Rai Mamezuku

"That branch is a demon plant, there's no human who can tame it! So, I'll go collect it!"

- Rai Mamezuku, JJL Chapter 74

Rai Mamezuku (豆銑 礼) is a major ally featured in the 8th part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion, and introduced in the "The Plant Appraiser - Rai Mamezuku (31)" story arc.

Mamezuku is a reclusive plant appraiser, secretly employed by the Higashikata Fruit Company and only known by Norisuke Higashikata IV. Once attacked by the Rock Humans, he joins with Josuke Higashikata in order to protect himself.

Mamezuku is a Stand User, and his Doggy Style confers him the ability to transform into band-like strings.

Appearance
Mamezuku is a well-built man with braided dark hair. He wears a jumpsuit with a vine and peapod pattern over a light-colored shirt and a tie, as well as a hat with an oversized flap covering the whole back of his head.

Mamezuku's left hand is missing four fingers due to Brain Storm infecting his hand.

Personality
Rai Mamezuku is an eccentric and brusque individual with little care for politeness. He is highly analytical and quick-witted in his way of approaching problems. As soon as he learns of what is happening in Morioh and that he is under attack, he takes the initiative in joining with his allies. With a single phone call with Norisuke about Josuke's confusing issue, Mamezuku manages to grasp the stakes for every party involved and see the best course of action for him. He tends to carefully observe his surroundings and verbally takes notes of everything remotely interesting to him; this habit allows him to discern the nature and subtleties of the attack against him. Mamezuku also regularly calculates probabilities, like the chances of someone being safe through selected factors.

Mamezuku is very coldhearted in his methods, repeatedly showing that he has no qualm sacrificing a perceived less important part for a greater goal. His orchard specifically leaves a small part of the culture overriden with predatory insects and disease to better the rest of the orchard, he has no problem cutting off his own hand to save himself, and even puts Yasuho in great danger because he sees her as less important than his own safety.

Moreover, Mamezuku is very cool-headed. Despite being introduced under attack from an unknown ability, he acts calmly despite an open focus on his survival. Once on relatively safe grounds, Mamezuku even takes the time to cook a snack for him, Josuke and Yasuho. When he loses his left hand to a Stand attack, he calmly severs it to preserve the rest of his body.

However, Mamezuku's most noticeable trait is his eccentricity and bluntness. First, he is extremely antisocial. His only relationship is with Norisuke, whom he nonetheless considers a good friend. Mamezuku takes many steps in order to stay isolated, as his home during the summer is actually a support pillar for a skilift, complete with at least a hidden kitchen and a whole mountainside as his orchard; during winter he resides in a villa. Moreover, Mamezuku constantly demonstrates a lack of care for others. He hijacks a bus without a second thought but the repercussions on him, pries on Yasuho's private life and considers his survival as the priority, that of Josuke and Yasuho being second to his. Nonetheless, he seems impressed when Yasuho takes the initiative in covering their tracks and has thought of inviting his guests for a snack while they discuss their next move. It doesn't stop Mamezuku from condemning Josuke when the latter instinctively prioritizes her safety in the midst of an attack and then coldy throw her into the range of the enemy Stand to observe what happens.

Abilities
Mamezuku's Stand has a currently unknown power, which can create a prehensile bandage-like string from his body in order to grab objects from afar. Rai implies his Stand is not suited for direct combat, instead relying on Josuke to help protect him in case a battle ensues.

Horticulture
Mamezuku is an expert in horticulture, his profession being a plant appraiser and a fruit grower, implying a great deal of knowledge and experience on plants. He can identify a plant simply from its appearance in a photograph, and has the knowledge on how to properly care for rare plants such as the Locacaca.

Background
Mamezuku was born into a family of fruit farmers, whose high-class pears were prized goods. However, their cultivating techniques were leaked, leading to a competitor managing to steal an entire crop of pear and bringing down the fruit trees. Thus his parents had to part with their orchards. Blaming his parents, Mamezuku began to live alone in a ski slope, cultivating his own fruits despite the difficulties. Mamezuku met Norisuke Higashikata IV at 17, when Norisuke came to buy his grown strawberries. Impressed by their quality, Norisuke appointed Mamezuku in secret to be his personal fruit grower and appraiser. Mamezuku's existence in the company was kept with the utmost secrecy, with not even Norisuke's own son Jobin ever being informed.

JoJolion
Mamezuku is first shown when Norisuke presents a photo of him to Josuke Higashikata, advising the latter to go find him, as his skills would enable Josuke to recognize the grafted Locacaca branch.

The Plant Appraiser
After communicating with Norisuke in regards to a certain Josuke Higashikata's inquiry about a Locacaca branch, Mamezuku notices that he is under attack from an unidentified enemy moving underground. Running from his assailant, Mamezuku ends up hijacking the bus which Josuke and Yasuho Hirose are on, formally meeting them and presenting himself in the process.

Mamezuku thus drives to his summer home in the mountains, a ski lift. Discussing with Josuke and Yasuho, Mamezuku manages to find the location of the Locacaca using photographs of the orchard, and determines that the best course of action for his survival is to work with Josuke.

After a brief snack, the trio is attacked by the unknown assaillant revealed to be a duo of Rock Human and Rock Animal, Urban Guerrilla and his pet Doremifasolati Do. Losing several fingers to a first attack, Mamezuku becomes upset that Josuke has protected Yasuho first instead of him. To observe the enemy, Mamezuku pushes Yasuho down the ski lift, which pushes Josuke to also jump down, although Mamezuku tells him they have to take a fuel tank stored inside one of the lift poles.

Separated from his allies, Mamezuku is attacked by Urban Guerrilla and falls down the lift, heavily injured. However, he's managed to pierce the fuel tank and bring it to Josuke alongside his lighter, which Josuke uses to make Doremifasolati Do and Urban explode.

Afterward, Mamezuku takes with him a vivarium full of moth larvae. When he tells Yasuho to leave and go home, Yasuho refuses and begins to tell her story. Uninterested by her, Mamezuku nonetheless listens when Yasuho theorizes that the strange hair clip which has tormented her may have been a Rock Animal. Thus, he sends her to investigate it.

Ozon Baby's Pressure
Arriving at the Higashikata estate through secret underground tunnels, Mamezuku and Josuke stealthily manage to plant the moth larvae in the Locacaca branch and must now wait 2 days before a new fruit grows.

Their departure is interrupted when they notice the atmospheric pressure growing inside the tunnel. Looking outside, the two see the orchard on fire and decide to use giant bubbles to protect themselves from Ozon Baby's power. Going out into the open to take the branch, Mamezuku sees the enemy, Poor Tom, and decides to confront him.

Mamezuku's attempts to break Poor Tom's neck by strangling him with his wired arm proves to be a mistake as touching Poor Tom directly increases Ozon Baby's influence on him. When Poor Tom traps a part of the wire inside a knife sheath to simulate a closed space, Mamezuku succumbs to the pressure, making his body explode.

Despite all observing parties assuming that the plant appraiser was killed by the explosion, Mamezuku was able to successfully utilize Doggy Style in order to disassemble his body rapidly, giving the impression that he was torn to shreds. After the conflict with Poor Tom ends, Josuke discovers a surviving yet disassembled Mamezuku and mourns the loss of the branch, not knowing that Jobin had obtained it covertly.

The University Hospital
After the battle, Josuke explains what happened to the Higashikata Family. Mamezuku suspects Jobin of lighting the orchard on fire, but none of them have any proof of what happened. They decide to follow the trail of the ambulance's license plate. Finding that that no such ambulance is recorded, Josuke finds another trail when Yasuho calls her to go to the TG University Hospital.

Arriving there with Josuke, Mamezuku spends some time searching for Yasuho while at the same time, she is busy fighting Dr. Wu Tomoki alongside Mitsuba Higashikata. Tipped by Yasuho's ex-boyfriend Tooru, Josuke and Mamezuku reach the secret laboratory containing several Locacaca branches. After Josuke saves Yasuho, Mamezuku scans the room and deduces in his turn that the stolen Locacaca branch isn't in the laboratory and destroys the trees of the garden.

Although Yasuho theorizes that since Tomoki tried to gain control of Mitsuba, he may have suspected Jobin as the possessor of the branch, Mamezuku is adamant about the branch being in the hands of the Locacaca Organization and stays deaf to her suggestions. He instead reports his attention to the last member of the organization unaccounted for: Satoru Akefu, the head doctor of TG University Hospital. The trio are eventually informed about the head doctor walking away behind them, but to Mamezuku's frustration, the supposedly 89 years old doctor keeps evading them as they continuously bump against objects, Mamezuku being the most subjected to these occurrences.

As the doctor leaves the hospital grounds, Mamezuku notices that his legs are being shredded and that the group is under attack from an enemy Stand. Warning against continuing the pursuit, he helplessly watch a car almost crashing into Yasuho and Josuke as they pursue the head doctor, who has now boarded a bus. Moreover, Josuke gets into trouble when a patient nearby starts a fight and his broken neck violently and suddenly snaps on Josuke, making it look like he murdered the man. A crowd gathers and the police arrives as Mamezuku, unwilling to be arrested, tells Yasuho to get away while he and Josuke must find a way out of this situation.

Dangerous Pursuit
Two days before the harvest, Mamezuku and Josuke eventually decide to hide inside a Lamborghini, itself also hidden in the foliage of a tree. Having bought some supplies, Mamezuku stitches himself up and also discovers that Satoru Akefu may be attending a lecture on regenerative medicine at the TG University Hospital. At the same time, he and Josuke discuss the exact nature of Satoru Akefu's Stand. Once they decide to actually go to the lecture, Satoru's Stand reappears, making them realize that it is triggered by the intent of pursuit. As they worriedly leave the car to escape the incoming attack, Mamezuku and Josuke discover with horror that the drops from an incoming rain become lethal projectiles, forcing them to take refuge in a police car.

Determined to get to the hospital and reach Satoru Akefu's lecture, Josuke steps out of the car and gets pierced by the raindrops on purpose to be injured and taken to the hospital. Shocked, Mamezuku notices that the attack has ended with Josuke being taken out, or worse, and angrily yells at the police to get an ambulance. Apprehended by the police, Mamezuku is now unsure of what will happen.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * Mamezuku's hermit-esque lifestyle, especially his living in utility structures, mirrors that of Toyohiro Kanedaichi from Diamond is Unbreakable.

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