanji for "bamboo" on the mask—the first character in the name Takenouchi. This, along with the general obliviousness of the student body, allowed him to pass as the real Takenouchi with almost no one noticing the difference. Only Akira Maeda seems to have any suspicion, but even that is never acted upon. Masked Takenouchi is also described as being agoraphobic, feeling very uneasy among strangers, which adds an ironic layer to his new role as a high school student surrounded by delinquents. His motivation is simply to live a quiet life under his stolen identity, but he is essentially a passive figure who goes along with the surreal events around him. He has no special abilities beyond his successful impersonation, and he does not undergo any significant character development; he remains a running gag based on the absurdity that no one realizes the switch. In the live-action film Cromartie High – The Movie, the role is played by Itsuji Itao, and the character serves as a minor but memorable part of the school's bizarre roster, interacting mainly with the other students who accept him as the original Takenouchi.