Number 9: Kira Yamato/Strike/FREEDOM/Strike FREEDOM Gundam

Personality & Character

Kira is a pacifist, yet despite his dislike of war and conflict, he is more than willing to fight if it means protecting his friends and loved ones. Due to his kind and sensitive nature, he is said to be too soft for war. As the series progresses, Kira becomes traumatized by the people he has killed and the ones he failed to protect, resulting in him to becoming obsessed with protecting the Archangel. After his fight with Athrun, Kira begins to wonder what needs to be done to end the conflict(s) and comes to realize that he needs to prevent as many tragedies as possible by trying to fight without killing anyone. However, he is still forced to kill on the battlefield.

In Destiny, Kira's overall personality is calmer, mature, and philosophical. He has gained respect from soldiers in Orb's military due to his piloting skills and being the brother of Orb's ruler. Kira often acts in a fashion which would best be described as being that of the reluctant hero; this maybe due to Kira not viewing himself as a leader type, being a Mobile Suit pilot, often leaving leadership decisions to Lacus or Cagalli.

Skills & Capabilities

Kira has a sharp sense and rapid information processing ability; He is shown to have great adaptability through his constant improvement of the Strike Gundam's incomplete OS to enhance its performance to match with the combat situation he faces, to include space, Earth's atmosphere, under water and desert environments. Kira has exceptional mobile suit shooting precision which has became the core of his piloting style, after acquiring the Freedom Gundam, as he always try to disable the enemy mobile suits without lethally harming the pilot by aiming for weapons or body parts except the cockpit. He was shown to be overwhelmed by the Providence's DRAGOONs at first; however, he was able to follow and predict the weapon's movement afterwards. By the end of the Second Bloody Valentine War, Kira was able to singlehandedly shot down all of the DRAGOONs from the Legend Gundam.

While lacking any true form of military training, Kira's fighting ability developed quickly and greatly as his time in combat increases, along with his mastery of SEED mode. In contrast to his piloting capabilities, Kira is shown to be inexperienced with handguns, preferring not to use them. He has to be reminded by Mu to remove the safety on his gun in episode 44 while in pursuit of Rau on Mendel station. By the time of the events of Gundam SEED Destiny, however, his handgun skills have improved significantly seen in the second assassination attempt on Lacus Clyne at Copernicus City on the Moon.