tagan 多眼

In Japanese, tagan 多眼, "many eyes," refers to having three eyes or more.

Warning: if you have trypophobia, you probably don't want to read this article.

Character: Otoha 音翅
Anime: Sousei no Aquarion, 創聖のアクエリオン (Episode 1)

• Meaning
• Examples
  • Body
  • Face
  • Literal Numbers

Meaning

Literally, tagan 多眼 means:

• me ga ooi
  目が多い
  The eyes are many.

For the record, normally people have two eyes, so having more than two eyes is having too many eyes. For characters that have too few eyes, see one-eyed.

The term tagan isn't a biology term. It's simply used toward illustrations and characters, and you it's probably not even in the a Japanese dictionary.

The closest biology term is fukugan 複眼, "compound eye," like the eyes of a fly, the insect.

Character: Beel Bub ベル゠ブブ
Anime: Shinchou Yuusha 慎重勇者 (Episode 8, Stitch)

That said, tagan and fukugan aren't the same thing at all.

• 多眼と複眼

Another similar thing is "polycoria," ta-doukou-shou 多瞳孔症, in which a single eye features multiple pupils.

Character: Kaburagi Shisei 鏑木肆星
Anime: Shinsekai yori 新世界より (Episode 18)

Examples

Most examples of tagan characters are three-eyed characters, and there's already a separate article about three-eyed characters, so I won't include them here.

Body

A number of monsters, apparitions, youkai 妖怪, and so on have eyes pretty much everywhere on their bodies.

Character: Dodomeki 百々目鬼
Anime: Gegege no Kitarou ゲゲゲの鬼太郎 (2007) (Episode 8)

• Dodomeki 百々目鬼, spelled as hundred-hundred-eye-demon, is a youkai with eyes all over its body.

Character: Hiei 飛影
Anime: Yū☆Yū☆Hakusho 幽☆遊☆白書 (Episode 8, Stitch)

Face

Anime characters with more than two eyes on their faces are few. With more than three eyes, extremely few.

• Otoha, from Sousei no Aquarion, has four heterochromatic eyes.

Character: Dan Blood ダン・ブラッド
Anime: Space Cobra, スペースコブラ (Episode 19)

• Blood is an alien, hence why he has four eyes.

Character: Rachnera Arachnera ラクネラ・アラクネラ
Anime: Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou: Hobo Mainichi ____! Namappoi Douga, 「モンスター娘のいる日常」ほぼ毎日○○！生っぽい動画 (ONA)

• Rachnera is a spider, hence why she has six eyes.

For reference, some illustration featuring characters with too many eyes:

規則性のあるような感じの配置もかわいいですけど、めちゃくちゃなバランスの多眼ちゃんくんもかわいいですよねぇ、て思うんですよわたしは。単眼ベースの多眼とかも好きなんですよわたしは。
#多眼 pic.twitter.com/opMkeIq8RT

— 猫田こたろ (@nekota1159) August 1, 2019

#私の絵柄が性癖に刺さる人に届いてほしい
単眼くんと多眼くん👀 pic.twitter.com/TR4NmfDEkZ

— 宇尾 (@hadal_uo) January 26, 2020

Literal Numbers

For completeness, something different, a character with "four" eyes:

Manga: Saiki Kusuo no Psi-Nan, 斉木楠雄のΨ難 (Chapter 72, さわぐ！PK学園文化Ψ（後編）)

• Context: Saiki borrows his father's glasses without permission.
• oi~~ megane kaeshite yo~~
  オイ～～眼鏡返してよ～
  Heey, give [my] glasses back~~
• gaman shite kure chotto me ga "san" ni naru dake daro
  我慢してくれちょっと目が「３」になるだけだろ
  Please endure [it], [all that will happen is that] [your] eyes will become "threes."
  • In anime, eyes are drawn like 3's sometimes when a character that needs glasses isn't wearing them.
• megane ga nai to hotondo mienai-n-da yo~~
  眼鏡がないとほとんど見えないんだよ～
  Without [my] glasses [I] almost can't see.
• yon!?
  ４！？
  Fours!?