Kai Shiden
Encyclopedia
was one of the supporting characters in the classic anime
TV series Mobile Suit Gundam
.
Kai's name is derived from the name of a World War II era Japanese fighter plane, the Kawanishi N1K2-J
Shiden-Kai.
in UC 0079, Kai Shiden lived in the space colony Green Oasis in Bunch 1 of Side 7
. Kai Shiden is tall and lanky in stature with a mop of gray hair, and his snarky and sarcastic personality often gets him scolded or slapped around. After surviving the Zeon attack on Side 7, Kai evacuated to the Pegasus class assault carrier SCV-70 White Base
to make his escape. However, due to a shortage of crew and soldiers to staff the battleship Kai was asked to become a pilot to help defend the White Base from the frequent Zeon attacks. Kai was assigned to pilot the RX-77 Guncannon
mobile suit, the unit he would remain in charge of for the rest of the One Year War.
A natural coward, cynic, and pessimist, Kai could often be found hiding on the sidelines making smart-alecky comments. His fighting style leaned towards bombarding foes with the Guncannon's long-range armaments, but when he got in a fix he had shown that he was able to pull off hand-to-hand attacks with the Guncannon. He dislikes it when things move slowly. However, Kai quickly became disenchanted with war and he decided to desert the White Base when it was docked for repairs in Belfast, Ireland. Outside of Belfast, Kai met a young girl named Miharu Ratokie, and agreed to sneak her onto the White Base and took her to the Earth Federation
headquarters in Jaburo, located along the Amazon River in South America. Kai is actually quite clever as he was able to figure out Miharu was actually a hired Zeon spy sent to infiltrate the White Base and discover Jaburo's location.
During the White Base's travel over the Atlantic Ocean
Kai began to have feelings for Miharu. But a sudden Zeon attack on the White Base over the Atlantic forced Kai to take desperate measures to protect the ship, and he and Miharu went out in a Gunperry transport plane. When the Gunperry got damaged, Miharu was forced to help firing the plane's missiles manually, but was knocked from the Gunperry by the missiles' exhaust blast, and fell to her death in the Atlantic Ocean. When Kai returned to the White Base he was much more somber, torn apart on the inside by Miharu's death.
This caused a transformation in Kai. Realizing he could not stay depressed for the rest of his life, Kai came to understand that he had friends to fight for and protect if they were all to survive the war. Kai became galvanized and his cowardice disappeared; this combined with his accrued combat experience made him a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the series.
After the One Year War ended, Kai Shiden became a freelance journalist and investigative reporter. In UC 0087, during the events of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
, Kai began to investigate the Titans military organization. During a covert mission to discover why the Titans were evacuating their base in Jaburo, Kai met AEUG spy Reccoa Londe who was scouting ahead of a coming AEUG attack force. However Kai and Reccoa were captured by Titans forces and imprisoned in Jaburo. Luckily they were not executed, but unbeknownst to them a nuclear bomb was set as a trap to destroy the coming AEUG forces attacking Jaburo.
Fortunately AEUG pilot Kamille Bidan discovered the bomb beneath the base and was able to release Reccoa and Kai in time. With the help of former White Base pilot Hayato Kobayashi the AEUG was able to escape from Jaburo before the nuclear weapon obliterated the base.
Throughout the remainder of the Gryps Conflict Kai took a minor role, co-ordinating messages between the AEUG and the Karaba resistance group run by Hayato, as well as some slight information gathering. Most notably, he slipped his AEUG allies a note informing them of fellow AEUG member Quattro Bajeena's true identity as Char Aznable
. He is later seen talking with Sayla Mass
.
Despite his cowardice and smart-aleck nature, Kai was easily the second-best mobile suit pilot on White Base after Amuro, proven when he accurately shoots a Z'gok that was leaping from the water at high-speeds with the Guntank's slow-firing heavy cannons, a feat Hayato never matches in said suit. His Guncannon is also the only one of White Base's mobile suits to survive the battle of A Baoa Qu (albeit heavily damaged) and would later be seen in Hayato's war museum in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
.
Interestingly enough in the novelization of the original series, he is the only White Base pilot to survive the war and the only member of the crew to remain with the Federation forces.
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
TV series Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam
is a televised anime series, created by Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting Network on April 7, 1979, and lasted until January 26, 1980, spanning 43 episodes...
.
Kai's name is derived from the name of a World War II era Japanese fighter plane, the Kawanishi N1K2-J
Kawanishi N1K-J
The Kawanishi N1K Kyōfū was an Imperial Japanese Navy floatplane fighter. The Kawanishi N1K-J Shiden was an Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service land-based version of the N1K...
Shiden-Kai.
History
At the onset of the One Year WarOne Year War
The is a fictional conflict from the Universal Century timeline of the anime Mobile Suit Gundam metaseries. The One Year War is very similar to World War II, the major difference being that The One Year War is in a science fiction setting and some major battles occurred in space...
in UC 0079, Kai Shiden lived in the space colony Green Oasis in Bunch 1 of Side 7
Space Colony (Gundam)
In the fictional Gundam anime metaseries, space colonies play a pivotal role in ever-changing stories. Below is an explanation of the colonies in each of the Gundam timelines.-Universal Century:...
. Kai Shiden is tall and lanky in stature with a mop of gray hair, and his snarky and sarcastic personality often gets him scolded or slapped around. After surviving the Zeon attack on Side 7, Kai evacuated to the Pegasus class assault carrier SCV-70 White Base
White Base
The White Base is a fictional spaceship from the Japanese science fiction anime series Mobile Suit Gundam. It serves as the mothership of the protagonist crew members and the famous mobile suit Gundam...
to make his escape. However, due to a shortage of crew and soldiers to staff the battleship Kai was asked to become a pilot to help defend the White Base from the frequent Zeon attacks. Kai was assigned to pilot the RX-77 Guncannon
RX-77 Guncannon
The RX-77 Guncannon is a fictional mobile suit from Mobile Suit Gundam anime series, originally designed and illustrated by Kunio Okawara. One of earliest mecha designs in the Real Robot genre, Guncannon's concept of a heavily armored humanoid machine with dual shoulder cannon became the...
mobile suit, the unit he would remain in charge of for the rest of the One Year War.
A natural coward, cynic, and pessimist, Kai could often be found hiding on the sidelines making smart-alecky comments. His fighting style leaned towards bombarding foes with the Guncannon's long-range armaments, but when he got in a fix he had shown that he was able to pull off hand-to-hand attacks with the Guncannon. He dislikes it when things move slowly. However, Kai quickly became disenchanted with war and he decided to desert the White Base when it was docked for repairs in Belfast, Ireland. Outside of Belfast, Kai met a young girl named Miharu Ratokie, and agreed to sneak her onto the White Base and took her to the Earth Federation
Earth Federation
The is a fictional organization in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam anime series. The name also made a reappearance outside of the Gundam series in following media.* Godzilla vs...
headquarters in Jaburo, located along the Amazon River in South America. Kai is actually quite clever as he was able to figure out Miharu was actually a hired Zeon spy sent to infiltrate the White Base and discover Jaburo's location.
During the White Base's travel over the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
Kai began to have feelings for Miharu. But a sudden Zeon attack on the White Base over the Atlantic forced Kai to take desperate measures to protect the ship, and he and Miharu went out in a Gunperry transport plane. When the Gunperry got damaged, Miharu was forced to help firing the plane's missiles manually, but was knocked from the Gunperry by the missiles' exhaust blast, and fell to her death in the Atlantic Ocean. When Kai returned to the White Base he was much more somber, torn apart on the inside by Miharu's death.
This caused a transformation in Kai. Realizing he could not stay depressed for the rest of his life, Kai came to understand that he had friends to fight for and protect if they were all to survive the war. Kai became galvanized and his cowardice disappeared; this combined with his accrued combat experience made him a force to be reckoned with for the rest of the series.
After the One Year War ended, Kai Shiden became a freelance journalist and investigative reporter. In UC 0087, during the events of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
is a television anime, part of the Gundam series and a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The show was created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, with character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, while the series' mechanical designs is split amongst Kunio Okawara, Mamoru Nagano, and Kazumi Fujita...
, Kai began to investigate the Titans military organization. During a covert mission to discover why the Titans were evacuating their base in Jaburo, Kai met AEUG spy Reccoa Londe who was scouting ahead of a coming AEUG attack force. However Kai and Reccoa were captured by Titans forces and imprisoned in Jaburo. Luckily they were not executed, but unbeknownst to them a nuclear bomb was set as a trap to destroy the coming AEUG forces attacking Jaburo.
Fortunately AEUG pilot Kamille Bidan discovered the bomb beneath the base and was able to release Reccoa and Kai in time. With the help of former White Base pilot Hayato Kobayashi the AEUG was able to escape from Jaburo before the nuclear weapon obliterated the base.
Throughout the remainder of the Gryps Conflict Kai took a minor role, co-ordinating messages between the AEUG and the Karaba resistance group run by Hayato, as well as some slight information gathering. Most notably, he slipped his AEUG allies a note informing them of fellow AEUG member Quattro Bajeena's true identity as Char Aznable
Char Aznable
, born is a fictional character from the Gundam franchise. He is originally one of the main antagonists in Mobile Suit Gundam and later becomes one of the protagonists of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In his final appearance in Char's Counterattack, he assumes leadership of the Neo Zeon movement,...
. He is later seen talking with Sayla Mass
Sayla Mass
, is a fictional character from the Universal Century Gundam universe, first appearing in the groundbreaking 1979 43-episode anime series Mobile Suit Gundam...
.
Despite his cowardice and smart-aleck nature, Kai was easily the second-best mobile suit pilot on White Base after Amuro, proven when he accurately shoots a Z'gok that was leaping from the water at high-speeds with the Guntank's slow-firing heavy cannons, a feat Hayato never matches in said suit. His Guncannon is also the only one of White Base's mobile suits to survive the battle of A Baoa Qu (albeit heavily damaged) and would later be seen in Hayato's war museum in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
is a television anime, part of the Gundam series and a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The show was created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, with character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, while the series' mechanical designs is split amongst Kunio Okawara, Mamoru Nagano, and Kazumi Fujita...
.
Interestingly enough in the novelization of the original series, he is the only White Base pilot to survive the war and the only member of the crew to remain with the Federation forces.