Mamoru Uda

Mamoru Uda (宇田 守, lit. Uda Mamoru) is, like Shinichi Izumi, a human inflicted by a parasite.

Appearance
He is very tall, has an average build, and is slightly overweight. His hair is kept neatly combed. He has black hair and brown eyes. Uda is shown to wear a vacation shirt in the manga, but in the anime he wears a jacket. When they briefly abduct Shirou Kuramori, he is seen wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses and has his hair slicked back. Jaw temporarily shapes his chin into three large prongs in order to change his facial appearance.

Personality
Uda is typically a peaceful, easygoing man. He gets nervous under pressure and cries easily. He is never shown to be negative or angry. He is very talkative and is usually seen smiling.

He has shown to be an understanding character, as he was willing to kill the parasite that infected Shinichi's mother, wanting to spare him the burden of killing her.

Background
Uda's wife left him one year after their marriage. Uda contemplated suicide by jumping off a cliff, but could not bring himself to do it. Jaw attacked him and he became frightened and backed up off the cliff into the ocean. Jaw originally followed his instinct to take over the brain, but realized as they were sinking that if Uda drowned, he would die as well. He then abandoned his plan to take over the brain and instead took over Uda's jaw in order to save Uda and therefore himself.

Plot
Uda is first seen and mistaken by Shinichi as the parasite that took over his mother's body. This is quickly cleared up as Migi informs Shinichi of Uda's situation, and as Jaw, who is currently known as Parasite, makes his appearance. Uda and Shinichi soon become friends and bond over each other's recent tragedies. Uda decides to help avenge Shinichi's mother's death. Back in the city, Uda and Parasite make contact with the enemy parasite and inform Shinichi that they're going to a different location.

Now in the woods, Uda and Parasite try to come up with a plan. Due to Uda being overweight, he quickly becomes tired and goes with the plan of standing their ground. Bringing the fight to a cliff, the parasite catches up with them and begins combat. Though holding their own in the beginning, the awkward position in which Parasite is located in his body soon left them at a disadvantage. The parasite then proceeds to stab Uda in the chest, causing him to fall off the cliff.

As Shinichi is taken aback during his fight with his mother, Uda and Parasite (Jaw) decapitate the parasite. As Uda climbs back up the cliff, Parasite (Jaw) reveals that by shifting the position of Uda's internal organs, he managed to prevent lethal damage. Uda then tells Shinichi that even though it was his mother, he doesn't think he should be the one to finish her off. Uda and Shinichi then say their goodbyes and say that they'll keep in touch.

After the hair pulling trend becomes popular, Uda is seen having his hair pulled by his employer to make sure he wasn't a parasite. After his boss leaves, Parasite comes out and warns Uda that he needs to be more cautious than ever.

Later, after Kuramori is discovered by Shinichi and Migi to be stalking them, they contact Uda to help them capture and talk to him. Uda tells them that due to the increasing presence of parasite news in the media they decided to change his parasite's name to Jaw.

Powers and weaknesses
Other than the parasite attached to him, Uda is a normal, if slightly overweight, human being. He loses stamina quickly when running and in a fight, partly due to his body and partly due to Jaw's position in his body. Despite this, Jaw is able to shift his internal organs around somewhat to avoid what would otherwise be a fatal blow.

Trivia

 * The name Mamoru means "protect, defense" (守).
 * His surname Uda means "eaves, roof" (宇) (u) and "rice field" (田) (da).

Mamoru Uda