"No one hustles Yama!”
- ―Yama to Hiro
Yama is a minor villain of Disney's 2014 animated feature film, Big Hero 6.
Background[]
Yama is a local crime boss living in the city of San Fransokyo. He has partaken in various illegal acts such as bot fighting, thievery, illegal money lending and murder. With his gruff and powerful demeanor (coupled by his massive physique) Yama has gained a notorious reputation, and is amongst the most feared members of San Fransokyo's underworld. His base of operation is in a shady district known as "Good Luck Alley", which is heavily guarded by a slew of subordinates under Yama's authority.
Appearance[]
Big Hero 6[]
Yama is first introduced as the undisputed bot-fighter champion in San Fransokyo's underground bot fights with his prize robot, Little Yama. After defeating an unfortunate contender, a boy named Hiro Hamadashows up and asks if he can participate with his own robot. Yama, underwhelmed by Hiro's naive demeanor, agrees to fight the boy. When Hiro's bot seems to collapse after the first round, Yama is about to gloat in his victory until Hiro bribes him with more money for a rematch. The confident Yama accepts this and the match restarts.
However, Hiro's bot is revealed to be highly advanced, quickly repairing itself and destroying Little Yama with ease. Hiro brazenly boasts about his victory until Yama, out of spite, has his goons attack the boy and chase him into the alley. When the group seems to have Hiro cornered, Hiro's brother Tadashi rescues him on his moped away from the goons.
The brothers, along with Yama's gang and everyone in the bot fights, are caught and arrested by the San Fransokyo police during the escape. Yama and his gang are forced to share a cramped cell with Tadashi, while Hiro has a separate cell to himself due to being a minor. Hiro and Tadashi are released that same night on account of their aunt, while Yama and his henchmen are presumably left in the police station. He isn't shown for the rest of the film after this.
Trivia[]
- "Yama" is Japanese for "mountain."
- In earlier drafts, Yama was intended to be a more important antagonist as a mob boss in San Fransokyo's crime scene. He was the leader of a gang, which consisted of rocket-powered bomber men, a sumo wrestler, and the Fujitas; a group of martial artist roller women in traditional Japanese wear and makeup.[1]