Characters / Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans — Mikazuki Augus

Index | Tekkadan (Mikazuki Augus) | Gjallarhorn (McGillis Fareed) | Civilians and Other Organizations

Mikazuki Augus

Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi (Japanese, teenager), Ayaka Suwa (Japanese, young), Kyle McCarley (English, teenager), Karen Strassman (English, young)

Main mecha: TK-53 CGS Mobile Worker (white), ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos, ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos Lupus, ASW-G-08 Barbatos Lupus Rex

A young orphan and a member of CGS's Third Group, Mikazuki is the closest thing the show has to a main protagonist. As the Third Group's best pilot and Orga's right-hand man, he ends up piloting Gundam Barbatos — previously used by the CGS as a power source — in order to counter Gjallarhorn's attack on CGS. He is rather stunted both emotionally and socially, putting all his trust in Orga while doing whatever he asks him to without question. Utterly ruthless both in and out of combat, he's equally calm about killing his enemies in the heat of battle or in cold blood, but threatening people he cares about is a good way to piss him off. He doesn't enjoy fighting or killing for its own sake, however, expressing an interest in leaving the battlefield and becoming a farmer once he's done fighting for a living.

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A-B

• Absurdly Youthful Father: Gets Atra pregnant while they're both teenagers, and becomes a father posthumously.
• Ace Pilot: He's the best pilot in the Third Group, which is why Orga taps him for the job of piloting the Barbatos. Like most Gundam protagonists, he's a classic Steamroller, focusing on taking down his enemies with maximum speed and aggression.
• Achilles' Power Cord: Mikazuki can use the right side of his body if he's linked with the Gundam Barbatos, but that limits how far he can move away while retaining full control of his entire body.
• Action Hero: Mikazuki is the blunt object of Tekkadan, their greatest warrior who desires to protect all his friends and comrades the only way he knows how, through violence both in and out of a mobile suit. While he's not quite dumb, he's smart enough to know things like planning and strategy aren't for him, and as such is usually elsewhere when Orga, Biscuit and others are conducting important meetings.
• Admiring the Abomination: His reaction to the Mobile Armor is that it's beautiful.
• Affectionate Nickname: The people close to him call him Mika.
• An Arm and a Leg: Suffers a downplayed version by losing the use of his right arm and eye in the battle at the end of Season 1, and by Season 2 episode 13, his right leg as well, though they are still attached to him. Now he says he can only use them while connected to Barbatos. So far, he seems to be right about it. It's not confirmed if he legitimately cannot use them outside of the Gundam or if he simply thinks he can't, which in turn prevents him from doing so. However, everything on the right side is fully usable once linked up with Gundam Barbatos (even an umbilical cable can do the job, letting him linger outside the machine) so we know they aren't dead. They may simply have some form of mental block on them that Mikazuki doesn't understand (or care about), and simply works as best he can around them.
  • According to the side material the issue is that overuse of the AV system causes parts of his brain and nervous system to become dependant on it to function, hence why they work but only if he's connected to Barbatos and using the system. This might not necesserily be permanent but Mikazuki certainly isn't going to get any better still using Barbatos all the time and nobody really has the knowledge on how to repair that kind of damage anymore. Given that Gjallarhorn's founders were all Gundam pilots who regularly overclocked the system to fight mobile armors and didn't seem to share this problem, it's likely there IS some cure but Tekkadan obviously would never be in a position to find it.
• Animal Motifs: Barbatos goes motifs 3 times, first from a mobile suit with a slight goat motif (from it's namesake), to a Wolf as the Lupus (it's even in the name), to a wolf/large dinosaur hybrid as the Barbatos Lupus Rex ("King of Wolves", as McGillis calls it), each upgrade making it become progressively more demonic than it was initially. The Barbatos even howls during its final battle.
• Anti-Hero: A protagonist who mostly just does what he's told and has a chilling lack of mercy for opponents, but who nonetheless fights in service of his Tekkadan family and Kudelia's noble cause, and would rather not be a soldier if he had a choice.
• Arm Cannon: The Barbatos's 'fifth form', designed to counter the Kimaris, is fitted with a pair of two-shot rocket launchers beneath its forearms. When it reaches Earth, these are replaced with a pair of short-barrelled 170mm cannons, finally giving the Gundam a ranged option that doesn't compromise Mikazuki's Close-Range Combatant fighting style.
  • In Season 2, the Barbatos Lupus has a pair of 200mm guns mounted on its arms. The Barbatos Lupus Rex also has the same 200mm guns built into its ginormous forearms.
• Attack Drone: The Barbatos Lupus Rex has by far the simplest example in the franchise so far: a bit blade mounted on a tail-like extension on the back that was inherited from the Hashmal. It's connected to the Gundam by a flexible cable, and Mika makes damn good use of it in Season 2. See Beware My Stinger Tail below.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: In the final episode, he and Akihiro stand back to back against the Arianrhod Fleet. Also counts as a Dying Moment of Awesome.
• Beware My Stinger Tail: After it was rebuilt, Mikazukis' Mobile Suit ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex now comes equipped with Hashmals' Wire Blade that Mika can control.
• Beyond the Impossible: Hush comments that he somehow used the least amount of propellant despite moving around the most by far in a heated battle during Episode 28
• BFG: In a sharp contrast to most mobile suit guns, which are designed for mowing down tanks and infantry because of the difficulty in getting through larger targets' tough nanolaminate armour, the Barbatos's primary ranged weapon is a gigantic, suit-killing howitzer. It's still not immensely effective, but you really don't want to be on the receiving end of a point-blank shot from it, as one unlucky pilot found out the hard way.
• BFS: Downplayed. As part of its Mid-Season Upgrade from Teiwaz's engineers, his Barbatos gets an odachi almost as tall as the suit itself... but compared to the gigantic mace that was its previous melee weapon of choice, it looks positively delicate. The Lupus's 'sword mace' is a more conventional example, essentially a massive bar of metal with an edge, a point, and a handle that's as much bludgeon as blade. When he's confronting the Hashmal, Mika borrows Helmwige Reincar Greatsword from Isurugi and uses it to impale Hashmal.
• Big Eater: One thing he has in common with most Tekkadan kids, which might be justified by the CGS adults starving them on occasion. One major difference is his ability to seemingly metabolize it all directly into strength.
• Bigger Is Better: His Barbatos's twin reactors make it strong enough to effortlessly wield weapons that are huge even by mobile suit standards, and Tekkadan's engineers are only too happy to provide them.
• Bigger Stick: It's normal for a Gundam protagonist's suit to be one of the most powerful in the setting, usually as a way to offset the inexperience you'd expect from a Kid Hero, and the Barbatos is no exception, even if it is somewhat in need of maintenance at first. Mika, meanwhile, is part of that rare and fearsome subset who also know how to wield their Bigger Stick with deadly effect, making him one of the most dangerous people in the solar system almost from day one.
• Big Brother Worship: Treats Orga as if he were an older brother, one whom he admires more than anyone else.
• Big Damn Heroes: Several times in the series. So far...
  • for the First season: episodes 1, 9 & 24.
  • for the Second season: episodes 7, 11 & 12.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Mika's thick eyebrows accent his frank and serious nature, especially when he looks at you with that poker face while his eyes stare into your soul.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Downplayed trope. Not to the extent of Shinn Asuka but it's the larger principle that matters. Mika categorizes the world into two ways: allies to be protected and enemies to be destroyed. In his mind, if you're in Orga's way, get out or die.
• Blood Knight: Invoked by Kudal when he accuses him of enjoying killing people, an accusation that mildly disturbs Mika. However, it's ultimately played with. Mika does enjoy fighting, but not for the sake of fighting, instead he enjoys the fighting because he's good at it and wants to be as useful as possible to Orga.
• Brain/Computer Interface: Like all the primary combatants of the Third Group, Mikazuki has the Ālaya-Vijñāna system to directly link him to the machines he pilots. Unlike the rest of the Third Group, the link to the Barbatos is required to operate it, rather than just enhancing his skill with it. It uploads data directly to his mind, including giving him a first person view of what the Gundam sees. The procedure for getting the Ālaya-Vijñāna requires surgically-implanting and fusing the connecting nerve into the spinal column; which has a high mortality rate during the implantation process: even during subsequent implantations. Mika is the only one in the entire show that has THREE "whiskers" implanted in his back.
• Brains and Brawn: While Orga is no slouch physically either, Mikazuki is the brawn who backs up his leadership.
• Brutal Honesty: As long as you're not his enemy you don't have to be afraid of him, but he's not one for social tact — often very blunt and straight-to-the point when he has to say something.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: In episode 25, Ein is raging at Mikazuki for killing Lieutenant Crank, an event which Ein is obsessed with avenging by killing Mikazuki and the rest of Tekkadan, and even led him to allow himself to be wired into the Graze Ein to do it. Mikazuki's response is "Who the hell is Lieutenant Crank?" Ein is not pleased by this.

C-D

• Call to Agriculture: One of the first indications that there's more to him than being an emotionless killing machine is when he says that he'd like to become a farmer someday. He's quite happy to help Biscuit's family work on their farm in the meantime. Unfortunately, after his battle with Hashmal, that's no longer an option.
• Carry a Big Stick: When they first start to use it, Gundam Barbatos' primary weapon is an enormous (even by mecha standards) flanged mace. Once Tekkadan finally arrives on Earth, it's replaced with something even more nightmarish - a giant club that can fold out into a chainsaw-toothed pincer, letting it literally bite through enemy suits. Season 2 has the Lupus carry a hybrid sword-mace that manages to be even larger than both of its prior armaments. The Lupus Rex returns to form with a new mace similar to the Barbatos' first one...but even bigger.
• Chainsaw Good: The Barbatos's sixth form has one of these as its main weapon - a strange, fearsome-looking club-claw with a chainsaw serving as the 'teeth' of its 'jaws'.
• Character Development: While he is one of the more static characters in the show, he goes through some subtle but important development in learning about interpersonal relationships and falling in love.
  • In addition, he begins to show more awareness of his dependency on Orga leading to their mutually toxic friendship. At the end of the series after Orga dies and gives his last order, Mika shows agency of his own and interprets the order himself as to survive and live life to the fullest rather than fight to the bitter end.
• Chick Magnet: Downplayed—he only has two girls interested in him—but it's still remarkable that he got both Kudelia and Atra interested in him at the same time just by being himself, without any conscious effort.
• Childhood Friends: Met both Orga and Atra while young and has stuck by them ever since.
• Children Forced to Kill: Was forced to kill to protect himself and Orga even before they were trained as soldiers.
• Child Soldier: His exact age isn't clear, but he seems to be on the young side (even by the Third Group's standards) for a combat pilot, despite his skill.
• Close-Range Combatant: Guns are largely useless against the nanolaminate armour used by anything big enough to mount an Ahab Reactor (so, ships and mobile suits), which means most suits carry them to deal with smaller targets like shuttles, tanks, and infantry. Since Tekkadan uses Mikazuki as their dedicated mobile suit killer, that's not a concern - his job is to close with enemy suits as fast as possible and rip them apart, and he often doesn't go into battle with any ranged weapons at all, even when they're readily available.
• Clueless Chick-Magnet: Despite his Ship Tease with Kudelia and Atra, Mika has a very limited understanding of romance (and basic socialization in general), and is completely unaware of the potential threesome Atra is pushing him towards. By episode 41 he seems to have caught on to Atra's hints, and he and Atra make Kudelia an equal partner in their relationship in episode 47.
• Combat Pragmatist: He fights to win, with no qualms about "dirty" tactics like sneak-attacking from ambush, using enemy units as shields, and using clouds of dust or smoke to blind opponents. He also has no qualm with aiming directly for the cockpits of enemy units the moment he has a chance to.
• Combat Stilettos: The Barbatos is given stiletto style feet when optimized for Earth's gravity (despite the fact that would make its balance worse). Its upgrades, the Barbatos Lupus and Lupus Rex are built with even larger stiletto feet, the latter stated to contain Pile Bunkers.
• The Comically Serious: Most humorous moments with him stem from his lackadaisical attitude towards anything outside of the immediate problem and battle. His interactions with more socially aware characters like Kudelia, Gaelio, and Atra result in this behavior coming across as amusing.
• Consummate Professional: Mika for the most part cares only about helping Tekkadan survive and thrive in the world. And he ensures this by being Tekkadan's Ace Pilot, if that means killing enemies in as quickly a manner as possible, so be it.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Compared to the Nice Guy Bellri Zenam Mikazuki seems like a huge jerk. At first. His Hidden Depths slowly come out from below that blunt, brutally honest exterior.
  • Mikazuki also contrasts previous stoic protagonists Heero Yuy and Setsuna F Seiei. Heero and Setsuna both had solid education and at least a cursory understanding of politics; Mikazuki has none - he can't even read and even after Kudelia teaches him he's still disinterested in the wider background apart from protecting his Tekkadan brothers. Heero and Setsuna both move away from their horrendous Child Soldier pasts towards a better future and become better people by finding their inner understanding; Mikazuki never truly manages to reconcile with his past (due to his close connection to Orga, Orga's descent into delusion in season 2 disrupts any chance of Mika truly understanding what is the reason to fight for).
• Conveniently an Orphan: With no other family, he's fiercely loyal to Tekkadan.
• Cooldown Hug:
  • Received one from Kudelia in Episode 13, to which he repays with a kiss out of nowhere.
  • Gives one in episode 18 to both Kudelia (upon Atra's persuasion) and Atra (upon noticing that she was crying as well).
  • Ends up again at the receiving end of this in the Season 1 Finale, but this time with a double head pat from both of them. Though the positioning tends to lean more over A Lady on Each Arm.
  • Gives another one to Atra in episode 44, after the latter breaks down out of worry after having given an Anguished Declaration of Love.
• Covert Pervert: Mika starts off knowing very little about sex or babies because of his upbringing, and seems to react with detached curiosity when such things are explained to him; much of the time it seems to Kudelia and Atra that he doesn't look at them in a romantic or sexual way. Yet every once in a while, he does something unexpectedly forward showing he has been thinking about what he's learned: Kudelia is caught off guard in episode 13 when he kisses her and calls her cute, while a flustered Atra has to excuse herself to calm down and think things over after he suggests making babies together in episode 41. And that is topped in episode 47 when Atra suggests a Polyamory option that would make both her and Kudelia his girlfriends, which Mika accepts immediately. It would have lead to a Marry Them All ending had Mika not perished in the finale.
• Creepy Child: There are times when he seems to be... rather off, even by the standards of Gundam Child Soldier main charactrs. The most unsettling thing about him is the fact that, with very few exceptions, he remains calm and emotionless at all times.
• Creepy Good: At his core, Mikazuki is a child who wants to protect his friends. His skill and willingness to use violence make him seem like a monster or devil to his enemies.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Being an orphan who spent his early life on the street and later became a Child Soldier has definitely hardened Mikazuki's personality.
• Deal with the Devil: With Barbatos, of all things. Barbatos is mentioned as an ambiguously sentient machine, but during the final episode, Mika asked for extra power to take on the Graze Ein, and he got it at the cost of his right arm and right eye while not in Barbatos. Considering the name is taken from Ars Goetia, you can easily see it as Mika summoning a demon to help him defeat his enemy, who then took his arm and eye as payment. The fact that Mika could only use his eye and arm while connected to Barbatos further reinforce the image that 'the arm and eye are still there, they just don't belong to you anymore'. Even more disturbingly, his right eye activated WHEN NOT CONNECTED TO BARBATOS upon the reactivation of the buried autonomous Mobile Armor that Tekkadan found. In this setting, the Gundams were created specifically to destroy the Mobile Armors, making it look as if the Barbatos was looking through Mika's eye upon sensing an old enemy reawakening.
• Death Seeker:
  • A variant. He's a barely-literate child with virtually zero marketable skills other than his ability to kill people. Someone he trusts and respects plans to end all war. He's put two and two together, and no longer sees any value in his own life, because he believes he'll no longer be useful for anyone when the dust settles. Especially obvious after he loses the ability to use his right leg which, coupled with the similar disability of his right arm, leaves him unable to walk.
  • That being said, he grows out of this by late Season 2 thanks to Atra and Kudelia, and, after half of the remaining Tekkadan members wish to go on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge for Orga's assassination that will most certainly get them killed, he reminds them to follow Orga's last order: to live. He doesn't, however.
• Desperately Needs Orders: From Orga specifically. Overlapping with Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life because he feels that Orga's orders are the only thing that give him meaning. At the end he overcomes this via Character Development after Orga dies, unfortunately, he dies shortly afterward.
• Desperately Seeking A Purpose In Life: His final moments imply this is the reason he's so devoted to Orga. This is hinted at earlier in the series where he gets worried about Orga ditching him if he's not useful, implying that Mika '''needs''' orders from Orga to function. It can even be connected to Mika's vague goal of reaching "that place" Orga told him about as kids.
• Determinator: Even in the final battle, with Barbatos literally shot to pieces and Mikazuki already dead, his will keeps it moving forward! Julieta is shocked beyond words when she tears open the cockpit and discovers his body.
• Disability Superpower: A variant. The more of his body he "sacrifices" to Barbatos, the more of the suit's power he is able to utilize.
• Defiant to the End: His final moments in battle consist of him tearing through Gjallarhorn soldiers despite being fatally wounded and would've killed Julieta if not for the backlash of removing the Barbatos' limiter.
• Do Not Go Gentle: His reminding Tekkadan of Orga's last order echoes this. Encouraging Tekkadan to not start some Martyrdom Culture and instead live their lives to the fullest. Even after Mikazuki is hit by Dainsleifs he refuses to go down and die, it's only the backlash from releasing the limiter of the Barbatos that causes him to die from blood loss.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: He doesn't consider himself to be a victim and finds Crank's reluctance to kill him to be ridiculous.
• Double Tap: A habit of his when he's shooting things on foot, though he hasn't shown the same tendency in his Gundam.
• The Dreaded: Both as a soldier and as a human being, Mikazuki scares friend and foe alike. Both Orga and Kudelia have admitted in separate occasions they were afraid of Mika before getting to know him better. In the finale, Mikazuki's feat of defeating the Mobile Armor on the battlefield earned him the reputation of being "a demon." And in the final battle, he kills so many mobile suit soldiers that they end up having to use the Dainsleif on him and Akihiro to finally have a chance at putting him down.
• Dull Surprise: Downplayed. On the rare occasion Mika is shocked, it usually comes across as this. But he still shows some emotion just more subtle. Justified due to being emotionally scarred and stilted. Averted during his battle with the Mobile Armor, however.
• Dying Moment of Awesome: Fighting a rearguard action to safeguard the escape of the rest of Tekkadan, Mika puts up such a good fight that Rustal has to resort to a Dainsleif Orbital Bombardment. Yet before the dust even settles, Mika gets right back up, overclocks the damaged Barbatos again and unleashes such a smackdown despite the Barbatos falling apart around him that the Gjallarhorn troops facing him completely freak out and almost rout before Iok rallies them. Mika ultimately dies from blood loss.
• Dynamic Entry: Thanks to his willingness to immediately go for kill-shots, if Mika's required to make a dramatic entrance, it will involve someone dying messily, and he makes quite a lot of dramatic entrances.

E-L

• Emergency Weapon: A couple of them:
  • He never really gets used to the sword that Teiwaz give him as part of the Barbatos's Mid-Season Upgrade, and tends to use it as a last resort if he happens to lose his mace or smoothbore cannon. After yielding to the suit-munching temptations of the Montag Corporation's wrench mace, he never looks back. However, when the wrench mace is broken, Mika uses the sword to impale Ein.
  • The 170mm Arm Cannons on the Barbatos's fifth and sixth forms are a bit of a downgrade in firepower from the 300mm behemoth that previously served as its main ranged option, and lack its long-ranged accuracy, too. On the other hand, they're a way to knock an enemy suit off-balance while keeping the Gundam's hands free, and that's a real asset in close-quarters combat. By the time that the Barbatos has been remodelled into the Lupus for Season Two, though, the arm-guns have been upgraded in firepower enough to become primary weapons that make the Gundam a genuine threat at range.
• Emotionless Boy: To a disturbing degree. Mikazuki rarely shows expressions, even when he's about to butcher someone.
• Everyone Has Standards: Ruthless and insular as Mikazuki is, he's still voices his abhorrence to Gjallarhorn's massacre of hapless Dort forces.
• Fatal Flaw: Mikazuki lacks any sort of ambition or desire beyond doing whatever Orga tells him. Other characters, including Orga himself, wise up on this and begin voicing their own opinions over how wrong this is: Orga wonders what did he do to make Mika so loyal to him, Atra fears he will get himself killed fulfilling someone else's dreams and McGillis concludes that Mikazuki simply has no desire to change the world. In his final moments, he admits to Julieta that fighting for Orga is the only thing gave his life meaning. It's this lack of ambition that causes him to never doubt Orga for a second, even when Tekkadan should for everybody's sake.
  • Wrath as well. He consistently pushes for the most straightforward and violent option, even when doing so may not be the best choice long-term. His urging of Orga to take the quicker path to success, is what leads to Tekkadan's downfall.
• First Kiss: He kisses Kudelia on the lips after receiving a Cooldown Hug from her in episode 13. It's the first time he did that with anybody as far as we know, but unlike her he isn't the least bit shy or nervous about it.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: He grabs Orga by the neck to break him out of his Heroic BSoD.
• Good Luck Charm: Atra gives him a good luck bracelet matching her own. He occasionally smells it in times of stress, presumably because it reminds him of Atra.
• Happiness in Slavery: Mikazuki only does what Orga tells him; nothing more, nothing less. When McGillis asks him what does he want, regardless of what Orga says, he responds he will only want what Orga wants. It's this comment that makes McGillis realize Mikazuki has no ambition whatsoever. What this means when Orga dies however....
• The Hero Dies: At the end of the series he dies of blood loss from his mortal wounds, and while the official history may depict him as a demon, his surviving loved ones remember him as their hero. Notably, while he's not the first Gundam Protagonist to have lost their life^note The first actual main character death being Amuro Ray himself, albeit he's stated at only being "missing in action" post-Char's Counterattack, while Unicorn indirectly proves he died pushing back Axis, his passing is unique as it marks him as the first main character in a Gundam TV series to unquestionably die, moreso in the very same show where he debuted.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Downplayed significantly. The Barbatos starts out equipped with a mace, and doesn't get a sword until its Mid-Season Upgrade. Even after he has a sword available, though, Mika prefers the mace and only uses the sword as a smaller, lighter backup weapon. In Episode 21, when selecting a weapon, he complains that he finds the sword difficult to use and passes up on it in favor of a massive two-handed club/wrench hybrid that can crush a limbs with its jaws or be used to throw around other mobile suits. However, Mikazuki is unique among Tekkadan and its allies in using a sword at all, even as a second choice, so the trope is ultimately played straight. in episode 25, he finally figures out how to use it properly and wields it to deadly effect against Ein.
  • He zigzags this in season 2. Barbatos Lupus' main weapon is a sword-mace, which is a giant, heavy sword that is used more akin to his mace from season one. Ironically, while it does have dual maces, this time they are the sub weapon, not the sword/mace. Meanwhile, much of Tekkadan has upgraded to the Shiden which carries a sword and shield kit for melee.
• Heroic RRoD: He pushes the limit of Barbatos' Alaya-Vijnana system to kill Ein, which costs him both his sight in his right eye and the use of his right arm when unconnected to Barbatos. He does it again during the fight with Hashmal. This time it paralyzes both of his legs. He does it one last time in the finale since he was already dying due to Gjallarhorns' Orbital Bombardment before finally dying due to blood loss.
• Hidden Depths: Despite seeming upon first impression like a mindless warrior who thinks of nothing but fighting, but there's a lot more to him than that.
  • Mikazuki actually wants to run his own farm in the future if he ever retires from combat.
  • Although he outwardly seems oblivious to Atra's feelings for him, the way he reacts to her good luck charm at times suggests he might reciprocate in his own way.
  • He wants to learn how to read and write, as he plans to read as many books as he can. Particularly on farming. Season 2 shows he's even continued studying since the short Time Skip.
  • He also is implied, or at the very least is up for interpretation, to be only enjoying fighting, not because he's a Blood Knight, but because he wants to be useful to Orga and fighting happens to be the best way to be useful. It's shown that all the killing may be taking its toll on him. It's even mentioned how he would rather not be a soldier if he could.
  • In season 1, he reveals to Orga that he's been studying the engineering schematics on Barbatos and even trying to help out Tekkadan's mechanics Yamagi and Yukinojo on his own time.
• Idiot Hair: An odd case, since he's no more Book Dumb than the others, and sometimes even the Only Sane Man.
• Ignored Epiphany: Mika's small regret at killing people after Kudal's accusation clearly didn't take as he's back at killing people without looking back.
• Improvised Weapon: Barbatos's wrench mace is a massive wrench used to perform adjustments to the Barbatos. Mika uses it to rip Grazes in half with ease.
• Invincible Hero: Deconstructed. To start, he outsources all his morals to Orga, his superior. Kills his foes unceremoniously, a few of whom are morally ambiguous, because it's war. In addition, while Mikazuki himself technically never loses a battle, Tekkadan as a whole has lost on several occasions due to the show's aversion of a One-Man Army. In fact, the final stretch of the series shows that no matter how strong Mikazuki is, he can't defeat an enemy force with vastly more resources. Leading to Rustal using Dainsleifs to put him down and even that's not enough as it's the backlash and blood loss from removing the limiter on the Barbatos that ultimately kills him.
• It's Personal: In the narration, he mentions that he is usually impartial to his foes and simply kills those Orga tells him to kill. When Biscuit dies, he notes that now he'll kill anyone who gets in the way and then presses Orga into taking action.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mika is often rude and can be horrifically brutal in battle, but he cares very much for his friends and does whatever it takes to protect them.
• Katanas Are Just Better: After being refurbished by Teiwaz, the Barbatos trades out its enormous mace for a large but more conventionally-sized (for a mecha) odachi as its melee weapon of choice. The 'just better' bit is slightly played with, though - it's a superbly-crafted weapon, but it's not one Mikazuki is used to, so he has a bit of difficulty at first with learning not to use it like a big metal club. Then he averts this in season 2, when he goes back to using what looks like a giant speartip that he uses mostly to bash enemies with.
• Kick the Dog: Downplayed. When Crank asks them to kill him so his subordinates will be spared punishment for his failure, Mika doing so while Crank is thanking him shows how excessively ruthless he can be despite being a "good guy".
• Kick Them While They Are Down: Even if his opponent is already crippled, Mika never stops until the fight is finished.
• Kid Hero: Downplayed, as he's a teenager. Not only is he a Gundam protagonist (translation: teenage Humongous Mecha pilot with enough skills and firepower to wipe out small armies), but he's part of the rare subset who were superhumanly-skilled warriors before ever seeing the inside of a Gundam's cockpit. It's worth noting, though, that his lethal competence isn't portrayed quite as glamorously as this trope usually implies - in fact, it's sometimes played for outright horror. He is an emotionally-scarred child soldier, after all, and children are not supposed to be able to kill that easily.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: He nearly murders Gaelio with his bare hands when he thought they had hurt his friend's little sisters, Cookie and Cracker. Any time he sees one of his friends hurt or threaten sets off his Tranquil Fury.
• Lady and Knight: Very much a Black Knight to Kudelia's Bright Lady and even Orga's Lord. Inside his mechanized armor, he kills, brutally and without mercy, anyone the latter tells him or is a threat to the former's plans.
• Last Stand: In the finale, he and Akihiro stay behind to hold off the Gjallarhorn forces while the rest of Tekkadan escapes.
• Let Them Die Happy: In Episode 49 when a fatally injured Hush says to leave him behind and he'll catch up to him afterwards, Mikazuki still tells Hush he is counting on him in his final moments.
• Licked by the Dog: In Episode 41, one of Naze's babies crawls up to Mika and starts playing with him, suggesting that despite how dark Mika's character arc is getting by that time, he must still have a hidden gentle side that even a baby could recognize.
• Lightning Bruiser: The seventy-two Gundams of the Calamity War were distinguished by their twin reactors, giving them enormous strength and speed, and the Barbatos is jury-rigged with a Mobile Worker's Alaya-Vijnana system, giving it human-like reflexes. The combination makes Mikazuki a deadly foe indeed, and later upgrades like the Fifth/Sixth Form and Lupus add extra armour and thrusters to make the Barbatos even tougher and faster. The other Gundam Frames are shown to be just as effective, when actualized to their potential.
• Leitmotif: "Iron Blooded Orphans" "Hoping For You"

M-R

• Major Injury Underreaction: He's completely nonchalant about losing the use of his right arm and eye when not hooked up to Barbatos at the end of season one. And when he loses the use of the entire right side of his body when not hooked up to Barbatos at the end of season 2, Mika is relieved that he won't have to figure out what to do with himself when he no longer needs to fight. It's at this point when the rest of the cast realizes how self-destructive this attitude is.
• Mangst: Anytime Mika is visibly affected and expresses his concerns, it's usually very subtle. Case in point being after Kudal hypocritically accused him of being a Blood Knight, his hand is shown to be shaking afterwards from thinking about all the killing he does. Kudelia even notes that it must have taken its toll on him even if he doesn't show it.
• Master Swordsman: He's pretty much the opposite of this for most of the first season, with the Barbatos's odachi being his least favorite and worst-understood weapon. He finally figures it out in the finale, though, and once Season Two rolls around and he gets a sword better suited to his preferences, the results are spectacular, despite how huge and unwieldy his weapon is.
• Meaningful Name:
  • Mikazuki means "Crescent Moon". When he landed to the Earth and saw the moon, he learnt the meaning of his name for the first time.
  • With Orga now aiming for ultimate sovereignty of Mars, it's quite convenient that Mika's ride is being named Barbatos Lupus Rex^note "King" in Latin.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Unlike most other Gundams in previous seasons, Barbatos gets close to 5 of them in season 1 alone, albeit these are mostly additions of armor and weapons obtained from enemy units. Season 2 sees Mika get a proper upgrade to the Barbatos Lupus, which, due to all the damage it's received over the years, is practically rebuilt entirely by Teiwaz from the frame itself to the armor. Essentially it's a brand new unit with only the irreplaceable systems (such as the Ahab reactors and components that directly relate to their ability to sync) left in place.
  • After the Barbatos Lupus was severely damaged in the fight against the Hashmal, it gets overhauled into the Barbatos Lupus Rex, which is essentially another new suit besides the irreplaceable parts from the frame itself. It's outfitted with longer forearms (along with sharper claws to eviscerate enemy mobile suits, built-in 200mm machine guns and a pair of subarms to go along with them), sharper toenails (speculated to be made from the same material the Grimgerde's swords are made of), a pair of pilebunker heels and a mace made large enough to destroy warships with a pilebunker on each tip.
• More Dakka: The Lupus's revised Arm Cannon set are 200mm monsters with a blistering rate of fire, particularly by the standards of a show where most suit-sized guns are relatively slow-firing semi-automatics, and can effectively paralyse enemy suits with the constant stream of massive impacts they dish out.
  • Those can also be swapped out for a pair of Rocket Launchers, which are great for thinning out the Pluma horde that the Hashmal is summoning.
• Neck Lift: Delivers a rather terrifying one to Gaelio when he thinks the latter's car has run over the Griffon siblings.
• Nerves of Steel: To an extent that's both impressive and disturbing. In battle, he's basically a murder-robot that sometimes pilots an even bigger murder-robot - he's calm, analytical, spectacularly brutal, and excellent at compartmentalising potential distractions. Throughout the series, he never shows fear and only very occasionally shows visible anger, even in the most dangerous and stressful circumstances. It's very telling that his shockingly out-of-character Not So Stoic moment in his battle with the Hashmal consists of slightly raising his voice to insult it.
• Never Learned to Read: When a mechanic hands him the Barbatos' manual to look over, he just gives the guy a sad smile and hands it back. Being a Child Soldier in an entire unit of nothing but Child Soldiers, he's not alone in being illiterate. Eventually, Kudelia begins to teach him (and the other kids in Tekkadan) how to read.
• The Nicknamer: A dark example. He doesn't believe in learning the names of people he's about to kill, but recurring enemies will get half-hearted nicknames, like "Chocolate Man" for McGillis (a reference to his handing out some chocolate as an apology for nearly hitting Cookie and Cracker while driving around on Mars) and "Gali-Gali" for Gaelio (a possibly deliberate corruption of his first name).
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Frequently delivers these. He's a Combat Pragmatist with anger issues, and is perfectly willing to hit enemies as hard as he can and as often as he can until they're very thoroughly, visibly dead.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: A rare heroic version. If he wants you dead, then you're dead, in a very bloody fashion, and there will be no speeches or challenges that are going to make him slow down. Best example of this is when Carta Issue intercepts Tekkadan in Alaska. She challenges them to a duel and tells them they have an hour to organize themselves to do it. Mika's response? Say "you're boring" and slaughter Issue and her companions in the space of a minute.
• Number Two: He is Orga's triggerman. He later splits it with Eugene once the latter becomes Tekkadan's Deputy Boss, though when Orga dies, it's notably Mikazuki who rallies Tekkadan to follow through on his last orders.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • Given his utter devotion to Orga, his refusing Orga's order to not engage the Mobile Armor shocks Orga and show just how serious a threat it is.
  • In the subsequent fight, he shows a hint of visible anger beyond his usual Tranquil Fury, showing that his usually unbreakable control is gone and he's now capable of anything.
• Only I Can Make It Go: He set the Barbatos's Ālaya-Vijñāna system to such a high output the only other person who tried to use it immediately blacked out from the strain. No one else has tried to use it since.
• Pinball Protagonist: Played with. Mika's most major contribution to the story is to do whatever Orga tells him... and to do it with such enthusiastic ferocity that his fear of disappointing his best friend becomes Orga's Fatal Flaw. His most active intervention, the Get A Hold Of Yourself Man speech after Orga goes into a Heroic BSoD, only worsens the problem.
  • McGillis even notes with disappointment that he thought he and Mikazuki were kindred spirits, but realized that Mikazuki has no real ambition of his own. He simply uses his great power and skills for someone else's dreams and otherwise just meanders through his own life.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: He's a shrimp, but he lifted a grown man up by his throat and nearly strangled him to death with one hand.
• Polyamory: Mika is at the center of a Love Triangle between him, Kudelia and Atra. Unusually enough for a love triangle setup, the girls play Rich Suitor, Poor Suitor in terms of upbringing (Kudelia is from a fairly wealthy family, Atra is a street rat much like Mika) but the monetary status does not really play into the overall romance. The triangle eventually grows to the point Atra proposes to Mika and Kudelia to enter a polyamourous relationship after seeing Naze's harem (which both of them accept). Mika's eventual plan is to marry them both and retire to a farm after the fight with Gjallarhorn ends and the girls eventually do move to one such farm in the epilogue after Mika kicks the bucket, as a way to honor his legacy.
• Power at a Price: Gives his arm and eye to Barbatos in order to gain enough strength to kill Eins. Now he can only use them when attached to it.
• Power Limiter: As with all Gundam Frames, the Barbatos is equipped with a limiter that prevents the information feedback from killing its pilot. Mikazuki has shut it down twice; first in his fight against Ein in the season 1 finale, again while confronting Hashmal, and one last time in Tekkadan's last stand against the Arianhrod fleet.
• Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: The Barbatos starts as the most advanced weapon in Tekkadan's arsenal and gets the lions share of upgrades. In season 2 where everyone else gets a Mid-Season Upgrade, Barbatos gets two.
• Rasputinian Death: During the final battle, he not only took a direct hit from a Dainsleif, but also took at least three axes to the chest, his own tail to rather brutally remove said axes, several shots from Reginlaze Julia, explosion from Barbatos breaking apart, before eventually succumbing to the backlash of having removed the mobile suit's limiters.
• Red Baron: In Season 2, he has become known as the Devil of Tekkadan for his ferocity fighting on the front lines.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: After Mikazuki overclocks the Barbatos Lupus to fight Hashmal, its optics change from green to red. Mikazuki's own eyes also become red due to the massive bloodshot.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Among Tekkadan's MS pilots, he's the stoic Blue to both Akihiro's and Shino's emotional Red.
• Reflectionless Useless Eyes: By the end of season 1, his right eye is blind when not hooked up to Barbatos as shown by it's lack of catchlights, which return when hooked up.
• Rei Ayanami Expy: The first in the Gundam franchise, and a Gender Flip at that. He's emotionless, short in stature, has short hair, is a Child Soldier, has significant injuries, No Social Skills, Undying Loyalty to Orga, and to top it off, a mecha pilot. As an added bonus, his name means "Crescent Moon", which has connotations with the cold (like Yuki and Rei), and was an Imperial Japanese warship. Unlike other examples, though, he rarely becomes more humanly expressive, and this lack of development is played for drama.
  • As regarding his character design, he comes off as another Gender Flip of a Mutsuki-class destroyer (also his namesake), minus the eye color.
• Revenge Before Reason: He used to fight for survival, starting from Biscuit's death, whoever blocks his way is his enemy and he will shred them into pieces.
  "I don't care who you are, it doesn't change that you are my enemy."
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: When he swept down Carta and her squadrons on his own to avenge Biscuit's death. It also enters Extreme Mêlée Revenge territory as he only uses melee attacks and deliberately prolonged the beating instead of killing them quickly.

S-Z

• Shed Armor, Gain Speed: In order to chase up Graze Ein's agile maneuverability, Mika detaches the armor of Barbatos and resorts to his katana.
• Ship Tease: With Kudelia, whom he kisses in episode 13, and Atra, who made the good luck bracelet on his left arm (and outright asks him to make babies with her). He ultimately accepts both of them, and succeeds in having a baby with Atra before his death, Kudelia and Atra in turn getting married afterwards while raising their son, Akatsuki, together.
• Shoulders of Doom: The upgrades that the Barbatos gets over the course of the series are visually signified by changes in its shoulder armour. The 'doom' part comes, of course, from the fact that bigger and more impressive shoulders mean Mika has more and better ways to kill you.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Trying to distract Mikazuki with a Breaking Speech in the middle of a fight just isn't a smart thing to do. As multiple enemy pilots have found out, he'll just file it away for later consideration and then get right back to killing you. Given some of his enemies are sympathetic characters, this can also qualify as Shut Up, Kirk!.
• The Stoic: Doesn't show his emotions outwardly, but he does have strong opinions and makes them known through actions. This makes the payoff where he actually starts raising his voice a little during the Hashmal battle that seals his fate all the more terrifying.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: He's been guilty of this several times, thanks to those Mars palms. There's also those sandwiches made by Atra and Kudelia, which he's still chowing down on while revising his English and maneuvering the Barbatos through some tricky wreckage.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Cold and distant to most people, and not one for conversation most of the time. Atra and Kudelia are both capable of bringing out his warmer side.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: It turns out that he justifies his brutality through his faith in Orga's plan for Tekkadan's future, and he takes Orga's breakdown over the death of Biscuit extremely poorly because it might threaten that plan and retroactively make his own deeds worthless. Naturally, this ends up giving his friend an even bigger Sunk Cost Fallacy problem, eventually leading to Tekkadan's doom.
• Supporting Protagonist: Played with. Orga, Kudelia and McGillis are the ones really moving the story forward with their political agendas. However, Mika is the one pushing the story forward on the action front, as without him, Tekkadan stands no chance of even making it past the first episode or two.
• Tears from a Stone: When Mika is about to execute Carta with her own bent blade, the Barbatos can be seen shedding tears. Whether it is Berserker Tears from Mika or it being sad is another question.
• These Hands Have Killed: A subtle example. Kudelia is the first person to notice that his hands shake after killing someone, in one of several early indicators that he's not quite as much of a cold, remorseless killing machine as he appears... and that trying to be one is taking a serious toll on him.
• Together in Death: A platonic example. After Orga dies Mika's Death Seeker tendencies get ramped up and after he starts to die, he declares the the day the he met Orga was the day he was "born." The last we see of him, he's reunited with Orga once again.
• Toxic Friend Influence: Has a bit of a mutual one going with Orga. Because Orga promised him when they were young to take him to a new world, Mikazuki holds him to that promise. Mikazuki for his part, despite being perfectly willing to be used as a tool to fulfill Orga's dreams is also constantly pushing Orga more and more into callous thinking being the one to snap and force him out of grieving Biscuit's death and later disobeying Orga's orders against fighting the Mobile Armor. That being said, in the wake of Shino's Senseless Sacrifice and Orga's resulting frustration and grief from it, he shows awareness of his role in often pushing Orga to go far, even too far, and doesn't sound proud of it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He's frequently seen snacking on "Mars palms" (that is, Martian-grown dates).
• Tranquil Fury: If Mikazuki gets angry, this is the form it will take. No screaming, no yelling, no expressions of rage on his face; he speaks calmly and levelly, with only a slight edge to his voice and a cold fury in his eyes betraying his state.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Par the course of someone being a Child Soldier, but it really gets ramped up late in the series.
  Mikazuki: "Hey Orga, what should I do next? Is this our place? I won't stop until we get there. I can't stop.... Hey, how many should I kill? How many more until we get there? Tell me, Orga Itsuka. You'll take me there, right? What should I do next? Who should I kill next? What should I destroy next? If I can reach your goal, I'll do anything."
• Undying Loyalty: To Orga. He goes along with whatever he decides. "What are we gonna do, Orga?" No matter what Orga says in reponse, he will do it. It gets to the point by the second season, he's lost the use of his entire right side of his body and he's actually happy because that means he can just keep fighting for Orga. When when Orga dies, Mika decides to follow Orga's final order, that being "Survive and live happily at all costs."
• Unscrupulous Hero: A Child Soldier who has no qualm on killing, he does not have the concept of mercy when it comes to disposing enemies when they're still speaking, often gives vulgar nicknames to enemies who managed to survive his encounters. And he remains in an unnervingly calm mood all the time. Even his own friends admit he has to be handled with kid gloves at times.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Being a soldier who kills to survive and avenge his friends, Mika often takes ruthless solutions to deal with his enemies, however, his actions inadvertently contributed to Ein and Gaelio's Start of Darkness and the Cycle of Revenge between them, namely him mercy killing Crank as well as dishing out an Extreme Mêlée Revenge towards Carta.
  • In season 2, his destroying the Mobile Armor is what inspires McGillis to go ahead with his coup, which ends disastrously for all involved.
• Villain Killer: He killed some of Gjallarhorn's top officers such as Crank, Carta, and Ein, and took down the Mobile Armor. He nearly kills Julieta which put her out of commission for a few episodes.
• Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Seeing this expression on Mika's face is the surest sign that something's really pissed him off. Amusingly, it doesn't take much to snap him out of it.
• Wolverine Claws: The Barbatos Lupus Rex is upgraded with claws made of rare ultra-hard metal and enlarged, strengthened arms, giving them the power and precision to be effective weapons.
• World's Best Warrior: A lifetime of fighting, three Alaya Vijnana implants and control over a Gundam Frame (which gets upgraded twice) have made Mika one of the most skilled and dangerous pilots in the solar system. The only characters who can keep up with him are McGillis (and possibly Amida, given how she was able to outmatch the Reginlaze Julia despite piloting a much weaker mobile suit).
• Would Hit a Girl: While the entire Tekkadan already has no problem hitting women, Mika is worth a special mention. In the battle against the Turbines, when the rest were trying to defeat the Turbines without bloodshed, Mika fully intended to kill Lafter when battling against her, it was fortunately halted by Naze admitting his defeat and befriending the group. In the battle against Carta Issue, the Gjallarhorn officer who killed Biscuit, Mika immediately went for the kill and wasted her and her entire group. In Season 2, he has no problem fighting against Julieta as well.
• Wrecked Weapon: He gets the Barbatos's maces lost and/or destroyed so often that it becomes a dark, subtle Running Gag. It's particularly noticeable since most of his other weapons tend to fare considerably better. The wrench mace got it worse, getting pulverized by the Graze Ein's Pile Bunker.
  • The Barbatos itself is presumably this by the end of the series.
• You Shall Not Pass!: In the finale, he stays behind with Akihiro to hold off the Gjallarhorn army while the rest of Tekkadan retreat. He doesn't survive.