Shinn Asuka

Shinn Asuka is one of the two main protagonist (alongside Kira Yamato) of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. Although he is main protagonist of the first half of the series, he sided with the antagonists of the second half, as he was unaware of their true motives, which eventually caused him to become an enemy to the returning protagonists from the original Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, and thus he serves as the anti-hero of the series as well. He also serves as a major protagonist in the anime film Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom.
He is voiced by Kenichi Suzumura in the Japanese version of the anime, and by Matthew Erickson in the Ocean Dub and later by Aaron Phillips in the NYAV dub for the English version of the anime.
== Biography ==
Shinn lives with his parents and his younger sister in the neutral country of Orb, but the Earth Alliance attacks Orb on June 15. Only Shinn survives when his family is caught in a crossfire between the GAT-X131 Calamity and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom mobile suits, though it is not clear whether the Calamity or the Freedom was responsible for the explosion that kills Shinn's family. Shinn blames Orb’s rulers, the Athhas, for his family’s deaths, believing that they should have surrendered to the attacking Earth Alliance Forces rather than endangering civilians in a battle that could not be won. Since then, he had a lust for revenge and hated ORB and their "sugarcoated" ideals of achieving peace without any weapons, etc. Orb soldier Captain Todaka then takes care of Shinn and later sends him to the PLANTs, where he joins ZAFT and graduates as one of the top students in his class as a "ZAFT Red".
After graduation, Shinn is assigned to pilot ZAFT's ZGMF-X56S Impulse, and is stationed aboard the battleship Minerva under the command of Talia Gladys along with former military academy classmates Rey Za Burrel, Vino Dupre, Lunamaria Hawke, Meyrin Hawke, and Yolant Kent. Even though the bitter end of his family happened in the past, he has never forgotten it and constantly has reoccuring flashbacks of that time including the good memories he has of his sister.
==Personality==
Witnessing his parents' and sister's death right before his eyes has had a traumatic effect on Shinn's life. However, during flashbacks of his past he was shown to be a very cheerful boy, showing how much he changes through this tragedy.
He is an impulsive, stubborn, hot tempered and arrogant boy even to his superior officers. Shinn has also shown to act on his own feelings, this sometimes put him in odds with his superior officers. His family's death has also left him with anger against his homeland of Orb and the rulers of Orb, the Atthas though he still seems to have some faith in Orb. The tragedy has also left Shinn with deep hatred for war and the ones who cause war giving him a determination to end conflict to prevent tragedies like his from happening again.
Although his and Kira Yamato's views on death and destruction overlap in ways, Shinn sought to punish those responsible for the destruction, in contrast to Kira, who believed in reparation from destruction caused by conflict.
Despite all anger and sorrow, Shinn has shown to be a very kind and gentle person mainly to his two love interests in the series Lunamaria Hawke and Stella Loussier both of whom he is very protective of. He still deeply saddened by the world's cruel actions and all the people that have died in his life; despite his conflicted emotions, he fights for wanting to change the world for the better; however, he's blinded by anger and he fails to see the consequence.
== Quotes ==
==Relationships==
===Athrun Zala===
Athrun is perhaps Shinn’s second most complicated relationship besides that of the Orb Union. Originally, Shinn came to respect Athrun as a mobile suit pilot after witnessing his skills in combat but wondered why a man with his skills would work as a simple bodyguard for the Orb Union. After Athrun joined ZAFT as a member of FAITH and officially become Shinn’s commander, Shinn found it difficult to follow orders from the man who until recently was a bodyguard for the Orb Union. Athrun himself also respects Shinn’s talents as pilot and sees great potential in him however he often worries and criticizes Shinn for his anger and succumbing to his own personal feelings too often. Thus he often acts as Shinn’s unofficial yet unwanted mentor, often disciplining Shinn and advising him against some of his current actions so that Shinn will not make some of same mistakes that Athrun made himself; although Athrun is often harsh and demanding to Shinn due to his own personal issues.
Following Athrun’s defeat at the hands of the Freedom, Shinn began to lose respect for him because he knew that Athrun was beginning to have doubts about the war and with him. Their relationship dissolved even further following Shinn releasing Stella Loussier to Earth Alliance and Shinn apparently destroying the Freedom and Kira Yamato, Athrun’s closest friend. After being branded a traitor by Chairman Durandal and Rey Za Burrel, Athrun fled ZAFT with Meyrin Hawke; Shinn was then ordered to kill them and although Athrun survived this encounter he continued to try and persuade Shinn of the Chairman and Rey’s manipulations; however Shinn’s trust and influence in both of them proved to be greater than his in Athrun’s. Now currently believing that Athrun is a traitor, Shinn currently views him as an enemy and during the second war’s final battle Athrun realized that Shinn could not be persuaded due to his own anger and his faith in the Chairman and Rey and eventually defeated him. Shinn was eventually rescued by Athrun after his defeat, knowing that Shinn’s entire actions are not entirely his fault and Shinn realizing the manipulations he was under, they preceded to make peace with each other. Athrun eventually accompanied Shinn to the Orb memorial where he introduced to Kira Yamato, with Shinn officially joining them as an ally and a friend.
===Lunamaria Hawke===
Prior to his romance with her, Shinn and Lunamaria had a personal and professional friendship with each other extending back to their time in the ZAFT training academy with Shinn affectionately calling her by her nickname “Luna” something only her sister Meyrin seems to do. Despite their friendship, Shinn and Lunamaria are occasionally annoyed by each other’s respective attitudes. Perhaps the most defining moment in their friendship, is when Shinn was ordered to kill Athrun and Luna’s sister Meyrin after they branded as traitors. After returning to the Minerva, Shinn immediately confesses to the one who executed them rather than hide it from Lunamaria. Confused and upset after her sister’s death, Lunamaria immediately broke down into tears with Shinn immediately comforting her in an act of guilt and compassion. Since then, rather than blame Shinn for following his orders Lunamaria instead chooses to blame Logos and reluctantly Athrun for Meyrin’s apparent death.
Since this incident Lunamaria and Shinn continued to be a source of comfort to one another and in process inadvertently began a romantic relationship. Although their relationship has been rather difficult to manage due to Rey’s criticism and Meyrin’s apparent death and return, Shinn and Lunamaria continue to comfort and support each other both on and off the battlefield. At the end of the second war, Lunamaria accompanies Shinn to his homeland of Orb to pay tribute to his family and eventually leave together showing that despite all the conflict and pain that was unintentionally caused by Shinn, they are still together and now seem happy. Lunamaria though notes at Meyrin at times how frustrated she is because Shinn doesn't explicitly say he loves her and how platonic their relationship can be.
===Stella Loussier===
Shinn first encountered Stella near the ocean while he station near their however at the time he is unaware that he encountered Stella during the Armory Once incident and several times on the battlefield while she piloted the mobile suit, Gaia. After saving her from being drowned, Shinn accidently spoke Stella’s trigger word and causing her to become frightened and aggressive. Believing that she was a traumatized war victim; he decided to comfort her by saying that he would protect her. Due to the Extended’s memory programming, Stella memories of Shinn are always erased but miraculously every time she meets him she begins to remember. During her captivity on the Minerva, she and Shinn grow closer during his constant visits and it grew to the point that he would break several military laws to bring her back to Neo Roanoke to assure that she wouldn’t die. During the Battle of Berlin, they encounter each other for the final time and Shinn finds Stella as she lays dying, remembering Shinn once again she declared her love for him as she died afterwards. After Stella’s death, Shinn in grief and anguish decided to avenge her death against the Freedom despite all the destruction the Stella caused in Berlin. After being defeated by Athrun during the final battle of the war, Shinn had a vision or hallucination of Stella where she told him that she was content with her life and that she will meet him again. These words bring a great deal of comfort to Shinn allowing him to finally move on from her tragic death.
===Kira Yamato===
While Shinn and Kira unintentionally met each other at the Orb memorial they were unaware of each other’s identities. Although they shared similar feelings about death and destruction, their ideals seem to be vastly opposite as Kira wishes to rebuild from the destruction, Shinn seems to want to destroy those who cause the destruction. While typically knowing each other as enemies in their mobile suits, Shinn personally disliked Kira due to his methods of intervention and began to truly hate Kira for killing Stella Loussier. By the end of the second war, Kira and Shinn meet again at the Orb memorial where Shinn was stunned and felt guilty for all the action he took against Kira. Nonetheless, Kira showed no ill feelings toward Shinn and offered him to fight with him and Athrun as an ally and a friend; an offering that Shinn tearfully and humbly accepted.
In multiple scenarios where they interact after being formally introduced to one another, Shinn treats Kira with more respect than Athrun, often including the "-san" honorific.
===Orb Union===
Perhaps the most conflicted relationship that Shinn has is with his homeland of Orb. Before his family’s demise, Shinn seem to deeply enjoy living in Orb and enjoyed the peace he and his family had despite the first war that was happening at the time. After his family’s death, although Shinn probably did blame the Earth Alliance for their attack on Orb, he mostly blamed Orb and by extension the Athhas for failing to protect his family and other innocent civilians believing that Orb had failed to live up to the country’s ideals. Since then, Shinn left Orb to go to the PLANTs and intentionally thought he would never go back to Orb again. Two years after leaving Orb, Shinn inadvertently returned to it with the Minerva following the Junius Seven incident. During this time he expressed a desire to go ashore and visit the memorial built for the lives lost during the first war, in which he was brought to tears.
When Orb joined the Earth Alliance to avoid war with them in the future, Shinn was disgusted by this action as Orb was nearly destroyed by them in the previous war. Although he proclaimed he would treat Orb as an enemy and destroy it if it became necessary, at the time there seemed to be no resolve in his words. However as the second war continued and Orb participated in many attacks against the Minerva, joining Logos, and even offering shelter to a Lord Djibril, a mass murderer, caused Shinn to lose what little faith he had in his former country and now saw Orb as an enemy to the world. After the end of the second war, Shinn returned to the Orb memorial once again to pay tribute to his family and admits that despite all his hatred for Orb he could never truly forget about it. Shinn returned to Orb again with Lunamaria to celebrate the end of the war and to further help put his hatred for the country behind him.
===Gilbert Durandal===
Shinn has a great deal of respect for Chairman Durandal due to his ideals peace and bringing those responsible for starting the current war to justice. However like his friend Rey, Durandal is manipulating Shinn and only sees Shinn as a soldier whose incredible talents and abilities as mobile suit pilot can be used for his own personal agenda. Durandal’s interest in Shinn prior to the conflict, Durandal as a genetics expert was aware that Shinn possessed the SEED factor and commissioned the Impulse to him in hopes that he could defeat Kira Yamato. His manipulations continue later on as he grants Shinn ZAFT’s latest mobile suit the Destiny and make him a member of the FAITH Special Forces. After making the Destiny Plan clear to the entire world, Shinn begins to have doubts about the plan but is convinced by Rey to trust the Chairman’s plan. After the Second War ended with Rey and Chairman Durandal’s death, Shinn seems to have become aware of their manipulations but it is currently unknown how Shinn view’s the Chairman at this point.
==Trivia==
*He is the Cosmic Era equivalent of Kamille Bidan.
**Furthermore, the two also have a good friendship in Super Robot Wars Z.
*Shinn has only been seen piloting Gundams rather then any other Mobile Suits.
*Shinn along with Kou Uraki are the only two protagonists to be defeated in the end in their Gundam storylines. With Kou being unable to prevent Operation Stardust and Shinn being soundly defeated at Messiah.
*Shinn seems to have forgotten or does not even know that Freedom was involved in the death of his family members two years before he joined ZAFT. Instead of indicating anger or surprise, Shinn looks puzzled in his first meeting with Freedom as a ZAFT pilot as if he's just seen it for the first time, when the Freedom intervened in the war between ZAFT and Orb Forces.
*In Super Robot Wars Z, Shinn was able to arouse his SEED factor in his battle against YMAF-X6BD Zamza-Zah due to Amuro Ray's advices.
*Shinn is the only Gundam series' main character in the motion picture who sided with the antagonist.
*Shinn's name may be a reference to Kenichi Suzumura's role in Macross Zero, were the main character was named Shin Kudou and was an orphaned refugee.
*In the first Gundam SEED Destiny game, Gundam SEED Destiny: Battle Assault (GBA), Shinn has no Seed Factor animation in his awaken mode. This is due to the game being released before episode 12 of Gundam SEED Destiny aired, the episode where Shinn aroused his Seed Factor for the first time. The only characters with Seed Factor in the game are Kira Yamato, Athrun Zala, and Cagalli Yula Athha.
*On August 8, 2011, Shinn's voice actor, Kenichi Suzumura, got married to Maaya Sakamoto, none other than Lunamaria Hawke's voice actress.
*Shinn, along with his family, makes a cameo appearance in episode 36 Remastered Version of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. He was seen again briefly in episode 39, along with his Minerva colleagues.
*The names of the anti-ship swords of Shinn's two mobile suits may reflect Shinn's status in the series. The Sword Impulse's weapon, deemed "Excalibur" (King Arthur's sword), reflected him as a hero. The Destiny's weapon, deemed "Arondight" (Sir Lancelot's sword), showed him falling into an anti-hero classification. Evidenced by the fact that Lancelot in Arthurian lore was once a hero that became an enemy.
==Gallery==
Shinn_CE_71.png|CE 71
Shinn_Asuka_CE_73.png|CE 73
Shinn_hugs_Lunamaria.png
Lunamaria_&_Shinn_shocked.png|Shinn and Lunamaria shocked at Januarius's destruction
Shinn leaving Orb.png|Shinn leaving Orb
ZAFT_Pilots_(Standby).png|Standby with Lunamaria
==See also==
*Shinn Asuka on Villains Wiki
*Shinn Asuka on Gundam Wiki
==External links==
*Shinn Asuka on Wikipedia
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