Tamami Kobayashi

"You feel 'guilty', right?"

- Tamami Kobayashi,

Tamami Kobayashi (小林 玉美) is a side character featured in the 4th part of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Diamond is Unbreakable, introduced in the "Koichi Hirose (Echoes)" story arc.

Tamami is a petty scammer who tries to swindle Koichi but is eventually neutralized. He subsequently becomes a minor ally and works legitimately as a debt collector. His Stand is The Lock.

Appearance
In the manga, he has two distinct appearances, with one turning into the latter by the end of his mini arc.

Tamami initially appears as a tall and intimidating man. With pronounced, he wears hair of dark to medium tone combed in the manner of a pompadour into a sort of thick helmet; and he has a small cross-shaped scar beyond the bottom-left corner of his mouth.

Throughout the Koichi Hirose (Echoes) story arc, Tamami is seen gradually shrinking. By the end of the arc, he is around Koichi's height and retains this height for the rest of Part 4.

In the anime, Tamami is always portrayed as short in stature.

Personality
Tamami Kobayashi is a sly hustler with a despicable personality.

Tamami is defined by his activity as a con man, his specialty being tricking people into feeling extreme guilt so that he can pressure them into giving him money. As a con man, Tamami doesn't use violence but trickery, which is reflected by The Lock having no offensive ability whatsoever although it increases the guilt of his victims. He's a seasoned trickster who's able to plan ahead and hustle people on the fly if need be. In one instance, he deliberately gave Koichi a fake wallet containing damning evidence to frame him as a thief in the eyes of Koichi's mother, but also reacted quickly to Okuyasu Nijimura punching him, deliberately falling on the pavement to make it look like Okuyasu was responsible for his broken tooth. His skill as a con artist is coupled with some talent for acting, which means he can easily look like a trustworthy person or wail strongly enough to make Okuyasu feel guilt immediately.

As a con man, Tamami is also avaricious and generally unpleasant. He's notably a con man because he prefers to hustle people and easily get money, and has no qualm hustling people who can't pay what he demands of them (when Koichi told him his money was for buying the necessary sneakers for his physical education, Tamami told him to go barefoot). When he had a grudge against Koichi, Tamami even planned to take the Hirose Family's house for himself. Even after he turned a new leaf, Tamami became a debt collector. Apart from his greed, Tamami also shows he's a pervert and openly lusts for Koichi's sister. Finally, he's also a coward as when Josuke and Koichi went after Toshikazu Hazamada, he expressed admiration for Koichi but also left, not willing to act and help neutralize an evil Stand User.

Tamami shows some tenacity and pride as a trickster. Whenever he faces setbacks, Tamami confidently goes further in his hustles to force his enemies to yield. He notably claims that he must live up to his namesake of "Tamami", the "Tama" of his name meaning "balls". However, he was forced to flee in front of Josuke Higashikata, because Crazy Diamond was a perfect counter for his hustling tactics, and also ultimately yielded to Koichi when Koichi showed that his family's trust was stronger than any guilt. At first confident, Tamami became Koichi's lackey and began looking up to the boy.

Abilities
Tamami's Stand is The Lock. When activated, it grows a physically heavy lock from the chest of its targets when Tamami is able to have them experience the feeling of guilt.

Background
Tamami received his Stand 4 months before the events of Part 4 from Keicho Nijimura. He proceeded to use his ability in conjunction with his own skill as a conman in hopes of gaining wealth and never have to work again.

Koichi Hirose (Echoes)
Tamami is introduced as a confident trickster who leads Koichi Hirose to believe that he had run over Tamami's cat with his bike – supposedly hidden in a bag which then splattered with blood. Despite that odd circumstance being questioned, Tamami demands a sum of money from Koichi as compensation for the deed. He successfully pressures Koichi into feeling guilty, which puts his Stand, The Lock, into action - appearing in the shape of a lock; clasping over Koichi's heart and growing the more guilty he feels.

As he is bullying Koichi, Josuke and Okuyasu turn up and try to help their friend. Okuyasu punches Tamami, breaking his teeth; and after Tamami cries, feels guilty for it – which gets him a lock around his heart as well. Josuke then reveals that it was just a doll instead of a cat that was hidden in the bag and heals Tamami, thus freeing Koichi and Okuyasu from their guilt and Tamami's Stand. Tamami returns the money he had taken from Koichi but vows to get revenge. Koichi is shocked to see that Tamami had only given Koichi back the corners of the yen with his wallet, as Tamami is seen holding the remains of the bills.

When we next see him he is at Koichi's house, talking to his mother. He explains that he is there to return Koichi's wallet and claims that Koichi has intentionally switched it with his, as Tamami's holds 500,000 yen. When Koichi's mother doesn't believe him, he tells her that there is a stub of a restaurant he went to inside of the wallet Koichi holds. His words were proven true thanks to a trick, leading Koichi's mother to feel guilty about her son and giving Tamami an opportunity to place The Lock on her.

Koichi, enraged, attacks him, leading in Tamami revealing he also made his sister feel guilty as well to Tamami's advantage. Tamami deceives Koichi's two family members into feeling guilty further, causing them to fall under the highest level of The Lock's power – severe enough to have them attempt suicide.

Finally, Koichi manages to convince his mother that he is innocent of the crimes Tamami had framed him of, by using his Stand Echoes to amplify his plea for her to believe in her own son's words. This destroys the Lock and Tamami knows he has been defeated.

From then on he respects and fears Koichi and even takes to calling him Boss Koichi.

Toshikazu Hazamada (Surface)
Later in the story, Tamami appears to give Josuke and Koichi information on another Stand user: Toshikazu Hazamada, but doesn't go investigate with them.

He later encounters Toshikazu and Surface but thinks the Stand is actually Josuke (due to Surface taking his form) and is attacked by surprise. Tamami is knocked out by a brick and Toshikazu hides his body.

Taken to the hospital by unknown means; the hit was so hard that Tamami, after leaving the hospital, can't even remember what happened to him.

I'm an Alien
Tamami briefly takes on the role as a juror when Josuke and Rohan gamble against each other during the dice game "18", instructed to use his Stand on Josuke to see if he's cheating. Rohan's house catches fire before Tamami can discover Josuke and Mikitaka Hazekura's trick, but he charges Rohan for his services nonetheless.

Goodbye, Morioh Town
Tamami last appears to bid goodbye to Reimi Sugimoto.

Mutsu-kabe Hill
Tamami briefly appears to ask for Rohan's autograph along with Akira Otoishi, saying he's a fan of Rohan's work. Both are scolded by Rohan's editor Minoru Kagamari, who tells them that Rohan is busy at the moment. However, Rohan scolds Kagamari back, saying to not treat him like slow mangakas who can't quickly sign an autograph and proceeds to use a dripping technique to sign the autographs with his own coffee.

Gallery
Manga=

Trivia

 * His Japanese voice actor in the anime is Satoshi Tsuruoka, who also voiced Wired Beck in the Part 2 anime adaptation.

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