From: y0l8009@tamsun.tamu.edu (Yoshih Lee)
Subject: Re: Gundam: Amuro here... (repost)
Organization: Texas A&M University, College Station
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 23:00:48 GMT

In article <1992Oct6.145508.19935@athena.mit.edu> cam@athena.mit.edu (Daniel Cameron Daly) writes:
>Yes, there are people out there who identify with Amuro before Char.
>Char advocated the deaths of billions of people through asteroid dropping, 
>people who had committed no crime other than being in the wrong place at the
>wrong time.  This sort of action cannot be justified by the honorable
>intentions supposedly maintained by the Jions.  Throughout the course of human
>history, atrocities have been committed against groups of people by 
>military groups which believed that they had a good reason.

Perhaps Char blamed all earth-born the enslavers of man's future, those
spacenoids living in colonies above Earth.  It isn't terribly difficult,
during times of unease, especially by those in highly visible/influential
positions, to put the blame for a particular condition on someone else.
Jewish people became Hitler's scapegoat for an entire nation who felt as
if they were treated as creatures looked down upon the most by the nations
of the world.

>	As for Char, I am not entirely sure that his motives were as 
>honorable as might appear.  In the original series, his entire basis for
>action was revenge against the Zabi family.  When he had finished killing
>them, he departed for a time, until the Titans forced his return into
>the central conflict to protect the people he called his own, the spacenoids.
>Only in Zeta Gundam were his motives noble, IMHO.

Char's character in "Zeta Gundam" improved somewhat, since he was raised to
avenge his father's death.  Most people would have become hermits of a sort
if their life's purpose was to become fulfilled, so for Char to return into
the heart of another conflict, with *good* motives in mind, was exemplary
in itself.  "I wanna have a pure time, everyone's a noble mind."

But the weight of his bloodline, his father's legacy, was possibly too much
even for such a self-controlled man as Char, and in result contributed to
his superego breaking into little bitty pieces.  Lala seemed to have been
the only stable, peaceful movement in his life -- then Amuro accidentally
killed her.

>	Gundam 0083 presents a possiblity for change in this plan, as the
>primary pilot, Kou, flirts with the possibility of becoming a killer only -
>if he allows himself to become totally obsessed with defeating Gato, then he is
>even worse than Gato is.  I hope that he can redeem himself in the final
>chapter.

As my sig hints, Shin Kazama of "Area 88" is another such character.  Forced
to fight in a mercenary air force, he must use his talents as a pilot to
shoot down enemies of his enslaver-nation.  To run away would only invite a 
quick death.  How to leave alive?  Either serve your term of 3 years, or 
take out enough enemy craft to equal $1.5 million.  As Shin races to destroy
as many enemy craft as possible, the question is raised concerning whether
he is able to wash the blood from his soul, or whether he has crossed the
line and become a killer.


Eugene Lee              "...we abandoned God and shook hands with the Devil...
                            We are mercenaries of Hell!"  . . . Shin Kazama
y0l8009@tamsun.tamu.edu