O-Tama is a girl from the region of Kuri in Wano Country. She is a kasa weaver and a kunoichi in training. Tama is a fairly short and thin (given her wanting nutrition) girl whose face, befitting her age, has big, soft features, including black (violet in the anime) eyes. She has dark-violet hair arranged in a Shimada style, with a yellow comb inserted where the back bun is sectioned off, plus a pale-pink hana kanzashi on each side with a hanging bura (a string of petals resembling upside-down hearts). She wears a light-green girl's yukata with a plain, yellow flower pattern, several differently colored and patterned patch-works, and a yellow, bow-knotted tsuke obi with long tails in the back as well as a light-pink obiage, and an orange obijime. For footwear, the girl has brown-soled zōri. She is quick to make friends, trusting and helping Luffy moments after he assured her he means her no harm. Being a kunoichi in training, she has a habit of starving herself as a means of training her body, forcing it mentally to let go of her hunger. She is also very brave, as she stood up to the Beasts Pirates when they tried stealing her belongings and even attacked one of them after being freed from captivity. However, she can also be careless, as shown when she revealed her allegiance to the Kozuki Family to the Beasts Pirates, drank out of a contaminated river and falling ill in the process, and disregarded her master's warnings not to show her powers in front of others, which caught the attention of Holdem.
Tama speaks with an Edo and a Tōhoku dialect. She tends to end her sentences in de-yansu. Yansu is an auxiliary verb used in the Kansai Dialect, most specifically in the Shiga Prefecture, meaning "to be". Tama also uses the personal pronoun ora for herself, which is associated with ruralism. Tama has great faith in the Kozuki Family, as she used their name as a threat to those who upset her. However, she has no problem being casual with the heir, Kozuki Momonosuke, calling him "Momo". As Tama's master, he cares for her very much to the point that he attacked Luffy when he thought Luffy had stolen one of the only two rice meals she has every year. He was also angry at Luffy for revealing Ace's death, which made Tama sad. Komachiyo is very loyal to Tama, as he tried to fight the Beasts Pirates to protect her from them. While initially antagonistic, Hihimaru befriended Tama after she fed it some dango and joined her as the group headed toward Tama's home. Luffy inadvertently rescued Tama when her kidnappers attacked him. Because of this, she has immense gratitude and refers to Luffy with a "big brother" honorific. She even went as far as to give him the rice she was meant to have, even though it is the most she eats all year. However, Tama became furious when Luffy reported Ace's death to her. After she was abducted by Gazelleman and brought to Holdem, Tama hoped for Luffy to save her, showing her faith in him. After Luffy freed her from Holdem, Luffy promised that he would make her life better before leaving Wano Country. She is unaware that Luffy is Ace's brother though she has noticed similarities between the two. After hearing that Kaido attacked her, Luffy regretted not taking her to her home safely himself and attacked Kaido in a fit of rage. When she heard about Luffy's capture, Tama was more concerned about him than her own injuries. She cares about Luffy so much that she went with the group heading for Udon to get him out. She was later happy to be reunited with him after his group's takeover of Udon. However, Luffy scolded her for putting herself in danger by coming to the prison. Tama has grown so attached to Luffy that she is seen mostly by his side. Also, she does not like to see Luffy get hurt, even from people he has associated with when he does something that irritates them. Tama later learned from Nami that Ace was Luffy's brother, and that Ace's death was also hard for Luffy. When Ace visited Wano, Tama formed a bond with him and had wanted to join his crew, but Ace refused based on her current age. However, he did promise that once the two meet again and she becomes a kunoichi, he would bring her on board. When Luffy informed her of Ace's death, Tama was deeply upset and refused to believe him. When Luffy struck Holdem with the Gomu Gomu no Red Hawk, Tama stated he reminded her of Ace.
Tama has some experience with cooking rice. She is also capable of weaving kasa from bamboo. Tama has also been shown to be quite shrewd, coming up with the idea of manipulating an amnesic Big Mom into invading Udon to break Luffy free of imprisonment, which later proved crucial in liberating Udon and all of its prisoners to join the Kozuki Revolution. Tama is currently undergoing training to become a kunoichi. Her ability to sneak on board an enemy ship without being detected, especially with two giant animals alongside her, shows that she has some skills in stealth. Tama has eaten an unnamed Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows her to create "dango" from her cheeks. Any animal that eats them will become tame and subservient to Tama, obeying all her orders and defending her. While the dangos usually don't work on humans, either in taming or quelling hunger, humans who have consumed a SMILE Devil Fruit are susceptible to being tamed due to being part animal; it is unknown if this also applies to normal Zoan users. The dango cannot be forcefully taken from Tama's body. Kibi Dango: By forming a circle with her thumb and index finger and pinching her cheek, Tama creates a small dango dumpling, which seems to have a pacifying effect on animals that eat it, making them tame and friendly. It was first used to tame Hihimaru. It also appears to be effective on SMILE users such as Speed. Kibi dango are a traditional Japanese confectionery made from millet grain. Tama was shown using a club against a member of the Beasts Pirates, and had enough strength to knock him out with it in the manga. In the anime, she used leaves while practicing ninjutsu with Chopper. At some point around three to four years ago, Portgas D. Ace and his crew visited Wano Country, and Tama formed a bond with him. Tama wanted to go out to sea with Ace, but he told her that she was too young at the time. He promised that he would take her with him if she became a kunoichi by the time he returned and Tama waited for him since. On her eighth birthday, Tama went to the marketplace to buy some rice. However, she was confronted by some Beasts Pirates scouts and their baboon Hihimaru. Komachiyo came to protect her from Hihimaru, but the scouts took her belongings and she mentioned the Kozuki Family to threaten them, causing them to capture her.
