Amuro Ray
Amuro Ray | |
---|---|
Mobile Suit Gundam character | |
First appearance | Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 1: "Gundam Rising" (1979) |
Created by | Yoshiyuki Tomino |
Voiced by | Japanese
English
|
Amuro Ray (
Amuro was created by director and writer Yoshiyuki Tomino as a teenager meant to appeal to the young demography of Mobile Suit Gundam with the trait of a supernatural trait known as Newtype meant to make him stronger in fights to balance his characterization. He was often written as a common man meant to contrast Char's popularity. He is voiced by Tōru Furuya in Japanese while several actors provided their talent for the English adaptations of several Gundam works including Amuro.
Amuro's character became very popular in Japan, earning high ranks in popularity polls involving Gundam characters as well as anime characters in general. Critical reception to the character has also been positive with comments revolving around his work as a soldier which contrasted super robot heroes and instead came across as a more realistic teenager getting used to the war.
Appearances
Mobile Suit Gundam
Amuro's first appearance is in the television series Mobile Suit Gundam. Amuro is a talented amateur mechanic, who spends a lot of time in building different mechanical parts with little social interactions with other people, and as a hobby designed the basketball-sized talking robot
Using his intuition and reading the manual, Amuro manages to start up the Gundam and defeat the two attacking Zaku mobile suits. Seeing his potential, Earth Federation Captain
Across the war, Amuro first meets the Newtype girl
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
In the sequel
During the Gryps Conflict, a pregnant
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
During the second Neo-Zeon movement depicted in the 1988 film
Other appearances
In Yoshiyuki Tomino's novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam, Amuro is already a member from the Federation in the start. In this version Amuro is killed in the final attack against the Zeonic stronghold of A Baoa Qu when his RX-78-3 is pierced through the torso by a Rick Dom's beam bazooka. However, after his death, Amuro's consciousness communicates with Char's sister, Sayla Mass, and tells her she is not alone.[12] The first version of Char's Counterattack, High Streamer, follows Amuro's actions in his final fight against Char which were later adapted in the film. Tomino also wrote another novel titled Beltorchika's Children that had Amuro as a family man and reported as killed in action in the ending.[13] A animated film adaptation based on the "Cucuruz Doan's Island" episode Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022) recreates one of Amuro's early stories from the first television series.[14]
Amuro appears in cameo-form in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, in the form of a photo portrait on the wall of the Captain Bright Noa's office on board his vessel. In the final OVA for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, the voice of Amuro can be heard as he speaks to Char as they depart along with Lalah Sune's spirit from the now dead body of Full Frontal. Although Amuro makes no other appearance in Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, he is referenced by several of its characters. Another episode of Gundam Evolve retcons an event from Char's Counterattack where Amuro confronts Char's underling Quess Paraya convincing her to stop fighting. He then convinces her to fly towards Hathaway Noa to save Hathaway.[15] Amuro also appears in the manga Mobile Suit Vs. Giant God of Legend: Gigantis' Counterattack where he joins forces with Char and Judau Ashta to stop the Neo Zeon from using the massive Gigantis to cause destruction.[16] He is also the protagonist of the manga series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin which retells the events of the first Gundam TV series with the original video animation showing his childhood.[17][18] The character is also parodied in the comedy Mobile Suit Gundam-san.[19]
Amuro is also a recurring character in the Gundam video games. He is present in the Gundam crossovers series including
Creation
Yoshiyuki Tomino originally created "Freedom Fighter", which was a project proposal for Mobile Suit Gundam, was planned as a space version of "Jugo Shonen Houryuuki". According to Masao Iizuka of the Japan Sunrise Planning Office Desk, who drafted the plan, Briand's younger brother was not interesting in setting the main character because Briand, who is the leader of the same work, and Doniphan (Donovan), who is a rival, lacked interest in models. Jack, who temporarily becomes introverted, and that became the prototype of Amuro. At that time, computers were just beginning to become commonplace, and he thought that such a high-tech child would be able to do many things, so he chose a slightly introverted boy as the main character.[25][26] "Hongo Higashi (Azuma)" in the initial draft drawn by Yasuhiko. The name Amuro Ray was invented by general director Yoshiyuki Tomino over the course of a month[27][28] Later, in Tomino's "Mobile Suit Gundam Setting Book / Original Draft", it was written as "Amuro Rei".[29] Yasuhiko drew the idea of "let's make it a red curly hair and make it a carrot-like character". Also, in Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's image, Amuro was "foreigner" with red hair and blue eyes, but due to compromises, he is said to be a "Nisei" with brown hair and dark eyes.[30][31]
Tomino gave the Gundam main character the name Amuro believing such word did not exist. However, three months after the show aired, Tomino received a letter from Sunrise informing him there was an island named Amuro in
Originally, Tomino did not want to include Amuro in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and when trying to kill him, he failed to do it. As a result, he decided to put Amuro on a friendly relationship with Char. The relationship the two rivals have in Zeta Gundam due to proper understanding between the two soldiers.[38] In regards to Char's Counterattack, Tomino created the movie to end Amuro and Char's rivalry.[35] While the story was written to primarily centered around Char's hypocristic ideal, Amuro would oppose them. Nevertheless, Char provides Amuro with weaponry to support his Mobile Suit so that both would fight on equal terms. The intense exchanges between both of them are compared with Tomino's own feeling of being tired after working on several series.[35] Tomino believes Amuro's popularity in the film can be due to how the audience could easily empathize with the protagonist's problems.[39] The rivalry Amuro and Char develop in the film was that of a "raw/carnal feeling", leaving the viewers the impression of both having homoerotic impressions.[40] Kawai personally wanted the film to properly depict Amuro's mecha RX-78-02 Gundam in the same fashion as the original television series from 1978.[41]
Original plans for Char's Counterattack would involve Amuro becoming married which bothered the producers. Still, to Tomino, it seemed like the most critical opinion in planning the movie production, and he adopted it as a critical point. Tomino expressed that since Gundam was still the mecha genre, he could not make Amuro become somebody's possession that leads to a normal life. Tomino believes je have not forgotten this principle regarding combat. As for the characters, the world of Gundam is a story of evolving humans, which inevitably leads to the "denial of things" and "denial of machines." This is what is meant by the "denial of Amuro's marriage."[42]
Casting
He is voiced by
For Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island (2022), Furuya found his work nostalgic and stated that the film made emphasis of how clashing was the relationship between Amuro and his superior, Captain Bright Noa.[46] Furuya elaborated that Yasuhiko's idea was making the movie realistic with Amuro acting more mature in relationship with the children. Another theme of the film was how the youth's lives are being ruined by the plot of the One Year War story from the original television series.[46] Further commentary, Furuya was glad with the popularity he achieved by voicing Amuro for over 40 years. He said that while Amuro also had popularity, he could not surpass his rival, Char, a common trait he sometimes find common in anime where there are rivalries. He further stated that "nowadays you can see the encouragement through SNS, I like how a lot of followers appear in Twitter, and I'm very surprised at his popularity"[47]
Multiple English actors provided Amuro's voice. Brad Swaile voiced him in the original TV series, Char's Counterattack, and the majority of the licensed Gundam video games. Michael Lindsay dubbed him in the three movie compilations, Matthew Erickson in Zeta Gundam and the Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam vs. Zeta Gundam video game. Meanwhile, for Origin Fryda Wolff provided the voice of a young Amuro while Lucien Dodge portrayed the older one.[48]
Reception
Critical response
Amuro Ray's character has been well received by publications for anime and other media.
Amuro's rivalry with Char and their subsequent final battle in the television series, the titular mobile suit stops a fatal laser beam from killing Amuro and is reduced to slag before his eyes. This final fight destroys Char's mobile suit as well, enabling Amuro to resume battling his rival. Amuro's ability to stand fight; and ultimately, choose not to fight, is a result of his liberation from his Gundam mobile suit; which is in turn a product of the series' focus on characters over the mecha themselves. In conclusion, according to Aaron J. Kane from
His appearances in Zeta Gundam were also praised by Mania Entertainment's Chris Beveridge for adding more material from the first Gundam series and for the change in several of his relationships most notably with Char from enemy to a friendly ally.[56][57] Hideaki Anno, a fellow staff member who worked with Tomino several times, describes the Amuro from Zeta Gundam as a man who is ashamed of his actions in the first series and both he and Char see themselves in the new protagonist, Kamille Bidan, to the point the plot of the series came across as repetitive. Tomino responded to Anno that he aimed to give Amuro's and Char's characterization in Zeta Gundam ambiguous but stated that Kamille is too different from them to the point of labelling the new lead as autistic as a result of his heavy burden. When Kamille's first love is introduced, Tomino noted that they became more similar.[58]
Allen Divers from Anime News Network found Amuro and Char's final duel the most important part from Char's Counterattack, the lack of resolution of their rivalry made the film unfulfilling.
Anime News Network praised the movie for the focus on Amuro's character arc and modern themes without removing the original aspects of the franchise.[63] The Japan Times commented that every viewer would be concerned by Amuro's safety due to how the main plot has him surviving the encounter from the original TV series but still felt returning fans would enjoy the story and how the disciplinary actions performed in White Base are contested.[64]
Popularity
Amuro has been popular, having been voted as the fourth most popular male character from the 1980s by Newtype readers.[65] He was ranked second in Mania Entertainment's 10 Most Iconic Anime Heroes written by Thomas Zoth who commented that he "was the first teenage pilot with moral qualms about the war he was fighting. His arrogance, capriciousness and self-doubt paved the way for the isolated, troubled characters of Neon Genesis Evangelion."[66] In the first two Animage Readers' Poll, Anime Grand Prix, from 1979 and 1980 Amuro was voted as the second most popular character in anime and was beaten by Char.[67][68] He appeared again in the Anime Grand Prix from 1989 as the sixteenth most popular male anime character.[69] In an official Sunrise poll focused in the best team ups between former enemies, he and Char were first.[70] In a NHK poll, he was voted as the third best Gundam character.[71]
An EFSF military outfit was once used on a poster to encourage Japanese people to vote, and news articles refer it as the "Amuro style election poster", since the actor used is a stunt actor used in place of the voice actor of Amuro Ray.[72] Amuro was recognized as a culturally significant subject by the nation of Japan on October 23, 2000, with the inclusion of the suit and of the main pilot on two stamps in the 20th Century Stamp Series.[73] Amuro, 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.[74] In an Anime!Anime! poll, Amuro and Quattro were voted as one of the best anime rivals turned into allies.[75] Merchandising beased on Amuro's underwear was also released.[76]
Anime director
References
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