Daijiro Ohara (大原大次郎)

Daijiro Ohara
Characteristics
Gender	Male
Height	162 cm (5'4)
Weight	65 kg (143 lbs)
Hair color	Black
Media Portrayal
Manga Debut	Chapter 1
Anime Debut	Episode 1

Daijiro Ohara (大原 大次郎, Ōhara Daijirō) (Oohara) is one of the main characters from the long-running Japanese manga and anime series Kochikame by Osamu Akimoto. He is appointed as the Section Chief of the Kameari Kouen-Mae Police Box in the series, and is more often referred to as "Chief" (部長, Buchō) instead of his real (last) name. He is known for being Kankichi Ryotsu's superior and his strict temperaments.

Appearance

Chief Ohara (bottom) with Ryotsu (on top) from the manga (full colour).

Ohara is the oldest character in the Kameari Kouen-mae Police Box, and is of rather short, bulky stature similar to Ryotsu (though not as able in terms of physical strength, due to his build and age). He sports thick eyebrows (although not as prominent as Ryotsu's) and a short, thick square-shaped mustache. Underneath his hat, he has what is presumed to be a buzzcut hairstyle.

He and Terai are the only police officers in the group to wear the full official police officer attire in the required manner. He wears a blue uniform consisting of pants, a long-sleeve coat to cover his undershirt, blue police hat and a black tie matching his black shoes. Upon arrival to the Police Box in the morning, he is often seen carrying a brown satchel.

Personality

Although it is assumed that he is of short temper after having to frequently deal with Ryotsu's antics, Ohara is in actuality modest and considerate in character, as well as strict and serious on occasions where he needs to be. A diligent worker in his own right, Ohara only wants to make sure that he is able to keep the Police Box in working order so as to avoid conflicts with the Chief of Police or fraying his own dignity in the sight of other superiors, particularly when large-scale events are happening. He comes to Hashutsujho by bus and train.

He is representative of a typical Japanese man of his own age; cultured in the local ways of life, but a little unfamiliar where modern technology and fads are concerned (sometimes to the embarrassment of other characters). Ohara shows interest in Kendo, Judo, Shogi, calligraphy, bonsai maintenance, local cuisine and ancient Japanese theater plays, all of which keep him both level-headed and entertained outside work duties.

Ohara is notorious for always scolding and venting his anger to Ryotsu, who

Ohara yelling 'Baka Mo-n!' to Ryotsu.

never shows restraint from wandering off to do other activities irrelevant to police work. In both the manga and anime series, he is most famous for yelling out his quote 'Baka mon!' ('バカモン!', roughly translated to mean 'You Idiot!') when faced with another one of Ryotsu's pathetic excuses for not engaging in proper tasks.

There have been notable times, in contrast, where Ohara views Ryotsu as a son of his own as a result of constantly trying to teach him to do good over bad, and does on occasion show empathy for him, especially in circumstances where Ryotsu shows evidence of doing hard work that earns his pride.

Caught in the act.

Ohara has been shown to have a more whimsical side to him, as seen in the anime. This is especially prevalent in the episode which debuted Detective's Moonlight and Venus of the Special Detectives Unit. Ohara at one point is seen blushing as he visualizes himself cross-dressing and acting like a stereotypical schoolgirl. At the middle of the episode, it is seen that he ends up wearing the schoolgirl's uniform, though he was not required to do so.

Relationships

Family

Wife

Ohara maintains a steady married relationship with his wife. She is able to stabilize his emotions in times when he is stressed and gives him advice on how to deal with the troubles that he faces.

Daughter (Hiromi)

In instances where Ohara's daughter is present, it is made obvious that he has a positive relationship with her. He appears to have taught her Chadou (茶道; the Japanese art of tea-making and sharing), for which she shows considerable skill, to the impression of his Police Box subordinates during a house visit.

He appears to be protective of his daughter, even excessively so at times. This can be seen when he continuously refused to give his daughter and her fiance his blessing to be married, even to the point where he took physical extremes to avoid the topic, even to the point of besting and outmaneuvering Ryotsu. Ultimately, he came around and happily witnessed his daughter's marriage.

Police Box colleagues

Kankichi Ryotsu

Ohara remains famous for his seemingly strained relationship with Ryotsu at the Police Box; virtually each chapter and episode depicts him losing his temper at some point in response to discovering the real 'work' or havoc Ryotsu causes, yelling Baka Mon!, which serves as his more prominent and signature catchphrase. He sometimes also refers to Ryotsu as Baka Mon, which would alternatively change to mean 'that Idiot', oftentimes where Ryotsu is absent.

He is never intentional on acting violent towards Ryotsu, and his intimidating actions only result from the fact that he finds his orders more often than not being deliberately disobeyed and ignored at the expense of his rank allocation and reputation, especially with regards to the potential disappointment from Shacho, his superior. Ohara sincerely shows empathy for Ryotsu and knows that he is fully able to do his work, and is simply frustrated with the way in which he never seems to bother to input enough effort if any at all.

Throughout the anime, it is shown that the relationship between Ryotsu and Ohara stems back many, many years, to the point where Ohara was a newly minted police officer and Ryotsu was a civilian troublemaker. They first met when Ryotsu and his friends (at the time in high school) hijacked the control room of a bascule bridge, leading to Ohara hanging perilously from the edge of the bridge, and resulting in the then-police officer to fall into the river. Ohara and Ryotsu were formally introduced to each other when the former arrested the latter for public drunkenness. This event may have inspired Ryotsu to join the police force, and subsequently partnered with Ohara as a patrolman. It should be noted that Ryotsu's sandals were bought for him by Ohara in his earlier years on the force after the former complained about how uncomfortable the policeman shoes were, and has been worn by him ever since then.

Keiichi Nakagawa

Ohara is always left satisfied and secure knowing that Nakagawa does very well in his job as Patrol Officer. He typically has to depend on Nakagawa for watching over Ryotsu in his absence and trusts him wholly as he is always the one (alongside Reiko) who breaks the news of Ryotsu's schemes in progress.

Reiko Katherine Akimoto

As in the case of Nakagawa, Ohara is also pleased with the dedication and hard work Reiko does in her Patrol Officer position and is thankful for her compassionate attitude. He sometimes addresses her as Reiko-kun, whereby the -kun suffix functions as a term of endearment, indicating that he cares for her and views her from a friendly and warm perspective.

There have been occasions where he thinks of her from a more romantic viewpoint in places where she wears clothes other then uniform which highlight her beauty, or make her stand out, although this sort of behavior is common in many other male characters as well.

Katsushika Police HQ

Gomez Tonda (Shocho)

Ohara finds difficulty in making ends meet for Shocho to make sure that his subordinates from the Police Box are not a danger to their reputation or the reputation of the Katsushika Police headquarters as a whole; as appointed Section Chief of the Police Box, Ohara is burdened with heavy responsibility due to Ryotsu's antics, which Shocho understands. Both are generally on good terms with one another, and can be seen discussing ways to avoid future mishaps that may be caused by Ryotsu.

The fact that Shocho addresses Ohara as Ohara-kun implies that he views him with an informally polite and friendly manner, which indicates the level of their rapport.

Haya Isowashi

In the manga, Ohara has been shown to display quite a large interest in Haya; he is apparently impressed with both her knowledge and skill in Japanese activities that he shares mutual interests in, including Shogi and calligraphy. He also seems to be attracted to her good looks and mannerisms and finds himself sometimes having to face competition with Ryotsu to win chances of getting closer to her.

Trivia

• The assigned birthday of Ohara has never remained consistent between manga chapters and has fluctuated between different proposed dates, despite the fact that a substantial number of manga chapters make reference to the other characters stating or wishing to celebrate his birthday. However, is mentioned in Kochikame anime episode 160 that his sign is Aries.