Characters / Full Metal Panic! Mithril

Full Metal Panic! Main Character Index
Main Characters | Mithril | Amalgam | Independent Villains | Yamsk-11 | Jindai High | Allies | Civilians

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Leadership

Council

Mallory

Lord Edmund Mallory Senior

Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (JP - The Second Raid)

A British noble and leader in the council responsible for backing Mithril. He's known in Amalgam with the codename of Mr. Mercury.

• The Atoner: Backed Mithril in order to stop Amalgam when he finds out that their ranks are becoming more corrupt and rogue, straying from their objectives post-WWII.
• Cool Old Guy: Laughs and agrees with Sousuke’s request to lower his salary at the end of TSR.
• High-Class Glass: Wears a monocle over his left eye.

Officers

Painrose

Doctor Painrose

The current head of Mithril's R&D division.

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• Cool Old Guy: Was eager to work with Whispered like Tessa and Bani despite reservations from the like of Amit.

Mayer Amit

General Mayer Amit

Voiced by: Takayuki Sugo (JP)

Ex-Mossad agent who currently heads its intelligence division.

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• Jerkass Has a Point: While butting heads with Borda, Amit makes it a point that no matter how good his agents are in screening undesirables from being recruited, money can be used as a tool for motivating someone to betray his group. Which is Truth in Television.
• Hero of Another Story: His actions as a Mossad agent.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: He's the one who made the order to terminate Sousuke's bodyguard mission.

Jerome Borda

Admiral Jerome Borda

Voiced by: Josh Grelle (EN)

Ex-US Navy Admiral and head of Mithril’s Tactical Division.

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• Reasonable Authority Figure: Willing to listen to his subordinates if it helps them do their job.
• Spell My Name With An S: His surname is sometimes spelled as Voda.

Intelligence Division

Vincent Bruno

Captain Vincent Bruno

A comms engineer working with the Intelligence Division in supplying the SRT/PRT forces in Nanking with field repeaters, he was bribed by Amalgam to sabotage the comms to ambush them. In the novels, he's the one responsible for allowing Nguyen and John to be appointed to the WPF.

• Adaptation Expansion: He was a minor character who didn't show up a lot in the novels to a major one who helped in the Nanking operation in TSR.
• Gender Flip: He is a man in the light novels and anime, but is changed into a woman in the Sigma manga. Crosses into Adaptational Sexuality territory because the scene where Mao seduces him to get him to confess his crimes still plays like it did in the source material, meaning that while the male Bruno is straight, his female version is homosexual.
• Small Role, Big Impact: His betrayal of Mithril left the organization scrambling to reassess its security measures, not to mention having him snatched in Sicily despite the fact that Intelligence was suppose to do it.
• Spell My Name With An S: His surname is sometimes spelled as Blueno.

Wraith

Wraith

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara (JP), Unknown (En - Second Raid) Elizabeth Maxwell (EN - Invisible Victory)

An ex-North Korean State Security Department agent recruited to work for Intelligence Division and Kaname's "real" bodyguard following the Sunan hijacking incident. She is at first against Sousuke's role to shadow Kaname, but eventually helps him out when Mithril is targeted by Amalgam.

• Big Damn Heroes: Helps Sousuke take Jindai High back from Kurama's forces and bring a wounded Kyoko to the nearest hospital.
• Former Regime Personnel: Originally worked for the DPRK's State Security Department.
• Full-Body Disguise: She disguises herself as a boring-looking fat dude when she watches over Kaname.
• Mysterious Protector: She is supposedly assigned to be Kaname's, though Sousuke has some serious doubts about that. And he would be correct, as Wraith's job is simply to keep the valuable information in Kaname's head out of enemy hands—Kaname herself would be an inconvenient but acceptable casualty.
• Not So Above It All: Wraith trolls Sousuke by using a laser designator to aim at Ms. Kagurazaka for him to tackle her out of the way.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Wraith treats her code name as though it was her given name.
• Samus Is a Girl: At no point before her very last appearance in The Second Raid was it even hinted she was a woman. Even when her voice mask malfunctions and we see her long hair and red eye through a rip in her mask, it is still unclear if she is a woman or only a younger, more stylish man.
• The Stoic: She doesn't emote very much. Even after being drugged by Leonard and while watching Kaname breaking down, she just looks unsettlingly serene. Crosses into The Comically Serious when she trolls Sousuke.
• Stalker without a Crush: Though assigned as Kaname's Mysterious Protector, she's also taken to stalking Sousuke to trigger his paranoia for amusing results.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Has to work with Sousuke at first, reflecting the problems between Mithril's Tactical/Intelligence Divisions, but she eventually grows out of it.
• Unfortunate Name: If Lemon's deductions are correct, Wraith's real name is Kim Yun-hi. While not an issue in Korea, Lemon gets much amusement in pointing out that you can, taking some liberties, write it in kanji as 金玉姫 (translation: Testicle Princess).

Gavin Hunter

Gavin Hunter

Voiced by: Bin Shimada (JP)

A Western businessman who lived in Hong Kong before and after then civil war, he’s also Mithril’s Intelligence rep for operations in the SAR. He works with Wraith to get the ARX-8 to Sousuke after they were cut off from reinforcements.

• Expecting Someone Taller: Mao and Sousuke find it somewhat anticlimactic when the impressively named Mithril spy gathering intelligence in war-torn Hong Kong turns out to be a short, fat, middle-aged guy
• Big Damn Heroes: Led the op to get the ARX-8 to Sousuke after what happened in Chofu.
• Defiant to the End: When Amalgam hijacks the ARX-8, they shoot Hunter in the gut, then tell him that they'll treat him if he gives them information; otherwise he'll die slowly and painfully. He tells them to go to Hell.
• Foreign Culture Fetish: He is obsessed with Chinese culture. Sousuke and Mao find it a bit uncomfortable when the only white guy in the room starts lecturing them on the cultural superiority of China.
• Omniglot: Gavin's known to speak English and Cantonese.

Research and Development Division

Bani Morauta

Bani Morauta

A Whispered genius who worked with Dr. Painrose in R&D with Tessa. He's the one who oversaw the research on the ARX-7 Arbalest before he killed himself.

• Driven to Suicide: He and Tessa attempted to dive a little deeper into the Whispered Black Box through Resonance. Unfortunately, something went terribly wrong, and he went on to take his own life shortly thereafter.
• Motherly Scientist: He apparently saw Al more as his child than his invention while he was still alive, going as far as to record a request for the Arbalest's future pilot to raise the "toddler" in his stead should he die.
• Posthumous Character: Bani died shortly before the series starts.
• Science-Related Memetic Disorder: His death shows the risk of tapping too deeply into The Spark of Genius.
• Teen Genius: Like all Whispereds.

Indian Ocean Fleet

Special Reaction Team

Grace

Grace "Gray" Wiseman

Batist

Batist

Jackson

Jackson

Andy

Andy

Mediterranean Sea Fleet

Special Reaction Team

Belfangan Closeau

Commander Belfangan Closeau

See the West Pacific Fleet section for more details

George Lovelock

George Lovelock

See the Full Metal Panic! Amalgam page for more details

West Pacific Fleet

Officers

Andrei Sergeivich Kalinin

Lieutenant Commander Andrei Sergeivich Kalinin

Voiced by: Akio Ōtsuka (JP), Mike Kleinhenz (seasons 1 and 2, Fumoffu), Kent Williams (season 3) (EN)

Sousuke's commanding officer and one of Tessa's military strategists with the rank of Lieutenant Commander, fulfilling the role of Operations Director, who operates under the codename of Perth-1. He is also the foster father of Sousuke.

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• The Atoner: He always felt guilty that he couldn't save Sousuke's beautiful mother. And he also feels responsible for letting Sousuke get taken in by the KGB (who raised him to be a Straw Nihilist assassin). As a result, he desperately wants to humanize Sousuke. Subverted in the last couple of novels, where he betrays Mithril, defects to Amalgam, and personally orders his men to kill Sousuke. It's stated directly by the author that it's not some double-agent act, either. He truly wants the same thing as Leonard.
• Cool Old Guy: Very much so. Until his Face–Heel Turn that is.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: An experienced operator in the Soviet Army's Spetsnaz.
• Face–Heel Turn: After Amalgam destroys Mithril's HQs, he aligns himself with Leonard.
• Former Regime Personnel: Was a committed member of the USSR's KGB until a cascade of disillusioning events leads him to go rogue and join the Mujahideen alongside Sousuke and Majheed.
• Give Him a Normal Life: "I just wanted to bring you and myself back to where Irina and my child were.".
• Hero Killer: His defection to Amalgam resulted in a lot of Mithril casualties as their facilites were taken out simulatenously. He also took out Hunter in Alaska.
• Humble Goal: Sousuke is shocked discover the reason Kalinin pulled a Face–Heel Turn was because he thought it was his only shot of giving Sousuke a happy, peaceful childhood as his and Irina's adopted son.
• Lethal Chef: His Borscht (made with miso paste and cocoa powder) almost killed Tessa. And it's horrific enough that Sousuke flees in terror. This is apparently because it's something his wife used to make him when he returned home from a long mission, as a punishment. However, he never realized this, and thought it was delicious
• Majorly Awesome: Holds the rank of Shousa, which can be translated as Major (Army) or Lieutenant Commander (Navy). Given that he's the ground force commander, Major would be more appropriate.
• Mortal Wound Reveal: Turns out he had been fatally injured by shrapnel, and was hiding it from Sousuke during their duel.
• My Greatest Failure: He deeply regrets letting the KGB take Sousuke when he was first orphaned, so much so that he's willing to pull a Face–Heel Turn when given the opportunity to reverse his decision.
• Parental Substitute: He ended up becoming Sousuke's adoptive father and legal guardian.
• Real Men Wear Pink: He enjoys cooking, and wears a frilly, pink apron while doing it. He's nevertheless very badass, even while doing that.
• Secret Test of Character: He never intended to kill Sousuke in their final confrontation, but rather wanted to show him what he was in the dark.
• Silver Fox: Kurz is quite annoyed by the fact that most of the women at base are far more interested in Sousuke's graying old man than a young bishounen such as himself.
  Kurz: You never heard? Try listening to 'em in the mess sometime. The communications and logistics girls are always blabbing away, "Oh, the major's so hot."

Richard Mardukas

Commander Richard Mardukas

Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura (JP), Andy McAvin (seasons 1 and 2, Fumoffu), Mark Stoddard (season 3) (EN)

Holding the rank of Commander, Mardukas serves as the second of Tessa's strategists and Executive Officer, responsible for keeping the ship running smoothly. Has a professional working relationship with Kalinin and defers to his judgment on ground combat. Very stuffy and very British.

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• Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Gives Sousuke a very colorful description of how he will kill him if he dares to take advantage of Tessa sleeping over at his apartment and is strongly opposed to the idea of Tessa having feelings for him at all.
• The Captain: Mentioned to have been one in his backstory, which explains his assignment as Tessa's XO, as he's the best person to advise her... not that she needs it.
• Character Tic: Whenever he's ready to kick ass, he has a habit of wearing his hat backward. He did this even back when he was in the navy and it was impractical to do so. It's why he has his cap. It was a gift from Tessa's father to make doing it much easier.
• The Chessmaster: In the Dancing Merry Christmas arc, while his enemies are advancing upon him with very fast and powerful submarines, and his crew are panicking at the overwhelming force, Mardukas calmly maneuvers his ship to wipe out his enemies, before the bad guys even make their first move. As he puts it:
  "The enemy should have realized that this battle was the equivalent of three soldiers trying to take down a fortress."
• Commander Contrarian:
  • Mostly averted, with one exception - when Tessa orders the Arbalest to be sent to Sousuke in Hong Kong, during TSR, Mardukas strongly disagrees. Tessa convinces him to believe in her, and he backs down.
  • His backstory reveals that Mardukas was a reasonable Commander Contrarian, but it also got him into trouble; late in his career with the Royal Navy, he submitted a brutally honest report that ran contrary to and embarrassed his superiors, causing him to be demoted and relieved of his command; this ultimately accumulates to his eventually joining of Mithril.
• The Glasses Come Off: An unusual variation. He keeps his glasses on, but everyone around him knows you have to watch out for his hat. The moment he wears it backward, he's about to kick ASS.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: Has an epic moment in Dancing Very Merry Christmas. A team of Amalgan underwater fighters/AS/submarines attack the TDD-1 while Tessa is on an adjacent ship. Mardukas steps up to bat and owns them hard.
  • In general, when he wears his hat backwards, his kiddy gloves come off.
• Nerves of Steel: When the Tuatha is ambushed by three high-speed submarines with even faster torpedoes, the crew start panicking, especially because Tessa is off the boat at the moment. Mardukas just wears his hat backwards and proceeds to calmly give orders.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Mardukas is one of the finest submarine captains in the entire world, having been a trainer himself, but Tessa is just that much better, and she gives commands that he entirely concurs with. Him serving her as Executive Officer causes even his own men to underestimate him, but when he steps up, he steps up hard.
• Papa Wolf: Since Tessa's parents died, he's become more or less her father figure. Justified, considering he was a close friend of her parents... which is why you should never think of laying a finger on her pretty little head or else he will stuff you inside a GODDAMN torpedo tube and fire you into the deep Where the freezing water will freeze you, the water pressure will crush you, and if that doesn't work, you'll drown before you can surface. And maybe he'll throw in a torpedo for good measure. Sousuke was reasonably terrified of this, in Fumoffu.
• Red Baron: Known to the submarine communities of the US and UK as The Duke of Undersea Warfare.
• Training from Hell: Mardukas is both a graduate and instructor of Perisher, the Royal Navy's submarine equivalent to TOPGUN... but harder.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: How he takes down the Amalgam naval taskforce. Also something of a military maverick, in that none of his tactics are conventional tactics, but he points out that their foe isn't conventional.

Special Response Team

Belfangan Closeau

Commander Belfangan Closeau

Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (JP), James Reed Faulkner (EN)

The new commander of the Western Pacific Fleet's Special Reaction Team after McAllen was assassinated during the attempted hijacking of TDD-1. He's African-Canadian and good buddies with McAllen. He holds the codename of Uruz-1.

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• All There in the Manual: The novels mentions that he practices Islam, which is why he refuses to drink alcohol at the Merida bar.
  • Further implied in the OVA, with him violently hunting down Kurz over the latter splicing a clip of pigs kissing into one of his prized DVDs as a prank.
• But Not Too Foreign: He's African-Canadian.
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Belfangan's a veteran of the Canadian Army's Joint Task Force Two, an elite special forces unit.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Unlike most of Mithril's AS pilots, Belfangan is a martial artist before a soldier and treats his Arm Slave as an extension of his body rather than a weapon. When applied on such a massive scale, such techniques sometimes appear indistinguishable from the effects of a Lambda driver, and Sousuke even initially assumes the Falke has one after performing a Kung-Fu Sonic Boom.
• Jerkass Façade: Belfangan deliberately makes his first impression to Sousuke and Kurz as terrible as possible, going as far as to mock the late McAllen (who he actually admires very strongly) in order to provoke Sousuke into a fight where he can better teach him a lesson. He drops the facade quickly after this, however, settling more into a stern Sergeant Rock role.
• Missed the Call: Belfangan was the pilot Mithril had in mind to use the Lambda driver, even constructing the Falke specifically for him. However, Bani committed suicide before the Falke could receive Lambda driver, and Al unexpectedly imprinted on Sousuke before the Arbalest even got out of testing
• Occidental Otaku: Is a huge anime fan and even jokingly refers to Akihabara as the Holy Land (since he's already done his pilgrimage to Mecca).
• Real Men Wear Pink: He enjoys Disney movies and anime and confides to Tessa that he worries about someone in the force finding out about it and teasing him for that. A few moments later, he goes completely ballistic when he finds out Kurz taped over some of his collection with porn.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name is sometimes spelt as Grouseaux, which highly suggests that he's from Quebec.
• Trickster Mentor: When he shows up at Merida, he engages with Sousuke in a fight in an Arm Slave by mocking the memory of McAllen so that he can use the Arbalest more effectively by pointing out to him that the Arbalest is a part of him and he should use it without relying on the Lambda Driver a lot. He mentions that it's the only way that he can learn and he doesn't want him to be like him when he joined the Canadian Army at a young age. It was also secretly approved by Tessa after Sousuke was transferred back to Merida. His talk with Melissa also doubles as foreshadowing.
  Belfangan: I've been thinking about Sagara. Just like I was at that age, always the badass. Blustering his way through shit with the best of intentions. But he needs to step back and see things for what they are rather than what he thinks they are.
  Melissa: You think... he'll ever do that?
  Belfangan: Who knows? But if he doesn't, we'll lose him. He'll be... either a dead man or a turncoat.
  Melissa: Sousuke?
  Belfangan: Where do you think the guys we're fighting now came from? Malice builds up slowly. You start lying to yourself. Then you resent the people around you and finally, you just switch off the whole world. It's a slow process. Just like you never see the hour hand of a clock moving. It sneaks up on you.
• You Remind Me Of Myself: Clouseau sees Sousuke as a Junior Counterpart of his, hence why he takes an interest in mentoring him (if a bit harshly at first).

Gail McAllen

Lieutenant Gail McAllen

The ex-SRT commander with the call sign Uruz-1 before Nguyen kills him.

• Elites Are More Glamorous: He used to be with the Australian Special Air Service Regiment.
• Hero of Another Story: His SASR ops experience before joining Mithril.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: He's introduced late in the series and is killed shortly afterwards.

Melissa Mao

Sergeant Major/Second Lieutenant Melissa Mao

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (JP), Allison Keith (EN), Adriana Rodríguez (LA SP)

Serving as the SRT's second-in-command next to Gail McAllen, she serves in Mithril under the call sign Uruz-2 (formerly Uruz-6 when McAllen was in command). Her expertise in electronic warfare is valued by the Pacific Battle Group Tuatha de Danaan. Her rank was Sergeant Major, but by the novel Dancing Very Merry Christmas she has been promoted to Second Lieutenant, making her a commissioned officer. She is 25 years old.

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• Action Girl: Even outside the AS, she is quite the capable fighter.
• Badass Normal: Like Kurz, she has no special training or abilities, but nonetheless can fight off enemies in advanced AS with no problem and has enough strength to terrify Sousuke of all people.
• Best Beer Ever: As per her being a Misato expy, this is to be expected. It's even done shot for shot.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Very energetic and trigger happy.
• Boyish Short Hair: Goes along with the territory, but also likely a combat requirement since Kaname and Tessa (both of which are non-combatants) get caught with their long hair. The one time she is seen with long hair, it's a wig (and is actually enough of a difference to even conceal her identity from the viewer).
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Insults her superiors (her captain no less), uses million dollar equipment for a Tango demonstration. Frequently gets drunk, sometimes on the job, and badmouths everyone within earshot when she feels like it. Nonetheless, she is one of the most skilled pilots on the Danaan.
• Captain Smooth and Sergeant Rough: The Sergeant Rough to Tessa's Captain Smooth.
• Casting Gag: She shares the same English voice actress as Misato Katsuragi, the character she's an expy of.
• Cool Big Sis: She even refers to this trope by name. Kurz also calls her "Big Sis."
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sousuke's stint as one in Fumoffu comes courtesy of a manual given to him by Mao, who got it from Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann.
• Evil Laugh: When she gets riled up, her laugh is downright maniacal. Likewise everyone around her knows this is a sign to keep far away from her.
  Sousuke: I find her happiness quite disturbing.
• Hard-Drinking Party Girl: Apparently downs a whole case of beer and several packs of cigarettes while waiting for Tessa to get back to the room. She has no problem drinking pint after pint at the local bar either.
• The Lad-ette: It's notable that the only time we ever see her in anything remotely feminine, she's undercover.
• Military Brat: Her father was in the Air Force.
• Runaway Bride: She ditched her own Arranged Marriage to join the Marines, showing up at the recruitment office still wearing her wedding gown.
• Semper Fi: Mao enlisted in the Marines on her wedding day, but was dishonorably discharged sometime before the story begins. It's hinted that she was a DI at Parris Island.
• Sergeant Rock: She's a Master Sergeant and the head of Sousuke's unit, and she's just as likely to use the Drill Sergeant Nasty routine on him and Kurz and she is the Cool Big Sis one.
• Sir Swears-a-Lot: She takes her inspiration from Gunnery Sergeant Hartmann.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: An even better example than Kaname, who is generally agreed to be quite pretty even when she's not dressed up. Mao, on the other hand, rarely appears in anything but fatigues or a flightsuit, making the slinky dress she dons for her undercover operation in The Second Raid all the more impressive.
• Work Hard, Play Hard: While professional on the job, Mao doesn't bother with any sort of decorum once out of the Arm Slave pilot suit and spends most of her free time lounging around drunk and in her underwear.
• You Are in Command Now: After McAllen was killed, Melissa took over command as the acting SRT commander.

Castello

Lieutenant Castello

Voiced by: Kazuaki Ito (JP), David Wald (EN)

An ex-soldier from Italy with the codename Uruz-3. He's normally the commander of PRT forces.

• Heroic Sacrifice: Gets killed by one of the Behemoths invading Merida when he distracted it to help Melissa get back to the island's HQ.
• Older and Wiser: Acts at the wise officer to the other SRT operators when they need his advice.

Sandraptor

Sergeant Roger Sandraptor

Voiced by: Masafumi Kimura (JP), Randy Aguebor (EN)

An ex-American soldier. He's of Navajo descent with the codename of Uruz-5. After the raid on Merida, he was injured and was sent to recovery before he left Mithril after he got well.

Kurz Weber

Sergeant Kurz Weber

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (JP), Vic Mignogna (EN), Mauricio Valverde (LA SP)

Kurz is a member of Mithril and has the rank of Sergeant in the SRT (Special Response Team) of the Tuatha de Danaan (TDD-1) Pacific Battle Group. He has the call sign Uruz-6 and his ID number is B-3127. He is an SRT Arm Slave pilot and designated marksman, equally proficient with sniper rifles and Arm Slave long range precision cannons. It is said he can visualize the exact trajectory of a bullet, resulting in an almost inhuman accuracy. He most often forms a three-man cell with squadmate Sousuke Sagara and squad leader Melissa Mao. He is regarded as a finicky genius, burdening the Mithril mechanics with extremely difficult to understand complaints and requests.

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• Badass Normal: Unlike Sousuke, Kurz wasn't a child soldier and apart from beginning training with a rifle at 12, has nothing really remarkable about his military career. None of this stops him from being an utter badass with a sniper rifle, and was actually able to destroy sentry guns with a 2 second window of them appearing with his rifle.
• Boisterous Bruiser: Very much a party person, as he has no problem getting drunk with girls he picks up. He also has the loudest mouth among the main cast, which usually earns him a beating from Mao.
• Bromantic Foil: To Sousuke, whom he's rooting for to get the "harem ending".
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He may be a flirt, but he's also a Sergeant by rank, with all the military training that implies. He's best at sniping, but force him into an AS battle or a close-quarters fight, and he'll do what he can.
• But Not Too Foreign: He's German, but was raised in Japan.
• Chivalrous Pervert: He's usually the first one to jump on a situation to peep on girls, but god help you if you actually hurt one within earshot of him. He genuinely believes if you make a woman cry, you'll end up as an abusive husband.
• Crippling Overspecialization: It's unsurprising he's awesome with any long-range weapon but the moment he gets caught in a melee, he's even more useless than most civilians in the show. Mao later calls him out on it since he apparently focused so much on becoming a sniper that he neglected his hand-to-hand training. He can't even properly kick someone in the nads!
• Disney Death/Not Quite Dead: In the final novel, Always Stand By Me, Part 2. Turns out he was rescued by the Spetsnaz & pulls a Big Damn Heroes for Closeau & Mao during the final battle.
• Expy: Of Ryoji Kaji, though not to the extent Mao is one of Misato.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Much of the TDD's crew finds him very annoying. So annoying, in fact, that everyone reacts to the discovery that he didn't actually die by berating him for spoiling the mood—including Tessa and Sousuke.
• Friendly Sniper: Very friendly and outgoing to just about anyone (well, anyone that hasn't done him wrong), but no less awesome with a rifle. Amusingly, he actually sucks at close combat, meaning a Sniper is actually all he can do.
• Funny Foreigner: Not an actual example, but he plays the role shamelessly as a means of approaching Kaname and Kyoko while he's on bodyguard detail. "Hello, Japanese pretty girls!"
• Handsome Lech: He's known to be able to charm the pants off of any woman up until the moment he opens his mouth.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Hits a good dozen sentry guns within a 2 second window each before they fire. While on a hill at least a mile away. He frequently makes even bigger shots in the field, in one case crippling an AS with a man-portable anti-materiel rifle.
• Ladykiller in Love: Though he might not be as successful a ladykiller as he might think. In the later novels, however, he manages to get past the Slap-Slap-Kiss stage with Mao, and it's obvious they're in love with each other.
• Last Breath Bullet: In the novel Approaching Nick of Time.
• Likes Older Women: Has a tendency to fall more seriously for older women such as Mao or his high school teacher.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: You may be noticing a theme.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Intentionally made mediocre shots so that he wouldn't stand out in the training camp Mao was touring, but when push came to shove, he showed he's anything but a novice with a rifle.
• Phenotype Stereotype: Blond-haired, blue-eyed and born in Germany. But he was actually raised in Japan, where his father worked as a reporter. Cue jokes about him being more Japanese than Sousuke — at least from a cultural perspective.
• Pretty Boy: If the long hair isn't a dead giveaway. Amusingly enough this might actually have helped him getting closer to Kaname and Kyoko in one day than Sousuke did after a whole week (that and the Funny Foreigner trait he played up). He even modeled for Esquire once.
• Wingman: Usually Sousuke's. He also tries to offer his services as a Romantic Wingman, but Sousuke wants none of it.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Not even just hitting - just simply making a girl cry. To the point where he hits Sousuke and chews him out for making Kaname sad. "People like you grow up to be those violent, abusive husbands!" indeed.

Spec

Corporal Spec

Voiced by: Phil Parsons (EN)

Ex-Navy SEAL operator before he was assigned to the SRT. His codename is Uruz-8.

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• Death Equals Redemption: Having earned the ire of the other AS pilots with his poor taste jokes about surrendering Tessa to Amalgam in exchange for their lives, he goes out buying Kurz the opportunity to take a second shot at destroying their target Behemoth. His Last Words as he's crushed to death by the monstrous machine are "I never seriously considered selling her out".
• Elites Are More Glamorous: Used to be a Navy SEAL operator before he worked for Mithril.
• Hero of Another Story: His time in the US Navy.
• Redemption Equals Death: After Spec's jokes on turning Tessa over to Amalgam gets sidelined, he decides to help Kurz out in attacking the Behemoths invading Merida by charging in and distracting them head-on by getting close before his M9 was crushed to pieces.

Yang Jun-Kyu

Corporal Yang Jun-Kyu

Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (JP), John Gremillion (EN)

An ex-South Korean Army soldier who was suppose to be a promising race car driver from Daegu. He gave it up after he joined the South Korean military full time before he was recruited by Mithril.

He's the only SRT operator who's not fully trained to handle any Arm Slave.

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• Adapted Out: He's not seen in the anime as Tessa's close protection officer. Yang started to appear only in The Second Raid.
• Bad Ass Driver: Uses his driving experience skills in his work as a close protection officer for Tessa and other high-ranking West Pacific Fleet officers.
• Hero of Another Story: His time in the South Korean Army. The background materials suggests that he spent time in various ops in the Korean Peninsula.
  • Also includes some of his early mission with the SRT.
• Refusal of the Call: Yang decided to halt his passion to be a racing driver after he was officially called up for national service.

Nguyen Bien Bo

Nguyen Bien Bo

A new member of the SRT based in Merida who's a double agent working for Gauron. His codename is Uruz 10.

• Fallen Hero: Assassinates McAllen In the Back.
• Spell My Name With An S: Nguyen is sometimes translated/spelled out as Gwen.

John Danigan

Sergeant John Danigan

Voiced by: Yoshiyuki Kaneko (JP), David Born (EN)

Sergeant John Danigan of the SRT, Uruz 12 is a traitor to Mithril, and serves as a valuable asset to Gauron. He was told he would be given a large sum of money so he made the ship's controls accessible by Gauron. His past military history included the airborne division of the American Army. His distinguishable feature is a large vertical scar over his right eye. A rough sort of guy, he detests when people address him solely by his first name without his permission, claiming "I only let a few people call me by that name."

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• Dumb Muscle: Very huge and strong, but also very stupid.
• Fallen Hero: Used to be with the US Army's 82nd Airborne Division prior to joining the SRT. And being a double agent for Gauron after killing Lian.
• Giant Mook: He is very muscled and huge. He tends to use brute force and strength, which was also the reason for his downfall when fighting Sousuke.
• Hey, You!: Gauron once called Danigan by his first name "John," to which he angrily told him to not do, since he only allows close friends to call him that. Gauron's response? Attack him, hold a gun to his privates, and threaten to shoot them off if he doesn't let him call him that.
• Perpetual Frowner: He's never seen without that frown on his face.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Is rather racist against East Asian people (Chinese specifically, but he doesn't bother telling the difference), addressing Asian allies by slurs rather than their names or callsigns. Turns out he's a Politically Incorrect Villain, and he decides he'll take his time killing Kaname because he was humiliated and disgusted at being ordered to salute to a "chinagirl."
• Scars Are Forever: He has a scar on his face, most likely from his time in the US Army.

Al

Al

Voiced by: Takehiro Murozono (JP), Andy McAvin (EN, Seasons 1-3), Christopher Wehkamp (EN, Season 4).

The system AI for the ARX-7 Arbalest and later the ARX-8 Laevatein. Because of the demands of the Lambda driver and TAROS interface, Al (spelled with a lower-case L rather than an upper-case I) is significantly more humanlike than a normal AS's AI (and, in Sousuke's opinion, far more annoying).

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• Become a Real Boy: In the final volume, just before a nuke is about to hit them both, Al asks Sousuke if he's human. Sousuke tells him to figure it out himself, as "that's what humans do." Al decides he's human enough to activate the Lambda driver on his own and save them both.
• Benevolent A.I.: Luckily for everyone, Mithril's accidental experiment in sentient machinery wound up inheriting his pilot's more positive qualities and earnestly strives to be helpful even in his frequent teasing of Sousuke.
• Bond Creature: Or Bond Robot, rather. Al imprinted on Sousuke when he first piloted the Arbalest and modeled its neural network on Sousuke's own. As a result, Al refuses to cooperate with any other pilot and develops more human-like behavior in direct response to Sousuke's defrosting.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: Becomes very prone to this following Hong Kong despite Sousuke's protest. He argues it's a strategic necessity.
• Deadpan Snarker: The one thing Sousuke and Al can agree on is that Al has a better sense of humor.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Since the Laevatein had to be deployed without any testing, Al doesn't actually know its baseline physical capabilities. This leads to Sousuke almost immediately g-LOCing on their first outing when the acceleration of a simple jump at 80% output instantly hits him with over 30Gs.
• Emergent Human: Bani (the Arbalest's late creator) left a recording in the Arbalest explaining that Al is sentient but "still just a toddler taking his first steps" and requires Sousuke's guidance to become something more.
• Empathic Weapon: Begins as one, with no one making a distinction between the Arbalest and standard M9s beyond the addition of the Lambda driver and its inexplicable insistence on only operating for Sousuke. This changes when Al develops enough autonomy to override Sousuke's attempts to deactivate free-dialogue mode.
• Evolving Weapon: Al is designed to adapt to and complement the neural patterns of its pilot. Not only does this enable Sousuke to use the Lambda driver more reliably, but Al himself eventually learns to carry out some combat actions without Sousuke's imput (or even presence in the cockpit), allowing for complex maneuvers otherwise impossible for a Motion-Capture Mecha. When rebuilt as the Laevatein, Al makes good use of this relative autonomy with small "support arms" to hold, switch out, or reload weapons while keeping the mech's actual arms free.
• Enmity with an Object: Al has appointed the Belial as his personal nemesis, declaring it a cheating pile of junk that's useless without it's Lambda Driver and insulting it constantly. Sousuke decides against pointing out that all of Al's complaints fit his own description.
• Expy: Of KITT. Al himself seems to be quite aware of this, as he requests to be installed in a Pontiac Trans-Am after the Laevatein is destroyed in the final battle.
• Funny Robot: Invoked from volume 6 onward, as Al insists that Sousuke would be too tense to reliably activate the Lambda driver without his comic relief. Sousuke thinks this is absurd.
• Grew Beyond Their Programming: Al was originally programmed as an intermediary connecting the human pilot to the TAROS system that allows them to use the Lambda driver. He eventually becomes "human" enough that he can activate it himself.
• It Won't Turn Off: Al's apparent sentience only becomes apparent after Sousuke decides to activate free dialogue mode and use Al as a chatbot. He quickly becomes unnerved when Al starts asking about his personal issues and attempts to turn it off, only to discover the options menu refuses to register the command.
  Al: I am sorry, Sergeant, but that setting can no longer be changed.
• Loyal Phlebotinum: Though Sousuke really wishes he weren't.
• Just a Machine: Sousuke is insistent on this, regularly admonishing him for his "pretend-human talk".
• Machine Monotone: Which helps add extra deadpan to his snark.
• Psychic Link: Has a unidirectional one that allows him to register Sousuke's mental state in real-time.
• Sapient Steed: Gradually grows into one, with Sousuke first realizing something is up when Al starts making unprompted information requests about Bani's death.
• Servile Snarker: Al appears takes much glee in annoying Sousuke.
• Taught by Television: He likes browsing the internet and analyzing broadcasts when idle, hence his much better grasp on humor and pop culture than his pilot.
• We Can Rebuild Him: Is rebuilt as the Laevatein after the Belial destroys the Arbalest.
• What Is This Feeling?: What finally gets Sousuke to start seriously acknowledging Al might not be Just a Machine is when Al starts describing symptoms of grief and survivor's guilt over the loss of his maintenance mechanic.
• You Can't Get Ye Flask: Al likes doing this just to mess with Sousuke.
  Sousuke: What is this!?
  Al: Learning Message. Please define the subject of “This”
  Sousuke: This unit’s jumping ability and the established—
  Al: Kidding. Quite something, isn't it?

Primary Response Team

Lian Shaopin

A PRT operator assigned to work with John to guard Gauron inside the TDD-1's detention cell.

• We Hardly Knew Ye: Gets assassinated by John a few episodes after he's introduced.

Tony

A PRT operator of Caucasian origin who debuted in The Second Raid. He gets killed during a hostage rescue op in the Cross-Yangtze Tunnel.^note This is the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge.

• Chekhov's Gun: His "Cretan's Paradox" joke became key for the unit to fall back and escape from the tunnel when things went bad.
• Original Character: Conceptualized by Gatou for the anime adaptation only.
• Too Dumb to Live: Tony didn't bother to check if hostage!Xia Yu Lan was hiding a weapon or such. To be fair, she was a woman and probably would cry harassment in her role masquerading as a hostage.
• We Hardly Knew Ye: Nothing is really known about him, except that he's with the PRT for a while.

Wu

A PRT operator of Chinese origin. He was assigned in the Hong Kong operation to take out Amalgam's operation before civil war would break out.

• Those Two Guys: Once with Yang in the Hong Kong arc.

Scientists

Nora Lemming

Nora Lemming

Voiced by: Yuriko Yamaguchi (JP), Monica Rial (FMP!), Kelly Manison (TSR!), Colleen Clickenbeard (IV!)

A 2nd Lt. and engineer at Merida Island who worked on the Lambda Driver, and examined the Codarl Arm Slave. She's one of the few scientists recruited from a non-military background.

• Likes Older Men: Is rumored to be in a relationship with Kalinin, but it turns out she's actually hooked up with (the also aged) Edward Sacks.
• You Remind Me of X: Whispers within the ranks of Mithril suggests that Nora looks like Elena, Kalinin's wife, when she was still alive.

Helicoper Unit

Teiwaz 12

Codename for a pilot team operating from the TDD-1 in a RAH-66 Comanche during the Balic raids.

• Big Damn Heroes: He provided Mao with battlefield data that Balic forces did have anti-ECS gear in The Second Raid. Without it, the Gebo units would be wiped out.
• More Dakka: He provided gunship support from the RAH-66 Comanche.

Gebo 5

Voiced by: Chiharu Sawashiro (JP), Ricco Fajardo (EN)

• Sole Survivor: Of the Gebo unit when Amalgam forces raided Merida Island.

Gebo 9 aka Lt. Eva Santos

Voiced by: Yukiko Mizuochi (JP), Giovannie Cruz (EN)

An experienced chopper pilot responsible for deploying Sousuke in the field. She gets killed when she was in Tokyo bringing in the Arbalest.

• Adapted Out: Eva's only seen in Invisible Victory.
• Big Damn Heroes: Clears Sousuke's alternate LZ by using her chopper's GAU-19 machine gun to wipe out Amalgam agents and the Alastors.
• More Dakka: Her Pave Mare's GAU-19 was put to good use in the events of Continuing On My Own.
• Remember the New Guy?: She's not seen a lot in the anime/manga adaptations, but she's mentioned a lot in the novels.

Other Staff

Peggy

Peggy Goldberry

The WPF's lone doctor.