In 1994, Takatsu led the league in saves (19), and saved over 20 games in each of 1995 and 1996. In 1997, he blew several saves at the beginning of the season, and was demoted to relief duty for the rest of 1997 and 1998. He returned to his closing role in 1999, and led the league in saves (30) for the second time in his career. He repeated his performance in 2001, making 37 saves as his team won the championship again. In 2003, he passed Kazuhiro Sasaki in career saves, and led the league in saves for the fourth time in his career.