13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Protagonists / Characters

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/ThirteenSentinelsAegisRimProtagonists

13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim
Protagonists | Supporting Cast

(from left to right) Ryoko Shinonome, Shu Amiguchi, Iori Fuyusaka, Juro Kurabe, Natsuno Minami, Takatoshi Hijiyama, Nenji Ogata, Yuki Takamiya, Keitaro Miura, Megumi Yakushiji, Ei Sekigahara, Tomi Kisaragi, Renya Gouto

Due to the fact that otherwise most of the page would be whitened out, ALL SPOILERS ARE UNMARKED. You have been warned

The 13 playable characters that you cycle between through the game, each having their respective plots and arcs that develop and crisscross throughout the game.

open/close all folders

In General

Alternate Self: All of the 13 Sentinel pilots are actually clones of the original members of the Ark Project, meant to carry on the survival of the human race. And this is not even talking about their multiple virtual alternate selves.
Balance Buff: The Nintendo Switch version of the game gave each protagonist two new unlockable armaments to compensate for how turrets, interceptors, and armor-ignoring attacks were nerfed in it. A majority of them are straightforward upgrades to existing weaponry such as Juro's Elite Plasma Cutter, give characters abilities they didn't have such as Tomi getting the Super Long Range Missile, or encourage alternate playstyles like in the case of Yuki's Active Cooling Device.
Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick:
- Balance for the second gens. They have the widest array of weapons, including support weapons, close combat weapons and ranged firepower, but outside of their turrets they don't really excel at much.
- Power for the first gens. They hit really hard and move really fast, but lack effective ranged options and their only support options (their EMPs) are basically just there so they can punch even more stuff.
- Skill for third gens. They're by far the most EP hungry class, and a lot of their weapons require lining up, good timing and good tactical planning to make up the deficit. If this works out, however, they'll obliterate enemies in a Macross Missile Massacre.
- Gimmick for the fourth gens. They have the ability to fly, completely changing how they approach movement, and their abilities are quite an eclectic mix that can be pretty hard to get to grips with without effectively building characters to make the most of them.
Comeback Mechanic: Certain Pilot Skills grant their users bonuses if the city or terminal is damaged enough. A number of the protagonists also receive buffs if they or their allies sustain enough damage.
Dead Alternate Counterpart: Aside from the original scientists of Project Ark, Juro Izumi (Juro Kurabe) and Chihiro Morimura (Iori Fuyusaka) are the only survivors from the virtual landscape cast before the first loop. And Tetsuya Ida (Shu Amiguchi) is the only survivor from before the second loop, not counting Miura (BJ) and Tomi's (Miyuki Inaba) AI counterparts.
The Determinator: They all will stop at nothing to take down the Deimos down, no matter how strong said Deimos actually is.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: All the melee-focused first-generation Sentinel pilots are boys, whereas two out of three range attack-focused third-generation Sentinel pilots are girls. Yuki is the only one that subverts this, with her unique skills and armaments making her 4th Generation Sentinel more optimized for melee combat. However it's worth nothing that in many cases people do not pilot their original sentinel, such as Iori's piloting Ei's Generation 2 Sentinel.
Humongous Mecha: The robots they pilot, called "Sentinels", are dozens of meters tall and can take on the also-collossal Deimos.
I Work Alone: A number of the pilots like Sekigahara and Megumi get stat boosts when they're fighting apart from the main group. Others like Yuki receive more enhancements the smaller the active party is.
Limited Wardrobe: Almost none of them are ever wearing something that's not a school uniform - or nothing at all if piloting a Sentinel. Natsuno occasionally averts this by switching between her school and track uniforms, though she still dons her track clothes in most of her scenes. And Takatoshi averts it when his flashbacks to 1945 show him wearing a military uniform before he scavenges for a school uniform in the 80s, and even then he only wears that one school outfit the entire rest of his route.
Locked Out of the Loop: Each of them only knows so much about the setting and conflict based on what they learn in their respective storylines, which means that by the final battle some are still being caught up on important details like how the Sentinels came to be or that they're in a simulation.
No Experience Points for Medic: Pilots are awarded experience points based on the ratio between how much they’ve damaged the kaiju and how often they’ve received damage while acting as members of the strike team. They aren’t allotted any for protecting the terminals on the defensive team or supporting their allies through shields and repairs. This encourages the player to have all the team members they control participate in combat in some way, which is further incentivized by how killing hordes of weaker kaiju or larger targets can net Sentinels more EP faster to use costlier armaments.
Non-Uniform Uniform: Justified. Most characters wear school uniforms from Sakura High, but since they also come from different times, visual changes are inevitable due to uniform updates and fashion trends (for example, Megumi and Tomi both employ Zettai Ryouiki because they come from a period that is closest to modern times). The sole exceptions are Yuki, who's from another school but is acting undercover, and Hijiyama, who had to steal his uniform from someone from another school due to his old Sakura High one becoming rags when he first time-traveled.
The Power of Friendship: Most of the characters have pilot skills that activate in relation to their close friends.
The Power of Love: Some characters have pilot skills that activate in relation to their love interests.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits:
- In order: a surly, pompadoured delinquent with a soft heart; a hypermasculine WWII cadet deep in the closet; an aloof time-traveling Action Hero recovering from amnesia; an Ordinary High-School Student reconstructed from a charismatic mech pilot; a kindly, hopeless romantic caught up in a brain-altering scheme; an ace pilot from the future whose mind is fracturing by the second; a bubbly sci-fi geek who becomes a seasoned time traveler; an earnest-to-a-fault WWII cadet stranded in the future; a stubborn and sharp-tongued stream musician taking refuge from a doomed era; a shy Yamato Nadeshiko ruthlessly following orders from a talking cat; a combative Sukeban roped into a top-secret investigation, a stoic high school prodigy trying to uncover a millennia-old conspiracy, and a womanizing playboy hearing voices from an idol singer in his TV.
- Beyond surface differences and incompatibilities, the pilots are clones of fifteen individuals who were trying to help or hinder Project Ark (and towards the end, there was even some overlap between these groups), with the antagonistic antecessors being included as the program was meant to salvage as much raw human genetic material as it could, and they were among the only survivors of the nanomachine plague that destroyed the world at the time.
Reincarnation Romance: Zig-zagged. Sometimes, different iterations of the same characters repeat their relationships without any meddling, as with Natsuno and Miura or Okino and Takatoshi falling in love just like their counterparts, despite vast gulfs in perspective brought about by their growing up in completely different cultures and time periods from both their original selves and one another. Sometimes, they go off in completely different directions, with Juro and Iori being with different people than 426 and Morimura, or Shu and Tomi falling for Yuki and Nenji instead of each other, respectively (something that Ida even lampshades at one point). That said, trying to force this trope is almost strictly viewed as a negative thing. Juro is aware and initially resentful that Megumi doesn't really love him, just the Juro Izumi she knew, her obsession with getting him back drives her to do things even she admits are wrong, and their relationship only starts becoming healthier when she starts caring about him as his own person. And Ida's desperate desire to recreate Kisaragi and have her all for himself is what makes him one of the primary human antagonists for most of the story.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: Subverted. Certain characters like Kurabe and Shinonome have storylines that look like they branch in multiple timelines, however, they can still remember details they end up learning at the end of a pathway and use it on a previous checkpoint to open up another path. It is implied that they just try different deviations from their routine during different days.
Say My Name: Whenever a unit dies they’re SO’s or friends always use this trope.
Tomato in the Mirror: Eventually, all protagonists realize they're clones. This is not counting other surprising identity reveals that certain characters find out about themselves before that point.
Wild Card: The protagonists from 1985 (Nenji, Natsuno, and Yuki), who weren't heavily involved with the botched resistance attempts of previous loops due to the Command Key's existence in Sector 4 diverting the kaiju to destroy the other eras first. As relative unknowns, they tend to blindside the plots of antagonists from previous loops, sometimes by complete accident.

First Generation Pilots

Shared Tropes

Close-Range Combatant: These Sentinels were designed with close combat in mind and lack the artillery options of the other generations. Their strikes hurt like hell though, and they make for very formidable tanks.
Crippling Overspecialization: First-Generation Sentinels were designed to be the most powerful robots ever made, and they largely succeeded on that front. The problem being that they ended up sitting ducks once the Deimos started to unleash massive numbers, and even worse, flying units, their unparalleled internal power leaving them little room for ranged weapons or crowd control. It's also very much true on the gameplay side of things: first gens will pulverize anything they get their hands on but rely almost entirely on EMP weapons and their allies to deal with the grunt hordes.
Dual Mode Unit: The First-Generation Sentinels have a Defense Mode which boosts defense in exchange for reducing their movement speeds to a crawl and a Limiter Removal that greatly boosts their speed and attack power in exchange for drastically decreasing their defense.
Draw Aggro: The EMP armaments they can equip have the bonus feature of drawing affected enemies towards their location, be it to take the heat off of allies or bring in more enemies to clobber themselves.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The "Tackle" armament lets them charge forward instead of walking, damaging and knocking around any enemies in their path.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: "Rush Attack" delivers a series of punches to the closest enemy, dealing extra hits per every upgrade to the ability. It's the Gen One Pilots' main form of offense given that it costs no EP and recharges quickly.

Nenji Ogata

Loyal Punk

Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (Japanese), Billy Kametz (English)

"I don't give a shit about my limits. I love you, and that's why I gotta break 'em!"

A juvenile delinquent who belies a compassionate and old-fashioned soul. He became famous among local delinquents during middle school due to his great courage and standing strong in fights. In his route, he finds himself living through a bizarre time loop, constantly being reset in the train station where he had once split off from Tomi, the girl he's developed feelings for.

In the final battle, he pilots the first-generation Sentinel No. 10.

'80s Hair: Tomi could tell she was indeed in 1985 because of Nenji's pompadour.
Tomi: (stifling a laugh) "Oh my god. It really is the 80s!"
Accidental Pervert: Invoked. When Natsuno screams upon finding BJ, Nenji barges into the changing room to see what happened. His annoyed murmur of how she was still dressed hints that he was actually hoping she managed to change out of her gym clothes first.
Acquired Situational Narcissism: When he discovers that the train platform is just in his head, he starts treating the people on it, including Tomi, more rudely as they're not "real", but he eventually comes around during his last loop before he escapes.
Akashic Records: During his route, he's stuck in a digital recreation of a train station platform that's made from a combination of his own memories and a Universal Control database, allowing him to interact with facsimiles of characters he's never met (or will ever meet) like Tetsuya Ida.
Alternate Self: He is the latest clone made from Nenji Ogata, the latest CEO of Shikishima in 2188.
Anguished Declaration of Love: Done twice to Tomi; the first time at the end of his story to protect Tomi and Natsuno from the kaiju, and the second time at the end of Wave 3-7, albeit done while connected to the other pilots, much to his chagrin.
Apocalypse Maiden: He was the original holder of the D-Code, the signal that would bring about the Deimos invasion. But at some point, the code got transferred from him over to a new host, Natsuno Minami.
Attack! Attack! Attack!: His abilities lend to a very aggressive playstyle, with his main attack gaining power through successive hits and his abilities refreshing after killing a kaiju, letting Nenji keep plowing through enemies without stopping.
Babies Ever After: Implied to have at least two children with Tomi in the Distant Finale.
Blood Knight: In part due to his delinquent personality, Nenji is one of the most eager to fight against the Kaiju, and even outside of that frequently gets into fights (or tries to) with other characters, such as Takatoshi and Yuki.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Behind his delinquent bravado, Nenji has a very profound sense of love and kindness for others. His relationship with Tomi is built off him being able to support her in times of stress and even ground her when she's thinking of doing something reckless (shifting back to 2025 without knowing the risks), and by the final battle he's very upfront about his love for her in a way that other characters struggle with throughout their respective stories. This kind side to him also justifies why he's friends with Miwako - one of the sweetest characters in the game.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Expresses this in the epilogue, where he tactlessly implies that Tomi filling out akin to her 2188 progenitor all but obliterated his memory of her less-developed high school form.
Casanova Wannabe: His friends recount how when they were little, he proposed to every girl in their grade at least once. Tomi teasingly calls him a Casanova, and he's embarrassed to be reminded that he used to do that.
"Wh-hey, I didn't mean it like that! Look, it was second grade, I didn't know shit!"
Casting Gag: He has an epic pompadour that makes him strongly resemble Josuke Higashikata. It is perhaps no surprise that the late Billy Kametz, the English voice of Josuke, voices Nenji in the English dub of the game.
Childhood Friends: With Miwako, much to the surprise of Tomi who is herself one of Miwako's best friends.
Chivalrous Pervert: If his attempt of Invoking Accidental Pervert above is anything to go by. Though when the chips are down, he proves he really does love Tomi, and goes into battle even while still recovering from BOL so that she can rest up in his place.
Crutch Character: His Pilot Skills and unlockable passives give new players a clear direction on what armaments they should use with him, resulting in a First-Generation Sentinel that will crash clean through the first smaller hordes of the first area with its enhanced Rush Attack combos and cut down larger targets with a uniquely upgraded Demolisher Blade. As enemy groups become larger, numbering in the dozens at times, in the later areas, he’s unable to deal with them effectively on his own (a successful Rush Attack can only land several single hits per use), and he can be quickly overwhelmed without support from his teammates.
Curb-Stomp Battle: After a... misunderstanding, he attempts to attack an SIU investigator to protect Natsuno. He goes down in one blow.
The Dreaded: He's well known among other delinquents, with only the stupidest ones willing to pick a fight with him. Other students make sure to keep their distance from him.
Yuki: "Built up a reputation as a tough guy, all the way back in middle school actually. Every delinquent around here knows who he is."
Dumbass Has a Point: He's the one to be suspicious of Yuki, who's transferring to Sakura High under odd circumstances. His concerns never get taken up by anyone though, nor does he actually realize why she's really there.
Nenji: "Seems kinda weird if you ask me. A transfer at this time of year?"
Shu: "Maybe that's just how it happened for her."
Nenji: "Or maybe she's tryin' to pull some shit."
Shu: "Hey, just lay off already."
Face of a Thug: He's the walking image of an 80s delinquent and is feared by punks like him. But those who get to know Nenji realize that he's a good guy behind his thuggish persona.
Flawed Prototype: He pilots the oldest of the Sentinels available to the cast, which is geared entirely towards big bursts of offense, but lacks defense and recovery options.
Generation Xerox: Like the original Nenji of 2188, he's the son of a wealthy Shikishima executive. But the similarities end there. The drastically circumstances of the current Nenji's life mean he grows up to be a kinder and more just man.
Glass Cannon: His First Generation Sentinel gets a powerful unique upgrade, the Hyper Condenser, to his already powerful Demolisher Blade ability, and his C'mon! Cmon! and That All You Got? pilot skills give him bonus Rush Attack power and cooldown reduction whenever he kills enemies, but without a powerful defensive ability like Takatoshi's Ceramic Composite Armor or the hefty cooldown reduction of Sekigahara's Forced Cooldown Device, he tends to be a sitting duck after using it, especially if he whiffs on a kill... and since using the Hyper Condenser jacks the Demolisher Blade's energy consumption way up, he's sometimes forced to activate Defense to recharge and regain access to it.
Grand Theft Me: Kengo Ogata, father of the original Nenji Ogata, was planning to have an AI recreation of himself take over Nenji's body once the Sectors were up and running. Luckily, it fails.
"Groundhog Day" Loop: His story arc has him revisiting the same train platform over and over again, starting with the same line from Tomi. This is revealed to be just Okino rewinding him back into a memory so he can find the Control Key.
Handsome Lech: He’s not a bad looker, and he comes from a rich family, but he has a reputation among the girls at his school for having proposed marriage to all of them while they were still elementary students, and his delinquent behavior and occasional dirty thoughts don’t help his chances with the ladies either.
Harmful to Minors: When he was seven years old, Murimura tracked him down and shot him to inject him with nanomachines that would allow him to use a Sentinel.
Henpecked Husband: The Distant Finale implies Tomi is the one who wears the pants in their family; she tells him that he's gonna have to look after their kids so she and Iori can catch up with the newly restored Miwako.
Hot-Blooded: Very. He strongly cares about the people he likes, and is more than happy to throw fists at even the slightest provocation.
Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: He's a tall and imposing punk who towers above most of the other leads. Meanwhile Tomi is the shortest of the female protagonists. This doesn't seem to stop the two.
Idiot Hero: He's not the stupidest man, but he's not super introspective either and doesn't have a great knowledge base.
- His first theory as to why he, Usami and Miwako are suddenly in a ruined city is that a Nuke hit the city, ignoring the fact that they were originally at the school and now they're suddenly downtown, they don't have any major injuries, and they somehow survived.
- He really struggles to communicate what's going on while stuck in a time loop at the start of his story, since he just hasn't seen the right movies or read the right books to fully understand what's happening, let alone relate it to other people. That's on top of just being generally bad at expressing himself anyway.
I Gave My Word: Miwako describes him as not the kind to break promises.
I'm Standing Right Here: Usami is quick to call him an idiot for thinking her wanting to talk to him is a pre-text for a Love Confession, as if he wasn't there.
Japanese Delinquents: He has the classic pompadour hairstyle and frequently gets into fights. Tomi makes fun of his haircut, calling him "Captain Pompadour."
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's brash, rude, confrontational, and possibly a bit perverted. However, he ultimately does show a nicer side to those he knows. While they're stuck in a deserted, wasted future hellscape, he foregoes food to keep the girls nourished with stuff he scavenges from vending machines and ruined stores, and Kisaragi is taken aback when Miwako reveals he's fought Wajima to protect people.
Lonely Rich Kid: He's the son of one of Shikishima's executives, and he's not shown to have many friends aside from Shu before the beginning of the game.
Odd Friendship:
- He and Shu have been pals since middle school, which is quite jarring given that the latter is a popular ladies man instead of a feared delinquent. This is explained as the two having fought gangs together back then, before Shu decided he wanted to reinvent his image.
- Perhaps most shocking is that Nenji has been friends with Miwako since they were kids, something that surprises the other characters given that she's like an angel next to him.
Official Couple: With Tomi in the endgame. They even mention having kids.
Open Mouth, Insert Foot: During the finale sequence, he looks over Tomi's body and comments that she used to be flat and he's glad she filled out. Tomi goes from playfully flirting with him to storming off with her girl friends in 0 seconds flat, telling him to look after the kids.
Perpetual Frowner: He's almost never seen without a scowl on his face. It's most prominently dropped in the Distant Finale when he sees Tomi, Iori, and Miwako off and when he meets Wajima again.
Real Men Hate Sugar: Claims to be this when he, Usami and Miwako get flung into the ruined future, but this is later Implied to have been a lie meant to get them to eat his share of the food he's found.
Real Men Wear Pink: At one point in the story, a handkerchief is seen tied to the roof's fence in order to dry. Most of the characters think some girl tied it up, but it's actually Nenji's.
Yuki: (Giggling) "That handkerchief is yours?"
Nenji: "Yeah? So what?"
Yuki: (Giggling harder) "I thought it was a girl's."
Nenji: "Are you trying to pick a fight with me?"
Yuki: "Oh, not me. Never."
Redeeming Replacement: The original Nenji Ogata was a Rich Bastard responsible for cutting funds to Project Ark, leading to Professor Morimura inadvertently starting the Nanomachine Plague through trading on the Black Market. Nenji might be a punk, but he's still a good person at heart. Somehow the Ida of 2188 is even worse than them both.
The Rival: He and Yuki have engaged in turf wars in the past, and he's sure not thrilled to see her transfer to his school.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Almost the entirety of his arc deals with Tsukasa Okino trying to find out who is the current holder of the Control Key by messing with his mind. It was Natsuno, but before he can find that out he and Hijiyama got shot by Yakushiji. It's implied that 426 was guiding her to rescue Ogata since he already tried to disable the control key in a past loop with horrific results, and wants to prevent Okino from doing the same mistakes he did and hurting Natsuno.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: He's frequently mistaken for Tomi's boyfriend even before they get together in any capacity, leading to this from both of them.
Small Role, Big Impact: The versions of him from previous loops don't even show onscreen, but as the original holders of the Control Key, they're the reason Sector 4 was attacked last during kaiju invasions, which is why he, Yuki, and Natsuno are never seen during those sequences.
Sweet on Polly Oliver: Exploited by Okino in his "Kiriko Douji" disguise. Okino lures him under the guise of being a girl who wants to confess to him in order to knock him out and probe his mind for the location of the Deimos-Code, and Nenji can't help but comment on how attractive "she" looks. Unlike Hijiyama, Nenji seemingly never finds out that "Kiriko" was actually a boy.
Tsundere: He and Tomi's relationship is essentially back-and-forth Tsundere antics. When things look bad though, he'll drop any belligerence and show a sincere and affectionate side to her.
The Worf Effect:
- Takatoshi's prologue implies he managed to win the fight after he accidentally provoked Nenji, and although Takatoshi claims he "kicked like a horse", he doesn't seem that physically hurt.
- Despite being one of the most physically capable of the protagonists, he gets knocked out real easily against an SIU agent when he tries to fight him. Understandably so, as Nenji is still a teenager trying to fight a fully grown adult, one who is likely both athletically fit and trained in hand-to-hand combat.
Unusual Eyebrows: The outer tips of his eyebrows fork, giving them an almost serrated look.
Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Played for laughs when his Love Confession backfired since it was an inappropriate setting (they just finished Sentinel battle), not to mention the lines were open on all channels. Juro tries to comfort Nenji by saying he thought he was cool doing that, but Nenji says hearing that from him makes it worse.

Takatoshi Hijiyama

Displaced Soldier

Voiced by: Takayuki Ishii (Japanese), Kaiji Tang (English)

"I live in service of my country. And the people I love."

An honest and manly young man. He once mistook a boy named Okino for a girl due to the fact that he was cross-dressing, and has been teased by Okino for it. Although the situation was not all bad.

In the final battle, he pilots the first-generation Sentinel No. 12 shared with him by the original pilot Okino.

Alternate Self: He's the latest clone made from lieutenant Takatoshi Hijiyama, a subordinate of Major Juro Izumi, who lived in 2188.
Ambiguously Bi: He's shown attraction to multiple girls besides Okino's "Kiriko" identity, while his feelings for Okino after finding out he's a guy could be read as If It's You, It's Okay or a general attraction to men. The original Takatoshi Hijiyama's openly romantic relationship with another man suggests the latter.
Armored Closet Gay: A lot of the angst around his attraction to Okino comes from the fact that they're both men, which Takatoshi mentally reminds himself of every time he feels anything for Okino.
Berserk Button: Do not waste food in front of him, especially yakisoba pan.
Big Brother Instinct: He's been by Keitaro's side ever since they were kids, the latter looking up to Takatoshi greatly.
Big Guy, Little Guy: The Big Guy to Tsukasa's Little Guy.
The Big Guy: The most physically capable of the pilots. His Sentinel even boasts the highest base HP out of the First-Generation models.
Blood Knight: He gets noticeably excited mid-combat, happy to partake in the chance to defend everything he knows from giant killer robots. Not to mention how often he and Nenji seem to be looking to fight each other.
"A true soldier faces his foes head-on with pride. I couldn't ask a better chance at glory!"
Bruiser with a Soft Center: He's a tall, well-built, fiercely patriotic wall of a man who will pummel anything that harms those he loves. Outside that though, he's a polite, soft-hearted, and somewhat simple-minded young man who is quite easy to fluster.
Cannot Tell a Lie: Halfway through his route, he has to distract Ms. Morimura to stall for Tsukasa. Hilariously however, he keeps backtracking his explanation, so Morimura quickly catches on.
Casual Kink: Okino notices via the sensors on his brain-probe that Hijiyama is actually sort of enjoying being tied up and at the mercy of his crush despite his protests, and playfully mocks him for it.
Child Soldier: Like Keitaro, he joined the military while in high school (voluntarily, as opposed to Keitaro who was drafted).
Childhood Friends: Growing up, he was close to the Miura siblings and Tamao. He and Keitaro remain staunch friends and allies even when stranded in the future together and have special perks in battle that benefit each other.
Close-Range Combatant: Save for the anti-air flares, his inherited Sentinel has no long-range options despite how he had been training to use the projectile-centric Sentinel No. 19 back in his original sector.
Crazy Jealous Guy: When he sees Okino "confess" to Nenji, his first instinct is to rush over and slug Nenji, knocking him out.
"You don't just confess to another man's girl!!"
Coming-Out Story: His personal plot arc revolves around him coming to terms with his attraction to the openly gay Okino.
The Dreaded: He picks up a reputation in the 80s for beating up punks and making off with the cash for survival. It's enough to give Wajima and his gang pause. Nenji affirms the same suspicion, only to actually give Takatoshi a meaningful fight.
Cronie: "Wait, Wajima-san, I've heard of this guy. He's the one who's been snatchin' all the jackets!"
Wajima: "The hell? Wait... yeah. This guy's even wearing one of our uniforms!"
Takatoshi: "Oh, so you knew the guy that owned this? I don't have any relatives around; I'm basically homeless at the moment. So the clothes and the cash were a really big help. He was a generous guy, tell him I said thanks."
Dumb Muscle: His simple-mindedness is commented on frequently; the reason he even ends up in the 80s is because he challenged Ei after the latter warns him not to get caught in his time-shift.
Expository Hairstyle Change: When we first see him in 1945, he has a buzzcut befitting a soldier. One time jump and six months of homelessness later, his hair has grown out and looks wild.
Fish out of Temporal Water: Comes from sector 5 (1945), as he gets caught in a temporal jump alongside Ei Sekigahara. This, alongside his notable physical strength as a former IJN soldier, means he's often targeted in physical fights by Japanese Delinquents. Of course, that doesn't mean they tend to win said fights...
Forgotten First Meeting: Shortly after his arrival in 1985, Megumi comes across a starving Takatoshi and gives him some of her yakisoba pan. Ever since, he referred to her as his "yakisoba pan angel", but she seems to not remember this, and when they meet again, Megumi shoots him without acknowledging that they've met before.
Generation Xerox:
- Like his original incarnation, he's a tough but soft-hearted military man who even falls in love with his own version of Okino. In the 2188 Takatoshi's final log, he laments not being able to protect those dear to him in the end and hopes that he'll be able to in a different life, something the current Takatoshi fulfills by helping everyone defeat the Deimos for good.
- His rivalry with Nenji is unwittingly a nod to their 2188 selves; the Takatoshi of that era is responsible for shooting Nenji dead after their debate over the future of the colony escalates. Thankfully the present versions never go that far, and even show moments of understanding and camaraderie in between their fighting.
Hidden Depths: He reveals late in the battle story that he's actually read some of Miura's western science fiction novels and knows a bit about time travel and so on.
Honor Before Reason: Around the time her arrived in the past, his starvation makes him consider digging through the trash for food, only to be appalled at the idea of digging through the trash like an animal and states he'd rather die.
How the Mighty Have Fallen: Going from 1945 to '85, he goes from decorated and pristine officer to an unkempt street punk surviving on scraps.
Japanese Spirit: Embodies this trope more than anybody else in the cast, since he was born and raised in Japan at World War II, and was set to participate in the defense of the mainland. More than a few of his lines talk about the honor of fighting to protect his country and comrades.
Lightning Bruiser: Deploying Takatoshi is like the mech-equivalent of a linebacker. His Pilot Skills grant extra mobility and defense-related buffs that let him power through enemies, and he's equipped with the close-ranged power characteristic of First-Gen Sentinels.
Lost Food Grievance: As Wajima and his gang learned the hard way, Hijiyama does not take losing his yakisoba pan lightly.
Love at First Sight: As shown in Keitaro's prologue, Takatoshi was head over heels for Okino/"Kiriko" the moment he saw her, and proceeds to act extra courteous when introducing himself to them.
Love Makes You Dumb: The romance they shared caused his 2188 counterpart to give his version of Tsukasa Okino more slack in how he cut corners during Project Ark than what should've been acceptable, resulting in massive holes in the programming that made it possible for the original Ryoko Shinonome (who wasn't a computer expert) to hack the coding so that the kaiju would prevent the completion of its final phase. The playable Hijiyama does his best to avert this, willing to call out Okino's callous and shortsighted moments despite how the smarter young man can talk circles around him and rarely entertains his counsel.
Macho Masochism: When Okino warns that unlocking limiters during the final battle will cause a hefty durability hit, Takatoshi proves himself every inch the Imperial Japanese soldier by boasting that an Imperial son wouldn't shrink from danger or death. He also repeatedly suggests throwing himself into harms' way in other engagements.
Manly Man: The persona he's crafted is all about exuding strength and reliability, from his physical power to his fiercely patriotic attitude. It also makes it all the more hilarious when someone like Okino pokes holes in it.
Masculine–Feminine Gay Couple: Takatoshi is a ripped Manly Man with a patriotic streak, whereas Tsukasa is an androgynous Wholesome Crossdresser who prefers working with his brains and not his brawn.
Motivational Lie: Even after learning the Awful Truth that he was never a real soldier and that Earth is long gone, he insists on identifying himself as a Japanese denizen who is fighting for his homeland, even going so far as to entertain the idea of using the Sentinels against the Allied Forces despite America not existing anymore. While framed as a stubborn refusal to fully understand or acknowledge what’s going on around him, this mindset prevents him from being intimidated by the seemingly endless swarms of kaiju as his fellow pilots sometimes are, or giving into despair like Okino does after calculating that it’s mathematically impossible for them to fight off their enemies.
Official Couple: With Okino at the end of the game. Though the current stage of their relationship isn't clear by the game, it's confirmed by the official databook.
One-Man Army: Even when he's not driving a Sentinel, he's an impressive fighter, being able to take on Wajima and his group of thugs after they ruin his Yakisoba Pan, and after that he's still able to go toe-to-toe with Nenji and win. After all, he's a trained and battle-tested soldier and they're just a bunch of weekend-warrior delinquents.
Patriotic Fervor: Like Miura, he's a soldier in the Japanese army in 1945, but he's not as curious and intellectual as his friend. He repeatedly expresses a desire to bring the Sentinel back to his time and use it to prevent the Japanese defeat in World War II after reading about the outcome of the war in the history books; Keitaro shares many of his opinions but at least reflects on seeing his nation rebuild.
Reincarnation Romance: In a sense with Okino; he's a quite different person than his original 2188 identity, but he loves Okino just as much as his original did.
Roaring Rampage of Revenge: His original 2188 self shoots and kills Juro in response to Juro killing Okino.
Straight Gay: Part of his arc consists of him coming to terms with his feelings for Okino. Of course, there is some ambiguity about this since he fell in love while thinking Okino was a woman. Their 2188 selves are rather less ambiguous about their relationship, however, with Okino stating in no uncertain terms that they are lovers (the words 愛する人 and 愛してる are used, which are extremely direct and unambiguous).
Sweet on Polly Oliver: It was Love at First Sight when he first met Okino in his Kiriko Douji disguise. To his chagrin and denial, those feelings failed to leave after he found out "Kiriko" was actually a boy.
Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: He and Nenji pick up a very combative rivalry with each other starting when Takatoshi - in his prologue - beats up the gang Nenji was about to fight than fights him to a standstill. Every instance between them since then involves the two bickering and having testosterone feuds, requiring someone else like Juro or Shu to step in.
Trademark Favorite Food: Yakisoba pan; it was a gift from Megumi Yakushiji, during the time he was starving, and he develops almost a complex for it and can't get enough of the stuff. Students at the 1985 high school complain that it's become almost impossible to buy at the school cafeteria because he keeps buying it all up first thing in the morning.
"Noodles stir-fried in sauce, enfolded in sweet bread... I don't trust much in this postwar world. But if there's one exception, it's my yakisoba-pan!"
Transparent Closet: The only person who doesn't cotton on to how bad Takatoshi has it for Okino is Takatoshi, and only then through extreme effort.
Troubled Child: Keitaro describes him as having been "a mess" before joining the army. One interaction in the 2nd Area suggests Takatoshi used to pull fire alarms as a prank.
Unreliable Narrator: He and Miura remember his first encounter with Okino very differently with Hijiyama recalling himself as being more upfront with his attraction towards him and having these compliments reciprocated. Miura's version of the events have Takatoshi barely able to speak to the disguised genius, whose only response to his fumbling was to call him "funny".
Vibrant Orange: His outfit is distinctly orange, signifying his hot-blooded and proud attitude.
What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite the Hijiyama of one loop ago allegedly having been accidentally killed and reduced to A.I form along with Tomi Kisaragi, Keitaro Miura and Tamao Kurabe, we never see said A.I form in the game or where / if it was even utilized.

Ei Sekigahara

Amnesiac on the Run

Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (Japanese), Kyle McCarley (English)

"My past is [over]. But as for our future... our survival... this is only the beginning."

A boy who awakens next to the corpse of an unknown woman, and who is relentlessly being pursued by men in black clothes. A message from his past self reads, “Escape from this world.”

In the final battle, he pilots the first-generation Sentinel No. 11.

Action Hero: He's already a trained combatant unlike most of the other pilots and carries a gun with him in every scene, and those scenes featuring him have many more violent encounters like android attacks where Ei has to use his gun
Alternate Self: He's the latest clone made from Ei Sekigahara, an assassin sent by Renya Gouto to dispose of Professor Morimura in 2188.
Amnesiac Hero: Starts his prologue waking up in an alley with no memory of who he is or what life he's lived up to that point. It turns out to be a function of the tainted nanomachines in his head.
Badass Biker: He travels 1985 aboard a very sleek, high-tech motorcycle, which to Iori just screams "cool and mysterious".
Big Brother Instinct: ('Little Brother?') Ryoko's prologue shows him being quite hostile towards Ida, seeing that Ida is already manipulating Ryoko and looking defeated when he can't sway Ryoko from choosing to fight in a Sentinel. He chooses to join the program too once he hears her mind is made up.
Ei: "Ever since we were kids... Wherever you went, I followed. My big sister, Ryoko... Don't you remember?..."
Ryoko: "Ei-kun...?"
Big Damn Heroes: He saves Iori and Miwako from being assaulted by Wajima and his cronies by promptly beating them up revealing he's an amateur boxer in the process.
Cool Bike: He has a future bike built by Shikishima in his era that has its own AI and several other futuristic features, such as voice recognition, biometric authentication system, and being able to self-drive back to registered drivers.
Crazy-Prepared: In anticipation of his amnesia taking over, he takes a lot of cautionary steps to make sure he can still help everyone once his mind is gone. He records several messages for Miura/BJ and Sector 4's messaging system to hold onto, which is what Ei receives in the beginning of his route. And he seeks Tsukasa and Hijiyama who create a backup of whatever memories he does have left before DD-426 erases then. Then entrusts the help of several other compatibles like Yuki and Iori to relay all this information to him once his mind resets.
Dating Catwoman: A uniquely inverted example; Fuyusaka and Sekigahara were never at opposing sides at any point before or after they began dating. However, the original incarnations of themselves from 2188 (with Fuyusaka's original being Professor Chihiro Morimura) were adversaries. The Sekigahara of 2188 most notably is responsible for Professor Morimura's assassination, and viewed his mission as delivering an act of justice.
The Dulcinea Effect: Meeting Iori, he barely gets a second to actually get to know her courtesy of his race to save his memories. Yet he still goes out of his way to keep her safe even when it wouldn't benefit him, like defending her from Wajima's gang. And when he senses his mind is going to disappear soon, he offers her to join him in jumping loops to be reborn after the Deimos destroy her era, a desire that gets dashed when he learns from Morimura how the process really works. It's still telling that he'd offer her something like that.
Easily Forgiven: Hijiyama lets go of his grudge against Ei stranding him in the 1980s once he sees how badly DD-426 is affecting his mind.
Expy: To Kyle Reese from The Terminator, being a brooding and cool-headed time traveler coming to the aid of a girl from the past who he falls in love with. Not to mention a Badass Biker. In an ironic twist, his predecessor from 2188 was the assassin coming after that era's Chihiro Morimura, not protecting her like Ei does with Iori.
First-Name Basis: Ryoko calls him "Ei-kun" at the start of her route to signify their familial bond. Iori also calls him "Ei-kun" not long before confessing her feelings to him in her route.
Foil: His story involving amnesia and manipulated memories parallel those of Juro and Ryoko which involve the same, however, Ei is successful at reconstructing his original self and regaining all his memories.
Frame-Up: On the receiving end. He was initially believed by Ryoko Shinonome to be 426, the AI that was claimed to cause the defense line to collapse in Sector 2 (2064) by cutting communications and taking over Units 13, 14 and 15, due to the access logs in her mech. He himself denies this. The truth is that he fought alongside her and Izumi in Unit 15, and the real culprit was Ida, who tricked Shinonome into injecting the code by telling her it would improve the combat abilities of the Sentinels. She injected the code in Unit 15 instead of her own, which explains the logs.
Friendless Background: He mentions to Iori in her route that he had a hard time in middle school before befriending Ryoko, and that he never gave any thought to love before meeting Iori.
Generation Xerox: Ultimately subverted; the original Ei Sekigahara was cold and pragmatic like the current Ei, but taken to a completely sociopathic degree. Ei, despite sharing many of his original's traits, is able to remain a kind person at heart. And fittingly, his relationship with the current Chihiro Morimura, Iori, is completely flipped from their original counterparts.
Good Is Not Soft:
- Attempting to investigate Megumi and her actions, he breaks into Juro's house to hold her at gunpoint. And when Juro stands between the two, Ei uses his gun's stun function on him, leaving a distressed Megumi rushing to Juro's side. This is perhaps the most extreme Ei gets through the story.
- He fully intends to kill Ms. Morimura when he learns what Operation Aegis is. But then he realizes that she's a product of Universal Control, meaning she'll continue to exist in the next loop while he and the other Compatibles only continue to exist through data copies. So he relents.
Honor Before Reason: The 2188 version of Ei goes through with his job to assassinate Professor Morimura even after the Earth is destroyed. Even though he won't receive any payment and will jeopardize the Ark Project, he kills Professor Morimura anyways due to his obligation as a professional assassin as well as mete out justice to the woman who (inadvertently) destroyed humanity.
I Work Alone: One of his Pilot Skills grants bonus stats if he's positioned with no allies nearby, allowing him to thrive by going off to do his own thing.
Just a Machine: Averted in his own time, where everyone else treated Sentinel 15's A.I. as a tool, but he went out of his way to bond with the consciousness of Miura inside of it.
Kick the Dog: In a hurry to pursue Okino, he allowed Takatoshi to get swept up in his shift, and then ditched him once they arrived in 1985, leaving the young soldier to almost starve to death due to being poor and homeless in Sector 4.
Like Brother and Sister: He sees Ryoko as a sisterly figure, although it's been strained of late because Ryoko thinks he's 426 and the person who released DD-426 virus, sabotaging their fight against the kaiju and leading to Ida's death.
The Mentor: Since it was originally his, Ei gives Iori a crash course on how to use her Sentinel's multitude of armaments once they begin fighting alongside each other.
Mistaken for Romance: At one point, Iori Fuyusaka believed Ryoko Shinonome was his girlfriend after seeing their emotional closeness during a time jump, but he quickly clarifies their relationship: he thinks of Ryoko as his big sister since she took care of him when they were younger, and thus he wants her to be happy.
My Sister Is Off-Limits: Even though he and Ryoko are Not Blood Related, he hints at getting defensive towards Renya when he and Ryoko briefly dated during middle school.
Name Amnesia: He wakes up not even remembering his name, only jogging the memory upon finding a file with his name on it nearby.
Official Couple: With Iori in the endgame.
Quest for Identity: A large chunk of his story is finding out who he is and why he ended up in the past.
Redeeming Replacement: The Ei Sekigahara of 2188 was a hitman who assassinated the original Chihiro Morimura. The current Ei, while a bit distant and pragmatic, is ultimately a good guy. This is taken further by the fact that he's the one investigating Chihiro's death rather than being the one to have killed her.
Ship Tease: It's never quite as apparent from his side, but he does show a growing fondness for Iori that hints to something deeper, looking out for her in his own way. When he wakes up with all of his memories gone, he does still feel something when he sees a picture of her in her handbook.
"Her face does look familiar, but I can't remember how I know her... It's uncanny though, it's almost as if she's important to me. In one way or another..."
The Stoic: He's able to remain calm even through the most harrowing situations, being able to approach even his amnesia with a composed attitude.
Suddenly Always Knew That: During Iori's story route, when he shows up and saves her from Wajima and his gang, Wajima complains that he fights like a boxer, with Sekigahara, who mostly fights with his phaser in his own and other stories, offhandedly admits that he is a trained boxer. This doesn't come up before or afterwards, though it does at least mean all three pilots of First Generation Sentinels are also hand-to-hand combatants out of the mech.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: He's the cool-headed and pragmatic Action Hero of the group who keeps himself withdrawn most of the time. Around those he cares about though, he takes on a very gentle, brotherly vibe, key examples including Ryoko (his sibling-surrogate), Iori (his Love Interest), and BJ/"Miura" (one of his closest friends).
Super Prototype: He notes that the First-Generation Sentinel he's been given for the final battle has been heavily modified compared to the base model. Gameplay-wise, it can use missiles like Nenji's No. 10, has access to both types of EMP armaments like No. 12, and has a unique Forced Cooling Device that reduces the waiting time between ability uses.
Take Up My Sword: Enchanted by her courage and goodness, he bequeaths his original Sentinel to Iori when it looks like his DD-426 infection will make him incapable of piloting it.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His Sentinel was the source of DD-426 spreading to the other Sentinels, resulting in him, Ryoko and Juro all being infected by the memory-altering sickness. Having been mislead by Ida, Ryoko spends much of her route under the assumption that Ei is being controlled by 426 and hunts him down with the intent to kill.

Second Generation Pilots

Shared Tropes

Jack of All Stats: They're considered the "all-rounder" Sentinels, having all manner of tools for damaging enemies and controlling space, with individual pilots having light specializations they lean toward.
The Turret Master: All Gen Two pilots can deploy a Sentry Gun that automatically fire at nearby enemies.

Juro Kurabe

Kaiju Buff

Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Chris Hackney (English)

"A kaiju attacked, like in that movie. So we'll do what we have to do: get in the robots and fight."

A 16-year-old boy who attends Sakura High School. He loves movies and watches a film of some sort every day. He feels an odd sense of discomfort in his daily life, until one day a giant robot unexpectedly appears.

In the final battle, he pilots the second-generation Sentinel No. 13.

13 Is Unlucky: Pilots the #13 Sentinel. Said mech was infected by the DD-426 virus, which resulted in his memory loss.
Alternate Self: He's the latest clone of Major Juro Izumi, who lived in 2188. He also has an adult counterpart from two loops ago that is also known as 426, a terrorist leader.
Amnesiac Hero: Megumi's prologue shows that Juro Kurabe used to be Juro Izumi, until overusing his Sentinel caused the loss of his identity (later revealed that his Sentinel was infected by DD-246, which spread to him and wracked his brain).
Amnesiac Lover: Going by the bits shown of 2025, Juro Izumi was quite close to Megumi. But now that Izumi doesn't exist anymore, Juro doesn't have the same depth of memories of his time with Megumi that she does. Though he does still feel strongly for her. Most of her route involves her efforts in trying to make him remember her.
Tomi: "No way... So he really is a different person at this point. Does that mean he doesn't remember you?..."
Megumi: "..."
Tomi: "What now? Are we supposed to just give up on him?"
Megumi: "I could NEVER do that! I'll never... give up on him... I can't..." (Broken Tears)
Can't Stay Normal: The personality of Juro Kurabe was designed to be as ordinary a high-school boy you could get, far from the Action Hero Juro Izumi was. But when it's clear the Deimos are coming for his new era and Juro's memories as Izumi are being scrounged up, he has no choice but to pilot his Sentinel once more.
Megumi: "You still plan on using [Juro], don't you. You can't, I won't let you. (...) Please, let him be free of the Sentinel..."
Renya: "...As of now, I can't promise anything. He's the only one able to fight."
Crazy Jealous Guy: Downplayed; ironically in the same scene where he gets on Megumi's case about being too close together at school, he starts looking bothered when it appears Megumi is asking Shu to meet after school. She takes note.
Megumi: "Does that bother you?"
Juro: "N-No. Bye." (Runs off)
Megumi: "I see..."
Death of Personality: A rather complicated case.
- Originally, Juro Kurabe was called Juro Izumi, but exposure to virus DD-426 fried his brain, forcing his caretakers to rewrite his personality to the current Juro Kurabe. Megumi tries to get Fluffy to recreate "her" Juro, but it proves impossible for the cat; the damage was too extensive.
- And then there's 426, a completely different Juro Izumi from two loops ago who takes over Kurabe's mind (after Kurabe makes contact with the android Erika Aiba) and implants some of his memories inside his brain through an artificial intelligence posing as Kurabe's "best friend" Kyuta Shiba, although it is eventually revealed to be a subversion since 426 was actually trying to stabilize Kurabe's personality.
Decoy Protagonist: Downplayed; while he's front and center on the boxart and title screen, he has no more focus than anyone else in the cast. His story is one of the most important since it dives into the idea of Alternate Self and his past ties into his role as both a Sentinel pilot and a new version of 426. He has more story locks than usual as a result, but Juro ultimately shares equal screen time with the rest of the Sentinel pilots and is no more important than anyone else.
The Determinator: Ei reveals that Juro Izumi stayed in his Sentinel way beyond the point when Brain Overload takes hold, all to protect Megumi and her city. When he comes out, the brain damage from the Overload begins to take hold of him, and his personality starts to fade while he lays in Megumi's arms
Distracted by the Sexy: One of his stated reasons for not wanting Megumi in his house is his hormones going wild having a pretty girl living with him.
"C'mon, we're a boy and a girl... Alone together... Puberty exists. Are you trying to torture me?"
Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: He is aware that Megumi only loves the "Juro Izumi" she knew in her own time, not himself, and resents it, especially since he feels more than once that many other characters are trying to force a Death of Personality on him.
Fake Memories: In order to stabilize his identity as Juro "Kurabe", Morimura had to implant him with fabricated memories to ease him into his new life. Then 426 latches onto his nanomachines too and starts doing his own tampering.
Forgot the Call: He's completely oblivious to the fact that he's a Sentinel pilot on account of his personality having to be reconstructed. As his story progresses though, he slowly eases back into his role as a pilot, and is able to recount details about Sentinels and the nature of the setting that helps out his allies.
Future Badass: The Juro Izumi from two loops ago ends up becoming a grizzled rebel leader. This also seems to extend to present Kurabe, with Megumi describing his as becoming "rugged" in only five years after leaving the simulation. This seems genetically justified considering the original Juro Izumi from 2188 was a military major.
Future Me Scares Me: He's horrified learning about the things the previous Juro Izumi did as an adult, notably putting down their friends as teenagers. Having seen Megumi in that memory, he becomes scared that he might hurt her if the dreams he's having keep up and opts to keep his distance for her sake.
Insecure Love Interest: He comes to develop feelings for Megumi during her time staying with him, but he takes notice of the fact that she's still grieving over Juro Izumi and is projecting their time together onto Kurabe, and the two can't interact without that detail hanging over them.
"Why do I have this sinking feeling? It's like... the one Yakushiji has feelings for isn't me... it's... Izumi..."
Jack of All Stats: He's designed to be the most flexible pilot in terms of armaments and stats, able to provide a lot of damage and utility to a team, and being very self-sustainable thanks to his stats passively getting huge gains.
The Lost Lenore: Megumi and Juro Izumi were clearly in love before he went to fight the kaiju in her era. Now that version of him is gone and can't come back, leaving her in grief and now co-existing with a new Juro that can't remember their time together.
Love Confession: Gives one to Megumi, despite not being the Juro she knew him formerly as.
Mistaken for Gay: At one point, Iori thought that he might be in a relationship with Shu, much to his embarrassment.
Nice Guy: Through it all, he manages to be a caring and polite guy. It's no wonder so many characters like Megumi and Shu are rally toward him.
Official Couple: With Megumi in the endgame.
Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Juro Izumi seemingly took down countless kaiju with his Sentinel in the battle of 2025, enduring unrevivable amounts of Brain Overload to keep Megumi's city safe. All we see, from her perspective, is the aftermath where his Sentinel lies against a collapsed building with one of its arms torn off, and he comes out and succumbs to the Brain Overload.
Otaku: He's a big fan of Humongous Mecha and Kaiju movies. This is not coincidental.
Juro: "Can you blame me? Giant robots, fights in the city; I was on the edge of my seat."
[...]
Shiba: "You and your giant robots..."
Personality Remnant: Even though his memories as Juro Izumi are mostly gone, he still is a natural at piloting a Sentinel and can dole out useful advice for his fellow pilots. Tomi even wonders if this is somehow Izumi's doing.
Tomi: "Hey uh... How exactly do you know all this stuff? You sure you're not Juro Izumi in there?"
Juro: "I'm sure. But I know him, and I know what we're up against."
Protagonist Power-Up Privileges: His Pilot Skills swell his stats in ways that are highly convenient to the player, boosting his parameters the larger the strike team is, the more kaiju there are, and when the terminal is damaged enough. The Restored Memories skill just gives him a flat buff across all parameters so long as it's turned on. Combined with how his Movie Addiction skill reduces his armament cooldown times if he participates in consecutive battles, and the diverse set of weaponry packaged with Second-Generation Sentinels, and you have a pilot who can fit into and thrive in any team for almost every situation.
Replacement Goldfish: Played With; even though he and Juro Izumi are functionally different people, Megumi still unconsciously treats Juro Kurabe like she would with the former even though he doesn't remember all their time together. Her arc ultimately comes down to accepting that Izumi is gone and she needs to love and appreciate Juro Kurabe as his own, different person rather than cling to who he was.
Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: His storyline branches a lot, but he can still remember certain plot threads that he learned in one timeline to use elsewhere.
Second Love: For Megumi... sort of; she's in love with the Juro Izumi of this loop and spends most of her story attempting to restore Juro Kurabe's memories of her, but eventually comes to terms with the fact that Izumi isn't coming back and falls for Kurabe instead.
Serious Business: Played for Laughs; he gets uncharacteristically threatening when Shiba provokes him by almost spoiling a manga chapter.
Juro: "Last week was a real cliffhanger. I'm dying to know what happens next."
Shiba: "Well then, allow me to explain! After all hell breaks loose, the main character just-"
Juro: (With zero inflection) "Stop right there. One more word, and you're going on my shitlist."
Shiba: "Hehe."
She Is Not My Girl Friend: He's not thrilled having it look like Megumi is his partner despite all the signs pointing to the contrary. Not necessarily because he doesn't like her, though. Just that he doesn't want word to get around because it's a bad look in their era to be living together that young.
(Placing chopsticks for dinner) "Heh, it's almost like we're newlyweds... Okay, no, I am not following that train of thought."
Sickeningly Sweethearts: He and Megumi are incredibly lovey-dovey with each other after they get together and flirt every chance they get. 426 in his "Fluffy" form annoyedly lampshades how saccharine their interactions are.
Tomato in the Mirror: Juro Kurabe eventually realizes he's actually Juro Izumi after some investigating. He also realizes Kyuta Shiba is a part of him instead of a separate entity that actually exists as his classmate.
Trademark Favourite Food: According to Megumi, it's Hamburg Steak. While he's concerned about the fact that they lived together getting out and getting them in trouble, he doesn't deny it.
Unabashed B-Movie Fan: The dub makes him overly fond of sci-fi movies, including lower-budget ones that Shu describes as "not for casuals".

Iori Fuyusaka

Earnest Dreamer

Voiced by: Atsumi Tanezaki (Japanese), Allegra Clark (English)

"I may be just a schoolgirl. But now... I'm a schoolgirl with a giant robot!"

A regular, cheerful high school student who tends to get along with others. While her grades are average, the balance between the subjects she passes and the subjects she fails is generally pretty intense. Lately, she has been having strange dreams and has not been able to sleep. She develops a crush on Ei Sekigahara after a chance first encounter.

In the final battle, she pilots the second-generation Sentinel No. 15 given to her by the original pilot Ei.

All Girls Want Bad Boys: Ei being a brooding, darkly-clad loner - who outright admits that he was an assassin - doesn't deter her attraction to him; it seems to be a draw for her if anything.
Alternate Self: She's the latest clone made from the genetic data of Professor Morimura, a leading nanomachine researcher who lived in 2188.
Ambiguously Bi: She appears to have a bisexual awakening when Yuki tends to her injured hand after a battle, leading her to promptly freak out and deny that she's "cheating" on Ei.
"Woah, what the... why is my heart racing right now?... Wait, does that mean...? But I didn't think I was.... I mean, what if..."
Audience Surrogate: Iori is the first character the player will control, introducing everyone to the intricate, winding plot. From beginning to end, she frequently asks the more simple questions compared to the other pilots, constantly surprised the further it goes and trying to keep up. Her story is also the easiest to complete compared to any of the other pilots.
Badass Adorable: Being the adorable Nice Girl that she is doesn't stop her from being an effective pilot.
Big Eater: A good chunk of her route is spent sampling local foods with Tomi and Miwako. Because of how the dialogue prompts loop if you miss a progression cue, the three of them could potentially devour hundreds of hot dogs together in one afternoon.
Body Backup Drive: In Ryoko's route, Ryoko discovers an ampule and medical records that suggest someone is transferring memories into Iori to overwrite her personality with someone else's. Iori learns herself from Ms. Morimura that she was intended to be a backup for the latter, but the experiment for it was abandoned because Morimura's Sentinel capabilities couldn't be transferred, meaning overwriting Iori would be pointless.
Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Iori is the gentle, mundane girl to the mysterious, broody Ei.
Childhood Friends: She, Natsuno, and Miwako were friends back in elementary school.
Combat Medic: Her Sentinel has the Repair Emitter as an unlock, which can heal Sentinels in a given radius over a set amount of time. This is an extremely rare kind of ability as it can restore Sentinel HP without the aid of a terminal Meta-Skill or the pilot getting out of their mech for a time.
Cuteness Proximity: She's very eager to see the cat that's been hanging around the school, and starts using babytalk when she meets it.
The Cutie: Very kind and sweet to everyone, and elicits a lot of protective feelings from her fellow pilots.
Damsel in Distress: At the end of Ei's route, a roboticized Ida takes Iori hostage so that he can get Ei to cooperate with him. Ei walks into the SIU office to find Ida holding her at gunpoint.
Dating Catwoman: A uniquely inverted example; Fuyusaka and Sekigahara were never at opposing sides at any point before or after they began dating. However, the original incarnations of themselves from 2188 (with Fuyusaka's original being Professor Chihiro Morimura) were adversaries. Fuyusaka's pining for Sekigahara and their eventual official couple status is fairly ironic considering 2188 Sekigahara was responsible for murdering 2188 Professor Morimura.
Determinator: When her heart is set on something, she'll put her all into trying to achieve it, be it food, love, or saving the world from robots. This is demonstrated in her relationship with Ei; even though she barely knows him and can see the signs of his dangerous life, she's still set on getting to know him and profess her attraction to him. Tomi is taken aback by how far she's willing to go for the sake of a crush.
"I know our ways of life are worlds apart. It may be dangerous. It may be stupid. But I can't stop the way I feel."
Ditzy Genius: Her bio states that she excels and fails in specific classes, implying that she's bright but very unfocused. This lines up with the prowess of her predecessor, the original Chihiro Morimura who designed Project Ark.
Flowers of Femininity: She always has two white flowers nested on the sides of her hair, further accentuating her sweet nature.
Girl of My Dreams: Subverted. Juro keeps having a dream involving her. She herself has had at least one dream involving him. However, their relationship remains completely platonic and they gain different love interests in their respective stories.
Girly Girl: She's designed with classic Shojo protagonists in mind; she dresses cute and feminine, likes talking about boys, and her chapters are largely slice-of-life-focused with her hanging out with Tomi and Miwako and spending the whole time girl-talking.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: One of the sweetest protagonists, with fluffy, platinum-blonde hair to match.
Happily Adopted: Morimura kidnapped her from Sector 1 and set her up with the Fuyasaka household to both protect her from the kaiju and to have her close at hand for her Body Surf scheme. Even after learning this, Iori loves her adoptive parents so much that she refuses the chance to escape to the next loop with Ei for the sake of protecting them.
Heavy Sleeper: She seems to have a bad habit of falling asleep during class, and won't wake up even if the teacher calls on her. This is actually due to the bad dreams, or more accurately, recalling previous memories of Chihiro Morimura from two loops ago as an effect of being injected with nanomachines.
Hidden Depths: When helping Juro get into the Nurse's office in his route, she explains that she crafted an excuse about an injured student to secure the key, recalling it with a notably mischievous pride. Turns out someone sweet like her has a devious side too.
Light Is Good: Being one of the kindest protagonists, her color palette is made up of very soft, desaturated tones, ranging from her platinum-blonde hair, her clean school uniform, to the white flowers she accessorizes with.
Living Macguffin: She's the newest version of Chihiro Morimura, the scientist in charge of Project Ark. This means Iori possesses the latter's biometric ID and can both shift unconsciously and access files related to the most heavy revelations in the game, something Renya takes advantage of to learn as much as he can about the setting's lore.
Love Confession: Delivers one to Ei after he rescues her, Miwako and Tomi from Wajima and his gang.
Meet Cute: She bumps into Ei on her way to school, and later that day, she notes how attractive he was and how her heart pounds when she thinks about him. Miwako even says it must be Love at First Sight. Of course, the irony of this is that she ended up falling in love with the man who killed her original self in the real world.
Morality Pet: Ei develops a fondness for her throughout the game, being able to lighten some of his stoicism when she's around for him. And he's taken aback when she finally professes her love for him.
Ei: "Despite having lost my memories, she continues to help me with an open heart. I just... I'm not sure how to reciprocate..."
Nice Girl: A sweet and gentle girl who is openly caring for others.
The Not-Love Interest: For Juro;
- Their first interaction in his prologue has her blushing upon waking up to talk to him, eliciting Kyuta teasing the two. As their stories progress though, their relationships never progresses beyond just good friends, and they each fall in love with different characters by the end.
- Juro Izumi and Chihiro Morimura - Iori's predecessor - from two loops ago were in fact in love, but coinciding with the game's theme of second chances, their relationship was never destined to repeat the same.
Official Couple: With Ei in the endgame.
Ordinary High-School Student: Out of all the protagonists, Iori is the most mundane of the lot; before she's pulled into the main events, all she's had to worry about is her grades, crushing over boys, and where to eat after school. She's constantly flummoxed from all the weird circumstances she's come across, even during the final battle, and her story is the easiest to complete first.
Pinball Protagonist: Among the 13 protagonists, she is by far the most reactive and clueless about everything that's going on in the background. Most of the major plot points that happen in her storyline tend to be a result of her accidentally stumbling into them instead of any intended proactivity from her part.
Redeeming Replacement: The two noteworthy Chihiro Morumuras that proceed her are both incredibly flawed women who's motives conflict with the protagonists at several points, being the cynical "Professor Morimura" and the Well-Intentioned Extremist "Nurse Morimura". Iori, who's the newest Chihiro under a different name, is someone that wears her heart on her sleeve and always thinks about the well-being of others, standing as a foil to the previous incarnations by embracing her feelings over cold, calculating logic.
Reluctant Fanservice Girl: When she first enters a Sentinel, she's rather embarrassed at the fact that she's naked whenever she has to drive it.
Smitten Teenage Girl: Her non-stop blushing and fantasizing about Ei is very easy bait for teasing from others.
Miwako: "Your forehead is red."
Tomi: "Well she was sleeping on the desk."
Iori: "Oh um... I kinda bumped into someone..."
Miwako: (chuckling) "Now the rest of your face is red."
Iori: "Huh?!"
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Because she has Morimura's biometric ID, she unwittingly triggers shifts through the gates just by being near them. She first does this in the school's science room, accidentally sending herself to 2065 where everything is destroyed, then accidentally triggers the gate in the school pass, which traps Tomi, Nenji and Miwako in the ruined 2025.
Yaoi Fangirl: Implied, given how intently she was eavesdropping on Juro and Shu's (unintentionally homoerotic) conversation, and her following comment expressing support.
(stammering) "Eep! I-I think as long you love each other, it's okay!"

Ryoko Shinonome

Scarred Agent

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (Japanese), Kira Buckland (English)

"I won't let anyone else fight for me."

A gloomy, soft-spoken girl hanging around Sakura High. Her memory is cloudy following an accident in battle. She has to take medicine regularly, otherwise she will get a severe headache and lose consciousness.

In the final battle, she pilots the second-generation Sentinel No. 14.

Addled Addict: From the perspective of anyone who doesn't know about her condition, such as Yuki, Ryoko's pill-popping looks like she's got a serious problem.
Alternate Self: She's the latest clone made from the genetic data of Ryoko Shinonome, a geneticist who lived in 2188. Despairing over humanity due to the fact that people were killing each other and that Tetsuya "used" her, she injected the D-Code into Universal Control, with the purpose of forcing the Ark simulation into endless loops of creation and destruction to make the project fail and destroy humanity.
Amnesiacs are Innocent: Once the DD-426 virus completely devours her memories, she becomes friendly and sweet-natured, only remembering Tetsuya Ida as the man who gave her the capacity to protect people.
Amnesiac Dissonance: The original Ryoko was a Yandere and a misanthrope who partly caused the Deimos' creation in the first place. This version has a Heroic BSoD when she learns the truth. Incidentally, it also applies to her after the DD-426 virus runs its course and removes a majority of her memories, as she becomes much warmer and friendlier than she was prior to and during her infection period. Not to mention the fact that, prior to losing her memories, she killed Ida over Ida being in love with another woman, which the post-virus Ryoko expresses disgust towards after finding out about it.
Amnesiac Hero: She's lost all of her memories prior to her route, and her arc involves her remembering things that she's already done.
Amnesia Loop: Zigzagged. Like Juro's, her storyline is structured like a "Groundhog Day" Loop because of her memory problems, but she still gets to remember major details from previous day loops every time she ends up in the nurse's office after recalling an important event. However, it's still played straight in certain other cases, like the time she learns about what her 2188 counterpart did in Yuki's storyline or the true nature of the city's outer walls in Shu's storyline, reveals that otherwise would have completely changed the character had they stuck around.
Arch-Enemy: Sees 426, who she originally believes is Ei Sekigahara, as this, hating him for his apparent role in destroying the sentinels.
Badass in Distress: In Tomi's route, she and the others find an unconscious Ryoko in the ruins of 2025, requiring her to be surveyed by Miwako while Tomi and Nenji investigate the city for clues.
Broken Ace: Comments from characters like Ida and Sekigahara imply that Ryoko is a very talented Sentinel pilot who provides a lot to the battle against the kaiju. But a cavalcade of trauma and hardship has left her a withdrawn and sullen girl who doesn't quite open up to and connect with her comrades most of the time.
Clingy Jealous Girl:
- Seeing Shu chat with Yuki causes some odd feelings in Ryoko, due to him being similar to Ida.
  "When I see him talking to another girl, my chest feels so tight. It feels like I'm... jealous.... No, about him? That's ridiculous. There's no way."
- In her flashback to meeting Megumi in the Sentinel Hanger, Ryoko gets extremely possessive when Morimura informs her that Megumi is the backup pilot for No. 14, the Sentinel assigned to Ryoko by Ida.
  Ryoko: "I won't allow it."
  Morimura: "Piloting effectively is not possible in your condition."
  Ryoko: "But No. 14... Mr. Ida chose me for it! It's my Sentinel."
Cool Big Sis: She and Ei grew up together and were as close as family, with him seeing her as a surrogate big sister. It also makes it more tragic when she hunts him down under the presumption that he's 426, and Ei doing whatever he can to make her remember despite DD-426 already taking hold of her.
"I spent a lot of time alone back home. Parents weren't around. So she stepped in. Looked after me like a big sister. She's family to me. In that sense, I do care fore her. I want her to be happy."
Creepy Good: Her gloomy appearance and attitude unsettles a lot of the other pilots, but she is undoubtedly on their side fighting for humanity.
Ryoko: "Has anyone suspicious tried talking to you recently?"
Tomi: "Uh... besides you?"
Death of Personality: Her frequent memory loss is caused by exposure to virus DD 426 in sector 2 (2064), she takes her medicine to counteract this, which also helps her cope with her constant headaches. It's heavily implied that she's actually in the late stages of what Juro suffered, with her current personality being progressively erased. By the end of her story, the only memories she has are related to piloting her Sentinel, although the virus is cured and she regains the ability to retain her memories.
Déjà Vu: She starts feeling weird every time she interacts with Shu because, unbeknownst to her, he shares the same DNA as Ida, and so she instinctively conflates the two of them without understanding why.
"Shu Amiguchi, I get a strange feeling when I think about him. It's almost like... I'm in love with him."
Despair Event Horizon: The original Ryoko hits this when she realizes Tetsuya never truly loved her and concludes that Humans Are Bastards that don't deserve to survive extinction. This is what motivates her to create the DEIMOS code and inject it into the simulation in order to sabotage the Ark Project. The current Ryoko briefly hits this after finding out what the original Ryoko did, pushing her to toss away her medication under the belief that she'll only keep destroying the world. It doesn't stick on account of her continual bursts of amnesia making her forget the incident, and she processes it better the second time around after being cured of her infection.
Deuteragonist: A unique example among the cast. Ryoko's story is one of the most interesting in terms of structure, as by the time it starts, most of it is already over- her major story arc of coming to grips with her past and killing Ida for his betrayal is one that occurs over Usami, Natsuno, Yuki, and Shu's routes, with the climax of this story only being shown at the very end of her own route. Ryoko's route instead deals with the ramifications of her memory loss and the difficulty of coping with what she's done, which manifests itself as an amnesia loop. Essentially, Ryoko plays more of a part in other characters' routes than her own.
The Dragon: Ida's most loyal minion and most useful asset... at least until she realises how little she means to him and shoots him dead.
Enemy Mine: Near the end of Shu's route, she shows up to his apartment ready to blast him in the face. But then he brings up wanting to go after Ida, and realizing their goals align, she joins him to get the four-eyed bastard.
Shu: "Senpai, I'm sorry. I've got something I need to do."
Ryoko: "You want me to shoot you?"
Shu: "I have to go stop Ida."
Ryoko: "[...] Sounds like we're on the same side."
First-Name Basis: With Ei, hinting that the two are close to one another. It's actually a bit more complicated than this though.
Go Mad from the Revelation: Hits the Despair Event Horizon when she learns her 2188 self is the one responsible for the Kaiju invasion, to the point she throws her amnesia medicine away under the belief that she is fated to destroy everything anyway. She gets hit with this a second time after finding out that Ida was not only using her but was in love with another woman the entire time, which prompts her to work with Amiguchi to stop Ida, and she even kills him for what he's done.
Hack Your Enemy: The Nintendo Switch port adds the Cyberattack Missile to her kit, allowing her to program kaiju to attack each other and unaffected enemies for twenty seconds.
Handicapped Badass: Even though she's the most afflicted person of the pilots, having debilitating memory loss and several bodily injuries that haven't healed, this doesn't stop Ryoko from being a force to be reckoned with while fighting the Deimos.
Head-Turning Beauty: Despite her languid movement and sickly disposition, not to mention her antisocial attitude and ghostly appearance, her beauty shines through. Hijiyama falls over himself after seeing her for the first time and describes her as hauntingly beautiful.
The Heavy: She plays an antagonistic role in many other characters' story modes. Subverted at the end of Amiguchi's, though: she shows up to his apartment and holds him at gunpoint, but they realise they're on the same side at this late juncture and she takes a rare turn as an ally.
Heroic BSoD: Learning that her original incarnation is responsible for causing the Deimos attacks in a bid to wipe out humanity causes her to have a mental breakdown.
Hopeless Suitor: She was unhealthily devoted to Ida, who was willing to manipulate her goodwill for his own means, is himself still hopelessly devoted to another girl, and is responsible for Ryoko's memory loss; it was simply never meant to be for her.
I Hate Past Me: She hits the Despair Event Horizon after first discovering that her 2188 self was responsible for the Deimos invasion. The new self she forms after her infection is cured also expresses this towards her pre-cured self when she finds out that she killed Ida over Ida being in love with another woman.
Implied Love Interest: Considering the Maybe Ever After and the fact they were once an item in their original time period, she is this to Renya. That said, Ryoko does not seem to recognize Renya due to her jumbled up memories, so she never really displays any sort of opinion on him besides some mild distrust.
Innocently Insensitive: She still refers to Juro as Izumi the few times they interact, Ryoko not knowing about his identity reconstruction and still treating him like his original self. He just sounds annoyed whenever it happens.
"Kurabe?... But he's Izumi-kun. I don't understand..."
Kick the Dog: She does some pretty questionable things while following Ida's orders. Most damning is perhaps when she leaves Natsuno stranded in 2025 in order to acquire BJ's data logs.
Loners Are Freaks: She's usually a lone agent; even her first pilot trait buffs her if she goes off to do her own thing in battle. She's also probably the most damaged protagonist, mentally and physically.
Love Martyr: She's in love with Tetsuya Ida and wants to do what she can to help him, but he only sees her as a tool and tricked her into infecting the Sentinels with the 426 virus.
Maybe Ever After: According to an interview with the game’s writer/director, George Kamitani, whatever Shinonome and Gouto’s relationship is at the end of the game is left up to the player to decide.
Ms. Exposition: Her role in Juro's route.
- He finds her having just woken up in the nurse's office, and she proceeds to drop a bombshell of information on him about their past, including that they're from the future, that she and Juro lost memories, and him having his personality reconstructed as someone new. Even he's still in a state of disbelief from hearing it all.
  Juro: "This is crazy. Honestly it's... really hard for me to believe."
  Ryoko: (Sincerely) "I don't blame you."
- He later seeks her help deliberately when he realizes Shiba's true nature and the tampering done to his memories. And it's here that Ryoko reveals the nature of 426/Juro Izumi from the previous loop to him, even keeping away from Juro out of fear of 426 being in his head. Unfortunately her memory starts fading again before she can explain more.
My Death Is Just the Beginning: Her Atonement Pilot Skill heals her allies whenever her Sentinel is destroyed.
My God, What Have I Done?: She does not take the discovery of what she did before she lost her memory well.
Mysterious Purple: She's the most closed off and elusive of the pilots, with much of her storyline being kept vague in every story section outside her own, hence her design being heavily purple-hued as a signifier.
Name Amnesia: She wakes up near the end of her route not even remembering her own name, showing just how little is left now that her condition has run its course.
New Old Flame: She and Renya briefly dated in middle school, and she's one of the few people who could make him lose his cool. It's left unresolved, though.
The Not-Love Interest: She's one of the few people Ei actually seems to care about and he shows blatant concern for her condition despite Ryoko's belief that Ei is a murderer and traitor. However, their relationship is exclusively platonic, something affirmed by both characters.
Precocious Crush: She was crushing on Tetsuya Ida, who's at least a decade or two older than her. He makes it very clear that this is not the trajectory of their relationship.
Rei Ayanami Expy: A mysterious bandaged girl with blue hair, a Dark and Troubled Past, a giant robot, an emotional connection to an aloof man with glasses and is actually a clone of a scientist. The only difference is her Defrosting Ice Queen act is down to a straight up mind wipe instead of her genuinely opening up.
"Shaggy Dog" Story: Ryoko's storyline ends with her forgetting everything that had happened since the Kaiju attack in her time period, pretty much rendering all her subsequent efforts and investigations meaningless. This, however, is portrayed as a good thing, since her mind manages to stabilize and the emotional baggage she accumulates throughout the story would've likely broken her further had she remembered everything.
Shrinking Violet: Her original personality was very shy and soft-spoken, which especially shows as she's mustering her Love Confession to Ida. Even in the present after all the crap she's been through, her soft-spoken attitude and social aversion are still present.
Teacher/Student Romance: She holds special feelings for Ida, though his feelings on the matter are unknown. Turns out she never had a chance. Ida was always in love with Kisaragi, and only ever viewed her as a pawn whose affection for him made her easily used.
Ryoko: "You said I was special..."
Ida: "You are special."
Ryoko: "The thing is... I felt it too, the moment you arrived. I knew you'd be special, that something might happen between the two of us..."
The Turret Master: Certain unlockable passives allow her to set two turrets at a time at a given location, making the ability much more valuable on her than the other Gen Two pilots.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Her total devotion to Ida leads her to take his side against Morimura, uploading DD-426 onto the Sentinels on his behalf, which saddled her and two others with debilitating amnesia. Perhaps as karma would have it, hers is more advanced and significantly more painful than the others' (Ei's is early-onset, and Juro's personality was already overwritten), and she loses herself in the end.
Worf Had the Flu: She's still recovering from the devastating Deimos Battle that took place in 2064 before the main story, and is wrapped in bandages throughout her whole storyline. That plus DD-426 ravishing her mind means she isn't quite at optimal performance through the game.
Ryoko: "What are you staring at me for? You probably think I look awful..."
Renya: "That is true... Those injured, frail arms. To think they could produce such raw power. It's hard to comprehend..."
Yandere: She kills Ida after having seen his recordings in the Sector 1 factory, where he essentially admits that he just wants to save Tomi and doesn't care about anything else. She herself admits that she doesn't care that Tetsuya was only using her, but she found unacceptable that he was in love with another woman (though the discovery he was willing to kill humanity to save Tomi certainly didn't help her opinion of him), so she disabled the stun mode on her gun and shot to kill. However, Ida managed to back up his consciousness into a droid before this happened, so he was still around in some sense. Present-day Ryoko subverts this, becoming disgusted with Ida and herself after learning the truth.

Third Generation Pilots

Shared Tropes

Emergency Weapon: The Third-Generation Sentinels have their Stun Knuckles as their sole melee armaments for kaiju that get in close and are armored against their bullets and missiles. They don't do much damage, they have limited range, and unlike the Rush Attack of the First-Generation models or the Heavy Knuckles of the Second-Generation models, they cost actual EP to use.
Long-Range Fighter: They're designated as "Long-Range" units with an emphasis on area control and striking enemies from afar. Many of their armaments can travel the entire length of the map.
Mighty Glacier: Their incredible range is offset by the weakest mobility of the Sentinels, having no gap-closers or ways to increase movement speed.

Natsuno Minami

Sci-Fi Geek

Voiced by: Kaoru Sakura (Japanese), Erica Mendez (English)

"Just watch, one of these days, I'll work for NASA. And I'm gonna find a real alien!"

An energetic and honest member of the track and field team. She is also a sci-fi enthusiast who dreams of genuinely interacting with aliens. She has a family of four, including her parents and younger brother, and is close with her neighbor, old lady Tamao - Juro Kurabe’s grandmother. Things take an extraordinary turn when she discovers a little robot in the school locker room, which she names "BJ".

In the final battle, she pilots the third-generation Sentinel No. 17 given to her by BJ.

A Girl and Her X: With BJ.
Academic Athlete: She's not only a member of the track team, but is pretty smart and has a broad knowledge of science fiction and UFO lore.
Action Survivor: Having no combat skills outsider of her Sentinel, she spends most of her storyline narrowly evading danger and thinking on her feet. This includes outwitting the Men in Black surrounding her school, escaping 1945 as it's being attacked by Deimos, hiding from a pair of robot dopplegangers tearing each other apart, and surviving in the ruined 2025 while hostile androids swarm her location.
Alternate Self: She is the latest clone made from Natsuno Minami, an astronaut in 2188 and the daughter of Professor Yuki Takamiya.
Apocalypse Maiden: She's the current holder of the Control Key (the Deimos-Code), which compels the kaiju to attack. This is also the reason they attack all other sectors before Sector 4, as she comes from there. Destroying Sector 4 first would mean destroying the key as well. Killing her wouldn't help, however.
426 (As Tamao): "Those monsters, the ones that destroyed the city, they have a new commander. And it's you."
Affectionate Nickname: Her female friends call her "Nat-chan."
Battle Couple: She receives direct damage buffs if she attacks after Miura in combat, thanks to the latter's passive ability. Having the two on the same team is a good way to maximize their damage.
Book Dumb: Despite being obsessed with outer space and being quite Genre Savvy, Iori implies that Natsuno's grades in science aren't the best. Natsuno can only respond with an awkward chuckle.
Break the Cutie: BJ's Heroic Sacrifice leaves her in shambles. When she appears in Ei's route, after BJ's already gone, she's not her usual cheery self and spends a lot of time looking away from others in sadness.
Childhood Friends: With Yuki. She also became friends with Iori and Miwako in elementary school.
Cloudcuckoolander: Her fascination with aliens is generally treated with amusement from those who know her.
- Yuki discovers her journal with notes about her adventures with BJ, and it all sounds like Natsuno leaping to conclusions and inventing her own fiction rather than recounting objective fact.
  Natsuno's Journal: "What follows is an investigative record of important moments in time and space: I have finally encountered my destiny. He has arrived from outer space; an actual extraterrestrial being! In summary, woah. Aliens really do exist."
  Yuki: "Did Nat-chan make this all up?..."
- When one of her track teammates sees her sneaking out from practice, Natsuno gives a very grandiose excuse that the teammate shrugs off like it's just what she expected to hear.
Natsuno: "Please don't tell Senpai. Our planet is in danger, there isn't a second to spare!"
Teammate: (Unphased) "Yeah, whatever."
Commonality Connection: She and Juro share VHS recordings of sci-fi media with each other.
Ditzy Genius: She's able to navigate danger well thanks to her quick thinking, and is aided well by her understanding of sci-fi concepts. Though between her frequently jumping to conclusions and her general eccentricity, it can make her moments of brightness hard to spot.
Embarrassing Nickname: People used to call her "Dr. Space" when she was little due to her obsession with outer space; she's not thrilled when Yuki calls her that as a teenager.
Endearingly Dorky: The passion she exudes whenever she goes on about something alien-related makes others smile. While Natsuno sometimes gets embarrassed about it, usually someone is there to ensure that what she loves is worthwhile.
Yuki: "Glad to see Dr. Space is alive and well."
Natsuno: "I'm weird, aren't I..."
Yuki: "Of course not. It makes me happy actually, to know you're still my Nat-chan."
Natsuno: "Hehe."
Entertainingly Wrong: The entire time she spends with BJ, she assumes he's an alien, solely based on a heat-of-the-moment assumption that he never bothers to correct. Otherwise she takes in the same info as many of the other characters, Sentinels, kaiju and all.
Fangirl: One of the movies she mentions loving is "E.X.T", a film about a human befriending an alien.
Generation Xerox: The Natsuno of 2188 was an astronaut, and it's clear that love for space hasn't waned in her clone-descendants. She also falls in love with her version of Keitaro.
Genki Girl: Her characterization emphasizes her energy and good-humor, being absolutely stoked to meet what she thinks is an alien and carrying through in exuberant spirit.
Genre Savvy: While she's completely misread the whole situation with BJ, time travel, and the SIU hunting him, her love of science fiction and knowledge of genre tropes works surprisingly well for helping her quickly identify that the cute little robot is the good guy, the creepy thugs in suits and shades hunting him are probably the bad guys, and that the aliens ruining the world must be stopped, as well as for helping her improvise solutions like sneaking BJ around in her gym bag.
Girl Next Door: Invoked and Played for Laughs; She and Juro are neighbors and friends at school, which makes Shiba immediately jump on the idea that there's something more there to screw with Juro.
Shiba: "Who's that chick?"
Juro: "Minami-san, my neighbor. My grandma's pretty close with her family."
Shiba: "You're looking 'pretty close' yourself."
Juro: (Blushing) "What are you trying to imply!?"
Heterosexual Life-Partners: She's very close friends with Yuki, who she has known since early childhood. This is possibly a result of their 2188 originals being daughter and mother respectively.
I Just Want to Be Special: The moment she meets a cute little robot in her locker room, she jumps at the opportunity to live out her beloved fantasy of meeting aliens and getting hyped at the idea of being The Chosen One.
"An alien? Are you an alien from space!? Oh my god... I'm The Chosen One!"
Leg Focus: She's often depicted in her track uniform, which ends up showing a lot of leg. Her Love Interest Miura notably becomes flustered by the sight of them when they first meet.
"Maybe I shouldn't have worn my gym clothes..."
Lightning Bruiser: Played with. Her Warmup Run Pilot Skill encourages that she be constantly moving around the battlefield for bonus attack power, and this compliments how her most expensive armament Missile Rain is most effective at close-to-mid range. But in spite of her athleticism outside of it, her Sentinel has the lowest movement speed out of the Third Generation models.
Lovable Nerd: A sweet and bright young lady who absolutely loves aliens, so much that she dreams of being an astronaut one day (keep note of that last bit).
Morality Pet: Hinted to be this for Yuki, who she's able to get to calm down and apologize when she and Ogata start arguing.
Nice Girl: A very sweet young lady who gets along with most people she meets. She's quite gentle when meeting BJ for the first time, even while unrestrainedly giddy at meeting an "alien". There are some limits to her niceness though, like sternly breaking up a confrontation between Yuki and Nenji, and giving a sharp reprimanding to the latter for barging into the girls' locker room.
Official Couple: She and Miura were an item in 2188, much to Yuki's chagrin. By the game's end, they get together again and are engaged in the epilogue.
Only Friend: Yuki describes her as the one person she truly cares about, and goes to great lengths to protect Natsuno throughout the game.
Yuki: "Nat-chan, my childhood friend. We went our separate ways in middle school, but we still kept writing to each other. She's the one person I really care about."
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: You know things get bad whenever she loses her high-spirited energy, as demonstrated with how much danger she is put in throughout the duration of her story.
Otaku: She's a big fan of sci-fi, especially works involving space and aliens.
Passionate Sports Girl: She is in her school's track and field team, and is implied to be one of the better athletes there considering that the team captain gets annoyed when Natsuno starts skipping practice.
Plucky Girl: Whether it's a future devastated by alien war, a present where grim-faced government agents are trying to hunt down her new alien friend, or a fascist past being turned into a sea of flames by American bombs and Deimos, Natsuno can't be kept down for long, and even when she does get scared it spurs her to act and run rather than freeze up. The only major exception is when 426 corners her in the North Building girls' restroom, where she cowers while Tamao shows up and the two androids brawl and rip each other apart.
Secret-Keeper: In exchange for Juro letting Keitaro stay at his place, Natsuno - in a somewhat Blackmaily fashion - keeps Megumi's residence in Juro's home a secret.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She develops feelings for Keitaro, who's as honest and good-mannered as they come.
Wild Card: Like Nenji, she wasn’t heavily involved in the anti-kaiju war efforts of the previous loops, and thus compromises (or helps) the plans of antagonistic refugees from them who try to use their knowledge of the old world to take control of the current setting.

Keitaro Miura

War-Torn Youth

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (Japanese), Zach Aguilar (English)

"I have to protect my family, and everyone I hold dear. Even if it costs me my life!"

A thoughtful and serious young man who cares for his sister. His hat conceals a wound on his forehead. He and Hijiyama are senpai and kouhai in the same town. He has an extremely resilient love for his country.

In the final battle, he pilots the third-generation Sentinel No. 19.

Alternate Self: He is the latest clone made from Keitaro Miura, an engineer from 2188 who wished he could be born in the cataclysmic 1940s that shaped the modern world.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's normally a pleasant young man, but it's easy to forget that he's a trained soldier. And when he learns that his sister has been kidnapped and taken to a different era, his Big Brother Instinct kicks in and he sounds ready to take out Gouto the moment they meet before being talked down.
Big Brother Instinct: He's very protective of his little sister Chihiro. This stays true even as she recovers Professor Morimura's memories.
Childhood Friends: With Hijiyama and Tamao Kurabe.
Child Soldier: Despite being a High Schooler, he was a soldier during World War II, and notes that the schools are empty because every teenager who hasn't been drafted like him is being put to work in factories.
The Comically Serious: He'll tell you with a straight face that "Hemborger" is he greatest culinary innovation of the century.
Deliberate Values Dissonance: Downplayed, but as he comes from the 1940s, his values are a bit different than other characters, such as getting flustered by Natsuno's gym uniform and the shorter skirt lengths of 1980s schoolgirls.
Distracted by the Sexy: When talking to Natsuno, he has to constantly avert his gaze so as not to peek at her thighs.
Drama-Preserving Handicap: A long-running obstacle in his route is his inability to summon or dismiss his Sentinel prior to the final battle, necessitating a daring raid on where the SIU is concealing it. Notably, Hijiyama has no issue doing either despite receiving almost the exact same nanomachine treatments as him in both Sectors 4 and 5.
Entertainingly Wrong: He initially thinks the Deimos are American mecha, due to being from World War II. Later, seeing the rebuilt modern skyline of a 1985 city, his first assumption is that he's somehow been taken prisoner and transported to an American city.
Eye-Obscuring Hat: His hat occasionally does this pose.
Fish out of Temporal Water: Was born in the 1940s and is transported to '85, and he's quite curious and inquisitive about the world around him. A lot of concepts in modern Japan also catch him off guard, such as Delinquent Hair, girls wearing skirts and gym bloomers, and carbonated drinks.
Foil: To Takatoshi, the other male pilot from the 1940s;
- Takatoshi is assertive and hyper-masculine, Keitaro is very modest and youthful-looking.
- Takatoshi's Sentinel is primed for full-frontal combat, Keitaro is designed to fight from the backlines.
- Miura is able to adapt quite well to 1985, and finds suitable residence with Juro and Megumi. Takatoshi spends six months struggling to find food let alone somewhere to sleep, eventually crashing in Okino's lab and hanging around Sakura High for meals.
Generation Xerox: He falls in love with Natsuno just like his 2188 counterpart.
Heterosexual Life-Partners: With Takatoshi, both hailing from the same era and having trained to be pilots together. The two remain close comrades through the whole game.
Humble Hero: He's quite modest about his achievements, almost to a fault. When drafted in the Pacific War, he admits to Takatoshi that he has doubts that he's the right pick to fight for Japan. He's also extremely reluctant to accept food from Megumi, not wanting to be a burden.
Takatoshi: "What's wrong, Keitaro? You resent being drafted?"
Miura: "No. Just... of all people, why would they choose me?"
Innocently Insensitive: When seeing Shu and Nenji for the first time, after being shifted to 1985, he rather cluelessly makes some statements about the latter two's hair that Nenji hears, ending with a schoolbag smacked across Miura's face.
Keitaro: "This one has a particularly strange hairstye..."
Nenji: Hey, you tryin' to get your ass kicked?"
Keitaro: It looks like... I've finally gone crazy..."
Nenji: " You wanna see crazy!?"
The Mentor: Since they use the same type of Sentinel, he briefly teaches Natsuno how to use her armaments, and one of the Pilot Skills he can learn grants her shots bonus damage if she attacks immediately after he does.
Nice Guy: Always a caring and well-mannered young man, with a very strong protective streak.
Official Couple: He and Natsuno were an item in 2188, much to Yuki's chagrin. By the game's end, they get together again.
Patriotic Fervor: A little more nuanced than Takatoshi; while he also finds himself discomforted by the strange and alien future of 1985, he is a bit more reflective, taking pride in his nation's strength and rebuilding after the defeat rather than merely feeling shame. His file outright says he "loves his country more than anyone." Of note, it's not so ingrained or powerful enough for him to keep it when he's made aware that Japan no longer exists and that the war he had feared and trained for wasn't actually happening.
Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The Sensitive Guy to Takatoshi's Manly Man.
Ship Tease: Gets quite a bit of it with Natsuno. After their first meeting in 1985, his Thought Cloud about Natsuno reflects his intense and flustered attraction to her.
"Natsuno-san... Get it together, Keitaro. She certainly is quite... yes... I admit, she's bright, cheerful... attractive... B-But right now, I have more urgent matters to attend to."
Signature Headgear: He almost never takes off that old-fashioned schoolboy hat of his. A lot of his animations show him fiddling with it when deep in thought or nervous.
Taking You with Me: If his Sentinel is destroyed, it releases a powerful shockwave that will ideally destroy any kaiju around him so that he himself can escape safely until he can summon it again.
Trademark Favorite Food: Hamburg steak, or "hemborger" as he calls it; it's the food he becomes obsessed with after landing the 80s.
Walking Armory: His original niche in the first iteration of the game is that his Sentinel had access to all the best long-range weapons in the game including a stronger version of the rail gun and the Super Large Missile.
You Can't Fight Fate: He not only becomes entangled with a Natsuno Minami, but despite her inheriting the robot an earlier version of him used in battle, he still winds up piloting a Third-Generation Sentinel.
You Can't Go Home Again: He shifts to 1985 right as the Deimos completely raze his town. Because shifting can only occur in specific intervals, he can't go back to the moment before the attack, meaning all that awaits him in '45 is a burning hellscape.

Tomi "Usami" Kisaragi

Sassy Snoop

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tomi_kisaragi.png

Voiced by: Mao Ichimichi (Japanese), Cassandra Lee Morris (English)

A girl who can easily come off as unrestrained and sassy, but has a strong mind with a quick wit that is able to overcome adversity. Her nickname is Usami, a play on an alternate reading of the first character 兔 in her first name 兔美.

In the final battle, she pilots the third-generation Sentinel No. 16, originally piloted by Miyuki Inaba.

Affectionate Nickname: Her friends call her "Usami."
All Girls Want Bad Boys:
- Defied. Ogata's delinquent attitude repulses her, and it's only when she sees or hears about his softer or more chivalrous side that she finds him appealing. This is emphasized in Ogata's own story route, where getting into a fight with Wajima causes her to walk off in disgust, but speaking sincerely to her about his predicament and his feelings gets through to her and helps her listen.
- This might still be a straight example, since the Tomi from one loop ago was said to prefer tough guys, which is the reason Ida changed up his once nerdy appearance. Then again, Clones Are People, Too, and a key theme of the game is that expecting them to be exactly the same as their counterparts from other timelines is foolish.
Alternate Self: She is the latest clone made from Tomi Kisaragi, a terraforming researcher from 2188.
Animal Motif: Rabbits; the kanji in her given name means rabbit, hence why her nickname is "Usami", a play on "usagi" for rabbit. The two big twintails are a nod to rabbit ears too.
Babies Ever After: Implied to have at least two children with Ogata in the Distant Finale.
Beautiful Singing Voice: She's mentioned to be good at singing. This ends up being Foreshadowing for the real identity of Miyuki Inaba.
Clingy Jealous Girl: During Nenji's chapter, she'll suspect that Nenji has a thing for Iori if she spots him spying on her and Okino, and she'll get on his case. When he retorts that she's not his girlfriend, she blushes and turns away.
Nenji: "For real, it's not like that."
Tomi: "Then what IS it like?"
Nenji: "What do you care? You're not my girlfriend. Why are you even getting so worked up?"
Tomi: "...It's not a big deal, I was just... curious. Sheesh..."
Deadpan Snarker: She's incredibly sassy with others, especially Nenji.
"Well, cleeearly I'm just a hopeless busybody.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: She has a bad habit of saying a lot of the modern-day concepts out loud in her current 1985 environment, confusing the natives there.
Fearless Fool: When she first meets Nenji, she's quick to poke fun at his Delinquent Hair without concern.
Fire-Forged Friendship: She and Nenji don't get along at first, due to their first meeting involving her making fun of his Delinquent Hair because of her Fish out of Temporal Water status, then her being turned off by his rude and confrontational temper. After they're flung to the future though, they start to get along a bit better, to the point of them getting some Ship Tease, especially once she realizes he's a decent guy under his tough and standoffish attitude.
Fish out of Temporal Water:
- Her story starts with her being absolutely amazed at the strangeness of late Showa era Japan (and accidentally picking a fight with Ogata due to his hairstyle). As she comes from 2024, this is not surprising, but Iori privately admits on her own story route that she finds Tomi pretty weird, even though she's still her friend.
- In a moment of sadness, she quietly admits to herself the surrealness of being thrust back in time by comparing her age to those around her.
"Those girls over there... They look about my age, but... back home, they must be in their 50's... It's too weird..."
Guile Heroine: Behind all that sass she spews out, Tomi knows how to be pretty sharp. In order to gain access to the gates and shift, she stakes out Tokisaka Shrine and watches Okino shift back to the current era. She immediately jumps on the chance to blackmail Tsukasa with the threat of Morimura discovering his actions, netting herself his cooperation and access to time travel. Because of this, she's able to make contact with Miyuki Inaba and learns a great deal about Project Ark alongside several others.
Interface Spoiler: While there's plenty of other foreshadowing, her first pilot skill all-but makes her double-life as a net idol explicit.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: An incredibly sassy and sharp-tongued little lady. Nonetheless, her friends mean the world to her and she's very proactive trying to keep them safe.
Little Miss Snarker: Invoked; she's the smallest of the thirteen, and many characters assume she's younger than she really is. Small though she may be, she's got the biggest mouth by far and is unafraid to be as blunt and dry as she can.
Locked Out of the Loop: Between all of the characters from the future, she seems to be a bit more in the dark.
Official Couple: With Nenji in the endgame. They even mention having kids.
Only Friend: She's Megumi's sole friend and confidant. Unlike Megumi, she herself has no trouble making other friends and quickly strikes a friendship with Iori and Miwako, even though Iori privately admits that she comes off as a weirdo to people from the past.
Older Than They Look: Despite being 15-16 like all the other first-year high school protagonists, Tomi is sometimes mistaken for a middle or even an elementary schooler due to her petite frame and childish voice and mannerisms.
Plucky Girl: She's initially optimistic about 2025 surviving, up until she's forcefully shifted there and sees the destruction it's faced.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The outspoken and assertive Red Oni to Megumi's demure and reserved Blue Oni. Even the color of their glasses match up
She Is All Grown Up: It's not seen, but the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue has Nenji mention that, after the post-ending Timeskip, Tomi looks significantly different... including having (according to an appreciative Nenji) huge breasts.
She Is Not My Girlfriend: She's frequently mistaken for Nenji's girlfriend even before they get together in any capacity, leading to this from both of them. Invoked in her unique passive "It's Not Like That!", which raises her stats if Nenji is deployed in the same fight.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: In Iori's route, Miwako explains how Wajima's gang were harassing her and Iori outside of school, but Nenji came to their rescue and fought off the gang. Tomi sounds impressed and is seemingly blushing at the image of Nenji doing something like that.
The Social Expert: Even when taken to an era decades older than her own, she takes to making new friends with ease, quickly becoming close friends with Iori and Miwako.
Stepford Smiler: She tries to keep up her pluckiness even when looking at the wreckage of her home in 2025, doing a bad job hiding her tears from Nenji who's accompanying her. It opens up a moment of tenderness between the two.
Nenji: "You don't have to push yourself. If you wanna cry, then cry."
Tomi: (Sniffling) "Don't be stupid. I'm not crying.''
Nenji: "Oh yeah? What's with the voice then? Gotta cold or something?"
Tomi: "I always sound like this."
Nenji: "Whatever you say..."
The Name Is Bond, James Bond: She introduces herself this way to Fuyusaka and Sawatari.
This Cannot Be!: While she sees the Deimos attack begin in her era, she's shifted to 1985 before seeing the true extant of the destruction. When recounting the attack, she's still in denial of things being as bad as they are. It's only after comforting a sobbing Megumi and returning to 2025 herself that it starts to sink in.
Tomi: "My mom and dad. They're fine, right? Gotou's just making things up. Tell me it's all a big lie."
Megumi: "..."
Tomi: "It has to be, right?..."
Trademark Favorite Food: Crepes.
Tsundere: Is one towards Nenji, especially evidenced in battle with her berating him for his recklessness if his health gets low. One of her skills is called "It's Not Like That!" and activates if Nenji is on the team.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: One of her Pilot Skills, called "You're so Reckless", grants her attacks bonus damage against enemies who get too close to Nenji The feeling is mutual, as Nenji deals more damage if Tomi is ever hurt in battle. The name of the skill just reinforces their bicker-laden relationship.
You Can't Go Home Again: She and Megumi are refugees from the ruined 2025, having come to 1985 right as the Deimos attacked. Tomi however hasn't totally internalized the damage done and is still in denial when she arrives in '85. It's only after returning and seeing the damage that it sets in.
"I never saw it myself; the world was destroyed apparently... What do I even say to that? 'Yeah, cool. Got it'?"

Fourth Generation Pilots

Shared Tropes

Balance, Power, Skill, Gimmick: Each generation of Sentinels has a pilot that fits into one of the first three categories, but those of the Fourth Generation have Shu Amiguchi as the Gimmick thanks to his odd yet potent Pilot Skills (which include damage bonuses from alternating between weapons, and gaining heightened stats the more girls are on his team) propping up an otherwise unfocused array of available armaments.
Flying Firepower: Whereas the other Sentinel classes' mobility are bound by moving around the city streets, Gen Four Sentinels are designed for airborne combat and can fly over buildings and enemies, and can belt out all kinds of damage from a safe distance.
Fragile Speedster: Their flight makes them by far the fastest Sentinels, but outside of Takamiya they don't have the survivability of first gens and can't effectively sit on the back line and shoot in the same way third gens can. Making the most of them usually relies on them darting in and out of enemy fire.

Megumi Yakushiji

Steadfast Guardian

Voiced by: Maaya Uchida (Japanese), Cristina Valenzuela (English)

"This time, it's my turn to save you."

A serious girl who does not often show her emotions, but has a strong affection for Kurabe, whose family has taken her in. She is good at cooking, and makes bento lunches and dinner for Kurabe and Miura every day.

In the final battle, she pilots the fourth-generation Sentinel No. 23.

Action Girlfriend: Juro remains quite passive throughout his route, not throwing himself into the action until the stakes get high enough (like an AI controlling his brain or a Kaiju attack). Megumi by contrast engages in a lot of action through her and other routes, being the one to administer the nanomachines from Fluffy and getting into confrontations regarding that. Then she recues Juro from Tsukasa in the factory, incapacitating both the latter and Takatoshi.
Alternate Self: She's the latest clone made from the daughter of lieutenant Nozomu Yakushiji, subordinate of Major Juro Izumi, who lived in 2188.
Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: She has long, black hair, and comes across as pretty cold. She's actually just shy and passive, though people mistake it for aloofness.
Broken Bird: Her prologue shows the before and after of her entire world falling apart around her, explaining why she's so closed off throughout the game. Her era has been destroyed by the Deimos, leaving everyone she knows either missing or dead; Juro Izumi, someone she deeply, mutually loved, is now an amnesiac shell of his former self; she's taking refuge in an era forty years older than her own, and she's now being expected to be called to the frontlines once the Deimos attack this era.
Casting Gag: Megumi's story plays on Magical Girl tropes and has more than a few references to Puella Magi Madoka Magica, so it fits like a glove for her to voiced by Cristina Valenzuela, the English voice of Homura Akemi.
Clingy Jealous Girl: She gets quite moody when she notices Juro being close with other girls, most notably when she finds him together with Iori at school, assuming that he and Iori were an item at one point. A more subtle example occurs when Natsuno visited Juro's home. Even though she initially hid herself when Juro asked her to, she quickly walked back in, for no apparent reason other than showing Natsuno that Juro is taken.
Megumi: "So, you and [Fuyusaka]. Seems like you two are pretty close..."
Juro: "W-What are you talking about?"
Combat Medic: Her Sentinel can unlock the Shield Repair armament, making her one of the three pilots who can heal a teammate. The "combat" aspect of this trope is strengthened in the Nintendo Switch version, which gives her stronger beam and missile weaponry options.
Deadpan Snarker: She engages in plenty of Snark-to-Snark Combat with Fluffy, who's no easy individual to work besides.
Megumi: "I can come play with you after school for a bit, okay? Just cause your sooo cute.
Fluffy: "Sure, make fun. Just the fate of the world that's at stake."
Deal with the Devil: Invoked; while Fluffy's true intentions and morality are unknown, she'd make one of these if it meant preventing her beloved Juro from fighting again. Played with. On one hand, what Fluffy is making her do is necessary, since the shots from her "magic gun" are what the sentinels need to use meta-chips and become stronger in order to overcome the kaiju (and notably, the activation spots of the pilots are exactly in the body parts she shot). On the other, while Fluffy is restoring Juro Izumi's memories (as he's also Shiba), it's not "her" Juro's memories that he's restoring, but rather the memories of another Juro from a past loop that ended up becoming 426. Kind of subverted in the end game when it's revealed that Fluffy really did try to bring back "her" Juro's memories as best he could (there just wasn't much left due to the DD-426 infection) and thought fondly of Megumi as almost a daughter.
"If it really is true, and there really is a way to bring back Juro... then I'd make a deal with the devil if I had to."
Death Seeker: After learning she was being manipulated by 426 the whole time, and shooting Juro with the nanomachine gun in a blind panic, Megumi begins hallucinating herself aiming the gun at her, and decides that her dying will be for the best after all she's done. Thankfully, it's not a lethal shot, and Juro is able to help her pull herself together.
Easily Forgiven: Juro Kurabe still falls for her despite her forcing herself into his life and attempting to erase his existence, and none of the other characters begrudge her for shooting them with the nanite gun, at least without a few sassy remarks...
Tomi: "Seriously Megumi, I wish you'd just told me."
Megumi: "I have to apologize... If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be-"
Tomi: "Look, there's only one thing I want an apology for: I got that switch 'cause you shot me, right? 'Cause like... did you have to put it on my back? I'm gonna give myself a cramp swiping that thing.
Expy: Of Homura Akemi. Beyond physical similarities and sharing an English voice actress, Megumi is also an Aloof Dark-Haired Girl who travels back in time, is adept with a gun, and made a Deal with the Devil in order to grant her wish to save the person she loves most by preventing them from going into combat where they'll inevitably die.
Fatal Flaw: Her possessiveness; She has difficulty treating Juro Kurabe as his own person instead of Juro Izumi, and has no interest in his current personality or the kaiju problem until the finale. And the moment she thinks something threatens to come between her and Juro, like assuming Juro has feelings for Iori, Megumi goes full-Yandere. While the source of her issues is sympathetic, being the loss of Juro Izumi and her failure to move on, it still causes friction in all of her relationships, including with Juro Kurabe.
Feminine Women Can Cook: She cooks regularly for herself and Juro (and Miura), fitting her gentle, classically feminine vibes. Others compare her to a housewife because of it.
Foil: To Iori; both are kind young ladies who are hopelessly in love with a boy and get roped into the plot by past incarnations of the main cast.
- Megumi already has a history with Juro from meeting in her era of origin, only for him to lose his identity and her clinging to his new self in the vain hope of restoring his memories. Iori only meets Ei in the first chapter of her route but has her heart set on seeking him out and getting to know him despite the increasing risks of doing so.
- Megumi's love for Juro morphs into ruthless and ill-informed actions that slowly drive her to a breaking point and threaten to bring harm to anyone else she cares for. Whereas while Iori makes some rash choices chasing Ei, she never puts herself before the well-being of her friends, with the danger she faces instead coming from confronting forces she doesn't understand.
- Their designs heavily contrast each other too; Megumi has dark-straight hair and a very cool color palette that accentuates her withdrawn and cold image. Whereas Iori has wavy blonde hair and a very light color palette that accentuates her pure and gentle image.
Genre Savvy: Upon meeting a talking cat offering to grant her a wish through a contract, she's quick to note the trappings of magical girls at play. This is doubly-hilarious considering the character she's riffing on.
"A contract, with a cat. Are you going to turn me into a magical girl or something?"
Green-Eyed Monster: Due to her obsession with Juro, Megumi does not take kindly to any potential competition. This is why she has no qualms about shooting Iori when she is designated a witch, after she overheard some conversations and got the wrong idea.
Imagine Spot: Whenever Megumi is about to shoot someone with her "Magical Gun", but fails because the player overlooked something, the "failure" is portrayed as Megumi just imagining the worst that could happen to her before coming back to her senses.
In-Series Nickname: Takatoshi refers to her as the "Yakisoba Pan Angel", on account of her treating him to the food while he was on the brink of starvation. He continues calling her that even during the final battle.
Takatoshi: "You're an inspiration to us all, Yakisoba Pan Angel."
Megumi: "Hijiyama-san... could you stop calling me that?..."
Irony: The original 2188 Megumi Yakushiji was a child who was understandably incapable of doing much during the devastation of the colony. Her playable version is, in contrast, heavily involved with the plot.
Karma Houdini: She's was willing to erase an innocent person from existence, shanghai innocent children into fighting a war and even symbolically shoot her best friend in the back to get back the man she loves. It goes off exactly as she wants, with 426 restoring as much of her Juro Izumi's memories as possible resulting in Juro Kurabe falling in love with her.
Kick the Dog: In Ryoko's flashback to meeting Megumi, right after the latter has escaped from 2025's destruction, Ryoko is having an outburst and getting possessive over Sentinel No.14 to Morimura, prompting an extreme response from Megumi that attacks Ryoko and her disorder:
Ryoko: "It's my Sentinel."
Megumi: "Then you're the one who should've been in it... If you're really that possessive of it, then why didn't you fight instead of Juro?... It doesn't matter, you'll forget this too... just like everything else..."
Morimura: "Yakushiji-san!"
Kindhearted Cat Lover: She seems genuinely thrilled to meet the cat that hangs around Sakura High and acts quite cute around it. Though that's before realizing what a headache he really is.
Megumi: "You really are an unpleasant cat."
Fluffy: Admit it, you like me. The first time you saw me you were all 'Fluffy! Fluffy!' Chasing me around with that dumb look on your face."
Megumi: (Blushing) "T-That's not true!"
Loving a Shadow: Even though Juro Izumi is stated to be gone, she can't help but still identify Juro Kurabe as the former due to them both being the same in body. And her storyline has her struggling to reconcile that Juro Kurabe is who's left and finds herself repeating habits she shared with Izumi with him, like hugging and walking to school alongside Juro who hasn't developed that same connection with her yet, resulting in a bridge forming between them.
Renya: "I recognize the position you're in; you harbor feelings for him, correct? But he is no longer the Izumi that you knew. He is Juro Kurabe now. You would do well to consider him an entirely different person. The new personality is not stable. Don't disregard the danger this may put you in."
Megumi: "Juro will recover, I'll make sure of it."
Renya: "Even if we erased the personality of Juro Kurabe, it would be a futile effort as I already explained. Izumi's memory is gone, there is nothing left."
My God, What Have I Done?:
- Just before she shoots Iori, Megumi realizes how Yandere she's acting, and becomes very uncomfortable with her actions, realizing just how eager she's been to hurt Iori out of jealousy rather than a desire to help Juro, deliberately aiming for her leg instead of her head to avoid causing major injury.
- She goes into a deep despair when it becomes clear that the Juro Izumi she knew is truly gone, and that she shot several people - including her Best Friend - for a purpose that could never be fulfilled. She quickly runs away from Juro Kurabe in tears, who was just about to confess his love to her.
"Is there really [nothing of Izumi] left?... No... I betrayed everyone... I betrayed Tomi... It was all a lie!... I'm... I'm such an idiot!"
Nice Girl: Played With; at her core, Megumi really is kind and self-sacrificing towards others, as evidenced by the way she comes to others' needs like caring for Juro and helping a starving Takatoshi. Though the loss of Juro Izumi and her desperation for closure starts to conflict with her kindness, and she does things she wouldn't otherwise do in the name of bringing him back.
Official Couple: With Juro in the endgame.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Her mood gets grimmer when all signs point to the Deimos approaching soon with Megumi not wanting Juro to have to return to battle after his personality got wiped, and being extra protective of him as a result. The most extreme this gets is when she fires the nanomachine gun at Renya the first time he suggests Juro will have to return to combat.
Pretty Freeloaders: For unspecified reasons, she's living together with Juro in the year 1985, playing the role of a pseudo-housewife to him. He's not too thrilled at the idea of anyone finding out and is trying to find an excuse to get her to depart. It's later revealed that she requested to be assigned there for the chance of restoring Juro Izumi, and from the perspective of Kurabe, she's just this girl he goes to school with that moved in unannounced.
Protagonist Journey to Villain: The majority of her arc seemingly amounts to this due to her Yandere-fueled Deal with the Devil. Subverted when it's revealed that what she was manipulated into doing by Fluffy was actually for the best and directly results in the world being saved in the end.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The demure and reserved Blue Oni to Tomi's outspoken and assertive Red Oni. Even the color of their glasses match up
Regretful Traitor: She takes no pleasure in shooting her friend Tomi (not realizing what the nanomachine gun really was), and tries to find an opportunity where the two don't have to look each other in the face as it happens.
The Resenter: She has a chip on her shoulder against Ryoko over Juro getting injured in the battle of 2024, due to no other pilots being there to help him. She lets it go after Ryoko loses her memories.
Shrinking Violet: She's the most soft-spoken of the main characters, and has the hardest time connecting with her new comrades outside of Juro and Tomi. It's implied she never really made friends in her original era and mostly keeps to herself when brought to 1985 with Tomi.
Sickeningly Sweethearts: As shown in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, she and Juro can't stop flirting and complimenting each other after becoming a couple, to 426's annoyance due to how sugary their interactions are.
Single-Target Sexuality: She only ever has eyes for Juro, be it Izumi or Kurabe.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Tomi outright calls her a hopeless romantic, and Megumi gets her wish upon meeting and falling in love with the heroic and kind Juro Izumi... then he gets brain-wiped... then she falls in love with Juro Kurabe.
Skewed Priorities: Juro points out multiple times that if people find out they're living together, they could be expelled. Megumi honestly couldn't care less if that did happen.
Supreme Chef: Though Juro is initially very reluctant to have her living with him, he can't deny that her cooking is delicious. Miura ecstatically requests that she make hamburger steak when she happily offers to cook.
Unwitting Pawn: Her storyline is all about doing 426's dirty work for him. Fortunately for her, this ends up being a good thing in the end.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: At first she's terrified at the idea of shooting Renya with the gun Fluffy gave her, abhorring the idea of shooting someone. But that attitude changes the moment Renya suggests that Juro will have to repilot his Sentinel, exposing him to danger once more. And she doesn't bat an eye firing at him. And at the end of Juro's route, she incapacitates both Tsukasa and Takatoshi to break out Juro under Fluffy's order.
With Catlike Tread: Her attempts to snuff out Ei in the Old School Building completely fall flat, as he notes she's just rushing in with no plan or sense of subtlety. He's the one who gets the drop instead.
Ei: "Stomping around with your gun out like that, you're not sneaking up on anyone that way."
Yamato Nadeshiko: Although she is shy and passive regularly, when it comes to saving Juro she isn't afraid to do anything. When she finds out the truth of her deal, she unhesitatingly shoots herself as well to join in the fight.
Yuki: "I figured you were just some prissy little nerd whinin' about your problems. But you're a real badass. More than these guys anyway. You're okay in my book."
Yandere: She's usually hesitant to follow Fluffy's orders, but when Juro vaguely alludes to the dreams that he's been having, which involve Iori Fuyusaka, Megumi instantly jumps to the conclusion that he has feelings for Iori. So when Iori is assigned as a witch, Megumi does the job almost immediately. Downplayed in that she doesn't act on her jealousy until she has other reason to do so and isn't controlling of Juro beyond her desperate attempts to kindle Izumi's memories.

Yuki Takamiya

Gang Leader

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu (Japanese), Laura Post (English)

"You can relax, kids. I'm back in the fight!"

A skilled sukeban (delinquent girl) from Suzu High, whose name is known even in other schools. She has a strong sense of justice and cares about her friends. She is always up for a fight. Natsuno Minami, her childhood friend, is the only person she can talk to without feeling restrained.

In the final battle, she pilots the fourth-generation Sentinel No. 21.

Action Girl: All of the female Sentinel pilots count, though Yuki is the crowning example for being the most hands-on combatant even without her Sentinel.
Alternate Self: She's the latest clone made from the genetic data of Professor Yuki Takamiya, who lived in 2188. She was responsible for designing the Ark and is the mother of astronaut Natsuno Minami.
Amateur Sleuth: When Natsuno goes missing, Yuki starts investigating her whereabouts with the help of Erika Aiba.
Animal Motif: The Hawk; "Takamiya" is derived from the Japanese word for hawk ('taka'), she pilots one of the airborne Gen Four models, has an aggressive playstyle built around diving into the action, and is a total Mama Bear who is fiercely protective of her loved ones. Just look as she watches "Nat-chan" like a hawk.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: On the receiving end of this from Tetsuya Ida, as he will only guarantee the safety of her imprisoned father (who got in jail due to problems with a Yakuza boss) if she collaborates with his Intelligence Agency.
Book Dumb: Despite proving to be pretty sharp, her grades are stated to be below-average. It's implied she landed in a different school than Sakura High due to poor scores on her entrance exams. And in Shu's route, she lands herself in detention after flunking a test.
Boyish Short Hair: A photo of her when she was little shows that she used to keep her hair really short, looking like a boy next to Natsuno.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: She shows a more caring side beneath her tough reputation, most notably towards her childhood friend Natsuno, seeming innocent victim of her Men in Black coworkers Iori, and fellow agent Ryoko.
Casting Gag: Her Japanese actor, Ami Koshimizu, is famous for voicing Ryuko Matoi, another gruff Tomboy in a red and black uniform. Hilariously, Ryuko's English actor, Erica Mendez, voices Yuki's Best Friend Natsuno.
Childhood Friends: With Natsuno. Her involvement with the SIU is partially out of concern for Natsuno's apparent involvement with weapons experiments.
Clingy Jealous Girl: After one battle, Ryoko will ask Shu if he can give her a ride on a bike, prompting Yuki to get flustered and ask if he's really going to. When Shu asks if she's jealous, she's quick to deny it.
Shu: "Yeah, what's wrong with that- *GASP* Don't tell me you're-"
Yuki: "No dumbass, I am NOT jealous!"
Close-Range Combatant: Her upgrades and Pilot Skills place more emphasis on full-frontal combat than the other Fourth Gen Pilots, with her Leg Spike armament being strong enough to one-shot even big armored kaiju. She also gets much tougher to put down when up against more enemies.
Closet Key: She unwittingly ends up being this to Iori, the latter finding herself enamored as Yuki tends to a cut on her hand, then having a panicked bisexual awakening.
Contralto of Strength: Is the most physically aggressive of the female pilots and happens to also have the deepest voice.
Daddy's Girl: She's working for the men in black in exchange for her father's protection, who's in prison for stabbing a Yakuza and has survived multiple attempts on his life while in prison.
Drink-Based Characterization: She's a rough and tough sukeban, yet her favorite drink is a simple apple juice box, something more suited for a kid's lunchbox. It's stated she used to share them with Natsuno when they were young, showing that despite Yuki's tough image, she's sentimental at heart.
Even the Girls Want Her: If Iori's moment of gay panic when Yuki tends to her injured hand is indication, Yuki does have an effect on women.
Everyone Has Standards: She draws the line at the MIB threatening women and children, bludgeoning one of them for laying hands on Iori.
Famed In-Story: She's a delinquent well-known in other schools as "Takamiya of Suzu High" for putting 12 other delinquents in the hospital.
Generation Xerox: She's as tough, sharp and motherly as the Yuki Takamiya of 2188. And it greatly informs her current dynamic with Natsuno, the daughter of the original Yuki, as Yuki desperately searches for Natsuno through her route and refuses to let any harm come to the latter.
Genius Bruiser: She proves to be quite sharp throughout her storyline, being a competent investigator and is able to identify and corner a disguised 426 with a bit of help from some others. Considering that the original Yuki Takamiya was a genius engineer, having designed Project Ark's self-replicating probes, this checks out.
Going Cold Turkey: Part of the reason she's so antsy and bad-tempered for her own story is because she's recently given up cigarettes, and it's causing her no end of pain and irritation.
Megumi: "They said [the fire] was caused by a delinquent smoking cigarettes. It wasn't you, was it?"
Yuki: "Hey! I laid off the cigs after I transferred here. Which means I'm not getting my nicotine fix! Which means you better watch yourself."
Heterosexual Life-Partners: She and Natsuno have been close friends since childhood, and Yuki is very protective of her. It's possibly linked to her genetic origin being from the mother of the original Natsuno.
Improvised Weapon: Her school bag contains a steel plate instead of books, so she can swing it in a fight.
Ironic Name: "Yuki" is Japanese for "snow", yet she's one of the most Hot-Blooded characters in the game.
Japanese Delinquents: A sukeban who sent several boys to the hospital at her old school. Tomi is fascinated about how blatantly stereotypical she is.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's quite abrasive and eager to throw hands, but is loyal, caring and vigilant beneath it all. Notably, she looks out for Ryoko when the latter's memory loss starts to worsen, despite the two having a poor first impression with each other.
Kick Chick: While on foot she doesn't seem to favor kicks over punches or blows from her school bag, her Fourth Generation Sentinel is the only one that starts out with the powerful Leg Spike melee attack, and she has many unique upgrades to improve her melee firepower.
The Lad-ette: She's a major tomboy, standing out from the other leading ladies for her gruff and assertive attitude. Her Sentinel has more in common with the all-male, First Gen bruisers than the other pilots.
Lightning Bruiser: She benefits from the boundless flight of the Gen Four Sentinels but with power and toughness that outpace the pilots of her class.
Mama Bear: Her deep protectiveness towards Natsuno is implied to be the maternal instinct she inherited from the original Yuki Takamiya - who was Natsuno Minami's mother. Their first conversation in Natsuno's storyline, upon a second go through the game, reads more like a mother doting on her child. Then there's the fact that Yuki blasts apart a mob of terminators to rescue a stranded Natsuno in the future, and the two have a tender, Big Damn Reunion.
"I'd come find you anywhere, Nat-chan. Even if I had to cross time and space to do it."
The Mole: She's revealed to be an undercover agent for the men in black. She was asked to attend Sakura High School to investigate weapons development and Shikishima Industry's connection with it.
New Transfer Student: Transferred to Sakura High at the start of her story. In actuality, this is possible under arrangements by Tetsuya Ida as part of an infiltration to seek her assistance in keeping an eye on the compatible pilots. Yuki was not happy about it.
No Self-Buffs: She doesn't get her own WT halved by her Active Cooling Device, no matter how much it's upgraded.
Odd Friendship: She, a rough as nails delinquent, is best friends with Natsuno, a bubbly sci-fi geek. Justified as the two have shared a bond since childhood and are implied to know each other like the back of a hand. Sharing DNA might also play a factor.
Official Couple: With Shu in the endgame. They even have a daughter named Konatsu!
One-Woman Army: She's said to have single-handedly taken on a whole rival gang by herself, and sent several of their members to the hospital. She also completely schools Wajima and his gang after they threaten her and Aiba.
Red Is Violent: Her assertive and fierce attitude is emphasized by a red and black palette.
Regretful Traitor: She hates the fact that she's working with Ida and working behind her friends' backs. Both Natsuno and Shu react in confusion and sadness when they realize what's going on, both in moments that paint Yuki in a bad light and she can only look ashamed of herself.
Rage Breaking Point: She goes ballistic at the sight of Ei aiming a gun at Natsuno, striking him with no questions asked before Natsuno eases her over.
Square Race, Round Class: Most Fourth Generation Sentinels focus on air superiority, mixed with a smattering of Armor Piercing attacks and missiles and torpedos that slow down or overheat enemies. While Yuki does have access to many of these abilities, she starts with the powerful Leg Spike melee attack and gets many upgrades otherwise largely unique to First Generation Sentinels, such as Counter and Ceramic Composite Armor, to make her an unconventional aerial melee combatant.
Tomboyish Ponytail: She wears her hair in this style with a red ribbon. She apparently had Boyish Short Hair when she was younger but Natsuno convinced to grow it out.
Transfer Student Uniforms: Still wearing her old school's uniform, complete with lengthened sukeban skirt.
Tsundere: She brushes off Shu's flirting most of the time, but some instances hint that she secretly enjoys it, hence her heavy blushing.
Unknown Relative: Natsuno is shocked to learn from BJ's logs that the original Yuki Takamiya was her counterpart's mother. It's never clarified when Yuki finds out that she and Natsuno are related, though by the epilogue it seems to be common knowledge between the two.

Renya Gouto

Seeker of Answers

Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama (Japanese), Ben Lepley (English)

A leader-like character with a sharp mind, who calmly leads the Sentinel pilots.

In the final battle, he pilots the fourth-generation Sentinel No. 22.

Alternate Self: He's the latest clone made from Renya Gouto, CEO of Shikishima in 2188.
Awesomeness by Analysis: Renya diligently writes down everything he experiences in a notebook. This, in combination with his analytic and logical personality, allows him to figure out many mysteries and secrets on his own such as working out that the young Morimura possesses Professor Morimura's memories, not Ms. Morimura's.
Chick Magnet: It's not hard to find girls in the background swooning over him due to his looks and mature charm. People who actually know him personally, though, are humourosly flabbergasted by that fact.
Tomi: "Seriously? That guy? Geez... so that's how it is."
Cutting the Knot: Instead of trying to hack Professor Morimura’s logs, he kidnaps Iori Fuyusaka, a clone of Morimura, and uses her biometric ID.
Flat Character: While not necessarily a vanilla protagonist, Gouto's own character and past is left unexplored (save for a previous relationship with Ryoko and crush on Ms. Morimura). This is likely an enforced example in order to not overshadow the remaining plot twists and reveals the game still has to offer with more character drama.
The Friend Nobody Likes: Being an aloof upperclassman, a distant coworker, a kidnapper, and a stiff expositor for much of the story doesn't endear him much to his fellow pilots outside of respect for his leadership skills and reliable nature. While all the other protagonists have a friend or love interest hail them if their Sentinel is critically damaged, Gouto only gets a call from his Friendly Enemy Chihiro, and it takes outright dying to elicit a reaction out of his ex-girlfriend Ryoko.
Gathering Steam: His Just as Planned Pilot Skill can keep his stats boosted if he kills multiple kaiju in single strikes.
Good All Along: Throughout most character storylines outside his own, he's framed to be as suspicious as possible. He's keeping constant tabs on several students for no stated reason, is administrating strange drugs to Tamao, and most damningly, he's the one that removes Chihiro Miura from 1945 to have her personality replaced. Once the game's biggest reveals are dropped though, it reframes Renya as a well-intentioned, if heavy-handed, hero who does a lot of heavy lifting to assure victory for the protagonists in the end.
He Knows Too Much: Chihiro Miura tells him this before attempting to shoot him only to have the phaser not fire because Renya made it so that it can't shoot himself or Chihiro.
Implied Love Interest: Considering the Maybe Ever After and the fact they were once an item in their original time period, he is this to Ryoko. That said, Renya never brings up their past together at all (in fact, the whole thing is brought up by Ei in an optional scene instead), although there are subtle hints that he cares a great deal for her well-being.
Late Character Syndrome: Since the purpose of his storyline is to uncover the remaining mysteries of the plot, Gouto's prologue only gets to be playable halfway through the game, with everything else being locked until the endgame proper.
The Leader: Shares traits of I and II; Renya is extremely smart and analytical, utilizing his strategic skills to guide his teammates into (hopeful) victory. He's also remarkably levelheaded and mature, and rarely ever loses his cool.
Likes Older Women: The person he was in love with was the adult Ms. Morimura.
Maybe Ever After: According to an interview with the game’s writer/director George Kamitani, whatever Shinonome and Gouto’s relationship is at the end of the game is left up to the player to decide.
Mind Screwdriver: Most of the information regarding the rather complicated backstory of year 2188 comes from his frequent inquisitions towards Chihiro and personal theories that turn out to be scarily spot on.
Mr. Exposition: Nearly his entire story is taken up with tying up loose plot threads and explaining ambiguous plot points.
New Old Flame: He and Ryoko briefly dated in middle school, and she's one of the few people who could make him lose his cool. It's left unresolved, though.
Not So Stoic: Chihiro manages to make him finally show some strong emotion when she intuits that he was in love with Ms. Morimura. For the first time, Renya's composure breaks and he sounds genuinely distraught having to confront his grief over Ms. Morimura's death.
Redeeming Replacement: His original incarnation from 2188 was the Corrupt Corporate Executive of Shikishima Industries who placed the hit on Professor Morimura. Renya, while still doing some questionable things, never gets that extreme, and what he does do is in service of the greater good.
Secret Final Campaign: Unlike how non-linear the rest of the game is, you need to 100% everyone else’s story and beat at least level 3-5 in Destruction to finish Gouto’s route. This means you’re doing his story last and likely just before the Final Boss.
Seen It All: A lot of his calmness is the result of experiencing one Mind Screw after another, getting numb to the monumental revelations about the nature of his world.
Ms. Morimura: "Gouto-kun... are you holding up?"
Renya: "These grand revelations don't really faze me anymore."
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: He can reduce his waiting time between using his armaments if he has fewer weapons equipped.
Smart People Wear Glasses: By far the most intelligent of the protagonists, and one of the only few to wear glasses.
The Spock: He frequently proves to be one of the most intelligent characters in the game, able to parse details about the densely layered setting from extensive observation and plan out effective strategies for the other pilots. He is, however, one of the most impersonal characters, and so has a hard time displaying empathy, making his relationship with the other pilots unfavorably tense.
The Strategist: He serves this role for the team; while he can fight in a mecha, most of its unique abilities are geared towards supporting and directing the actions of his teammates, and he has a personal skill that grants a bonus to everyone on the frontline as long as he's left on the backline.
Stoic Spectacles: Wears glasses and is always visibly calm.
Tall, Dark, and Handsome: Pointed out as tall and good-looking by some female characters, something that makes girls like Miwako swoon thinking about him.
Teacher/Student Romance: He's in love with Ms. Morimura, who he's known since before they started pretending to be teacher/student in sector 4. Ms. Morimura has no eyes for anyone except 426 and doesn't even seem to be aware.

Shu Amiguchi

Breezy Playboy

Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Mick Wingert (English)

"News flash, buddy. I can't walk away from a cutie in trouble."

A playboy who was born into money and is good at sports. He is somewhat frivolous, though also extremely sociable, so most people around him tend to like him. In truth, he finds modern society to be a boring place. Lately, he has been worried about a dream he often has and the words of a mysterious girl coming from the television.

In the final battle, he pilots the fourth-generation Sentinel No. 20.

Academic Athlete: Iori states he used to be a popular soccer player when they were in middle school, but that he quit after getting "bored" with the sport.
The Ace: He's rich, smart, and athletically gifted, leading to his massive popularity in Sakura High.
Schoolboy 1: "The girls fawn over him, he's great at sports, and his grades are higher than those nerds that study all the time."
Schoolboy 2: "Wow, he's really got it all..."
Schoolboy 3: "Totally unfair, man..."
All Girls Want Bad Boys: Gender-inverted; his reaction to finding out Yuki is with the SIU goes from shock and sadness to allure once he gives the reveal some thought.
"So she's been monitoring me this whole time? She's actually some secret-service government spy? That's crazy... also, not gonna lie, weirdly hot."
Alternate Self: He's the latest clone made from the genetic data of Tetsuya Ida, the System Administrator for Project Ark, who lived in 2188.
Amazon Chaser: When he first meets her, he's honestly surprised that Yuki is a Delinquent who was able to put three guys in the hospital. This does nothing to lessen his attraction towards her though.
"Man, she's cute. Bombshell like that sending those Kuri guys to the hospital? I've never met anyone like her before. I might have just fallen for her."
Amnesiac Dissonance: He and both Tetsuya Idas shown are completely different people. Interestingly, this also extends to how their relationships developed — while Tetsuya fell in love with Tomi as a teenager (who immediately returned his feelings) and did some awful things in her name, Shu instead falls for Yuki and, despite their Odd Friendship, has a much healthier relationship with her.
Anguished Declaration of Love: Delivers one to Yuki when Tetsuya has her at gunpoint. Fortunately, they both survive to become an actual couple.
Anti-Climax: His route concludes relatively early in the third act, leaving much of its features to be resolved by other characters. He doesn’t get a definitive personal reckoning with Ida, he only scratches the surface of the truth beyond the city’s geographical limitations, and the recap of it even points out that he failed to actually rescue Yuki with their interactions remaining awkward in scenes set after his confession.
Best Friend: He's the closest friend Juro's got, the two of them spending time bonding over films and getting food.
Beware the Nice Ones: Laid-back playboy that he is, some comments imply that he used to be a delinquent in middle school; he and Nenji reminisce about fighting Kuri High students and living to tell about it. And in Shu's prologue, he punches Wajima in the face to help Yuki. This pays off chapters later when he delivers a long-deserved hook to Ida's face.
Body Backup Drive: As part of deal with Ida, Ms. Morimura was secretly implanting Shu with Ida's memories as a means of allowing Ida to take over Shu's body.
Brilliant, but Lazy: He's a wildly intelligent and talented young man who can master different disciplines with ease. But he then has a bad habit of getting bored and quitting hobbies after only a short time. This is even a passive ability for his Sentinel - called "Easily Bored" - where he gains bonus stats for switching to an ability he hasn't used recently.
The Cassandra: Defied; he realizes that there's no way anyone would believe that Miyuki Inaba is talking to him through his TV at night, so he opts to just keep it to himself.
"'Hey, so I've been talking to this pop star through my TV'. (cringes) Yeah, no. No easy way to drop that bomb. They'd have me committed."
The Charmer: He's a charming, persistent but ultimately respectful guy, and manages to charm Yuki, a renowned delinquent, enough that they become an Official Couple.
Chick Magnet: He's been massively popular with the girls since middle school, with several background characters constantly gushing about him when he's not present. It's to the point that when Megumi asks to speak with him in private he assumes it's a confession purely from how common it is. Nenji is exasperated to even be in the same room when he thinks someone's confessing to Shu.
Chivalrous Pervert: Claims to be an "ally of girls," and alternates between hitting on them and coming to their rescue. While piloting Sentinel No. 20, he also possesses an ability appropriately named 'Playboy', which increases his stats the more girls are active in the strike team. He’s notably the only playable character to have substantial scenes with all of the female protagonists during his route, although half of them either hit him or threaten him with violence. It even manages to squeeze in Natsuno at the very last minute.
Yuki: "You're awfully docile today."
Shu: "Just don't want you to hate me. For being to agggressive, y'know?"
Cool Bike: If you need any more proof of his wealth, he has his own bike.
Disappeared Dad: Wherever his father is spending all of his time, it's not with Shu. Shu mentions his dad having a mistress at different points, implying he's off indulging himself and neglecting his son.
Dogged Nice Guy: Tends to follow Yuki like a desperate puppy, much to her chagrin. However, he takes great pains to back off whenever he senses her starting to feel he's being too aggressive in his flirting, and gets to genuinely prove himself by trying to save Yuki from Ida.
Yuki: "Some flirty, rich kid who won't stop following me around..."
Fully Absorbed Finale: His story ends on a Cliffhanger and is resolved in Kisaragi’s story.
Good Samaritan: After Miura accidentally pisses off Nenji and gets knocked out, Amiguchi takes him to his apartment. He also takes Ryoko to the Nurse's office when she passes out in front of him.
Handsome Lech: Good-looking though he might be, his advances aren't always appreciated, and the savvier girls of the cast tend to react to him in an exasperated manner. Yuki's the primary example of this dynamic.
Shu: "I didn't... offend you or anything, did I, Sawatori-san."
Miwako: (Fangirling) "Amiguchi-kun remembers my name..."
Shu: (Suavely) "I remember Tomi-chan too."
Tomi: (Unimpressed) "Why bother remembering me?"
Shu: "I never get a girl's name wrong."
Tomi: (Groans) "Miwako, what do you see in this guy?"
Hero Stole My Bike: Steals a motorbike in the middle of the Kaiju attack so he can better move around the city without needing to exhaust himself while in the Sentinel. Ogata calls him out on this.
"Hey, don't say it like that, I'm just borrowing it. Cut me some slack, man, it's an emergency.
Hidden Depths: He's quite popular at school and has plenty of people he hangs out with regularly, but this is contrasted against his living situation where he's alone in a dimly-lit, media-filled apartment, and his father apparently is always elsewhere with no time for Shu.
Insult of Endearment: Yuki mockingly calls him "Loverboy" due to his flirty attitude. As they get to know each other though, it just becomes a term of familiarity for them.
Jack of All Stats: Among the Fourth Gen Sentinels, who are designated as support units, Shu's ability-set is pretty spread out, having options for dealing damage, protecting teammates and inhibiting enemy movements. This is further emphasized by his "Easily Bored" passive which strengthens any ability he hasn't used consecutively, encouraging him to do a bit of everything throughout the battle while not specializing in a certain area like the other support pilots.
I Hate Past Me: He's nothing but disgusted learning of all the selfish and immoral things Ida did trying to revive the latter's version of Tomi, calling Ida out for turning the people he loves into tools.
Ladykiller in Love: He's a lover of all ladies, but after meeting Yuki and being impressed by her spirit, all of his attention shifts to trying to spend time with her.
Minor Living Alone: He's by himself in an apartment with a massive bedroom. He mentions a father at one point, but he appears to spend more time at his mistress' place than at home with Shu.
Mistaken for Gay: At one point, Iori thought that he might be in a relationship with Juro. He actually seems mildly amused at this.
Odd Friendship: He's good friends with Nenji, which goes all the way back to middle school. It's implied that Shu himself was a delinquent in the past.
Official Couple: With Yuki in the endgame. They even have a daughter named Konatsu!
Pretty Boy: Multiple characters comment on his good looks. Yuki even mockingly calls him the trope name verbatim.
Redeeming Replacement: The previous Tetsuya was a man obsessed with his love interest and did awful things in order to bring her back from the dead. Shu, in contrast, is a flirty but good-hearted teen who learns to respect and support his love interest in a way that is eventually reciprocated.
Spoiled Sweet: He comes from a very wealthy family, to the point that he can afford all the latest game consoles, live in his own luxurious apartment, and even has his own bike, but he's also a pretty Nice Guy, if a bit of a flirt.
Teen Genius: Much to Yuki's surprise, he regularly scores very high on school assignments without trying much. This turns out to be Foreshadowing that Tetsuya, his Alternate Self, was one of the project leads on the Sentinel project.
Yuki: "He got a 92? Maybe he's not just a dumb, Pretty Boy after all. Then again, he did ball this up and leave it on the ground... Yup, still an idiot."

Characters / 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Protagonists

First Generation Pilots

Loyal Punk

Displaced Soldier

Amnesiac on the Run

Second Generation Pilots

Kaiju Buff

Earnest Dreamer

Scarred Agent

Third Generation Pilots

Sci-Fi Geek

War-Torn Youth

Sassy Snoop

Fourth Generation Pilots

Steadfast Guardian

Gang Leader

Seeker of Answers

Breezy Playboy

Previous

Index

Next

Characters / 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim - Protagonists

Edit Locked

First Generation Pilots

Amnesiac on the Run

Second Generation Pilots

Third Generation Pilots

Fourth Generation Pilots

Previous

Index

Next