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Damian Tenma
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"Damian" redirects here. You may be looking for "Damian Hinji", the Japanese name for Colias Palaeno.

Apollo Justice
(Seems like a good guy, but with a face like that, I can see why he's misunderstood.)

Damian Tenma is the mayor of Tenma Town and father to Jinxie Tenma. He is an unpopular figure in Nine-Tails Vale due to his plans to merge the two towns. During a meeting between Nine-Tails Vale alderman Rex Kyubi and himself, the former was murdered and Damian was put on trial for the crime.

Tenma Taro and the merger[]

Main article: The Monstrous Turnabout
Ninetails 7

The menacing Damian Tenma.

Although coming from Tenma Town himself, Damian's wife was born and raised in Nine-Tails Vale. Sometime after his wife died, Damian's daughter Jinxie decided to move to Nine-Tails Vale in an attempt to become more independent and to try to get closer to her mother's heritage.

Damian was sent a blackmail letter that threatened to harm Jinxie if he didn't merge Tenma Town and Nine-Tails Vale. Publicly, Damian made a show of trying to do just that, but secretly donned the mantle of the masked wrestler "the Amazing Nine-Tails" in order to fight against it and boost the morale of Nine-Tails Vale.

During a visit by Trucy Wright and Apollo Justice, Damian was called to a meeting in Kyubi Manor's Fox Chamber by Rex Kyubi, alderman of Nine-Tails Vale, who wished to speak to him about the truth behind Tenma Taro; it was not a monster at all, but a large gold ingot. However, during their meeting, the two men lost consciousness; their coffee had been drugged with sleeping pills. In his drug-induced stupor, Damian barely registered someone wearing the Amazing Nine-Tails's mask and Kyubi's dead body in the background before passing out in the Forbidden Chamber. When Damian finally came to, he found himself back in the Fox Chamber with a head injury and a red-suited stranger beside him. Despite trying to ask the man who he was, he soon lost consciousness again. Damian was soon arrested for Kyubi's murder, but was also sent to the hospital first to recover from his injuries. The red-suited man turned out to be Apollo Justice, who agreed to defend him in court.

During the ensuing trial, Damian eventually resorted to pretending to be possessed by Tenma Taro, thus disrupting the proceedings. As "Tenma Taro", Damian gave testimony based on his limited memory of the event. Justice eventually figured out that Damian was the Amazing Nine-Tails, not Kyubi as was previously thought, as well as the true nature of the "Tenma Taro" in the Forbidden Chamber; Damian was protecting the gold ingot in the chamber by opposing the merger. Upon being informed that the ingot no longer existed, Damian admitted to being the Amazing Nine-Tails. Justice eventually proved that the true killer of the alderman was none other than his own his aide, Florent L'Belle, who had also been behind the blackmail; he wanted the merger to get his hands on "Tenma Taro", and had murdered Kyubi since he saw him as an obstacle.

Ninetails 4

Greeting his awaiting fans.

After being declared not guilty, Damian expressed worry that the public would no longer like the Amazing Nine-Tails as he had revealed his face under the mask. Jinxie, however, told him that a crowd had gathered to see him. With his reputation assured, Damian put on the mask again and went into the main courthouse lobby, to the cheers of his adoring fans.

By the end of the year, Damian was told that his "Tenma Taro" persona had become so popular that his fans were requesting that he put on a Tenma Taro costume and fight the Amazing Nine-Tails, which was obviously a problem since he could not possibly fight himself in the ring. However, Jinxie suggested that Justice should instead take over as "the Amazing Nine-Tails II", which Damian approved of.

Personality[]

DeemonMugshot

Mugshot.

Damian is a stern, taciturn man with an intimidating appearance. Aware of this, he is somewhat annoyed by the way that people are unwilling to approach him as a result. He has a habit of shouting in apparent anger, only to then apologize in the same tone and suggest overly-generous ways to forgive the person he is speaking to. Above all else, he deeply cared for his daughter Jinxie; worried that his incarceration would leave her all alone, he frequently threatened to escape from the detention center to safeguard her. In many ways, Damian also displayed admireable leadership qualities in ensuring good relations between both his own town and Nine-Tails Vale.

When speaking as "Tenma Taro", he is far more dramatic, menacing, and forceful, in many ways acting like a stereotypical evil overlord.

Appearance[]

Damian has long black hair in rectangular strands, brown eyes, and an intimidating facial expression. He wears a dark cyan suit with large red beads connected by purple cord over the shoulders and four fluffy white buttons, a white shirt, a cap with a paper charm pattern and a Tenma Taro warding charm courtesy of Jinxie, a black tie with a purple bolo, and black shoes. When "possessed by Tenma Taro", he loses the warding charm and his tie fans out, resembling feathers.

Name[]

  • Japanese - Deemon Tenma (天馬 å‡ŗå³č”›é–€):
    • His family name "Tenma" (天馬) consists of the kanji "天" (meaning "sky/heaven/celestial", "god/godly/Deva", or "day"), and "馬" (meaning "horse"). The word "tenma" can refer to twelve guardian goddesses in the Gelug order of Tibetan Buddhism, or the equivalent of Pegasus in Eastern mythology.
    • The pronunciation of his Japanese given name "Deemon" is a transliteration of the word "demon". Additionally, the last three characters in the name, "emon" (蔛門), is a suffix for a medieval-styled Japanese male name.
  • English/French - Damian/Damien Tenma:
    • His English and French given names "Damian" and "Damien" reflect his Japanese one.

Development[]

  • When pretending to be "Tenma Taro", the sound effect used for his speech has a unique pitch, deeper than the one normally used for male characters. His necktie also changes into a fan-like shape, likely meant to resemble the yokai's feathers.
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