Ippei Mine

**Ippei Mine** is a member of the Voltes team and the deuteragonist of *Chōdenji Machine Voltes V*. He is one of two team members that are completely human, the other being Megumi Oka. His Volt Machine is the Volt Bomber.

## Appearance

Ippei has long dark hair reaching to his nape, his uniform is blue and when he is in his casual clothes he wears a cowboy outfit.

## Personality

At the start of the series Ippei is aloof, cold hearted and argues with Kenichi most of the times. Ippei's attitude stemmed from losing his mother when he was young and was forced to fend off for himself. However, once he realized that his mother died saving him, he felt remorse and apologized to Mitsuyo's grave (who he had disrespected earlier).

He has a white stallion named Eiffel, who he considers an inseparable friend to the point that Professor Hamaguchi brings Eiffel to Big Falcon shortly after Ippei joined the Voltes team.

## History

Though Ippei is Japanese, when he was young, he moved to America with his parents. However, they were extremely poor and could not afford housing, which resulted in them having to sleep in the wilderness. Ippei mentions that his father was abttling an illness during this time as well. One night, when they were asleep, Ippei's mother heard wolves approaching them. Knowing that Ippei was a child and her husband was too weak to move, she used their guns to produce gunpowder and blew up the wolves and herself, sacrificing herself to save them. However, Ippei would misremember this as her abandoning them.

However, Professor Hamaguchi was able to find a newspaper that reported the incident factually, as his father managed to tell the press what happened before he passed away. Upon hearing this Ippei was overcome with emotion and felt ashamed for disrespecting his mother.

The first episode of *Voltes V* implies Ippei spent his youth in California, United States of America as a cowboy and developed a bond with a horse named Eiffel, until Professor Hamagichi had him kidnapped to serve as a pilot for Voltes V.

## Relationships

### Megumi Oka

In episode 3, after Mitsuyo Go died saving the Voltes team from a beast fighter, Ippei disrespected her and mocked the Go brothers for feeling sad for her death. Megumi then personally went to his room to interrogate him and understand the root of his behaviour. However, since Ippei was shirtless at the moment (due to training), he instead stated that Megumi was "welcome to stare at him". Regardless, Megumi pressed on and eventually he told her that his mother abandoned him and his father when he was a young child.

Later that night, as Kenichi, Daijirou and Hiyoshi were fixing Mitsuyo's grave (as Ippei had accidentally knocked it over during training practice) he mocked the dead woman again, earning the ire of the Go Brothers and resulting in Kenichi and him having a fistfight. However, before the fight could worsen, Megumi intervened. She told the Voltes team his (perceived) backstory and how Ippei felt upset that his mother abandoned him, causing him to run away in shame. The next day, Hamaguchi told Ippei the truth of what happened, having obtained a newspaper that reported on the incident where she supposedly abandoned him. Ippei's eyes filled with tears as he realized that he had misremembered the details and apologized to the Go brothers and Mitsuyo's grave for his actions.

However, Ippei has a streak for teasing Megumi. In episode 30, once he finds out she is terrified of crabs, he later tries to prank her by attaching one to a stick and shoving it in her face. However, Megumi was hypnotized at the time by the beast fighter Diaman and therefore wasn't scared, so she just walked past Ippei. Ippei then got pinched by the crab.

In episode 31, Ippei catches Megumi picking flowers and asks if they're for a boy. Megumi hides who they really are for, but Ippei is curious, and unbeknownst to her, he follows her on Eiffel to see who she gives them to. When Megumi places them on her father's grave and starts crying, Ippei is saddened and feels protective of her, vowing to get revenge on the Boazanians for killing General Oka. This scene implies that he has feelings for Megumi.

When Ippei and Megumi are travelling to Boazania, he asks Megumi what warp technology is, which causes everyone to laugh at him.

### Kenichi

In the earliest episodes, Kenichi and Ippei had a fraught relationship due to Ippei's rebellious attitude clashing with Kenichi's drive for honour and following the rules. In episode 3, after Mitsuyo Go died saving the Voltes team from a beast fighter, Ippei disrespected her and mocked the Go brothers for feeling sad for her death.

Later that night, as Kenichi, Daijirou and Hiyoshi were fixing Mitsuyo's grave (as Ippei had accidentally knocked it over during training practice) he mocked the dead woman again, earning the ire of the Go Brothers and resulting in Kenichi and him having a fistfight. However, before the fight could worsen, Megumi intervened. She told the Voltes team his (perceived) backstory and how Ippei felt upset that his mother abandoned him, causing him to run away in shame. The next day, Hamaguchi told Ippei the truth of what happened, having obtained a newspaper that reported on the incident where she supposedly abandoned him. Ippei's eyes filled with tears as he realized that he had misremembered the details and apologized to the Go brothers and Mitsuyo's grave for his actions.

However the two would come into conflict again when Ippei announced he was leaving the Voltes team with Eiffel, leading Kenichi to chase after him with a gun. While he was leaving, the Boazanians attacked Earth, causing a building to fall and nearly kill Eiffel by the falling debris. Ippei then decided to re-join the team to protect Eiffel. Unfortunately, Kenichi accidentally blasted a ray near Eiffel when trying to protect Ippei, causing Ippei to become furious and accuse him of trying to murder his horse. He continued to believe this until Kenichi proved that it was an accident, after which he apologized to Kenichi.

In episode 31, Ippei catches Megumi picking flowers and asks if they're for a boy. Megumi hides who they really are for, but Ippei is curious, and unbeknownst to her, he follows her on Eiffel to see who she gives them to. When Megumi places them on her father's grave and starts crying, Ippei is saddened and feels protective of her, vowing to get revenge on the Boazanians for killing General Oka. Because of this, when him and Kenichi have Jangal in their clutches, Ippei vows to have his head while Kenichi says it's immoral to harm him since he cannot fight. This causes a rift between the two, especially after Kenichi takes a hit for Jangal when Ippei tries to shoot him, but Ippei later comes to appreciate Kenichi's empathy and admits that he was wrong.

### Eiffel

Eiffel is Ippei's horse. In episode 5, Ippei states that Eiffel was like a mother to him, as he grew up as an orphan in an immigrant village in California. Ippei and Eiffel became rodeo stars in America, until Hamaguchi had Ippei taken to Big Falcon against his will and forcibly separated from Eiffel. Because of this, Ippei grew to resent Hamaguchi and the Voltes team.

When Ippei announced he was leaving, Kenichi tried to forbid him and challenged him to a fight. When Megumi reported this to Hamaguchi, he replied that he had already arranged for Eiffel to reunite with Ippei. Megumi then told Ippei, who took Eiffel and ran, with Kenichi chasing after him. During the chase, the Boazanians attacked Earth, causing a building to fall and nearly kill Eiffel by the falling debris. Ippei then decided to re-join the team to protect Eiffel. Unfortunately, Kenichi accidentally blasted a ray near Eiffel when trying to protect Ippei, causing Ippei to become furious and accuse him of trying to murder his horse. He continued to believe this until Kenichi proved that it was an accident, after which he apologized to Kenichi.

## In other media

According to Roman Robo Anime Climax Selection, Hamaguchi is Ippei's maternal grandfather.

## Trivia

* Ippei's name was changed in various dubs of *Voltes V*:
	+ In the Philippine-English dub, his name was changed to **Mark Gordon**.
	+ In the Italian dub, his name was changed to **Gepi Mine**.
* Though Ippei is Japanese-American and was raised in California, he speaks English with a Japanese accent when he says "Let's volt in!".
* Ippei can be considered a counterpart to Heinel:
	+ Both are seen as rivals to Kenichi.
	+ Both believed their parents (Ippei's mother for Ippei, La Gour for Heinel) hated/abandoned them, when in real life this wasn't the case and their parents loved them.
	+ Both know how to ride horses.