#gundam analysis

Char Aznable is one of the most feared aces in the One Year War, most well known for single handily destroying five Federation ships at the Battle of Loum in his red painted Zaku II which was reputed to go three times faster than a normal Zaku. With his helmet and mask Char proved to be one of the most enigmatic members of the Zeon military with few ever understanding his goals. However before he was the feared Red Comet he was once Casval Rem Deikun, son of the late Zeon Zum Deikun. In his childhood Casval and his sister Artesia lost their father to mysterious circumstances but one of his staunchest supporters, Jimba Ral, constantly hammered in his belief that the Zabi family had a hand in the late Zeon’s death.

With help from Jimba’s son Ramba Ral and the latter’s lover Hamon the two siblings and Jimba escaped from the Zabi family and fled to Earth. Taken in by Don Teabolo Mass Casval and Artesia spent time in relative peace though Jimba would constantly talk with Casval about the concept of Newtypes and about how the Zabi family had poisoned Zeon to kill him and seize control of the Republic of Zeon, reforming it into the Principality of Zeon. During this time Artesia had taken on the new identity of Sayla Mass and Casval taking the identity of Edouard Mass. Sadly the peace would not last and an attempt was made on the lives of Casval, Artesia, Jimba, and the Don along with everyone in his mansion. While the siblings and Don survived the attempt with Casval even managing to succeed in killing their assassin Jimba had been killed and the three would end up going to the Texas Colony of Side 5.

It was here where they would live with the Aznable family and meet their son, Char Aznable who looked almost completely identical to Casval except that Char had brown eyes and Casval had blue. Eventually Char was so swept up in Gihren Zabi’s propaganda that he decided to enlist in the Zeon military with Casval going under the pretense of looking after his friend. Learning of Casval going back towards Side 3 Kycilia Zabi behind her brother’s back plans to have Casval killed. Before they can head off on their flight however a pistol and fake explosives (Most likely planted there by Casval) are found in Char’s bag and, after some convincing by Casval, they swap clothes with the real Char taking the name Edouard Mass and Casval becoming Char Aznable with “Edouard” going to his flight and “Char” being detained overnight. However the ship would explode killing everyone on board and, now wearing sunglasses to hide his real eye color Casval was reborn as Char Aznable and enlisted in the Zeon military academy.

During this time he would meet and befriend Garma Zabi, youngest of the Zabi siblings. This in itself was part of Char’s scheme to get revenge on the Zabi family for the death of his father and the attempts on his and his sister’s lives. Beginning to make a name for himself with his drive, charisma, and sheer audacity Char would eventually receive the mask during his time in training that would become part of his iconic look into the One Year War. He would go on be among the first mobile suit pilots, piloting first a Zaku I and then an early production of the Zaku II with a red color design and, just before joining in the Battle of Loum showed his usual daring by challenging the three ace pilots the Black Tri-Stars to try and outperform him in the battle. Through the battle Char moved with three times the speed of the other Zakus and Gaia of the Black Tri-Stars was the one to comment that he was like a red comet during the battle, an epitaph that stuck with Char for the rest of his life and just the mere mention would have even seasoned Federation officials about ready to go get a new change of pants.

As the One Year War began and pressed on Char would continue to make a name for himself while silently planning to eliminate the Zabi family. During one particular moment Char would go after Side 7 on reports of a Federation project, this would lead to a fateful encounter with the RX-78-2 Gundam and its young pilot, Amuro Ray. From then on the two would become fast rivals. Char would pilot several mobile suits during the war, along with the Zaku models he would pilot a red Z’Gok (An amphibious mobile suit with powerful claws and beam weapons) the Gelgoog (A powerful mobile suit with a double bladed beam sword and prototype beam rifle) and finally the Zeong (a fast, powerful suit with detachable hands and head connected with wires that contain mega particle guns with enough power to severely damage even the Gundam). And after meeting the young girl and Newtype Lalah Sune he would begin to awaken to his own Newtype power though he never would be a particularly powerful Newtype. Known for his ruthless cunning and piloting skills Char would through the course of the series indeed see the Zabi family fall and after the fall of Zeon at the end of the One Year War Char would disappear only for a mysterious shades wearing blond named Quattro Bajeena to appear eight years later during the events of Zeta Gundam.

Char would be a major influence on future Gundam main antagonists even gaining the trope of Char Clone with characters who would either be blond with blue eyes, enigmatic, develop a fierce rivalry with the main character, pilot red mobile suits, or any combination of the above appearing in later shows in the franchise. And as a villain and character there is little doubt that Char earned his place as one of the most popular and iconic characters in the franchise.

“Now let’s see how good that new Federation mobile suit really is.”

Amuro Ray is son of Tem and Kamaria Ray, little did either of his parents anticipate that one day Amuro would become the Federation’s top ace and pilot of the fearsome RX-78-2 Gundam. From a young age Amuro showed little interest in social interaction, preferring to look over various electronics. This behavior only grew into his teens as he would often forget to eat and would sit around wearing nothing but his underwear however his technical skill cannot be denied and while he had few friends he did show he cared about them though he was also quite paranoid though more often than not his paranoia is well founded.

In the beginning Amuro piloted the Gundam to fight off the Zaku mobile suits attacking Side 7. Following this for several major battles he was hesitant and sometimes even attempted to outright refuse to pilot the Gundam forcing Captain Bright to use gentle persuasion (In the form of the classic move, the bitch slap) to convince him to fight. Indeed in the beginning he had trouble with the aces of Zeon due to being an untrained, green kid and often had to go back to the Gundam’s powerful beam weapons and incredible durability to stay in the fight (In one fight Zeon veteran and badass Ramba Ral even cited that Amuro only won because of his mobile suit, not through any combat skill of his own.) and one of the key developments is seeing Amuro grow not just as a person but as a soldier.

Despite this Amuro is quite an unorthodox fighter in mobile suit combat. He has used the Gundam’s shield as a distraction multiple times, both by tossing it or leaving it behind after an explosion had enveloped the Gundam in order to take his enemy by surprise. He also isn’t afraid to simply utilize the Gundam’s immense strength to pummel enemy mobile suits into submission. At another point in time against the Zeon aces the Black Tri-Stars Amuro had used one of their mobile suits as a springboard to jump and dodge a shot from a second.

Another key facet of Amuro’s development is his growth into what is known as a Newtype, a next step in human evolution. As a Newtype Amuro can detect hostile intent directed towards him which gives him the ability to uncannily react to attacks at times before the opponent has even begun to perform the action. Newtypes also often times will connect with other Newtypes as what happened between Amuro and another Newtype, Lalah Sune. As we’ll see in later parts of the franchise Amuro’s Newtype power would lead to impressive feats.

By the end of the One Year War both Amuro and the Gundam were feared by Zeon forces. Amuro would earn the epitaph of White Shooting Star to contrast with Zeon’s Red Comet, Char and in their final battle of the series he managed to defeat his rival in a sword duel after they had damaged each other’s mobile suits to the point where they could no longer function. Amuro had shot down a total of at least 130 enemies onscreen and possibly many more off screen as well. Amuro would indeed set a standard for future main protagonists of the franchise and cemented himself as a truly powerful pilot and example of the potential in humanity.

All in all I enjoy Amuro as a character and on a scale from F to A I would rank him as an A.