Oyamada Manta

Oyamada Manta (小山田まん太, Mortimer "Morty" in the English anime and English video games) is a fictional character in the anime and manga Shaman King. In the uncut English Anime, he is named Morty Manta. Manta is 13 years old and a 7th grader at Shinra Private Academy; where he goes to school with Asakura Yoh and Kyōyama Anna. He is a Virgo and his blood type is "O".

Appearance
Manta has short sandy-brown hair and large eyes. Throughout the manga he is usually shown wearing his school uniform - green pants, running shoes, white dress shirt and tie. His casual outfit consists of white shorts, and a blue hoodie with white angel wings on the back and a halo on the hood.And he usually has his laptop with him.

He is by far the shortest of the group, measuring in at 80cm (2 feet, 7 inches). Because of his small stature, he is often mistaken for a Koropokkuru (known as "Minutians" in the English Anime).

Personality
Manta is very intelligent and studious, attending cram school and constantly carrying around a large book. In the Japanese versions, the book is called the Manjien (万辞苑), meaning "Manta's Book on Everything", while the English manga calls the book the "Mantannian Dictionary". "Manjien" is a portmanteau of Manta's name and the Japanese dictionary "Kōjien" (広辞苑).

He is very expressive, and he often panics or gets over-excited.

Abilities and Powers
Manta can see spirits, in the manga he is not a full shaman so he cannot use their powers like his best friends Asakura Yoh and Kyōyama Anna can. In anime however he is shown to posses some Shamanic ability by oversouling with Mosuke, using his laptop as the medium and forms a hammer.

History
Manta is born on September 5, 1985 and is 13 years old in the beginning of the story.

Meeting Yoh
Manta first appears in chapter one, trying to head home after cram school. He goes through the cemetery as a shortcut and runs into Yoh, who asks him to stargaze with everyone. This confuses Manta, since Yoh is alone, but he reveals "everyone" to be the ghosts of the cemetery. Manta panics and flees.

The next day, Manta tries telling his classmates about the incident, but they don't believe him. Yoh is introduced as a transfer student and Manta freaks out, following him around once school is over. Yoh explains to him that he is a shaman. Later that night Manta returns to the cemetery, wondering if Yoh is watching the stars again, and he runs into Umemiya Ryunosuke, nicknamed "Wooden Sword" Ryu and his gang, who beat him up.

Manta, again, tries explaining the situation to his classmates, who simply laugh at him. Yoh reveals that he was told what happened by the ghosts of the cemetery, and drags Manta back there to face Ryu. Manta panics a little and asks Yoh why he is doing this, and he simply responds, "It's because you're my friend". They confront Ryu and his gang, and Amidamaru appears, wanting to get revenge on Ryu for breaking his tombstone. Yoh performs Hyoui-Gattai and they easily defeat Ryu, not injuring him but only severing the end of his pompadour.

Later on Yoh asks Amidamaru, bluntly, to be his friend, but Amidamaru declines, saying he is waiting for someone. Yoh and Manta go to the local museum to see Harusame, Amidamaru's sword, and meet Mosuke, who reveals himself to be a blacksmith and friend of Amidamaru. He tells the two the story of his and Amidamaru's past and why he is called a demon. Yoh preforms Hyoui-Gattai with Mosuke and reforges Harusame. Yoh and Manta bring the new sword back to Amidamaru, and he is so grateful he agrees to become Yoh's partner.

Manta is then seen dragging Yoh alongside the street being late for the kendo test, the billboard suddenly fell down on Yoh who came out unscathed. Later at school Manta tells Yoh about the billboard, which worries Yoh. Manta exclaims that Yoh needs to worry for the test, which Yoh passes without avail with Amidamaru's help. Yoh then introduces other ghosts who helps Yoh to graduate, Manta calls him a coward and runs away. Manta scorns about yoh when suddenly the billboard fell again on Manta, he evaded the billboard with the help of Amidamaru who then reveals the selfbound spirit that posseses the billboard. The selfbound spirit assaults manta, but is guarded by Amidamaru, after his guard got broken the selfbound spirit appraoches Manta. Yoh arrives telling everyone that the selfbound ghost is Kanta who died before he could finish the billboard. The selfbound spirit changes to his human form and Manta watches Yoh through finishing the billboard.

Shaman Fights First Round
Since he is not a shaman, Manta does not get involved in the fights, but he is always there with Yoh to watch each round. However, upon meeting Faust for the first time before his fight with Yoh, Manta became victim to Faust's medical "research", spurring Yoh's anger and ultimately causing him to lose that round.

Funbari no Uta
He has grown 1cm taller, and is in a rich company making lots of money.He is now a College student and he investigates the benefits of mixing shamanism and business.

Family
In the manga and original Japanese anime, his family owns the Oyamada Electronics Company, the biggest and number one in all of Japan and therefore is very rich. Manta's parents and little sister only appear once in the manga. Manta's father, Oyamada Mansumi, is 55 years old. His mother, Oyamada Keiko, is 37 years old. His sister, Oyamada Mannoko, is 5 years old. Manta's family plays little role in the story, and, following their initial appearance, they are never seen again in the manga until a brief appearance by Mansumi toward the end of the series, where the Oyamada president leads several battle ships to destroy and capture the shamans, but Hao quickly sinks his ships with ease.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the manga and Japanese anime, Manta has an assistant, Tamurazaki. In the English anime, Tamurazaki (who turns out to be Mansumi's lapdog and guns down at least one of Hao's followers) is "Uncle Jerry" and is Morty's uncle. In the English anime, Morty is a fan of ghost stories and the book he carries around is a ghost story book.

In the anime, Manta is shown to posses some Shamanic ability by oversouling with Mosuke, using his laptop as the medium.

Trivia

 * The name Morty is a pun of the Latin prefix for "death" (with which words begin with mort-, mor-, or mori-) and the word mortal.
 * Manta's family name means "small mountain field".
 * Manta is the first character to be officially introduced in both manga and anime.
 * Manta gets the first and last line in the manga.