Kamado Ueshita

Kamado Ueshita (上下 かまど, Ueshita Kamado) is the Eighth diary owner. A large, rather unconventional-looking woman, Kamado runs the "Mother's Village" orphanage in Sakurami City. She has raised orphans for at least fourteen years, including Marco Ikusaba, Ai Mikami and Orin Miyashiro.

As the least harmful of the Survival Game's participants, Kamado has no interest in becoming God; instead, her orphans fight to protect her from the other diary holders.

Appearance & Personality
Kamado is a portly woman with strange, almost cartoon-like proportions compared to other characters in the series. Her arms and legs are disproportionately small compared to her body, while her head is disproportionately large. She has short black hair, green eyes, and large pink circles on her cheeks. Her upper lip has a slight cleft, which makes her mouth resemble a cat's. She wears an orange dress with a white chef's hat and a matching apron.

Having cared for and raised numerous orphans over the years, Kamado is a doting motherly figure beloved by all of her orphans, who form an army to fight in her stead during the Survival Game. Kind, caring, polite and pacifistic to a fault, she is perhaps the most sane and least violent of all the diary owners, and the only one aside from John Bacchus who does not engage in physical combat.

While Kamado has no interest in playing the game or becoming God, her children want to her to win the game and will do anything to protect her. It is implied that Kamado would accept the mantle of God for the orphans' sake if she happened to win the Survival Game; if she does, she wishes to make the world a better place for children so they would not have to worry about things.

She loves children in general, showing concern even for those not in her care like Yukiteru Amano and Aru Akise. She even proves willing to forgive Yuki for attempting to kill her (and allowing Yuno Gasai to do it instead), simply asking him to make a better future for the children before passing away without grudges or regrets.

Diary & Abilities
Kamado has the Blog Diary, a laptop computer capable of creating Apprentice Diaries for people that connect to its server. The main advantage of this process is that Apprentice Diaries don't follow the same rules as the normal diaries; a user cannot die if the diary is destroyed, and it is also implied that they are not considered candidates to become God, therefore making treason unlikely among those under her wing. She can even give Apprentice Diaries to fellow Future Diary holders (as seen with Marco and Ai) or people who have lost their original Apprentice Diaries (as seen with Kosaka).

As with the normal Future Diaries, Apprentice Diaries have precognitive powers that reflect their owners in some way; coupled with their inability to erase their own host and the Blog Diary's ability to freely create new diaries for users that lose one, Kamado can theoretically create a nigh-limitless army of Diary users to fight on her behalf. When teaming up with John Bacchus, her diary is augmented by connecting it to the supercomputer HOLON III, instantly transforming every phone in Sakurami City into an Apprentice Diary.

The Blog Diary's main weakness is that its only known function is producing Apprentice Diaries; it has absolutely no ability to predict the future on its own, not even Kamado's Dead End. It is possible that Kamado could circumvent this by creating an Apprentice Diary for herself, but it is unclear if this is even possible; if it is, she never attempts it. As a result of this, Kamado is at a drastic disadvantage if facing any other Diary user one-on-one; instead, she relies on her allies to fight in her stead.

While the Apprentice Diaries lack the primary weakness of Future Diaries, they need to be connected to the Blog Diary's server in order to function. If there is any sort of jamming, the Apprentice Diaries are rendered useless. Kamado also seems to be unable to give an Apprentice Diary on a whim; Ouji Kosaka received his Kosaka King Diary after making successive posts on a blog and Aru Akise only received his Detective Diary after Kosaka transcribed all the entries in Aru's notebook onto his phone. It appears that a certain number of posts are required before an Apprentice Diary can be produced, marked by the user's online rank going from "commoner" to "Apprentice Diary User" on the server; it is believed that the information is necessary for the Blog Diary to develop a personalized Apprentice Diary for the user.

While Kamado herself has no apparent fighting skills, she has her own personal army composed of the very orphans she takes care of. The orphans are a force to be feared; in addition to their Apprentice Diaries, they are skilled in close combat, use of firearms, explosives, infiltration, and other combat operations. Kamado also has a strong alliance with the joint Sevenths, Marco Ikusaba and Ai Mikami, who were once raised in her orphanage.

During the events of Future Diary: Mosaic, it is implied that Kamado possesses great physical strength despite her rather portly frame and lack of combat skills. She is considered one of the three main reasons the Sakurami beauty contest is boring, as the contest is of skills rather than appearance and Kamado proves unbeatable in arm wrestling.

Plot Overview
Kamado debuted with the other diary owners at the beginning of the story, although she is not seen in person for a while.

Rescue Operation
Kamado becomes aware of Yukiteru Amano's kidnapping at the hands of Yuno Gasai. With Kosaka as a user of her blog system, she was able to identify Yuki and Yuno and gave Kosaka the powers of an Apprentice Diary. With his new diary, Kosaka was able to help rescue Yuki, who abandoned Yuno with his friends. Now knowing their identities, Kamado sent Marco, Ai and Ta-kun to intercept Yuki and Yuno, presumably to either capture or kill them. Orin informed Kamado of Kosaka's actions while the Eighth was busy pulling vegetables out of a vegetable patch. Kamado calmly concludes the situation is going well, before going off to scold a boy harassing a young girl.

The Seventh's Battle of Love
Kamado's identity is quickly discovered by Yuki's group, and they make a plan to cut off her diary's ability to create Apprentice Diaries. Operating from Kosaka's house, Kosaka and Akise successfully shut down Kamado's diary by turning off the power of a communication tower near Kosaka's house. However, Marco and Ai, being Future Diary owners, are unfazed by Yuki's plan; they successfully strip Yuki and Yuno of their diaries, but spare their lives.

Masumi Nishijima approaches Kamado and Orin with a search warrant to investigate the Mother's Village orphanage for Marco and Ai, unaware that they are at the Sakurami observation tower with Yuki, Yuno and Kurou Amano. Nishijima eventually learns of the situation at the tower, guessing Kamado's co-operation was a decoy for Marco and Ai to attempt to take out Yuki and Yuno. However, the tower collapses and Marco and Ai are killed. Kamado's reaction to their deaths is not seen.

The Eleventh's Kingdom
By the time Yuki decides to play the game in earnest, Kamado is among the five remaining candidates for godhood. John Bacchus, the Eleventh diary owner, convinces the city council to order the closure of Kamado's orphanage in order to put her at a disadvantage. At the final gathering between the remaining diary owners, Yuki reveals John's identity to the others - much to Kamado's surprise - and vows to kill him to avenge his parents.



A couple of days later, Yuki, Yuno and Kamado form an alliance to eliminate John. Waiting for John to pass by on a country road, Yuki learns from Orin that Kamado has never once stated she wants to become God, but counters her belief by explaining the orphans want her to become God. John passes by, his car driven by Nishijima. Two orphans stop John car by faking a toll pass, allowing Yuki and the army of Apprentice Diary-wielding orphans to charge down the hill to ambush John and his men. However, thanks to his Watcher Diary, John learns of Yuki and Kamado's alliance and uses an EMP-like device in his car to block out the Apprentice Diaries.

In their moment of vulnerability, Yuki apologetically turns on Kamado and the orphans, promising to grant their wishes when he becomes God. He begins shooting the orphans while Yuno decapitates Orin and impales Ta-kun, who tells the horrified Kamado to flee. She escapes down the hill, with Nishijima and John allowing her to clamber into their car, leading to a car chase. Kamado angrily blames John for her orphans' deaths, but John states that she has no one to blame but herself, telling her his diary cannot be beaten. The two are chased by Yuki and Yuno down the highway, until Yuki rams John's car off an overpass onto a road below where he and Yuno confront him. However, John and Kamado are able to escape when Minene Uryu and Aru Akise arrive with accusing evidence that Yuno is an impostor.

Later, Minene learns John is at the city's university and eavesdrops on a conversation between him and Kamado. John asks Kamado to relinquish her Blog Diary in order for his plan to succeed, prompting Kamado to remove her dress and reveal the computer strapped to her body. John, being a gentleman, covers Kamado with his jacket, much to her surprise (this scene is removed from the anime). He then proposes his winning plan - by attaching Kamado's diary to the supercomputer HOLON III, he can give the power of the Apprentice Diaries to everyone in Sakurami City who owns a phone, creating a superior race of humanity with him as their leader. Kamado does not openly object to the plan and goes along with it, although Minene's position is revealed and she flees knowing John's plan. She tries to destroy the supercomputer, but learns there are two other terminals in John's business towers.

Minene, Nishijima, Hinata, Mao, Kosaka and Akise all join forces to stop John's plan, with Yuki and Yuno joining them to kill both John and Kamado. Yuno breaks into one of the terminal rooms to kill Kamado, only to be blindsided by Akise, who flees from the building with Kamado and Yuki's friends.

The End Begins
Following the deaths of Minene and John, Kamado, becomes Yuki and Yuno's last target. With the Eighth now in the care of Akise and friends, Yuki receives a diary entry that Akise will call to negotiate with him. However, Akise has other plans and decides to protect Kamado. He requests an audience with the dying Deus, with Kamado escorting him to the Cathedral of Causality before returning to Hinata, Mao and Kosaka. Deus reveals to Akise his origins and begins destroying his body. When Kamado and the others witness this, Kosaka copies the notes from Akise's detective log onto his phone, inspiring Kamado to create an Apprentice Diary to save Akise. Akise is freed by Deus and is teleported before Yuki and Yuno, his new Detective Diary able to read the predictions of Future Diaries, even when their futures are altered.

As Akise fights Yuno, Kamado flees with Hinata, Mao and Kosaka to a block of flats. Yuki chases them, armed with a gun. Convinced that his friends have betrayed him, Yuki ends up murdering Hinata, Mao and Kosaka. The black holes created by Deus' death rip apart the apartment block, knocking out Kamado. After Akise's apparent death at Yuno's hands, Yuki and Yuno confront the Eighth; Yuno is ready to issue the fatal blow with a knife, but Yuki realizes the horrors he has done and begins crying. Kamado awakens suddenly, noticing Yuki and asks him to make the world a better place so that children do not have to worry. Yuki is unable to answer as Yuno stabs Kamado and kills her. Akise, mortally wounded by Yuno, realizes the truth about her apparent fake identity and runs to warn Yuki, but is decapitated by Yuno. However, he manages to show his discovery to Yuki in the form a text message which his headless body shows to Yuki. Yuno destroys his diary, ending the legacy of Kamado.

The Final Battle
When Yuki, Yuno, Minene and Muru Muru perform a time leap back two years into the past, they create the third parallel world. Kamado is shown alive and well with her orphans, Marco and Ai. Orin runs in, receiving a telephone call from John, who has learnt of his own death by reading Yuki's Future Diary. John tells Kamado that he is offering assistance to her orphanage to alter the future, later informing the third world's Deus that he is cancelling his Future Diary project to escape his own death, thus cancelling the Survival Game.

Two years later, Kamado and John are seen walking down a street together, presumably on good terms and possibly in some sort of relationship.

Trivia

 * Kamado is named after Vesta, the Roman goddess of families and the home. This ties into Kamado acting as a mother to the orphans under her care. Additionally, her Blog Diary effectively creates a "family" of diary users to protect her; some translations of Future Diary call the Apprentice Diaries "Child Diaries" to reinforce this.
 * "Kamado" means "furnace" in Japanese, referencing Vesta's association with the hearth.
 * After Yuki, Kamado has the largest amount of alliances in the series, forming them with Marco and Ai, Yuki and Yuno, John Bacchus, and then Akise and his friends.
 * Kamado's character theme song is "Lost Children" by vocalist Yuki.
 * The only person to comment on Kamado's unique appearance is an unnamed civilian observing the Sakurami Beauty Pageant seen in the final chapter of Future Diary: Mosaic.
 * With her large head, small limbs, generally portly figure, and large chef's hat, Kamado bears some resemblance to Poppin' Fresh, a mascot of the Pillsbury Company.