Char Aznable, born Casval Rem Deikun is a fictional character from the Gundam
franchise. He is originally one of the main antagonists in Mobile Suit Gundam
working for the Principality of Zeon with the honorary title of "The Red
Comet" during Gundam's One Year War. Despite having opposed Earth Federation
soldier Amuro Ray several times, in the sequel Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam he
becomes Quattro Bajeena, an Anti-Earth Union Group pilot fighting alongside the
series' main characters against the Titans. In his final appearance in
Char's Counterattack, he assumes leadership of the Neo Zeon movement,
named after his father Zeon Zum Deikun, and becomes the titular antagonist of
the film. Char became one of Gundam's most iconic
characters, often overshadowing Amuro's popularity. He also appeared as the most
popular male anime character in Animage '​s Anime Grand Prix poll as
well as in several other polls highlighting his popularity in the
Gundam franchise. His role in the original has often been praised
alongside his rivalry with Amuro. Appearances
= Mobile Suit Gundam= Born Casval Rem Deikun, he is the elder
brother of Sayla Mass, and the son of late Zeon Zum Deikun, the champion of
sovereignty for the space colonies of Side 3, founder of the Republic of Zeon.
During the One Year War, Char shows great ability not only as a mobile suit
pilot, but also as a tactician and a commanding officer.
It is eventually revealed that despite his high position and esteem, Char is
secreting plotting revenge against the Zabi family for their role in the death
of his father; who was a dignitary who spoke out for peace between spacenoids
and earthlings and was subsequently assassinated. Char displays his first
act of betrayal against the Zabi family by luring Garma's fleet into a flight
path toward the Federation's White Base '​s line of sight. Prior to Garma's
death at the hands of the White Base, Char says to him, "Garma, blame this on
the misfortune of your birth." Later in the war, Char begins a bitter rivalry
with Federation pilot Amuro Ray, and he develops a relationship with Lalah Sune,
a Newtype girl he saved from a brothel. Char also develops into a Newtype
himself, and forms psychic bonds with both Amuro and Lalah. Char's abilities
and natural charisma allow him to inspire and manipulate. Lalah is killed
in battle, taking a blow meant for Char; this results in a bitter hatred between
Char and Amuro. During the war, Char draws on Zeon's
philosophy to form his identity. The Zeon Principality is largely an
authoritarian state that values independence from the Earth and later
the destruction of Earth's inhabitants. With his devotion to free all of those
who are "trapped by gravity's pull" he is able to face the most deadly outcomes
with dignity and leadership. In the Battle of A Baoa Qu, Char and
Amuro's bitter rivalry reaches the level that they engage in a gunfight and then
a sword fight after both lose their mobile suits. In the duel, Char realizes
he has been distracted by his rivalry with Amuro, and refocuses on his true
enemy - the Zabi family. An ensuing explosion knocks them apart, and Char
rushes to save his sister. After being told by a dying Zeon soldier that
Kycilia Zabi, the last surviving Zabi, is about to leave, he finds Kycilia's
departing ship and kills her. He then disappears amidst the explosion and is
logically presumed dead. = Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam=
Still presumed dead, Char reappears 8 years later in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
Having left Axis Zeon, Char returns to the Earth Sphere in September 0084 and
infiltrates the Earth Federation Forces ranking with the alias "Quattro
Bajeena". Almost immediately, he finds himself involved in conflicts against
the Earth Federation's newly formed Titan Task Force, fighting and shooting
down two enemy warships within hours of acquiring his new identity. After
meeting the Federation politician Commodore Blex Forer, Char joins a group
of former Earth Federation Forces soldiers and eventually becomes a
leading member of the Anti-Earth Union Group.
This time, rather than serving as the rival of the new protagonist, Kamille
Bidan, Char serves as Kamille's mentor in the war against the Earth
Federation's oppressive Titans organization. In Zeta Gundam, Char
becomes an ally of his former adversaries in Mobile Suit Gundam: Amuro
Ray, Hayato Kobayashi and Bright Noa. He serves under Bright Noa as leader of
AEUG mobile suit forces. During this period, Char loses faith in
himself as a decision maker. It seems to be his greatest fear, as he normally
displays none in regard to war. When assuming the identity of Quattro he
willingly places himself under the command of his former enemies. He has
discovered that there can be compromise in the future of Earth's population and
the colonies. In the course of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam even Bright Noa, who
lost crew to Char's attacks on the White Base, urges him to drop the Quattro
facade and become a leader to the Spacenoids, or those raised in space
colonies. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam portrays Char's image as a hero who is
always willing to stand up and fight for the freedom of spacenoids. His political
speech in front of Federation Assembly in Dakar, which is broadcast throughout
Earth and Space, is one of the most important events in the U.C. Gundam
timeline. It seals Char's total commitment toward space colonization and
migration of humanity to space. Despite AEUG's victory in the Gryps
Conflict against the Titans, Char is defeated in the final battle by Haman
Karn, leader of the Axis Zeon faction and assumed dead. However, as the final
credits roll, Char's damaged mobile suit floats by with its cockpit hatch open.
= Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack=
Char returns in the movie Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, set five
years later, as the leader of a new Neo Zeon faction. He intends to create a
nuclear winter by dropping the massive asteroid base Axis on the Earth, hence
forcing a complete migration into space, which he believes will make all of
humanity evolve into Newtypes. Only one thing stands in his way: the
Federation's Londo Bell task force, and their top ace pilot, his old archrival
Amuro Ray. In the second Neo Zeon movement, both
Char and Amuro pilot mobile suits equipped with an advanced psycommu
system known as psycoframe. Char authorized Anaheim Electronics to pass
the psycoframe technology to the development team responsible for Amuro's
Nu Gundam, effectively planning a fair showdown between them in advance. After
Char's mobile suit is destroyed by Amuro in the duel, Amuro captures Char's
escape pod, and against Char's taunting, attempts to push the asteroid Axis away
from Earth. The intense willpower of Amuro and all the pilots assisting him
causes Nu Gundam's psycoframes to resonate and overload, resulting in a
spectacular aurora with Axis pushed out of Earth's orbit. Both Amuro and Char
disappear without a trace in the incident. There is no concrete evidence
about them being deceased in the movie although Nanai Miguel did claim that
Char's life force was fading away, as Amuro intercepted Axis and cries for
Char when Axis is finally pushed back. The fates of either character were never
revealed in the film, though the novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam:
Char's Counterattack confirms both as KIA. The follow-up Gundam Unicorn also
supports this idea. However, in the official Universal Century timeline for
the animated series, it lists Amuro Ray and Char Aznable as MIA.
= Gundam The Origin= According to the manga Mobile Suit
Gundam The Origin, young Casval and his sister Artesia escape to Earth shortly
after their father's death with the help of family friend Jimba Ral. They spend
several years living a luxurious life under the guardianship of the
aristocratic Don Teabolo Mass, who names them Edward and Sayla, and treats them
like his own children. During this time, Jimba Ral constantly reminds Casval of
the Zabi Family's betrayal of his father. After narrowly escaping an
attempt on their lives, they flee to the Texas Colony.
They live for a time in a house set up by Texas Colony's chief manager Roger
Aznable, still under Teabolo Mass's care. They meet Roger's son Char and
discover that he and Casval are nearly identical, except Casval's eyes are
brown while Char's are blue. Eventually Char is taken in by Gihren Zabi's
propaganda, and against his father's wishes sets off for officer training
school. Casval decides to accompany him under the guise of looking out for his
friend. Kycilia Zabi finds out that Casval is headed back to Side 3, and
without consulting Gihren, orders Casval's death. Both near-identical boys
are booked to leave on the same flight, but an antique pistol and fake
explosives are found in Char's bag. Not wanting to miss the entrance exam, Char
accepts Casval's suggestion to swap clothes in the restroom. Char boards the
ship under the name Edward Mass, while Casval, under the name Char Aznable is
detained overnight. Shortly after departure, the ship explodes and kills
everyone aboard. Edward Mass is listed among the dead and Casval takes on the
name Char, enters the Zeon Military Academy and begins wearing sunglasses to
hide his eye color. After entering the Academy, Char excels
in his training and befriends Garma Zabi. As relations between the Zeon
Republic and the Federation deteriorate, the Federation increases their troop
strength in Side 3. There is widespread fear that this troop increase is in fact
an invasion and occupation force. On the eve of troop increase, Casval incites
Garma to lead other students in the Academy to storm the Federation base and
subdue the stationed troops. For this action Casval is stripped of his rank
and expelled from the Academy. He travels to Earth and works at the
construction site of Federation headquarters in Jaburo. After hostility
breaks out between Zeon and the Federation, he returns to Side 3 and
joins the Zeon mobile suit assault forces under the command of Admiral
Dozle Zabi. He displays superior fighting ability during the Battle of
Loum, single-handedly destroying five Federation Magellan-class battleships,
which earned him the nickname "Red Comet". He was promoted an exceptional
two ranks to Lieutenant Commander. = Mobile Suit Gundam - Char's Deleted
Affair - A Portrait of a Young Comet= At the end of the One Year War, Char
goes to Axis and his experience there is partly depicted in the manga Char's
Deleted Affair, where he heroically protects Axis in two major battles
against the Earth Federation. He stays there until the end of U.C. 0082, when
he gets back to Side 3 for a special mission to protect Haman Karn's
inspection journey of Side 3. When they arrive at Zum City in U.C. 0083, he gets
an invitation by George Miguel to join a paramilitary spacenoid organization
within the Earth Federation Force. However, upon hearing of Mahajara Karn's
fatal illness in late May 0083, Char and Haman both decide to return to Axis.
Once they do, they're intercepted by the pro-war Axis faction that wishes to
restart the conflict with the Earth Federation, led by one Colonel Enzo. A
civil war breaks out, with Char and Haman eventually overcoming Enzo's
forces. Unfortunately, Mahajara Karn - Haman's father and the true political
leader of Axis' - dies just shortly before the battle ends, and Haman now
finds herself in charge of both Axis and Mineva. Tension between Char and Haman
over the future of Axis and Zeon lead Char to finally leave the asteroid
permanently with over 600 other soldiers on October 29, 0083.
Fictional characteristics and attributes Char favors speed-orientated offensive
battle tactics and hates to get hit, even when piloting an I-Field generator
equipped unit and beam attacks have minimal to no effect.
He typically pilots red mobile suits, such as his red MS-06S Zaku II, Z'Gok,
Gelgoog, RMS-009 Rick Dias and Sazabi. Exceptions to this is the MSN-02 Zeong,
which was painted in a bluish-grey colour during the Battle of A Baoa Qu,
and had no time to even install the legs, much less be repainted and the
MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki, which is painted in bright gold yellow.
The name Char Aznable was inspired by Armenian-French singer and songwriter
Charles Aznavour and character named Charkin in an earlier robot anime
Reideen Reception
Char Aznable is not only a character, but has become a brand name. Char, along
with five other notable mecha and pilots from the various Gundam series, were
recognized in the second set of "Anime Heroes and Heroines" stamps, released in
Japan in 2005. Char Aznable has routinely placed in the top 10 lists of
popular characters in both Gundam-specific and general-oriented fan
magazines in Japan, such as Gundam Ace and Animage, typically ranking higher
than the main character and his rival, Amuro Ray. In Gundam Ace, Char is
consistently in the top 3 of the list, and held the number 1 spot for long
periods of time, despite the fact that Gundam Ace tallies votes for Char's
alter-ego Quattro Bajina separately. In fact, Quattro also consistently ranks in
the top 10. In both Gunpla and Figure magazines it is almost guaranteed to see
Char's custom red mobile suit. He has also been voted as the second most
popular male character from the 1980s by Newtype readers. During January from
2007, Oricon made a poll in which they asked Japanese fans from manga and anime
which characters from any series they would most like to see in spinoff
series. He won the men's poll while ranked second in the overall.
On the Japanese bulletin board 2channel, the Gundam forums are named Char custom,
and the anonymous placeholder for the name is changed to "3 times more than
the usual anonymous", a reference to the "3 times faster than the usual Zaku"
line from the original series. Char Custom refers to Char's tendency to
highly customized standard Mobile Suits to his exact specifications and
generally making the said units far more potent than normal. This usually
involves the character coloring his suits red, which led some people to go
as far as to label anything red "Char-custom", and to make vague
references to the "3 times more potent" line in the original Gundam series. This
pinkish-red colour is actually not the idea of the director, but only because
the excess pinkish red colour ink the animation company has at the time. It
is, however, stated in the game Gireh's Greed that the colour is actually only
the colour of an unpainted Zaku due to the grudge from him being the top
graduate from military school. Bandai has capitalized on the
character's popularity by licensing out the name to various products. There has
been a Char-custom laptop, Char-custom Nintendo Gamecube, and a Char-custom
motorbike helmet. All these products have a red satin finish, and have the
goldleaf Zeon insignia or the emblem of Char's Neo Zeon emblazoned on them. A
Char-custom Game Boy Advance SP was also created in Japan. On July 25, 2006, GE
Consumer Finance released a Char Custom credit card, which receives three times
as many bonus points per 1000 yen spent compared to their other Gundam-related
credit cards [1]. Japanese cell phone company Soft Bank released a special
Char Custom cell phone in late 2007, with a very large red Zaku head which
serves as the charger base. Char related apparel and accessories span a wide
range, from the ubiquitous Quattro sunglasses to Char lighters, neckties,
wristbands, caps, wallets and a wide range of T-shirts. The creator of Char
Aznable, Yoshiyuki Tomino, does not like the idea of making money this way. He
feels that by sticking the term "Char's Custom" to the products culturally
suggests the quality of the product is superior to other brands. However, most
of them are only coloured red and are basically the same as the products on
which they are based; ironically, some of these "Char Custom" products are even
of lower quality than the baseline products. Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino
believes that "having satisfication in such products just because they are
popular and can earn money is a sin, since it cannot teach a correct social
sense to the newer generation". In a planned spaceflight for 2006, Soyuz
TMA-9, a Japanese internet investor named Daisuke Enomoto had asked to dress
up as Char Aznable. However, medical restrictions prevented him from
participating in the flight. Toyota also formed a new branch called Zeonic Toyota
planning to issue a series of special cars, the first one being Char Aznable
special Auris. Although his duel with Amuro in the film
was considered the highlight of the film, Allen Divers from Anime News
Network criticized how unfulfilled was their rivalry. THEM Anime Reviews' Carlo
Ross saw Char in the film as the "true star" believing him to overshadow Amuro.
On the other hand, J. Doyle Wallis criticized their rivalry in the film
considering it a "rehash" of the events of the television series.
See also The Red Baron in popular culture
References