Dr. Tanaka is a manga character who appears frequently in the complete works of manga artist Satori Suzuhara. Suzuhara used Dr. Tanaka to represent the unpresedented changes occurring in the late 20th century to not only the planet but also to society as a whole. It is also said that Dr. Tanaka is an allegory of a particularly infuriating teacher of Suzuhara's.

The first appearance Dr. Tanaka makes is as the villain of Legend of Gung-Fu Bowman. As the story goes, Bowman is a prodigy of Gung-fu being taught by Dr.Tanaka when he unleashes the ultimate technique: The Yorkie Power Kick of Science. Dr. Tanaka, who is jealous of Bowman's perfection of a technique which has taken one-hundred years of study with no results for himself, sends Bowman to America. Bowman is lead to believe he is being sent to America to train others in the Yorkie Power Kick of Science, but Dr.Tanaka's true plan is to occupy Bowman's time while he amasses a Ninja-Robot army of titanic size.

When Bowman learns of this plot after defeating Johan, an assassin sent by Dr. Tanaka, he returns to Japan where he confronts Dr. Tanaka and his half-complete Ninja-Robot army. The conflict between Dr. Tanaka and Bowman almost ends in the defeat of Bowman, but a momentary distraction allows Bowman to utilize the Yorkie Power Kick of Science. With Dr. Tanaka out of the picture, Bowman was able to initiate the self-destruct mechanism on the holding missile silo where the Ninja-Robots were located. After a narrow escape, Bowman was left to wander searching the world for purpose.

A year after the acclaim of Legend of Gung-Fu Bowman, Suzuhara wrote the prequel The Legend of Daisuke Tanaka. In it, The evil and mean-spirited Dr. Tanaka was shown to have once been a very polite and honour-driven man. After the defeat of Space Warrior Mugu-Gaipan in the Full Circle Earth-Heaven Haven Tournament and inheriting the DVD Belt of Power, Daisuke Tanaka was a very changed man.

There are more adventures of Dr. Tanaka made by other aurthors, which were compiled into The Further Adventures of Dr. Tanaka. In these stories, Dr. Tanaka meets his estranged clone, The Son of The Doctor, discovers the secret to the rotation of the Earth, and reinvests in Apple Computers. Although these are said to be some of the greatest stories written about the strange Gung-Fu warrior, these further adventures met with minimal commercial success.