Gai Murakumo

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Gai Murakumo is one of the main characters in the manga series Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray. He is the leader of the mercenary group Serpent Tail.

Personality & Character

Gai is a man who always keeps his cool, staying calm and logical no matter the circumstances. He, and his mercenary group Serpent Tail, are so well known among his peers that anyone who intentionally interferes with their mission will be recognized as an enemy and eliminated on the spot. He will not tolerate any betrayal by the client, and if it is discovered, he will immediately break the contract, or in the worst case, he will try to eliminate the person in self-defense or retaliation.

Skills & Abilities

A top-class mobile suit pilot, Gai's combat abilities are more a result of his activities as a mercenary than of him being a Combat Coordinator. He also possesses excellent spatial awareness, which he keeps secret.

Physical Aspects & Clothing

History

Background

Gai was one of the early Combat Coordinators created by the predecessor of the Earth Alliance at the genetic research colony Mendel.^[1] However, he was considered a failure as he managed to break free of the mental conditioning and escaped. After destroying all forces that pursued him, he became a mercenary. He wears tinted sunglasses at all times to cover his Combat Coordinator retina identification code.

Campaign on the ZAFT Supply Route

In C.E. 71, Gai was hired to perform a series of hit-and-run attacks on ZAFT's supply depots. For this mission, he piloted a custom GINN that had extra large fuel tanks to increase the distance it could travel on its own. During the attack on the last supply depot, Gai battled the ZAFT ace pilot "Magic Bullet of Dusk" Miguel Aiman and his orange-colored custom GINN. The two fought to a draw, but Gai never lost sight of his true objective. He abandoned his custom GINN at the end of the fight and set it on a preset course to crash into the supply depot, successfully completing his mission.

Obtaining the Gundam Astray Blue Frame

Shortly after his mission to destroy the ZAFT supply depots, Gai was contracted to go to the remains of Heliopolis and destroy the remaining prototype Astray mobile suits and eliminate any witnesses. For this mission, Gai piloted a Moebius equipped with a Gatling gun. While searching the interior of the colony, Gai came across the Junk Guild tech Lowe Guele in the Astray Blue Frame. Lowe pulled off a tactic that destroyed Gai's Moebius, but not before the mercenary leaped out of it. Gai was about to kill Lowe when suddenly he had an emergency transmission from his partner, Elijah Kiel, who informed him that their employer has double-crossed them. Gai then took the Blue Frame and used it to fight off the Moebius units sent to kill Serpent Tail. After the battle, Gai wanted to return the mobile suit to Lowe, but the Junk Guild tech said he could keep it for saving his team's ship. Gai thanked him but warned Lowe that this wouldn't stop him from killing the tech if it's part of his mission.^[2]

Fighting at Boaz

After leaving Heliopolis, Gai was contacted by the Earth Alliance, who wanted to hire him for their mission to retake the asteroid base Boaz, formerly known as Nova. Gai accepted and supported the EA forces in his Blue Frame. During the battle, Gai fought against ZAFT ace pilot Mikhail Coast in his ZGMF-1017M GINN High Maneuver Type. The two were evenly matched, however, Gai was forced to fall back after the EA forces began their retreat. Following the battle, Gai began making modifications to his Gundam Astray Blue Frame, in response to running low on power and ammunition during the battle. He used weapons taken from defeated GINNs along with other armaments to create the Blue Frame’s Full Weapon Form.^[3]

Defending Artemis

After Artemis was breached due to the destruction of its lightwave barrier emitters, Gai was hired to defend the asteroid base until repairs were done. For the mission, Gai equipped the Astray Blue Frame with missile launchers and two recoilless rifles. These weapons provided a lot of firepower that used little energy from the Blue Frame's battery. Gai then defeated numerous pirate groups, preferring to destroy their engines and weapons than outright destroying them. It was his way of leaving survivors to tell tales that Artemis was still impenetrable. However, shortly after Lowe's Junk Guild team arrived in the area, Artemis launched a missile assault that destroyed the pirate ships. Garcia then ordered Gai to attack and capture Lowe's Astray Red Frame. Gai refused stating that the Junk Guild wasn't a threat. However, Garcia had taken Elijah hostage, forcing Gai to comply. During the battle with Red Frame, Gai went easy on Lowe and captured the suit when it was low on energy. Bringing Red Frame into the hangar, Gai suspected that Lowe caught onto a hint Gai left him. Lowe did and provided a distraction that allowed Elijah to get free with Gai threatening to destroy Garcia if he didn't revoke the contract.^[4]

Second Alliance-PLANT War

East Asia Campaign

After the start of the Second Alliance-PLANT War, Gai and Serpent Tail were hired by the Earth Alliance to battle ZAFT and guerrilla forces in the Republic of East Asia's Forest Preserve number 13. During this time, Gai upgraded his Astray Blue Frame to the MBF-P03third Gundam Astray Blue Frame Third

Battling Librarian Works

Gai had several battles with members of the Librarian Works using his MBF-P03R Gundam Astray Blue Frame 2nd Revise.

Relationships

Lowe Guele

Originally Gai thought very little of Lowe seeing him as none of his concern. They have fought against each other but not out of malice, they even fought side by side. Over time Gai would form a genuine friendship with Lowe coming to view him as a friend who helped him from time to time. Due to there friendship, Serpent Tail would form a sort of partnership with Junk Guild with Lowe tending to help upgrade many of Serpent Tails mobile suits.

Elijah Kiel

Erica Simmons

Gallery

Character Designs

Character Sheet

Personal emblem

Anime

Gundam SEED MSV Astray

Gai Murakumo, 25 (CE 71) (Blue Frame)

Novel & Manga

Unknown GINN used by Gai in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray (Novel)

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray R

In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray

Illustrations & Artwork

In promotional image for Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray B

Games

Gai and Lowe vs Gina

Notes & Trivia

• Shigeru Morita, who was in charge of setting up the SEED series, asked the question, "What kind of character is Gai?" in a conversation with Tomohiro Chiba, the author of the Astray series, and Chiba answered, "The strongest character in the SEED world." But Morita replied, "There can be nothing stronger than Kira."
• In Super Robot Wars W, Gai boards the Dominion and saves Natarle Badgiruel before Muruta Azrael can kill her. He takes off his sunglasses, revealing his identity as a combat coordinator to him, and tells Muruta that as long as he lives, more soldiers like Canard, Prayer, and Socius will be born, which he cannot allow. He then tells the Dominion crew to evacuate and helps Natarle off the ship, leaving Muruta to die.
• Gai shares his Japanese voice actor with Jerid Messa, Johnny Ridden, and the older Flit Asuno. Ironically, Gai's relationship with Gina is the reverse of roles from Inoue and Nobuo Tobita's roles as Jerid and Kamille Bidan respectively.
• Gai appears in the Extreme Vs. series as the pilot of his Blue Frame Second L and Blue Frame D. As a reference to his voice actor, Gai will be interested in Jerid's determination, while he also receives special attention from Zeheart Galette and Kio Asuno. Due to the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam's golden joints, he will initially mistake it for the Astray Gold Frame.
• In Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Tomo to Kimi to Koko de, it's possible to get Gai as a supporter for one level.
• In Gai’s first appearance in SRW W if the player mets certain requirements to save Tolle Koenig and Nicol Amalfi, Gai will be the one to save them mirroring Lowe saving Kira. To the point Gai even goes to Reverend Malchio to have him to tend too them.

Appearances

References

Gai Murakumo (CE 71) File 01 (Gundam Perfect Files, Issue 161, Pg 17)

Gai Murakumo (CE 71) File 02 (Gundam Perfect Files, Issue 161, Pg 18)

Profile from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray B English official site

External Links

• Gai Murakumo on Gundam Seed Astray Character page
• Gai Murakumo on Destiny Astray B official site

This article is part of Project: SEED

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