The Rabbit Files (ver. @3) 1 – Amuro Ray

Here’s a little side material information to tide you guys over until the next update.  The purpose of the Rabbit Files is to introduce notable pilots in Super Robot Wars to people who have not necessarily seen the series’ in question.  In this update we’ll be looking at one of the more iconic pilots in mecha anime history: Amuro Ray.

Amuro is the protagonist of the first ever Mobile Suit Gundam.  He was born on Earth but emigrated to the Colonies early in his life.  His father was the scientist leading the project that produced the first Gundam, which Amuro eventually piloted to defend his home after it was attacked by the Principality of Zeon.  After this he was reluctantly dragged into the war between the colonies (the Principality of Zeon) and the Earth Federation and developed his now infamous rivalry with the Zeon ace Char Aznable, also known as the Red Comet.

Although Amuro started off pretty introverted and somewhat arrogant he slowly learns a lot about how war affects people besides him.  At this point in the Alpha timeline he has already been through the events of Zeta Gundam where he fought on Earth against an increasingly corrupt and oppressive Federation.  He’s pretty much a hero as far as I know, and held up as an ideal soldier and pilot by characters even from other series’.  Incidentally, Amuro could also be considered the quintessential Real Robot anime protagonist – an ordinary person who probably didn’t want to fight in the first place but who had the fight thrust upon him and was not only able to survive in the circumstances, but adapt and thrive.

In Alpha 3 Amuro pilots the Nu Gundam, a cutting edge mobile suit made specifically for him.  He originally piloted it in one of the Gundam movies, Char’s Counterattack.  I think that anyone who has even a remote interest in the Universal Century should check it out, if only for the pretty fight scenes and animation.  But I’ll save my fangasming over the designs in Char’s Counterattack for another time.  Or perhaps never.

Advertisement