Shinn Asuka
Template:Infobox Gundam Character Shinn Asuka (シン・アスカ Shin Asuka) is the main character in the television anime series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny. His voice actor is Kenichi Suzumura in the original Japanese version and Matthew Erickson in the English dub.
Identity
Anti-hero status
Although Shinn is technically the main character of the series, he is considered by some of the internal cast and external viewers as one of the principal "bad guys" due to the fact that he opposes the established "heroes" from the original SEED, even though the series is presented from his perspective. However, it should be noted that while ZAFT are considered the villains of the Series, it is a subject of still-ongoing heated debate if the "Destiny Plan" was such a bad thing and if ORB were justified in their actions. For that reason, some people despise Shinn for his attitude, but there are still fans of Shinn nonetheless.
Past
Shinn grew up in the neutral country of Orb where he lived peacefully with his parents and his younger sister. This all ended when the Earth Alliance attacked the country. His family was then forced to flee but only Shinn survived because the rest of his family was killed in a fight between the GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam and the ZGMF-X10A Freedom. The Orb soldier Todaka then took care of him and finally sent him to PLANT where he joined ZAFT and graduated as one of the best. Thus, he was allowed to wear the red uniform. He was assigned as the pilot of ZAFT's mobile suit, the ZGMF-X56S Impulse and ZGMF-X42S Destiny later, and was stationed aboard the battleship Minerva.
Remembering his sister
He is often seen with the cell phone of his sister Mayu, constantly checking her voicemail which still has a recording of her voice. This is because he still mourns her death.
Beginning of the series
The first scene of the anime shows Shinn and his family running to reach Orb's seaport to evacuate during the EA invasion. When Mayu drops her cell phone, Shinn tries to retrieve it for her. His parents try to stop him by holding his arm, but he pulls away and retrieves the cell phone. While doing so, an explosion caused by the battle between Freedom and the EA Gundams occurs and the force knocks Shinn off his feet.
Death of his family
When he gets up, he sees the mutilated corpses of Mayu and his parents. Unable to believe that he did not die with them, Shinn breaks down, and he cries inconsolably until he is found by Colonel Todaka.
Story
Battles fought
During the Armory One Incident, Shinn fights against the three stolen Gundams and later becomes part of the team who fights against the terrorists of the Junius Seven Colony Drop on Earth (also known as "Break the World"). Down on Earth he fought many battles against the Earth Alliance. When Orb joins the battle on side of the EA, he shows no mercy against them either, and destroys nearly the entire Orb fleet.
Hatred
Since the death of his family, Shinn has a deep hatred against Orb, especially against Uzumi Nara Athha and his daughter Cagalli Yula Athha. He blames the ideals of the country for the death of his family and shows this readily when in Cagalli's presence. Also, Shinn often behaves with a critical and prideful attitude, even against his captain, and is sometimes prone to emotional outbursts. The only people he seems to respect are the other MS pilots of the Minerva, Lunamaria Hawke and Rey Za Burrel, the Chairman of PLANT, Gilbert Durandal, as well as the Extended pilot of ZAFT's ZGMF-X88S Gaia, and later the Earth Alliance's GFAS-X1 Destroy, Stellar Loussier. He has a strong sense of justice, believing that the power he is given allows him to act without hindrance toward protecting those whom he cares for, and to do what he considers right. In the naval battle near the island of Crete, Shinn destroyed the attacking Earth Alliance/Orb fleet, and in the climax of that battle, the Orb fleet's flagship the Takemikazuchi was sliced apart, and unknown to Shinn, he killed his mentor Colonel Todaka by doing so.
Rivals
He also grows a grudge against the pilot of the Freedom Kira Yamato and the battleship Archangel. At first, Shinn was very frustrated every time the Minerva fought the combined EA/Orb forces, the Archangel always showed up to break up the fight, which spread great confusion on the battlefield. Likewise, the Freedom always showed up and disabled ZAFT and Orb mobile suits alike. Shinn's great frustration over Freedom's interference turned into a deep hatred when Kira defeated the massive mobile suit GFAS-X1 Destroy in Berlin, resulting in the death of the pilot Stellar Louissier. Stellar was an enhanced Earth Alliance pilot whom Shinn grew a deep desire between sympathy, love and protection and soon became his love interest.
Despite several warnings from Shinn to stop engaging Destroy and let him deal with Stellar, Kira stabbed the Destroy's chest cannons with a beam saber when Destroy started powering up its cannons despite Shinn being in the way, causing the Destroy to implode. Having been stabbed by several metal shards, Stellar fell from her cockpit to the ground, dying in Shinn's arms shortly afterwards.
Having failed to protect Stellar, Shinn becomes hellbent on killing Kira in revenge, though Athrun Zala tells him that Kira is not an enemy. Shinn admitted to his companion Rey that Freedom was perhaps the strongest mobile suit in existance and its pilot had exceptional control and aim: it would be Shinn's personal endeavour to defeat Freedom, almost to the point of obsession.
Shinn then proceeded by practicing with computerized battle simulations between his Impulse and Freedom. When Minerva was ordered to subdue Archangel in the mission code-named "Operation Angel Down," using a strategy devised by Rey Za Burrel after analysing the Freedom's battle footage, Shinn took advantage of Kira's fighting style (only fighting to disable the enemies, by aiming at the weapons, limbs, and cameras of the enemy mobile suits) and used his Impulse's ability to replace damaged parts, and using both the Force Silhouette and Sword Silhouette weapons packs, combined with his sheer determination to avenge Stellar's death, Shinn/Impulse managed to outperform Kira/Freedom. Shinn defeated Kira by impaling the anti-ship sword in the lower abdomen of Kira's Freedom, causing it to explode.
At the end of the battle, Shinn can be seen with tears of joy for being able to avenge Stellar's death. Unknown to Shinn, Kira survived the ordeal because before passing out, he shut down Freedom's nuclear reactor before it could blow up. A section of Freedom's torso including Kira's cockpit remained intact and was rescued by Cagalli in her Strike Rouge.
His relationship with former Orb bodyguard and later ZAFT's elite FAITH pilot Athrun Zala is also rocky at best, which balances sometimes between respect and disdain. Shinn had a difficult time understanding how a member of Orb, albeit an ace pilot, could become a member of ZAFT's "elite of the elites" FAITH all of a sudden, surpassing him in rank in such a short time and giving him orders during battles. When Shinn disrespected Athrun's orders and did something that was beyond the mission, in front of Minerva's crew, Athrun slapped Shinn for displaying, what he belived, the behaviour of a hotheaded hero. Shinn openly chastized Athrun for being a weak soldier after his Saviour was damaged beyond repair by Freedom during the Battle of Crete. Shinn criticized Athrun that if Athrun truly cared for ZAFT and his team mates, he should have performed better in his battles.
When Shinn returned to Minerva after destroying the Freedom, his comrades cheered him as "Super Ace." Athrun was also there to witness all the commotion and Shinn walked over to tell Athrun that he managed to defeat Freedom and kill its pilot, redeeming both his and Athrun's humiliation suffered during their prior encounters with the Freedom. Angered by the supposed death of Kira, Athrun punched Shinn hard on the face, telling him that he 'killed' Kira but Kira never wanted to kill him, and that was the reason why he was able to win. Shinn and his companion Rey Za Burrel countered that destroying Freedom and the Archangel was a direct order from ZAFT's headquarters and there was nothing wrong by following orders and defeating a powerful enemy, referring to Freedom Gundam and its pilot who had caused them problems in the past and may have continued to do so.
Relationship with Rey Za Burrel
On board the Minerva, he seems to be best friends with Rey Za Burrel. Rey helped Shinn to smuggle Stellar out of the Minerva. Both Shinn and Rey are extremely loyal to PLANT Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal. Shinn is determined to defeat any enemy that the Chairman designates. Shinn was extremely happy when Chairman Durandal presented him with his new mobile suit, the ZGMF-X42S Destiny. By having Shinn Asuka, the only person that's able to bring out its full potential, as the pilot of this "Complete MS", Chairman Durandal believes that the Destiny has indeed become the strongest MS in history.
Rey Za Burrel told Shinn to activate his Destiny to accompany him in Legend to hunt down the ZAFT "defector" Athrun Zala who fled ZAFT's Gibraltar military base in a stolen GOUF Ignited mobile suit with Meyrin Hawke. When Rey and Shinn caught up with Athrun, Rey started to fight Athrun immediately. On the other hand, Shinn initially tried to reason with Athrun about returning back to ZAFT; however, Athrun continued to turn him down and so, at the insistence of Rey and recalling the moving words made by Chairman Durandal, Shinn used his Destiny's Arondight anti-ship sword and stabbed Athrun's GOUF Ignited causing it to crash into the ocean and explode. Again, unknown to Shinn and Rey, Colonel Kisaka (Cagalli's former bodyguard) rescued Athrun and Meyrin. Shinn was last seen to have regrets over the deaths of Athrun and Meyrin. He apologized to Lunamaria and cried with her, all the while feeling that his action was necessary to prevent any harm to ZAFT and to achieve the Chairman's goal of peace. After some comforting by Chairman Durandal, Shinn will be preparing for the assault against LOGOS Heaven's Base Headquarters in Iceland after the Chairman's ultimatum expires.
In the Minerva mobile suit hangar just prior to "Operation Ragnarok," after giving some encouragement to Lunamaria about her first sortie with the Impulse, Shinn and Luna consoled each other about Athrun and Meyrin's deaths. Both blamed LOGOS for their betrayal. Shinn kissed Lunamaria and promised to protect her in the battlefield. When LOGOS launched 5 GFAS-X1 Destroy units, the allied EA fleet was wiped out and ZAFT began suffering casualties. Shinn wanted to launch the Destiny to help the ZAFT forces and Chairman Durandal agreed. Shinn, Rey and Lunamaria then launched from the Minerva to join the battle. True to his word, Shinn blocked one of the shots headed for Lunamaria's Impulse with Destiny's beam shield. When Shinn arrived in front of the Destroy unit that was piloted by Sting Oakley, he recalled how Stellar had suffered and what he encountered in the Blue Cosmos research facility for Extended Humans, he went into SEED mode after reflecting the beams released by Destroy. Shinn in SEED mode combined with the capabilities of the Destiny, the Destroy units were no match for Shinn's awesome speed. After discovering Destroy's weakness with anti-ship swords, Shinn told Lunamaria to switch the Impulse with the Sword Silhouette and to give one of the Excalibur anti-ship swords to Rey. Shinn then proceeded to chop up the Destroy units one after the other with Destiny's Arondight anti-ship sword. Lunamaria and Rey did the same with Impulse's Excalibur anti-ship swords. Shinn finally killed Sting by stabbing Destiny's Arondight anti-ship sword directly into his Destroy cockpit. At the end of the Operation Ragnarok, LOGOS's Heaven's Base Headquarters was in ruins and the base surrendered, and both Talia (Minerva's captain) and Arthur (Minerva's XO) were extremely impressed with Shinn's battle skills, to the point where the captain seemed a litte scared of Shinn and his attitude. Chairman Durandal had his eyes comfortably closed and was smiling in bliss at Shinn's victory.
Developing Events
When ZAFT forces occupied Heaven's Base, many LOGOS members were arrested. However, when Shinn learned that Lord Djbril escaped, he was furious and vowed to hunt him down no matter what. The rumours said that Lord Djbril went into hiding in Orb.
In the middle of the night, Shinn was having nightmares about Stellar's suffering and his fights against Freedom, the killing of Athrun and Meyrin, and the battles against LOGOS. Rey comforted Shinn by telling him that he did the right thing because they were all ZAFT's enemies. PLANT's Supreme Council awarded a second Nebula Medal to Shinn for his outstanding performance in Operation Ragnarok and then Supreme Council Chairman Gilbert Durandal appointed both Shinn and Rey to the elite FAITH, giving them more powers and freeing them from the normal chain of command. Upon the confirmation that the Sarans (the rulers of Orb at the time) were indeed providing sanctuary to the LOGOS fugitive Lord Djbril, ZAFT initiated "Operation Fury," a full-scale assault on Orb in order to force the Sarans to give up Lord Djbril. Cagalli personally launched in her new ORB-01 Akatsuki mobile suit to lead the Astray and Murasame squadrons to defend Orb. Exercising his FAITH powers, Shinn then launched alone from Minerva in his Destiny to strike at the Orb Union himself, he immediately faced off against Cagalli in the Akatsuki.
Cagalli was very determined to stop Shinn in the Destiny but Shinn either dodged or blocked all of Akatsuki's shots with the beam shields. Shinn started to get a angry and fired Destiny's plasma cannon, but the shot bounced back, and a beam rifle shot to Akatsuki's head was dissipated harmlessly. Shinn then used the Arondight anti-ship sword to slice up a Murasame squadron supporting the Akatsuki. The Akatsuki used its double beam sabers to counter the Arondight anti-ship sword. The fight between Destiny and Akatsuki switched to a close-quarter melee fight. Destiny sliced through Akatsuki's shield. Using one of the beam boomerangs, Destiny chopped off Akatsuki's shield arm (left arm). Shinn threw the second beam boomerang to finish off Akatsuki for good. As the beam boomerangs were heading towards Akatsuki and its destruction seemed imminent, the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom appeared from the sky and used the railguns to destroy Destiny's beam boomerangs. Shinn was both surprised and angry.
The Destiny and the Strike Freedom faced off against each other anti-ship sword vs double beam sabers. Destiny blocked a shot from Strike Freedom's docked double beam rifles with the beam shield. Destiny then fired its plasma cannon. Strike Freedom also fired its chest cannon and the two beams hit and cancelled each other out. Shinn returned with the Arondight anti-ship sword and tried to slice Strike Freedom, but the latter grabbed the anti-ship sword with its hands and fired the railguns which knocked Destiny back. Having lost the anti-ship sword, and being humilliated by Strike Freedom and it's pilot, Destiny used its beam rifle to continue the fight, with Shinn going into SEED. Both Destiny and Strike Freedom had several fly-by beam rifle shots, but neither could get a crippling shot. In the battle, Destiny seemed to be faster than Strike Freedom, but having fought against Akatsuki first and then Strike Freedom, Shinn used Destiny's beam wings to boost speed many times, and thus put a strain on Destiny's available power stored in its Hyper Capacitor. Rey then messaged Shinn and ordered him to retreat back to the Minerva to resupply and recharge. After a quick resupply, both Shinn and Rey launched from Minerva to face Strike Freedom again.
Ghost from the Past
When Shinn relaunched accompanied by Rey, he immediately engaged Kira with several fly-by beam rifles shots. Shinn then used Destiny's beam wings to boost speed and got close to Strike Freedom. Shinn tried to use Destiny's "Palma Fiocina" palm beam cannon to blow up Strike Freedom. However, before Shinn can release the palm beam, Kira dodged and kicked Destiny's arm away. Rey then engaged Kira by shooting his DRAGOON funnels attached on Legend's backpack in order to help Shinn set up a kill. Shinn managed to get a target lock on Strike Freedom with Destiny's long range beam cannon and was about to fire when suddenly one of beam boomerang from Athrun's ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice stopped Shinn's shot.
Shinn was both surprised and angry that Athrun survived their last encounter where Athrun was supposedly killed when his blue GOUF exploded after being stabbed in the torso. Athrun demanded that Shinn stop attacking Orb and questioned his motives for war. Recalling the lost of his family, the death of Stellar, Shinn charged at Athrun with one of his beam boomerang acting as a beam saber, and then threw both beam boomerangs at Athrun. Both beam boomerangs were knocked away by Infinite Justice's leg beam blades. At the insistence of Rey that Athrun was a traitor, Shinn firmly believed that Athrun was indeed a traitor and went into SEED mode and charged again at Athrun with his Arondight anti-ship sword. Athrun also went into SEED mode, brandishing Infinite Justice's joined double beam sabers to answer Shinn's anti-ship sword stab move and sliced off Destiny's right wrist (the one holding the anti-ship sword), causing a small explosion. Shinn was stunned after being defeated by Athrun, someone he deemed to be useless in combat up to that point.
Following the destruction of several ZAFT support ships and submarines by Archangel and Lord Djbril's successful escape, Minerva's captain Talia Gladys ordered the retreat of all ZAFT forces and both Shinn and Rey retreated as well.
Uncertainty
When Cagalli's broadcast from Orb was interrupted by Meer Campbell (speaking as Lacus Clyne), and herself reinterrupted by the real Lacus Clyne, the whole crew at Minerva was thrown into utter confusion, particularly Shinn and Lunamaria. When Shinn asked Rey for his opinion on the situation, Rey seemed sure that the issue of which was the true Lacus Clyne was a trival matter and the enemy was using another "Lacus Clyne" as a psychological weapon.
When Lord Djbril unleashed the Requiem beam and destroyed January and December PLANTS, Rey blamed the failure to kill Lord Djibril on themselves (specially Lunamaria) which in turn he blamed Kira for his interference with Strike Freedom. Shinn then blamed on Athrun's interference with Infinite Justice. Shinn was visibly upset when Rey brought up the issue that Athrun was alive and maybe Meyrin as well.
Resolution
On an order from Chairman Durandal, Shinn along with the rest of the Minerva were given a mission to directly attack the Requiem and the Daedalus base. Despite the odds, Shinn and the Destiny managed to cripple the defenses of the lunar stronghold, which included notably three GFAS-X1 Destroy units. He, along with Rey and Lunamaria, manage to not only stop the Requiem, but also Lord Djbril, who was killed by Rey as he was trying to escape.
With the last remnants of Blue Cosmos/LOGOS eliminated, Chairman Durandal was finally ready to unveil his ultimate solution of the war between Naturals and Coordinators - The Destiny Plan. The underlying principles of the Destiny Plan strongly evoke Marxism and Communism, with a science fiction "twist" that would supposedly make it "succeed" where all previous exercises of "Communism" had failed. With the Destiny Plan, Chairman Dullidal (as an expert geneticist) acting as the overseer, will assign roles to individuals according to their genetic makeup. Every individual will then be governed by their genetic "destiny" and not by their individuality. The ultimate goal in this endeavour is to make wars obsolete, according to Chairman Durandal.
In order to have The Destiny Plan become a reality, Chairman Durandal had to defeat Orb, the last Earth nation with the capability to oppose him. Before the final battle, Shinn and Rey were called upon to meet Durandal in person at his mobile fortress Messiah. When they finally met, Durandal asked Shinn about the Destiny Plan and what his goals were. Shinn was initially skeptical and hesitated a bit about putting his 100% support behind the Destiny Plan. After some convincing arguments from Rey, Shinn finally decided that his role is to end the war and bring peace through the Destiny Plan and pledged his loyalty to Chairman Durandal. Given the pain Shinn experienced throughout his lifetime, the Destiny Plan seemed to be the only answer to the world's problems that made sense to him, so he would follow Durandal without question.
The battle has already started near the moon (the location of the Requiem cannon), Lunamaria in Force Impulse was there to stop Athrun in his Infinite Justice. Athrun quickly removed an arm and leg from the Force Impulse. Seeing that Athrun was bringing harm to Lunamaria, an enraged Shinn arrived and fired his cannon at Athrun, followed by an attack from his anti-ship sword. Shinn then went into SEED mode, activated his thrusters while locked in sword combat to slam Athrun's Infinite Justice onto the Moon's surface. Shinn continued to attack Athrun and when he tried to fire his "Palma Fiocina" palm cannon, Lunamaria in her damaged Force Impulse came in between Destiny and Infinite Justice because she didn't want Shinn to fight Athrun. Seeing that no words can convince Shinn to stop fighting, Athrun had no choice but to defeat Shinn. Trying to catch Athrun's two beam sabers, Shinn's Destiny lost both arms and wings. Later Destiny lost a leg, sliced off by Infinite Justice's leg beam blade. The sight of a severely damaged Destiny Gundam crashing on the lunar surface finally confirmed the defeat of Shinn at the hands of Athrun Zala in the Battle of Messiah.
Shinn was last seen in Lunamaria's arms, crying, and watching Messiah crash into the moon, with his master Durandal along with it. During his battle, he never managed to gain the upper hand because he was so blinded by his hatred and rage, thus this led to his downfall. Shinn may have been defeated, but he was in a sense "liberated" from his servitude to a dystopian ideal that he may or may not have fully understood.
During a brief period of time in which he was unconscious after his defeat, he had a vision of Stellar Loussier. Her words, though disjointed and cryptic, seemed to imply that because of Shinn, she had truly lived for the first and only time in her short life (In particular, the words "Stellar was given a yesterday" seem to imply that her time with Shinn was the only memorable moment in her life). This seems to put Shinn at ease.
At the end of the forty minutes video, Shinn is seen paying tribute to his deceased family in ORB. Also present were Athrun, Meyrin and Lunamaria. There he expressed his conflicted emotions for his homeland ORB, and confessed that he had always wanted to visit ORB before. He encountered Kira Yamato, who is accompanied by Lacus Clyne. Athrun introduced Kira to Shinn as the pilot of Freedom. Shinn was stunned by the identity of the pilot whom he tried to defeat numerous times. Kira made an overture to Shinn to shake his hand and to make peace with him, indicating he did not have any grudges against him. Furthermore, Kira would like Shinn to join him and Athrun to fight for humanity's peace, if there were to be another war. After a brief contemplation, a crying Shinn finally accepted Kira's offer.
Quotes & Notable Dialogue
- [To Cagalli Yula Athha] "Making excuses has always been a specialty of the Athhas, hasn't it?" (Gundam SEED DESTINY, PHASE-03 "Warning Shots")
Trivia
- The name Shinn Asuka is a reference to the Asuka period in Japan's history, just as Kira Yamato was a reference to the Yamato period which immediately preceded it.
- Due to his Japanese-sounding name, he's one of only two main characters in the Cosmic Era whose names remained unchanged in both English and Japanese. The other, ironically, was his "nemesis", Kira Yamato.
- He has the dubious honour of having the mobile suit he piloted disabled in combat by Athrun Zala and the first by Kira Yamato. Given that he had virtually made snipe remarks about Athrun's abilities throughout the series, and hated Kira, it was perhaps fitting for them to defeat him soundly in combat. (The Infinite Justice's fight against the Destiny was deemed by most fans to be the most one-sided MS battle in the Cosmic Era.) To his credit, he's also the first character who defeated MSes piloted by both Kira and Athrun.
- The relationship between Lunamaria and Shinn may be an insider joke: Maaya Sakamoto (Lunamaria's seiyu) also voiced Aerith in FFVII, alongside Takahiro Sakurai, who voices Cloud. (Takahiro is the partner of Kenichi Suzumura [Shinn and FFVII's Zack's seiyu] in the duo "R-16".)
- Shinn was stated to be the third best pilot in the C.E according to Fukuda's interview, and he is the only one who beat both of Athrun and Kira.