Jirou Tanabe was a Japanese American individual born in California. Born to Yuko Tanabe on April 6, 1920, he was the twin brother of of Chester Nakayama.
On The Terror: Infamy, Jirou Tanabe was portrayed by Pierce Kang.
History[]
He and Chester were separated at birth and Chester was entirely unaware of his existence until nearly 23 years later. ("My Perfect World")
After learning of the ancient cunaderismo magic from the abuela of his girlfriend, Luz Ojeda, Chester insisted that he be allowed to try it to discover the fate of his brother. The magic would allow him to try to find his brother from a photo that was taken of him. If his brother was alive, then he would not meet him. However, if his brother was dead, then he would meet a version of him from the time that the photo was taken and his brother would not know that he was dead.
Chester met his brother Jirou as a young boy, proving that he was dead. Jirou's story was a tragic one - he was shunned by the other children at his school, as they believed him to be cursed. Furthermore, despite liking baseball like Chester, he was too weak and sickly to play it. Chester, however, cheered him up by tossing a ball with him.
The two of them were then discovered by Yuko Tanabe, their birth mother, who had been following Chester. She took possession of Chester within the magic and introduced herself to Jirou as his mother. She then dragged him down into the "perfect world" she had taken from her ancestor, Chiyo. She promised Jirou that she, him and Taizo (Chester) would all be together soon. Back in the real world, Jirou's image disappeared from the photo, leaving only an empty playground. ("My Sweet Boy")
Jirou spent his time lying in bed in the "perfect world." He asked Yuko if Taizo was okay. She told him that she was going to bring baby Taizo back. He asked her where he was, but she shushed him. ("Come and Get Me")
He remained waiting in the perfect world while Yuko merged with her past self in a perfect moment in time. ("Into the Afterlife")
Behind the scenes[]
- Jirou's final fate is uncertain within the show itself. He is not seen returning from the "perfect world," but is not mentioned again after Chester takes Yuko into the past, where she merges with a past version of herself who is still pregnant with both himself and Jirou. However, according to showrunner Alexander Woo, Jirou was not left behind. He explained that with it being Chester's story, they didn't want to cut away to Jirou. He explains that the wind at the end of the funeral scene with Chester holding his baby signified Jirou being released and being with Chester in spirit.[1]