Characters / Overman King Gainer

This page describes the characters appearing in Yoshiyuki Tomino's Overman King Gainer and the tropes associated to them. Please help out with the blurbs.

Also, MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD! Proceed with caution.

Yapan Exodus

Gainer Sanga

Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima (JP), Darrel Guilbeau (EN)

• An Ice Person: Courtesy of the Overdevil in conjunction with Brainwashed and Crazy.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: More like Funny Declaration Of Love... Sara was not amused!
• Ascended Fanboy: Subverted in that videogame champion Gainer is perfectly aware of the difference between reality and fiction, and really does not like fighting.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Courtesy of the Overdevil.
• Heroic Neutral: The guy ended up fighting for Exodus despite being against it. And ended up a more mature person from that, too.

• I Know Mortal Kombat: Gainer learned how to pilot by playing video games, and he also improved by playing them.

• Nerd Glasses - which become Scary Shiny Glasses when the Overdevil controls him.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Cynthia, in both continuities. With Sara, in the manga.

• Refusal of the Call: He tried to get out of the Exodus in the first few episodes.
• Shaming the Mob: In Volume 5 of the manga, Gainer calls out a group of former Exodists who accused Gain of being the cause of their imprisonment, saying that Gain never forced them to go into Exodus.
• Supporting Protagonist: Well, not really... but quite often, it is Gain who ultimately wins the day. Gainer does achieve his own victories, though, so this trope only partially stands for him. Besides, most of the fights are about him and someone else.
  • Which makes perfect sense, if you think about it. Okay, Gainer might pilot a Super Prototype, but he's only been fighting in simulations, while Gain has years of experience despite being in a much inferior machine. Hard Work Hardly Works is averted.
• Turn the Other Cheek: When discovering that Gauli was the one who killed his parents, Gainer does not forgive him, but does not take revenge either, because he thinks it would be pointless.
• Victorious Childhood Friend: After a lot of misunderstanding and flip-flopping, he and Sara get together after the Overdevil's defeat.

Sara Kodama

Voiced by: Ai Kobayashi (JP), Colleen O'Shaughnessey (EN)

• An Ice Person: Courtesy of the Overdevil in conjunction with the Brainwashed and Crazy trope.

• Brainwashed and Crazy: Courtesy of Gainer after he had been taken over himself by the Overdevil.
• Can't Catch Up: A pretty decent pilot, but she's stuck with a Silhouette Machine for the whole series.

• The Empath: Towards Brunhild. Possibly a Shout-Out to Brain Powerd's Hime Utsumiya.
• Luminescent Blush: Gets this during Gainer's love confession in Episode 17...which every member of the exodus heard.
• Master of the Mixed Message: Loves Gainer back, but fails to come clear about it until the last few episodes.
• Platonic Life-Partners: With Gainer, in the manga. At least, as of yet.

• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Adette. The quarrels between the two are the stuff of legend!
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: And sometimes, Gainer has to remind her that reality may not be so nice.

Gain Bijou

Voiced by: Otoya Kawano (JP), Kirk Thornton (EN)

• Badass Normal: He's capable of taking down Overmen with an obsolete Silhouette Machine.
• Big Brother Mentor: He's more or less this towards Gainer.

• Gravity Sucks: His Emperanza's most powerful weapon.

• Improbable Aiming Skills: Which save the day more than once, actually.

• Mid-Season Upgrade: Emperanza, a one-of-a-kind Overman.

• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Asuham should know better than to try to deconstruct the motives of someone as badass as Gain Bijou...

Ana Medaiyu

Voiced by: Noriko Kitou (JP), Michelle Ruff (EN)

• Shipper on Deck: Was absolutely delighted when Gainer confessed to Sara in Episode 17.

Bello Korissha

Voiced by: Shuusaku Ohtake (JP), Derek Stephen Prince (EN)

• Can't Catch Up: Just like Sara, he doesn't pilot anything that could possibly fight against an Overman.
• Dogged Nice Guy: Poor guy is stuck in Sara's "friend zone". And he's probably there to stay.
• Expy: Of Kyao Mirao, a character of Heavy Metal L-Gaim.
• Hot-Blooded Sideburns: Definetely not as bad as certain other characters featured in the trope but he does still have sharp sideburns on either side.
• Improbable Hairstyle: Not as bad as certain other characters featured in the trope but still improbable nonetheless.

Hughes Gauli

Voiced by: Tohru Kusano (JP), Tony Oliver (EN)

• An Ice Person: Quite literally is frozen by the Overdevil at first.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He might be kind of obsessed with Yapan culture and ninjas, but when it's time to do his job, he does it well.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Courtesy of the Overdevil.
• Calling Your Attacks: He does this whenever he uses the Ninpou.
• The Comically Serious: It's incredible how he can remain stone-faced even in the most funny situations.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Gainer hung a lampshade on that in the manga.
  Gainer: An orange suit? Doesn't it kind of stand out?
• I Did What I Had to Do: His explanation for killing Gainer's parents.

• Otaku: A more well-adjusted version than most, though.

• Suicide by Cop: When he falls under Kashmir's control later in the series, and ends up endangering the City Units, he tries to convince Gainer to kill him, even by revealing that he was the one who killed his parents. However, it doesn't work, as Gainer opts for Taking a Third Option.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: An heroic example - he gives priority to the Exodus over everything else. If that means sacrificing some people, or even himself, he won't hesitate - though he won't be proud of it.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gets one of these from Gain - who actually punches him for his killing of Gainer's parents.

Siberian Railroad / St. Reagan / London IMA

Asuham Boone

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (JP), Doug Erholtz (EN)

• Berserk Button: "GAAAAAAIN!"

• Big Brother Instinct: He only, well, almost caused The End of the World as We Know It for her.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Gain has a one night stand with my sister? I'll pursue him in the frozen lands, try to capture him at the cost of putting innocent lives in danger, and when that fails, I'll awaken the Overdevil and destroy the world.
• Hannibal Lecture: Asuham tries one on Gain in the manga, showing him a concentration camp filled with captured Exodists, and telling him that Gain is to blame for their condition, and for instilling in them false hope of a better life through Exodus. Gain, however, shrugs the lecture off.
• Impossible Thief: His Jinba's Overskill allows him to "steal" objects at a distance... which includes mechanical parts!
• Karma Houdini: Despite his cruel actions as the main antagonist, he gets off scot-free.

• Knight Templar Big Brother: Deconstructed. His Knight Templar attitude results in mass Disproportionate Retribution and chaos to everyone around him, ending in a Motive Decay. Additionally, he didn't even consult his sister about her opinion on the situation.
• Manipulative Bastard: To a smaller extent than others, but still...

• Poor Communication Kills: If only Karin had told him that was a one-night stand...

• Super-Strength: His Power Golem's Overskill.
• The Worf Effect: After he has been estabilished as a fearsome opponent even Gainer has to struggle against, Cynthia comes and curb stomps him.

Zakki Bronco

Voiced by: Richard Cansino (EN)

• The Dragon: He serves as Asuham's second-in-command.
• Harmless Freezing: In the finale. Though Yassaba, in a moment of Comedic Sociopathy, suggests leaving him for dead...
• Satellite Character: He's Asuham's right hand man. And...that's it. You could take him out of the story, and nothing would change...

Jin Yassaba

Voiced by: Hisao Egawa (JP), Michael McConnohie (EN)

• Cool Old Guy: Not that old, but he does fit.
  • Apparently this was why he was dropped as a character - he's too cool in a world without many cool adults and was threatening to overshadow the others. (The director even apologized to Hisao Egawa for this.)

• Freudian Excuse: The reason why he's so dedicated to stopping Exodi from taking place? His parents went into one, and he was discriminated and bullied by other children for that.

• Kill It with Fire: One of his Overman's weapons.
• Manchild: Weird example; he seems to bounce between acting like an immature kid and an extremely stern and capable pilot and leader.
• Manly Tears: When Adette defends him from his ungrateful underlings, he melts into water works...

• Pet the Dog: During his forced stay in a city unit, he saves an impoverished little girl from being bullied and begins to act as a surrogate father figure to her. He later travels with her to her homeland.
• Time Stands Still: His Rushrod's Overskill. Sort of; anything that crosses paths with the attack will stop dead in its tracks.
• Younger Than They Look: He's 32, but looks much older than that.

Adette Kirstler

Voiced by: Marika Hayashi (JP), Wendee Lee (EN)

• Cool Big Sis: Even the other Railroad officers call her "big sister" and becomes one with Gainer.
• Heel–Face Turn: A pretty abstract one with little to no reason given and made up mostly of Contrived Coincidence even though it's spread over several episodes.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Adette is bossy, arrogant and rude, but genuinely cares about her students and other people.

• The Mole: Tries to be this at first, but Gain sees through her act. And still gets a brief date with her...
• Manchild: Especially in regards to her rivalry towards Sara. Not that Sara herself is much more mature, mind you...
• Ms. Fanservice: Her suit emphasizes her assets, to say the least. She tried to get Gainer to wear a similar one at one point.
• The Power of Love: How Adette breaks Gauli free from his brainwashing.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Very sound in judgment and willing to listen to her students and Gain.

Kashmir Valle

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (JP), Chris Kent (EN)

• Dirty Coward: Kashmir is supremely dedicated to stay out of the line of fire.

  "If I don't fight, I can't lose!"

• Improbable Hairstyle: You wouldn't think an highly-placed St. Reagan officer would sport a mohawk, of all things.

Kejinan Datto, Enge Gam and Jaboli Mariela

Kejinan voiced by: Hiroshi Kitazawa (JP), Dave Wittenberg (EN)
Enge voiced by: Tsuyoshi Koyama (JP), Richard Epcar (EN)
Jaboli voiced by: Maki Tamura (JP), Karen Strassman (EN)

• Anguished Declaration of Love: Kejinan to Adette while holding her captive with his Overman. He was utterly shot down.

• Bishōnen: Kejinan tried to be one with his Overman's illusionary powers in the Anguished Declaration of Love above. It just makes him look ridiculous.

• Country Mouse: Jaboli again, as Word of God says. Personality-wise, though, she's not quite as naive. Kejinan and Enge are also hinted to have been born in the boonies.
• Despair Event Horizon: Played for laughs when Kashmir tested his new Overman whose overskill is to lower morale and cause doubt in people's minds. They forgot their helmet.
• Elite Mooks: They pilot a trio of low-level Overmen who still manage to give some trouble to Gainer...
• Eyepatch of Power: Enge...though the power part is debatable...

• Jerkass: Kejinan again. He's not evil, mind you, but good luck getting along with such a self-centered cad!
• Only Sane Man: Jaboli again. Poor girl, being forced to put up with Kejinan and Enge...
• Punch-Clock Villain: They work for the paycheck and for the chance of getting a promotion. That's it. They even considered quitting the job at various points in the show.

• What Do You Mean, It's Not Symbolic?: Their Overmen are often compared to a trio of flying Buddhas...

Cynthia Lane

Voiced by: Rena Mizuki (JP), Tara Malone (EN)

• An Ice Person: Courtesy of the Overdevil in conjunction with the Brainwashed and Crazy trope.
• Ascended Fangirl: Played for drama, in that Cynthia (at first) doesn't understand that people can actually die in battle.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Courtesy of the Overdevil.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In which she utterly PWNS Asuham.

• Girlish Pigtails: Of the "immaturity" type.

• My God, What Have I Done?: When Gainer actually gets hurt during their battle and Sara calls her out on that, Cynthia is devastated.

• Sweet Tooth: She is often seen snacking on candies or such.

• "Well Done, Son" Guy: She works for President Munt because he's her surrogate father and she wants to repay him for his kindness.

President Kids Munt

Voiced by: Seiji Sasaki (JP), James Lyon (EN)

• Big Bad Ensemble: Shares this role with Asuham, although Munt is a lot more evil.
• Evil Tastes Good: He's a glutton, alright.

• Obviously Evil: Yoshiyuki Tomino himself stated that he wanted Munt to look evil.
• Pet the Dog: He adopted Cynthia and was like a father to her.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: His fate at the end of the series is not very clear. He's possibly been absorbed by the Overdevil, but no definite word is given.

Others

Meeya

Voiced by: Yumiko Nakanishi (JP), Kate Higgins (EN)

• Genius Ditz: Is wise, but acts like a Cloud Cuckoo Lander or Genki Girl at times, to the irritation of her manager.

Brunhild

The Overdevil

• Brainwashed and Crazy: It can make people like this, alter their bodies, and control them as it likes.

• Expy: It is possible (and I repeat, possible) that Father Llymic, an alien monster from the Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 manual Elder Evils, might be an Expy of the Overdevil, since the two horrors share similar powers and abilities. Of course, it could all be an incredible coincidence...

• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: I mean, wouldn't you be afraid of something called "The Overdevil"?

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