| “ | Who do you think you are, attacking Digimon on your own? Do you think this is a game? They're lethal creatures, who should be contained. In fact, for your safety, I should take your little red friend, there, too. | „ |
| ~ Yamaki, to Takato, after capturing a DarkLizardmon |
Mitsuo Yamaki is the mysterious leader of the Hypnos Organization, a major antagonist (later ally) in Digimon Tamers, and one of the few human antagonists in the Digimon series. He was voiced by Susumo Chiba in the Japanese version, and Steven Jay Blum in the English version.
Character
Yamaki was always shady and quiet, never raising the tone of his voice when operating at Hypnos, but still showing his concern. His previous hatred for Digimon was apparently huge, as he is briefly driven insane after Mihiramon enters the Real World through the Juggernaut program he developed, leaving him enraged for losing against a digital being. Even though he seems evil, he does have a good heart and clearly shows that after fighting the Devas along with the Tamers, showing genuine concern and knowing they are the only ones who can save the day.
Role
Leading the Operation
An angry Yamaki throttling Henry Wong after being overpowered by Mihiramon
Yamaki is the leader of Hypnos, a governmental organization in charge of watching the Digital World and prevent the entrance of Digimon in the Real World. In his vision, every Digimon is considered a threat and must be immediately deleted. Throughout the series, he always stays inside the Hypnos HQ, observing and giving orders to his co-workers, Riley and Tally. His major appearance comes when he captures a DarkLizardmon Takato was about to finish, and brings her to the HQ where the Juggernaut program is about to be tested. However, something goes wrong and the Digimon escapes, but is defeated yet again. Yamaki finally orders his workers to increase the Juggernaut's power, so every Digimon in the area can be absorved back to the Digital World, creating a large vortex that begins to suck every Digimon around. However, the Deva Mihiramon uses the program as a gateway and crosses over to the Real World. After seeing his failure, Yamaki finally snaps and throttles Henry, but releases him after deeming him not worth it. He then yells "Digimon-loving freaks!" and leaves, but returns with a full military force to attack the Deva, but Guilmon evolves into WarGrowlmon and destroys the Tiger Deva, making Yamaki realize they're really not playing any game.
Fighting the Devas
After the Devas' appearance, Yamaki contacts the Digimons' creators, the Monster Makers, and tells them to find a way to get rid of the Digimons forever. Yamaki attempts to get rid of Vikaralamon as well as the Tamers Digimon partners with the Juggernaut, but thanks to Makuramon, the whole Hypnos headquarters was destroyed, with Yamaki still inside, but he somehow survived after the destruction of Hypnos. After the Tamers learn how to make the Matrix Evolution, Yamaki slowly begins to accept the kids' attitude and finally starts to cooperate. When the Boar Deva Vikaralamon is defeated, and Calumon is taken by the Monkey Deva Makuramon to the Digital World, Yamaki shows full support to the Tamers' plan to follow him and created a ship with a communication device called ARK. After their confrontation with the entity called "Chaos" (the D-Reaper), the team manages to return home. However, it was far from over.
Facing the D-Reaper
The Chaos followed the Tamers to the Real World, kidnapped Jeri Kato and began to consume the entire area of Shinjuku. Since the Hypnos building was also being consumed, Yamaki and the Monster Makers were forced to command the operations from afar. He helps the Tamers to fight against the D-Reaper, and finally enables their victory when he once again develops the Juggernaut program into MegaGargomon and, with the help of the Digimon Sovereign, drags the D-Reaper back to the Digital World, reversing him back into a harmless program.
Trivia
- Whenever he's nervous, Yamaki starts to flicker a small lighter, a reminder of his past as a heavy smoker.
- There are a few, rare times when he shows any emotion or even removes his sunglasses.
- It is implied that he has a romance with fellow worker Riley Ootori.
- Yamaki is similar to the following villains:
- Kent Mansley from The Iron Giant. They are government agents who wanted to destroy creatures that are beyond human, and antagonize the kids that are guarding the creatures from them. They lose their positions after their schemes to get rid of the creatures failed and they got exposed. The only difference is that Yamaki reformed and regained his position, while Kent didn't.
- Harold Attinger from Transformers: Age of Extinction. Both are leaders of government agencies (Hypnos for Yamaki, Cemetery Wind for Attinger), both seek to eliminate nonhuman entities (Digimon for Yamaki, Transformers for Attinger), and both employ brutal methods in dealing with them, especially when they're allied with humanity. Attinger is even worse though; while Yamaki eventually reformed, Attinger is Pure Evil.
Gallery
.jpg "Yamaki (Ep. 35).jpg (34 KB)")
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.jpg "Yamaki (Ep. 49).jpg (36 KB)")
.jpg "Yamaki (Ep. 16).jpg (33 KB)")
